Digital Pedagogical Driven ICT Assisted Learning through Informal Settings with Reference to Indian Education System

We are living in a constantly evolving digital world. ICT has an impact on nearly every aspect of our lives- from working to socialising, learning to playing. The digital age has transformed the way young people communicate, network, seek help, access information and learn. We must recognise that young people are now an online population ad access is through a variety of means such as computers, TV and mobile phones. As technology becomes more and more embedded in our culture, we must provide our learners with relevant and contemporary experiences that allow them to successfully engage with technology and prepare them for life after school. It is widely recognized that learners are motivated and purposefully engaged in the learning process when concepts and skills are underpinned with technology and sound pedagogy. Education Scotland provides advice on resources for practitioners, parents and pupils to engage with these technologies in inform and enhance the learning experience.

School largely focuses on developing the mental or cognitive domain. An individual‘s marks and rank are usually considered as indicators of success, which isn‘t always accurate! Success came to great personalities such as Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein, Gandhi, and many others after several setbacks. What got them through these? It was sheer grit that developed their unique character. Non-cognitive skills such as grit are the master key to success, and as Paul Tough author of ‗How Children Succeed‘ says, these can be taught! Value education classes taken separately cannot alone develop one‘s character. Engaging in active learning through a variety of activities, failing yet

Learners today are largely passive. The digital classroom has merely replaced the teacher with a voiced animation. Learners forget what they have ‗learnt‘ at the end of the academic year. A good learning experience will ensure that learners retain what they have learnt and can apply their knowledge and skills to real world problems. Today we stand in a fortunate space, when education and learning is transitioning from a teacher-centred methodology to a learner-centred one. It is heartening to see much change in many schools and a great effort to introduce collaborative work and group work, project work, more field trips, and more. Yet, primary to the success of the active learning approach is a change in mind-set from ‗I have to teach the learner‘ to ‗the learner can learn on his/her own, how I can help?‘

Digital classrooms: Projection of animations, slideshows and other audio-visual media create an interest in learning.

ICT presents an entirely new informal learning environment for students, thus requiring a different skill set to be successful. Critical thinking, research, and evaluation skills are growing in importance as students have increasing volumes of information from a variety of sources to sort through (New Media Consortium, 2007). ICT is changing processes of teaching and learning by adding elements of vitality to learning environments including virtual environments. Purpose, ICT is a potentially powerful tool for offering learning that are not supported, in one way or another, by Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). When looking at the current widespread diffusion and use of ICT in modern societies, especially by the young the so-called digital generation then it should design and development of learning environments (Collins, 1996). The ICT environment has been developing web based and multimedia materials. ICTs have an important role to play in changing and modernizing educational system and ways of learning.

The emergence of a globalized world underscoring a framework of competition, and coupled with the pressures of an exploding knowledge base, has given birth to new challenges for schools as social institutions all over the world. New demands are placed on the school, often in addition to the existing ones, to be equipped with current knowledge and modern methods of acquiring new knowledge. This has become particularly complex with the far-reaching impact of ICT on almost every sphere of human life. It is clear that the school continues to hold its supremacy, more through the invincible mechanisms of the centralized curriculum and examination than by virtue of what transpires in the school. It is within this context that on has to understand the changing face of the school and the role of the teacher in its management. A quick review of the situation in many parts of the world would help appreciate the challenges that the Indian school system faces in redefining the roles and functions of school heads in the country. Review of recent developments in the school education sector across most countries shows that the teacher or the school principal has come to occupy a more central position than ever before. Invariably, the onus for projecting the school‘s worth in the increasingly competitive world is essentially placed on the head teacher. Three sets of developments in this regard are important: School as the unit for planning and development: Traditionally quality improvement in education has meant introduction of system-wide reforms, often focusing on curriculum reform measures or setting new benchmarks for provision of facilities in schools. This approach has gradually begun to give way treating the individual school as the unit for improvement action. This obviously has a significant impact on the Roseland function of the teacher. In this respect, every school has to acquire as institutional identity and meet the social. Technology must be used with care, and not be replacement either for a teacher, or for tasks that require a leaner to perform them manually, such as writing. There is a symbiotic relationship between education, society, and the nation. What s taught in school comes from the expectations of the nation after considering global trends, technology trends, economic trends, needs and goals, the nation‘s social and political situation, its culture and values.

we and our parents have an expectation from education—that it will help us to blossom, bring out our talents, and at the same time prepare us for economic success in the future. It is only when we are active participants in learning that both our needs and those of the nation will be addressed, and the true purpose of education will be fulfilled!

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Research Scholar, Amity University, Lucknow