Virtual classrooms: The future of education
When it comes to education, India, particularly the north, is trying to catch up with the IT savvy south. However, class rooms are still as tedious as they always were, with students fearing draconian teachers and bland teaching techniques like the plague. Needless to say, that is not the best way to go about things if promotion of education is what a school or college aspires to do.
The internet, once dismissed as a futuristic and rather superficial whim, is now catching on as the perfect solution to everything, education included. That is where virtual classrooms come in. Imagine a domain where geographical boundaries are rendered meaningless. A classroom that spans the entire world. That is the future of education and that is where we want our teachers and students to head. In a world that is interconnected on the cyberworld, staying restricted to a concrete room makes no sense. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that conventional classrooms cannot equip students for the kind of exposure and competition they will face in the next decade. India is being looked at as the next superpower and Indian manopower is highly in demand. However, that is so for all the wrong reasons. Although we would like to believe that Indians are coveted across the world for their skill sets, can we deny that only a minute section of the population can be included in that elite group? As for the rest, the truth is that they form cheap labour for most.
Virtual classrooms, strengthened with the right teachers and skillful use of technology can groom an entire generation to face international competition and win. This is also beneficial for educational institutions like schools and colleges.
Many of them are cropping up in every nook and cranny and they all advertise "excellent teaching techniques" as their USP. But today, for an educational institution to be world class in the real sense of the term, they have to use techonology on an everyday basis. Students have to be given the right exposure. This is in the best interests of both students as well as educational institutes.
