was often asked “ how does high end Physics benefit Mr TC MITS, the celebrated man in the street. And it was not easy to articulate the usefulness of useless knowledge.
The answer today is the GPS which helps him being on the correct street. It is satellites, atomic clocks and Einstein’s General theory of relativity which does it.
In an analogous way, by 2030 and beyond Artificial Intelligence and allied technologies will help the NEP2020 realise its aspirations and the UN to achieve its SDG Goal 4.
There is an interesting parallel in the past. It was the challenge of the US Census of 1880 that led to the development of the Hollerith punch card for data handling and then to automated data processing which gave birth to IBM.
The great educationist Benjamin Bloom had in a 1984 paper titled “ The 2 sigma problem” had referred to the challenge of finding a way that would make large group education as effective as one on one education, which is seen as most effective.
Clayton Christensen in his book ‘ Disrupting Class’ has said that the disruption in education would be the personalising of the learning experience, not the use of the technology itself.
AI enables the personalisation of the content, the assessments, the learning path to achieve ‘mastery learning’ as well as the recommendations as to what to learn next.
Anthony Seldon in his book ‘ The fourth education revolution’ has said that AI is the biggest change to education since the printing press, and that in this 4th education revolution, educators at all stages must partake in the revolution, else things that do not align with the real goals of education will be thrust upon the educators.
So, how to educators become comfortable, familiar and then knowledgeable about AI. By following the pedagogy model of ‘heutagogy’ or in more simple terms ‘ how we learnt to use the mobile phone’.
Most importantly, such a learning model will not only improve performance and scores in examinations, through its active learning approach, it will also develop in the learners a love for learning and make them life-long learners who are better equipped to face changing environments as they lead longer lives.
Alvin Toffler had said that the illiterates of the future will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and re-learn.
Educators have to be future-proof. If something is future-proof, it will continue to be useful or successful in future when the situation changes. They will also play a very important role in shaping the future.
Prof. M.M.Pant has a Ph.D in Computational Physics, along with a Professional Law Degree, and has been a practitioner in the fields of Law, IT enabled education and IT implementation.
Drawing upon his experience in world class international institutions and having taught in various modes of Face-to-Face, Distance Learning and Technology Enhanced Training, Prof. Pant is now exploring the nature of institutions which will be successors to the IITs, which represented the 1960s, IIMs, which represented the 1970 and Open Universities which were the rage of 1980s & 90s.
He believes that the convergence between various media and technologies would fundamentally alter the way learning would be created, packaged, and delivered to learners. His current activities are all directed toward actual implementation of these new age educational initiatives that transform education in the post Internet post WTO era..
Prof. Pant, has been a Former Pro-Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and has been on the faculty of IIT – Kanpur (the premier Engineering institution in India), MLNR Engineering College and Faculty & Visiting Professor - University of Western Ontario-Canada.
He has been visiting scientist to research centers in Italy, England, Germany & Sweden and has delivered international lectures with about 80 papers published.
During his association of almost 15 years with the IGNOU, Prof. Pant has served as the Director Computing and has been the Member of All Bodies (i.e. School boards, Academic council, Planning board, Finance committee and the Board of management).
With his interest in Law, backed with practice of Law in a High Court, and his basic training in Science and IT, Prof. Pant has been particularly interested in the Cyber Law, Patent & trade mark issues, Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) issues etc. and has been involved with many activities, conferences on “Law & IT”
Prof. Pant is presently;
• Advisor to Media Lab Asia - Chairman of working group on ICT for Education, chairman of PRSG handling projects on ICT for education.
• Lead Consultant for an ADB funded project for ICT in Basic Education in Uzbekistan
• Member of the drafting Group for India’s National Policy on ICT in education
• Chairman of the group creating books for class 11 and 12 students on ‘Computers and Communication Technology’ appointed by the NCERT
• Preparing a ‘Theme Paper” for the NCTE in the area of ICT and Teacher Training
• Advisor and mentor to several leading Indian and Multi-national Companies in the area of education.
Prof. Pant has in the recent past been ;
• Member – Board of Management – I I T, Delhi for 6 years (two consecutive terms)
• One-man committee to create the Project Report & Legislation for Delhi IT-enabled Open University
• Advisor to the Delhi Government on Asian Network of Major Cities Project (ANMC-21) distance learning project in association with Tokyo Metropolitan Government.
• Chairman Board of Studies, All India Management Association
With his mission to create and implement new business opportunities in the area of e-learning & learning facilitation, Prof. Pant has promoted Planet EDU Pvt. Ltd., as its Founder & Chairman, along with a team of highly experienced and skilled professionals from Education & Training, Operations, IT and Finance.
