Modernization in Higher Education

EDUCATION
 Tell us how to think and behave
Imbibes new values, attitudes, expectations
and aspirations
determinant of social change
 Main and important agent of socialization
Role of Education in Society upliftment
• The school/ college/ University provide the possible environment for
learning attitudinal orientations for bringing changes in the social
structure of society.
• The change is brought about by making necessary changes in the
curriculum.
• Social reformers in India, like Ram Mohan Roy, Ravindra Nath Tagore,
Swami Vivekanand, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Mahatma Gandhi and
others, emphasized values of egalitarianism, secularism, humanism,
liberty, justice, brotherhood and gender equality.
• Removal of caste restrictions, untouchability and the purdah system.
• The new educational system plays an important part in undermining ritual
restrictions
– by promoting new ideas, beliefs and values;
– by its association with open and secular institutions in which interchange
could no longer be regulated by ritual, rules and restrictions.
 MODERNIZATION
• Modernization is a process of change in social, economic, educational and political
systems drawn especially from the societies of Western Europe.

• It may be described as ‘social change involving the elements of science and

technology and their far-reaching effects on social values, social behaviour and
practices’.

• It involves change based on rationality. It has varied facets and dimensions which
cannot be encompassed in a few words.

• the process of modernization can be attributed to increasing levels of schooling

and literacy, the development of mass media, increasing social and geographical
mobility, the development of a very high level of technology, systems of
transportation and communication, more and more urbanization, change from
agricultural occupations, growth in per capita income, increasing division of labour
and specialized roles, declining extended family and so on.
 Modern Trends in Education
• Problem Based Learning
 gaining popularity in Australia.
 Students are given a real-world problem
then they work together to find a solution to this.
 In Australia, nursing programmes have begun to
embrace this style of teaching and learning because it
challenges the students to work as if they’re dealing
with real problems they’ll encounter in the workplace.
 Teachers find it invaluable because students learn more
with this method.
 Modern Trends in Education
• Learning with Technologies
 use of technologies as the key to students
improving their learning abilities and their
marketability.
Within the realm of technologies, teachers
encourage students to innovate, bringing
them full-circle into the 21st century where
survival and stability rule.
• Constructivist Learning
According to Dimitrios Thanasoulas of Greece with
relation to philosopher Giambattista Vico,
humans only understand what they construct.
This concept runs on the idea that students
create their own learning environments, actively
participating in the knowledge they ingest.
Creating your own learning involves making
mistakes with no preset agenda in place.
Constructive learning is not stable so many
educational systems reject it.
 MOOCs & eLearning

• Free education has materialized in the form of

eLearning and Massive Open Online
Courses as a direct result of students wanting
to learn but not having the resources to do so
whether that means they don’t have the
money or the background to achieve their
learning goals.
• Competency Based Education
• Competency based education says that
regardless of the length of time it takes for a
student to complete a course, the student
completes it based on what they know
already. The only factor in determining how or
when the student completes the course is the
mastery of knowledge within the subject.
• High-Quality Teachers
• Another view and criticism of education puts the
success or the blame on the teachers’ low salary.
Respect for the teaching profession should be
shown monetarily then creating high-quality
teachers. Finnish educator Pasi Sahlberg believes
that educators should be paid more and for good
reason. In Finland, receiving placement in a
master’s programme for teachers is harder than
getting a law or medical degree.
• Mobile Education
• We move as a global society so that where ever
we go, we carry our smart phones with us.
Between conversations, we look down and tap
away at whatever our minds fancy necessary or
entertaining. So education, at least in the most
cognizant facets, says it will be there too. It will
walk with us on our journeys, our whims, our
detours, and our desires. If we take our laptops
around the world, education will walk with us
according to mobile educational theories.
• Vocational Training
• Whether students are seeking a specialized
higher education or a specific skill in order to
further a career path, vocational training has
become a more popular avenue and view of
education in general. Often used by governments
to train displaced workers, it can be a valuable
source of study for anyone wanting to specialize
in areas such as various types of medical
technicians or even graphic arts.
• Gamification
• The concept of gamification basically means
introducing the gaming experience to
environments where gaming would normally be
unacceptable: Education. The word gamification
was actually coined by an English programmer,
Nick Pelling, in 2004. Adding gaming to education
means simply enough that the user completes
certain tasks for rewards just like in a video game.
• Blended Learning
• Blending learning and technology gives
students an advantage over others. It’s one
thing to move along at one’s own pace. It’s
another to learn at one’s own pace. Linking
the two makes a difference worth noting.
Teachers don’t have to be breathing over the
neck of the student. Guiding the student is
often quite enough.
• Collective Education
• The individual takes the back seat when it comes
to the idea of collectivist education. Students
learn in groups and more importantly with each
other better and more effectively than alone. This
doesn’t mean that we disregard the individual
online learner, but it means that the online
learner will learn better when exposed to a group
of learners with similar interests who can offer
insight and questioning into the process of
learning any particular subject.
• Flexible Learning
With the personalized education, the value
of flexible learning needs to be addressed.
Flexible learning offers students choices,
convenience, and a personal approach to
learning any given subject. Because we are
individuals, learning and teaching should
entail some form of flexibility within the realm
of standardization.