06 January, 2019, Bengaluru: “Learning will be personalized, socialized and highly contextualized, and learning outcomes can be transparently tracked and authenticated,” said Professor Das Narayandas, Senior Associate Dean, External Relations, Harvard Business School, and Distinguished Alumnus of IIM Bangalore, at the Future of Learning conference hosted by IIMB on January 04 & 05, 2019.
Discussing the rise of the Personal Learning Cloud (PLC) like Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), he said: “As PLC is accelerated, individual learning will be more targeted, focussed and relevant. The number of learners will go up exponentially. Unless existing providers move from the classroom-based to the blended and customized format, they will be extinct.”
Day 2 of the Future of Learning Conference, ‘Learning 4.0: Connecting the Dots and Reaching the Unreached’, jointly hosted by IIM Bangalore and IIT Bombay, saw many fascinating ideas and possibilities being generated from the insightful sessions.
At the session on ‘The Future of Accreditation’, featuring Tom Robinson, President and CEO, AACSB, Keith Pond, EOCCS Director, EFMD Global Network, and Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, faculty from the Strategy area at IIMB, the challenges, scope and opportunities of accreditation in the context of online learning, were discussed. The panellists opined that flexible, online and blended formats, as well as lifelong learning, were becoming the norm.
On the ‘Challenges of Learning 4.0: Connecting the Unconnected’, Mohammad H. Qayoumi, Minister of Finance and Chief Adviser to the President of Afghanistan, said: “Connectivity and infrastructure have to be built. The young population base will make the best use of mobile technology. We need to see how to fit new technology into old paradigms.”
He also pointed out that higher education is undergoing “long term and irreversible climate change” and needed innovative methods of teaching and learning. “Utilize the riches of human capacity as the engine of achievement and use technology to enhance knowledge and critical thinking. Do not be complacent; think of yourself as a work-in-progress.” Sharing his vision for his country’s youth, he said: “India has generously offered Afghanistan SWAYAM and other IT-related support – we can’t thank India enough.”
The session on ‘National Experiences’ was chaired by N. Saravana Kumar, JS (ICC & TEL), Department of Higher Education, MHRD, GoI, and featured Avishay Friedler, Senior Digital Learning Director, Campus – Israel’s Online Education Platform, and Professor Mangala Sunder from IIT Madras, and Coordinator and Head of the NPTEL initiative of the Ministry of HRD, GoI.
“The aim of 'Learning 4.0’ is to make the education sector a learner-centric one. Balance is needed between excellence and access. We need to combat the resistance to embrace digital technology, by both teachers and students, which remains a big challenge. Earlier, the three boxes of life – studying, work and retirement – were distinct. In the current era, learning, achievement, and leisure are happening simultaneously, with the help of digital technology,” explained Saravana Kumar.
Avishay Friedler pointed out that although technology is a great benefactor, it can increase the socio-economic gap. Hence, the National Platform for Digital Learning in Israel was built. Other than providing fast, efficient and inexpensive professional development, it would also accelerate economic growth, and foster global cooperation, he said. “Government is the umbrella which has enabled this. Access of education to all in Israel is the main objective. Learning can be attained by two modes – one is from the University of Life, while the other is the more prestigious club which is not accessible to all. We are working with all verticals of learning and trying to achieve learner engagement, to curate content and bring about agile development strategy. Our greatest need is for the blended format and we are developing features to achieve it.”
Professor Mangala Sunder shared that learners are the main motivation for NPTEL, and added, “The future of learning is very bright, as long as each one of you contribute.”
While discussing ‘Best Practices in Pedagogy’, Dr Momna Hejmadi, Senior Teaching Fellow, International Centre for Higher Education Management (ICHEM), said although disruptive innovation in education came with pedagogic challenges, there was individual freedom to learn with regard to time, pace, etc. She listed the 3Cs in building successful MOOCs as Course Design, Creating the Culture, and Continue to Refine.
Professor Vasanthi Srinivasan, faculty from the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area at IIMB, in the same session, shared her experience in and learnings from developing MOOCs and said: “Challenge assumptions and everything else, including course title; not everything international is effective; animation can evoke emotion; the discussion forum is very powerful, and feedback and testimonials can refine. As traditional faculty we are lone rangers. But building and teaching MOOC – that is a team effort and transforms you as a teacher.”
Professor P D Jose, FoL Conference Co-Chair and Chair of IIMB Digital Learning, delivering the closing remarks, said: “A full house, that too until the close of the two-day conference, speaks about the quality of the meet and the speakers/participants”.
Professor Deepak B Phatak, FoL Conference Co-Chair, and faculty, IIT Bombay, observed that the conference highlighted the related multi-dimensional issues. “Please apply your minds in your specific line and figure out solutions and mechanisms to address these issues, so that it is possible to deliver quality education to every learner by 2030. If not, we will be answerable to the next generation.”
Day One of the conference on January 4 (Friday), 2019 featured speakers like Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairman and Executive Director, Narayana Health, and Chair, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore, Anant Agarwal, Founder and CEO of edX, Professor G. Raghuram, Director, IIMB, Professor Deepak B Phatak, and Professor P D Jose.
Please click here to read about Day One of the conference.
06 January, 2019, Bengaluru: “Learning will be personalized, socialized and highly contextualized, and learning outcomes can be transparently tracked and authenticated,” said Professor Das Narayandas, Senior Associate Dean, External Relations, Harvard Business School, and Distinguished Alumnus of IIM Bangalore, at the Future of Learning conference hosted by IIMB on January 04 & 05, 2019.
Discussing the rise of the Personal Learning Cloud (PLC) like Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), he said: “As PLC is accelerated, individual learning will be more targeted, focussed and relevant. The number of learners will go up exponentially. Unless existing providers move from the classroom-based to the blended and customized format, they will be extinct.”
Day 2 of the Future of Learning Conference, ‘Learning 4.0: Connecting the Dots and Reaching the Unreached’, jointly hosted by IIM Bangalore and IIT Bombay, saw many fascinating ideas and possibilities being generated from the insightful sessions.
At the session on ‘The Future of Accreditation’, featuring Tom Robinson, President and CEO, AACSB, Keith Pond, EOCCS Director, EFMD Global Network, and Professor Rishikesha T Krishnan, faculty from the Strategy area at IIMB, the challenges, scope and opportunities of accreditation in the context of online learning, were discussed. The panellists opined that flexible, online and blended formats, as well as lifelong learning, were becoming the norm.
On the ‘Challenges of Learning 4.0: Connecting the Unconnected’, Mohammad H. Qayoumi, Minister of Finance and Chief Adviser to the President of Afghanistan, said: “Connectivity and infrastructure have to be built. The young population base will make the best use of mobile technology. We need to see how to fit new technology into old paradigms.”
He also pointed out that higher education is undergoing “long term and irreversible climate change” and needed innovative methods of teaching and learning. “Utilize the riches of human capacity as the engine of achievement and use technology to enhance knowledge and critical thinking. Do not be complacent; think of yourself as a work-in-progress.” Sharing his vision for his country’s youth, he said: “India has generously offered Afghanistan SWAYAM and other IT-related support – we can’t thank India enough.”
The session on ‘National Experiences’ was chaired by N. Saravana Kumar, JS (ICC & TEL), Department of Higher Education, MHRD, GoI, and featured Avishay Friedler, Senior Digital Learning Director, Campus – Israel’s Online Education Platform, and Professor Mangala Sunder from IIT Madras, and Coordinator and Head of the NPTEL initiative of the Ministry of HRD, GoI.
“The aim of 'Learning 4.0’ is to make the education sector a learner-centric one. Balance is needed between excellence and access. We need to combat the resistance to embrace digital technology, by both teachers and students, which remains a big challenge. Earlier, the three boxes of life – studying, work and retirement – were distinct. In the current era, learning, achievement, and leisure are happening simultaneously, with the help of digital technology,” explained Saravana Kumar.
Avishay Friedler pointed out that although technology is a great benefactor, it can increase the socio-economic gap. Hence, the National Platform for Digital Learning in Israel was built. Other than providing fast, efficient and inexpensive professional development, it would also accelerate economic growth, and foster global cooperation, he said. “Government is the umbrella which has enabled this. Access of education to all in Israel is the main objective. Learning can be attained by two modes – one is from the University of Life, while the other is the more prestigious club which is not accessible to all. We are working with all verticals of learning and trying to achieve learner engagement, to curate content and bring about agile development strategy. Our greatest need is for the blended format and we are developing features to achieve it.”
Professor Mangala Sunder shared that learners are the main motivation for NPTEL, and added, “The future of learning is very bright, as long as each one of you contribute.”
While discussing ‘Best Practices in Pedagogy’, Dr Momna Hejmadi, Senior Teaching Fellow, International Centre for Higher Education Management (ICHEM), said although disruptive innovation in education came with pedagogic challenges, there was individual freedom to learn with regard to time, pace, etc. She listed the 3Cs in building successful MOOCs as Course Design, Creating the Culture, and Continue to Refine.
Professor Vasanthi Srinivasan, faculty from the Organizational Behavior & Human Resources Management area at IIMB, in the same session, shared her experience in and learnings from developing MOOCs and said: “Challenge assumptions and everything else, including course title; not everything international is effective; animation can evoke emotion; the discussion forum is very powerful, and feedback and testimonials can refine. As traditional faculty we are lone rangers. But building and teaching MOOC – that is a team effort and transforms you as a teacher.”
Professor P D Jose, FoL Conference Co-Chair and Chair of IIMB Digital Learning, delivering the closing remarks, said: “A full house, that too until the close of the two-day conference, speaks about the quality of the meet and the speakers/participants”.
Professor Deepak B Phatak, FoL Conference Co-Chair, and faculty, IIT Bombay, observed that the conference highlighted the related multi-dimensional issues. “Please apply your minds in your specific line and figure out solutions and mechanisms to address these issues, so that it is possible to deliver quality education to every learner by 2030. If not, we will be answerable to the next generation.”
Day One of the conference on January 4 (Friday), 2019 featured speakers like Dr Devi Prasad Shetty, Chairman and Executive Director, Narayana Health, and Chair, Board of Governors, IIM Bangalore, Anant Agarwal, Founder and CEO of edX, Professor G. Raghuram, Director, IIMB, Professor Deepak B Phatak, and Professor P D Jose.
Please click here to read about Day One of the conference.