Alaul Alam :
Pedagogy is an approach to teaching. It is the study of how knowledge and skills are imparted in an educational context. It is an inseparable part of any formal education. Classroom pedagogy ensures the interactions between teachers and students. In every moment, to ensure updated and modern knowledge and skills the well-designed pedagogy is a must. Not only that, it is the prerequisite to maximise learning outcomes.
Tech-based pedagogy refersto the education trend which is integrated with technology. In this age of digitisation there finds no alternative to technology integrated pedagogy. The developed countries have introduced tech-based classroom pedagogy at every level of education to maximise learning outcomes. According to them, without ensuring tech-based pedagogy in the class, the idea of modern education is almost impossible.
In Bangladesh tech-based pedagogy is relatively a new phenomenon. The use of technology in the teaching and learning was more pervasive in the wake of unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic. At the very onset of coronavirus the country’s education pedagogy went online like the education of most other countries in the world.
But this new trend of education was not without its many challenges. Studies revealed that online education created digital divide as almost half of the students from different education level were deprived of digital privileges to continue online education.
Consequently, online education has failed to achieve the desirous outcome as it was expected earlier. It is obvious that at the initial stage of online teaching and learning both teachers and students faced difficulties but they managed themselves to cope with the online education trend.
However, the question may be pertinent to raise; despite teachers and students’ adaptability to the online trend, why it has not been a boon to our education? Research found that the lack of tech-based supports was the most apparent cause for not getting the desirous outcomes from the digital teaching and learning.
It is evident that people in this country are enjoying digital facilities in some sectors. Again, we see that at secondary and higher secondary level of education ICT-based curriculum has been made compulsory. Students are given much emphasis on computer education. But in terms of ICT based logistic supports, educational institutions in the countryside are still facing discrimination.
Not only that, there is a constant debate with the quality of the teachers teaching in the rural schools and colleges. It is no denial that rural educational institutes suffer from the qualified teachers. In most cases teachers adopt traditional pedagogy with no integration of technology in the class. There may be two reasons behind continuing class with traditional pedagogy. Firstly, there is the lack of logistic supports to implement tech-based pedagogy in the class. Secondly, teachers are not capable of taking classes with tech-based pedagogy.
It is common to notice in our education that classroom is in most cases teacher-centered. Teachers encourage the students to memorise what they teach in the class. Education is merely confined to the classroom. Examinations are held to test the theoretical knowledge of students and hardly assess their practical knowledge.
The curriculum teachers follow in the class is completely based on textbooks and most of the teachers think that completing the textbook or the certain portion of the syllabus is the only assigned responsibility for them. Many hardly have their headache whether students are equipped with knowledge and skills through receiving education. Things get more frustrating when we see that most of the teachers are indifferent to adopting updated techniques to maximise the learning outcomes of the students. Even despite receiving training, for many the class management and teaching pedagogy is not appreciated.
Even at tertiary level of education, traditional pedagogy is the only choice to many teachers in most cases. But many claim that lecture-based education at the tertiary level has deepened the unemployment frustration. Education with outdated pedagogy hardly enhances the learners with employability skills. However, itcannot be denied that many teachers especially at higher education are taking their classes using technology integrated pedagogy.
Studies show that in the technology integrated pedagogy, students can play active role in the class being facilitated by their teachers and they do not depend on the teachers’ lectures all the time, rather they are found to enjoy freedom while they are in the class full of technological devices which creates students’ centeredness and involvement other than that of the domination of the teachers.
Not only that, tech-based pedagogy helps to develop creativity amid the learners as it makes learners engaged directly and so the system fosters critical thinking of the learners. For this, they can enhance communication and foster research and cooperative learning in the class which contribute to boosting their overall performance.
However, the concern of how far our education is prepared to combat the challenges in the wake of the fourth industrial revolution is increasing these days. It is very urgent to redesign the country’s higher education to mitigate the challenges in the advent of the fourth industrial revolution. To combat the challenges and benefit from the fourth industrial revolution, many countries have started redesigning their education. It has been one of the most widely discussed topics among educators, parents, and other community stakeholders.
The fourth industrial revolution will change the life we lead and the work we have dramatically. The rapid changes would be enhanced by smart technologies including artificial intelligence, big data, augmented reality, block chain, Internet of things and automation. The global job market would face a rapid change due to the fourth industrial revolution.
It is estimated by the World Economic Forum that 800 million jobs will be lost by 2030. It is predicted that joblessness will be the biggest challenge in the advent of the fourth industrial revolution. With the help of artificial intelligence, machine will be able to think; consequently, inefficient people will lag behind the race of the rapid responses and lose their adaptability.
To ensure every benefit for the fourth industrial revolution it is high time we redesigned our education and helped produce quality graduates. To this end, one thing we must all remember that introducing quality education can hardly be effective for students unless we are able to ensure tech-based pedagogy in the classroom. It is obvious that ensuring tech-based pedagogy is the precondition to ensuring modern education for a country.
(Alaul Alam teaches at Prime University. He is also a research
scholar at the IBS )
