Distance, online education has become suspect

When we sometimes visit our neighbors, we involuntarily or, even at times, voluntarily observe what they are doing, how they are attempting to maintain themselves and tend to reflect on some common experiences, problems and areas for our own good . My current visit to the U.S has given me such an opportunity. As my natural inclination and focus is on education, my observations too fall in that area. I make it a point to meet experts, professors as well as administrators from Stanford University, Berkley, and other reputed centers of learning here and interact with them.

What the professors here feel about quality research, the need to enhance undergraduate education, the direct connection between quality education and quality employment, the possibility of intellectual stagnation if new dimensions are not explored, the danger of sparking a backlash if only numbers are given importance more than quality to assess growth in any field, the need to maintain a healthy balance between different sources of learning and other such related topics makes me check our own front. Let us not assume that as we have been implementing many new reforms in our education there is scarcely anything good left out of our consideration.

If we think we know everything already, it often prevents us from learning further. Stanford has nearly 9000 graduates doing research and it is first and foremost a research university. Similar is the case with Berkley. If universities wish to select the best from their undergraduate courses to pursue research, it is only desirable that the numbers at the undergraduate level be at least double or triple the number at the graduate level. Unfortunately, the number of students at their undergraduate level is only around 6000. State universities here are taking measures to enhance or swell the entries into their undergraduate courses.

The professors are not happy with online courses' output. Students qualified through the online programs are proving to be less competent when offered research avenues. All the professors I met here last week shared their discontent with online education which is in a way replacing regular higher education. The benefits of a dialogue in a regular classroom with seminars, discussion on any topic and additional inputs in a context-based appropriate manner add diversity, quality, and a unique impression. Be it Humanities or any other field, ambiguous concepts need to be discussed and analyzed, sometimes with analogies, quotes and references, to suit the receptivity of a particular batch .

Ideas cannot be simplified and standardized without losing their innate subtlety and worth. Every teacher will agree that face-to-face interaction gives both the parties a better environment for learning. No good lecture is ever like a recorded speech which can be abruptly switched on or off at will. The learners are taken into or drawn into the process of reception, absorption and interaction. Here, a professor often identifies the potential of his learners and motivates them to excel. Is it surprising that my friends in Stanford are dissatisfied with the so-called 'learning' extended to thousands 'online'?

Thinking is not developed and there is a uniformity which defies subtle nuances or shades in assessment or grading. Just as there is nothing beyond the textbook or course material provided, there is no scope for a truly multi-dimensional tool to grade the learners' intelligence and skills. When assessment and grading is also done through outsourcing, as lakhs of students are tested, quality gets compromised. So, they accept that rapid growth in need for education has itself led to this potential loss of diversity, a lowering of standards, a decline in specialization and higher order skills along with the complementary components of regular education like interpersonal relationships, social skills, communication skills, time management, etc. which are also quite vital for real life experiences when entering a workplace or a higher center of learning using the qualification acquired 'online'.

Many educationists believe that while online resources and technology can complement and support education, they are an inadequate substitute for regular learning which is holistic, active, interactive and stimulating. These observations set me thinking of our homeland and if what we are promoting through our distance learning is meeting our future requirements. Supporters of distance learning feel that in a country like ours, where a basic graduation degree is mandatory to get a decent job, where aspiring students outnumber the college seats available by a very high margin, distance learning programs are the choice of many.

Some experts compare and conclude that sometimes the learning material for distance learning programs by certain universities like Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) can be way superior to that of a regular classroom course. Freedom to choose the topics, study at their own pace, access material whenever they feel like studying in a flexible timeframe while saving money and energy are surely the plus side of these programs, but do they not lack all the crucial points which my friends at Stanford observed ? Distance learning continues to be the poor cousin of regular college programs, and even if more and more employers are forced to accommodate graduates with online degrees, we are deceiving none but ourselves regarding the quality in output.

For every one or two distance universities which have good study material, we have a hundred which have substandard material. When the assessment is diluted and acquiring a degree is the only goal, hundreds of aspirants in our country are seen flocking to the most substandard institutions with dubious track records .If we consider research from the distance mode in our country, it often makes me embarrassed. The UGC might have made it mandatory for promotions, but there is evidently no bar on poor and substandard theses, old wine in new bottles satisfying the norms and being awarded doctorates.

While advanced countries are very stringent and prudent in awarding their doctorates, countries in Europe classify even the doctoral degrees into categories considering the depth and current relevance of the topic so that some may be just for qualifying in a limited area and to meet the requirements of the concerned departments, and only some are declared worthy of applying for further research, the liberal doling out of research degrees from distance mode in our university and apparently considering all the degrees as equal in worth sends a very poor signal to our global peers on our research skills and standards.

Coming to schools, having a training certificate in education has once again made distance mode the favorite option, neglecting the importance of true or practical experience through training. Not to be left behind, even regular training colleges have become mercenary and are vying to offer certificates, of course for a price, even to candidates who do not attend classes .So, what is going to be the backlash of such actions? Who is going to benefit and who is going to suffer? If farmers do not sow genuine and healthy seeds, their yield will be miserable in spite of constant care. So every agriculturist tries to get the best seeds.

He will try a better variety in the coming years if the results are not as per his expectations. Can we do the same with our education? Teachers who are qualified just for qualification's sake, researchers who are qualified just for UGC's requirements, graduates who are qualified just to show it on their resumes, organizations which are content or pulling along with such workforce, does this picture match our vision of a democratic, resourceful, knowledge- based society? Is this how we feel that equity and equality are met in education? The corrective measures are obvious and may be immense but not impossible, and the sooner we enforce them, the better.

Is the study material intended for distance and online education good across all institutions offering such courses? What about practical training and the positive aspects of face to face contact between the teacher and the taught? How about colleges competing to issue certificates to students who never attend contact classes?