ACTs YouTube Live Session on The Pros and Cons of In-class and Online Teaching is a Hit with Viewers

An informative YouTube live session on ‘Know the pros and cons of in-class and online teaching’ was conducted by Asian College of Teachers (ACT) on 14th July 2022. Dr Ranjini Krishnaswamy, winner of National Award for Teachers/Principals and currently Director, Education of Dosti Foundation School at Thane, Maharashtra was the guest speaker at the session. The main focus of the session remained on the pros and cons of in-class and online teaching and the discussion remained unbiased throughout. According to Dr Krishnaswamy, learning can be digitized only to a limited extent as “necessity is the mother of all inventions. Thus, if you can’t go to school, the school needs to come to you and in times of absolute emergency, the school may close, but learning doesn’t stop for the students.” Dr Krishnaswamy who has been in the academic arena for over 40 years and has been a principal for 25 years, also threw light on the issue of Google and YouTube becoming a one-stop-solution for everything and a habit for the learners. To speak the truth, the more technologically advanced we become, the more dependent we are on technology. She sets up school and believes in combining experience and creativity, making teaching and learning an experience to look forward to. Therefore, she believes in making the learners aware of the uses and limitations of gadgets which can only act as a ‘first aid’ for any challenge or issue, but for the real deal, one needs to have an in-depth knowledge which only a book or a classroom can provide. Dr Krishnaswamy concluded the session with the perspective that as knowledge is at the fingertips of the 21st century learners, teachers need to continuously be at par with everything going around them, as it would be blunder to educate a contemporary learner with something that the teacher learned 20-30 years ago. So, teaching, itself, has become very challenging of late. It leaves educators at the mercy of technology. Due to a shorter attention span, classes need to be strategically timed making it interactive to make it understandable for the learners. She herself believes in combining experience and creativity, making teaching and learning an experience to look forward to.