Dr. V.K. Maheshwari, Ph.D

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

The terms measurement and evaluation assessment are sometimes used interchangeably; The  word  ‘evaluation’  is  often  confused with assessment, testing and measurement.  Testing is only a technique to collect evidence regarding pupil behaviour. Measurement on the other hand, is limited to quantitative description of  the student  behaviour.  Evaluation is  a  more  comprehensive term  which includes  testing  and  measurement and  also qualitative description of  the  student  behaviour. It also  includes  value judgment regarding the  worth  or  desirability of  the behaviour measured  or  assessed.

Considering the importance of this relationship, Gronlund   has  indicated this relationship  in the following equation:

Measurement  = quantitative description of pupils (measurement) + value judgment

Evaluation = qualitative description of pupils (non-measurement) + value judgment

Thus,  evaluation  may  not be  based  on measurement  alone  but  it  goes beyond  the simple quantitative score.

Thus Evaluation is a concept that has emerged as a prominent process of assessing, testing and measuring. Its main objective is Qualitative Improvement. Evaluation is a process of making value judgements over a level of performance or achievement. Making value judgements in Evaluation process presupposes the set of objectives. Evaluation is the process of determining the extent to which the objectives are achieved. Concerned not only with the appraisal of achievement, but also with its improvement.Evaluation is continuous and dynamic. Evaluation helps in forming the following decisions

Definition of Evaluation

Tyler  defined evaluation as “a systematic process of determining the extent to which educational objectives are achieved  by  pupils”. This definition indicates that evaluation is a systematic process, and  it  omits tile casual, informal or uncontrolled observation of the pupils. The definition also implies that objectives of education  has to be  identified in  advance. Without  predetermined  objectives,  it is  not possible to judge the progress, growth and development of students.

Crombach  defined evaluation as “the collection and use of information to make decisions about an educational programme”.

Wheeler  defined evaluation as a more general judgement of the outcome of a programme, which involves the use of observations, various tests, questionnaires, interviews, etc.  His emphasis was on the processes of educational evaluation.

Thus Evaluation can be conceptualised in the following manner:

1) Evaluation is an act or a process that allows one to make a judgment about the desirability or value of a measure.

2) Evaluation is a process of delineating, obtaining and providing useful information for judging decision alternatives

3) The word evaluation refers to the act or process of determining the value of something.

Accordingly evaluation is  providing information for decision making. Thus   evaluation  is  a systematic  process  of  collecting evidence  about  students’  achievement in  both cognitive and non-cognitive areas of  learning on the basis of which judgments are formed and decisions are made.

Evaluation in teaching and Learning

Evaluation is an integral part of any teaching and learning programme. Whenever a question is asked and answered evaluation takes place. Thus, both teaching and evaluation overlap and merge into each other. In fact, it is not possible to have teaching and learning without evaluation.

Both teaching and evaluation are based on the instructional objectives which provide direction to them. Instructional objectives are those desirable behaviours which are to be developed in students. It is for achieving the instructional objectives that instruction is provided and it is to see whether the instructional objectives have been achieved and to what extent, that the evaluation is made. The interrelationship of objectives, instructional process or the learning experience and evaluatiot in a programme of teaching can be expressed more clearly through the following diagram:

The above diagram illustrates that the three components of teaching and learning constitute an integrated network in which each component depends on the other. . Thus, through evaluation, the teacher not only assesses as to how far the student has achieved the objectives of teaching but also judges the effectiveness of the learning experiences, methodologies, means and the materials used for achieving those objectives.

Purpose of Evaluation in Education

Evaluation  serves    numerous  purposes  in  education, Some  of  the important  purposes are to grade, rank, classify,  compare  and promote the  students, It is  also used for certifying the completion of a course, selection of students for admission or scholarship, and for predicting their future success in different endeavours.

The sole purpose  of  evaluation    has been to bring about  quality improvement  in  education which  it  does  by providing  feedback regarding students’ learning, classroom teaching,  effectiveness  of curriculum  and  course content, It  also helps bring about all round  development of the students’ personality when  it is  used for developing their non-cognitive capacities.

Characteristics of a Good Evaluation Programme

The meaning, types and purpose of evaluation lead us to arrive at the following characteristics of a good evaluation programme in educational institutions.

Evaluation is a Dynamic Process

Evaluation is based on learning experiences, it also provides evidence about the effectiveness of that learning experience. Thus, evaluation keeps validating the whole teaching-learning process through regular feedback. Thus evaluation programme brings in dynamism and leads to continuous improvement in the entire educational process.

Evaluation is a Cooperative  process

, The teacher alone cannot gel all the evidence required about student’s growth. To collect evidence regarding social relationships, emotional behaviour, initiative, scientific attitudes, social attitudes, likes and dislikes, etc. collaboration ofthe student peers, parents, other teachers and all those who watch him/her grow and develop is necessary.

Evaluation is an Objective-oriented Process

. It is for the achievement of the instructional objectives that the instruction is given. evaluation is made  to confirm whether the instructional objectives have been achieved and to what extent.    The selection of evaluation techniques and tools is also based on the objectives to be evaluated.

Evaluation is a Continuous Process

Continuous evaluation is, therefore, essential for getting reliable evidence about student’s growth and development.

Evaluation is a Comprehensive Process

Aa good evaluation programme should evaluate both the cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of learner growth. Apart from evaluating all possible objectives, comprehensive evaluation involves the use of multiple tools and techniques to procure information on different aspects of personality growth.

Evaluation is a Decision Making Process

At every step of the teaching-learning process evaluation is a must . Before the instruction is started, it is necessary to determine the entering behaviour of students to decide the strategies, learning material and even appropriate objectives of teaching. Evaluation helps the teachers to make judgments and take decisions at different stages in a pupil’s educational career.

Principles of Evaluation

As Evaluation is a means to an end, not an end in itself. There  are  certain  principles which may  provide direction to the process of evaluation  and may also serve as the criteria for  adopting a  particular device or technique  of  evaluation to yield the desired positive results.

1.  Determining and Clarifying’ What’ aspect of the Evaluation

. The classroom teacher or evaluator should always be perfectly clear in bis mind about what he is aiming to achieve i.e. what to evaluate and how to evaluate

2.  Selection of Appropriate Evaluation Techniques

There  are  a  number  of  evaluation techniques.  Out of  them  one  technique  is appropriate in some cases which may  not  be so in  others. Therefore,  the  evaluator needs  to  select the one which serves  his/her  purpose best.

3. Determining Comprehensiveness of Evaluation  Programmes

It means to. assess pupils’ progress in all areas. Educational evaluation, apart from testing knowledge , should also bring about student’s originality and his ability to use the ideas, and his ability to think and apply the knowledge and skills already achieved.

4. For Comprehensive Evaluation  Combining  a  variety  of  Evaluation  Techniques be adopted

Therefore, to  make  evaluation comprehensive, different  types  of  evaluation procedures should be  adopted depending on their suitability . Moreover,  use  of a  variety  of  techniques provides  an evaluator  sufficient evidences of different aspects of pupil achievement on different objectives, because more the evidence better the evaluation.

5. Treat Evaluation as a Means to an End, not an End in itself

In  the teaching-learning process, evaluation should be done with  a purpose, and not  for  the sake of evaluation only. Administering  a  test,  scoring  the  scripts and   collecting the data  without  making  any  use  of  this information  for  the  pupils  is  a   waste  of effort

Functions of Evaluation :

1) Diagnosis:

(a)   To locate and identify the weaknesses and strength in learning on the part of a learner.

(b)   To pinpoint areas where remedial measures may be desirable.

2) Modification:

To provide a basis for a modification of the curriculum, syllabus or courses.

3) Prediction:

To bring out the inherent capabilities of a student, such as proper attitudes,  habits, manipulative skills, appreciation and understanding in addition to conventional acquisition of knowledge.

4) Selection:

To select suitable persons ofr a particular course or career.

5) Motivation:

To motivate pupils towards better attainment and growth.

6) Teaching :

a)      To improve instruction.

b)      To ascertain how far could learning objective be achieved;

c)      To provide the empirical evidences about the effectiveness of teaching strategies, tactics and aids.

7) Guidance :

a)      To assist a person in decision making about a course or subjects within a course and careers;

b)      To enable a learner to know his pace of learning;

c)      To make provision for guiding the growth of individual pupils;

d)      To provide a basis for the introduction of experiences to meet the needs of individuals and groups of pupils.

Testing:

a)      To test the efficiency of teachers in providing learning experience and the effectiveness of instruction and of classroom activates;

b)      To help in developing a comprehensive criterion test.

9) Grading:

To assign rank or grade to the learners of a give group. ( Example : The unit test)

10) Feedback:

To give reinforcement and feedback to teachers and learners.

 

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

Learner behaviour comprises collective activities displayed by the learner. Learner behaviour is different at the point in time they begin to participate in the teaching-learning process, it varies during the process and finally, at the end of the process. For our purpose, we are concerned with entry and terminal beaviour, which are assessed by the teacher .

The  Entering behavior

Entering behavior describes the student level before the instruction begins. It refers to what the student has previously learned, his intellectual ability and development, his motivational state, and certain social and cultural determinants of his learning ability. Entering behavior is a more precise term than its usual alternatives—human ability, individual differences, and readiness. This precision may come at the price of seeing the student as less complex, less able, and less experienced than he may in fact be.

Schools tend to define entering behavior in terms of the traditions curriculum rather than in terms of student ability, experience, and interest. A student with the more abstractive ability and interest of the mathematician, therefore, may be viewed as having a higher level entering behavior than that of a student whose major interest and ability are in creating the visual, geometric forms of modern painting and sculpture.

Entry behaviour includes the prerequisite knowledge, attitudes or skills which the student already possesses that are relevant to the learning task or subject matter and that you may require students to demonstrate before beginning your module. This includes previous education and experience that the student brings to the new learningcontext. The ultimate goal of the module being to advance the student from where he is (entry behaviour) to where you would like him to be (having mastered the learning objectives or terminal behaviour).

There are many potential influences on student behaviour, and many factors should be considered before determining the  entering behaviour . These include:

• biophysical factors, such as medical conditions or disabilities
• psychological factors, including emotional trauma or lack of social skills
• behavioural/social factors, including where a student’s problem behaviour has been learned through reinforcement, consequences or adaptation to social practices. For example, a student with a learning difficulty repeatedly misbehaves knowing that he/she will be removed from the class and this will avoid his/her learning difficulty being exposed.
• historical community factors, including for Koorie students whose family member/s had difficult, sometimes traumatic, experiences of school and government agencies
• cultural factors, for example dalit community
• environmental factors, for example the level of classroom noise or classroom seating arrangements
• classroom organisation issues, such as inconsistent routines, inadequate materials or obliviousness to cultural differences

The Terminal behavior

in modem education one often hears of the concept terminal behavior this is a term supplied from the field of psychology which reflects the belief that the measure of any successful educational activity is the degree to which the students behavior is modified to what extent does he do or  do things he did not or could not before the lessons were presented

Desired final behavior being shaped by a training or learning process, and which the trainee or learner is to demonstrate at the end of the process.

Describing terminal behavior has two purposes. First, the teacher has a means for assessing the adequacy of the performance and for determining the need for further instruction. The teacher at a given point in time may not desire that the students for completely able to identify and use the concept. The prior description of the students’ expected performance  clearly indicates to the teacher and to the students the degree of adequacy the students are to attain at a particular time. Second, the students have a way of assessing their own performance and of determining when their learning is complete. The students’ self-assessments then become a way of generation their own reinforcement.

A three components learning objective format consists of the terminal behavior, the conditions and the standard. Terminal behavior describes what the learner should be able to do in order to demonstrate that s(he) achieve the objective. The terminal behavior is any performance that can be observed or recorded. Terminal behaviour should be expressed using action verbs. If the behavioral component is missing it is difficult to measure whether the student has achieved an instructional goal. The terminal behavior should describe different cognitive processes – remembering, understanding, applying, problem solving etc, that leads to the different level of accomplishment.

The standard property of learning objective formulation describes the minimal accepted level of performance at the end of the instruction. The standard is a kind of proof that a learner is achieved at the objective. The type of standard selected depends on the specificity of the terminal behaviour. It could be occurrence of behaviour, time, speed, accuracy, reference, consequences, etc.

Terminal behavior usually refers to something very specific-for example the teacher may say “I want to see everyone reading quietly for the next five minutes”-and includes what can be termed the “form and frequency of a desired response” (Ormrod & Rice, 2003, p. 71). In the earlier example of students lining up, the teacher’s desired terminal behavior may be something similar to “I want all of my students to quietly line up within one minute of my first asking them to do so.”

Terminal behavior can be quite difficult to achieve. If, at the beginning of the school year, the class typically took ten minutes or more to line up, getting to the terminal behavior can be quite a feat. The operant conditioning theory keeps this in mind and recommends the use of shaping to gradually achieve the terminal behavior. Shaping is especially useful when an individual’s baseline behavior is very low. In the process of developing the desired terminal behavior plan, the teacher should develop a set of reference points that show that the student is progressing towards the terminal behavior. Instead of focusing on the terminal behavior, the teacher should reinforce each successive benchmark. Once behavior at one level comes “naturally” or without reinforcement, the teacher should start reinforcing at the levels that bring the student closer to the terminal behavior  In the example of lining up, the teacher may begin by first reinforcing how students behave in the line, and later focus on reducing the amount of time it takes students to respond to the request to line up.

Describing terminal behavior has two purposes. First, the teacher has a means for assessing the adequacy of the performance and for determining the need for further instruction. The teacher at a given point in time may not desire that the students for completely able to identify and use the concept. In the beginning, for example, the teacher may be quite satisfied to have the students recognize direct objects only in simple English sentences. Later, he may want the students to recognize direct objects in compound sentences in both dependent and independent clauses. Still later he may want the students to use direct objects in various sentence contexts. The prior description of the students’ expected performance  clearly indicates to the teacher and to the students the degree of adequacy the students are to attain at a particular time. Second, the students have a way of assessing their own performance and of determining when their learning is complete. The students’ self-assessments then become a way of generation their own reinforcement.

To conclude it can be said that More simply, entering behavior describes the present status of the student’s knowledge and skill in reference to a future status the teacher wants him to attain. Entering behavior, therefore, is where the instruction must always begin. Terminal behavior is where the instruction concludes.. This way the teaching can be described as getting the student from where he is to where we would like him to be- as moving from entering to terminal behavior. Together descriptions of entering and terminal behavior define the limits of instructional responsibility for each degree of teaching.

Entry behaviour includes the prerequisite knowledge, attitudes or skills which the student already possesses that are relevant to the learning task or subject matter and that you may require students to demonstrate before beginning your module. This includes previous education and experience that the student brings to the new learning context. The ultimate purpose is  to advance the student from where he is (entry behaviour) to where you would like him to be (having mastered the learning objectives or terminal behaviour).

Entry behaviour comprises the activities/responses of the learners prior to the teaching-learning process. The prior knowledge of learners, their interests, attitudes, abilities, etc make up the entry behaviour of students. Terminal behaviour comprises the activities/responses displayed by learners after the completion of the teaching-learning process. Thus the change in behaviour after the teaching-learning process will make up the terminal behaviour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

Teaching can be considered as the art of assisting another to learn  by providing the information and  appropriate situations, conditions or activities .It is an intimate contact between a more mature personality and a less mature one which is designed to further the education of later. The process by which one person helps other in the achievement of knowledge, skill and aptitudes.

The activities in teaching carry special importance. Its main cause is that through these activities, the pupils get much assistance in learning. In other words, the learning experiences are acquired in a natural way through these activities. It should be remembered that these activities are different in the different phases of teaching.

Phases of Teaching

Teaching is a complex task. For performing this task, a systematic planning is needed.            Teaching is to be considered in terms of various steps and the different steps constituting the process are called the phases of teaching.

The teaching can be divided into three phases:

Pre-active phase of teaching

In the pre-active phase of teaching, the planning of teaching is carried over. This phase includes all those activities which a teacher performs before class-room teaching or before entering the class- room.

Pre-teaching consists essentially of the planning of a lesson. The planning of lesson needs to be  seen  in  broader  terms,  not merely  the designing  of  a  lesson  plan. Planning  includes identifying the  objectives to be  achieved in terms  of  students  learning,  the  strategies and methods  to  be  adopted,  use  of  teaching aids  and  so  on.

It is the planning phase of instructional act. The foundation of this phase is set through the establishment of some kind of goals or objectives, and discovering ways and means to achieve those objectives.

Planning is done for taking decision about the following aspects-

• Selection of the content to be taught
• Organization of the content
• Justification of the principles and maxims of teaching to be used
• Selection  of the appropriate of methods of teaching
• Decision about the preparation and usage of  evaluation tools.

Suggested activities in the Pre-active phase of teaching-

1-Determining goals and objectives:

First of all, the teacher determines the teaching objectives which are then defined in the form of behavioural changes. Thus, he ascertains the teaching objectives and what changes he requires in the pupils by achieving those objectives. These objectives are of two types—

A- In the form of entering behaviours of the pupils.

B- In the form of terminal behaviours of the pupils.

It is remarkable that these objectives are determined according to the psychology of the pupils and needs of the school and the society.

2.      Selection of the content to be taught: After fixing the teaching objectives, the teacher makes decisions about that content which is to be presented before the pupils and as a result he wants to bring the changes in their behaviours. This decision is taken by the teacher by considering the following points-

• Level need and importance of the curriculum proposed by the teacher for the students.
• The expected terminal behaviour of the student .Why the pupils need it to learn.
• Selection of appropriate instrument and methods the teacher
• Use to evaluate the knowledge related to the content.

3.       Sequencing the elements of content for presentation: After making selections regarding the contents to be presented to the students, the teacher arranges the elements of content in a logical and psychological manner, so that this arrangement of content may assist in transfer of learning.

4.        Selection about the instructional methodology: After sequencing the contents, the teacher makes decisions regarding the proper methods and strategies by keeping in view the contents , entering behaviour  and the level of the students.

5.      How and when of teaching strategies: Decision-making regarding the teaching methods and strategies for presenting the sequenced contents to the students is not sufficient. So the teacher  should also  decide how and when he will make use of the previously selected method and strategy during the class-room teaching.

-Inter-active Phase of Teaching

The second  phase includes  the execution  of  the plan,  where  learning experiences are provided to  students through suitable modes.

As instruction is the complex process by which learners are provided with a deliberately designed environment to interact with, keeping in focus pre-specified objective of bringing about specific desirable changes. Whether instruction  goes  in  a  classroom,  laboratory,  outdoors or  library, this environment is specifically designed by  a  teacher so that students interact with  certain specific environmental stimuli, like  natural  components (outdoor),  information from  books, certain equipment (laboratory) etc.

Learning is directed in pre-determined directions to achieve certain pre-specific goals. This does not, however, mean that, in the pre-determined environment no learning other than what a teacher has decided upon as instructional objectives does not take place. The variety of experiences that students go through with a teacher, among them- selves provide learning opportunities.

All those activities which are performed by a teacher after entering in a class are clubbed (to combine together) under inter-active phase of teaching. Generally these activities are concerned with the presentation and delivery of the content in a class. The teacher provides pupil verbal stimulation of various kinds, makes explanations, ask questions, listen to the student’s response and provide guidance.

The teacher provides pupils verbal stimulation of various kinds, makes explanations, asks questions, listens to students’ responses and provides guidance.

The following activities are suggested for the  inclusion in the inter-active phase of teaching-

1. Sizing up of the class: As the teacher enters the classroom, first of all he perceives the size of the class. He throws his eyes on all the pupils of the class in a few moments. He comes to know the pupils who can help him in his teaching and the pupils who can create a problem for him as a result of this perception.

In the same way, the students can feel the personality of the teacher . Hence, at this stage, the teacher should look like a teacher. He should exhibit of course in a veiled manner all those characteristic which are supposed to be present in a good teacher. In nut-shell the teacher should appears as an   efficient and impressive personality.

2.      Knowing the learners: After having a feeling of class-size, the teacher makes efforts to know how much the new comers or pupils have previous knowledge. He tries to know the abilities, Interests and attitudes and academic background of learners.

The teacher starts teaching activities after diagnosing, by questioning regarding action and reaction: two types of activities are involved here in the teaching-

a.       Initiation,

b.      Response.

Both these activities are known as verbal interaction. Both these activities occur between the teacher and the students. In other words, when a teacher performs some activities, the student  reacts  or when students perform some activities, the teacher reacts  .This way the inter-action in the teaching take place.

The teachers performs the following activities in order to analyze the nature of verbal and non-verbal inter-action of teaching activities-

a.       Selection and presentation of stimuli.

b.      Feedback and reinforcement.

c.       Deployment of strategies.

a.       Selection and presentation of stimuli: The motive or new knowledge is a process of teaching. It can be verbal or non-verbal. The teacher should be aware of the motive which would prove effective and which would not be so for a particular teaching situation.

The teacher should select the appropriate stimulus as soon as the situation arises and an effort should be made to control the undesired activities to create the situation and for desired activities.

After selecting the stimuli, the teacher should present them before the students. The teacher should present that form of the stimulus which can motivate the students for learning. During such presentation of stimuli, the teacher should keep in mind the form context and order of the stimuli.

b.      Feedback and reinforcement: Feedback or reinforcement is that condition which increases the possibility for accepting a particular response in future. In other words those conditions which increase the possibility of occurrence of a particular response are termed as feedback or reinforcement. These conditions may be of two types which are as follows-

•         Positive reinforcement: These are the conditions which increase the possibility of recurrence of desired behavior or response.

•         Negative response: These are the conditions in which the possibility of recurrence of the undesired behavior or response is decreased, such as punishment or reprimanding etc.

Reinforcement is used for three purposes. These are –

•         For strengthening the response.

•         For changing the response, and

•         Modifying or correcting the response.

c.       Deployment of strategies: The teaching activities are directly related to the learning conditions. Therefore, at the time of interaction the teacher produces such activities and conditions by the reinforcement strategies which effect the activities of the pupils.

The development of the teaching strategies turns the pupil-teacher interaction impressive. From the very moment, the teacher starts the teaching task and till the movement, the teacher starts the teaching task and till the movement that task goes on, the verbal and non-verbal behaviours of the pupils are controlled by the reinforcement strategies and cooperates in presenting the contents in an impressive way.

In the deployment of the teaching strategies, three areas should be considered. These are –

•         Presentation of subject-matter,

•         Levels of learning.

•         Level or context of learners, their background, needs, motivation, attitudes and cooperation.

In the interactive stage, these activities are carried on not only by the teacher, but also carried on by the students. The students also feel about the teacher and diagnose his personality as a teacher. In order to be impressed themselves and to improve the teaching, they deploy the various strategies by selecting the different stimuli.

Operations at the interactive phase

We can present the activities of the interaction through the following chart-

Teacher                                                                                        Student

P———D——–A                                                                   P———D——–A

(Perceptual)(Diagnostic)(Achievement)                         (Perceptual)(Diagnostic)(Achievement)

This second phase of teaching is concerned with the implementation and carrying out what has been planned or decided at the planning stage. It is the stage for actual teaching.

Major operations in the interactive phase are-

1) Perception-

Interaction process demands an appropriate perception on the part of teacher as well as the students. When a teacher enters the class, his first activity is concerned with a perception of classroom climate. He tries to weigh himself, his abilities for teaching against the class group. Similarly students also tries to have perception of the abilities, behaviour and personality characteristics of the teacher.

2) Diagnosis-

A teacher tries to access the achievement level of his students with regards to their abilities, interest and aptitude. The teacher can asks several questions  to know  how far students know about the topic.

3) Reaction Process-

Under this stage teacher observes the students that how they response to the teacher’s questions. The student has to learn the proper way of reacting and responding to the various stimuli and teaching techniques presented to it. This phase is responsible for establishing appropriate verbal and non verbal class room interaction between teacher and pupils.

Post-active Phase of Teaching

Post-teaching phase,  , is the one that involves teacher’s activities such as analysing evaluation results to determine students’ learning, especially their problems in understanding specific areas, to reflect on the teaching by self, and to decide on the necessary changes to be brought in the system in the next instructional period.

The Post-active phase concerns with the evaluation activities. This can be done in number of ways including tests or quizzes or by observing student’s reaction of questions, comments, structures and unstructured situations.

In this phase, as the teaching task sums up, the teacher asks the questions from the pupils, verbally or in written form, to measure the behaviours of the pupils so that their achievements may be evaluated correctly.

Therefore, evaluation aspect includes all those activities which can evaluate the achievements of the pupils and attainment of the objectives. Without evaluation teaching is an incomplete process. It is related with both teaching and learning. The following activities are suggested in the post-active of teaching-

1.      Defining the exact dimensions of the changes caused by teaching.

2.      Selecting appropriate testing devices and techniques.

3.       Changing the strategies in terms of evidences gathered.

Defining the exact dimensions of the changes caused by teaching: At the end of the teaching,the teacher defines the exact dimensions of changes in the behaviours as a result of teaching, this is termed as criterion behaviour. For this the teacher compares the actual behavioural changes in the students with their expected behavioural changes. If he observes the desired behavioural changes in the maximum numbers of pupils, he concludes that his teaching strategies and tactics worked effectively with the help of which teaching objectives have been achieved.

Selecting appropriate testing devices and techniques: The teacher selects those testing devices and techniques to compare the actual behavioural changes with the desired behavioural change which are reliable and valid and which can evaluate the cognitive and non-cognitive aspects of the pupils. Therefore, criterion tests are more preferred than the performance tests.

Changing the strategies in terms of evidences gathered: While, by using the reliable and valid testing devices, the teacher gets the knowledge regarding the performances of pupils and attainment of objectives on one hand, and on the other hand he also gets clarity regarding his instruction, teaching strategies and tactics. He also comes to know about the required modification in the teaching strategies and situations along with the drawbacks of his teaching in order to achieve the teaching objectives. In this way, through evaluation, the teaching activities are diagnosed and these can be made effective by necessary modifications and changes in them.

Teaching is viewed as a comprehensive process, and there has been a tremendous change in the way  of understanding teaching and a teacher’s roles. Teaching is conceptualized as an active interactive process that goes on between the consciously designed environment and  the student, (where teachers may  or  may  not  be present), with a definite purpose. It includes all the activities organized by a teacher to bring about learning, be it inside or outside a classroom, with or without the presence of the teacher.

4.5 -  Teaching Unit based on Phases of teaching

Morrison, the foremost educationist who propounded the basic concept of teaching unit, concentrated on actual change in the behavior of the learner. Rejecting the notion that learning referred only to the acquisition of subject matter, the unit was the procedure used for the teaching of an adaptation based on a stimulus-response psychology.

Steps of a Teaching Unit

1.   Pre-active phase or introductory phase. New knowledge is linked with the previous knowledge so as to develop appreciative mass of the students by teaching units. These units help in motivating students. They provide awareness of teaching objectives to learners.

2.   Inter-active phase. With the help of nits, appropriate learning experience is provided to perform certain activities to facilitate student-learning.

3.   Post-active phase. The teaching units help in evaluating learning objectives in terms of student’s performance. It also provides feed-back to teaching learning process.

Elements of a Teaching Unit

1. Overview. Objectives of teaching unit are formulated on the basis of level of student i.e. their previous knowledge, age, intelligence, interest and social, cultural and personal need; and nature of the subject-matter.

2. Inventory or Back-ground. Previous knowledge of students is explored. Their motivational state and level of aspiration are also explored by asking some question or giving a pre-test.

3. Presentation. Every element of teaching unit provides new learning situations or experiences to learners. They are presented in a logical sequence which helps in more retainable learning.   Lecture, discussion, demonstration or any teaching strategy supplemented with teaching aids and question – answer technique encourage student’s participation.

4. Motivation. It is an important factor for facilitating learning. It is also known as leading phase of learning. It involves several techniques, use of audio-visual aids etc.

5. Summarization. Induction-deduction approach (i.e. whole to part teaching) is utilized for comprehension of the unit. The elements of teaching-units are summarized   at the end of presentation.

6. Drilling and Review. Drilling or practice of elements of a unit is must. The student learns better and retains longer if the drill is organized or review is done. Drilling and reviewing is done orally.

7. Organization. Assignments are given to students to organize their learning experiences according to their own ability.

8. Evaluation. Evaluation is done by short answer questions orally to ascertain how far the teacher could achieve real learning outcomes by presenting teaching units.

Basic Principles of Unit Method

1. .Principle of Interest and Purpose. In order to achieve the objectives of the unit the teacher creates interest in the pupils. This brings the desired changes in their behavior.
2. Principle of Unit. The process of acquiring knowledge, the teacher presents the content of a unit before the pupils giving supremacy to the unity of ‘Wholeness’.
3. Principle of Child’ Supremacy. The activities of the pupils are emphasized in the entire teaching while assigning the special importance to the needs and basic instincts of the pupils.
4. Principle of Organization. In order to provide complete knowledge to the pupils, various teaching materials should be used and organized.
5. Principle of Dynamism. All the teaching units should be dynamic. Dynamism is the key to teaching. The teacher should apply the principle of dynamism according to the need. It makes the scope of each unit wider and pupils acquire it easily.
6. Principle of Recitation. From psychological point of view, recitation marks the new knowledge in the minds of pupils. Hence, recitation by the pupils is encouraged in unit-method.

Elements of Teaching Unit

Division of Content. The entire subject-matter is divided into smaller units. By concentrating on them pupils understand these smaller units easily.

Giving Practical Shape to Teaching Process. After understanding the smaller units of the subject matter they are given practical shape.

Overview. The teacher determines the objectives of the teaching unit in such a way that the needs of the pupils are fulfilled and they are so much motivated that they may acquire new knowledge with interest. After introduction the teacher states the aim so that the pupils get aware of the scope of teaching units.

Previous Knowledge. The get aware of the previous knowledge of the pupils for their knowledge, the teacher asks questions from the pupils so that after relating the previous knowledge to the new knowledge is may decide the point to start.

The elements of the contents The elements of the contents are presented in a logical order. The lessons is developed with the cooperation of the pupils .Question answer method is used. If the pupils fail to answer the questions the teacher interprets the elements himself.

Motivation. As every activity of the teaching unit is performed for learning, the teacher should motivate the pupils at intervals so that they may continuously show interest in the teaching and get ready to learn.

Summarize. It enables the teacher to give the summarized form of the lesson.

Drill and Recapitulation. These techniques are important to minimize forgetting in learning. The pupils may retain the learning experiences for longer duration.

Organization. To provide proper provision for organizing the acquired experiences, the teacher assigns home work to the pupil which helps them in organizing the acquired Knowledge.

Evaluation. There is a provision of evaluation the knowledge acquired by the pupils which makes them aware of the limit of acquisition of the objective. Oral questions or oral and written tests are used for this purpose.

Suggested Administration of Teaching Unit

Pre-active phase or introductory phase- New knowledge is linked with the previous knowledge so as to develop appreciative mass of the students by teaching units. These units help in motivating students. They provide awareness of teaching objectives to learners. The pupils are made clear about the teaching objectives to make them curious to gain new knowledge

Inter-active phase/ Presentation Phase- With the help of units, appropriate learning experience are provided to perform certain activities to facilitate student-learning. Learning experiences are provided to the pupils while presenting the contents

Post-active phase/ Evaluation Phase- The teaching units help in evaluating learning objectives in terms of student’s performance. It also provides feed-back to teaching learning process. Pupils repeat the acquired experiences while interpreting them.

Morrison identified a five-step instructional pattern. Morrison’s general pattern for the instructional process (his plan or method) involves the following sequential steps:

(1) Pretest,

(2) Teaching,

(3) Testing the result of instruction,

(4) Changing the instruction procedure, and

(5) Teaching and testing again until the unit has been completely mastered by the student.

On the basis of the above referred pattern the following steps can be developed;

Steps Related with what aspect- Morrison analyzed the school curriculum into units of five types: Science Appreciation, Practical art, Language arts, and Pure-practice. He firmly believes that instruction would vary among the different types of units, On the basis of this analysis; a teacher gets an opportunity to study the content deeply. It cultivate a feeling of self confidence in him .This analysis ensures continuity of teaching.

Steps Related with Why aspect- Teaching objectives are those central points around which the whole teaching process revolves. Thus it is essential that the teacher identify and analyze them in consideration with learning experience and entering behavior of students.

Steps Related with How aspect-Learning is a continuous process of acquiring experiences, through which the predetermined objectives can be achieved. It is related with active aspect of teaching. Determinations of instructional methodology including strategies are come under this step.

Steps related with how much aspect- This is the final and most important step of a teaching unit. Feedback regarding quality of instruction is given in this step. .

Every teaching unit has its own structure. The structure of a unit is based on the nature of the subject-matter and the teaching objective. A teaching unit marks the contents, the subject-matter and methods of presentation.

As objectives provide the base for the determination of teaching objectives, so objectives should be kept in mind while analyzing the content. In reality, the whole content should be divided as per the objectives. It depends on the fact that how much time a teacher has, for the realization of the pre set objectives. However in day to day teaching it is not possible to analyze/ divide the whole content at one time. Thus the total content at the disposal of the teacher is divided in the form of small topics. After that required time period is determined for the realization of the objectives.

In order to inculcate more objectivity in this process a two dimensional blue print chart should be prepared. In this blue print the objective should be placed on one side and necessary time periods are on other side. This two dimensional blue print can be analyzed as per the daily, weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis.

 

S. No	Teaching Topics	Cognitive Domain	Affective Domain	Psycho-motor Domain	Expected Periods	Duration
—-	–	Knowledge	Receiving	Impulsion
—-	–	Understanding	Responding	Manipulation
—-	–	Application	Valuing	Control
——	–	Analysis	Conceptualization	Coordination
——	–	Synthesis	Organization	Naturalization
——	–	Evaluation	Characterization	Habit formation

 

 

After the time periods, the topics of the contents are specified. It enables a teacher to foresee the contents to be given to students, and they have to be sequenced so that their inherent mutual relationship can be preserved.

Next, the content is analyzed in terms of objectives and desirable behavioral changes. Content should be analyzed in the form of following teaching points-

 

Contents related with objectives of Cognitive Domain

Objectives	Teaching Points Related to-
Knowledge	Knowledge of Terms Knowledge of Concepts Knowledge of Principles Knowledge of processes Knowledge of relationships
Comprehension	Translation Interpretation Extrapolation
Application	Generalization Diagnosis Use in new situation
Analysis	Analysis of Elements Analysis of Relationship Analysis of organizational  principles
Synthesis	Production of unique Communication Production of proposed set of  operation

 

Thus if at the time of determining teaching units, desirable behavioral changes are kept in view and the content is divided into small topics, then attention should be given to the entering behavior of the students and the time to be taken. If these points are kept in view there is every possibility that a teacher will be successful in his teaching.

Advantages

• Habit of Healthy Study. In helps in the habit of healthy study. This makes them self-learners.
• Interesting. The interest of the pupils is emphasized. Easy acquisition of teaching objectives is preferred.
• Child Centered Method. The capacities and needs of the pupils are considered supreme.
• Psychological Method. Based on Gestalt psychology. This method gives importance the ‘whole’ instead of part.
• Development of social values. An important method of group teaching, the unit method helps in developing social values in the pupils.
• Organized learning. Learning occur in an organized from. Consequently, it becomes the permanent part of the brain.
• Encouragement to Expression of Ideas. A child centered method encourages the development of social values as well as the capacity of express ideas.
• Use of Appropriate Teaching Aids. The knowledge is imparted with the help of appropriate aid. This enables them to learn how to apply properly the teaching aid.

Limitations

• End of Originality. While using unit method; pupils are to restrict themselves. This finishes the originality of the teaching and learning.
• Waste of Time. The pupils are provided with organized and detailed knowledge. This wastes the time.
• Limited Scope. Due to the detailed Knowledge provided to the pupils, this unit –method has very limited scope.
• Mechanical Method of teaching. The freedom of the teacher is delimited so much that he fails to present his thoughts before the pupils. The learning becomes lifeless, boring and mechanical in such a situation.

• Possibility of Gaining Less Knowledge- It is possible that the pupils acquire sufficient knowledge in some subjects and insufficient knowledge in others.

Teaching Unit is a core, a back-bone a key concept or pivot of lesson planning. It concerns with the subject-matter, content and teaching strategies. The content is analyzed into units. These units are complete in it. These are arranged logically which work psychologically in effective and permanent learning. These units can be taught independently and can be measured independently these teaching units help to decide the teaching strategies, teaching tactics and audio-visual aids. These units provide basis for liking new knowledge with the previous knowledge of student’s Units help in relating teaching with learning

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

Non-formal mode of education is an organized activity  which can be modified in a number of forms and methods depending on the requirements of the learner. Our classroom teaching does not provide opportunity for self expression, constructive activities and independent enquiry.  No time is assigned for practical work.  All these lead to the need for an organization providing an outlet for the pent up emotions of children and for pooling their energies. An organization which caters for the in calculation of scientific attitude and genuine interest in science and also can supplement the work of the classroom and give the syllabus a practical dimension may be called a science club.

It is a fact that we can learn and remember things better if we do it and practice rather than just read them. This basic principle is involved in the formation of organization called “Science Clubs” meant for ‘learning by doing’.

Children have the tendency to make things, break things and handle things on their own but the conventional system of education does not allow them to do so. Self-expression, independent research, constructive activities, etc., are some of the opportunities provided by the science clubs. In the classrooms, the students work formally and restrict themselves to the school curriculum. Whereas in science clubs, there are no restrictions and the students can work on their own ideas with full freedom.

Science clubs channelize the energies of students and make use of their skills and talents, which satisfy their instincts and urges and helps in their overall personality development. Science clubs work in association with classroom instruction of science subjects. Therefore we can define science club as “an organization, which helps in the development of scientific attitude, and develop genuine interest in science and scientific activities, supplements the work of the classroom and the laboratory and parts the syllabus on a practical bias

Science Club  bridge in-school and out-of-school learning and foster the development of skills, such as experimentation, critical thinking, and problem solving. By giving our members a supportive environment to explore science, we are also building more confident learners and educators.

Some concepts can not taught either in the classroom or in the laboratory, for such concepts science club provide better opportunities In science teaching process laboratory is considered as heart of science, curriculum where as science club is considered as the blood of it.

The Aims and Objectives of a Science club

The aims and objectives of a science club may outline as below.

To provide proper incentive and inspiration for the pursuit of scientific knowledge in rigorous way by broadening their scientific outlook. To make the students understand the values of time and to help them in the proper utilization to their hours.

• To provide opportunities for bringing school close to the society and to acquaint the people with the services and contribution of the science in their life.
• To develop among the student the spirit and attitude of healthy competition for the individual and social cause.  To help the students in imbibing The habit of self-reliance, self-dependence and love for manual work
• To inculcate scientific attitude. To provide opportunity for the development of the constructive, explorative & inventive faculties of the students. To develop training in scientific method of problem solving
• To develop students, inters and participation in the practical application of the    knowledge related to different branches of science. To grate interest in scientific facts and events related to one’s surroundings.
• To develop interest in scientific hobbies. To encourage individual and group activities. To stimulate active participation and initiative among students in the learning process.
• To develop the creativity and encourage the habit of exploration.To widen the outlook of students, apply the knowledge in life situations.
• To provide opportunity for the development of the constructive, explorative and inventive faculties of the students.
• To create interest in latest inventions and discoveries of science in various fields and to get acquainted with the life history and contributions of great scientists.
• To develop students, interest and participation in the practical application of the knowledge related to different branches of sciences.

Organization of Science Club

A properly organized science club will be a valuable aid to teaching science and also a means of motivating the children for learning science. The successful working of the club depends on the persons who organize it and also on the interest and enthusiasm of students. Though science club is run by the students for the students, the science teacher is the pivot of all activities.

To begin with, the science teacher can explain the importance and benefits of organizing science club and can arouse enthusiasm among students. This discussion may be followed by business meeting in which office beares are chosen. Every science club should have its own constitution. They should be a general body and an executive body.

The suggested office bearer should be:

1. The senior science teacher may be the Sponcer.
2. The principal/Headmaster of the school may be Patron
3. The resources of the school should be made available to the club.
4. An elective executive committee formed from the club members/students.
5. Executive committee: Chairmen, Secretory, Joint Secretory, Treasurer, Librarian, Store keeper, Publicity in charge, Class representative.
6. A nominal membership fee should be charged from every member.
7. Other resources should be tapped by the club.
8. The members of the club should be encouraged to extended the activities of the culb in their locality.

The duties of office bearers should be

• Patron : To extended all the facilities to the club for its effective working.
• Sponcer: To look after, Guide, Lead.
• Chairperson: To prescribe over the function of the club and over the meetings of the executive committee.
• Secretory: To maintain the minutes of the meetings of the club.
• Join Secretory: To assist the secretory.
• Treasurer: To collect subscriptions and maintain the accounts.
• Librarian: To issue and receive book, maintain catalogue.
• Store Keeper: To keep record and equipment of the club
• Publicity in charge: To publish the activities of the club in and outside the school.

There should be regular meetings, discussions, planning, feedback etc. The responsibility of the taking initiative in the establishment of a science club in the school and then for its effective organization essentially lists.

Preliminary Considerations:

1-      After performing the above mentioned tasks the teacher should call a formal meeting of the science teacher should call a formal meeting of the science students.  In this meeting the proposal and scheme concerning the organization of Science club in the school should be discussed.  The aims and objectives of this club are to be placed before the students and constitution of the club is chalked out and the membership drive is launched.

2.     With the active cooperation of the head of the institution, the he should make efforts to arrange for the finances to establish the science club.  While some amount may be taken from the finances of the institution and collected from the students in the form of membership fee etc.

3.        The department of NCERT, State Government or any voluntary agency may also be approached for providing assistance in the project.

Suggested  functioning  of Science club:

Every office bearer and member of the club should work whole heartedly in a team spirit for the smooth and effective running of the programs and activities of the club . Usually the following  activities may be undertaken in a science club:

v  Arranging  lectures of the subject experts  on the subject of the scientific interest

v  Arranging cleanliness and health weeks in the institution

v  Arranging excursions and short trios for the members to places of scientific interest.

v  Creating in the school healthy environment for carrying out scientific studies and activities.

v  Decorating the walls of the classroom, library and laboratory with scientific and activities.

v  Organizing school services in the field of health and sanitation

v  Preparing certain things of common use like soaps, writing ink,  phenyl, etc

v  Publishing science magazine and news bulletin of scientific events.

Suggested duties of office bearers

Duties of the Secretary-

• To take responsibility of the conducting the programmes and activities of the club.
• To take charges of all correspondence related with the club activities.
• To frame the programmes of the meeting and keep proper record or the proceeding of the meetings of the club.
• To invite the outside expert and guest speaker etc., in the club and attend them properly.

Duties of the Publicity Officer-

• To publicize the activities of the club in the school and outside the school through posters and writing in the magazines, newspapers and scientific journals.
• To keep a record of all important scientific activities, achievements and programmes of the club.

Duties of the Treasure-

• To prepare budged of the club and present the statement of the account .
• To keep the proper account of the income and expenditure of the club.
• To collect subscriptions from the members.

Suggested Science Club Activities

Through activities of a science club, learning of science becomes joyful.  The science club caters to freedom for expression, where as the classroom atmosphere leads to conformity and repression.  While activity participating in a science club students organize thought and translate these in to action and thereby develop a zealous enthusiasm to strive for the cause of scientific enterprise.

The club  should be in contact with scientists and other nearby scientific institutions who could visit the schools to speak to learners about exciting topics and show them some “science in action”. This could also be an opportunity for learners to ask about careers in science.

The club could organise for its members (and other interested learners) to meet for talk sessions where current scientific topics could be discussed. This session could be used to talk about ideas that might help solve some of the world’s many problems. With a little more initiative, real scientists and university students could be invited to sit in at these sessions.

The most exciting part of such a club is the opportunity to meet people from other schools. If neighbouring schools were encouraged to form similar clubs, then these clubs could communicate with each other and form some joint organisation with representatives from each school. This larger group could then organise much bigger projects such as regional science expo’s and other interesting inter-school events.

This is an easy-to-organise event that would be fun as well as intellectually challenging. The club could find interesting mathematics or science problems that lie within the capability of the targeted learners and offer small prizes to those who can solve them. Depending on the level of difficulty, there could also be prizes for group entries.

Many learners may exhibit great interest in a certain aspect of science but lack the motivation to pursue it. By providing some incentive for them (e.g. obtaining partners from industry who may also be interested in a certain topic) the club will facilitate and encourage these learners to research topics that they find interesting.

Conducting visual programmes of  scientific interest . Improvising and preparing hand-made apparatus. Collecting. Preparation of soaps, ink ,candle matches, toys, bleaching powder, nail polish, chalk etc. Mounting and preserving the specimens.

Rendering school services in health and sanitation through managing a first aid squad. Helping the community by way of demonstration on health and hygiene, improvement of agriculture, eradication of superstitious belief etc.

Publishing school science magazine.Preparing science albums, Preparing still/Working models on science topics .Maintaining a bulletin board  for displaying science news .Conducting essay competition on scientific problems.

Arranging science discussions, debate, essay writing, Conducting workshops Conducting science quiz competitions,   etc.Arranging the science excursions and visits. Arranging science exhibitions , Film shows and science fairs.Organizing lectures, debates, seminars, symposia etc.

Celebrating the science days . Celebrating birth days of eminent scientist

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

Science subject is one of the important subjects in school education. However, really the traditional teaching methods are challenged for their inability to foster critical thinking, holistic learning environment among children. The science subject must develop science process skills where children, observe, measure, classify, process information, interpret think on solving problems, analyze, synthesize, formulate conclusions, etc. but, it should be kept in mind that, creativity in an essential element of science.

Problem-solving is, and should be, a very real part of the curriculum. It presupposes that students can take on some of the responsibility for their own learning and can take personal action to solve problems, resolve conflicts, discuss alternatives, and focus on thinking as a vital element of the curriculum. It provides students with opportunities to use their newly acquired knowledge in meaningful, real-life activities and assists them in working at higher levels of thinking

Meaning and Definition of Problem solving method

In a problem solving method, children learn by working on problems. This enables the students to learn new knowledge by facing the problems to be solved. The students are expected to observe, understand, analyze, interpret find solutions, and perform applications that lead to a holistic understanding of the concept. This method develops scientific process skills. This method helps in developing brainstorming approach to learning concepts.

The students thinking on problem and their understanding of the science behind it is based on common sense. It does not start from textual knowledge. Rather it proceeds from experiencing to gradually forming concepts through books at later stage. It is a process from practice to theory not vice versa. Knowledge here is not a goal but a natural out came of working on tasks. Students live in the real world and like to deal with concrete things where they can touch, feel manipulate things then the method is useful in igniting the process of science learning

A problem is a task for which Problem–solving may be a purely mental difficulty or it may be physical and involve manipulation of data.  , the person confronting it wants or needs to find a solution because the person has no readily available procedure for finding the solution.  The person must make an attempt to find a solution. Problem solving is the act of defining a problem; determining the cause of the problem; identifying, prioritizing and selecting alternatives for a solution; and implementing a solution.

Problem-solving method aims at presenting the knowledge to be learnt in the form of a problem. It begins with a problematic situation and consists of continuous, meaningful, well-integrated activity. The problems are test to the students in a natural way and it is ensured that the students are genuinely interested to solve them.

Problem–solving may be a purely mental difficulty or it may be physical and involve manipulation of data. Problem-solving is the ability to identify and solve problems by applying appropriate skills systematically.

Problem-solving is a process—an ongoing activity in which we take what we know to discover what we don’t know. It involves overcoming obstacles by generating hypo-theses, testing those predictions, and arriving at satisfactory solutions.

Objectives of Problem-Solving: The specific objectives of problem solving in science are :

• Willingness to try problems and improve their perseverance when solving problems.
• Improve pupils’ self-concepts with respect to the abilities to solve problems.
• Make pupils aware of the problem-solving strategies.
• Make pupils aware of the value of approaching problems in a systematic manner.
• Make pupils aware that many problems can be solved in more than one way.
• Improve pupils’ abilities to select appropriate solution strategies.
• Improve pupils’ abilities to implement solution strategies accurately.
• Improve pupils’ abilities to get more correct answers to problems
• The appreciation of the existence of a problems and a desire to solve it
• The accumulation of the facts and data which are pertinent to the problem.
• Logical interpretation of the data supported by adequate valid experience.

Tips for effective use of Problem solving method

• Ask questions and make suggestions. Ask students to predict “what would happen if …” or explain why something happened. This will help them to develop analytical and deductive thinking skills. . Do this by providing positive reinforcement to let students know when they have mastered a new concept or skill.

• Don’t fear group work.Students can frequently help each other, and talking about a problem helps them think more critically about the steps needed to solve the problem.

• Help students understand the problem. In order to solve problems, students need to define the end goal. If you succeed at helping students answer the questions “what?” and “why?”, finding the answer to “how?” will be easier. Have students identify specific problems, difficulties, or confusions. Don’t waste time working through problems that students already understand?

• If students are unable to articulate their concerns, determine where they are having trouble. Identify the specific concepts or principles associated with the problem. Make students articulate their problem solving process. In a one-on-one tutoring session, ask the student to work his/her problem out loud. This slows down the thinking process, making it more accurate and allowing you to access understanding.

• Link errors to misconceptions. Use errors as evidence of misconceptions, not carelessness or random guessing. Make an effort to isolate the misconception and correct it, then teach students to do this by themselves. We can all learn from mistakes. Try to communicate that the process is more important than the answer so that the student learns that it is OK to not have an instant solution.

• Model the problem solving process rather than just giving students the answer. As you work through the problem, consider how a novice might struggle with the concepts and make your thinking clear .Provide only minimal assistance and only when needed to overcome obstacles.

• Take enough time. Budget enough time for: understanding the problem and defining the goal, both individually and as a class; dealing with questions from you and your students; making, finding, and fixing mistakes; and solving entire problems in a single session.
• Teach within a specific context. Teach problem-solving skills in the context in which they will be used .Use real-life problems in explanations, examples, and exams. Do not teach problem solving as an independent, abstract skill.
• Work as a facilitator. Teacher must keep in mind that if in a child-directed learning not teacher-directed. He must be alert and active to arouse interest among students. Must provide democratic atmosphere. Teacher must provide situation for all students to come formed and contribute towards the success of the activity.

Procedural steps of Problem solving method

Problem-based learning is a method of educating adult learners that combines theoretical knowledge with practical  activities. The process engages participants in considering complex and challenging issues and encourages them towards finding an appropriate solution. The expectation is that participants will have the motivation to learn because the problem scenarios are based on real-life situations found in the workplace. The expectation is that participants will have the motivation to learn because the problem scenarios are based on real-life situations.

The procedural steps can be devided in two phases

a-       Pre-active /Planning phase

b-      Active / Execution phase

c-       Post-active/Evaluation phase

The Pre-active / planning phase includes:

Defining the problem:

1. • The system. Have students identify the system under study  by interpreting the information provided in the problem statement. Drawing a diagram is a great way to do this.
   • Known(s) and concepts. List what is known about the problem, and identify the knowledge needed to understand (and eventually) solve it.
   • Unknown(s). identifying the unknown(s) becomes simpler. One unknown is generally the answer to the problem, but there may be other unknowns. Be sure that students understand what they are expected to find.
   • Units and symbols. Select, interpret, and use units and symbols. Emphasize the use of units whenever applicable. Develop a habit of using appropriate units and symbols yourself at all times.
   • Constraints. Teach students to look for the words only, must, neglect, or assume to help identify the constraints.

Active / Execution phase

The following are the general procedural steps in Execution phase:

Step one

Selection of the Problem  and Presentation of the Problem :A number of problems are confronted by the students in the class or outside. They are made to select a problem as per their capacity and interest.

Each student is made to feel responsible for presenting the problem in front of the teacher and class as per his insight. The students are free to give their suggestions on the problem. Diagnose the situation so that your focus is on the problem .

Step two

Generation of alternative solutions: All the facts related to problem are collected either by a students or group. As a number of facts will be collected, it will help the students to keep the most pertinent facts and discard rest.

Step three

Generate alternative solutions: Postpone the selection of one solution until several alternatives have been proposed. Having a standard with which to compare the characteristics of the final solution is not the same as defining the desired outcome. Considering multiple alternatives can significantly enhance the value of  final solution. Many alternative solutions should be generated before evaluating any of them. A common mistake in problem solving is that alternatives are evaluated as they are proposed, so the first desired solution is chosen, even if it’s not the best fit.

Step four

Evaluate and select an alternative: Skilled problem solvers use a series of considerations when selecting the best alternative. They consider the extent to which:

• A particular alternative will solve the problem without causing other unanticipated problems.
• All the individuals involved will accept the alternative.
• Implementation of the alternative is likely.
• The alternative fits within the organizational constraints.

Step five

Implement and follow up on the solution: This is most important phase as a proper outline at this stage will lead to purposeful activity. The teacher will guide students to draw exact plan and follow it properly so that the solution to problem is reached. It is more or less like planning stage, where in a clear indication of outline leads to better result. Feedback channels must be built into the implementation of the solution, to produce continuous monitoring and testing of actual events against expectations. Problem solving, and the techniques used to derive elucidation, can only be effective in an organization if the solution remains in place and is updated to respond to future changes.

Post-active/Evaluation phase .

The following steps comes under this phase;

Reaching  the Inferences and conclusions : The tentative solutions which are offered by students are properly noted down. A good number of arrangements, discussion, brainstorming results in reaching a satisfactory conclusion. The teacher has to be very careful at this stage as, if may lead to wrong conclusions. The discussions must be healthy and conducive atmosphere must be provided in the classroom for it.

The students review the entire process and find out each and every stage where in they have made any mistakes. Self-criticism and Self-realization will give training of self confidence. The teacher must see that objective have been achieved.

Writing the Report:

1. A complete report should  be written by the students. This will include, how they planned, what discussions were held, how duties were assigned, how satisfactory conclusion was reached  etc. It’s vitally important that students have multiple opportunities to assess their own problem-solving skills and the solutions they generate from using those skills. Frequently, students are overly dependent upon teachers to evaluate their performance in the classroom. The process of self-assessment is not easy, however. It involves risk-taking, self-assurance, and a certain level of independence. But it can be effectively promoted by asking students questions such as “How do you feel about your progress so far?” “Are you satisfied with the results you obtained?” and “Why do you believe this is an appropriate response to the problem?

Limitations of the problem-solving method.

Difficult to teach all topics of curriculum- Difficult to organise e- contents of syllabus according to this method. All topics and areas cannot be covered by this method. There is a lack of suitable books and references for the students. This is not suitable for all level students. Method does not suit students of lower classes.Mental activity dominates this method. Hence there is neglect of physical and practical experiences.

Can encourage dirty competition- Most people working in a group unconsciously perceive the situation as competitive. This generates behaviour which is destructive and drains the creative energy of the group. The natural reaction is to regain self-esteem, often by trying to sabotage the ideas of those who disagreed with us. Instead of looking for ways to improve on their ideas we choose to destroy them. These types of behaviour create an atmosphere which is incompatible with effective problem solving.

Possible lack of effective direction- Sometimes there is no effective teacher to give direction to the discussion, with the result that it wanders aimlessly. There is short of talented teachers to practice this method. There is always a doubt of drawing wrong conclusions.

Time and resource constraints- Problem solving is a relatively slow process. It is not economical from time and money point of view. Time consuming method.

Merits of Problem solving method

Knowledge Retention- Problem-based learning is practical and it requires participants to  use their reasoning and problem-solving skills to resolve the scenarios they are presented with. As a result, the learning process is more effective because participants are not trying to memorize large volumes of information .

Develops Competencies- This method follows the principle of learning by doing. Problem-based learning is a collaborative method that fosters teamwork, diversity and mutual respect, which are invaluable competencies in the workplace. Participants also develop their abilities to think strategically.

Context Specific-   In schools the problem-based learning may be limited in its effectiveness because it is highly context specific. During the learning process, participants are given a specific problem that is based on a foreseeable work scenario. They learn to use old facts in new references.

Method is scientific in nature-  Develops good study habits and reasoning power. Helps to improve and apply knowledge and experiences. Stimulates thinking of the child. Develops desirable study habits in the students.

Develops qualities of initiative and self-dependence in the students- Students learn virtues such as patience, cooperation, and self-confidence.  Learning becomes more interesting and purposeful. Develops qualities of initiative and self-dependence in the students, as they  have to face similar problematic situations in real life too. Shared responsibility makes individuals more willing to take risks. The discussion of different points of view also helps the group to be more realistic in assessing the risks associated with particular courses of action.

Reduced bias- The shared responsibility of a group in arriving at decisions can. encourage individuals to explore seemingly unrealistic ideas and to challenge accepted ways of doing things. Individual biases and prejudices can be challenged by the ,group, forcing the individual to recognise them. Group pressure can also encourage individuals to accept that change is needed.

Better solutions- Groups of individuals can bring a broad range of ideas, knowledge and skills to bear on a problem. This creates a stimulating interaction of diverse ideas which results in a wider range and better quality of solutions. . They become capable to generalize. Students learn to find solution to their problem. When people who are affected by a problem or who will be involved in implementation are involved in finding a solution, they will know how and why that particular solution was chosen. Also, people with knowledge relevant to the problem can communicate that knowledge directly if they participate in solving the problem.

“There are many problems throughout the world, some that are very simplistic while others are very complicated with many details.  In order to be an effective problem solver, a person has to have the ability to use prior problem solving skills on problems in the existing future”

(Ormrod, 2008).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

The word ‘Heuristic’ has been derived from the Greek word ‘Heurisco’ which means ‘I find’ or ‘I discover’ . This method implies that the attitude of students shall be that of the discoveries and not of passive recipients of knowledge

As an adjective, heuristic (pronounced hyu-RIS-tik and from the Greek “heuriskein” meaning “to discover”) pertains to the process of gaining knowledge or some desired result by intelligent guesswork rather than by following some pre-established formula.

Heuristic method of teaching science was proposed by H. E. Armstrong (1888-1928) . In words of Professor Armstrong, “Heuristic methods of teaching are methods which involve our placing students as far as possible in the altitude of the discoverer – methods which involve their finding out instead of being merely told about things”.  According to him, the real spirit of heuristic method is placing the student in the position of original investigator which means involving his ‘finding out instead of being merely told about things’.

Armstrong originally introduced this method for learning of science. Through this method the pupils are made to learn . This method of teaching is of a very recent origin. First it was used in Science and its success led it to be adopted in the teaching of all subjects in the School Curriculum.

In Heuristic method  the student be put in the place of an independent discoverer. Thus no help or guidance is provided by the teacher in this method. In this method the teacher sets a problem for the students and then stands aside while they discover the answer.

The aim of this method is to develop the scientific attitude and spirit in pupils. The spirit of enquiry prompts the pupils to learn. This method insists on truth, whose foundation is based on reason and personal experiences. As a matter of fact there is no spoon-feeding or more acceptances of facts which are given by the teacher.

The object of the heuristic method is “to make pupils more exact, more truthful, observant and thoughtful to lay this solid foundation for future self-education and to encourage this growth of spirit of enquiry and research.”

In this method, the teacher creates such an environment that a problem arises before the pupil. All the pupils think about the problem, observe and in the end they conclude some result. In this way, all the pupils find out truth by their own way.

The application of heuristic knowledge

The application of heuristic knowledge to a problem is sometimes known as heuristics. The term seems to have two usages:

1) Describing an approach to learning by trying without necessarily having an organized hypothesis or way of proving that the results proved or disproved the hypothesis. That is, “trial-by-error” learning.

2) Pertaining to the use of the general knowledge gained by experience, sometimes expressed as “using a rule of-thumb.”

Objectives of Heuristic Strategy

The following are the main objectives of Heuristic strategy:

To develop among students the ability of self-learning.

To develop among students the ability of critical thinking.

To develop among students the attitude of logical thinking.

To develop among students the attitude of accepting truth only after verification.

To develop among students the attitude of not accepting things based on blind faith.

To develop among students the scientific thinking.

Principles underlying Heuristic method

1. The principle of activity

2. The principle of logical thinking

3. The principle of proceeding from the known to the unknown.

4. The principle of purposeful experience

5. The principle of self thinking and self study

Procedural steps in Heuristic Strategy

Under this method, it is believed that every  lesson should be presented in the form of an enquiry in front of students. The main feature of scientific work is that it springs from a desire to know from our own knowledge some definite thing concerning which curiosity has come to an end.

Here is a sequence of logical steps for planning and conducting research

Introduction and Theoretical Rationale

In an introduction, the teacher, create  interest in the topic, lay the broad foundation for the problem that leads to the study, The objective is to test or verify theory.  The theory becomes a framework for the entire study.

Selection of the Topic.

This step is self-explanatory and usually not a problem. The step simply involves identifying a general area that is of personal interest and then narrowing the focus to a problem

Statement of the Topic

A good problem statement begins by introducing the broad area in which  present learning is centred and then gradually leads  to the more narrow questions  .

A problem statement should be presented within a context, and that context should be provided and briefly explained, including a discussion of the conceptual or theoretical framework in which it is embedded.

The problem should be stated in such a way that it would lead to analytical thinking on the part of the student with the aim of possibly concluding solutions to the stated problem.

The Title

The topic to be studied title should demarcate the following:

• the WHO or/and WHAT is learned;
• the WHERE;
• the WHEN;
• the HOW; and
• an indication of the ENVISAGED SOLUTION

Definitions of  Terminology/Concepts and terms used

The success of any method depends on unambiguity and clarity on each inherent aspect. The terms used must be related with the study in question. To make the things clear, the teacher  must define the terms in clear terms. Avoid meaningless words.

Exploration of the Purpose of learning the topic

The student should indicate and defend why it is necessary to undertake for learning. The benefits that will result from the subject matter and to whom it will be beneficial should be indicated.

Four general purposes for conducting learning through heuristic method are to explore, describe, predict, or explain the relation between two or more educational variables.

• Explore – an attempt to generate ideas about educational phenomenon
• Describe – an attempt to describe the characteristics of educational phenomenon
• Predict – an attempt to forecast an educational phenomenon
• Explain – an attempt to show why and how an educational  phenomenon operates

The identification  of purpose of  study will help in determining  the methodical design  should follow.   Three methodical designs are mixed, qualitative, and quantitative

• Identify the specific method of inquiry to be used.
• Identify the unit of analysis in the study.

Formulating Hypotheses

A hypothesis is a tentative statement, that implies a proposed answer to a problem, setting accountability and responsibility of effective learning procedure as high priority. Hypotheses are thus tentative statements that should either be acknowledged or rejected by means of findings. The hypothesis is a simple statement that defines what you think the outcome of your experiment will be.

Prediction

The hypothesis is your general statement of how you think the scientific phenomenon in question works.

Your prediction lets you get specific — how will you demonstrate that your hypothesis is true? The experiment that you will design is done to test the prediction.

An important thing to remember during this stage of the scientific method is that once you develop a hypothesis and a prediction, you shouldn’t change it, even if the results of your experiment show that you were wrong.

An incorrect prediction does NOT mean that you “failed.” It just means that the experiment brought some new facts to light that maybe you hadn’t thought about before.

Propose appropriate Procedures

The methods or procedures section is really the heart of the heuristic method . The activities should be described with as much detail as possible, and the continuity between them should be apparent

Indicate the methodological steps you will take to answer every question or to test every hypothesis illustrated in the hypotheses section.

v  Decide on the method, techniques and tools to use

v  Explain the rationale of each vis-à-vis the statement of the problems

v  Describe the tool development process or use of existing one

v  Describe how you will gather data for the topic.

v  Explain the statistical methods to be used with rationale

Determine Methods.

Next consider materials and instrumentation. When the needed resources are not obvious, a good strategy is to construct a listing of data collection instruments, for this the first step should be to conduct a thorough search of existing instruments to determine if any can be used in their original form or adapted to present needs.

Data Collection

Data gathering includes consideration about what variables to investigate, Outline the general plan for collecting the data. Provide a general outline of the time schedule you expect to follow.

When Heuristic method is being used by the teacher, then each student is provided a sheet of instructions and they are required to perform the experimental works which are related to the problem provided to them. By following the instructions provided in the written form, students perform the experiment.

Teacher keeps on guiding the students for conducting the experiment properly from time to time. Whatever students do, they keep note of them in their note books. After making experiment, they also derive conclusion from experiments and suggest the methods by which problem can be sort out.

Testing of Hypothesis.

In this step, the pupils collect facts by experiments in favor of or against the hypothesis. In other words, they test the hypothesis by considering many false facts as the basis.

Drawing Conclusion.

The final step in the scientific method is the conclusion. This is a summary of the experiment’s results, and how those results match up to your hypothesis.

In this step, the pupil accepts only true hypothesis and leaves the false one. This conclusion is known as their discovered knowledge according to which the principles and laws are formulated.

Hence, the heuristic method is a method which can give adequate training for discovery and experimentation or research. This method prefers the discovery and practice than knowing the concepts.

Common Mistakes in Applying the Heuristic Method

As stated earlier, the scientific method attempts to minimize the influence of the student’s bias on the outcome of an experiment. That is, when testing an hypothesis or a theory, the students may have a preference for one outcome or another, and it is important that this preference not bias the results or their interpretation. Sometimes “common sense” and “logic” tempt us into believing that no test is needed.

Another common mistake is to ignore or rule out data which do not support the hypothesis. Ideally, the experimenter is open to the possibility that the hypothesis is correct or incorrect. Sometimes, however, a scientist may have a strong belief that the hypothesis is true (or false), or feels internal or external pressure to get a specific result.

In a field where there is active experimentation and open communication among members of the education community, the biases of individuals or groups may cancel out, because experimental tests are repeated by different students who may have different biases. In addition, different types of experimental setups have different sources of systematic errors.

Role of Teacher

In short, in this method the teacher—

Creates problem before his pupils, presents suitable material in order to solve the problem, and as the need arises, provides necessary guidance so that they may search out new knowledge by solving the problem as a result of making use of books, devices and other resources of his choice.

One of the most important aspects of the problem solving approach to children’s development in critical thinking is the teacher’s attitude.  The acceptance of and the quest for unique solutions for the problem that the class is investigating should be a guiding principle in the teacher’s approach to his programme of science. Teachers must develop sensitiveness to children and to the meanings of their behavior.

Teachers should be ready to accept any suggestion for the solution of problems regardless of how irrelevant it may seem to him, for this is really the true spirit of scientific problem solving.

In this method teacher should avoid the temptation to tell the right answer to save time. The teacher should be convinced that road to scientific thinking takes time.

Children should never be exposed to ridicule for their suggestions of possible answers otherwise they will show a strong tendency to stop suggestions.

For success of this method a teacher should act like a guide and should provide only that much guidance as is rightly needed by the student. He should be sympathetic and courteous and should be capable enough to plan and devise problems for investigation by pupils. He should be capable of good supervision and be able to train the pupils in a way that he himself becomes dispensable.

Merits of Heurism or Heuristic Method

The following are some merits of heuristic method—

1. In this method, pupils realize the problem, think about it, observe it, test it and conclude about it. This creates scientific attitude in pupils. Hence, this method is a scientific method of teaching.

2. This is a psychological method as the student learns by self-practice.The maxim learning by doing is involved. Students learn by doing themselves

3. In heuristic method, in addition to the mental and reasoning powers, development of self-confidence and intellectual inter-dependence etc. also occurs gradually. This prepares them to solve any problem likely to arise in future life.

4. In heuristic method, the entire task is completed in school. This solves the problems of home work automatically.

5. This method motivates pupils for doing more difficult tasks. This also avoids the hindrance of individual differences in learning.

6. In this method, pupils work themselves and consult themselves. This coordinates their physical and mental powers. It develops in the student a habit of diligence.

7. This method does not allow the pupils for cramming of ready-made knowledge. The knowledge is gained by self- activity and hence it is retained for a longer time.

8. Power of observation and reasoning and drawing inference are developed.  It creates clear understanding.

9.  It is a meaningful learning The student learns by doing so there is a little scope of forgetting. It develops self-confidence, self-discipline in the students.  The students acquire command of the subject. He has clear understanding about notions of the subject.

10.  It gives the student a sense of achievement. The methods make them exact and bring them closer to truth. It develops scientific attitudes among students by making them truthful and honest for they learn how to arrive at decisions by actual experimentations.

11.  It inculcates in the student the interest for the subject and also develops willingness in them. It develops the habit of enquiry and investigation among students .It develops habit of self- learning and self- direction.

12. It provides scope for individual attention to be paid by the establishing cordial relations between the teacher and the taught.

Demerits of Heurism or Heuristic Method

The following are the few demerits of heuristic method—

1. Heuristic method is useful only for the pupils of higher classes and not for lower-class pupils. This method cannot be used in nursery and primary classes.  It is not suitable for lower classes as they are not independent thinkers. Discovery of a thing needs hard work, patience, concentration, reasoning and thinking powers and creative abilities.

2. The modern culture and civilization has become so much complicated that every pupil acquire knowledge by doing research himself. The teacher has to provide its knowledge directly.

3 The knowledge of all the subjects of a curriculum cannot be imparted to the pupils for examinations by heuristic method. Hence, this method is not appropriate.

4.  It is a very long and slow process and a hence a prescribed course cannot be covered within a specific period. In searching out the knowledge by this method much time is consumed. It is a long and time consuming method and so it becomes difficult to cover the prescribed syllabus in time Hence, it is impossible to search out the knowledge as a result of pupils’ self-efforts for a period of thirty or forty minutes according to the school time-table.

5. While using this method, the teacher prepares everything before-hand which deprives the pupils of the opportunities of self-thinking. This also deprives them of the training of self-discussion.

6. It is very costly because well equipped laboratories are required for the purpose. This method is successful if well-equipped libraries, laboratories and good textbook written in heuristic lines are available. . For this method, special books, devices and trained teachers are needed.

7.  It pre-supposes a very small class and a gifted teacher and the method is too technical and scientific to be handled by an average teacher. It suits only hard working and original thinking teachers.  The method expects of the teacher a great efficiency and hard, experience and training. Presently enough teachers are not available for implementing learning by heuristic method

8.  In this method too much stress is placed on practical work which may lead a student to form a wrong idea of the nature of science as a whole. They grow up in the belief that science is some thing to be done in the laboratory, forgetting that laboratories were made for science and not science for laboratories.

9. Evaluation of learning through heuristic method can be quite tedious. The gradation of problems is a difficult task which requires sufficient skill and training.

10. Learning by this method, pupils leave school with little or no scientific appreciation of their physical environment. The students are immature and it is difficult for them to draw conclusions. The students have to spend a lot of time to find out minor results. The romance of modern scientific discovery and invention remains out of picture for them and the humanizing influence of the subject has been kept away from them.

Conclusion

This method cannot be successfully applied in primary classes but this method can be given a trial in secondary classes particularly in higher secondary classes.

It may be suggested that at least a heuristic approach prevails for teaching of science in our schools. By heuristic approach we mean that students be not spoon fed or be given a dictation rather they be given opportunities to investigate, to think and work independently along with traditional way of teaching

In the absence of gifted teachers, well equipped laboratories and libraries and other limitations this method has not been given a trial in our schools. Even if these limitations are removed this method may not prove much useful under the existing circumstances and prevailing rules and regulations

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

A multi-sensory approach, “also known as VAKT (visual-auditory-kinesthetictactile) implies that students learn best when information is presented in different modalities (Mercer & Mercer, 1993)”. The belief is that students learn a new concept best when it is taught using the four modalities. A multi-sensory approach is one that integrates sensory activities. The students see, hear, and touch.

“Activities such as tracing, hearing, writing, and seeing represent the four modalities” Murphy.

As a literal definition, multi-sensory, comes from two pieces. The two pieces are “multi” and “sensory.” “Multi” means “more than one.” “Sensory” “involves or is derived from the senses.”

That means Multi-sensory “involves more than one of the bodily senses at a time.”

This process occurs naturally, starting even before birth. Babies learn about the world by observing, listening, and putting everything within reach into their mouths. Toddlers try to touch or grab everything they see, and preschoolers ask what sometimes seems like millions of questions. All of these children are learning in a very natural way; we rarely have to teach them how to do these things.

Multisensory learning is learning that involves two or more of the senses within the same activity. Like adults, children take in information about their world in a variety of ways:

Auditory (  hearing and speaking  through their ears)

Visual (  seeing and perceiving through their eyes)

Tactile (through touch )

Kinesthetic (movement, and doing through body movements)

This way multi-sensory learning :

 Involves the use of our senses. It focuses primarily on using visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile elements.

 Is taught incorporating all senses into the learning process to activate different parts of the brain simultaneously, enhancing memory and the learning of written language.

  Helps learners discover what learning style fits them best.

  Provides more ways for understanding new information, more ways to remember it and more ways to recall it later.

Thus multi-sensory can be  defines as: ‘using visual, auditory and kinesthetic modalities, sometimes at the same time’. Kinesthetic refers to perceiving through touch and an awareness of body movements.

The idea that learning experienced through all the senses is helpful in reinforcing memory has a long history in pedagogy. From the earliest teaching guides, educators have embraced a range of multi-sensory techniques in order to make learning richer and more motivating for learners. The term is used to refer to any learning activity that combines two or more sensory strategies to take in or express information.

Multi-sensory approaches have been particularly valuable in literacy and language learning, for example, in relationships between sound and symbol, word recognition, and the use of tactile methods such as tracing on rough or soft surfaces.

Teachers  ( Here treat ‘teaching and learning’ and ‘teacher’ as generic terms to include: • teaching, training and learning• teachers, tutors, trainers, lecturers and instructors in the further education system.) working with dyslexic learners have found multi-sensory approaches particularly valuable, as they help learners to make sense of information in a range of ways. Activities that harness all the senses are also an excellent way to include learners with disabilities.

Multi-sensory teaching is one important aspect of instruction for dyslexic students that is used by clinically trained teachers. Effective instruction for students with dyslexia is also explicit, direct, cumulative, intensive, and focused on the structure of language. Multi-sensory learning involves the use of  visual, auditory, tactile (feeling) and kinesthetic (awareness of motion) to enhance memory and learning of written language. The teacher uses these senses to fully engage different parts of the students brain while learning fluency in spelling, reading and handwriting all at the same time.

Multi-sensory teaching is one important aspect of instruction for dyslexic students that is used by clinically trained teachers. Effective instruction for students with dyslexia is also explicit, direct, cumulative, intensive, and focused on the structure of language. Multisensory learning involves the use of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic-tactile pathways simultaneously to enhance memory and learning of written language. Links are consistently made between the visual (language we see), auditory (language we hear), and kinesthetic-tactile (language symbols we feel) pathways in learning to read and spell.

Quick Facts about Multi-sensory Learning

•             Integrates visual, auditory, tactile (touch) and kinesthetic (movement) learning elements

•             Different teaching methods activate different parts of the brain

•             Helps learners discover their learning style and the techniques best for them

•             Effective for all learners but particularly effective for dyslexic students

•             Can be used in any subject from reading to math to science and drama

•             Allows for more individualized lesson planning

•             Enabled more and more by assistive technolog See, hear, touch and move your way to understanding.

Rationale for the use of multi-sensory teaching

Students with dyslexia often exhibit weaknesses in underlying language skills involving speech sound (phonological) and print (orthographic) processing and in building brain pathways that connect speech with print. The brain pathways used for reading and spelling must develop to connect many brain areas and must transmit information with sufficient speed and accuracy.

Most students with dyslexia have weak phonemic awareness, meaning they are unaware of the role sounds play in words. These students may also have difficulty rhyming words, blending sounds to make words, or segmenting words into sounds. Because of their trouble establishing associations between sounds and symbols, they also have trouble learning to recognise words automatically (“by sight”) or fast enough to allow comprehension. If they are not accurate with sounds or symbols, they will have trouble forming memories for common words, even the “little” words in students’ books.

Dyslexic children and teens need specialised instruction to master the alphabetic code and to form those memories.This multi-sensory part of the Orton Gillingham system remains one of the most reliable method for a dyslexic mind to learn to spell, read and write because it fully engages the each part of the brain. Another positive about this method is that it also works for teaching mathematics as well!

Beneficiaries from multi-sensory learning

All kids can benefit from multi-sensory lessons, including kids who don’t have learning and attention issues. If a student learns something using more than one sense, the information is more likely to stay with him.

People with learning disabilities Students with dyslexia have trouble with language skills involving speech sound (phonological) and print (orthographic) processing and in building pathways that connect speech with print.

People with sensory integration challenges Children with sensory integration challenges sense information normally but have difficulty perceiving and processing that information because it is analyzed in their brains in a different way.

Multi-sensory learning can be particularly helpful for kids with learning and attention issues. For example, these kids may have trouble with visual or auditory processing. That can make it hard for them to learn information through only reading or listening. Multi-sensory instruction can help kids learn information more effectively. All kids can benefit from multi-sensory instruction.

The Different Teaching and Learning Techniques:

Visual techniques: Visual learning methods includes diagrams, modelling, photos and video. Anything that will display something to the student is considered visual. Mind maps are a great way for a visual learner to write and organise ideas down.

Auditory techniques: Auditory learning methods includes dialogue, clapping, rhymes or anything that can be heard. Teachers use clapping or tapping as a means of auditory aid. (Audio books are really effective for students (or anyone!) who is an auditory learner, or if they struggle with reading.)

Tactile Techniques: Tactile learning includes feel and touch. Teachers use anything textured or raised to help with tactile learning such as coins, sand, dice and clay. This learning techniques often engages fine motor skills so it may challenge children who struggle with this.

Kinaesthetic techniques: Kinaesthetic learning methods include movement and doing things (i.e. writing and anything physical). This type of learning method engages the gross motor skills. Teachers will often use ‘air writing’ as a method for kinaesthetic learning; where the children have to write a word in the air while sounding it out. Children with dyspraxia typically have weak kinaesthetic skills.

Learning Types and Activities

Visual-spatial-A visual learner learns best by using their eyes to see information. They learn by seeing words in printed form or by using graphics and pictures, observing real life, and other visual aid.

Activities focused on visual learning

Printable books: Students read short books emphasizing sight words, word families, and short/long vowels. Students underlined with marker the focus words such as all the short “a” words, etc.

Hidden sight word coloring/sight word mosaic: This is similar to color by number. Students begin to visualize the sight word with the color. Printable sight word coloring sheets can be found on www.pinterest.com. A sight word mosaic is an abstract design that is colored by sight word. Students make squiggles, lines and shapes. Sight words are written in between the shapes.

Flashcards with identifying pictures: Children learn with repetition. Flashcards provide repetition. That being said, flashcards don’t have to be boring.

If children cannot create or form mental pictures while reading, they are forced to memorize the words they see. (visual). Flashcards with pictures associated with letters provide a visual cue.

Other visual letter recognition strategies:

 Letter sorts: Have students sort letters by categories. This can be done on paper or with manipulative (letters with tails vs. no tails, circles vs. no circles, dots vs. no dots.

 Have students watch what they look like when saying letters in the mirror. What letters make an “O” shape of their mouths? What do their tongues do when then make a “sh” or a “th” sound? This makes them laugh. Especially if you do it with them.

Auditory Learners- An auditory learner is someone who learns best by listening and talking. They learn reading by listening to someone present information orally and by being allowed to discuss and ask questions.

Activities focused on auditory learning

Rhyming/making up words with word families: Using a white board or a word building kit students take a word family sound such as “at” and make a list of real and silly words. (cat, bat, dat, jat) Students like to make silly words and they still learn the same concepts.

Read Alouds: “Literacy does not depend upon reading text in books. This point just can’t be emphasized enough with dyslexic learners, so here it is again: Literacy does not depend upon reading text in books.”.

Phonemic awareness: Phonemic awareness is verbal and auditory, not written, and prepares children for reading print. Segmenting and blending sounds to make words can be played around with in many ways. I had students bounce or throw a ball for each letter sound, jump or clap. They liked the ball best.

Chanting: A teacher I worked with in the past always chanted a word several times after a student learned it

Tactile Learners: Tactile learners learn best through their sense of touch, such as using their hands and fingers. They learn best by writing, drawing, and using hands-on manipulatives.

Activities focused on Tactile Learning

Playdough: Students create sight words or letters with play dough. For younger students a play dough mat with letters already outlined

Word building kits: This can either be with magneticletters or scrabble pieces. The kids liked the colorful letters is  recommend.

Read it, Write it, Build it: Used this technique with a student with a learning disability in particular. However, it can be used with anyone. It is a good multisensory technique. It is exactly as it says. Works well with sight words.

Similar concept as play dough:

Sandpaper letters: These are tracing letters made of sandpaper. Students use their finger to trace the letters. The students retain a tactile memory of the feel of the letters. This  is a well-established Montessori technique.

Writing letters and sight words in the:

 Sand

 Shaving cream

 Air (learning disability teaching technique)

 Salt

Hidden sight word painting: Prior to meeting with students write sight words in white crayon on white paper. Students paint over words with watercolor. As they paint the sight words appear the  students can  have a contest to see who could paint over all the sight words and read them all first.

Kinesthetic learners: Kinesthetic learners learn best through movement of their large or gross motor muscles. They take in information best while moving and doing, being involved in projects, role playing, learning while standing up and engaging in real life activities.

Activities involving Kinesthetic Learning

Sight word jump: Write sight words on post it notes and put them up high on the wall. Students jump for the word when it is called out. Students jump for the word when it is called out.

Race Car blending: Phonemic awareness activity using a toy car to drive across the letters written spaced across a racetrack to make a word. Students sound out the letters as they drive across it. When students drive slowly they sound out the letters very slowly and segment them. When they zoom by they say the word clearly, loudly and quickly.

Sight word towers: Write sight words on red solo cups. Ask students to read the words on the cup. If they read it correctly they can add it to their tower. If they miss the word, they have to put the cup to the side. This was a favorite of students

Letter sound blending puzzles: These are three letter word segmented puzzles students put together. Each piece was a separate letter sound. When put together, it made the word and corresponding picture.

Activities involving taste and smell: Most multisensory activities do not involve these senses. However, all senses activate different memories and create more opportunities for learning.

Taste

 Using alphabet cheese it’s to spell words in place of letters in word building kit. If students read the words correctly they can eat the word.

 Find foods that start with particular letters of the alphabet you’re working. For example: p is for pineapple, pumpkins, pepperoni pizza, or pancakes

Smell

 Writing letters with a mixer of glue and dry jello mix.

 Find smells that start with particular letters of the alphabet

Activities involving proprioception

Proprioception is about knowing where your body is in space and knowing how to get around your environment safety. The proprioceptive system is developed and strengthened in children by having them do large and small physical movements, especially movements where they experience pressure, using their fingers, hands, arms, trunks, legs, and feet. Any activity that helps children move in this way is incorporating this sense.

Children with learning disabilities often struggle with this. Proprioception has to do with spatial orientation. Some children have difficulties imprinting and remembering the correct spatial orientations of letters and numbers.

Mayer concludes that there is growing evidence that well designed multimedia resources lead to deeper learning than traditional verbal-only messages.  He offers the following guidance on what constitutes good design:

• Words and pictures work better than words alone.

• Words and pictures need to be integrated, so that they work together.

• An informal style works better than a formal style.

• Extraneous material should be removed.

• Care should be taken not to overload learners’ visual channel, for example, with rapidly changing graphics.

Tips for creating a multi-sensory classroom.

Some ideas take just a little effort but can bring about big changes.The following are few tips for creating a multi-sensory classroom.

Writing homework assignments on the board. Teachers can use different colors for each subject and notations if books will be needed. For example, use yellow for math homework, red for spelling and green for history, writing a “+” sign next to the subjects students need books or other materials. The different colors allow students to know at a glance which subjects have homework and what books to bring home.

Use different colors to signify different parts of the classroom. For example, use bright colors in the main area of the classroom to help motivate children and promote creativity. Use shades of green, which help increase concentration and feelings of emotional well-being, in reading areas and computer stations.

Use music in the classroom. Set math facts, spelling words or grammar rules to music, much as we use to teach children the alphabet. Use soothing music during reading time or when students are required to work quietly at their desks.

Apply Aromatherapy to the classroom. Use scents in the classroom to convey different feelings. According to the article “Do scents affect people’s moods or work performance. “People who worked in the presence of a pleasant smelling air freshener also reported higher self-efficacy, set higher goals and were more likely to employ efficient work strategies than participants who worked in a no-odor condition.”

Start with a picture or object. Usually, students are asked to write a story and then illustrate it, write a report, and find pictures to go with it, or draw a picture to represent a math problem. Instead, start with the picture or object. Ask students to write a story about a picture they found in a magazine or break the class into small groups and give each group a different piece of fruit, asking the group to write descriptive words or a paragraph about the fruit.

Make stories come to life. Have students create skits or puppet shows to act out a story the class is reading. Have students work in small groups to act out one part of the story for the class.

Use different colored paper. Instead of using plain white paper, copy hand-outs on different color paper to make the lesson more interesting. Use green paper one day, pink the next and yellow the day after.

Encourage discussion. Break the class into small groups and have each group answer a different question about a story that was read. Or, have each group come up with a different ending to the story. Small groups offer each student a chance to participate in the discussion, including students with dyslexia or other learning disabilities who may be reluctant to raise their hand or speak up during class.

Use different types of media to present lessons. Incorporate different ways of teaching, like films, slide shows, over-head sheets, power-point presentations. Pass pictures or manipulative around the classroom to allow students to touch and see the information up close. Making each lesson unique and interactive helps keep student’s interest and helps them retain the information learned.

Create games to review material. Create a version of Trivial Pursuit to help review facts in science or social studies. Making reviews fun and exciting will help students remember the information.

Learning Styles:

There are twelve ways of learning.  Although most students can learn in some capacity using all twelve learning styles, when students’ unique profiles or preferences are accommodated, they often experience joy in the learning process and celebrate remarkable gains.

Below, the learning styles are defined with teaching suggestions are made for each.

1) Visual Teaching: This method allows students to learn by seeing.

• Seeing a diagram

• Seeing an image

• Seeing a movie

2) Auditory Teaching: This method allows students to learn by listening.

• Listening to a lecture

• Listening to a debate

• Listening to a story

3) Tactile Teaching: This method allows students to learn by touching.

• Touching and manipulating an artifact

• Conducting a hands-on experiment

• Copying or tracing diagrams or tables

• Dioramas

4) Kinesthetic Teaching: This method allows students to learn while moving.

• Role playing scenarios or doing skits

• Participating on field trips

• Conducting interactive experiments

5) Sequential Teaching: This method allows students to learn material in a specific order or series of steps.

• Breaking down information into a series of steps

• Making flow charts

• Placing events in sequence on a timeline

6) Simultaneous Teaching: Allows students to learn “how the information is interrelated.

• Producing summaries

• Explaining the overall meaning

• Creating concept maps or webs

• Looking at a timeline to gleam the overall relationship

7) Reflective/Logical Teaching: This method allows students to solve problems and ponder complex issues.

• Brainstorming solutions to problems

• Asking students to analyze material

• Offering reflective writing opportunities

8) Verbal Teaching: This method allows students to learn information by talking about it.

• Breaking students into discussion groups

• Encouraging students to verbally rehearse their understanding of information

• Asking students to think aloud

9) Interactive Teaching: This method allows students to learn information in the company of others .

• Organizing a group debate

• Breaking into small group activities

• Conducting a question-answer session

10) Direct Experience Teaching: Allows students to learn through experience.

• Conducting experiments

• Going on field trips

• Taking part in an apprenticeship program

11) Indirect Experience Teaching: This method allows students to learn from the experiences of others.

• Telling about your own experiences of learning from peers

• Reading a biography

• Watching demonstrations

12) Rhythmic/Melodic Teaching: Allows students to see patterns or pair melodies and rhythm.

• Suggesting patterns/themes across course content

• Pointing out songs that address the course themes

• Bringing in a musical piece that reflects a time period and creates a mood

Conclusion

Teaching and learning in this way is an exciting journey of discovery. It is a fast paced and creative process where learning is fun since each small step is mastered and the learner is aware of what they have gained. Everyone now can call themself a success. Confidence is built through growing mastery of written language. The students can see themselves as successful learners and this helps each individual learner gain independence and a great “can do” attitude.

Lessons taught using multisensory teaching methods use two or more of the teaching modes simultaneously to teach child. When teachers teach in two or more ways, their teaching becomes more interesting to the kids. When students can express their learning in a variety of ways, they can choose their best skills to show what they know. This is multisensory learning and teaching at its best!

Multisensory teaching is ideal for kids of any learning style. Multisensory learning gives the best learning progress when teaching includes activities that use your child’s strongest learning style(s). This is one reason kids who are homeschooled learn at a faster rate than kids in traditional school. They benefit from MORE multisensory learning that is geared to their own needs.

Multisensory learning provides more ways for understanding new information, more ways to remember it and more ways to recall it later. Dyslexic children typically have difficulty absorbing new information, especially if it is abstract or involves memorizing sequences or steps. Multisensory teaching techniques help break down these barriers to learning by making the abstract more concrete, turning lists or sequences into movements, sights and sounds.

The best part of all is the multisensory learning is more fun and works well for every learner. It should be part of every teacher’s tool box

“Albert Einstein said, ‘Learning is experiencing. Everything else is just information.’” We must use our senses while we’re teaching and learning. We have a need to see, touch, taste, feel, and hear the things around us. We use our senses to study the new objects so we can understand them better. (Wesson, 2002, paraphrased). Using your child’s senses for multisensory learning just makes sense!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

The scientific investigations of technological developments have influenced every walk of human life. The educational process does not remain untouched by these advances. There is rapid mechanization in field of education.  It has resulted the introduction of technology in field of education.

Many different approaches of technology can be used to support and enhance learning. Various approaches of Educational technology deliver different kinds of content and serve different purposes in the classroom. Each approach of technology is likely to play a different role in students’ learning .

There are several educational approaches in technologies and there is great overlap among them. The educational process does not remain untouched by these advances. It has necessitated introduction of  these approaches in technology in the field of education.

Hardware Approach of Educational Technology

The hardware approach   refers to the use of machines and other mechanical devices in the process of education. Its origin lies in the application of “physical science” to education and training system. The process of teaching-learning has been gradually mechanized through the use of teaching machines, radio, television, tape recorder, video-tape, projectors etc. The teacher can deal with a larger group of students at the same time by his discourse through these machines.

The hardware approach is based on the application of engineering principles for developing electro-mechanical equipment for instructional purposes. Motion pictures, tape recorders, television, teaching machines, computers are called educational hardware.

Hardware approach mechanises the process of teaching so that teachers would be able to deal with more students with less expenditures in educating them.

Human knowledge has three aspects:

            Preservation,

            Transmission and

            Development.

The history of preservation of the knowledge is believed to exist since the printing machines started. The knowledge is preserved with these machines in the form of books which are shelved in the libraries, tape recorders and films.

The second aspect of human knowledge is its transmission. A teacher can impart knowledge himself to his pupils. Now a days, transmission of the knowledge is supported by machine like mike, radio and television. With these, thousands of pupils can  enjoy this home-delivery of such benefits.

The third aspect of human knowledge is its development. For this aspect, provisions are made for research work. In the research programmes, the main function is the collection and analysis of data. For this purpose, presently the researcher uses the electronic machines and computers.

Hence, all the three aspects of knowledge allow the use of machines. In short, the teaching process has been mechanized. The mechanization of teaching process is termed as the Hardware Approach.

Basis of Hardware Approach

            Hardware Approach has physical science and applied engineering  as  its basis.

            Hardware Approach has mechanised the whole teaching-learning process.

            Hardware Approach adopts a Product-oriented Approach.

            Hardware Approach has the potential to hand over the educational benefits to the mass with greater ease and economy.

Characteristics of Hardware Approach

• Silverman , called this type of educational technology ‘Relative Technology’. Based on physical science and applied engineering field approach. The concept of hardware approach is derived from the application of “physical science” to education.

• The new mechanism of teaching-learning with improved technology as its basis. Suggesting innumerable new ways of doing things to the class-room teachers

• The job and the duties of the teacher are likely to have multifaceted changes as they are to deal with many new gadgets for teaching and learning .

•  Engineering principles are used for the development of these types of technical equipments. The teacher can deal with larger group of students with the help of these ‘Mechanical device’ or ‘Machines’.

•     The teacher can deal with larger group of students with the help of these ‘Mechanical device’ or ‘Machines’ , resulting in less cost and economy in finances .

Software Approach of Educational Technology

The pioneering work in software approach was done by Skinner and other behaviourists. The programmes which such a technology produces are often called software. Software Approach is also termed as Instructional Technology or Teaching Technology or Behavioural Technology.

It originates from behavioural sciences and their applied aspects concerning psychology of learning. The software approach used the principles of psychology for building in the learners a complex repertory of knowledge or modifying his behaviour . Psychology of learning provides solid technology for bringing desirable behavioural changes in the pupils and  serves the cause of education of laying down definite instructional procedure, teaching behaviour and behaviour modification devices.

Newspapers, books, magazines, educational games, flash cards may also form part of software. Software approach is characterised by task analysis, writing precise objectives, selection of appropriate learning strategies, immediate reinforcement of responses and constant evaluation.

Software approach refers to the application of teaching- learning principles to the direct & deliberate shaping of behavior. Its origin lies in the application of “behavior science” to the problems of learning & motivation.

Educational technology is closely associated with the modern principles & theories of teaching. Models of teaching, theory of instruction, theory of teacher- behavior & principles of programmed learning. It is characterized by task analysis, writing, objectives in behavioral terms, selection of the appropriate teaching strategies, reinforcement for correct responses & continuous evaluation.

Software Approach is concerned with teaching objectives in behavioural terms, principles of teaching, methods of teaching, reinforcement of instructional system, feedback, reviews and evaluation. Software approach tries to develop all the three basic components of technology, i.e. Input, Process and Output.

Basis of Software Approach

• In software approach, the basis of all thinking and working is behavioural science and psychology of learning.

• Software approach uses the principles of psychology for the purpose of behaviour modification.

• A teacher with added knowledge of software approach can use the films, flashcards, tapes etc., for various purposes.

• A teacher can plan better teaching which results into better learning. There is not end to his thinking.

Characteristics of Software Approach

• This view of educational technology is closely associated with the modern principles of programmed learning and is characterised by task analysis, writing precise objectives, selection of appropriate learning strategies, reinforcement of correct responses and constant education.
• Silverman  termed this educational technology as ‘constructive educational technology.’ Also known as ‘Management Technology’.
• A modern approach in educational administration and organisation. It has brought to educational management a scientific approach for solving educational administrative problems.
• Origin of software approach lies in the application of ‘behavioural science’ to the education.     It refers to the application of teaching- learning principles in the shaping of behaviour.
• Its application while writing objectives in behavioral terms, selection of appropriate teaching, strategies, reinforcement for correct response etc

Characteristics of Software Approach

• This view of educational technology is closely associated with the modern principles of programmed learning and is characterised by task analysis, writing precise objectives, selection of appropriate learning strategies, reinforcement of correct responses and constant education.
• A modern approach in educational administration and organisation. It has brought to educational management a scientific approach for solving educational administrative problems.
• Origin of software approach lies in the application of ‘behavioural science’ to the education.     It refers to the application of teaching- learning principles in the shaping of behavior.
• We can views its application while writing objectives in behavioural terms, selection of appropriate teaching, strategies, reinforcement for correct response etc.

Software Tools

Word processing, database, spreadsheet, telecommunications, presentation, authoring, graphic paint programs. Teachers need to know how to use them, how to teach them to students, and how and why to use them in the classroom.

Software Types

Drill and practice, tutorials or computer-based instruction, and simulations. Teachers need to know what these are as well as why, when, and how to incorporate them into their teaching.

Software Review and Evaluation

How to select appropriate software for specific grade levels and content areas, how to evaluate the effectiveness of this software, and what types of software are available. Teachers need to be thoroughly familiar with many of the software options available and understand when and how to use them in the classroom.

Comparison of  Hardware and Software Approach

 

Hardware Technology	Software Technology
1. Has its origin in physical sciences and applied engineering.	1.  Has its origin in behavioural sciences and their applied aspects concerning psychology of learning
2. More concerned with the production and utilization of audio visual aid material and sophisticated instruments and mass media for helping teacher and learners in their task.	2.  Try to make use of psychology of learning for the production and utilization of software techniques and materials in terms of learning material, teaching-learning strategies and other devices for smoothening the task of teaching learning.
3.  Tries to adopt product-oriented approach, in the shape of teaching-learning material and strategy  through thein  utilization of  the hardware instruments and gadgets for effective teaching learning.	3.  Tries to adopt a process-oriented technique or approach for the production of teaching-learning material and strategies. The material produced here is made available for being used by the hardware application.
4. Based on the concept of service meaning hereby that it provides services in the field of education.	4. It helps in the production of software material being used by the hardware applications and gadgets for delivering their service to the users i.e. teachers and learners.
5. As examples of the appliances and gadgets being used in hardware technology service we can name radio, television, tape recorder, video, slides and film projectors, teaching machines and computer etc.	5. As examples of the material produced through software technology we can name, programmed learning material, in the shape of charts, pictures, models, slides filmstrips, audio and video cassettes, software packages etc.
6.  Needs the services of software technology for its use and functioning. It can’t go without the aid of software technology e.g. computer hardware in the shape of a machine like device is of no use if it does not make use of software services both for its operation as a machine and its multi-dimensional utilities. The use of application and utility software is in fact must for taking any service from the hardware technology of the computer.	6.  Most useful and productive in the case if it is assisted and made into use by the hardware applications and gadgets. However, it can go alone for delivering its services to the users without calling aid from the hardware technology i.e. you can make use of programmed learning material a graph a text, etc. directly for the individualized as well as group instructions.
7. Has its mass appeal and utilization. It can contribute a lot in handing over the educational benefits to masses with greater case and economy.	7.  Has no such wide application and appeal to masses as found in the case of hardware appliances like radio, telephone, computer application, etc.
8.  Has resulted in improving the efficiency of educational, means and reducing the cost of education. A teacher may handle a big class with the help of hardware appliances like microphone, slide and film projectors etc.	8.  Works for increasing the efficiency of the teachers as well as learning. However, it lags behind in the task of improving efficiency and reducing the cost of education.

Though  there is difference in the aspects being stressed the hardware & software approaches, in educational technology they  are functionally related to each other.  Both software and hardware approaches are so interlinked that they cannot be separated from each other. One without the other is incomplete.

Role of hardware and software technologies in modern educational practices

1.  Making the task of teaching-learning interest, purposeful and productive:

• Suggesting suitable teaching-learning methods, devices and strategies based on psychology of teaching-learning.
• Suggesting suitable maxims and principle of teaching-learning based on the theory and practice of technology of teaching-learning.
• Putting various types of audio-visual aid and materials and equipment at the disposal of teachers and learners.
• Providing a variety of instructional and self-learning material suiting the varying needs of teaching-learning situations and individuality of the teacher and learners.

2.   Use the multimedia and multi-sensory approach to teaching-learning: Hardware and software technologies help the teacher as well as the learners for making a proper and judicious use of multimedia and multi-sensory aid material, equipment and principles of   teaching-learning, derived from psychology and technology of teaching.

• All the sensory organs sense the sight, hearing, touch, smell and taste for the acquisition of the desired teaching-learning experiences.
• Multimedia, material and appliance involving hardware and software technologies for sharing desirable teaching-learning technologies.
• All the relevant and needed teaching-learning method, devices, and strategies, well-accompanied and aided by hardware and software technologies.

3.   Management of the affairs of educational practices in an efficient and productive way: Educational and professional responsibilities

• Planning o teaching-learning.
• Organization of teaching-learning.
• Leading teaching-learning.
• Controlling teaching-learning.

4.   Providing proper input and process for the best possible outcomes (products): in    the true spirit of the system engineering, use of hardware and software technologies can help the educational and instruction system to make all possible efforts for providing adequate and the needed process organizations to arrive at the best possible outcomes.

5.  Fulfilling the expectation of distances and correspondence education:the demands of today’s education and modern education practices are putting increase emphasis on the extension of distance education and correspondence and online education facilities to the increasing number of learners.

6Individualization of instruction: Individualization of instruction is a major trend in the modern educational practices and is the demand of the hour. In brief, we can highlight the role of hardware and software technologies on this account by stating some of the materials and equipment as follows:

• Programmed instruction, programmed books, and programmed learning modules.
• Teaching machines, computer assisted instruction and computer managed learning.
• Video and audio recorded learning and instructional material.
• Email, internet, teleconferencing and other online educational facilities.
• Special aid material, equipment and appliances used for special education and adjustment measure of for the disabled.
• Special provisions and facilities for the creative and gifted to nature and develop their individual capacities according to their pace and interest.

 

 

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

Educational Technology is concerned with the development, application, and evaluation of system, techniques and aids to improve the process of human  learning. It could be conceived as a science of techniques, methods and media by which educational goals could be realised.

Earlier the Concept of Educational Technology was used as a synonym to audio-visual aids like pictures, charts, maps, and models meant for direct  teaching-learning .

Then came the age of mass media which led to massive communication revolution for instructional purposes with the advent of programmed instruction , a new dimension of educational technology came into existence it has individualized the process of education and introduced a system of self-learning in the form of self- instructional material and teaching machine.

This way one aspect of Educational Technology related to the use of specific techniques such as ‘educational television, radio, programmed learning and other audio-visual aids.

Educational technology is seen both as a means as well as service to effect and facilitate better and more productive learning systems. It may be  defined as a separate field in the theory of education dealing with the development and application of the use of educational resources.

Educational Technology should not be confused with teaching or instruction or education or learning or engineering but it should be taken as a sum  total of all such aspects which go a long way in shaping the personality of the learner in a meaningful context.

It is neither technology in education nor technology of education but both and all pervasive which pervades the whole teaching-learning process to  make it meaningful for the teacher who teaches and the learner who learns and modifies his behaviour for his own betterment.

There are a lot of misconceptions as regards the meaning of educational technology. For many, it is a discipline associated with the use of audio-visual media in education. Some use the term software and hardware as synonyms of educational technology. Whereas, some people are comfortable with the term teaching machines as the meaning of educational technology. The truth of the matter is that none of the above could actually be taken as correct interpretation of the meaning of educational technology concept.

A Short Historical Retrospect

In the early period of human history, when writing was unknown, the method of verbal presentation on the part of the teachers and citation and memorization on the part of the students was a common practice in almost all the civilization of the world. Socrates’ teacher-pupil oral dialogue system prevalent in the west and oral teaching tradition maintained by the ancient sages in the Gurukuls of our country may be cited as a testimony of the use of relevant technology on the field of teaching-learning at a particular age in the progress of human civilization.

With the advent of writings as the means and materials of communication, like writing on the leaves and tree-trunks, engraving on metals and rocks, and then the use of the some type of paper and ink material provided the next breakthrough in the use of writing technology for teaching and learning. In the time to come, it provide a great impetuses  in the field of teaching and learning which witnessed the use of the subject matter available in the form of printing materials and textbooks, a great scientific and technological advancement.

The use of writing and printing technology then took its next leap in helping the cause of teaching and learning by utilized in the production and use of the instructional materials like chalkboard, pictures, chart, models, maps, diagrams and other graphic material.

Educational technology in a  way could be traced back to the emergence of very early tools, e.g., paintings on cave walls. But usually its history is made to start with educational film (1900′s) or Sidney Pressey’s mechanical teaching machines in the 1920′.

Today, presentation-based technology, based on the idea that people can learn contents trough aural and visual reception, exists in many forms, e.g., streaming audio and video, PowerPoint presentations + voice-over.

The 1950′s led to two major still popular designs. Skinners work led to “programmed instruction” focusing on the formulation of behavioral objectives, breaking instructional content into small units and rewarding correct responses early and often. Advocating a mastery approach to learning based on his taxonomy of intellectual behaviors, Bloom endorsed instructional techniques that varied both instruction and time according to learner requirements.

The 1980′s and 1990′s produced a variety of schools that can be put under the umbrella of the l Computer dominated instruction.

Digitized communication and networking in education started in the mid 80s and became popular by the mid-90′s, in particular through the World-Wide Web, email and Forums.  In addition, modern ICT provides education with tools for sustaining learning communities and associated knowledge management tasks. It also provides tools for student and curriculum management.

In addition to classroom enhancement, learning technologies also play a major role in full-time distance teaching. While most quality offers still rely on paper, videos and occasional CBT/CBL materials, there is increased use of e-tutoring through forums, instant messaging, video-conferencing etc. Courses addressed to smaller groups frequently use  hybrid designs that mix presence courses with distance activities and use various pedagogical styles .

From 2000′s onword emergence of multiple mobile and ubiquitous technologies gave a new impulse to situated learning theories favouring learning-in-context scenarios. Some literature uses the concept of integrated learning to describe blended learning scenarios that integrate both school and authentic  settings.

Meaning  and Definition of Educational Technology

Educational technology is comprised of two words education and technology. When we apply the science of learning and communication to teaching we evolve a technology

Before understanding the meaning of educational technology it is essential to know the meaning of the term” technology”. The word ‘technology‘ has been taken  from the Greek word (techniques) which means an art and which is related with skill and dexterity.

The term ‘technology’ implies the application of science to art. Generally the term “Technology” denotes the systematic application of the knowledge of science to practical tasks in industry.

Educational technology is a discipline that is difficult to define. Its meaning can be derived from the two components of technology in education and technology of education. It is an eclectic discipline that borrows from such educational fields like psychology, sociology and philosophy.

The universally accepted definition of ET involves processes, methods and techniques, products, resources and technologies organized into workable systems. The recognition of the need for a multilevel organisation of a classroom, for instance, along with the designing of an appropriate programme and its implementation, become as much an exercise in ET as the use of audio-visual aids or the information superhighway.

• E.E. Hadden “Educational Technology is that branch of educational theory and practice concerned primarily with the design and use of messages which control the learning process.”
• G.O. Leith “Educational Technology is the application of scientific knowledge and learning and the conditions of learning to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of teaching and training.”
• John P. Dececco “Educational Technology is the form of detailed application of psychology of learning to practical teaching problems”
• Richmond “Educational Technology is concerned to provide appropriately designed learning situations which, holding in view of objectives of the Teaching of Training, being to bear the best means of instruction.”
• Robert M. Gange defined Educational Technology as “The Development of asset of systematic techniques and accompanying practical knowledge for designing, testing and operating schools as educational systems.
• S.K. Mitra “Educational Technology can be conceived as a science of techniques and methods by which educational goals could be realized.”
• S.S. Kulkarni “Educational Technology may be defined as the application of the laws as well as recent discoveries of science and technology to the process of education.”

Hence, “Educational   Technology” may be roughly defined as the systematic application of the knowledge of sciences to practical tasks in Education. It was widely accepted as the application of systematic design of a learning system to bring about improvement in   teaching-learning evaluation process.

Literary Interpretation of Educational Technology

“Education” is another elusive term that means many things to many people. According to Oxford English Dictionary (2000), the term means “a process of teaching, training and learning, especially in schools or colleges to improve knowledge and develop skills”. There seems to be a consensus among definers of the term education. Education is regarded as “that which is given to an individual to make him develop socially, morally, and intellectually as to allow for his/her personal overall development and the development of the community in which he/she finds himself/herself”. By implication, education, whether formal or informal, is goal-oriented. It is to be functional, qualitative and socio-personal driven. It is because of the role attributed to education by the society that account for its being defined as “transmission and renewal of culture from one generation to another”.

“Technology” on the other hand, is simply defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a body of knowledge which when used / applied helps in solving problems”. One can then infer, from the literal point of view, that educational technology means “application of a body of knowledge (technology) to solving educational problems. “the contributions of technology to education constitute or mean educational technology.”

Subtle aspects of educational technology

During the last two decades, many significant developments have taken place in the discipline of education Educational technology has become a very major and useful area of knowledge relevant for more efficient and effective functions of teaching-learning system.

There are two subtle aspects of educational technology— Technology in Education and Technology of Education.

Concept of Technology IN Education

By the term “technology in education” is meant application of machines, gadgets or equipment to improve the quality of education. This aspect is described as the “hardware” approach to educational technology. It involves the use of pieces of instructional materials (media) such as audio media, visual media, projected media, graphics, computers and other teaching machines. It is important to note that hardware/machines are means through which information are extracted from their corresponding software. Technology in Education covers every possible means by which knowledge or information can be presented interestingly. It is concerned with various equipments such as projectors, overhead projectors, television, computers etc., used for education and training.

Concept of Technology OF Education

The term “technology of education” refers to application of theories and laws/rules in education and  related disciplines for the purpose of improving the quality of education. Such relateddisciplines include: sociology/sociology of education, philosophy/philosophy of education, psychology/psychology of education, communication, technology, etc. Technology of education is a component of educational technology that is involved in the use of systems approach to promote high quality education. Furthermore, this aspect of educational technology is concerned with the use of systematic and scientific procedures in educational practice. Simply put, technology of education refers to the application of the systems approach to educational enterprise. Its main concerns include issues bothering on identification of educational problem, analysing the problem, setting objectives, suggesting solution strategies, synthesizing the processes, embarking on evaluation and providing feedback. Technology of Education is concerned with the better understanding of the learners and learning processes and how best the available resources can be used optimally for producing learning in the minimum time possible.

At this junction, it is to be noted that a combination of the meaning of technology in education and technology of education will provide a fairly acceptable/description of educational technology.

Nature of Educational Technology

Some people assume that educational technology will replace the teacher which will make the teacher unemployed one day. It is their mistake. Educational technology can never replace the teacher. It is because of these aspects of educational technology.

• Audio-visual aids cannot be termed as educational technology. It is because its concern is only with the process-aspect of educational technology and not with the input and output aspects. But if these A.V. aids are used to achieve educational objectives, then it can be put in the category of Educational technology.
• Educational Technology accepts schools as a system. In this system, the school-building, furniture and teachers act as input while various methods, techniques, strategies and the teaching and examination with the help of audio-visual aids function in the form of a process. Lastly, the output is in of form of ability of the pupils.
• Educational Technology cannot solve each and every problem of education. It can be used successfully in teaching and instructional system only.
• Educational Technology is a continuous dynamic, progressive and effect-producing method.
• Educational Technology studies the effect of science and technology upon education. In other words, science and technology are used under educational technology. Hence, it is the practical aspect of science.
• Engineering Technology is not the educational technology because the engineering technology has manufactured radio, tape- recorder, video-tape and T.V., etc., which are used in teaching as audio-visual aids, but still engineering technology is different from educational technology. In education, it is accepted as hardware approach only.
• New conceptions are possible only due to educational technology such as programmed learning, micro-teaching, simulated teaching, interaction analysis, video-tape, tape-recorder, projector and computer, etc.
• Programmed Instruction is also different from Educational Technology. Its main cause is that the student learns himself during the programmed instructions. It does not allow interaction between pupil and teacher. Hence, it can be used only for limited objectives and limited subject-matter. Therefore, programmed instruction is merely a part of educational technology.
• The basis of educational technology is science.

Characteristics of Educational Technology

• Characteristics of Educational Technology are as follows:
• It is a fast growing modern discipline.
• It is bound to improve the teacher, the learner and the teaching learning process.
• It brings pupils, teachers and technical means together in an effective way.
• It is based on scientific and technological advancements.
• It is more a practical discipline and less a theoretical one.
• It makes use of the research findings of psychology, sociology, engineering, sciences and social psychology etc., and applies the same to the field of education.
• It is the science of techniques and methods. It locates the problems in the field of education, remedies them and ultimately aims at improving the education system.

Goals of Educational Technology

ET could be defined in simple terms as the efficient organisation of any learning system, adapting or adopting methods, processes, and products to serve identified educational goals. This would involve:

• Appreciation of the role of ET as an agent of change in the classroom, influencing the teacher and the teaching-learning process, and its role in systemic issues like reach, equity, and quality. (This appreciation should not be limited to educators alone, but should extend to planners and administrators as well, since systems both at micro and macro levels will be necessary to meet the current challenges of education.)

• Designing, providing for, and enabling appropriate teaching-learning systems that could realise the identified goals.

• Developing a range of support systems and training, creating the enabling systemic conditions/materials, reaching these to the school system, and training teachers and students to use them.

• Recognition of not only the immediate needs of children but also their future needs in relation to the society for which we are preparing them.

• Recognition of the diversity of learners’ needs, the contexts in which learning will take place, and the range of provisions needed for them.

• Research into existing and new techniques, strategies and technologies for solving problems of education, enabling judicious and appropriate application of technology.

• Systematic identification of the goals of education, taking into account nationwide needs (higher scalability, for instance), the system capabilities, and the learners’ needs and potential.

Objectives of Educational Technology

Educational technology, in the capacity of technology of educational, provides valuable help in the total teaching-learning process for achieving the possible results in an economic way through the available human and non-human resources. In the respect, the major objectives of education technology can be summarized as follows:

Objectives at the Macro Level

In view of the broad educational goals, i.e. the macro level, the objectives of educational technology can be listed in the following way

1. To identify educational needs aspiration of the community.
2. To determine the aims of education, broad strategies and structure of education.
3. To develop a sustainable curriculum with interaction with science, art and human values.
4. To identify man-material resources and strategies for achieving the stipulated aims of education.
5. To develop certain models leading to improvement of the process of teaching and learning.
6. To develop the appropriate aids and equipment to meet the educational purposes.
7. To identify the major constraints in the environment and the ways and means to tackle those.
8. To help in extending educational opportunities to the masses especially the neglected section of the community.
9. To manage the whole educational system covering planning, implementation and the evaluation phases.

Objectives at the Micro Level

In view of specific classroom teaching, i.e. the micro level, the objectives of educational technology are as follows:

To identify and analyze the characteristics and educational needs of the pupils.

1. To determine the specific classroom objectives and state them in behavioral terms.
2. To analyze the contents of instruction and organize it in proper sequence.
3. To identify the available teaching-learning materials and resources.
4. To identify the nature of the interaction of the sub-systems like students, teachers, teaching-learning materials, content of instruction and methodologies.
5. To plan the teaching strategies and utilize the man-material resources for achieving specific classroom objectives.
6. To plan the teaching strategies and utilize the man-material resources for achieving specific classroom objectives.
7. To plan the teaching strategies and utilize the man-material resources for achieving specific classroom objectives.

Functions of Educational Technology

The main functions of educational technology are as follows:

(i)                  To convert behavioural objectives into the learningconditions in the context of educational objectives.

(ii)                  To analyse the characteristics of the learners.

(iii)                 To organize the contents.

(iv)                To formulate or construct the media of presenting the contents.

(v)                To evaluate the performance of the pupils with reference to the achievement of educational objectives

(vi)               To provide reinforcement and feedback in order tomodify the behaviour of the pupils.

Importance and Need of Educational Technology

There are three major factors that emphasize the linking of education with technology.

(i) Explosion of population.

(ii) Explosion of new knowledge.

(iii) Explosion of scientific and technological development

Educational Technology enjoys special importance in all the countries of the world, as it:

Increasing the Effectiveness on Teaching-Learning Process-Educational technology brings desired improvement in teaching-learning process by making it effective. It develops to the maximum the cognitive, affective and psychomotor aspect of the pupil.

Maximising the Output—Educational technology has maximised the learning facilities. It is because it uses the principles indoctrinated by Psychology, Sociology, Mathematics, Engineering and other social and scientific subjects. Their input maximises their output in the form of their competency by this technology.

Optimum Use of Resources—The developing countries possess very limited resources. They lack experts, machinery or tools, school building, stationary and time. Educational technology emphasizes the maximum use of available resources in the learning situations, which may benefit all the pupil of the nation from those limited resources which are available for teaching work.

Components of Educational Technology:-

The following are the major components of Educational Technology:-

(i) Methods: It is concerned with the devices such as Programmed Learning Team Teaching, Micro Teaching, Personalized System of Instruction in Teaching Learning situations.

(ii) Materials: Instructional materials such as Programmed Text book the material of this type may be handwritten or printed.

(iii) Media: The media used here are audio, or visual or audio­visual. A few examples are radio, tape recorder, charts, films, educational television etc.

(iv) Man Power: Man power controls educational technology in every way. Educational Technology without man is zero.

Dimensions of Educational Technology

Attempts to further provide fuller description of educational technology has led to the emergence of three dimensions of educational technologies).

A- Educational Technology I (ET I)

This dimension of educational technology focuses more on physical media that are designed and developed to improve the quality of teaching-learning process. This refers to the use of instructional materials of all categories to facilitate learning . It can also be called the hardware approach to teaching and learning.

B- Educational Technology II (ET II)

The meaning of this dimension of educational technology is closely refers to all strategies, techniques and means through which instructions are designed, planned, implemented and evaluated. It does not exclude integration of laws and rules especially in the field of education for proper integration and utilisation of media for better results.

C- Educational Technology III

This aspect of educational technology is usually attributed to philosophical  orientation based on the concept of problem analysis and goal achievement.  It has its roots on the systems theories and applications. This aspect attempts at putting man and machine efforts together to improve the quality of instruction.

Perspectives of Educational Technology

If educational technology is viewed as both processes and tools, it is important to begin by examining four different historical perspectives on these processes and tools, all of which have helped shape current practices in the field. These influences come to us from four groups of education professionals. Because each of these groups emerged from a different area of education and/or society, each has a unique outlook on what educational technology is, and each defines it in a slightly different way.

Perspective 1: Educational technology as media and audio-visual communications — This perspective grew out of the audio-visual  movement in the 1930s, when higher education instructors proposed  It is observed that media such as slides and films delivered information in more concrete, and therefore more effective, ways than lectures and books did. This movement produced audio-visual communications or the “branch of educational theory and practice concerned primarily with the design and use of messages that control the learning process” .The view of educational technology as media to deliver information continues to dominate areas of education even today.

Perspective 2: Educational technology as instructional systems and instructional design— This view  is based on efficiency studies and learning theories from educational psychology, they advocated using more planned, systematic approaches to developing uniform, effective materials and training procedures. Their view was based on the belief that both human (teachers) and nonhuman (media) resources could be part of an efficient system for addressing any instructional need. Therefore, they equated “educational technology” with “educational problem solutions.”

Perspective 3: Educational technology as vocational training — Also known as technology education, this perspective originated with vocational educators in the 1980s. They believed  that an important function of school learning is to prepare students for the world of work in which they will use technology and  that vocational training can be a practical means of teaching all content areas .

Perspective 4: Educational technology as computer systems (a.k.a. educational computing and instructional computing) — This view began in the 1950s with the advent of computers and gained momentum when they began to be used instructionally in the 1960s. Teachers began to see that computers also had the potential to aid instruction. At first, programmers and systems analysts created all applications. But by the 1970s, many of the same educators involved with media, AV communications, and instructional systems also were researching and developing computer applications. By the 1990s, educators began to see computers as part of a combination of technology resources, including media, instructional systems, and computer-based support systems.

Domains of Educational Technology

Educational technology has three domains of use:

1-Technology as a tutor (computer gives instructions and guides the user),

2-Technology as a teaching tool and

3-Technology as a learning tool.

Today’s children use modern technical equipment from an early age so that their coming in with new educational technologies at school will not be a problem find out that more students use modern technical equipment.

When using educational technology we should be primarily focused on the educational value of the tools and applications we use, how adequate they are in the acquisition of knowledge, whether there is an interaction between users and tools, and if we have positive effects in using them. A number of authors suggest that we should focus on five areas of software programs that have the potential to strongly influence children’s learning experience:

1. The educational value of the program,

2. Its ability to engage children in learning,

3. Ease of use,

4. Interactivity between the child and programs,

5. The possibility that a software program monitors the progress of the child.

Scope of Educational Technology

Educational Technology is as wide as Education itself. Educational Technology implies the use of all educational resources – Men, Materials, Methods and Techniques, Means and Media in an integrated and systematic manner for optimized learning. The below mentioned technologies are included in it.

Behavioural Technology: Behavioural technology is the important component of Educational Technology. It puts emphasis on the use of psychological principles in learning and teaching so that the behaviour of the teacher and pupils may be modified in accordance of the teaching objectives.

Instructional Technology: Instructional Technology means a network of techniques or devices employed to accomplish certain defined set of learning objectives. Instructional technology implies the application of psychological, sociological and scientific principles and knowledge to instruction for achieving the specific objectives of learning.

Teaching Technology: Teaching is the social and professional activity. It is a process of development teaching is system of actions which induce learning through interpersonal relationship. Teaching technology is the application of philosophical, sociological and scientific knowledge to teaching.

Instructional Design: In order to bring desired changes in the pupils’ behaviour, the teaching situations, working tools and new approaches were considered important in addition to the learning principles. The composite form of all these is instructional design.

Training Psychology: Training psychology is an important method of teaching and learning. Its development resulted out of the research work carried out on the complicated training problems and situations.

Training psychology emphasizes that the whole training task should be divided into three parts. These are preparing outline of the task, task analysis andPutting the task in sequence. The main role of training psychology is in Teacher Education.

Cybernetic Psychology: It’s a part of training psychology. Cybernetic psychology accepts human beings as machine. Cybernetic psychology emphasizes the fact that all the methods of feedback bring the desired changes by controlling the behaviour of the pupil.

System Analysis: System Analysis is a problem solving process in which the needs of the management are diagnosed and by using an appropriate method for solving the problem, evaluation is carried out.

Working areas of Educational Technology

The working areas of Educational Technology includes the following:

• Audio-Visual materials,
• Curriculum Construction,
• Determining Educational Objectives,
• Feedback, Hardware and Software
• Teaching-Learning Strategies,
• Training the teachers,

In short, the scope of Educational Technology extends to all resources (human and non-human) for the augmentation and development of education. Thus Educational Technology has a wide scope.

Students’ Involvement with Educational Technology

One of the most important issues is to understand the process of students‘familiarization with technology. Teachers have to deal with this issue and to take into consideration not only students‘ adoption rates in terms of the utilization of technology in the classroom.

As technology activities are a valuable vehicle for all types of learning have found that there are three different formulations regarding educational technology that can be identified as stages of learning with technology:

Stage 1: Awareness of Technology: Adoption to Innovation

Rogers  developed a generalized theory concerning the way that innovation is adopted. He defined innovation as ―an idea or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption and that creates uncertainty and resistance in those affected by it‖. Rogers states that ―newness in reference to an innovation does not refer to new knowledge, but to an idea, practice or object about which the person has not yet developed favourite or non-favourite attitudes, not adopted nor rejected‖ . This is a very important part if we consider that students are not predisposed neither in favour nor against educational technology as a teaching method.

Stage 2 : Competence of Technology

One of the most important concepts of the learning process at this stage is task grasp‖, that is the task that actually is regulating a learner‘s behavior. There are various factors that influence how this ―task grasp‖ can be achieved through educational technology. Students learn best by beginning with concrete experience and then move progressively to reflection and abstract understanding‖.

Another factor that influences students‘ learning is students‘ capabilities at a particular age.The learning task should be tailored to the students‘ capabilities rather than the students having to fit in the software designer‘s generalized understanding of how learning should take place.

Stage 3 : Capabilities of Technology

At this stage, students as they have initiative for their actions, start finding out the most efficient way to achieve their goals.  This is a very important stage as research has shown that moving towards student-cantered classrooms can be very effective, as this method of teaching ―takes advantage of multiple human abilities  recognizes the social basis of learning  and values learning in context.

Use and Significance of Educational Technology (in the Indian context)

In India, before the 1960’s the term educational technology was almost unknown to the educational system. It was used as synonym to audio-visual teaching aids. The role of educational technologist in India, today, is not merely that of an audio-visual aid master, hardware expert, media expert or programmed text writer, but of one who is concerned with the information of an overall design to carry out an evaluation of the total process of education in terms of specific objectives.

Educational technology, as we find it today, has a meaningful present and promising future in our country. Some of the significant development in this direction may be summarized as follows:

There has been a wider and more effective utilization of radio for broadcasting educational programs throughout the country. These well planned programs are now broadcast throughout the country for both in-school and out-of-school groups.

1. Another significant development in the use of educational technology is concerned with the development of television programs.
2. The third important area where educational technology has been useful is the problem of -training and re-training a large number of school teachers in an effective way.
3. Another application of educational technology in our country is known as distance education.
4. Another major area where educational technology is being used in our country relates to language instruction.
5. Another field of operation of educational technology in our country is concerned with the correspondence education,
6. Another use for which educational technology is being put in our country is concerned with preparation, development and utilization of audio-visual material, and handling as well as maintenance of the hardware appliances and sophisticated gadgets.
7. In the latest trend, educational technology is providing its worth by utilizing the services of computers and advanced form of ICT technology in the field of education.

Thus, educational technology has been providing its worth in our country by guiding, planning, implementing and evaluating various programmes of formal as well as non-formal education.

 

Conclusion

The presence of educational technology is growing in the classroom. The new generation of kids come ready to work with these new technologies, which play an important role in children’s learning and acquiring various cognitive knowledge so that educational technology must be incorporated into future curricula.

The application of educational technology enhances skills and cognitive characteristics. With the help of new technology comes an explosion of learning and receiving new information, especially on mobile devices.

Teachers have been using new technologies in the classroom. However, the development and application of new technologies grows as a measure that is the question of whether teachers are trained to keep up with them. Here we have two problems. Are the teachers have the ability to use educational technology and whether the school is sufficiently equipped with all modern technical means? Numerous studies were carried out, some are still ongoing, but we have to find the right strategies to apply educational technology in teaching.

 

 

 

 

 

Dr. V.K.Maheshwari, M.A (Socio, Phil) B.Sc. M. Ed, Ph.D.

Former Principal, K.L.D.A.V. (P.G) College, Roorkee, India

Quality education is an essential requisite in todays competitive environment. Technology has affected us in every aspect. The smart classes is a modernized method of education in Indian education scenario which provides quality education to students by helping them in better concept formation, concept elaboration, improvement in reading skills and academic achievement.

The traditional approach of lecture and note taking has lost its effectiveness as the modern day around education grows. In efforts to grow academically it must be considered that differentiated modalities of teaching and learning are necessary to implement deeper levels of growth and conceptual development. Since every student is not interested in all subject matters. However, it is the responsibility of the education system to employ a variety of opportunities for the students to gain interests, orchestrating academic growth and progression throughout childhood and adolescence. ICT has turned from being a technology of communication and information to a curriculum creation and delivery system for teachers and learners.

Learning is not how much one can cramp up. It’s rather the knowledge that remains after one forgets what he/she learned in schools. Thus we emphasize on learning the concepts with the help visuals and activities. To keep such view the smart learning was introduced.

Technology benefited us in every aspect of our life right from communication to education. New methods of teaching have been introduced which is known as smart class. It uses instructional material, 3D animated modules and videos, and all the renowned schools are using this concept. Now the students are thrilled at this concept of innovation and interactive learning process. The concept of  smart classroom has not only made education interesting but a chance to students to enhance their performance.

The Smart Learning approach provides learners of all ages and walks of life with a framework and a host of Smart Thinking Tools that motivate higher levels of understanding. Through the process learners activate and build background knowledge, process information, transform their learning into a product that shows what they know, and reflect on their learning. Structured talk and assessment as and for learning are carefully woven into the process to build a thoughtful context for learning and to advance the thinking of all learners. Smart Learning realizes the goals of inclusivity and differentiation.

It is a new vision in education. The use of Education technology can bring a huge change in education. Internet and e learning devices can make class room environment extremely amazing. Teaching through computer, internet and multimedia devices will be a common thing in future. Now a day’s different multimedia lessons are available. By using these multimedia lessons teachers may teach the students very easily.

These days, if it’s not showing up on a screen, kids aren’t interested in it. While some adults tried to get adolescents to move away from this behavior, many are now adopting a ‘if you can’t beat them, join them’ attitude. This is especially the case in schools, where administrators and teachers are realizing that new high-tech gadgets can not only hold students’ attention for longer but can actually improve their ability to learn. So many school districts are deploying educational technology.

In these day Smart class and smart schools are very interesting dreams for students, teachers and the students. Students are very interested about the smart school and smart class. Several institutes are making their classroom smart and modern. They are working on “Smart School Project”.

In modern e learning and online education based system, the smart class and smart school are not an unknown thing, because in a smart class there will be computer enabled education system. Smart class provides a platform for online e class. We can say it “White Board e Evolution” in education. The question is that what is smart school and what is smart class and what is smart class education. There is a question also “What is smart school management system?”

“Smart school and smart class” is an innovative concept in education. Now a day’s we are living in the age of internet, so our education system is also going to be online. In this environment e learning and online education is the need of this time. Use of internet in schools and education is not only a dream, but it is the necessity of the time.

In a smart class there will be computers, projectors, internet connectivity and other multimedia devices such as home theater etc.  The role of a teacher may be modified in such new environment. In a smart class students may use internet and this activity can change the old thinking about the students and the learning theory. In beginning, it should be launched as a pilot project in a few schools. The experience and result of these schools leads the future planning.

India has made considerable progress in school education since independence with reference to overall literacy, infrastructure and universal access and enrolment in schools. Two major developments in the recent years form the background to the present reform in teacher education – the political recognition of Universalization of Elementary Education (UEE) as a legitimate demand and the state commitment towards UEE in the form of the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009. This would increase the demand manifold for qualified elementary school teachers. The country has to address the need of supplying well qualified and professionally trained teachers in larger numbers in the coming years. At the same time, the demand for quality education is steadily increasing and the need for addressing the professional education of teachers acquires great importance, manner and maintain pace with the modern education.

Importance of Smart Classes

E-learning and smart classroom aims at developing the students learning ability as the entire chapters become more interesting to study and hence improve the results of the students. The smart classrooms are the new generation educational product which helps students gain more marks and is a step to the future of education. E-learning is a revolutionary product in the field of education.

The Smart classroom learning approach provides learners of all ages and walks of life with a nine-step framework and a host of Smart Thinking Tools that motivate higher levels of understanding. Through the process learners activate and build background knowledge, process information, transform their learning into a product that shows what they know, and reflect on their learning. Structured talk and assessment as and for learning are carefully woven into the process to build a thoughtful context for learning and to advance the thinking of all learners.

A smart classroom can be considered as a virtual classroom. A Smart Classroom duplicates the capabilities found in a real classroom.

A Smart classroom provides:

• Students and teachers use their computers to go to a virtual meeting place instead of a classroom.

• A list of students is recorded.

Lecture:

Teachers can choose from a variety of synchronous technologies including:

• Slide presentation

• Audio and video conferencing

• Application sharing

• Shared whiteboard

Interaction with students: Students can indicate when they want to speak by virtually raising their hand. Teachers can let students speak through audio and video conferencing. Teachers and students can use instant messaging and chat Teachers can present questions to students. Students can work together in groups.

Usage:

• Using e-class is as simple as operating your Television from a remote. As with e-class you get an e-box which needs to be attached with the TV and with the e-box remote you can navigate through the study material loaded on e-class.

• The students have access to the study material with them, so they can plan their studies at their convenience. Revision would never had been so fun earlier as all the have to do is switch on to e-class and sit back and learn using the Audio Video learning.

• With e-class you can study at your own pace, devote more time to your weak points. Studying and revising can be done at once own pace

Characteristics of a Smart Classrooms:

Adaptive learning: Any classroom will always have students of different types of learning abilities in it which often makes it difficult for teachers to make sure that all of them understand the concepts. The modern approach of adaptive learning gives students the freedom to learn at their own pace and in the way they are most comfortable with.

Collaborative learning: Learning through collaboration is one of the most effective forms of learning. Teaching and learning in isolation are very restrictive and hinder progress. Learning in groups enhances the scope of learning and develops critical thinking. Collaborative learning activities include collaborative writing, group projects, joint problem solving, debates and more. Collaborative learning redefines traditional student-teacher relationship in the classroom.

Computing devices: Computers are readily available in modern classrooms, since they are essential tools for 21^st century students and replace the utilities of pen and paper. They give teachers the opportunity to enhance their lessons and assist them.

Mutual respect: Teachers and students should always have respect for each other. As now the role of teachers is no longer to be the sage on the stage, students should not forget their value as they will always receive guidance from them. Also, teachers should encourage students to speak with confidence and value their opinions.

Performance-based assessments: Regular performance-based assessments are carried out by teachers through various methods which are not restricted to tests. These can be by conducting quizzes and polls.

Student-centric: In Smart classrooms, teachers play the role of facilitators. They help students think critically. Students discover and master new concepts. Student-centric classroom environments put students’ interests first and are focused on each student’s needs, abilities and learning styles.

Students take responsibility of their learning: As students are encouraged to actively participate in their own learning, they become responsible for their learning.

Students understand and follow the rules and procedures: The learning environment is carefully planned and well-organized. Class rules, procedures, and notices of upcoming activities are posted in convenient places to help students stay on track. Students are constantly encouraged to remind them of their goals and responsibilities. They follow class routines and understand what they are expected to achieve each day and how they are to go about it.

There is innovative working system for teachers and in school management:

An attractive classroom environment is needed for such type smart and innovative activities. Smart school class will be more attractive, innovative, student friendly, healthy and more interesting class. In a smart class it may possible there to arrange “online classes” by internet. Smart class is a platform for e smart class and online IT class.

There is fully multimedia enabled audio-visual classrooms :

Smart Class is a Smart concept for Smart Educators of Smart Schools. “Smart Class” includes Smart Learning Techniques, Smart classroom management, Smart Learning environment and Smart Learning Materials. Internet, projector and other multimedia devices are the main parts of smart classrooms. Smart class is a class of modern age. There is fully multimedia enabled audio-visual classrooms in a smart classroom. It will be quite different than traditional class. In a smart classroom the teacher works as a facilitator in learning.

The upgraded kind of education:

This upgraded kind of education is very interesting for children! it is an innovative idea to change our boring system into a smart and innovative system of teaching-learning activities. Smart School: Smart class is a more fascinating model in the world. In a smart school teachers have to develop the skill of learning from experiences.

Objective of Smart Class Room

The following are some objectives for a Smart Class Room application:

• To help teachers to meet new challenges and developing students’ abilities and performance.
• To enables teachers to access multimedia content and information that can be used for teaching students more effectively.  Pedagogically sound and visually rich curriculum resources.
• To enables teachers to express their views and ensures that every child is understanding the undertaken concept which ultimately affects his achievement.
• To make possible for the concepts to be understood clearly. To makes abstract concept real.
• To have interactive and live teaching to elaborate and compare different objects and perceptions towards the particular concepts
• To designed a module of smart class  which allows a student to visualize the concept much better than static images. Visuals and animations that students will never forget.
• To move a step towards development where students’ achievement is highlighted.
• To makes learning an enjoyable experience for students. Activities and games to make learning process easy.
• To make effective blending of technology with the classroom, and to Inform the teachers of classroom events
• To instruct simultaneously remote and local students.
• To improve creative thinking in learning process to visualize the concepts and practices with model and demonstrations.
• To optimize the use of e-resources wise e-books, e-journals, protocols, lecture notes, documentaries and so on.
• To customized content as per the school’s scheme of work and to provide facility to update the content.

Principles inherent in Smart class room

The following are the principles for smart classrooms in terms of arrangement and pedagogical configuration which we have established as widely generalizable and which should be considered in order to transform any formal learning space in smart classroom .

Principle of  Adaptability

From the idea that every teacher and every class is different, and that space can be adapted to their needs, the concept of smart classrooms includes the principle of adaptability to the type and needs of teacher and of each student.

Principle of  Connectivity

The concept of connectivity has a twofold character. On one hand it is required that the learning space has a good network connectivity, both local and global, to use to the most the potential of mobile devices. Connectivity should be wireless, and this is fundamental to maximize physical mobility around the space and comfort in using technology. On the other hand, beyond digital connectivity there exists social and informational connectivity. Through networks, students live connected to teachers, friends, family, professionals and to a large number of information sources, both in their immediate surrounding and from distant places.

Principle of Comfort

Under this principle, elements which enable this well-being should be included in the learning space for the various tasks to be done for learning, such as couches, pillows, rugs and carpets, comfortable chairs. A smart classroom is a place arranged to comfortably do various activities –reading, watching videos, playing, listening to music and audios, writing, talking, debating, experimentation, and so on.

Principle of Flexibility of physical arrangement

The arrangement of a smart classroom and its elements is such that it allows agile and easy variations in activities, that is, make it possible to change student grouping, the type of resources being used, use of various types of resources at the same time, ICT and non-ICT, for different students to carry out different tasks, e.g. searching information, discussing, watching a video, etc. The classrooms is supplied with varied furniture elements to achieve flexibility of space arrangement.

Principle of  Multiplicity

This principle refers to smart classrooms having features which enable the use of various types of resources and stimuli. While teaching and learning, the arrangement  enable possibilities for creativity, reasoning, logical thinking, etc., and  be adapted as close as possible to learners’ various needs and learning styles.

Principle of  Order / Organization

This is an important principle, even though it is not easy to design, and attain, sustainable placing, storing, arrangement and rules of use of spaces and resources available. For this reason teachers  carefully consider the order and arrangement of spaces and resources so that these are the most adequate for the learning activities that will take place in their smart classroom.

Principle of  Openness

This principle relates to the false and rooted belief that learning takes place only in the formal space in the traditional classroom, where the teacher presents information and gives a lesson in a transmissive way . Learning takes place beyond the classroom space, both physically and virtually, and therefore activities put forward for smart classrooms should consider these extended learning places and learning times in order to learn beyond the classroom and the class times traditionally assigned.

Principle of Personalization

Smart classrooms allows students and teachers to personalize their environment according to their likes and needs. A space which progressively teacher and students should make their own, personalizing it by means of activities which support and reinforce learning.

Principle of  Safety / Security

Smart classrooms have an arrangement which prevents users from having physical accidents and will also be safe in terms of access to information and communication on the Internet from the classroom. Therefore security systems will be taken into account when conceptualizing and designing smart classrooms.

In sum, the arrangement, structure, methodologies and principles of smart classrooms intend that learning experience be as likely as people’s learning ways, preferences and styles, in a natural way and in a personal space; all this through active participation, experimentation, collaboration, solidarity, rapport, creativity, leadership, and so on.

Main themes in the Smart Classroom concept

Smart Classroom aims at combining entrepreneurial pedagogy, collaborative teaching and the latest technological teaching tools to create a modern and effective education service environment in education setting. There are three main themes in the SMART Classroom concept:

1. Smart Pedagogy,
2. Smart Teaching Solutions.
3. 3.Smart Learning Space

SMART Pedagogy is based on entrepreneurial pedagogy and methodologies. Smart Classroom project aims at fostering the application of these methodologies in institution setting and hereby provide more interactive alternatives to traditional  teaching. This theme of the project results a handbook for teachers on applying fresh teaching methods into practise, tools for teachers’ self-reflection and evaluation and training programme for  teachers.

The second theme of the Smart Classroom concept is called Smart Teaching Solutions and it deals with variety of practical teaching tools and materials for  teachers including teaching games and simulations. Smart Teaching Materials include for example exercises and examples that teachers can apply to their courses.

Smart Teaching Spaces cover both physical and virtual teaching spaces  spaces in the institution setting. The Smart Teaching Spaces concept defines the essential furniture and technical specifications of ideal physical classrooms and the most important features of virtual learning platforms. Also facilities and fuctions for lecture halls and collaborative teaching spaces will be defined in this package. The Smart Teaching Spaces as a whole brings flexibility to learning and makes the learning ubiquitous.

The Layout of Smart Classroom

The Smart Classroom is physically built in a separate room of Pervasive Computing Lab   in which several video cameras, microphone arrays are installed in it to sense human’s gesture, motion and utterance. According to the characteristic of invisibility in pervasive computing environment, it deliberately removed all the computers out of sight. Two wall-sized projector displays are mounted on two vertically crossed walls. According to their purposes, they are called “Media Board” and “Student Board” separately. The Media Board is used for lecturer’s use as a blackboard, on which prepared electronic courseware and lecturers’ annotation are displayed. The Student Board is used for displaying the status and information of remote students, who are part of the class via Internet.

The classroom is divided into two areas, complying with the real world classroom’s model. One is the teaching area, where is close to the two boards and usually dominated by lecturer. The other is the audience area, where is the place for local students. Complying with the philosophy of Natural and Augmented. Natural means obeying real-world model of classroom as much as possible to provide lecturer and students the feeling of reality and familiarity, which leads to the existence of local students. Augmented means trying to extend is the reason for remote student.

Suggested features for Smart Class Room

Smart Class Room must have some of the following features:

• Redecorated interiors

• Enhanced lighting controls

• A gyro wireless mouse to control the computer and projector from anywhere in the classroom

• Switching controls to easily change projector output between the PC, laptop,

document camera, and DVD/VCR

• New projectors

• Laptop plugs so you can bring your own computer and hook it up instantly

• A document camera to show transparencies, papers, or small objects on the projector and even take

Snap shots of them

• A SMART Sympodium that allows you to make electronic notes and images appear

• The Classroom Performance System(CPS) to get real-time answers from your students in class by means of wireless multiple-choice response devices.

Components of Smart Class Room

• Smart Board (6X4)

• Smart LED TV High (Panasonic 42”, 2 USB, Viera connect)

• Short throw Projector (Panasonic PT-VX400)

• Video Conferencing Equipments

• Laptop with Internet connection (with public IP)

• Document Camera/ Visulaizer (12 time optical Zoom and 8 time Digital Zoom)

• Podium (ITC 6236B, 60W amplifier inbulit)

• Video Conferencing – High Definition (Lifesize Express 220) and Screen

Architecture of Smart Classroom at  Library

Affordable Components of technology for Smart class Room

With so much new education technology being created at such a rapid pace, teachers can have a hard time deciding what will be beneficial in their classrooms. Even after a specific device or program has been chosen, cost can often be prohibitive in a school environment, making it difficult for smaller districts to access the same advantages of larger ones. To help sort through all of the noise and find the best tools at the lowest price, we look into four of the most budget-friendly pieces of technology that can benefit classrooms:

1) Document cameras

A budget-friendly device that can help to more actively engage students, document cameras allow teachers to display worksheets on a screen or to individual devices much like an old-school lamination projector. Group exercises and quizzes can be displayed with the camera instead of on individual sheets of paper, helping classrooms become more environmentally friendly as well as technologically savvy.

2) SMART boards

Interactive whiteboards, or SMART boards, offer a benefit similar to that of a document camera, but taken up a notch. Presentations are made more robust and given more depth. When a picture or document is displayed on the board, teachers can write on them with an Internet-connected stylus that provides a trove of additional information to the lesson, such as definitions, extra images or accompanying video. Instructors are also able to archive and share any lesson that has used the board, and past lessons can be revisited to reinforce new topics being covered.

3) Cloud-based communication systems

One of the most beneficial aspects of adding technology into a classroom environment is its ability to broaden the scope of what students are exposed to on a daily basis. With Internet communication services like voice-over-IP and Web conferencing, teachers can arrange for virtual field trips to places they wouldn’t be able to take their classes otherwise. Experts in specific topics can give a talk through Skype and students can collaborate with one another on projects online.

4) Tablets and eBooks

Like laptops and smartphones, tablets and e-readers are becoming increasingly popular with students outside of school. Harnessing familiar technology inside the classroom can help to engage students and help them feel more comfortable with the material since it is being presented in a format they are used to. Providing electronic copies of textbooks also allows students to go into the lesson more in depth, as links to additional material can be provided inside the text. Key concept summaries can also be provided at the end of a section, as well as digital flashcards that cover the lesson plan.

All of these devices can help teachers and schools greatly improve learning experiences for their students, but all of the benefits offered by the technology would be for nothing if it can’t be managed effectively and kept secure.

Functionality of Smart Classroom Applications

In this section, we will describe how our Smart Classroom application suite facilitates collaborative learning applications. Our Smart Classroom application suite facilitates different collaborative learning activities of a student, an instructor, and a teaching assistant. The suite also provides different functionalities for communication between the students, the teacher, and the teaching assistant

The functionalities of Smart Classroom Applications are listed below:

i) For a single student

a) The application suite reminds the student of his/her homework and class schedule based on current time and current location.

b) The application module will synchronize the lecture notes between a student’s smart phone and desktop computer before and after class.

ii) For instructor/Teaching Assistant

a) The application suite synchronizes the lecture notes between instructor or teaching assistant smart phone and desktop computer before and after class, since desktop computers have the original lecture notes.

iii) For student-to-student communication

a) The application suite enables students to exchange and share their documents in drawing.

b) It also enables students synchronize drawing document among their smart phone.

iv) For instructor/ Teaching Assistant-to-students communication

a) The application suite distributes teaching material (lecture notes/survey forms/grade sheet/course schedule) from instructor or teaching assistant to all students at proper situations.

b) The instructor can create exams for students and groups by using the application suite.

The instructor can also send exams to the students and groups and collect answers; grade

and send the grade back to the students by using the application suite.

v) For student-to-instructor/Teaching Assistant communication

a) The application suite facilitates students to store their questions or concerns in text format in their smart phone. When the instructor is available (in classroom), the questions are automatically transferred to the instructor smart phone.

b) Students submit their progress report in a similar way by using the application suite. At the end of a class, their reports are submitted to the instructor automatically.

c) Students make appointments with the instructor using their smart phone to send the request to the instructor’s smart phone and get a confirmation using the application suite.

d) Students write answers of the exams and send answers to the instructor using the application suite.

e) Students run and display their homework on the smart phone and project it on the screen with the help of the application suite.

A typical User Experience Scenario in Smart Classroom

The following is a typical user-experience scenario happened within the Smart Classroom. Multiple persons enter the room through the door. At the door, there is an audiovisual identification module identifying the entering person’s identity through facial and voice identification. If the person is identified as lecturer, he is granted the control right of the Smart Classroom. Besides, he takes a badge embedded with location sensor. The visual motion-track module tracks the lecturer’s motion in the room. Once he steps into the teaching area, he will be able to use gesture and voice command to exploit the Smart Classroom to give lessons.

Persons in the Smart Classroom other than lecturer are deemed as local students. When the lecturer is in the teaching area, he can start the class by just saying, “Now let’s start our class.”

The Smart Classroom starts Microphone Array Agent to capture and recognize his voice command, and then launches necessary modules such as Virtual Mouse agent, Same View agent. Lecturer loads prepared electronic courseware by utterance like, “Go to Chapter 1 of Multimedia course”. In the meanwhile, The Smart Cameraman Agent was activated to focus on the lecturer Location Receiver Microphone.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Smart class room

Bringing technology in classrooms has been a topic of debate for the last couple of decades. While many parents, teachers, academicians and policy makers are in favour of the same, others think it is a total disaster. Let’s look into the matter and discuss some of the positives and negatives of bringing technology inside classrooms.

Advantages of Smart class  room

Access to online information: Technology tools allow learners to easily access a rich database of online resources. Teachers can use the wide variety of online information sources such as knowledge databases, online video and news items to reinforce their lessons. Learners can also quickly access the wide range of powerful tools and resources to conduct.

Allow for connectivity in different location: Interactive technology tools allow for connectivity in different locations; making ideal collaboration and distance learning environments. When using technology tools, student show to increase student-to-student collaboration and increase overall participation in the lesson.

Better understanding: It shifts the classroom experience from the sage-on-a-stage approach to a more collaborative environment. With classrooms turning into smart classrooms, students are also getting smarter! Big chunks of paragraphs are being replaced with pie charts, bar graphs and images and the theory “A picture is worth a thousand words” is coming to life.

Bridge the urban/rural divide: The smart classroom creates another opportunity to bridge the urban/rural divide by exposing students to technology in a classroom setting. Also, this classroom may be used in conjunction with our proposal for pre college outreach to allow children and teenagers to experience technology that they may not otherwise be exposed to in a rural, small town setting.

Countless resources for making learning more fun and effective: From apps to organizational platforms to e-textbooks and more, there are many amazing tools that can help .Tools  will help both students and professors alike collaborate, share ideas, stay organized, and more to get the most out of learning.

Can automate a lot of teaches tedious task: There are engagement tools like that can automate grading for you and keep track of student performance. Similarly, tools  can help him streamline grading for writing assignments, discussions, and participation, and answering common student questions, which otherwise can seem daunting due to their objective nature.The class has instant access to information that can supplement their learning experience.

Change the way of imparting knowledge: Overall, incorporating   technology tools   to the classroom environment is likely to change the way teachers impart knowledge to students and at the same time simplify the learning process for students. Students will find it easy to engage with lessons and gain a better understanding of the overall subject concept. It is an ideal tool for any classroom setting. The education field needs technology like this for students, learners, and educators to continue to grow in their field.

Environmentally friendly: Interactive technology tools     are also environmentally friendly. They offer teachers an entirely different way of presenting information to students, which eliminates the need for writing, printing or photocopying. Which, contribute to eliminate wastage from over-utilization of paper and ink.

Enhanced teaching/learning experience: Technology tools provide new ways for teachers to teach, and for student to learn. These tools support a wide variety of learning styles. For instance, visual learners can watch as their tutors use the technology tools   to project visual elements, whereas audio learners can listen and have discussions. On the other hand, the Boards come with touch screen capabilities that allow tactile learners to touch and interact with the board.

Increased exposure and wider access to information: With internet access, students are provided with great exposure as they are given a chance to think and feel outside their bubble. They come in terms with what is happening in the world and perhaps even try to change the wrong.

Technology nowadays is not only widely available but also affordable. From apps to e-textbooks to Wikipedia, no matter how far you go, all you need is the internet and information will be available to you and all other potential readers and learners.

Improved student engagement: Students who hardly raise their hands in class or the back benchers who are usually sleeping, now look forward to learning something new as these modern age tools are more relatable to them. By fostering discussions and surfacing new and out of the box ideas, technology also helps improve the student- teacher bond.

Interact and share: The interactive nature of technology tools   offers learners an opportunity to share and participate in the instructional process. Interactivity provides a platform for students to demonstrate their grasp of the subject through touching, drawing, and writing. Every learner has an opportunity to participate or contribute to the presentation and discussion .

Low-Maintenance: Technology tools are neat and easy to use. There are no hassles cleaning or maintaining whiteboards. The data on the screen can be modified using a specialized highlighting tool or pen. There is no need for using unhygienic chalk or marker pens.

Provide rapid assessment: In addition, the technology tools   provide for rapid assessment whereby learners can receive immediate feedback. Teachers and students are able to identify individual strengths and weaknesses in various subject areas and isolate areas/topics that need more focus or review. Thus smart board helps to increase the involvement of the students in learning.

Provides Flexibility: Interactive technology tools allow many different forms of media – including photos, illustrations, maps, graphs, games, and video, to be displayed. These tools help to expand the nature of content that can be used in learning. In addition,  technology tools makes learning to be more dynamic as the different forms of presenting information are readily available.

Students can learn life skills through technology: Creating presentations, learning to differentiate reliable from unreliable sources on the Internet, maintaining proper online etiquette, and writing emails; these are all vital skills that your students can learn in the classroom and master before graduation.

Technology Integration: Technology tools allows for integration of various technologies in order to improve the learning experience. For instance, it is possible to attach tools such as microscopes, document cameras, cameras or video cameras to a whiteboard to aid in instruction. It is also possible to integrate the interactive learning tools with a wide range of software applications.

Teachers can do more experiment in pedagogy: As an academic professional, teaches learn more about how to effectively design and execute a class guided with technology. Whether it’s a dramatic change such as teaching with a flipped-classroom, or just adopting a single tool for a specific project or term, he will learn something new in modern academia! Being well-versed in technology can also help build his credibility with students, and even with fellow colleagues.

Disadvantages of Smart class room  Technology In Education

A Disconnected Youth

This harmful effect of technology has already come to light in today’s world. People are attached to their screens almost 24/7, which is causing an entirely new set of social issues to pop up. This translates into the school system in a bit of a different way, however. More and more students are experiencing social anxieties when it comes to face to face interactions, but are perfectly fine socializing online.

Can foster more cheating in class and on assignments:

This will happen if the teacher give up hope on adjusting his students’ attitudes and only give them subjective assignments that require no thought or perspective.

Inevitable Cheating

While have an easy access to information may seem like a great thing, it can become a real problem in a test taking environment. Cell phones have made cheating easier than ever. You no longer have to figure out how to write all of the answers down, you can just look them up!

Inappropriate data:

With internet connectivity available 24X7, students are exposed to some sites and links which are inappropriate for them. While colleges can limit the availability of these websites on their network, they cannot control what the student is searching for.t is a bit of expensive job to set up the smart classroom environment. The biggest concern when it comes to the use of technology in schools is how easy pornographic, violent, and other inappropriate materials can be accessed and viewed. This could cause big problems if the material is shared with other students while in the classroom.

Lack of face to face interaction:

With social media platforms, students might have come closer to each other by using various apps and sites but, at the same time, they have gone far from each other when it comes to face to face interaction which is apparently affecting their real life social skills.

Lesson planning can become more labor intensive:

It can seem overwhelming to adapt technology into the classroom. In many ways though, using technology can become as natural to as any daily activity. Allow  time to learn how to use something. Chances are that students will learn it even faster than you since they’ve grown up surrounded by technology.

Possible disconnection of social interaction:

Many people are skeptical of technology and what it does to students’  ability to verbally communicate. If the teacher create assignments in class that use both technological tools as well as oral presentations and collaboration, this will teach students to be dynamic in how they learn and interact with others.

Students do not have equal access to technological resources:

There may be students who do not have iPads or cameras or even the textbooks for class. It will be up to the teacher  to point them in the direction of the library or community resources, or to create assignments that allow them to work in groups and share resources.

The Cyberbullying Trap:

Giving students access to anonymous accounts and endless contact avenues can only lead to trouble. Cyber bullying has become a real and in our face problem among young people today. This harassment has no end, which includes the class room. There is also no way to monitor or discipline students who are involved.

Technology can be a distraction:

One of the major drawbacks of having technology in classrooms is the distraction which comes complimentary with it. With so many tempting social media platforms like snap chat, Instagram, facebook, twitter and tumblr, it’s not hard for the students to divert from what is happening in the class and misuse the opportunity given to them. Attentiveness drops drastically in the classroom when students have their cell phones or other technologies out. The focus shifts from their teacher and education, to whatever they are looking at, playing, or doing on their phones.

The quality of sources  may not be top-notch:

The internet is both a blessing and a curse. The students may need some guidance on identifying proper sources and unreliable sources. Many campuses have writing centers that can help with this.

However, the need of the hour is setting up of guidelines and rules in place, teaching students about online safety and helping them understand what the good sources of information are. Apart from that, trying to restrain personal usage of internet to as less as possible in the classrooms should also be taken care of.

Conclusions:

The structure and arrangement of traditional classroom space does not go with changes happened in educational agents, methodology and social context. Smart classrooms rethink learning space and learners’ expectations about what this space, along with resources and methodologies, should be like.

The Smart classroom  is a one-stop resource for students needing research, technology, or writing help. The usage of this new technology must be encouraged in the current education system. The Smart classroom provide the students as well as teacher to learn through a new techniques and too in a different and interesting manner.

It is fair to say that both students and adults have become more and more technologically inclined. Students adapt quickly to new technologies, just as they will be expected to in the professional world. Cameras, remotes, and wireless devices are all common technologies that result in more engaged learning for students and adaptation to a variety of learning styles. In the near future, classrooms will too have to adapt accordingly and upgrade themselves. There is no stopping that.