Saturday, October 31, 2015
Friday, December 19, 2014
‘Its 6.30 in the morning.
Sun is almost up. All the other family members – grandpa, bibi (mother) and
grandma have left their beds’. Mothu saw their folded bedding on the wooden
cots. They generally got up and left the ‘chatt’- the flat roof of a house,
used by most of the families, in the neighborhood to sleeps in open during the
summers from April to July – an hour ago before Mothu opened his eyes to the
day. He was listening to the noises from the kitchen below, half of a room on
the first floor of the house. The front half was open to the sky and served as
landing space for the stairs going down up to the ground floor.
The sound of pounding of onions, ginger and garlic in a small stone kundi was the daily wake up call for Mothu. Grandpa would sit on the landing and do this job after his bath before getting ready to go for the work. Grandma must be stirring the set boiled milk in an earthen pot for butter. Occasionally he could hear the water being poured into the tank made in a wall in the kitchen towards the far end – area used for cooking. There was also a chimney on the other side for the smoke from the coal fired small angithi (furnace) on the other side. His mother must be fetching water from the municipal tap in the street, just a few houses away. Mothu’s house was the dead end of the street of twenty houses.
Suddenly from the corner of his eyes he saw a big kite flying overhead. ‘Where is the processed thread I got yesterday?’ Mothu was relieved that the 25 yards of thread he got yesterday from his kite seller and the kite was in the barsaati – a small covered part of the roof to store the beddings and cots and also to sleep under in case of sudden showers. There was a strong urge to fly his kite as well. Mothu got from his bed, looked around and saw quite a few kites already in the sky. This was the beginning of the summer vacation and kids were already up before time – they were always late for getting up during normal school days – and starting making best of the vacation.
Mothu however had a problem, he had strict instructions not to fly kite except in the evening. Its only on this condition, grandma had relented after half an hour of pestering to give him 5 annas (one rupee had 16 annas and each anna 4 paise) to buy his manjha and the kite. He had very little time to put his skills to test, the big kite was already up for the last 15 minutes and sun was about to cover the whole roof quickly. Already there were two calls for him to get up and come down. Mothu took out his flute and stated blowing in to it keeping his hands free for the kite, already made ready to fly. Noise from the flute convinced his mother down stairs that he was awake and just trying to figure out playing flute.
His small kite was up in the sky in no time with only 25 yards of “armored thread” in front to ward off any aggressive move from another kite. Rest of the thread had no powdered glass stuck with glue on it and would snap off in a single sweep. Mothu was thinking fast, his mouth blowing into the flute, eyes fixed on the big kite, which has noticed the small intruder in its space and his arms and hands maneuvering his own kite so that the first touch between the two is on his manjha. Of course he could see that the other kite was flying on complete manjha which Mothu could ill afford. The moment of his test seem to be coming closer. He could see from the corner of his eye that the 'big' had noticed him and decided to do away with him first before going forward with other conquests. Now Mothu was nervous. He was not sure of getting another allowance for the next one week at least to get his kite and manjha. If he looses his kite he will be sitting quiet in the evenings on the roof of his house watching other kids all around enjoying their kites in the sky. But he also knew that in his class – he completed eight years in the Feb. – he was good at kites. Then also the fact that he could make his grandmother give him an other allowance may be with a little reprimand.
Thus the decision was made in Mothus head and he stopped avoiding the big kite. Next moment it swooped on Mothu's kite was already positioned for the contact at manjha. The touch of two different threads instantly sent a sensation through Mothu’s fingers holding the thread. The only reflex in this case and situation was to pull the thread fast and with force. Mothu did as it was planned and wired in his system. He knew that any delay – even fraction of a second – is fatal in this combat.
Suddenly Mothu found the sensation of two rubbing threads no more passing on to his finger. And he looked up, there was only his kite above, the 'big' floating direction less away from his kite and going down. There was sudden commotion all around. 'Mothu has won, and he humbled Gaama. Bravo Mothu' came the cry from the kids around. Gaama ! Mothu looked back. Few roofs away, the biggest kite flier known in the city was gathering the thread and as soon as he saw Mothu’s diminutive figure standing on his cot he gave him a symbolic salute and said Bravo.
Many years later Mothu, a senior researcher in a Govt. Lab, 1000 miles way from his small town, can still feel the reverberations of that applause and a very gracious way of accepting defeat by a champion from a small child. This exhilarating feeling of ten minutes and the whole scenario of that morning have etched in Mothu’s memory. In the middle of his life now, Mothu finds himself playing the scene again and again when he feels miserable and down. These moments never failed him. He has always come out better, little less depressed, little more prepared to face a difficult situation in his life.
This small incident made this young boy a hero in the neighborhood. Gaama came with his friends to Mothu’s house the same evening and congratulated Mothu on his triumph in the morning. Appreciated his kite flying skills. He left 500 yards of manjha for Mothu as a gift. In a way Gaama expanded the opportunity space of Mothu in kite flying 20 times!
Treasure the exhilarating moments of life and play these again and again to propel one out of sticky situations.
The sound of pounding of onions, ginger and garlic in a small stone kundi was the daily wake up call for Mothu. Grandpa would sit on the landing and do this job after his bath before getting ready to go for the work. Grandma must be stirring the set boiled milk in an earthen pot for butter. Occasionally he could hear the water being poured into the tank made in a wall in the kitchen towards the far end – area used for cooking. There was also a chimney on the other side for the smoke from the coal fired small angithi (furnace) on the other side. His mother must be fetching water from the municipal tap in the street, just a few houses away. Mothu’s house was the dead end of the street of twenty houses.
Suddenly from the corner of his eyes he saw a big kite flying overhead. ‘Where is the processed thread I got yesterday?’ Mothu was relieved that the 25 yards of thread he got yesterday from his kite seller and the kite was in the barsaati – a small covered part of the roof to store the beddings and cots and also to sleep under in case of sudden showers. There was a strong urge to fly his kite as well. Mothu got from his bed, looked around and saw quite a few kites already in the sky. This was the beginning of the summer vacation and kids were already up before time – they were always late for getting up during normal school days – and starting making best of the vacation.
Mothu however had a problem, he had strict instructions not to fly kite except in the evening. Its only on this condition, grandma had relented after half an hour of pestering to give him 5 annas (one rupee had 16 annas and each anna 4 paise) to buy his manjha and the kite. He had very little time to put his skills to test, the big kite was already up for the last 15 minutes and sun was about to cover the whole roof quickly. Already there were two calls for him to get up and come down. Mothu took out his flute and stated blowing in to it keeping his hands free for the kite, already made ready to fly. Noise from the flute convinced his mother down stairs that he was awake and just trying to figure out playing flute.
His small kite was up in the sky in no time with only 25 yards of “armored thread” in front to ward off any aggressive move from another kite. Rest of the thread had no powdered glass stuck with glue on it and would snap off in a single sweep. Mothu was thinking fast, his mouth blowing into the flute, eyes fixed on the big kite, which has noticed the small intruder in its space and his arms and hands maneuvering his own kite so that the first touch between the two is on his manjha. Of course he could see that the other kite was flying on complete manjha which Mothu could ill afford. The moment of his test seem to be coming closer. He could see from the corner of his eye that the 'big' had noticed him and decided to do away with him first before going forward with other conquests. Now Mothu was nervous. He was not sure of getting another allowance for the next one week at least to get his kite and manjha. If he looses his kite he will be sitting quiet in the evenings on the roof of his house watching other kids all around enjoying their kites in the sky. But he also knew that in his class – he completed eight years in the Feb. – he was good at kites. Then also the fact that he could make his grandmother give him an other allowance may be with a little reprimand.
Thus the decision was made in Mothus head and he stopped avoiding the big kite. Next moment it swooped on Mothu's kite was already positioned for the contact at manjha. The touch of two different threads instantly sent a sensation through Mothu’s fingers holding the thread. The only reflex in this case and situation was to pull the thread fast and with force. Mothu did as it was planned and wired in his system. He knew that any delay – even fraction of a second – is fatal in this combat.
Suddenly Mothu found the sensation of two rubbing threads no more passing on to his finger. And he looked up, there was only his kite above, the 'big' floating direction less away from his kite and going down. There was sudden commotion all around. 'Mothu has won, and he humbled Gaama. Bravo Mothu' came the cry from the kids around. Gaama ! Mothu looked back. Few roofs away, the biggest kite flier known in the city was gathering the thread and as soon as he saw Mothu’s diminutive figure standing on his cot he gave him a symbolic salute and said Bravo.
Many years later Mothu, a senior researcher in a Govt. Lab, 1000 miles way from his small town, can still feel the reverberations of that applause and a very gracious way of accepting defeat by a champion from a small child. This exhilarating feeling of ten minutes and the whole scenario of that morning have etched in Mothu’s memory. In the middle of his life now, Mothu finds himself playing the scene again and again when he feels miserable and down. These moments never failed him. He has always come out better, little less depressed, little more prepared to face a difficult situation in his life.
This small incident made this young boy a hero in the neighborhood. Gaama came with his friends to Mothu’s house the same evening and congratulated Mothu on his triumph in the morning. Appreciated his kite flying skills. He left 500 yards of manjha for Mothu as a gift. In a way Gaama expanded the opportunity space of Mothu in kite flying 20 times!
Treasure the exhilarating moments of life and play these again and again to propel one out of sticky situations.
Problem of Too Many
I was engrossed in my thoughts, too many things on the mind of a young lad who is two years in to the college, when I was called by Mrs. Suresh Chand, “Mothu could you please come over for a few minutes, I have something to talk to you”. Winter had set in and the solitary municipal bulb hanging from a pole in the street was unable to clear even the early darkness of 7 PM. Suresh Chand was my elder by 15 years and worked as an Octroi Clerk in local municipality. He was married when I was 4 and I distinctly remember when he brought his newly wed home after getting married in a neighbouring town some 30 miles away. We kids had gone to their house still full of guests and ladies from the neighbourhood specially there for a “see the bride’s face” ritual. Every lady would lift the small vale over the bride’s face, look at her, cup her face in both hands and say something like “oh she is really pretty, not dark like our Suresh. “Suresh’s mother you have brought a beautiful daughter in-law” and hand her Rs. two as shagun. I, a four-year-old lad was also curious to see bride’s face. So, unannounced and almost unnoticed, I just brought my face very close to the vale and straight looked at her face, our faces only few inches apart. She immediately caught hold of my face and whispered, “Now where you will go? So much close nobody came to me so far”. There was a glint of mischief in her eyes and she demanded from me her shagun. I ran away but this incident is still fresh in my mind and I feel special kinship with Mrs. Suresh Chand. May be she felt the same and had called me in for some matter troubling her.
In a way her husband and me were friends. In the evening he had started joining us on our long walks on the roads, out skirting the old town. We used to enjoy the tranquility and sophistication of civil lines area, empty spaces of the college areas and hustle and bustle of the railway road and almost deserted railway platforms. It appeared that the time we spent together doing these rounds was really quality time and we all felt little different from the crowd. Given the fact that one of the members of our small group was fifteen years our senior added some prestige to the group, with otherwise average age of less than 18 years.
Mrs. Suresh Chand, when I looked at her after stepping from the street into their house, appeared quite disturbed. She was a lady of few words and said, “I want you to help me. Lala Ji (as she would address her husband) has started visting the Dargah. In the beginning, I did not bother much, but now his mannerism is changing and I am afraid he might change his faith and become a Muslim”. Looking at her face I realized that she is feeling hopeless. I was stunned into silence. He had not been coming with us for our evening walks, but we thought since he had shift duty, so may be he is at work and hence not available.
As such there was no practice in the street and our neighbourhood of socialising by visting each other’s place. Every house had half the living area spilled over on the part of the street in front of the main door. The doors were neither closed nor locked through out the day. This provided an ambience where one could exchange pleasantries, do small talks or even exchange gossips without stepping into anybody’s home. It felt great! We were all connected, sharing our thoughts and concerns in a very informal community living format almost with no overheads. So when Mrs. Suresh Chand called me in, it was really a rare occurrence and it turned out to be a sensitive issue to handle. And I was only 18 years old! May be she had that special connect with me because of our encounter when I was 4 and she one day old bride in our street!
That day instead of going for our usual round of walk, Vinod and I went to the Dargah of the Pir Lakkhi Shah with some hope to find Lala Ji there and figure out what to do next? Air at the Dargah was thick with incense. Devotees were putting Chadors on the grave of the Pir Sahib. It was a 7 feet long grave. We were looking for Suresh Chand, but found it difficult to spot him, as it was Friday evening, the dargah was having more than usualrush of devotees. Most of the devotees were wearing skullcaps worn by Muslims. It was near the entrance of the grave enclosures where the incense was burning and people were offering Kheel Batasha that I found him, sitting in a highly devotional posture with skull cap and handing over kheel batashas as Prasad to the devotees. We watched him from a distance in complete silence. May be his time was over; he got up and noticed us. He was quite calm and came over to us as we moved out of the Dargah premises into the bazar. I said, “Lala Ji we were missing you for the last one month, you have not joined us for the evening walk. We thought you were on shift duty and unable to come”. He was somber and said; yes I am also missing the time with you guys. I will surely join you tomorrow for the evening outing”.
I asked my friends to join us for the walk next day near Police Lines so that I may have sometime together with Suresh Chand. Right at 6 PM he was ready to go out. As we reached the Police Lines area, we felt a nip in the air. It was a good time to have a small stop for tea at our favorite tea stall. Two cups of hot tea did wonders to our nerves I suppose. I asked, “Lala Ji you were looking wonderful at the Dargah yesterday. You were performing like a pro”. He said in a dismissive tone, “oh that, we will discuss it some other time”. I knew it’s not the time to take any corrective action and left it at that.
I finished my college, went to the university in the neighbouring town for my postgraduate studies and secured a job in a govt. lab in Bombay. However the pull of friends, the smell of the place, the street and its ambience drove me to come back again and again. And every time visiting the town we would make it at least once to our walk in the evening. It was one of those evenings, when I was late to start, asked lala Ji whether he would be coming for a walk. He shouted in English – his preferred language of conversation after a drink or two – “yes, but you come here”. I stepped into the room; he was sitting on a charpoy and asked me to sit by his side. The room was full of alcohol and so was laala Ji it seemed. He offered me a drink, anxious to get away from the smell, I declined the offer and said that we would be good outside in fresh air. In 10 minutes we were on the outskirts of the city in Civil Lines area, spirits thus lifted, we started talking about things and life in general and all of a sudden I asked that what it was which took him to Dargah knowing he had discontinued visits to Dargah, he might be able to provide me his reason. And there he was, “ listen, I am fifteen years older than you. I am still struggling to make my both ends meet. At times I see no reason to continue living like this from day to day. But I have seen people even less provided for than me coming up in life and looking happy. I am a born Hindu and Bania but employed at the lowest rung of a municipal services as an Octroi Clerk. Here in this service, my dear you join as class three and retire as third class. I had started feeling a few years back that I am becoming a third class individual who can not provide enough for the family and his wife. With no tangible solution to my problem, I started going to Hanuman Ji Temple first. For months, every Tuesday I offered my prayers, bared my heart and soul, pleaded for help, but not an iota of difference happened. Then I started visiting the old Devi Temple, again the same fate. Started going to all famous and old Shiva, Vishnu temples in the nearby villages and towns, wasted years of my life with no positive effect. Its then I thought why not try Muslim saints. They seem to be more easy to please than our eight crores (80 millions) Gods, Devis and Devtas, where I feel if you go for appeasing one the other gets annoyed and may create obstructions in your fulfilment. So I took to going to the Dargah and paying my respects. I was tempted to go whole hog with doing namaz 5 times and all that. But my dear no difference even after months of praying and paying my respects at the Dargah. So I stopped that and concentrated on managing my life with what ever I had at hand. Now I am happy and see can enjoy occasional drink or two”.
For the next few years, when I was visiting my town regularly I found Lala Ji a little less religious and bent upon making himself and his life happy with in his means. It was after 35 years I went to the street again. Found my old friend living in the same house. His wife was looking happy and they were narrating very animatedly all the religious places and Four Dhams they visited over the years. Lala Ji was saying, “lets spread our bets and make every one of our Gods happy”. He has realised, he said, one thing at the age of 75, that if you make your Gods happy you become happy too.’’
Tuesday, August 19, 2014
Ideal Learning Spaces for 21st Century in Higher Education
1. People learn best when:
b. They are in an environment conducive to learning which
means:
1. The place of learning is dynamic, congenial and "smell" of the place encourages you to learn. Learning Spaces in the 21st century will be conducive to all kinds of learning in a dynamic sort of manner. Moving from teacher centric to student centric. From Hierarchical Individual to Hierarchical Collective and as and when required to Distributed Individual and Distributed Collective. For this to happen not only spaces have to be dynamic and re configurable, these also have to have connectivity not only with the environment but also with community shared spaces like libraries, museums, sports complexes and parks etc. with in or outside the institute in the city.
1. The place of learning is dynamic, congenial and "smell" of the place encourages you to learn. Learning Spaces in the 21st century will be conducive to all kinds of learning in a dynamic sort of manner. Moving from teacher centric to student centric. From Hierarchical Individual to Hierarchical Collective and as and when required to Distributed Individual and Distributed Collective. For this to happen not only spaces have to be dynamic and re configurable, these also have to have connectivity not only with the environment but also with community shared spaces like libraries, museums, sports complexes and parks etc. with in or outside the institute in the city.
2. I am not getting into the details of management, data
collection for need of new learning spaces, financial closures and all that
though these are important. Instead I am
on a journey to "imagine, what is the physical and digital space where you
would experience and do this type of learning?" I bring in my sixty years
of experience so far as a student, researcher, teacher, manager and
educationist to base my ideas on.
Some thoughts on this are:
I am mostly talking about learning spaces in higher
education from undergraduate to post graduate levels of learning. That's where
my experience has been so far and what I think will be my learning theory for
the future, from now onwards to say 50 years from now?
a. I do believe that the learning spaces for adults and
young students kind of mutate and usable across learners age.
b. Its like a huge joint family or community in a big house
hold space. As and when required one can utilize any space in the house. One
can join the elders and take part in their conversation (learning!), one can
get into the playing space of the young ones thus learning and making them
learn. One can go into the spaces like living rooms to stretch and share ideas
with others and one also has his or her own space - be it a bed room or study
room or a corner in the courtyard / balcony / deck or just your own space under
a tree for reflection, learning by yourself.
c. Learning vision for me is life long learning and
"learning How to Learn". How this can be achieved with present and
future infrastructure. Shantiniketan of
Tagore was designed so that students learn, classes happen, discussion takes
place san boundaries with in Shantiniketan. Learning environment was in kind of
dynamic equilibrium with nature.
Taxila (more than
2500 years ago) was a huge learning place and still does not qualify as a
university because there were no standardized degrees. Students used to learn
with teachers in the teachers quarters. There was no fee for learning except
“Guru Dakshina” or a gift for Guru at the end of the learning. The period of
learning could be up to eight years - after the age of 12 or 14 - depending on
the progress of the student. Though learning was teacher centric but the
progress of learning was student centric.
Introduction
A learning space should be able to motivate learners and
promote learning as an activity, support collaborative as well as formal practice,
provide a personalized and inclusive environment, and be flexible in the face
of changing needs. The part technology plays in achieving these aims is an
important consideration too.
Learning Spaces in the 21st century will be conducive to all
kinds of learning in a dynamic sort of manner. These spaces will also be
integrated in a seamless manner with ICT and other education specific software
and hard ware required for learning under all the four quadrants. For this to
happen not only spaces have to be dynamic and re configurable, these also have
to have connectivity not only with the environment but also with community
shared spaces like libraries, museums, sports complexes and parks etc.
Having said that we can not ignore the learning spaces
already with us since centuries and these are also evolving mostly to
accommodate hierarchical individual hierarchical collective learning. For these
spaces to be relevant in the present century we need to first understand the
student teacher, student-student, teacher-teacher and community and environment
interaction needs not only to enhance the learning but also take care of the physical, cognitive, social, cultural and
emotional interaction. The learning spaces design should enhance these
experiences towards optimum learning and overall development.
Learning Quadrants
Learning Quadrants
A Simple Frame Work
for developing 21st Century Learning Environments will start with the following
points:
1.The briefing:
My theory of dynamic spaces and encompassing all the quadrants (hierarchical
individual, hierarchical collective, distributed individual, distributed
collective) will have a major impact on what the Learning Spaces in the 21st
century will be. These spaces should be conducive to all kinds of learning in a
dynamic sort of manner. These spaces will also be integrated in a seamless
manner with ICT and other education specific software and hard ware required
for learning under all the four quadrants. For this to happen not only spaces
have to be dynamic and re configurable, these also have to have connectivity with
intranet and internet. Spaces will be more effective if nature is allowed to
intrude into the spaces in a manner that enhances the feeling of being one with
the nature. It could be achieved through natural light, seeing out / seeing in
through the two-way or one-way see through glass panels. Sound needs to be
zoned as per the requirement of the learning space. The community shared spaces
like libraries, museums, sports complexes and parks etc. need to be braced as
learning spaces as well.
2. The design phase is a highly consultative process that includes
academics likely to teach in the facility, and enables confirmation of the
brief. In this case we are presupposing that my theory of learning is the way to
go in higher education.
3. Educational technology to
enhance teaching and learning should be considered and incorporated in both the
briefing and design phases.
ICT and many of the collaborative
technology in class room, in campus and off campus to be taken into
consideration.
4. The resultant design is the
product of a partnership between the facility manager, the architect, the
information technology manager and academics teaching in the space. First make
a prototype of each space. There will be a prototype like a classroom catering
to the anticipated pedagogy and Learning Commons and other spaces as per the learning
quadrants requirements and human factors requirement.
5. Professional development should
be implemented to allow teachers to discover the teaching and learning
potential of the facility, and adapt their practice if necessary.
6. The institution should publicise
the new facility as a means of promoting good teaching and learning practice,
across the institution/university.
21st Century Learning Spaces for World
Most of the world population (>50%) and hence the
learners live in India, China, Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Nigeria,
Brazil and other developing countries.
Learning Spaces for higher education in these countries cannot be the
replica of the learning spaces designed for the developed world. However some
of the core design requirements catering to the teacher centric and student
centric learning will however remain the same.
Core Design Requirements:
We are assuming that in the present institutions running the
higher education courses such as colleges, professional institutes and
universities have the space designed for hierarchical individual and in some
cases hierarchical collective pedagogy. There will be a central library,
departmental libraries. There are sports and cafeteria facilities and also some
facilities for big assemblies and performing arts, such as an auditorium. Even
in the new institutes we tend to have the learning spaces designed on the basis
of old blue prints for class rooms, seminar rooms, dinning facilities, student
living spaces etc. This arises from the fact that pedagogy more or less remains
the same revolving around hierarchical individual. However with Internet access
through mobile and tablets even in the small towns and villages knowledge and
information is accessible with ease. Resources like MIT Open Course Ware, edX
and other MOOCs have brought the paradigm shift in the ways of learning for
learners as well as teachers. Focus has shifted from “What “, to “How” to
learn. Learning interaction also is shifting to digital interaction albeit slowly.
Present day students are more equipped
to “enhance “ their learning in the classroom and beyond rather than getting
the basics of subjects from the teacher. Teacher role is evolving towards
“guide on the side” from the “sage on the stage” so far. In nutshell we are
moving towards pedagogy and modes of learning encompassing all the four
quadrants we have been exploring in the course.
For encompassing all the four modes of learning in a frugal
institute – majority of the institutions in the developing countries and third
world are resources and cash strapped - our prerequisites will be:
1.
Motivation for learning.
Students in the developing world have more
hunger for learning and education because that’s the only way they can uplift
themselves
and their families economically
and socially.
2.
Laws of the land.
This is a tough one. Some govt. body or the
other for standardization and “quality” adherence controls most of the higher
educational institutions. The rules are framed more in terms of the size of the
class rooms, land titles, number of teachers, syllabi, evaluation of the
performance by way of external exams and so on. And this kind of regime is an
impediment to adopting new modes of learning and learning environments. However
things are changing; with economic progress and compulsion of demography. India
for example has to harness her demographic advantage where 65% of the
population today is below 35 years of age. To provide skill at such a scale
with speed we need to push learning with all the learning modes in our new
pedagogy.
3. Resources to provide state of
the art ICT and learning infrastructure cannot match the developed countries
even in the next couple of decades. Taking cognisance of these facts we suggest
the following:
Classroom
/ Learning Centre:
Classroom:
A typical classroom toady has a teacher standing on the
raised platform, white board at the back, students sitting in rows facing the
teacher. By providing tables and chairs with castor wheels we can reconfigure
this space as and when required almost as a subset of learning space.
A Conventional Classroom – from Learning Space Design with an Inclusive Planning Process Promotes User Engagement Dec 2009 caption |
Refurbished Classroom as General Purpose Learning Centre caption |
Refurbished Classroom - flexible chairs and tables arrangement with embedded technologies caption |
Redesigned and refurbished classroom as we can see provides
many different kind of learning spaces, space for small group work (formal and
informal). Small group workspaces where the interaction among the learners is
more informal and open helps in developing the physical, cognitive, social,
cultural and emotional interaction among the learners. A boardroom like space
and the serious learning projects being done there develops confidence;
emotional and physical. Helps in sharpening the cognitive skills by observation
and quick challenges one has to tackle in real time.
Teaching Spaces Model
Teaching Spaces Model
The above are reconfigurable spaces with a movable
partition. We have boardroom like arrangement for teacher led learning, there
are small group working space, individual workspaces, discussion and
presentation space and fixed work stations on the network. We have Wi-Fi, USB
port connectivity, mobile white boards and TV screens hooked to the laptop
displays for presentations
Some institutions with budget and pristine surroundings can
go for Learning Commons opening out to the nature with glass walls. Furniture
and other facilities in these will be movable except some spaces along the
opaque walls for computer workstations, charging sockets, printer and photocopier
etc.
Some dynamically reconfigurable classrooms too can have one
way see through glass walls for others from outside have a feel of pedagogy
inside the classroom.
Laboratories and
Vocational Spaces
These spaces except for the furniture lay out and provisions
for individual projects may not be required to change much. With some fixed
work benches, power points and equipment and facilities as per the subject (for
example a chemistry lab may need water faucets and heating elements) and spaces
with suitable furniture for doing inter institutional project may be provided.
Library and Learning
Commons
This is one space, which can act as a catalyst for bringing
in the change we need in the institutions for ushering in the learning as per
the new pedagogy, learning modes, evolving ICT and education technology for
facilitating group, interactive and collaborative learning not only with in the
institution but across institutions around the world. In most of the
universities library is one central big building and is designed to impress.
Most of the journals now being subscribed by the libraries are in digital form
and available online. Many books are also available and we envisage all of the
books in the future will also be available in digital form. Already books
available online are in millions. So the shelf space of the libraries will
mostly be occupied by the old paper books and important libraries like
Alexandria in Egypt will have original manuscripts for research and exhibition.
Its time that main library function be that of the
depository of the resources and library staff to be available for guidance to
use the old and as well as new digital resources of the library. Some area as a
learner enters the library should be functioning as a Learning Common. This space depending on the size available can
house in a fluid design manner the following:
In the above figure a Learning Common is depicted with all
the activities it can support for student learning, social interaction and
other creative activities. Picture is taken from taken from JISCs Design Spaces
for Effective Learning A Guide to 21st Century learning Space Design.
In the above Learning Common design we see that the space is
on the way to library but provides many stand alone learning and other
activities too. We can envisage most of the services and spaces students will
need to learn and show case their talent is available. It’s also a social area
providing physical and connectivity to virtual space.
Learning Street or
Street
This is one space, which can be developed around a long and
broad corridor of an institute building. Generally the location of such a space
in an institution is not only central but may connect various parts of the
building and its activities. More like a spinal cord in our body.
This space can act as formal / informal idea cubation space,
various small groups meetings for multidisciplinary learning and work and other
dropping in if interested. Individuals and groups can work on their personal
interest projects in art, science, engineering or management, which can be
further worked upon for Proof of Concept in the respective labs or idea lab.
We can very well see that the spaces discussed above provide
immense opportunities and act as catalysts for
overall development of the learners (student / teachers) in a seamless manner
with focus on team
work, experimenting with new ideas in their respective learning areas and
beyond.
Technology Support
for Learning
The usage and utility of Learning commons changes with the
student calendar and evolving technologies such as
Mobile learning
Tablet PCs,
Smart phones,
Wireless keyboards,
Digital cameras.
Connected learning
Wired computing
Wireless networks Wireless-enabled
laptops/tablet PCs
Visual and interactive learning
Video conferencing,
Video streaming, Image projection, Interactive whiteboards, Voting devices
Supported learning
Assistive technologies Accessible USB ports Audio-visual
prompts Video recording facilities TV screen information points
Summary and
Conclusions
In this report we have discussed the new generation learning
spaces embedded with the affordable and available technologies. Most of the
devices required for learning like smart phones, tablets and laptops are
carried by the students of higher education in their backpack almost in any
part of the world. Most of the college going students carry smart phone with
data connectivity foe apps like Facebook. Given the connectivity and some
education software in redesigned leaning spaces , we are good to take the 21st
Century learning experience to most of the higher education learners in the
world.
Sunday, August 14, 2011
This Always Works - but more for senior citizens
As kids we like to do only what takes our fancy or what interests us. But as we grow older the list of must do things keeps becoming larger and larger. Parents instructing do this and don’t do that. Behave like this or you will get rebuke. It’s impossible to work out why we as kids are not allowed to mix with certain interesting people and why the home work from KG onward is so boring and still needs to be finished before the end of the day. The compromises go on and on from our early school to primary, middle, high school and on to the university. Along the way we also pick up our favorites – people, things, subjects, places, and relations in the family, books, smiles, flowers, poems and celebrities. However all these will have to be subservient to our demands of life. Such as job – we are all not lucky to have a vocation of our choice -, boss, colleagues and associates, neighbors and so on. For a big part of our life we keep struggling to reach for what we like to do within the constraints of what we have to do. Most of us are struggling with this dynamics of life and are happy with some kind of sub optimal equilibrium. In many cases we change our attitude and feel convinced that what we have is the best for us.
Then comes a stage in life, where the constraints start disappearing – your job is no longer there ( you have superannuated), professional life stresses are gone, you have steady though less income, it’s you and your wife only again in the house may be for the first time or after a long time. Now this is the time you must go for a kill – try 10 out of 10 for your happiness. Fish out the things you liked to do but could not or did not find time to do. It could be occasionally reading that story book, listening to the poetry, old songs and gazals. Start posting on to the blog you created years back, find old friends and communicate with them. Spend time with the friends and visit your children.
Do push your self a bit and form a monthly objective a little beyond yourself. But do not try the uncharted territoty. I for one never wanted to be hands on but am good at ideation. Now I indulge in the activities which allow me to do contemplation, ideation and problem solving in the academic and research. At 60 plus, as always, I still like to push my intellectual faculty but have no longer the demand of going to office, pushing others for deadlines, leaving kids to school, reaching for work in time, preparing and pushing myself for activities pushed on to me …
I do what I am doing right now, writing this post, read others blogs and comment on those, initiate or take part in Higher Education Forum, an online Google group, go for walks with my wife, improve my cooking skills and share the results with my children and grand children. Watch old movies together. Eating out is less but still I want to see the world – my wife willing! However embarking on journeys to explore India and beyond is still to planned though. Till then TLC and other channels will do!
Overall much happier than I was any time in my life so far.
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