Hiding with the Pandavas!

‘Ah silence at last!  Poor things! They must be really tired after that long trek to the waterfall and back.’   Ayush walks back to join his friends at the Bey Stadium after checking that it was lights off in all the rooms.  If you thought an active day out was a good summer vacation idea to keep your kids engaged, take that risk only if you think you can outlast their energy levels! While parents nursed weary limbs and aching backs, for the little ones it was just another ‘regular day’.  So, for once the kids had a peaceful night just doing what they pleased while the parents slipped to silent and not-so-silent slumber.

When Ecologin (http://www.ecologin.org) helped organize a holiday for us, we never imagined it would be a test of endurance, but it turned out to be heaps of fun too.  For someone who has tried to steer clear of conducted tours and preferred to use my vacation more as a retreat, it was not with a little trepidation that I had agreed to go along.  However, much to my delight, it turned out to be a whole lot more fun than I could even imagine.  Having missed the earlier outings with this group (the parents and children of my daughter’s class), this was the first time that my schedule allowed me to join this group.  While the previous trips had been short ones to locations not very far from Chennai, this was the first time, the group had ventured into something a little more adventurous.  And it was also the first time that an external team had also been included for organizing this trekking holiday.

Marayoor was the destination http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marayur).  And nearly 30 of us in the group (adults and children in almost equal number).  We got down at Erode and the folks from Ecologin were there to receive us.  After a meandering drive which took us past the Tamilnadu border and into Kerala’s Idukki district, we stopped for what would be our first trekking adventure on this trip – to a waterfall, which was about 3 km, as the crow flies; however, not being crows, it seemed more like 30 as the bunch of mostly 30+ (and some 40+) trudged heavily through a narrow trail carrying backpacks that suddenly seemed to weigh a lot more than when originally packed!  Lunch on the way helped transfer the weight from the backpack a little closer to our center of gravity, but I don’t think that helped much.  By the time we saw the waterfalls, there were at least a few people who were already worrying about the trek back!  It is peak summer in Kerala with the mercury touching 40⁰C, but feeling more like 45⁰C.  And so to see a waterfall at this time of the year was indeed a welcome surprise.  Except for a minor mishap when one of the parents slipped and hurt his head, having the water beat down our backs was like a Kalari massage to loosen up the stiff muscles.

The next couple of days too were spent walking with backpacks up and down hills and through gravelly narrow trails.  Marayur is famous for its dolmens (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolmen) a portal tomb that apparently dates back to the stone age.  Marayur itself is a small hamlet, part of five tribal villages in the area (also called anju nadu).  From an educational standpoint, this was very significant from two aspects:

·         A lot of us learned the existence of muscles we didn’t know we had – and the more it hurt the more acutely aware we became of it.

·         If you want to go on a trekking holiday, head to the gym first – at least a month in advance!

While the visit to the dolmens was interesting, it was also sad to see that what can possibly be considered historical evidence that connects people across several countries has been so neglected.  It was also interesting to see mud-houses in the tribal village.  Arul also managed to teach the kids a couple of rope tricks. 

The food was light on the stomach, the living quarters Spartan but comfortable.  The folks from ecologin were friendly and quite well-informed; perhaps a little too fussy about maintaining order – you can’t expect that from 10 year-olds. Or from tired and weary 40-year olds either! Especially when you have come with the intention of enjoying a break!

Certainly a fantastic break! I do look forward to doing something like this again.   And oh yes! The kids enjoyed it too…for all the wrong reasons!  I could hear five-year old Kaveri complaining “What is this walking walking…why can’t we go in the bus (I know at least one other person who would have loved to say that) ! I don’t want to see the birds..it is so boring”.  And yet, she was perhaps the one who didn’t seem tired at the end of it all!!! J

To Sir, with Love

What would it be like to become the Headmaster of one of Chennai's most famous institutions at the age of 27? An onerous responsibility for sure, but it would seem like an equally challenging opportunity to carve the destiny of a school. And that was exactly what Mr. Kuruvila Jacob did. As this school turns 175 years old, all old boys of MCC School will definitely salute this man, who made this school one of the most prestigious institutions in Tamil Nadu, probably even in India. For the students of MCC School who studied from 1932 through 1962, he was a powerful force who influenced them, and to put it in the words of more than one man of that time – "Made men out of boys". And we are talking of people who are doyens of Indian Politics and industry; but yet to hear them talking of their teacher is truly inspiring.

And so yet again, August 3^rd was a day when people from different walks of life gathered to pay tribute to one of India's finest teachers. What makes this gathering so unique is the manner in which they choose to pay tribute to someone who inspired them during their formative years. A group of students belonging to this era have come together to create a trust that goes by the name "The Kuruvila Jacob Initiative for Promoting Excellence in School Education". This has been formed with the objective of encouraging schools adopt a more holistic concept of education that allows students to develop a well-rounded personality. One of the key objectives is to act as a catalyst in aiding schools adopts innovative methods and techniques in the learning process. Towards this cause, they have launched an Education Leadership Program that provides senior teachers of various schools to gain exposure in advanced teaching methodology and training methods. The CII Institute of Quality and IIT Madras (whose director Dr. MS Ananth is an old student himself) have been largely instrumental in designing the TQM program and the web-based learning programs, while the Eduction Leadership program is being conducted in conjunction with CEMD, Delhi. They have been taking these educational methods to Government-run schools and supporting the teachers create a more effective mechanism for increasing attendance in schools and reducing drop-out rates. (http://www.kuruvilajacob.com/school.htm has more information about this)

The web-based learning project is yet another initiative that is set to transform the way teachers teach. In a move to make education more student-centric, there has been a lot of emphasis on creating an environment where the teacher is the facilitator and allows the student to explore and discover knowledge. In the collaborative environment that is the classroom, this knowledge is shared and discussed, thus creating new knowledge. Even in the days when the Guru was considered the sole resource person, our ancient texts said the knowledge was the cumulative process of combining the teaching of the guru with introspection, interaction and experience. Today's challenge is to make available the cumulative experience of the class so that the student's learning goes beyond the experience of just one individual. From that perspective, web-based education, rightly-harnessed will allow for greater collaboration among schools and in the process greater sharing of knowledge. It is hoped that this learning process will not duplicate a typical classroom learning experience, but harness the power of the internet to make the resource available in a manner that facilitates and encourages the student to explore and create his knowledge base.

"When I graduate, I'll probably have a job that doesn't exist today". This quite aptly sums up the challenges of the students of the Net generation. In his best-selling book "Grown up Digital", Don Tapscott talks about the this generation of learners thus: "They seek choice, customization, collaboration, fun, speed and innovation in their learning… they expect to learn how to learn, not what to learn." Students will use technologies in collaborative inquiry-based learning environments with teachers who are willing to assist them in transforming knowledge and skills into products, solutions, and new information. How well will our schools be able to transform themselves and adapt to the new pedagogy – the intersection of pedagogy, content, knowledge and technology?

As long as we have far-sighted teachers like Kuruvila Jacob, we can rest assured that schools will face up to this new challenge too.

That which pervades the entire Universe!

अखण्डमण्डलाकारं व्याप्तं येन चराचरम्
तत्पदं दर्शितं येन तस्मै श्रीगुरवे नमः

Salutations to that respected Guru who showed us the place of the one who pervades the vast universe with all its movable and immovable things.

Alex, had he read this, would have commented, “Wow! Is he talking about Google, Dad?”! For the net generation, if there is one thing that shows them anything at all, it must be google. And how well, this description fits!

In a sense the more things change, the more they appear to remain the same! Taking a random walk through cyberspace, I chanced upon Punya’s blog, and one that especially caught my fancy was his mash-up of an advertisement for an online university! A lecture is still a lecture…no matter what you watch it on! The message of “Create, Explore, Share” comes out very strongly…something that technology now enables you do so well.

And yet, is this all new? I don’t think so. I was just reflecting on the teaching methodology adopted in my son’s school, and they pretty much do the same thing! Only, the old-fashioned way!
The School KFI (where my children go to) has been a pioneer of sorts in experimenting with pedagogy. And yet, quite surprisingly, they have steered clear of technology. It is not as if they are Luddites ;in fact, Gautam anna, the principal can often be seen walking into a meeting with a Notebook PC taking notes even as he participates in the discussions. Well, if this commercial is anything to go by, then it makes imminent sense. The last thing we want is for children to sit and do the same old thing, the only difference being that they will be doing their homework sitting in front of a computer, and not on notebooks!

“Explore, Create, Share” seems to fit very nicely into the ethos and working style of The School. The school has been in the forefront of the Activity Based Learning (ABL) model, which is now being implemented even in government-run schools in Chennai, thanks to the Kuruvilla Jacob Education initiative.

A very successful model of learning / teaching that has been implemented here is the Mixed Age Group (MAG) classes. Here, we see some very real examples of learning, that can actually be transported to the online environment. A teacher plays the role of a facilitator, and is part of the student’s learning process. The entire environment is very student-centric; the teacher introduces the topic and some key concepts. The rest of the learning happens by students learning in smaller and larger groups, and sometimes alone; the results of their learning is shared in the class. This is true collaboration – net generation style. Only all of this is happening within a classroom; students work with dictionaries, thesaurus and encyclopedias. They even walk into the library if they need more information. The teacher is available as an expert to consult with in case assistance is required. They explore, and they create – and all of this knowledge is shared.

I think the key here that more than learning by rote, definitions and theorems, the students learn what to learn….and how to learn. They are guided where to look for information. The content is there…but where to look for it becomes the key learning.
In small part, I am glad that I made friends with serendipity! Quite coincidentally, all the work that I am doing in the knowledge management space echoes these very thought processes. I just hope that this concept can be applied equally successfully in this domain too.
I look forward to your comments on how learning can be different in an online environment, and how this concept can be applied in the KM space too.