About Mohammad Aatif

Pursuing masters degree in Education( Teaching, Learning and leadership).I am a social worker and have a experience of 5 years. Worked for the underserved communities in India. I am also a Sports Enthusiast and loves to play badminton.

“Rethinking Assessment as a meaningful conversation”

Many people believe that assessment is just merely a spreadsheet of scores which defines the final outcome of the student. However, Joe Bower words “Assessment is not a spreadsheet; it’s a conversation” delineates unique thoughts about the assessment. As an educator, we should reflect on how we can integrate digital tools to support the “ good assessment practices”. I believe technology has the real potential to reform education giving priority to individualized learning. In my perspective, to make assessment more communicative we Educators should follow certain steps. Firstly, teachers should motivate students to conduct peer assessments which would definitely enhance their critical thinking skills. They will see assessment as an integral part of their learning experience, not just a final judgment of marks.

Moreover, This approach will build collaboration skills and encourage them to communicate and appreciate diverse viewpoints. Tools like padlet or Flipgrid allow students to be creative and understand open-ended learning. Furthermore, Assessment should not be considered as a one time event rather it is a reflective process therefore, educators should promote formative assessment over summative. Various tools like google sites or seesaw can be used to incorporate reflective assessment in the teaching practice which will help teachers to track students progress and think beyond final scores. 

Educators should reshape the thinking and its purpose about assessment from data collection to conversation. We all together have to create an environment where education is aligned with Joe Bower’s vision. I would say the future of assessment would be a classroom where technology plays a crucial role in exchanging ideas, feedback and growth- a true conversation about learning.

Education 3.0

Gerstien’s metaphor completely relates to my experience at Byju’s where we as an educator  leverages the technology and digital tools to create more interactive and child- centered learning path for the individuals. The concept of Education 3.0 resonates how education is evolving from traditional setting to more interactive, technology driven and personalized model similar to the transformation from web 1.0 to 3.0. I believe Gerstien’ s metaphor calls for an urgent need to reflect on our practices in education and should work to bridge the digital divide and make advanced tools easily accessible and approachable for every student and teacher regardless of their backgrounds.

I think the shift to Web 3.0 has reshaped education and brought unique perspectives. With Education 3.0, the role of students have changed from mere passive learners to creators and contributors which results in breaking all the traditional boundaries and concreting their own lifelong learning path. However, with the increase in autonomy, there comes new demands on students as well as on teachers that needs to be addressed. Firstly, equality in technology or internet access for all students is difficult to achieve which could result in educational disparities among the students who belong to rural areas. Secondly, sometimes the complex nature of Web 3.0 overwhelms the students and they have not developed strong time management, focus, or motivation skills which could further create pressure on them.

This adaptation to Education 3.0 benefits particularly those students and teachers who have the expertise in using digital tools and navigating technology. On the other hand, the students who really struggle with the technology or have limited access to the digital tools feel disadvantaged by the shift to Education 3.0. In the BYJU’S we regularly saw many children who did not have an understanding learning environment at home face challenges in persisting with their peers.

Similarly for the teachers, who are not flexible and not tech-savvy with digital teaching may struggle to adjust and lead to create gaps in student engagement and support. However, the teachers who are open to integrate the technology into their teaching methods will create a dynamic learning environment. 

 

Integrating Technology with teaching

Teaching has always been my passion. To meet the diverse needs of my students and make my teaching more engaging, I am motivated to incorporate various useful tools into my teaching pedagogy. I believe, with digital tools the online and blended learning experience becomes more dynamic and equitable and makes sure that every student should get an equal opportunity to succeed in their life. All these tools have become the lifelines in our education system. 

The first tool I would prefer in my online and blended teaching is Zoom or Microsoft teams because of the multiple features like live sessions, Breakout rooms for small interactions, Recording capability etc. These features not only allow real time collaboration but also creates an inclusive, engaging and flexible learning environment. Another tool which I would prefer is Kahoot as this tool successfully keeps all the students engaged in the online setting, which is quite a difficult task for the teachers nowadays to manage their students engaged during online classes. The special features like collaborative boards and quizzes foster learning that is more interactive and fun. The third digital tool which I would select as an Educator is Google classroom as it allows the teachers to organize the course content, assignments and easy communication with the parents. This tool supports adaptable learning and helps the students to access all the resources at their own pace. 

If I would have to shift from my in-person teaching practice to an online educational format, I think this experience will be a blend of both opportunities and the challenges. In my perspective, digital tools like zoom, google classroom or the other learning platforms, have a great potential to create an engaging and accessible learning environment, But it would involve more deliberate efforts to adapt to this setting and to meet the students’ needs effectively. With the trend of online education, the new pathways are open supporting the needs of diverse students and making the learning more impactful. 

During COVID, When I was working under the “Education for all” program at BYJU’s I witnessed firsthand how these digital platforms are bridging the gap of digital divide by making education more accessible to the children especially who belong to the underserved communities. The recorded or live video based lessons provided by BYJU’s help the students to captivate with the educational content despite their physical location.

Productivity Suites

                 

Productivity suites played a very crucial role in developing digital literacy and enhancing 21st-century skills among students by providing them with practical knowledge for the workforce. In my own experience working in diverse educational settings, particularly working with Piramal Foundation and Byju’s, I have seen how these tools help us in developing skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. Platforms such as docs, sheets and slides enabled my  students to format documents, analyze data, and create presentations that are very necessary for today’s digital world.  During my work on improving reading literacy among underserved communities, I have seen how introducing basic productivity tools helped my students in enhancing their knowledge and upgrading themselves with better skills.

Moreover, the cloud-based features of these suites helps in promoting teamwork, a skill that I have prioritized in my teaching. Reflecting on my previous work at Banyan Tree School, I encouraged students to use google slides presentations, helping them learn to work together on projects in real-time. While going through this blog by Anna McDonagh, he has mentioned the ability to collaborate digitally enhances  interpersonal and project management skills, both critical for today’s workplace. The use of productivity tools  has also helped my students to improve their communication skills by allowing them to present information in the class. Furthermore, providing students more opportunity to creatively design and integrate multimedia elements into their work will enhance their imagination power that will help them in future workforce.

These tools are widely used in various professional settings and giving students hands-on learning on these platforms will assist them in directly moving to the workforce. Their adaptability encourages lifelong learning, which I found useful as I moved through various roles in education, such as teaching, research, and mentoring. However, In my opinion there are still a lot of gaps that are still unaddressed. These tools  are excellent for building basic digital literacy, but during my work  with the Career Plus Program at Byju’s, Some students have faced numerous challenges  to utilize these resources due to a lack of equipment, internet connection, or software licenses. Thus, creating a digital divide that  prevents certain pupils from learning the full set of abilities that are required to succeed in modern professions.

               

Additionally, productivity suites do not always teach students how to follow digital ethics, privacy, or the critical evaluation of information, areas that are crucial for responsible digital citizenship. Another limitation is that online collaboration is easy where people can connect from remote areas but somehow they feel face to face communication to be more effective in understanding others skills such as emotional intelligence, conflict resolution, and leadership  which  I believe they are better developed through direct human interaction.

 In conclusion, productivity suites are very important  for fostering essential digital and professional skills that provide students with a solid foundation for future career success. My experience in both urban and rural education settings has shown that while these tools offer great value, we also need to address the gaps in advanced technical training, digital ethics, and equitable access remains critical to fully preparing students for the challenges of the 21st-century workforce.

My evolution as an educator

Early in my career when I started teaching without any formal learning on education and theories of knowledge, I used to follow certain elements of behaviorism that mostly include organizing and managing the classroom through various reinforcement techniques. In my early years I used to struggle in finding a balance between my teaching and engaging students. After a certain time I realized that things were not going my way and started planning on strategies to shift my approach towards a more student centered approach. I started emphasizing on lesson planning and understanding how children process the information that shows a strong connection to cognitive theories. This change came when I started my bachelors degree in education and learned the concept of educational psychology. This has helped me to move towards cognitive learning and got to know about children’ cognitive process and clear understanding on why some students struggled with simple concepts. These understanding allowed me to adapt cognitive theories in my teaching.

I remember one incident, when I was teaching in grade 2 and one girl raised a challenging question. Earth is known as a blue planet because its made up of water and you told water has no color  has made me think again about my approach. I realized that teaching is not about delivering  information but it’s about engaging and facilitating their critical thinking. This has led me to move towards a constructivist approach.

Over these years of my teaching career, my beliefs have changed significantly with the experiences. In the initial days I was more focused on delivering content and believed that subject mastery is important to be an effective teacher. With experience in the social sector and working for the improvement of underserved community children’s education has nurtured me the importance of inclusivity and holistic development of children.

Personal understanding of Educational technology

  Educational technology has played a crucial role in shaping out the structure of the learning and how learning has to be delivered. Today I see a complete transition from the traditional classroom tools to use of artificial intelligence in designing personalized learning. I see an integration of digital literacy that enhances our teaching and learning. A contemporary definition of education technology could be the use of technology in such a strategic way that helps to improve the engagement, is accessible in an educational setting and enhances the learning outcomes of the child.

Looking at the historical context, educational technology history is quite rich which we can see from the use of slate boards to smart boards. The journey shows a very critical point made by Neil Postman “ all technological changes are a trade off”. This gives an understanding that whatever new innovations offer, it comes with certain challenges. For example, Today we see advancement in digital technologies that has enriched our knowledge through ease of access but it has also introduced a lot of concerns about screen time.

My Understanding and practice of educational technology has been shaped by a rich historical and philosophical context. In Postman’s articlehttp://web.cs.ucdavis.edu/~rogaway/classes/188/materials/postman.pdf he has mentioned technology being a   “ Faustian bargain” from which I completely agree. I believe educational technology provides a lot of opportunities in terms of what we think, interact and learn but it also widens the gap between those who have and those who have no access to digital. I can relate this to my previous experience working in one of the aspirational districts in India. In order to improve reading literacy we have launched an application called BOLO app that helps students to guide them in reading. But this has led to a lot of challenges as students screen time has increased on the mobile and they have misused it.

To conclude, it’s important we need to take postman’s advice that “ we need to proceed with our eyes open so that we may use technology rather than be used by”. In my opinion everyone should follow these principle when integrating Edtech in his work that should enhance rather than replacing the human experiences of learning.