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Schools tend to reflect the societies in which they are embedded. India is a vivid kaleidoscope of traditions, culture and customs, but at the same time, it exhibits a high level of technology in all spheres of life. Ancient Indian tradition advocated one teacher- one pupil methodology. As the population increased, more and more people were exposed to education. The teacher-taught ratio increased and the level of interaction between the teacher and the student decreased. With the advent of IT and related innovations in Education, I have successfully tried to revoke the same ancient methodology in my class using the computer interface. The interaction between the teacher and the taught increases and at the same time, the child is exposed to the world of amazing possibilities.
Technology is altering lives in a great way. Linking people to other people, ideas to realities and distances to destinations, it is gradually becoming an integral part of the human evolution. Evolution, without education is meaningless. Schools, all over the world, are beginning to understand the importance and benefits of technology in education. The schools now thus, have a new dimension of education --Technology.
Technology is a key transforming element in creating this new model of school. Just as technology is reshaping other institutions, it has the potential to reshape education, ending the disjunction between School and the broader society. Technology offers unlimited new ways of learning, of teaching and of running schools. It provides new ways for everyone involved in education to be openly accountable to parents, to communities and to students.
In the new model of school, classroom experiences emphasize critical thinking, teamwork, compromise, and communication-the skills valued in today's workplace. Teachers, in contrast, change from being the storehouse of all knowledge to being guides or mentors and facilitators, who help students navigate through the information made available by technology and interactive communications. They help students gather and organize information, judge its value, and decide how to present it to others. Moving from group to group and from student to student, Teachers help students stay focused and working at the limits of their abilities. When the class meets as a whole, teachers share the responsibility for teaching the students-each of whom has been forging ahead at his or her own pace.
At the same time, emphasis has to be laid on the fact that ICT is a supplement and not a substitute. ICT is just a tool to facilitate education. The personal touch and communication are indispensable and can never be replaced. After all, who or rather what, can replace that reassuring hug which only a teacher can give, that 1000 watts welcome smile every morning and nobody can walk the corridor, hand in hand with her student, as a teacher would, isn’t it?
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Deepti
Hi! I am a person with a passion for education and am working as a Specialist in ICT. This year I want to work on incorporating ICT in the curriculum for children with SEN(Special Educational Needs). So, if anybody out there shares the same thought, please get in touch. Let us get together to celebrate this process called Learning.
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Comments
ICT patricia paterson | Oct 26th, 2007
Hi Deepta:
I am a teacher from Canada and would like to know how you use technology in India. My students work in high school on computer and use some online materials to work on projects.
I live in Calgary, Canada near the Rocky Mountains. It was snowing in the mountains yesterday. Where do you live? Our city has a population of 1 million. Our schools have computers and the ratio fo students to computers is about 20:1.
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