Talking about the dominance of technology in the field of education, Kataria said that if progress is to be made, schools should adopt IT and multimedia ways of learning. “Virtual schools are the future of education. With more and more schools adopting the smart way of teaching, the face of classroom teaching is changing. Apart from making academics interesting for students, smart classes have various advantages to it,” he stated.
He, however, maintained that smart classes were not a replacement for teachers; but just a tool to assist in teaching. “Nothing can replace the utility of teachers. IT aids empower them with lots of resources within the classroom. Following the footsteps of digital learning will also improve the academic performance of students as multimedia presentations help generate their interest. It also increases their grasping power,” Kataria said.
Advocating the use of technology, he said that it also enables parents to assess their ward’s performance and improves the teacher’s effectiveness at the same time. “Technology works in the favour of both students and teachers. As it helps decrease the teachers’ workload, their productivity increases. Since virtual schools work on the concept of pictorial learning, the child learns more and retains more,” he concluded.
‘Quality of research more important than quantity’
PATIALA: A three-day national seminar on Ferroelectrics and Dielectrics was inaugurated at the Thapar University on Thursday. The seminar is organised biannually and is being hosted for the first time in Punjab by the School of Physics and Materials Science (SPMS) of Thapar University. The seminar has been held at different IITs and other universities in the country in previous years. The seminar was inaugurated by educationist and scientist, Kamal Singh, who is the vice-chancellor of SGBG Amaravati University, Maharashtra. In her inaugural address, Singh said, “The quality of research is more important than the quantity in the form of publications, patents and devices. We need young researchers to come up with modern devices based on ferroelectrics and dielectrics.” Director of Thapar University Abhijit Mukherjee, also spoke on the occasion. Conference convener KK Raina said about 200 participants were attending the seminar from India and other countries.