SCIENTIFIC WRITING-1

Academic Year 2020-21 is EXCEPTIONAL in more than one ways. 

We start this experiment in Post Graduate Education where students opting for ELECTIVE paper titled SCIENTIFIC WRITING will engage in public forum engaging with me- as their teacher.  

What is your understanding of SCIENTIFIC WRITING in the light of above?

Online Examination- What an experience!!

Online-Offline As Divisive to Learning/No Learning

Technology Company has a world view which is very different from Academic Institutions. The stakeholders in an online examination and also in online learning are multiple- ranging from electricity company and mobile service providers to parents and even grandparents. Teachers, Students, University/College Administration, technological devices, parents, physical space, time from 'regular life'- Everything that was taken for granted has gone for a toss!

As one of the Associate Dean of my University following were my learning from the GREAT Online Exercise that we undertook.

1. Communication is serious business. i never valued role of communication during this exercise than ever before in my life. People can tolerate anything once they know that 'someone' is there listening to them.

2. Indians are not the people who are perfectionist. We have a tendency to allow 19-20 and technology is either 19 or 20! it can not be 19-20.

3. There are DIFFERENT worlds all together. Technocrat, programmer, administrators, academic come from diverse directions and its critical that people ACCEPT to work together respecting the other. Each feels their work is more important than the other whereas EACH had to work in alignment with the OTHER for better results.

4. Technology can be extremely frustrating. It does not necessarily help every time. It can be a nightmare. Especially where there is no economy of scale, its worthless. 

5. It is necessary to take people in confidence and leadership is critical and careful skill, not everybody's cup of tea. Leaders actually can make dramatic difference; good or bad, empowering or frustrating. 

6. Technology can complicate unless carefully planned. There is more human effort gone in technology based interventions unless advance planning and loopholes were anticipated. 

7. Answerability is important. Accepting one's mistakes is important. Respecting other point of views is important. Listening is important. Asserting is important.

Students who are getting degree with online exams need to recognize that the Life is not MCQ! 

Webinars as Forms of Ubiquitous Learning Devices

Due to Covid-19 pandemic and subsequent to the Lock-down by the Government for close to 60 days, social media is a buzz with numerous webinars (Web based Seminars) given by institutions and even individuals.

What i am elaborating is In the Indian context; how number of universities, business establishments, professional associations and even media houses started offering webinars at local, regional, national and even international levels. i became part of number of them being into academics and here are some of my observations:

Objectives of such events:

1.       Promotion of programme, service, people

2.       Show on paper that work is going on while everything stopped physically

3.       Creating databases by providing free registrations

4.       Cultivating subscriber base for the page or You Tube Channel

5.       Networking Opportunities

Outcome of Such Events:

1.       Lot of Learning for everyone associated with it

2.       Information and idea exchange opportunities

3.       Filling up of Time-Space divide

4.       Visibility for people/institutions/issues

5.       Fulfillment of Work From Home Report

Experiences of Such Events:

1.       Passive viewer of streaming where no live chat was present

2.       Live chat was not integrated in the aural discourse so audiences become namesake  

3.       Receipt of Certificate even when the webinar was not attended due to digitized processes

4.       Live poll in few of them had half of the audience not polling means connected technologically but not attentive to the poll

5.       Technological discomforts as in to how to mute oneself or how to disconnect one’s physical environment with  the digital presence

Many Indian institutions especially under public ownership (State Universities, Public Schools) wanted their teachers to undertake online classes, attend online webinars, conduct video lectures, become part of panel discussions and creating dialogues amongst educational and other leaders. Webinar became new device that while creating avenues for ubiquitous learning reaped many other benefits for the presenters as well as attendees. Undoubtedly most importantly it created revenue generation for technology companies.   

Covid 19 and Teaching-Learning

Its been long to come back searching for my own blog after a while!
Covid-19 halted all of us as if it was "statue you" by the State. Lock Down after Lock Down- 1.0 to 4.0 so far and no sign of opening up. Everyone in their HOUSES not sure if Homes truths could sustain itself for such a long time!
Work For Home and Work From Home...Life is a routine of same cycle day in day out. Clean-Cook-Clean-Cook and work like Robots attending Webinars after webinars! People's spree for Certificates and showing those on social media handles besides their food plates provides new benchmarks in social media communication. 
Comic relief was when i called for a meeting of my dissertation students and the joy that i saw on their faces talking to me made my day. No doubt the work is at snail pace but the face to face Zooming helped them to reconnect to the reality.
Today i read   http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article9405.html and was reminded of this blog of mine (and relevance of it in Covid Times) so coming back.......
As teachers we go to class day in and day out. Most often, lately i have started saying after being into Post Graduate classes with varied number of students (about max 30 to minimum 5) for 20+ years now that the class is not about education, nor about teaching, nor about learning. It's about connecting with each other and reminding each other that there is a world out there which still needs this classroom because it is only in the classroom that we would help, listen, empathize, tolerate, support and still shout, occasionally fire, dismiss or trouble EACH OTHER.
Technology increasingly is suggesting that it can do wonders only if humans using them have human hearts. The webinars after webinars taught me how critical it is to communicate and not just "Show PPT or Ask Question" because we are in a process of becoming machines itself IF NOT helped by EACH OTHER :)   

Technology FOR Women's Education!!!

Recently i observed little disturbing trends in how technology is becoming important player in the process of education in general and women's education in particular. i would like to share three incidences to make my point.

i am waiting at a photocopy centre on SNDT Women's University campus cooperative store. Two men- one elderly and one boy entered and inquired with the shopkeeper about filling up online application form for B.Pharm. and D.Pharm. In the process of conversation i was made to understand that the boy (who was hardly 14-15 years old) was dictating the processes and the man (who was the father) whose daughter was in the village was to be admitted for higher education!! The (semi-literate) man on the counter of Photocopy shop told them to opt for Mumbai University in spite of having set up the shop on SNDTWU campus!! Another boy (20 something) came to the shop and asked for print out of online application that his sister had done. The man on the counter told him, it would cost 100 Rs. And when the work was to begin the boy could not recollect from where the application form was to be downloaded. He did not know the difference between universities or admission portals.

Parents, mainly mothers of kids who just passed out tenth standard had to apply for online admission for 11th standard. The struggle to get photo as well as signature scanned appeared herculean to the mothers whose knowledge of technology was limited to Whats App. Few of them clearly said that the children are making their own decisions since parents can not be present in the entire process of online filling- offline submitting and getting portals reset to correct errors that occur during online filling of the application!!!

My discussions with management and principal of the College affiliated to SNDTWU having Mumbai University college in the same locality revealed that the College of Mumbai University is flooding with applications due to tie up with the local photocopy shop !! Interestingly the semi-literate boys on the so-called Xerox shops are calling shots for people filling up online application forms who are advised to fill up application to "unaided" (higher fees) batch of a particular college for ensured admission.

Indian parents and prospective students lack awareness and understanding about education system in the country. Most do not understand difference between college and university, Public institution and private players, aided or unaided programmes, education/training or placement !!! While women's higher education is not a top priority in the family decisions, technology seem to be the newer player which may decide where we go in the years to come...................

MOOC made me mook....

Did two MOOC (Massive Open Online Courses) from Coursera.org in last six months. The experience was interesting not exceptional. The reason I did it because everyone was talking about it so wanted to go on the other side and check it out. Two courses I COMPLETED and three I left over the period of six months!!! Apart from what I had experienced as IGNOU student way back in 1992-1994 (offline non-internet era) for doing my second Masters degree in managing Distance Education programme, this was more of global connect- much faster, much larger n much deeper. What I noticed doing them was whatever the nature of interaction, Indians have a pattern to their presentation. WE want to be nice, polite and politically correct OR we want to be opinionated, aggressive or shallow. We can the power of analysis may be because as a tribe we tend to make emotions out of non-emotional situations!!! The technology is a mere means and cant be treated as an end for reaching out. Unless I know what I want out of interaction- it may be pure pleasure of being connected to more complex selfish motives or malaise intentions- I see no purpose in the process. I did MOOCs because I wanted to know where the world is going but it became difficult to keep the pace with the expectations and at some point I could sympathise with my students who must be facing the same. There is so much to do and so little time and so many other duties in the physical world!!! Whatever it was the experience was worthwhile. IT helped expand the fence around the subject. It helped understanding the global discourse on higher education and communication education. Apart from content it helped in design. It helped me realise that online course is not only courseware but lot of hardware. Mere content does not help- its layout, presentation, structure, context, receivers - everything matters. More at some other time, could not help but vent at this time of the night. Also other day went through number of blogs by Shri Amitabh Bachchan (http://srbachchan.tumblr.com/)and was amazed at the continuity and flow and personalisation of the space. Technology can connect!!! Was fascinated with the material as a media teacher and researcher. MOOC and AB Blog made me MOOK (that's speechless in Indian bhasha- language).

You can become careless!!!

A student walks to me and is very upset. Her second Semester Masters exam is due in next one hour. She is upset because she has misplaced her Hall ticket. She tried to look for it everywhere but she could not trace it. Her last hope was the exam hall and it is locked so she is waiting in despair, not able to know what to do. As a pro-student teacher that i am known to be, my first response is its ok. Since now hall tickets are online generated through digitaluniversity portal, we can generate one more and since its digital unlike its original one and only avatar!! She feels better. The people in the scene are HOD-Head of the Department, Suprintendent of Examination, hall supervisor and student herself. Since ours is a single-site programme, my response was valid that as we know that student, there should not be a problem. But no doubt this means anyone can intervene and create official documents any time!! We both set out to generate a Hall-ticket.My department log in did not work. Interestingly when she logged in from her id, she could generate a hall ticket for herself ONE more time!!!! Just imgine, i tried saying that this could be dangerous since anyone can generate hall ticket provided they know log in and hacking is not a very complex method in today's digital world. She did not understand what i was saying. She is not a careless student. i meet many who download-copy-paste submit with or without any understanding of concept of plagarism. STEALING can be another word. Digital environment is making us more and more casual and careless. As a teacher it is becoming more and more challenging to make student understand the non-digital realities of life. But dont become careless please since connectivity is not a forever thing and life can not be lived digitally.