Classroom Learning Creative Teaching during Pandemic
By V PRABHAKAR RAO
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Class on Wheel


Class on Wheels is a mobile education platform. Instead of teachers, the students manage time according to the curriculum, the curriculum itself morphs according to the needs, availabilities and problems of the child. The program has successfully engaged out-of-school children, many of whom have regained their will to return to schools. The financial scholarship programs take care of their needs while they can study in peace. Many demotivated children have also been re-engaged by their mentors to study again.




For off-the-grid children, education stands only as an exigency. To give time to understand conceptual basics after working to provide for their families is more than just a mammoth task, therefore the Class on Wheels program was designed to bring about a concierge in their work and education. Since concepts are hard to digest otherwise, children in this program are taught concepts on the basis of their work or environment. For example- a child tea vendor is taught about the latency of heat, boiling point of water, etc. with him making tea. The program incorporates the understanding that such children have their own set of reservations and therefore individual mentorship and scholarships are provided to keep the children engaged. Education is imparted in a place and time convenient to the children and techniques like a visual demonstration, storytelling, etc. are employed.





Forced by financial instability, many children have had to overlook education and work to support their families. These children gradually tend to lose their interest in academics and tear away from the vein of education, losing both the will to study (and sometimes) the necessary aptitude. These children, cannot easily be brought back to educational norms since caught under the pressure of work, they are unable to dedicate the required time towards an academic curriculum.


Online Teaching





Online learning involves courses offered by postsecondary institutions that are 100% virtual, excluding massively open online courses (MOOCs). Online learning, or virtual classes offered over the internet, is contrasted with traditional courses taken in a brick-and-mortar school building. It is the newest development in distance education that began in the mid-1990s with the spread of the internet and the World Wide Web. Learner experience is typically asynchronous, but may also incorporate synchronous elements. The vast majority of institutions utilize a Learning Management System for the administration of online courses. As theories of distance education evolve, digital technologies to support learning and pedagogy continue to transform as well.


Distance education, also called distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at a school. Traditionally, this usually involved correspondence courses wherein the student corresponded with the school via mail. Today, it involves online education. A distance learning program can be completely distance learning, or a combination of distance learning and traditional classroom instruction (called hybrid or blended). Massive open online courses (MOOCs), offering large-scale interactive participation and open access through the World Wide Web or other network technologies, are recent educational modes in distance education. A number of other terms (distributed learning, e-learning, m-learning, online learning, virtual classroom, etc.) are used roughly synonymously with distance education.


Open Classes


Indian students, especially those in rural areas and poorly funded government schools have struggled to attend classes online due to spotty connectivity and a shortage of phones in a single household. Even in private schools, the move to online classes has exposed a digital divide between students who have multiple devices - from laptops to iPads to smartphones - at home and those that don't. The outdoor school is a breather for both parents and children after months of a grinding lockdown to slow down Covid-19 infections. The state has reported more than 19,000 cases and some 365 deaths.

 

About the author

V Prabhakar Rao is an educator in India. Any views expressed are personal.

V PRABHAKAR RAO 4 year ago

Thank you sir

V PRABHAKAR RAO 4 year ago

Thank you sir

pradeep negi 4 year ago

nice worked during epidemic