“I never let school interfere

with my education” – Mark Twain

By
Latha Rajagopalan Kumar
Scenario : changes in higher education
• Research has established that student demographics has
moved to an adult market. PG courses have nearly 40%
who are older and have work experience
• Pedagogy has shifted to technology enabling self learning
• Teacher is no more an instructor but rather a participant
facilitator engaging in knowledge exchange
• Application has taken precedence over knowledge
• Facilitators have to show provenance in application with a
willingness to constantly upgrade knowledge and skills in a
fast changing environment where knowledge obsolescence
is the new reality
• Student is at the centre- it’s no more the teacher or
institution
 Media today
• Media today is in the world of ‘instant’ and
brevity
• There is no time for verification or trial
 New developments in media
education
• Real world information is juxtaposed with virtual
reality, embedded in simulated interactive 3D
models - augmentation
• Gamification and learning collide – enabling
students to take decisions and understand the
process better
• User generated content and peer to peer
information sharing is the new world order.
• Andre NG, founding lead of the Google brain
team and Stanford AI lab has all his class
materials on the net – for free!
 Trends in digital transformation of
learning
• Augmented/virtual /mixed reality
• Classroom devices
• Redesigned workspaces
• Artificial intelligence
• Personalized learning
• Gamification
• Solution oriented research
 Media education redefined
• The line between the teacher and the taught is
blurring
• Facilitators serve to enable self learning
• Education has to motivate and inspire the ever-
connected Generation C
• Technology bridges the gap between theory and
application
• Critical thinking is the demand of the day rather
than fact assimilation
 Examples
• Critical thinking and application oriented learning has become a
norm in industry
• People have transformed industries and created new business ideas
• Elon Musk – redefined space technology and reinvented
transportation through electric cars and hyperloop
• Google has transformed information availability and become a verb
for search. Project Moonshot aims at solving the world’s largest and
intractible problems
• Jeff Bezoz of Amazon has created shared infrastructure through
cloud technology (“I am looking for people half my age and wtice
my intelligence”)
• Bill Gates has altered computing and gaming through high end
technology. Microsoft Game Design Team have created modules for
world leaders
Future of Media Education in India
• There is a whole new world of opportunity for existing
media institutions to transform themselves with through
two vital facets
• 1. Critical thinking 2. Digital Transformation
Institutions that have already begun this process are leading
the pack. It has been predicted that in future, knowledge
dissemination will become superfluous and will be through
a single chip, perhaps placed inside the brain.
So every individual in the world has to be not only a learner,
but an adaptive applier. And it begins with the teachers and
institutions. Learn, relearn, unlearn, relearn. And of course,
never let school interfere with that!