In quest of an alternative pedagogy

Dr. Binod Chandra Borah

(The writer is the Joint Registrar (Academic), Dibrugarh University. He can be reached at borahbinod@gmail.com)

The impact of the pandemic COVID-19 resulting nationwide lockdown has created an unprecedented crisis to the entire human race, including the education system. The academic calendars of universities, colleges and schools have already been interrupted with a huge deficit not less than fifty class days. Besides taking up the battle against the corona pandemic, it becomes a matter of utmost priority for all how to restore normalcy in the educational scenario or the measures that need to be adopted as a suitable stop-gap mechanism to compensate the academic loss of the students. And here are the real challenges for all of us. A time will come when the State will be compelled to withdraw the lockdown despite the prevalence of the threat of the pandemic, expecting that the people will become familiar with the situation and voluntarily maintain the essential norms of social distancing and personal hygiene. Here a question arises as to how classes from the schools to universities will be restored. Will it be possible for institutions to arrange the requisite infrastructure and teachers needed to create adequate space for social distancing? Whether in the Indian context, general education is possible or affordable through online portals? Besides, to train up the stakeholders to co-exist with these challenges, it becomes the desperate need of the hour to think of innovative means and schemes in education, which will be user-friendly, eco-friendly and affordable as well as feasible for everybody, especially the marginalized.

My primary concern with this issue is to search for innovative and appropriate pedagogical alternatives to the predominantly institution-based classroom teaching, which will also be the most affordable for all students studying in the remotest areas. Still there are many places in the country without electricity or internet connectivity; a huge portion of population cannot afford the cost of uninterrupted internet facility throughout the day, or such dependency is not prescriptible for various health-related issues. In this situation, the education system and the educators may need to think of developing the learners for self-learning with appropriate and methodical counseling. And for this purpose, we will require some tools and mechanisms designed by the teachers themselves.

In Open and Distance Learning education system, which seems to be the most rapidly growing mode of education in today's world due to its learner-friendly flexibility and self-educative nature, there is very limited scope for direct involvement of teachers in teaching and counseling. The main tools of such programmes are the Self-Learning Material (SLM)s, which play the role of in-built teachers within the study material itself. Looking into this aspect, we observe that there is ample scope for adopting partial off-classroom curriculum in regular academic programmes as well, where the learners will be able to educate themselves through SLMs under the guidance of the teacher-counsellors. This will significantly help in reducing the need of classroom attendance of the students and eventually agree with the principle of 'social distancing.'

Another mechanism we may adopt in our education system is conducting open-book examinations and using self-assessment tools. These two methods may be extensively used for conducting formative assessments of students during the semesters. In fact, these tools are more or less used in continuous and comprehensive assessment of all academic programmes from schools to universities. However, in matters of according priority, we are still more concerned the end semester examination, which is supposed to be a summary of the entire learning quantum of a student during the semester. These two methods may significantly help the education system to recast the curriculum in view of the present situation.

The outcome of adoption of the above tools in education will be reflected in designing the classrooms of the regular academic programmes with a new outlook. So far as the threat of spread of the pandemic is concerned, perhaps it will not be advisable to re-commence schools in the existing model, where three to five students sit together in a classroom in proximity. Avoiding rush and resorting to frequent sanitization of the campus including classrooms will be the priority. In this situation, guardians will seek an alternative model for safety of their wards in and out of the campus. The present condition of the state may also prefer to keep the people at home even if normalcy is restored in their daily lives. Considering all these factors, I would like to propose for a suitable model for semi off-classroom education, where the six class days will be equally divided into two segments for two different groups of learners. It will curtail at least 50% rush on campus and will be in maintaining social distancing and hygiene in a scientific way. But the question is, how does one go about that? If a student is allowed to come to school or college for only three days, what will they do at home and how will their curriculum be completed?

In a semi-off classroom education system, learners shall need to attend classes for fifty-per cent of their entire curriculum. In an academic programme having six-day class weeks, the learner shall attend classes every alternate day for three days. The remaining three days, they will be engaged in self-learning at home or hostels to complete their assignments in order to earn the prescribed credits. However, the structure and learning materials of most of the academic programmes cannot accommodate this approach without bringing radical structural and functional changes in pedagogy. The curriculum and study materials are to be so designed that the teachers shall be mainly stimulators of learning instead of active tutor to the students, and the study-materials shall have to be the most interesting treasure trove of knowledge, provoking the learners to engage with them spontaneously. Here, the role of SLMs is of paramount importance.

SLMs are the books or tools prepared by subject experts concerned to guide the learners in acquiring knowledge of a particular discipline. If we imagine SLMs in the form of a book, the book very systematically, meticulously and precisely discusses the topics of the curriculum and leads the learner up to the stage of self-assessment. It is expected that while a learner deals with a chapter through SLM, the image of the teacher accompanies the content to interpret all aspects of the topic. The notes and questions are so designed that the learners can accurately assess by themselves the quantum of learning that they achieved. In a regular academic programme, the teachers can easily engage their students in rigorous academic exercise even if they are not in proximity with learners. It should be noted that giving the load of exercise from texts to practice at home should not be considered similar to the assignments given through SLM. A good SLM not only provides systematic knowledge of a particular subject, but also generates new ideas for new knowledge with a foundation of self-reliance. For school students particularly, the SLMs should be a repository of wonderful information and description of the subjects to learn. The effective SLMs shall also guide the teachers for other two approaches – the Open Book Examination System and the Self- Assessment by students.

Writing or preparing SLMs for a curriculum is a matter of rigorous academic exercise based on certain standard principles and methodology. Since the role of the SLMs are not only to impart knowledge to the learners but to stimulate and motivate them for self-learning, these are to be prepared in a very meticulous way. Recently, the government advised the teachers of schools to support the students from home by providing study materials, online classes, etc. But, in order to bring these aspects into the education system, we may need to consider equity, feasibility and sustainability aspects. The education system may also need to revamp the curriculum in order to accommodate the provision of SLMs, open book examination or self-evaluation system. We may also need to immediately initiate the process of training teachers to deliver their services through these new tools and perspectives. Considering all these aspects, Dibrugarh University is organizing a seven-day faculty Development Programme for College and University teachers in online mode to produce a pool of experts for preparing SLMs for on-campus regular academic programmes of the University and colleges, if necessary.

In fact, our traditional mind-set has a common inclination to the examinations we conduct at the end of a particular semester or term. Major part of our concentration is devoted to conduct examinations and we equally patronize all values, sanctity and regularity through examinations. The changing circumstances have provided us with an opportunity to overcome such a confined approach and have encouraged us to approach the scenario with a new outlook. The situation demands a flexible but modern mechanism, where all learners from the most advantageous to the least will get equal opportunities of learning. An innovative model of education supported by appropriate pedagogy may be the best option to restore academic normalcy and to ensure social safety in a sustainable matter in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.