SYNERGISE TRADITIONAL AND ONLINE LEARNING
THE Covid-19 pandemic, which forced the country to implement the Movement Control Orders, has affected the education system in terms of the delivery and transfer of knowledge. This challenges the traditional concept of teacher-student interaction in a physical space.
Proponents of online learning have postulated that face-to-face teacher-student interactions are no longer required as knowledge transfer can be made anywhere if one is linked through the Internet. It is as if the pandemic has sounded the death knell of the traditional pedagogical model of education.
This is a fallacy as online education alone cannot impart the combination of aspects of intellectual cognisances, such as critical and analytical thinking, development of cognitive and kinaesthetic memories, as well as the critical faculties of understanding the structural construct and application of knowledge.
In addition to this is the consortium of the tangible, intangible, emotional and creative quotient of the educative process, which requires pedagogical tools with the teacher playing the roles of instructor, mentor, facilitator and peer-group influencer.
Learning is not only from teachers but also from peers through observation, interaction and imitation.
However, the effectiveness of remote or online learning will vary with the availability of online facilities and the temperament of teachers and students.
In rural areas, where schools are not fully equipped with such facilities and students are not conversant with its use, traditional pedagogy will be the main mode of knowledge transfer, augmented with online mode wherever possible, as well as on the efficacy of the teacher in using them.
In urban areas, where homes and schools are equipped with the latest digital technology, online teaching and learning would not pose much of a problem, except for students with attitude and disciplinary issues.
In tertiary education, the balance between online and traditional pedagogy will depend on the discipline and nature of knowledge transfer through practice or theory.
The educative process has never been confined to just factual knowledge transfer, but more important, the development of a person equipping him with knowledge, norms, values and character. Its aim is to develop the mind and body, as reflected in the adage “mens sana in corpore sano” (a healthy mind in a healthy body).
Thus, the need for interactive curricular and co-curricular education towards achieving this objective. This can happen only in schools and campuses as they encourage mental and physical interactions that challenge students’ intellect, physical prowess and their creative intuition in expressing and enhancing reality through imitation and abstraction.
Online learning has become a major component that augments the educative process, but it is not the sole mode of knowledge transfer. It has been employed in different degrees in almost all university courses so that people could access knowledge from various sources. Schools too have used it to broaden learning.
Online and traditional learning can augment and exist synergistically, and elevate the educative process.
In the future, our education system will employ technological-oriented pedagogical tools in tandem with traditional teacher-student interactions that could bring about a world-class education system.
Teachers would still be around, but their roles would have evolved in line with the demands of the technological pedagogical tools.
Centre for Policy Research and International Studies
Universiti Sains Malaysia, Penang