In the journey towards greater relevance of education as we know it, a key pillar that furthers this goal is what we teach. That is to say, what the concepts and skills to be explored at the different stages of learning will be, what the scope of coverage is within a given timeframe, and what overall trajectory the educational experience will take. It also relates to the underlying mission statement of the endeavour. Is it to conduct an impersonal transfer of information? Or is there a loftier goal, to inculcate a love for learning, perhaps? Answers to these questions help to inform the important aspects of content development and instructional design, ultimately leading towards a “what” that is of superior quality by nature of being tailored to the needs of a paradigm.
The present paradigm demands of learners an ability to simultaneously apply knowledge and rationale, along with an appreciation for healthy collaboration. The much talked of ‘21st Century’ skills have captured popular imagination in grand fashion, primarily because they are in fact imperative (albeit with varying weights) to whatever discipline one chooses to pursue today. It is with this aim, to respond to these demands, that we begin charting out a course. It seems simple enough to ‘go by the available syllabus.’ In India, schools and educators tend to defer to existing publications, and albeit they may tweak them slightly to suit their needs, they look to the tables of content as prescriptions of “what should we cover?”
Consider if we were given the opportunity to begin on a new slate, and create a whole new curriculum? This seems an entirely exciting prospect, especially when one finds from extensive research that there may well be best practices out there, the combination of which is yet to be brought together to form an elevated computer science program. Such was the beginning of the Computer Masti program. Content was ascertained based on deliberation about successes around the world, and an exploration of the development cycle of a learner. Seeing as the programs targets the K-12 demographic, special care was taken to be unequivocally intentional about the trajectory that the course material took.
In a previous post, we established how the Computer Masti (CM) program endorses an engagement of computer science and not merely computer literacy. Basic functions and fundamentals of computers and software applications are enhanced by the development of thinking skills, which elevate knowledge to a force for agency and fluent problem-solving. A special aspect of the curriculum is the introduction of computer programming to a learner rather early in the CM experience, two to three years into the program!
The spirit of holistic development recommends that a learner be encouraged to become conscious of their actions and decisions. On average, an individual is given to balking at a question which asks after the frequency of dental care; but of course the answer is daily, don’t be silly! Now pose a similar query asking after care taken to rest any of the muscles used during the course of ICT activities; *crickets*. The question we ought to ponder is this: what consequences do our actions wreak, not just on our bodies, but also on our privacy and safety, and on the integrity of intellectual property? In a paradigm where fast is better, ‘access now’ is seen as an entitlement, and being glued to a device is rather the norm than outlier, it behooves a computer science academic program to address the need to develop keen awareness about the consequences of one’s choices.
That the quality of content being disbursed across young minds is of paramount importance cannot be understated. If we are what we consume, then content indeed ought to be the king.
By Rupesh Kumar Shah, CEO and Co-Founder InOpen Technologies