Why Activity Based Learning is essential for online Education?

“What I hear, I forget. What I see, I remember. What I do, I understand.” Xunzi. This Chinese Confucian scholar makes a strong point when it comes to learning. Hearing is not as good as seeing, seeing is not as good as experience, and true learning is only evident when students Learn by Doing. Most of us know this. Still, teaching-learning in schools is lecture-based. There are hardly any activities done in everyday classroom transactions. Activities are limited to activity or games period. When it comes to core subjects like Mathematics, Science or Language, teachers teach using blackboard or smart board. Students learn by hearing or watching. They are passive recipients, not active participants in the learning process.

Some progressive schools have started incorporating activity-based methods. But they are very limited. Mostly it is used for marketing purposes. Even the latest online schools are exact replicas of traditional schools which follow lecture-based methods. Only difference is they teach using PPTs and videos. But the teaching methodology is still the same. Students are still the passive recipient, not active participant. This method of teaching doesn’t work in an online medium. Very few students can listen to teachers’ explanations for hours. It’s difficult to engage students online. They listen for some time, but then it gets too boring. After sometime students just stare at the screen.

Engaging students is still easier in a traditional school where teachers and students are sitting under one roof. In online school teachers and students join classrooms from different places. And if a teacher starts using blackboard or PPT, most of the students lose interest. This method of teaching does not work in an online medium. This is the reason why many students find online classes boring. In an online class, teachers need to engage students in activities in which students Do and Learn. This is why activity-based learning is a necessity in an online school. It is required in offline schools also but in an online school it’s a necessity.

Online schools cannot follow the same lecture-based method of traditional school. They need to change with the change in medium. Moreover, students should not stare at screens for long hours. As per WHO (World Health organization) guidelines students should not watch screen continuously for more than 2 hours. This impacts their eyes and sleep. Online school cannot be for the whole day. It should be for less hours and screen watching should be in moderation. We need to balance watching screens with other activities during an online class.

In our online school students spent most of the time doing activities with learning tools or exercises in their workbooks. They watch on screen only when they have to discuss something with teachers or their classmates. Consequently, their time spent on the screen is balanced by other activities. Use of screens in moderation is both healthy and effective for students’ learning. Students learn more by engaging in activities.

Concepts are introduced using learning tools. Teachers don’t explain concepts as given facts. They facilitate learning so that students discover concepts on their own while doing activities. In this method students discover the concept on their own at their own pace. They don’t have to catch up with other students. This discovery-oriented learning helps students in understanding concepts in depth and also retaining it. Students don’t forget because they have discovered the concepts on their own.  Students are able to develop a feeling of ownership towards what they learn.

Once students start understanding, teachers ask a lot of probing questions. This helps students in reflecting what they have understood. Students evaluate whatever they have understood and learn to analyze. Learning continues, and students apply their knowledge in doing project works and exercises in their books. While application students are supposed to apply the concepts creatively. This is done with each concept, every day. Gradually students not only remember and understand but are able to analyze, evaluate, apply and create. This skill and ability are the need of the hour.

Job market is changing more rapidly than we think. Advent of Artificial intelligence (AI) has changed it completely. Jobs related to repetitive work will soon cease to exist. This is not only true for jobs like typist and accountant.  Even the coders doing the regular coding will lose their job. All these jobs will be automated. It will be done by machines. Only the jobs which require critical thinking will remain. Critical thinking basically means ability to analyze, apply, evaluate and create. All these skills and abilities are not taught in a traditional school. Students would be required to develop these skills after completing their schools and college.

But it’s not true for the students of our activity based online school. They have done this while learning each concept right from Nursery.  And now they will have an edge over students of traditional school because their critical thinking is already developed.  This is why activity-based methods should be adopted in schools and it’s a must in an online school. Online schools replicating traditional schools and following lecture-based methods is completely irrelevant in the current scenario where jobs require critical thinking, instead of ability to do repetitive work.