Quality Classroom Transactions by use of Modern Resources
Gone
are the days when teachers were teaching using chalk and talk method. Most of
the teacher educators like us use to record in our observation diary that the
student-teachers i.e. would be teachers in teacher education programmes make use
of Daily Using Teaching Aids (DUTA). By this we meant that the student teachers
were practicing their lessons using Chalk, Duster, Blackboard; and followed ‘Lecture
Method’ for teaching and the primary source behind lesson preparation was generally
textbook prescribed by the state board. Thus, teacher’s innovation was limited
to ways of expression restricting to tone, gestures,
drawing skills on the board with different colour chalk pieces and a rolling
blackboard containing few assignment activities. If a teacher was not good at
handwriting and/or drawing then a shabby picture was projected in front of the
students that demoralised practicing teacher. Some of the creative and artistic
teachers used to bring well prepared charts and models relevant to the
transactional content. This was followed by a period when students got access
to the Internet. The creative student-teachers were found to print relevant
pictures on different sizes of paper. They also made black and white print
colourful using different colour shades and outlines as prints and thus it became
more economical compared to hiring of artists for preparation of charts. These
efforts were praiseworthy too as in a short span of 9 months duration of the
programme the students were supposed to complete 40 lessons in two different
subjects. This was in addition to reading of entirely different content of
syllabus in education discipline for theory examination. Thus, theory contents
of teacher education programmes were different from their basic discipline that
is Arts, Science, Commerce, etc. which overburdened student teachers in shorter
duration.
Now,
the situation has changed and many resources have emerged for the use of
student teachers. The textbook is not ‘the only source of information’ for
student teachers. The Departments of Education, State Council of Educational Research
and Training (SCERTs), National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
are preparing supplementary materials for teachers. There is also a flood gate
of resources opened for teachers or student teacher trainees in the form of
private publications for particular age group of students, which also act as
resources for teachers too. Based on the pattern which is followed by school,
school learning material is available, that means the material is available for
state, CBSE, ICSE pattern, transdisciplinary programme like International
Baccalaureate programmes etc. There are various other age specific, enrichment
books, which provide additional information for student teachers, teachers and school
students as well. Thus, the scope of thinking and pondering horizons of student
teachers have increased manifold. This is why the increased duration of teacher
education programme especially B.Ed., as laid down by new regulations of
teacher education (2014) provide ample opportunities to student teachers to
practice innovations. The compulsory internship helps to know School facilities
and optimally use them by gaining in-depth understanding.
The
new regulations of teacher education laid down by NCTE in 2014 have also
emphasized use of Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) as an integral
part of teacher education programme at all level. The innovations in ICTs have
made teacher trainees updated, as they get latest versions of information from
different parts of the globe through Internet. To be specific the content based
resources are available in different formats like text, image, audio, video etc.
It is the effort and attempts of teachers who can pool different sources at a
particular place to meet needs of a learner for quality education. From the
point of view of a practising classroom student teacher, it should not be a
matter of great worry that the material obtained is a copyrighted material or
open resource for use in classroom. Because teacher’s intention is to impart
knowledge to classroom learner and they do not intend to claim somebody else’s
product as their own. The deliberations are as good as preparation by teachers
before they go to class by understanding various aspects of concepts to be
taught. It is however, to be noted here that if the teacher intends to record
or publish the material then licensing provided by original author may be strictly
taken care. Bringing such materials together from different resources to attain
educational objectives forms part of the process called ‘Blended Learning’.
Such learning provides opportunity for appealing more than one sense and
provides variety in learning with experts from various fields.
A
well aware, experienced doctor diagnoses his patient properly and suggest
appropriate medications, so also more learned well aware teacher can employ
proper teaching methods in the classroom to improve quality education. To
summarise access to abundant educational resources enhances teacher awareness
and increases his or her expertise and experience for bringing quality
education to their disciples.
I have observed that some of the student
teachers, teacher educator also use messages received in informal WhatsApp
groups during classroom academic deliberations. Thus, now individual learning
is not restricted only to sources like text books for social interactions, but
it goes beyond classical teaching sources. Thus, use of WhatsApp for academic
purposes has also added new dimension for sharing of resources for a classroom teacher.
If multiple resources in the form of multimedia are used, then learning can be
enhanced under improved transaction quality.
Textbooks
from various state and national boards are accessible to student-teachers at a
click of button and they need not go for purchase of books to shops or market.
These provisions give broader perspectives for reader as he or she can
understand more regarding ways of presentation of contents for similar age
group learners in different formats. Few government offices who hosts their
material on their websites for the benefit of learner are SCERT Kerala, DESERT,
Bangalore, NCERT, New Delhi, NIOS, New Delhi etc.
Large
number of the government and private publishers are supplying CDs along with
the textbooks. The textbooks also indicate about URL which the learner can go
for further information. Thus, these enrichment bits for readers help in
meeting requirements of gifted children. The overall examination of
availability of abundant academic resources leads us for quality classroom
transaction in schools of modern era.
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