Part-1 Click
Teaching Aptitude Part-2
5. Instructional facilities
Instructional facilities include all that is required to create a learning environment. Institutions of learning provide classrooms, laboratories, audio-visual presentation rooms, seminar rooms, auditoriums, libraries and other spaces to be used primarily for the purpose of delivering formal instruction to students. These facilities enhance the teaching-learning experience and they must be available in adequate amount to cater to every single student so that equality of opportunity is assured.
6. Teacher-administration
relationship If the relationship between the teacher and the administration/ management of the school is not cordial and professional, it may introduce several hindering factors into the teaching-learning process. It may weigh on the teacher’s state of mind which will invariably translate to their body language and unsettle the learners too. To achieve the goals of education and ensure an optimal functioning of the teaching-learning processes, it is essential that there is no adversarial relationship between teachers and administrators.
7. Learning environment/Classroom environment
Learning environment refers to the diverse situations, physical locations, contexts, and cultures in which teaching learning processes are carried out. Apart from limited and traditional classrooms with rows of desks and a chalkboard or smart board, learning can happen in a wide variety of settings in off-campus outdoor locations. Learning environment encompasses the culture, ethos and characteristics of a traditional school or class in the manner the teacher and the taught interact with and treat one another as well as the ways in which teachers may organize an educational setting to facilitate learning.
8. Institution and Administrative policies
The infrastructure of the institution and the policies framed by their governing bodies, may also affect teaching. If the school lacks required infrastructure or school policies control or restrict the classroom activities, it will invariably constrain the teacher from proper deliverance of the lessons. On the other hand, giving autonomy to the teacher and allowing them the
freedom and flexibility to choose teaching methods, classroom activities, etc., will enhance teaching practices as well as learning experiences.
4. Methods of Teaching in Institutions of Higher Learning
Teaching methods are divided into two classes as teacher centred and learners centred. Teaching, as conventionally understood by a traditional teacher is the act of disseminating information to another individual or a group of individuals in the classroom. In this type, the teaching is focussed on narration by the teacher and on the part of learners’ listening, retention and recall. The teaching environment is very much formalized and the teacher occupies central position in the classroom. Here the learners acquire knowledge or information with practically an opportunity to develop understanding, application and skills. They know the information but they cannot correlate this to the daily life situations. This method also fails to draw the total attention of the learner towards learner’s abilities. Hence there arose the need for new methods, strategies and techniques that are suitably and effectively used in modem days.
TEACHING STRATEGIES
Teaching strategies can be classified under the following two heads:
a. Autocratic style:
It involves the following strategies:
• Lecture
• Lesson demonstration
• Tutorials
• Programmed instruction
b. Permissive style:
It includes the following strategies
• Question-Answer
• Heuristics
• Projects
• Review
• Group discussion
• Role-playing
• Assignment
• Discovery
• Computer assisted instruction
• Brain storming
• Independent study
Different Methods of Teaching
1. Discussion/Debates
2. Cooperative Teaching
3. Collaborative Work
4. Problem-Based Learning (PBL)
5. Heuristic Method (Problem solving)
6. Case Study Method
7. Demonstration Method
8. Inductive Method
9. Deductive Method
10. Analytical Method
11. Synthetic Method
12. Verbal or Oral Method
13. Written Method
14. Laboratory Method
15. Practical Methods
16. Explanatory Method
17. Activity-oriented Method
18. Designing and Presenting a Project
19. E-Learning
OFF LINE VS. ONLINE METHODS SWAYAMPRABHA, MOOCS ETC.) (SWAYAM,
In offline teaching and learning, students are able to interact with their teachers and peers face-to-face. Online teaching and learning is the newest and most popular form of distance education today. Online learning is education that takes place over the Internet. It is often referred to as “e-learning” among other terms.
Advantages of Offline Methods of Teaching
Collaborative learning Basically, the classroom environment is important to encourage and motivate collaborative learning.
• Collaborative learning increases student’s self- awareness about how students learn and enables them to learn more easily and effectively, transforming them into keen learners inside and beyond the classroom.
Critical thinking
Classroom teaching enhances students’ critical thinking skills.
• Classroom studying provides an opportunity for students to engage in live discussions where they can better utilise their critical thinking skills to voice opinions or involve in an argument.
Rapport with teachers and making friends
When students are in a classroom, they learn social interactions with peers, make friends, and also establish rapport with teachers. It is vital for children to develop socially along with their academic education.
Conflict resolving and building team spirit-
• Classroom teaching inculcates conflict resolving skills, presentation skills when it comes to presenting their ideas confidently in front of peers, develops team spirit, and teaches them to get along with those from different cultural backgrounds.
• These kinds of experiences benefit in moulding students’ communication and listening skills and it helps them in growing and maturing emotionally.
Importance of a teacher
• The presence of a teacher physically in a classroom keeps the students attentive and inspired throughout the lecture, and additionally also initiates participation in interesting activities. This enables students to retain more from what they have learned during a session.
• In this method, teachers can also modify their teaching style based on types of learners in their classroom i.e. classroom activities can help visual learners and interactions can help auditory learners amongst others.
• Through this process, teachers can get an idea of whether the students are following what has been taught or they require further explanation.
• Furthermore, students can also clarify their doubts immediately after the chapter is over or a topic is over
Skill development
• Classroom teaching teaches students how to develop organizational skills, beginning with the basics, such as arriving at school on time.
• In a live classroom, students are held accountable for being prepared to do school work, which includes doing their homework the night before, being ready for a sort of quiz or competition, submitting assignments in time or before their due date and prepare for classroom discussion or any group discussion.
• All these help students in organizing themselves and their time, prioritise their homework, assignments, and playtime.
Advantages of Online Methods of Teaching
There are many benefits of online learning like flexibility of time; plenty of choices; cost benefits; comfortable environment to study; career advancement study even while working, gaining skills that are transferable; no necessity of commuting; and learning at home. Online method offers advantages to teachers as well as learners.
Develop self- discipline
• It helps learners to develop self-discipline and also join study groups from different places to understand perspectives
Convenience and flexibility
• Teaching online offers instructors more options for engaging in instructional activities.
• Online faculties have more flexibility in teaching during non-traditional class times.
• They can also teach anywhere they have access to the Internet.
• Some examples include teaching from home or while traveling to a conference.
Getting to know students better
• The online environment provides a more comfortable venue for inhibited students to participate in course activities and discussions.
• This increases the pool of participants, the likelihood of varied perspectives, and the richness of course discussion.
• At the same time, the online environment attracts students who are self-motivated and more likely to initiate conversations, pose questions, and collaborate with their peers and instructor.
• And, since every student is expected to post a response to the discussion board, the instructor gets a strong sense of his/her students’ understanding of course material.
Greater engagement and learning
• In online courses, students’ engagement and learning increases.
• Since all students are required to participate in discussion threads, every student needs to work through different problems and generate ideas and solutions. Students who typically don’t participate in the face-to-face course are more likely to post to a discussion and interact with their peers in the learning process.
• Since students have more time to reflect and respond to the instructor’s question, instructors get more in-depth, researched responses from students.
Efficiency
• Instructors find increased efficiency in some rote tasks. Some tools in online teaching automate processes and save instructors’ time.
Enriching experience
• By teaching online, instructors reach a broader student population that would not have been otherwise possible.
• Interacting with students from different parts of the country or the world not only enhances the students’ learning experience but also the instructor’s.
Key e-learning initiatives run by MHRD
(i) SWAYAM
• The ‘Study Webs of Active Learning for Young Aspiring Minds’ (SWAYAM) an integrated platform for online courses, using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and covering school (9th to 12th) to Post Graduate Level.
• At present, about 1000+ MOOCS Courses are listed on SWAYAM, wherein about 30 Lakhs students have enrolled to these courses.
• It also offers online courses for students, teachers and teacher educators
(ii) SWAYAM Prabha
• SWAYAM Prabha is an initiative to provide 32 High Quality Educational Channels through DTH (Direct to Home) across the length and breadth of the country on 24X7 basis.
• It has curriculum based course content covering diverse disciplines.
(iii) National Digital Library (NDL)
• The National Digital Library of India (NDL) is a project to develop a framework of virtual repository of learning resources with a single- window search facility.
• There are more than 153 Lakhs digital books available through the NDL
(iv) E- pathshala
• E-books of the resources developed by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT), State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT) / State Institutes of Education (SIEs), State boards etc.
• SIEs in multiple languages and uploaded on e- pathshala website and disseminated through mobile app (android, iOS and Windows).
• E-pathshala has been listed/made available on the UMANG App of Govt. of India, which was launched by Hon’ble Prime Minister of India on 23 November, 2017 during GCCS-2017.
(v) National Repository of Open Educational Resources (NROER)
• To make digital resources available for teachers and students as free and open source material.
• To enable the participation of the community in development and sharing of digital resources.
• To facilitate the adoption and creation of digital resources in different Indian languages.
(vi) e-Shodh Sindhu
• Consortia for Higher Education e-resources is to provide access to quality electronic resources including full-text, bibliographic and factual databases to academic institutions at a lower rates of subscription
5. Teaching Support System
TEACHING SUPPORT SYSTEM
Teaching Support system is a set of tools that will improve student achievement by building capacity in teachers.
1. TRADITIONAL TEACHING SUPPORT SYSTEM
In the traditional way of teaching and learning, higher education institutions designed a program based on the text book and lecture which is framed with time and place for students. In this model, the main purpose is to satisfy requirement for mastery of a body of knowledge for a life long career. School teaching is supported by textbook and chalk and blackboard in traditional method.
Merits and Demerits of Traditional Teaching Methods
Merits
Lecture remains one of the most effective teaching methods when the group of learners is exceptionally huge.
Traditional teaching methods are easy to use given any group of learners.
They are economic in terms of money as well as time.
The teacher has a lot of authority over how the content is delivered and the amount of creativity involved.
Demerits
There is less involvement of learners.
There is less emphasis on the understanding of concepts and/or logical thinking.
Weak learners suffer the most as they don’t feel motivated.
Evaluation of learners based on traditional teaching methods can sometimes be faulty
There is less incentive among teachers for reflection.
Traditional Methods of Teaching in a Nutshell
• Teacher-centric classrooms
• Teachers in the mode of knowledge dispensers rather than facilitators
• Chalk and talk methods
• Regimented classrooms
• Lack of collaboration and group learning
• More emphasis on examinations and results rather than understanding of concepts
• Improper alignment between objectives, activities and assessments
II. MODERN TEACHING SUPPORT SYSTEM
The changes in modern teaching methods made necessary by technological, economic, and cultural forces in the early 21st century have fundamentally altered the very foundation of traditional educational models. Education reforms mean that learning is taught from a completely different angle.
Merits and Demerits of Modern Teaching Methods
Merits
• They are learner-centred techniques.
• More content can be covered in lesser time.
• Modern teaching methods are fun and interactive way of learning.
• There is more scope for using audio-video teaching aids such as documentaries, YouTube videos, online lectures, MOOCs, educational games, educational mobile applications etc.
• Modern teaching methods also help in self-evaluation
• It is not a mechanical way of teaching as students, as well as teachers, participate in knowledge construction.
Demerits
• Since teaching becomes more dynamic, teachers need to learn and relearn new skills.
• There is too much reliance on technology which reduces the authority of teachers.
• It requires huge investment of money, time and effort.
• Some modern teaching methods are exclusionary in nature.
• The teacher-student relationship suffers as there is less time to develop bonding with the students.
Modern methods education in a nutshell
• Technology-driven classrooms
• Continuous comprehensive evaluation
• Cross-curricular connections
• Inquiry-based learning
• Emphasis on understanding of concepts
• Linking curriculum with life
• Emphasis on skill building, life skills and values
• Smart interactive boards
• BYOD – Bring your own device
• Collaborative learning
• Differential learning
• Activity-based learning and learning labs
• Interdisciplinary learning
• Integrative and social responsibility and civic engagement
Digitisation in teaching, learning assessment and feedback
• Collaborative learning
• Differentiated instruction
• Flipped classroom
• Problem-based learning
III. ICT BASED TEACHING SUPPORT SYSTEM
Computer technology has become a service provider, teaching partner, and learning tool; and Indian universities are now using Information Communication Technologies (ICT) for various purposes. This has created a new scenario of modes of education which can be classifies as follows:
1. Formal Education
Classroom / campus-based education imparted by traditional universities.
2. Non-formal Open and Distance Education:
Offered by single mode open universities.
3. Mixed Mode Education
Offered by Distance Education Institutions (DEI) of traditional universities by using both formal and non-formal components of the two modes.
4. ICT Based Convergent Mode
Uses Web Based Education (WBE), Computer Based Education, Center/Classroom Based Education. Some universities are using ICT and Internet extensively in education to supplement the print based / classroom based mode in formal and/ or non-formal education.
5. Entirely WBE – E-Education
Uses Internet and WBE extensively so that teaching and learning is almost distributed.
Nature and Characteristics of ICT Based Teaching Support System
• Information and Communication Technology can lead to improved student learning and better teaching methods. with often larger classes, more diverse students, demands from government and employers who want more accountability.
• Conventionally, materials to support teaching learning were of two types; visuals in the form of charts, posters, photographs and models or actual objects.
• With the advent of projection devices like the overhead projectors and audio-visual devices like radio, television, tape recorders, the range of support materials grew.
• With the advent of computers with superior graphic capabilities and adequate computing power to play back audio and video, a diverse set of devices have become integrated.
• A large number of audiovisual support in the form of graphics, animation, models, drawings, photographs, audio and video have been developed.
• Simultaneously, internet enables the development of large networks, which can cater to a diverse set of needs of the school system.
Mega Paradigm Shifts in Education
There are mainly two mega paradigm shifts in education.
• The first is from traditional university to open and distance
education (ODE), and the second is from ODE to E-Education.
• Both the traditional and ODE universities are essentially based on industrial models of education – offering mass education.
Teaching Aids
Teaching aids may be classified as follows:
Visual Aids: The aids which use sense of vision are called Visual aids; e.g., actual objects, models, pictures, charts, maps, flash cards, flannel board, bulletin board, chalkboard, overhead projector, slides etc. Out of these black board and chalk are the commonest ones.
Audio Aids: The aids that involve the sense of hearing are called Audio aids; e.g., radio, tape recorder, gramophone, etc.
Audio-Visual Aids: The aids which involve the sense of vision as well as hearing are called Audio- Visual aids; e.g., television, film projector, film strips, etc.
Importance of Teaching Aids
i. Motivation: Teaching aids motivate the students so that they can learn better.
ii. Clarification: Through teaching aids, the teacher clarifies the subject matter more easily.
iii. Discouragement of Cramming: Teaching aids can facilitate the proper understanding to the students which discourage the act of cramming.
iv. Increase the Vocabulary: Teaching aids helps to increase the vocabulary of the students more effectively.
v. Direct Experience: Teaching aids provide direct experience to the students
vi. Classroom Live and Active: Teaching aids make the classroom live and active.
vii. Saves Time and Money viii Avoids Dullness
6. Evaluation Systems
ELEMENTS OF EVALUATION
• Evaluation is a systematic process of collecting, analysing and interpreting evidences of students’ progress and achievement both in cognitive and non-cognitive areas of learning for the purpose of taking a variety of decisions.
• Evaluation, thus, involves gathering and processing of information and decision-making.
• Evaluation is a continuous process not a periodic exercise.
• It helps teachers and learners to improve teaching and learning.
• It helps in forming the values of judgement, educational status, or achievement of students.
• Evaluation in one form or the other is inevitable in teachinglearning, as in all fields of activity of education judgements need to be made. Hence, it is desirable that teachers must acquire knowledge and understanding about the various aspects of evaluation and its application in classrooms.
• Teaching for successful learning cannot occur without high quality evaluation.
• Evaluation, needs to be integrated with the process of teaching and learning.
• The greater the integration the better the outcomes of learning. Hence, evaluation has to be so designed that it can be used as a powerful means of influencing the quality of what teachers teach and what students learn.
• Evaluation must provide constant feedback regarding the effectiveness of course – contents, classroom processes and the growth of individual learners besides the appropriateness of the evaluation procedures.
• It must, however, be flexible enough to the extent that it can be experimented with and adapted according to the specific situations and needs of the learner groups.
Goals of Evaluation
• To clarify objectives of education
• To provide guidance
• To provide remedial work
• To diagnose the problems of students
• To identify students needs and levels
• To improve the skills of learning in students
• To identify students aspects of development
• To bring improvements in instructional strategies
• To assess the educational value and utility of the educational programme
• To provide useful feedback
• To influence decision making or policy formulation by provision of empirically driven feedback
• To bring improvement in teaching-learning process
• To assess personality of the students
• To analyse teacher student behaviour
• To analyse effectiveness of Audio Visual aids
CHARACTERISTICS OF GOOD EVALUATION
Evaluation should, ideally, be valid, reliable, practicable, fair and useful
Validity
• A valid evaluation is one which actually tests what is sets out to test i.e., one which actually measures the behaviour described by the objective(s), under scrutiny.
Reliability
The reliability is a measure of the consistency with which the question, test or examination produces the same result under different but comparable conditions.
• A reliable evaluation item gives reproducible scores with similar populations of students.
Practicability
• Evaluation procedures should be realistic, practical and efficient in terms of their cost, time taken and ease of application.
• An ideal procedure of evaluation, must be able to be put into practice
Fairness
• Evaluation must be fair to all students.
• This can be possible by accurate reflecting of range of expected behaviours as desired by the course objectives.
• To keep fairness in evaluation, it is also desired that students should know exactly how they are to be evaluated.
Usefulness
• Evaluation should also be useful for students.
• Feedback from evaluation must be made available to the students and help them to identity their current strengths and weaknesses.
• By knowing their strength and weakness, students can think of further improvement.
EVALUATION IN CHOICE BASED CREDIT SYSTEM (CBCS) IN HIGHER EDUCATION
Advantages of CBCS
• Shift in focus from the teacher-centric to student-centric education.
• Student may undertake as many credits as they can cope with (without repeating all courses in a given semester if they fail in one/more courses).
• CBCS allows students to choose inter-disciplinary, intradisciplinary courses, skill oriented papers (even from other disciplines according to their learning needs, interests and aptitude) and more flexibility for students).
• CBCS makes education broad-based and at par with global standards. One can take credits by combining unique combinations. For example, Physics with Economics, Microbiology with Chemistry or Environment Science etc.
• CBCS offers flexibility for students to study at different times and at different institutions to complete one course (ease mobility of students). Credits earned at one institution can be transferred.
Disadvantages OF CBCS
• Difficult to estimate the exact marks
• Workload of teachers may fluctuate
Formative Evaluation
Formative assessment is carried out during a course of instruction for providing continuous feedback to both the teachers and the learners for taking decisions regarding appropriate modifications in the transactional procedures and learning activities.
Main Features of Formative Evaluation
• It is diagnostic and remedial
• makes the provision for effective feedback
• provides the platform for the active involvement of students in their own learning.
• enables teachers to adjust teaching to take account of the results of assessment
• recognizes the profound influence assessment has on the motivation and self-esteem of students, both of which are cruicial influences on learning
• recognizes the need for students to be able to assess themselves and understand how to improve
• builds on students’ prior knowledge and experience in designing what is taught.
• incorporates varied learning styles into deciding how and what to teach.
• encourages students to understand the criteria that will be used to judge their work
• offers an opportunity to students to improve their work
• after feedback, helps students to support their peers, and expect to be supported by them
SUMMATIVE EVALUATION
Summative evaluation is conducted at the end of the academic year after completion of the entire curriculum. The outcomes of the learners to evaluate as well as the course.
• It measures or ‘sums-up’ how much a student has learned from the course.
• It is usually a graded test, i.e., it is marked according to a scale or set of grades.
• Assessment that is predominantly of summative nature will not by itself be able to yield a valid measure of the growth and development of the child.
• It, at best, certifies the level of achievement only at a given point of time.
• The paper pencil tests are basically a one-time mode of assessment and to exclusively rely on it to decide about the development of a learner is not only unfair but also unscientific.
• Over emphasis on examination marks focusing on only scholastic aspects makes children assume that assessment is different from learning, resulting in the ‘learn and forget ‘syndrome.
• Besides encouraging unhealthy competition, the overemphasis on Summative Assessment system also produces enormous stress and anxiety among the learners.
• It is this that has led to the emergence of the concept of Continuous and Comprehensive School-Based Evaluation.
COMPUTER BASED TESTING (CBT)
• A Computer-Based Assessment, also known as ComputerBased Testing, e-exam, computerized testing and computeradministered testing, is a method of administering tests in which the responses are electronically recorded, assessed, or both.
• As the name implies, Computer-Based Assessment makes use of a computer or an equivalent electronic device (i.e. handheld computer).
• Computer-Based Assessment enables educators and trainers to author, schedule, deliver, and report on surveys, quizzes, tests and exams.
• Computer-Based Testing may be a standalone system or a part of a virtual learning environment, possibly accessed via the World Wide Web.
Factors Contributing in CBT
Comparability with a paper and pencil test
• It is possible to computerize virtually any traditional test.
• It is far easier to present on the computer screen verbal and numerical items than visual items where there is always the possibility that the screen image will be different from the printed test, even with modern graphics and light sensitive pens.
• Nevertheless, no matter how identical the two tests appear to be it is essential that the reliability, validity and standardization of the computer version be checked.
• Furthermore, it is essential to show that the correlation between the two versions is high.
Presentation of results to subjects
• Immediately the test is finished the computer can present the results to the subject, either on screen or as a printed document. Incidentally it should be pointed out that some of these facilities are possible with paper and-pencil tests which are computer scored. Here the test is administered to subjects in the usual way, but the responses are punched into the computer.
• This allows the printed report for the subjects and comparisons with norm groups to be produced. It also allows a database to be built up for the development of special norms. What of course is not possible is the presentation of items appropriate to the subject, as determined by the subject’s responses.
• A number of tests have however been developed specifically for computerized use, and some of these take advantage of the graphic possibilities of the computer.
• As we can see their certain advantages to computer administered and computer-scored tests – especially the rapid calculation of a subject’s results and the immediate presentation of her or his scores in terms of normative groups or other criteria. In addition there are advantages in the ability to present subsets of items.
• There are further advantages including the ability to store all results and develop new or local norms, and the opportunity they allow the tester to examine the statistical quantities of the test, right down to the item level.
• Finally, types of item can be used which are impossible in the traditional test. All this is good and provided that the ethical problems (of presenting results to subjects without their being able to discuss their implications and their own reactions to them) are dealt with, computer-administered tests can be useful.
Advantages and Disadvantages of CBT
Computer-based test also can be supervised or non supervised, and can be used for diagnostic, formative or summative assessment. This can take place locally or at a distance, using intranets or the Internet. But there are both advantages and disadvantages with using on-line or computer based assessment.
Administrative
Advantages
• Computerized marking is not prone to human error.
• Saves staff time in terms of supervising and marking (including double marking) assessments.
• Reduces of printing costs, particularly when tests are updated or changed
• Tutors can incorporate hints into test questions.
• Tutors can monitor the progress of students through frequent use of assessment.
• Students can monitor their own progress and revise and rehearse at their own pace.
• Detailed and specific feedback can be given to students during and immediately after a test.
• Tutors can assign different learning activities to students based on their test results.
• Can provide tutors with feedback for evaluation of modules/courses/programs
• Automatic feedback; some forms of on-line assessment answers (i.e. multiple choices).
• Monitoring and tracking of learners’ results behavior.
• Choice of assessment modes, such as multimedia, interactivity, etc.
• Keeping records of results that can be stored centrally and assessed by interested parties, such as students and staff.
• Increasing ease with which data can be used as corrected assignment corrected and stored electronically can be analyzed easier and the data can be used in spreadsheets and other statistical packages.
Disadvantages
• Implementing a CBT can be costly and time- consuming.
• Staffs who design and invigilate CBT need training in assessment principles and design, IT skills and examination management.
• A high level of collaboration between all those involved in designing and implementing CBT is required.
• Some systems cannot implement anonymous marking.
• Hardware and software used to deliver CBT needs to be robust in order to avoid failure at crucial times such as examinations.
• Unsupervised CBT sessions present a risk of plagiarism (it can be difficult to authenticate the identity of students).
• Students need to have sufficient IT skills and experience of the requirement of CBT.
• Staffs have a tendency to just use MCQS which can be tedious and demotivating for students, and it has been argued that MCQS focus on testing superficial levels of students learning
(academics, support, staff, computer services and administrators).
• Assessors and invigilators need training in assessment design, IT skills and examination management.
• Technical malfunctions; computer equipment may not always be available or in working order.
Other
• Timely feedback; the teacher can provide feedback.
• A high level of organization is required across all parties involved in assessment
UGC NET Official Website Link Click
Online Course Click
