Learning the BOLT way!
Education can be defined as the process of receiving or giving systematic instruction, especially at a school or university. Learning on the other hand refers to an intellectual process of acquiring new skills and knowledge through experience, study, or teaching. In a way, we can say that education is a part of the learning process. The main aim of education must be to enable learning and independent thinking.
What is important to build an ecosystem that can foster learning for the future is analyzing the student’s psychology. Furthermore, we need to design programs that take into account the financial, psychological, emotional, and familial factors whilst balancing motivation, learning modalities, confidence, and other qualities. While this is done, we also need to preserve the love for learning which many education facilities tend to miss out on.
We have started viewing learning and schooling as a transactional investment rather than an important life skill. We need to focus on building more efficient skill sets rather than mugging concepts with no practical understanding. More focus needs to be laid upon the impetus of curiosity and creativity. Further in this article, we shall delve into each of these postulates at a greater depth to understand them better.
The first dimension to look into is academics. Although we do a lot of work when it comes to academics, we need to realize what we are doing wrong as stakeholders. Directly or indirectly, we are pressurizing the students to score marks in the academic exams irrespective of whether they understood the material or not. The student might even succeed in doing so, but these things catch up in the long run. Moreover, this system has instilled in youngsters the belief that learning is all about the grind, which eliminates the very core of learning, curiosity.
If we are building a system that takes curiosity and creativity away from academics, then we are doing something massively wrong. Although grades and results are vital, basing the entire educational system on them would be disastrous. In the future, it would lead to student dissatisfaction and unhappiness. There is less possibility of failure and disappointment if a child is allowed to study at their own pace and in accordance with their individuality.
Next, let us consider the non-academics aspect — developing skill sets and grooming students for a career. Skill sets consist of acquiring essential 21st-century skills including ICT, Financial, Problem Solving, Verbal, Reasoning, Collaboration, and Critical Thinking.
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Grooming the kids from an early age for future careers has many advantages. One is the benefit of starting early, wherein a kid who wants to become, say, a musician will have ample time to develop the required skills and to become confident about pursuing music in the future. The second is that if the student is motivated to achieve their career goals, they will also work on other aspects like academic goals. Finally, they will have many years to figure out their element and passion which will, in turn, help them lead a happy life.
Finally, let us talk about creativity and curiosity. Creativity can be defined as the use of imagination or ideas to create something. Creativity is one of the aspects that has suffered the most due to the current education scenario. As Sir Ken Robinson — one of the pioneers for creativity and the speaker of the most viewed Ted talk in the world — aptly commented that “We are educating people out of their creative capacities. I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather, we get educated out of it.” With the help of activities and projects, we have to make sure that the kids are getting ample opportunities to showcase and develop their creative side.
Most of us can agree that as we age the curiosity continuously decreases. We stop asking questions essential to life and our development. As humans, asking questions and remaining curious are essential for happiness. And we must make sure that we are preserving this quality in the kids by encouraging and rewarding them.
As an educator, I believe our role has transformed a lot in the last decade. In the modern era, we need to take the role of a mentor and develop a long-term relationship with all our students. The quality of content available online for free, and platforms like YouTube with so many talented content creators, have revolutionized the whole idea of learning.
For example as a mathematics instructor, I can teach my students in the best possible way I know of. But there can be so many educators who are much better at creating and delivering the same content. As educators, we need to help students benefit from the unprecedented learning revolution that has happened in the last decade.
We need to understand that learning is more about what happens inside their minds and less about what happens outside. So rather than just focusing on creating content with amazing animations, narration, etc., we must also focus on supporting the students and figuring out the learning methodology that suits them the best. We must encourage them in their failures, keep them grounded in their success so that they can achieve their dreams, and become confident, empathetic, social, financially independent, and happy.
The simple fact is if the students are motivated and know how to approach things in the right way, they have more than enough resources available for free that can help them in achieving their short-term and long-term goals. We need to participate in different aspects of students’ lives, be it music, movies, sports, culture, environment, social media, and personal issues that they are facing.
Once we start understanding students from different perspectives, only then will we be able to motivate them and help them realize their full potential. And I firmly believe that each student is unique and has lots of talents. These talents are like natural resources buried deep underground and only come out under the right conditions. It is the role of educators to create these conditions and also preserve and nurture these talents.
