Spice May issue ipad LR

EDUCATION
SPECIAL
to think on their feet and respond to
the rapidly changing environment.
This necessitates a more holistic
approach to education, particularly
in imparting skills that will foster
innovation and creativity, that will
open up effective communication
and encourage hands-on problem
solving.” Adds Niru Agarwal, Trustee,
Greenwood High, an international
school in Bengaluru, “Students
should be kept engaged in a way
which empowers them to use their
academic learning as a foothold for
their emotional, psychological and
social development. Students should
be made to study a range of subjects
and support academics through their
involvement in science experiments,
projects related to humanities,
musical plays, etc. Learners should
not only function effectively but
should also discover how important
it is to be independent, to be
responsible and to be accountable for
their actions.”
E-LEARNING TOOLS
The digital revolution and boom
in smartphone adoption in India
has brought in a lot of changes in
education. Technology is shaping the
way children learn across age groups.
It has charted out a whole new way of
learning for the younger generations,
thereby making e-learning vital for
children across grades. E-learning
combines teachers, videos, interactive
and innovative technology to deliver
personalized learning, feedback and
assessments. “It is not just offline
learning taken online, by simply
digitizing the content; technology is
used extensively to make learning
better and more effective online.
Learning through technology triggers
change in how students consume
and share content. It offers them
newer ways to explore concepts and
initiate learning on their own. Use of
technology in education no longer
limits learning to books, but allows
use of platforms like apps, videos,
websites, etc. Videos are extensively
used in e-learning as it helps students
register concepts faster and better,”
says Byju Raveendran, Founder &
CEO, BYJU’S The Learning App.
NEW METHODS OF ASSESSING
LEARNING
Again, while alternative learning
tools are being explored there is
a shift in the way assessments
are happening. Traditionally,
faculties used to evaluate students’
knowledge through examination
papers, and theoretical learning
and not on the practical aspect of
learning like implementation of
the techniques learnt and hence
the grading was done on the basis
of apt definitions written in the
examination paper. “Over a period
of time, the assessment process
has changed. With technology
overpowering almost every sphere,
Artificial Intelligence (AI) assessment
is now a reliable form of examining
through the learning processes. It is a
software system that infers problemspecific
rules for automated scoring.
Video quizzes is a wakeup call to the
student and turning passive video
viewing into active learning. Other
methods of assessment includes
E-portfolios, which is a new way of
evaluation what the students have
done over a period of time. Such
portfolios include papers, content
writing, blogs, team projects, etc.
Another interesting form is peer
assessment, where the evaluation
is done by peers. This tool helps
in improving the quality of work
and initiate new ideas and decision
making amongst them,” says Pratik
Marwah, co-founder and COO of
iAugmentor, a Gurgaon-based
technology-enabled assessment and
learning platform.
87
MAY 2017