Push-Button Profs

In an industry where everyone admits that quality of teaching is the key problem, one institute claims to have solved it through a tie-up with iit Kharagpur and a teaching method developed and honed in Stanford University.

Stanford's Collaborative Group Learning (cgl) methodology starts with the basic premise that there are three components to a good teacher: he/she should be an expert who commands respect; he/she should make sure that every student understands what is being taught; and, he/she should keep the students motivated. But such dream teachers are rarely available. So cgl recommends proxies for the components.

iit professors who've designed the Big Leap courses take the lecture in a studio and are videotaped. When these videos are used as instruction material, students get a lecture from an expert who commands international respect. Importantly, the lecture delivery is standardised: every student who comes in for the course hears exactly the same lecture.

But, with the professor present only on video, how can he ensure that the students understood everything that was taught? So the video is never played for more than 6-10 minutes at a stretch. And there can't be more than eight and less than five students in the class, along with a facilitator who has been trained for six months by Big Leap.

Once the video is stopped after 6-10 minutes, the facilitator seeds the discussion with questions. The facilitator makes sure that everyone takes part. Only after the facilitator is confident that all students have understood the last 6-10 minutes of lecture is the video restarted. Since the students learn through peer group discussions, comprehension is deep and retention longer. Concentration is tighter because everyone has to participate in the discussion. This also improves team problem-solving skills.

Research by Stanford and iit Kharagpur shows that over 96 per cent of the students feel that it is a "better" or "much better" experience than traditional classroom learning. More importantly, this methodology results in average students improving their marks very significantly. "Imagine one of the big institutes having just eight students in a class!" says Aditya Jha, ceo. "In the education business, education always suffers at the altar of business."

Even the certification is done by iit. "iit conducts three exams every year for our students, from setting the papers to invigilating to awarding grades," explains Jha. "iit issues the certificates to successful candidates. I think this is the ultimate benchmark for evaluation and learning for students who are doing a course in information technology."