Switch to Hybrid Mode of Learning

Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed Rather

In the current academic session, the schools saw early closure for winter break as people at the helm of affairs were compelled by challenging weather circumstances compounded by lack of requisite heating arrangement in both public and private schools. However, the early closure of schools received mixed response.

Is there is no viable alternative at hand to get children involved in meaningful teaching –learning during wintering months ? There is no place on earth where schools are closed for such lengthy durations. Even in the mainland India, the schools are usually closed for 40 days in scorching heat during summer vacation. But in our part of the world, the schools remain closed for 90 days or so during winter break, which is curtailing the number of instructional days in a particular academic session. We need to seriously ponder upon this.

Before the implementation of provisions of NEP 2020, Jammu and Kashmir was the only region of the country that was following November session and the academic activities of the new session usually started on 1^st of November. NEP 2020 recommended uniform academic session throughout the country with Jammu and Kashmir not an exception. With the implementation of NEP 2020 in Jammu and Kashmir, it was therefore mandatory to switch to March Session: which unfolded new challenges and opportunities. During the times of November session, the wintering period was truly a stress lay off period for school going children as wintering months were just part of initial stage of new academic session and there was ample room for course correction and bridging the learning gaps in later stages of the academic session, as exams were conducted in the month of October.

In the current scheme of things, winter is the period of anxiety for students as these months make the fag end of the academic session and students have to put in sweat and blood to prepare for year end exams. Winter vacation period is thus critically important to gauge the preparation of students for upcoming year end exams and therefore it is inevitable on part of the teacher to be connected with his/her taught. But how is that possible when schools are closed for such an extended period.

New challenges unfold new opportunities provided the stake holders capitalize and pounce upon the viable alternative solutions. From the perspective of teachers, the best possible way to remain in touch with the student is to switch to hybrid mode of learning. To get connected with the students, the teacher has varied virtual platforms at his disposal to establish real time virtual communication with the students so as to effectively guide their preparations for upcoming exams. The ultimate onus lies on teachers to fine polish their skills.

The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 in the recent past had initially thrown education sector out of gear due to prolonged closure of schools. No one expected such a mass scale shut down of schools. The pre-covid era usually saw minimal incorporation of technological tools in teaching –learning transaction. The concept of online classes via varied platforms during the pre-COVID era seemed to be unrealistic and unproductive. With every daunting challenge unfolds a new opportunity and same holds true with the emergence of COVID-19. The epidemic of COVID-19 stimulated all the essential stake holders to build digital infrastructure even in the remotest and non-penetrative network areas of the country. The online classes in no way can take the centre stage and render the offline classes less effective. The collaborative approach of online and offline classes is actually the way forward and one approach cannot have an edge over the other provided the moderator and the facilitator strikes a balances between the two. This is actually where the concept of blended mode of learning has actually materialized, and offers great degree of flexibility to mitigate the learning needs of the 21^st century learner. The government’s digital interventions to upscale digital infrastructure such as National broadband mission, Digital India, Bharat net along with telecommunication driven digital revolution have made it possible to reach out to the sections of the student community which were previously inaccessible to online teaching platforms either due to non-availability of smart electronic gadgets or weak network penetration.

UT level administration in general and department of Education in particular have undertaken certain desired digital interventions like establishment of sophisticated ICT labs in high and higher secondary schools with round the clock high speed internet facility. In some schools, even digital tablets have been provided to individual students and teachers to keep pace and momentum with the rest of the world in the field of information and technology and same needs to be replicated with other educational institutions of the division in a phased manner.

Government initiatives to promote hybrid mode of learning : The government of India has launched various programmes and initiatives to promote digital education, such as SWAYAM, DIKSHA and e-patshala. The recent announcement by the Finance Minister is the National Digital University (NDU) , a virtual university that will offer a wide range of courses across disciplines using digital technology.

Emphasis on Holistic Development: One of the key objectives of NEP 2020 is holistic education. Edtech outreach initiatives must ensure that the core elements of holistic education that include environmental responsibility and sustainable development at the planet level, self–reliance and patriotism at the national level, community well being at the societal level and cultivation of human values along with righteousness and empathy at the individual level are incorporated into overall instructional design of the programmes.

Conclusion: There is no denying the fact that teachers will be deeply involved in different academic and non-academic assignments during the winter period: be it capacity building workshops, surveys, election related assignments etc. but central and pivotal aspect of teaching career is to evolve with changing circumstances and hone pedagogical skills, as chalk and talk method of teaching is losing its sheen in the era of technological dominance. Therefore teachers are left with no choice but to keep themselves abreast and updated in fine handling of technological tools so that they truly can make optimal use of virtual platforms to deliver the learning needs in crucial phase of the academic session . The school education department has to take a lead in this regard and come up with meticulously designed set of instructions to ensure that a teacher is available to his students through virtual mode during winter months.