What does it take to reach out to a student — information, innovation or an impression?

The learning curve

What does it take to reach out to a student — information, innovation or an impression?

Sifting through a sea of information, and making sure that the knowledge sees light is every teacher’s crusade. And this impartation is what builds a connection and encourages the possibility of reciprocation with the receiving end — the students. A student-teacher relationship is established on the basic principles of understanding, questioning and delivering for both a student and a teacher. But with changing times bringing an advent of technology, has this relationship changed? Jerry Pinto, author and teacher, says, “I don’t think it has changed. And that is a terrible thing both for teachers and for students. Our current system encourages teachers to be fascists and demagogues. It encourages students to be slaves and plagiarists.” How does one break-free from a situation like this? Can it be achieved through innovation or unconventional methods? Though the environment in which a student and teacher interact has considerably changed, the basics of a student-teacher relationship remain the same, says Tina Aranha, a young teacher. “The avenues for obtaining information for students are plenty now. Earlier, the access to information was not as convenient so our job now is to make sense and mint all the information available to students,” she says. Sunitha Chitrapu, who teaches communication research, says, “It’s about how excited your teacher is to be with you and about the idea of discovery. Most students respond to novelty than anything else.” She explains that many people think students are not interested in learning, which is untrue. “I teach research methods so when we do statistics, after working through it there’s that moment of discovery for students. Initially, everything is confusing but then suddenly something clicks and you see everything differently,” says Sunitha. Is there a different way to reach out to students? Depending on lectures doesn’t work anymore, explains Sunitha. “The Buddhists say that there are three ways of gaining wisdom — one where you read from books or learn from what other people tell you, another way is to think for yourself, intellectualise it and come to a conclusion. But the best way of learning is through experience,” she says, adding they try to tell students that there are different ways of learning outside of the classroom.