Miss you, Miss

With Teacher's Day round the corner, Amit Singh delves deep into the disappearance of the traditional teacher with the coming of technology and on-the-job education

Think of the last educational project you completed. Who was your primary resource your teacher, or the Web? How many classes did you attend while pursuing that MBA degree? Where did you prefer getting the knowledge from - on the job, or on the campus? Yup, you get the picture. In the past few years, educational techniques have seen a see change, and so has the role of the teacher, arguably for the worse. Blame it on e-learning, on site skill-imbibing, or smarter capsule courses that call for self-tutoring, but the responsibility is slowly slipping off the traditional teacher's shoulders. New, dynamic ones are taking over.

"The need and importance of a teacher now depend on his/her multiple skills, like teaching, evaluating, communicating, guiding and counseling students, organising co-curricular activities, participating in community programmes, and adapting to technology. Teachers can retain their edge this way," says Prof AK Bakshi, Director, Institute of Life Long Learning, University of Delhi.



Kuchh extra
Globalisation, marketisation and standardisation are some of the main threats to the conventional educational coach. With the increase in number of e-learning courses, reading material at your doorstep, telephonic and web sessions, academics are being increasingly looked at as an endangered lot on the learning landscape, and part of this can be attributed to the fact that students consider themselves considerably smarter and more independent due to technological tools of study.

Consequently, tutors now face the new challenge of developing required specific competences to use ICTs (information and communication technologies) and change their linear attitude. "The teacher's job in recent times has changed drastically from being the core of the learning process to being more of a secondary facilitator. Now, they're more of mentors, and aid the process of learning without hogging the limelight. This has happened not only because the students are learning more from outside the classroom than inside it, but also due to the impact of ICT on everyday lives," agrees Dr. RP Singh, Vice Chancellor, Sharda University.

Even in distance and open education, lecturers can play a significant part provided they get over traditional ways of top-down teaching, and ensure productive, positive interactivity, without undermining pupils' intellectual capabilities. They face the test of adapting themselves to the latest needs of the so-called 'network society'. Facebooking, Tweeting, Linking-In and turning a chatroom into a classroom are just as important for a teacher as they are for any successful corporate.

That good old feeling
Students feel teacher or no teacher, they, themselves, should play a more active part. "Those enrolled in distance and open education need to stay self-motivated, as they lack face-to-face contact with a guide and contact with other students," says Ravi Verma, a student of IGNOU. Others like Rajeev Kumar, a student of Delhi University, are still positive about good old professors. "There might have been tremendous technological advancement, but the kind of teaching imparted by human teachers can never be replaced. Though a lot of time and effort is saved, teachers will always hold a special position with their rich experience and unmatched wisdom of ways."