From Comprehensive to Collaborative: Education in the New Normal

Teaching has taken a leap from the way it used to be in the new normal. From the physical mode of teaching to online teaching it’s been a paradigm shift. Attuning to the new normal mode of teaching has been a big challenge for both the instructors and the learners. Initially it happened so that teachers and the students were not well adapted to this mode of learning which had cropped up several security issues, but eventually with the immediate upgrading of the technology this issue was also resolved. The beauty of human behaviour is that we mostly look ahead and modify ourselves to the newness of the society, nature or technology. As and when people got used to the online culture we realized the benefits of this advancement in education.

Physical education somewhere was focussed more on a comprehensive approach which has now shifted to a collaborative approach, where there is an equal involvement of the learners as well in the classrooms and outside the classrooms both. Since technology is something in which the Gen Z is always ahead of Gen X or Y, therefore students’ collaboration is more in the simulation, adaptation and running of the classes also. There is no concept of backbenchers. The students who used to shy away from asking questions in physical mode of classes.The students and the teachers are easily accessible as they both are connected through technology. The teachers are no more confined to the classrooms as the online system is 24×7 and the students can approach the teachers as per mutual availability more effortlessly.

The format of online education is more in simulation mode. Rather than serving the content on a platter on the whiteboard, now students have to be more alert during the sessions in order to not let anything get missed out. This has led to the change in the teaching learning process altogether. Education is now on one’s mobile or laptop screen so accessible and comfortable. The elimination of rushing to the classrooms has enhanced the efficacy of education. Missing out of the lectures has reduced in a way. This has somewhere shifted the focus from process orientation to result orientation in education also.

GNIOT Institute of Management Studies (GIMS), Greater Noida under the flagship of GNIOT Group of Institutions, Greater Noida is one of such pioneers in successfully imparting online education more effortlessly, smoothly, collaboratively to their PGDM students. It has been a collaborative effort by the students and teachers both which made the online journey smooth sailing. GIMS had always focused on the student well being which has also resulted into a blended mode of learning wherein both online and offline mode have been successfully blended. The well being of the student was taken care in conducting many virtual industrial visits as well. This all has been conducted keeping quality assessment into consideration and making the learning outcome of the education true.

Indeed learning has now become more flexible, accessible, effective and smart which has been followed to the core by GNIOT Institute of Management Studies (GIMS), Greater Noida, making online education fun and engaging.

Dr. Shalini Sharma