Goodbye to traditional teaching methods

              “Need to say goodbye to the traditional teaching methods”

Gone are the days when elements like blackboard, with stern looking teacher along some frightened looking kids while chalk dust floats on the air used to complete classroom scene. In that scenario there was no concept of interactive learning; it was more of a “one man show” where teacher was the sole captain of the ship and students were just passive learners of what was taught. According to Ted Kahn, (president of DesignWorlds for Learning, a principal of CapitalWorks, LLC, and a fellow of The George Lucas Educational Foundation), “Society thinks that the stereotypic model classroom is where students sit quietly in rows listening to a teacher. Such a classroom model is proving to be wrong as well as dysfunctional. Learning, at all ages, should follow a model that more resembles real life”.

Rapid growth of innovative computer technology has entirely transformed the facet of teaching process. The students of today are more likely to find themselves in front of a computer screen rather than a blackboard. No doubt, computer has enabled us to greatly improve our teaching methods. Audio-Visual aids with highly interactive presentations are more likely to capture students’ attention then hours of verbal lectures deliver by the teachers in the traditional classroom set up.

Computer based learning has speed up the process of learning  as less time is spent on preparing materials and record keeping. This gives opportunity to the teachers in a way that now they can easily devote their time to plan coursework and can work over the weakness of individual students.

Internet is another medium that has opened the doors to abundance of knowledge -to even people like us who are living in the third world country. Ten years back, it was unimaginable to get hold of the same information as students have in other developed countries but thanks to internet that has abrogated this discrimination and now everyone is the equal sharer of this vast source of knowledge in spite of the fact where they exist on the map. Now, we all are the residents of information age. Teachers can use internet to solve the difficulties in the coursework instantly and without so much efforts our students can be updated with the most advanced knowledge.

Within, just two years virtual classrooms have also found greater recognition in the educational circle. These Classrooms exist in the cyberspace and not necessary to have their presence in the real world too. Virtual classrooms assist in learning as the contributors there are of both types: those who want to learn and overcome their difficulties and experts who can really help to deal with these difficulties.According to Dawn 8, April 2007 issue “More than 100 pupils aged between 13 and 17, all members of the National Association for Gifted and Talented Youth (NAGTY), are being taught in virtual classrooms in the popular giant 3D computer game, as part of a pilot scheme operating under Schome, a project led by the Open University to develop new education systems in both real and digital worlds.”. This idea has proven to be an immense help in improving learning abilities and results are quite impressive as the students feel more free and inclined to study in these virtual classrooms rather than the real ones. So here innovation on our behalf is required to answer the needs of quality education

Development of interactive softwares by the educational organisations needs serious attention. It is quite disheartening to observe young students spending their time on computers playing games like counterstrikes, Maelstrom and many more. All these game are based on violence and destruction of societies, where winner is the one who shed the blood most. So as a result, we face the higher rate of crimes and sense of irresponsibility among the youth of our country. Well, game can prove to be an excellent tool when it comes to learning but the condition is to design such games that encompass the coursework. So it’s high time for all the responsible people be it educationalists, software companies or government to do something practical in this aspect instead of some useless long talks.

E-groups are an important tool that can assist in teaching process. Teachers can make electronic groups class wise where student can share their problems with other classmates as well as with the teacher. So this takes as a shape of an interactive discussion. It is a proven fact there are students who feel comfortable in writing their problems instead of speaking up in front of the class. Teachers can upload the useful related material on the e-group for the students to benefit from it .E-group can also be used to set reminders for the deadline of certain short assignments that can truly inculcate the sense of meeting deadlines among the students. There are many more features of e-groups that could accelerate the teaching process with excellent results in the end.

Unfortunately, our classrooms are still strictly adhered to these primitive ways of teaching that stifles creativity in its infancy and leave no chances of its full bloom. We still believe in overburdening students with lots of homework and assume this leads to greater creativity with our system- churning out intellectuals. The reality is quite contrary to our assumptions; Richard Florida, the Professor of Public Policy at George Mason University believe that creativity takes its birth when people are provided with relax environment . The teachers’ attitude to use homework in schools as a weapon to train better young scholars is definitely reproving. So homework should only be limited to some short task-based home assignments.


An important trend found prevailing in our schools is taking so many assessments and the time that teacher can easily invest in strong course planning is devoted to do unlimited checking, correction and then finally making results. The recommendable strategy is to reduce assessments to almost none at the middle level. This would ultimately help to bring out the best creativity in our students. From, 9th to onwards students are required to follow the board syllabus so there are very less chances for them to brush up their real potentials. So it’s highly desirable to do not burden students with unwanted assessments till the middle level. If assessments are considered as the one way to evaluate or judge the individual capabilities of the students but even then short assessments can suffice this purpose accurately.

We should get rid of this notion that IT or computer education is only restricted to particular group who wants to pursue their careers in Computer Sciences. Presently, no matter which profession you belong to- Computer know-how is a must. So at school level computer education should be made compulsory till higher classes and students should be taught computer skills in relation to their chosen subject area. This will equip them better to steer their careers in the right direction.

As traditional classroom setup is over where entire teaching activity is only confined to one way flow of knowledge. Now- from developing the coursework to entire teaching process is all collaborative effort where students are as important as the teacher. Feedback and suggestions during teaching activity should be welcome and encourage among the students. We should give an opportunity to our young scholars that “what and how they want to be taught”. This will help us to raise better professionals because school serves as the foundation of all further studies. So this is the time to actually say “Goodbye to the traditional teaching methods” otherwise prospects are higher that we will be devoid of the people who are pronounced as the “creative class” by Richard Florida.