Why is smart class learning regarded as better than traditional learning?

Meetali Asiwal

Thinker | Posted on 24-Jul-2018

All the schools and colleges are now equipped with smart classes like Educomp, Blackboard, and Cisco systems. India is getting digitized and so is the education. No family wants its children not to study in a school which has latest technological facilities to aid the studies and to add to the quality education. But do these equipment really aid the learning? Or are they just a fancy tool used in the business that our education sector is slowly turning into.

We all must have seen the big boards on the gates of the schools in our vicinity claiming, “classrooms equipped with smart class facility”. But when you really get your child admitted into one of these schools, you’d see that the “technical aids” are seldom being used and majorly, the education still depends on the traditional means.

The question now is, why we think that smart class learning is better than traditional learning. It’s like English language –a tag that would decide our standard in the society more than the real good it will do to us. Yes, if we use technological or smart class tools for education properly and regularly, it can be very helpful. Taking help from internet resources can be good if it is guided properly.

But there are many households which can arrange for money to get their children admitted in smart-class equipped schools, but after doing this, they don’t feel it necessary to get children the same e-learning facilities in home too. This creates an imbalance, which is worse than studying only through traditional means.

Traditional learning keeps children more active and creative, and also promotes hard work. E-learning on the other hand, if not used properly can make them laid back and lazy, and more prone to distractions.

Teachers may find it easy to teach via smart class tools as it reduces the effort of making notes, but how much knowledge is getting imparted through these means is questionable. Like in other areas, the use of technology in education too should be done carefully and judiciously to avoid imbalance and adverse effects of smart class learning. On the other hand, traditional learning is time-tested and hence can be trusted without any suspicions.