Classroom still Cool - a Case Study

This may sound more personal a blog in a professional hangout, but the ‘walk the way’ with my son to his school woke up my senses to ‘start school again’. Leading the way, he walked more grown-up and I was awkwardly gawking like a little lost that ‘I needed hand holding’.

Drawing me in, he showed around. Definitely state-of-the-art and very sophisticated infrastructure right to the seating arrangements which weren’t wooden but metallic with an elegant finish. The polished touch and finesse provided the flair for learning and admittedly ambience has to be accounted. 

“So this is your class? Wow! Nice drawings on the wall. I like the color. superb. Now, Where do you sit?” expecting something and surprised by his ‘study station’. Startled, I almost shout “all for yourself?  I mean no one is sitting next?”

“pa, that’s for me. There is one place and that’s taken. How many more can sit?” probably grinding his teeth. 

The white board drew my attention. “ah! That’s a nice white board. But why white? We used to have black boards.”

“It’s a smart board” the boy cut me out throwing that ‘which school and who taught you’ look.  His exasperation at my ignorance can’t be excused given my background of a conventional classroom packed with students with a cane wielding teacher walking around with chalk pieces which would be broken to parts and hurled at you to draw attention. So the white board sounded more corporate than academic.

“What makes the board smart? I just see a white screen.”

It’s the kid’s response that makes it a defining moment.  Pausing for a second, “it can do a lot. It’s like TV. You can change channels and watch oggy, ninja hatori and pokemon.”  Feigning surprise, “it’s really smart. Is it also touch-screen like your ipad?”, and my son pulled my hand down “don’t touch . you will make it dirty. The teacher will scold.”

Kids don’t articulate with scholarly statement. They only relate and connect, and his answer was stunning.  Versatile, multi-faceted, it can multitask and that’s what makes it smart was summed up in ‘TV with channels to change’.  Of course, he didn’t touch on the ‘interactive’ aspect, and that’s understood. The mark of an educated mind is its ability to think. Had he answered “I don’t know. Teacher calls it a smart board, so do I.” and I would have been terribly disappointed and even let down. It is the curious mind which is inquisitive in nature that questions. By the time we leave his campus, I felt like a caveman – the iGen walking with Neanderthal. The voice and view have changed with iGeneration. They question the answer. 

At the start of his summer vacation, a mail pops inviting parents to enroll in a 10-daysspecial maths on-line course. Its 1 hour in duration.  Before signing up, I checked with my son who immediately sulked “school just finished. It’s holidays. Please…” and when I assured “online learning will be fun” and connected to the virtual learning session. There were 5 other students and with a trainer completing the class that went on for an hour before winding up by summarizing the day’s agenda. The whole session was available as recorded video, in case student misses out for some reason.   “How did it go?” the anxious father in me queried the buoyant boy whose eyes lit up “great. It was very nice. I liked it.”  Later in the day when the conversation again came up “pa, I like internet yearning more than school.  Did you like going to school or studying through internet?”

“No, We didn’t have internet.  Our schools were less fancy than yours. We had great teachers who taught us the beauty of books.   I don’t see you pick a book.  You are busy on gadget. You don’t even have time for me. Ever talk to me? “

“I talk to you now….” Meaning my bandwidth is choked that you either book a slot or buy time. So the walk the talk session is actually a paid slot for its an ice-cream outing. He reminds me of Evan Spiegel who prefers meetings ‘on the move’ or Steve jobs who liked walking around his home chewing thoughts.

So the case was done – open and shut. Technology enabled tutoring triumphed over traditional training. Apparently the gadgets and gizmos proved more fascinating as enablers but the results remain to be seen. The case clearly states the choice or preferred mode of knowledge transfer – from the perception of a child.

Classroom training coming to a close?

That’s interesting a poser. The traditional approach of brick and mortar physical setup is on the verge of a takeover by technology? Not yet.  It’s not fair to state classroom is one the wane while eLearning on the rise. Technology is a double-edged sword. Self-learning as compared to instructor-led has its downside. Not all are self-starters, and personal assistance is sought in straightening the learning which tends to become steep in the absence of pedagogy and personal counsel. 

Corporate call

Corporate are often left mulling over the choice of ‘training’. Should it be onsite or offshore?  In-house or outsource? A corporate’s call is on merit, usually based on the ease,  cost and convenience, besides harnessing technology to the hilt.  Apparently one tends to make the most. If you can’t go to the training, then get the training here. When there is bandwidth and budget, the call could be different.

But the point is which is more effective to leverage for learning. Physical or virtual classroom? Now this can’t be nailed with a yes/no scenario.  Classroom confines into four corners while live virtual class has practically no boundary and can connect any corner on the earth so long there is connectivity.

Blended Training.

Its always about a judicious mix. The IMF’s youngest ever chief economist exhorted in a recent convocation speech  to ponder about  empowering education using technology “Why not have the best professors beam lectures at thousands of students over the net?” and does make a point about the course completion rate which in his opinion is ‘abysmal ‘. You can have the best mind deliver a message or lecture to group of people assembled in one or several places, but the very effort coming to fruition is again an individual’ choice and effort.  The Paid vs free. A dollar saved is dollar earned. Premium or paid course aid the rates of completion as  comparably higher because the  intent is high as lesson have been bought and hence completion makes sense about opportunity cost.  That’s the reason corporate apportion budget for training and also identify the personnel to be in attendance and make it a mandate that cetain number of hours clocked to their credit. Companies are stressing the need for certification and recognizes the effort of their employees through rewards and rise in remuneration.

Finally boiling down to the contention of classroom being still effective in enhancing learning,  consider the possibility of  live lecture that can be recorded to be studied at leisure. One has to revisit and reconnect.  So Online Training is not the sole solution.  You can check out online training academies  galore across the internet and at the same time  live virtual tutors who are capable of offline tutelage is swelling in numbers. It works fine both ways. If you connect the above case study and correlate, be it classroom or online, the common denominator is the trainer.  The Teacher/Trainer is in the equation irrespective of brick and mortar or beamed session. Technology is the enabler for the teacher and not a replacement. Instructor-led teaching is here to stay - the medium will keep changing.