WEB 2.0 Technology - A Boon for Education and Training

WEB 2.0 – A Boon for Learning and Development

WEB 2.0 Technologies for the Teacher and the Trainer

By

VIKRAM KARVE

When we were students, in school in the 1960s and in college and university in the 1970s, the pedagogy process focussed on the teacher and was largely teacher-centric.

Yes, as far as learning was concerned, the teacher was supreme.

The teacher was considered the repository of all knowledge on the subject and students were required to just follow. Some smart teachers kept as a closely guarded secret the book they taught from and the reference material they had made their notes from. This made the teachers all the more important and the students were totally dependent on the teachers. Knowledge was scarce and Information was not easily available and accessible to all and searching for it was a painstaking and laborious process.

With the advent of internet all this has changed and this old model of pedagogy is no longer relevant. Today, the moment they get the syllabus, the astute students just google the topcs and subjects and get all the information and knowledge they want and are updated on the subject before they enter the first class. Access to information is instantaneous and easy and unlike in the earlier days, the teacher is no longer the sole authority on the subject, and if the teacher is not smart enough he or she may lag behind the students who have a thirst for knowledge and have access to the internet which is an easy and effective means of fulfilling that thirst.

Thus today’s teacher is more of a facilitator who interacts and collaborates with the students in the learning process. The standardized one-size-fits-all education model is passé and the teacher must be flexible in his or her instructional style and customize and tailor pedagogy to suit each student’s individual way of learning. The teacher must help the students discover themselves. The archaic teacher-centric education paradigm, where the teacher delivers the lecture and the student takes notes, is obsolete and the new student-centric interactive learning educational model is in.

The internet can be used to great effect in enhancing the learning process and elevating it to a new higher plane. The internet affords immense opportunities for collaborative and interactive learning by use of Web 2.0 technologies, concepts and utilities like weblogs, wikis, social networking etc.

Web 2.0 is truly a revolutionary new platform for communication and interactive and collaborative exchange of information and knowledge and I am enjoying exploring and using Web 2.0 concepts in teaching. I have found them most effective and the students most responsive. So it is time for teachers to gear up, and optimally utilize the various aspects of web 2.0 like blogs, wikis, social, academic and professional network platforms etc, lest they be rendered obsolescent and become relics of yesteryear.

VIKRAM KARVE
© vikram karve., all rights reserved.

VIKRAM KARVE educated at IIT Delhi, ITBHU, The Lawrence School Lovedale, and Bishop’s School Pune, is an Electronics and Communications Engineer by profession, a Human Resource Manager and Trainer by occupation, a Teacher by vocation, a Creative Writer by inclination and a Foodie by passion. An avid blogger, he has written a number of fiction short stories and creative non-fiction articles in magazines and journals for many years before the advent of blogging. His delicious foodie blogs have been compiled in a book “Appetite for a Stroll”. Vikram lives in Pune with his family and pet Doberman girl Sherry, with whom he takes long walks thinking creative thoughts.

Vikram Karve Creative Writing Blog – http://vikramkarve.sulekha.com
Academic Journal Vikram Karve – http://karvediat.blogspot.com
Professional Profile of Vikram Karve – http://www.linkedin.com/in/karve
Email: vikramkarve@sify.com
Foodie Book: Appetite for a Stroll
http://books.sulekha.com/book/appetite-for-a-stroll/default.htm
http://www.flipkart.com/appetite-stroll-vikram-karve/8190690094-gw23f9mr2o
http://shopping.sify.com/appetiteforastroll-vikram-karve/books/9788190690096.htm

© vikram karve., all rights reserved.