Post-Covid-19 education system will be hybrid, learner-centred, says Prof Ranjan Paul

In an exclusive interaction with Shiksha.com, Professor Ranjan Paul at YMCA (Young Men Christian Association) talks at length about the initiatives taken by the institute during the pandemic time to ensure seamless quality learning to the students. He elaborates on the transition of the classroom teachings to the virtual classrooms. Knowing the fact that online learning will impact students' interpersonal and team management skills, the institute figured out a way in the form of group projects to enhance the creativity and other skills of the students. During the difficult times of Covid pandemic, YMCA has left no stone unturned to ensure a similar experience or even better experience than classroom learnings with enhanced quality of education.

Paul is also the Co-Founder of The Open EdWork at TheOpenEdWork.

Q: How has the lockdown and global pandemic impacted your education system?

A: When the lockdown was announced for all educational institutions starting March 13, 2020, we started looking at options and developed a plan to continue our classes online. With the help of faculty members, we conducted training programmes and orientation sessions for both students and faculty members. We also developed a simple manual to help students log in and participate in classes and for faculty to conduct classes.

Q: What are some of the interesting initiatives your institute has taken to make it online education easy for students? How are students responding to new initiatives?

A: In the initial stages, we used Zoom to conduct classes. We made the class timetable flexible for students and faculty. We also conducted online interactive sessions with students to help them with whatever difficulties they were facing and to guide them through the labyrinth of information and misinformation that were flooding social media and their inboxes. The students responded well, and we were able to complete the semester almost on schedule.

Our entire admission process was shifted online to make it contactless and convenient for all the aspiring students.

Q: What impact will it have on students’ interpersonal, team management skills?

A: It is not only students, but everyone in the business will have to learn to manage and work in virtual teams. There are new skills to be learned, and new collaboration tools need to be used to get work done. This paradigm shift was already happening to some extent. The current crisis has accelerated the pace of change and adoption of technology to remain productive and is a new reality.

Q: What are the best practices that the college is adopting to ensure seamless online learning?

A: We have now moved to a platform that was developed specifically for online teaching & learning. There are many facilities available both for the learner and the teacher to have a meaningful and enriched learning experience.

The platform that we are using is the same that it used by premier institutes of higher learning of this country. We are doing this without creating any additional financial burden on the students.

Q: What was the evaluation criteria that the institute followed to promote students to the next grade?

A: For assessment purposes, we used a technology platform that allowed us to conduct proctored online assessments using a simple and basic infrastructure. Our objective was to provide a fair and simple assessment platform that needed not too high bandwidth and could be accessed with simple mobile devices like a basic smartphone. The process worked well and all students of the batch were assessed using this platform.

Q: How will the current situation impact your future teaching plans? What will be the pedagogy you will follow?

A: At the moment, we will continue to be fully digital. But I believe that the post-Covid-19 education system will be hybrid. The education system is shifting to becoming more learner-centred and the technical assessment and diagnostic tools allow us to customise education delivery to meet the learner’s needs. It is now much easier to track a student’s performance and tailor content according to their needs.

Q: How will today’s situation revolutionise online learning in India and abroad?

A: Digital technologies have the advantage of bridging the skill gap and democratising access to education. Learners of the future will have the ability to access bite-sized learning modules and ‘pay-as-they-go’. This probably will help reduce the current skill gap. On the flip side, it could also create a digital divide between the haves and the have nots. Stable internet access and availability of power are two critical success factors, the lack of which will affect a huge number of children in the future.

International Education Institutes may be in a position to roll out their programmes on a digital platform making it accessible and affordable for many. How the governments will respond to this remains to be seen.

Q: How do you think the New Education Policy will impact the education system in India? What steps would you be taking to implement this in your institute?

A: The NEP-20 could be the game-changer for India depending on how it is implemented by each state. Finally, we have a policy that focuses on skill development and not just academic accomplishment. Businesses and the economy are built by a skilled workforce and if India wants to compete with the best and win, we need to develop highly skilled manpower that can fuel innovation at all levels.

We are an Institute that has been focusing on skill development right from the day we started our operation. We will continue to introduce new skill-based courses such as Data Analytics, Blockchain and so on to provide our students with the right skill sets required by the industry.

Q: This year, a large number of entrance exams, on national, state and institution-level, have been delayed. What impact has this had on your institute’s admission process?

A: Like all institutes, we are quickly adapting to the changing environment. We have rescheduled our semesters to match the ongoing trend. We will continue to adopt in the future too so that we can provide the right opportunities for students who are depending on Institutions like ours to help them participate in our affordable job oriented skill development programmes.