A month ago, I connected with an educational consultant working on a new program for underprivileged kids to aid them in understanding basic math and logic and prepping them for competitive exams.
They were looking into different pedagogical sources and were creating a program to accelerate the learning curve and combat the 2-year gap most students feel after the COVID lockdown.
Much like any project, they faced multiple constraints,
Bureaucratic bullshit that required the program to show significant results, thus forcing them to train 11th and 12th graders for competitive exams when they were nowhere near the necessary benchmark.
Since it was a pilot program, a limited number of hours were given to the program, just a smidge over 2 hours per week.
Teachers proved to be a huge bottleneck for the project since their competence played a more significant factor than the material being researched and prepped.
The first two constraints are specific to this initiative, but the third one is a general problem. A teacher's competence plays a massive role in a student's understanding of a concept. Isn't that unacceptable? Let's take a step back and define what it means for a teacher to be competent.
A teacher needs to know their subject. A teacher needs to communicate their thoughts. A teacher needs to be passionate.
Passion is what will perk a student's attention. Knowledge is necessary to sustain their attention. Communication is what will transfer that knowledge.
Passion. Knowledge. Communication. A checklist for a competent teacher.
Passion and communication are why technology can never replace teachers. Communication doesn't just mean talking about ideas; it's about drawing parallels and analogies, illustrating and adapting to the listener's needs. Passion isn't just an obsessive interest in their subject but the way their body reacts when a student pays attention, the way their hands wave, eyes glisten, and voice breaks with excitement whenever a student experiences their 'Aha!' moment
Knowledge, on the other hand, is something that technology can play a role in, and it is. AI can teach now. YouTube is filled with tutorials and online courses. Unacademy, Vendantu, DoubtNut, and so many more have sold every problem imaginable for a high-schooler. Every topic has ten videos highlighting different aspects of it and approaching the same concept in 10 different ways.
The knowledge part of Teaching is already an open-source project with multiple submissions, but no authority checks its authenticity. No metrics in place to judge a video's quality over another. Should we make a platform that does just that? A platform that teaches concepts in arguably the best way, accessible by both teachers and students alike.
Imagine the impact!
Internet access to a few passionate but poorly equipped teachers in remote villages will ensure quality education for hundreds of students.
A platform that accepts input from professors, industry experts or maybe even a friend. Anyone can teach if they tick those three checkpoints, so anyone should be able to contribute.
I'll probably try to articulate what I mean again. But this is the crude idea in my head right now. Ughhh guess I'm not a good teacher cause I can't communicate :(
Comentários