HOW LONG SHOULD WE CONTINUE ADDING TECHNOLOGY TO THE TEACHING LEARNING PROCESS?

The answer in brief is "NO LONGER- A LOT OF DAMAGE HAS ALREADY BEEN DONE."

Let us pause for a while and understand the fundamental process of Teaching-Learning. Once this understanding has been acquired, add what you like but with an objective and that has to be only “to improve the process."

Teaching is an objective-oriented activity. It has a well defined purpose. It is meant to induce learning. It is a social activity. You need two people at least.

Learning is a relatively permanent change in behaviour. It is an individual activity and needs both intrinsic and extrinsic motivation. We all have our preferred Styles of learning. Our Brain Hemispheric functioning also affects the way we learn. Review and practice enhance learning.

One needs to have a holistic view of the Behaviouristic School of thought and the Cognitive School as also of those who talk of learning as Need-Reduction, Problem-Solving and what not.

What is essential to us is that there are a lot of variables that intervene in the process of Teaching-Learning and while we are able to control a few, there are many that are beyond our control.

We have been constantly endeavouring to bring in efficiency, speed, change in this process and every decade has witnessed the growth of new strategies: Nature as Teacher, Play-way, Project Technique, Child centric methods, Tutorial system, Heuristic approach, Socratic Dialogue, Inquiry based teaching, Developing Schemas and Strategies, catering to the Zone of proximal development etc.

We did speak of and use Technology in Education. We developed a Technology of Education and a Technology in Education.

I am of the view that an approach where the Laws of Learning, the Researches of Behavioural Sciences and the Knowledge of HOW learning takes place in the Brain is concerned; we should use it to our best possible advantage in the Teaching Learning Process.
Then, we need to look for introduction of the Hardware and Software of Technology that can facilitate the Process and make it more effective, enhance learning, individualise instruction, give each learner the space and freedom to learn at his pace, assess learning in objective terms for Remediation and for providing reinforcement.

In fact, the use of Technology as a substitute for Teaching needs experimentation and research based evidence. I have found a display of Technology and the concerned did not have a perfect understanding of its use, its scope and its effects on the Teaching learning Process. When asked why they were doing this or that, the answer was because everybody else was doing it or it gave them a standing in the community or else it added to the marketability of Educational Institutions. Nobody was convinced that it aided learning, improved upon the quality of learning, increased accessibility or made the process more interesting and gain speed. May be I have interacted with teachers in Schools that had their compulsions to use (misuse) Technology in this way.

We have to define the levels, the structures and the types of learning; before we continue with any further addition. Whatever has been added has to prove its worth and has to be used properly before we add any more.
Thanks.