By Anish Srikrishna, CEO, Times Professional Learning

India is witnessing a technology-driven paradigm shift in pedagogy from a sage on the stage’ to a ‘guide on the side’ philosophy where learners take charge of their education. It has implications for executive education, which must keep up with learner-centric approaches with the aid of technology to remain relevant and shape the leaders of tomorrow.

The National Education Policy 2020 (NEP 2020) envisions a move away from rote learning, and towards understanding the process to learn and solve real-world problems. The emphasis is on reconfiguring the curricular and pedagogical structure to learners’ needs and interests. In other words, the NEP recognises the importance of a shift away from a teacher-centric approach to a learner-centric process to develop skills necessary to grapple with the challenges of the 21st century.

Most of us are already familiar with the teacher-centred approach. Students focus on getting the work done alone, thereby missing out on sharing, discussing, and discovering with their peers. Collaboration, a valuable skill in the real world is not given too much importance and learners miss out on developing communication and critical thinking skills. Christened by philosopher Paulo Freire as the banking model of education, the teacher is the “Sage on the Stage”, the expert who imparts knowledge to learners whose role is to absorb the information and store it to recall it accurately later.

However, consonant with the NEP 2020, Freire too envisaged a more participatory, learner-centric model. This model would entail a paradigm shift of making two-way learning essential in all education and dialogue as a central role in successful teaching. The Problem-Solving Method in Education would thus allow learners to become critical thinkers and break free from the oppressive one-way authoritarian nature of the traditional education dynamic.

Technology is Enabling Hyper Customisation and Personalisation.

Technology has accelerated the move to a learner-centric classroom by personalising learning to fit a learner’s strengths, skills, and interests. There is no one-size-fits-all lesson, and knowledge is thoroughly project-based. Case studies have made evident the connection between education technology and improved student achievement. Apart from learning efficiency, technology in education gives students technology literacy, information literacy, skills for life-long learning, and other skills necessary for the 21st-century workplace.

On an everyday level, technology enables the creation of assignments geared to allow learners to connect with the material and evaluate their progress. Technology that helps learners take ownership of their learning includes blogs, wikis, online quizzes, and VoiceThread.

Moreover, adopting a Learning Management System (or LMS) has made customisation effortless and desirable than ever before. LMS is software that enables the management and delivery of content and resources to students. The “anytime, anywhere” philosophy optimises learning content and administration access. These include the subjects for online class discussions, assignment tracker, class calendars, grade books, and tools to upload documents.

Such technology has individualised and customised content and provides access to education through virtual or distance learning. Learners who previously struggled in traditional classrooms have succeeded in a virtual setting where one-on-one interaction becomes smoother. Learners could also proceed at their own pace with an “any time, any place, any path, any pace” learning model made possible by modern technology.

Learner Centric Approach in Executive Education

With its emphasis on technology, customisation, real-world project-based learning, learner-centric knowledge has gained traction among the best leadership programmes in India. Learner-centricity will be the critical driver of innovation across the business curriculum based on learners’ particular needs.

The ‘any time, any place’ model has made it possible for executive education to let learners extend their network by working with accomplished executives from diverse backgrounds, industries, and countries across the globe. This model allows them to build relationships with peers and access wide-ranging insights into business challenges and career decisions.

Executive education has been central to the surge in up-skilling across the world. Top leadership programmes have adapted to the need for hyper-customisation and working professionals by using learning management systems and other educational technologies. Such technologies have facilitated feedback mechanisms embedded in such technology to help professionals progress through a course.

The best executive leadership programmes offer insight into today’s complex challenges. With the help of technology, they must necessarily incorporate projects, simulations, and experiential activities supplemented by case studies to help learners reach their full potential. Being learner-centric means comprising technology and key elects of learner-centred pedagogy such as empowering learners through collaboration and teamwork, mastering the art of negotiation and drawing upon data analytics for better decision making. Thus, to enable future leaders thrive in a world that demands complex problem-solving skills, executive education must rise to the challenge of learner-centricity as the new normal.

Learner-Centric Pedagogy and 21st-Century Leadership

Globalisation has accelerated innovation like never before and has increased the need to up-skill. Consequently, the demand for executive education in India, including certificate programmes in leadership, has skyrocketed. However, to equip the participants with the leadership qualities to thrive in the 21st century, programmes must include experiential learning, hands-on, and exploratory learning in all stages. To paraphrase, the NEP 2020 is not only what is learnt but also how it is learnt that will be the crucial determining factor to shape leaders of tomorrow.