From Blackboards to Interactive Whiteboards - Journey Toward a New Normal

Like a 2MB floppy disc that retired to make way for its advanced successors, such as USBs and micro SDs, the more than a century old chalk and black board learning system too needs to pave the way for its effective new generation of experiential and digital learning environments. The continuous overwork of the black board system is only limiting possibilities within the classroom. It’s a well-known fact that a student’s attention span could at the maximum last for 15 minutes, and a teacher’s lesson plan could only extend to a certain point in the absence of any medium to engage the students. However, the inclusion of interactive white boards and online classes, and an overall digitalization of the pedagogical structure are how the student-teacher gap can be merged.

The ratio bridge

While, on the surface, the 30:1 pupil-teacher ratio (PTR) stands correct within India, a little deep digging of the education sector reveals the disparity that exists within government schools and private ones. In some government schools the ratio is as less as 20:1; however, some of their private counterparts settle the balance by maintaining a ratio that’s disparagingly high at 50:1. This is where technology can make a huge dent in the quality of education. In such a confined learning environment, attracting the attention and recognizing individual needs will be difficult. A teacher could include videos, use an interactive whiteboard or even use syllabus-based interactive learning content to keep the students interested in the class. Students too can participate in online collaborative learning platforms where everyone can share their knowledge and questions to understand the subject better or by accessing practical usage videos to help understand the context in which the subject can be used in the practical world. A win-win for both the parties.

Widening the access

As per an IAMAI-IMRB report, 48% (around 78 million) of the population in rural India uses Internet on a daily basis. Thus, a huge opportunity exists to ensure that everyone has access to the various avenues to educate themselves. The Indian government’s mission to increase enrollment in higher education by 5 percentage points is the point where digitalization will play a key role. Considering 80% of the schools are managed by the government, introduction of digital mediums will magnify the interest as well as will breakdown the limits of the four-wall academic system. For instance, in the rural side of the country a 15-year old child may have the thirst for knowledge, however, being crammed with manual work for a daily wage may not provide him the opportunity to actually be a part of the class. However, if the child has access to the daily lessons and has the flexibility to learn in accordance to his timing, he will definitely use it to learn his lessons.

With the digital classroom market being expected to grow globally at 13% CAGR from 2016-2020, it’s only a matter of time when this learning environment becomes the new normal.