New Age Learning - Rajasthan Institute of Engineering

Guest Column
Digital lab offers
the students and
the teachers an
opportunity to
create layers of
digital information
including both a
virtual world and a
real world element,
to interact with
in real time, says
Dr Virendra
Sangtani
Dr Virendra Sangtani, Principal, Rajasthan Institute of Engineering & Technology,
RIET, Jaipur)
New Age Learning
T
he traditional “chalk and talk”
method of teaching that has
continued for hundreds of
years has now been replaced by
technology. It is the age of the “digital”.
This new generation is more comfortable
with collaborative, online technologies,
where pen and notebooks formed the
toolkit of previous generations, today’s
learners come to class equipped with laptops, smart phones, tablets, etc.
The current era of inescapable technology has significant implication to education. The Digital Lab is in itself a “classroom learning digitised”.
The Digital Lab is the result of educational technology referring to the use of
both physical hardware and educational
theoretics. It covers several domains, including learning theory, online learning,
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March 2015 / digitalLEARNING
and m-learning (where mobile technologies are used) computer-based training.
Educational Technology itself can be
a subject. Such courses may be called
“Information and Communication Technology (ICT)”. Educational technology
includes many types of media that carry
text, audio, streaming video, images,
animation , and includes technology
applications and processes satellite TV,
CD-ROM, and computer-based learning,
as well as local intranet/extranet and
web-based learning. Educational technology and e-learning can occur in or
out of the classroom. It can be instructor-led, synchronous learning or a nonsynchronous learning. It is suited to distance learning and in conjunction with
face-to-face teaching, which is termed
blended learning. Educational technol-
ogy is used by learners and educators in
homes, educational institutions, businesses, and other settings.
The Digital Lab may
comprise of
E-Learning, including build out of
courses and systems for various studies
programmes; online laboratories; taxonomy of e-Courses.
Pedagogy including group-learning;
active learning; teaching of multiple subjects together and knowledge management.
Instructional Technology aids
to implement delivery to reach learners
more effectively and develop instructional design via internet textbooks; virtual reality lab; virtual room concepts for
cooperative scientific work. E.g. Media/
New Media Lab, Language Lab
digitallearning.eletsonline.com
Vision Systems for human action
sensing, face recognition, and image processing algorithms for smoothing of high
speed motion.
Engineering and Technical
Education includes robotics; web enhanced design; virtual laboratories.
Digital lab serves the students and the
teachers an opportunity to create layers
of digital information including both a
virtual world and a real world element, to
interact with in real time. Active and collaborative learning is the means of education in delivering an enhanced learning
taking full advantage of the increasingly
powerful mobile devices matched with the
capabilities of wireless communications.
Greater interaction among students
is encouraged, the boundaries of control
are being broken down, and a focus on
enjoyment over grades is highlighted via
digital lab learning. The teachers, today,
have to have the dexterity in engaging
the students along with the ability to
teach. A digital learning lab provides for
a virtual learning platform that simulates a virtual classroom or meetings
by simultaneously mixing several communication technologies. For example,
web conferencing software such as GoToTraining, WebEx Training or Adobe
Connect allows students and instructors to communicate with each other
via webcam, microphone, and real-time
chatting in a group setting. Participants
can answer polls or take tests. Students
are able to whiteboard and screen cast
when given rights by the instructor, who
sets permission levels for text notes, microphone rights and mouse control.
A virtual classroom provides the opportunity for students to receive instructions from a qualified teacher directly in
an interactive environment. Learners
can also have direct access to their instructor for instant feedback and direction. The virtual classroom provides a
structured schedule of classes, which
can be helpful for students who may find
the freedom of asynchronous learning
to be overwhelming.
In addition, the virtual classroom provides a social learning. Most virtual classroom applications provide a recording fea-
ture. Each class is recorded and stored on
a server which allows for instant playback
of any class over the course of the school
year. This can be extremely useful for students to review material and concepts for
an upcoming exam. This provides students with the opportunity to watch any
class that they may have missed, so that
they do not fall behind. Parents and auditors have the conceptual ability to monitor any classroom to ensure that they are
satisfied with the education the learner is
receiving.
In higher education especially, the increasing tendency is to create a virtual
learning environment (VLE). A growing
number of physical universities, as well as
newer online-only colleges, have begun to
offer a select set of academic degree and
A virtual classroom
provides the opportunity
for students to receive
instructions from
a qualified teacher
directly in an interactive
environment. Learners
can also have direct
access to their
instructor for instant
feedback and direction
certificate programmes via the Internet at
a wide range of levels and in a wide range
of disciplines. While some programs require students to attend some campus
classes or orientations, many are delivered completely online.
Technology in education was a debatable topic amongst the society a few decades back. Everyone had his own views
on modernising education and making
it technology aided. There were a huge
number of positives and negatives to education technology.
But, gradually educational institutes
have embraced technology; they have
realised the importance of technology in
education. A digital lab is nothing but the
amalgamation of all these technology to
create one concrete unified environment
to fabricate, learn and impart knowledge.
The educational technologies can improve a student’s achievement, so long
as such tools are integrated thoughtfully
into teaching and learning, suggests evidences. When digital capabilities like online environments are included meaningfully into instruction, students have new
options to learn and achieve.
The effect of technology on education
depends on the design of instruction. The
design of the instruction considers for
more contrasts in how and why people
learn than the technology used to deliver
the instruction. Educators and educational researchers should be encouraged
to focus on determining how to better
integrate the use of a given technology
to facilitate learning, rather than asking
if it works or if one is more effective than
another.
A digital lab allows for a higher quality
lessons through collaboration with teachers in planning and preparing resources.
The students learn new skills: analytical,
including improvements in reading comprehension. A digital lab also develops
some writing skills: spelling, grammar,
punctuation, editing and re-drafting. Still,
new technologies encourage independent
and active learning, and students’ responsibility for their own learning. The
ICT proves that students who used educational technology felt more successful in
school. They are more motivated to learn
more and have increased self- confidence
and self-esteem. It is also confirmed that
many students found learning in a technology-enhanced setting more stimulating and much better than in a traditional
classroom environment.
With technology, education has taken
a whole new meaning that it leaves us
with no doubt that our educational system has been transformed owing to the
ever-advancing technology. Technology
and education are a great combination if
used together with a right reason and vision. Digital Labs are a proof of it!
(The author is professor in Department of Electrical & Electronics Engineering, RIET, Jaipur)
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