Prof.MM Pant’s Digital Gurukul

Learning How to Learn?

Background :

Within two months of the chatGPT launch by OpenAI, Prime Minister Narendra Modi  said that self-learning through technology is an opportunity for today’s generation: https://lnkd.in/d9FJN9Jh

Press release from PMO dated: 20 JAN 2023 11:59AM by PIB Delhi

One thing most successful people have in common is the desire and skill to self-learn. It’s the modern way of learning, and it has proven to be very effective and convenient. Although self-learning hasn’t replaced the traditional ways of learning – yet, with the advancement of technology, it has become possible for most individuals. Nowadays, you can learn how to do anything with a mere YouTube tutorial, or learn an entirely new language with a single app.  And the recently introduced Generative AI Chatbots like chatGPT and Bard serve to accelerate this self-learning.

The NEP 2020 at para 4.6 states that its thrust will be to move the education system towards real understanding and ‘learning how to learn’ – and away from the culture of rote learning. 

Its goal will be to create holistic and well-rounded individuals equipped with key 21st-century skills. Self-Learning is perhaps the most important 21st Century Skill. 

Once a person has ‘learnt how to learn’ the person is on the way to become a self-learner. 

Robert Frost, the famous poet and Professor said “ I am not a teacher, I am an awakener”. 

And Richard Feynman in his famous “ Lectures on Physics” quoted Edward Gibbons “and the power of instruction is of little efficacy except in those fortunate dispositions, where it is almost superfluous”. 

The futurist Thomas Frey says “If we continue to insert a teacher between us and everything we need to learn, we cannot possibly learn fast enough to meet the demands of the future”.

Structure of the daily themes of a one month ( 4 weeks, each week from Monday to Friday) WhatsApp course on “ Learning how to learn”.

Week 1: Learning to learn: the most important 21st Century skill?

Monday: LHTL01: Drivers of self-learning: Examples of well known self-learners

Tuesday: LHTL02: What is worth learning ?

Wednesday: LHTL03: Mindsets and other barriers to self-learning

Thursday: LHTL04: Self-learning as a vaccine against ‘uselessness’ 

Friday: LHTL05: Range : Why generalists succeed ? David Epstein

Week 2: Attributes of a successful Learner

Monday: LHTL06: Motivation and Grit

Tuesday: LHTL07: Overcoming procrastination and efficient Time Management 

Wednesday: LHTL08: Learning Agility, Grit, Focus, Perseverance and Persistence

Thursday: LHTL09: Mind maps to enhance understanding

Friday: LHTL10: Questioneering: the skill of asking incisive questions

Week 3: Techniques to become a better Learner

Monday: LHTL11: Step by step learning techniques

Tuesday: LHTL12: Ultralearning

Wednesday: LHTL13: Social learning and individual learning

Thursday: LHTL14: Learning Power

Friday: LHTL15: Learning while you sleep

Week 4: The 21st Century Learner’s Toolkit

Monday: LHTL16: Learning with MOOCs

Tuesday: LHTL17: Duolingo and other AI powered apps

Wednesday: LHTL18: AI powered tools that facilitate learning

Thursday: LHTL19: ChatGPT for better learning 

Friday: LHTL20: Personalising your learning Toolkit

To know more, please send a WhatsApp message to Prof MM Pant at +919810073724

Becoming a better learner with AI and ChatGPT: 

The famous educationist Benjamin Bloom published a research paper in 1984 titled the 2 sigma problem …..(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom’s_2_sigma_problem?wprov=sfti1) 

and drew attention to the need to “find methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring”. Now almost 40 years later, the problem has been solved. And the solution is both with a teacher who uses AI and chatGPT to adopts the approach of ‘ Mastery Learning’ and ‘ personalisation’ or even the self-directed learner who adopts the same principles.

This WhatsApp delivered set of 4 weekend modules is designed to provide guidance for every learner to become a better learner by moving through the stages of awareness, familiarity, proficient to fluency.

This will be offered for the first time in June 2023 and then every month thereafter. 

Course outlines: 

Module 1: Saturday June 3rd and Sunday June 4th:

Becoming a better learner with AI and ChatGPT: Awareness

Day 1: About ChatGPT 

1.1: The rapid rise and influence of ChatGPT 

1.2: From Eliza to chatGPT

1.3: ChatGPT as a personal tutor

1.4: ChatGPT walkthrough.

1.5: The red flags

Day 2: Learning Techniques

2.1: Barbara Oakley on Learning how to learn? 

2.2: Martey Lobell on Studying Smart

2.3: Feynman Technique

2.4: Mindmaps

2.5: Ultralearning

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Module 2: Saturday June 10th and Sunday June 11th:

Becoming a better learner with AI and ChatGPT: Familiar

Day 1: Capabilities of ChatGPT 

1.1: Explaining content at a different level

1.2: Writing an essay, blog, article or a book

1.3: Syllabus and course

1.4: Translating from one language to another

1.5: Your personal assistant with limitless memory

Day 2: Learning Dispositions

2.1: Habits of successful learners 

2.2: Habits of unsuccessful learners

2.3: Procrastination and better time Management 

2.4: Grit and perseverance 

2.5: Mindsets: open versus closed

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Module 3: Saturday June 17th and Sunday June 18th:

Becoming a better learner with AI and ChatGPT: Proficient

Day 1: Prompt Engineering

1.1: What are prompts ? 

1.2: Attributes of a good prompt

1.3: Using follow up prompts to further define responses

1.4: Prompting for ‘active learning’

1.5: Prompt Engineering as an academic skill 

Day 2: The AI Learning Toolkit

2.1: VoicePen AI

2.2: Dall-E 2

2.3: Century

2.4. A list of AI tools for education

2.5: AI assistants 

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Module 4: Saturday June 24th and Sunday June 25th:

Becoming a better learner with AI and ChatGPT: Fluent

Day 1: Becoming Productive with chatGPT

1.1: ChatGPT can do much more than Google. 

1.2: Create study plans and agendas.

1.3: Generate conversations and replies

1.4: Rewrite texts at different levels of explanatory depth.

1.5: Research

Day 2: Personalising your AI powered Learning Toolkit

2.1: Language Learning 

2.2: Learning Mathematics

2.3: Enhancing Motivation

2.4: Supporting Mental Health

2.5: Practical advice : financial and health 

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If Technology is the answer, then what is the Question? 

Modern progressive societies are all striving towards a paradigm shift ( Thomas Kuhn) from ‘education for a few’ to ‘education for all’ and from education for a few years 8,12,16 or 20 to life-long learning. They are responding to Alvin Toffler’s prediction that the illiterates of the 21st Century will not be those who cannot read or write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and re-learn. These are all reflected in policy directives such as the UN SDG Goal 4, NEP 2020 and G-20 education working group.   Even more so for the world’s most populated country with great neurodiversity and increasing lifespans. 

This situation is reminiscent of the US Census story of 1880.  The U.S. Constitution requires that a population count be conducted at the beginning of every decade. The first Census in 1790, also made nonconstitutionally mandated distinctions by age and sex. In subsequent decades, many other personal attributes were probed as well: occupational status, marital status, educational status, place of birth and so on. As the country grew, each census required greater effort than the last, not merely to collect the data but also to compile it into usable form. The processing of the 1880 Census data was not completed until 1888. Responding to the challenge led to the use of punched cards for data processing and the birth of the computing company IBM. 

Teachers as unarmed soldiers in the battle against ignorance, which is now taking the form of an epidemic. Teachers have to be armed with both Technology and pedagogy or andragogy or heutagogy or whatever your favourite term is for the science of learning. AI can improve  the present teaching learning method by promoting active learning as espoused by the Physics Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman ( https://www.nature.com/articles/d42473-019-00339-6). 

If like many other educators, you are wondering about how AI will shape the future of learning, and how educators should take the lead, a good starting point is the book by Anthony Seldon “The 4th education revolution” (2018). Clayton Christensen’s “Disrupting Class”( 2008) will make you appreciate that the goal is not the mere use of technology, but the ‘personalisation’ of the learning experience.  And effective personalisation requires not only the ability to process massive amounts of data but also a  ‘Science of learning’ to make sense of the data. The Science of Learning may be the youngest Science, and not medicine which Thomas Lewis in 1983 hastily labelled as “ The Youngest Science”. Educators may also be surprised when they read Audrey Watters “Teaching Machines” (2021) to find out that the earliest attempts at automating teaching were attempted by Pressey in the 1920s and Skinner in the 1950s who were both convinced that their teaching machines would be “game-changers” for the education system. 

When the student is ready the teacher will appear.
When the student is truly ready… the teacher will disappear.
These well known statements don’t seem to have a verifiable source.
The “teacher” in the first statement does not need to have to be a human.
It can be a situation,nature or an inner guide.
It can be experienced as a moment of epiphany.
We also have a story of the 24 Gurus of Dattatreya(https://lnkd.in/duUriTXg 24 Gurus are: Earth, Water, Fire,Wind, space, moon, sun, flock of pigeons, Python, ocean, moth, bumblebee, honeybee, elephant, deer, fish, prostitute, bird with worm in beak, crying baby, silence, snake, arrow-maker,spider, and a worm.
Let’s turn to the 2nd statement now. On the first reading, it’s difficult to appreciate how the teacher disappears when the learner is ready.
On further reflection, what it implies is that the learner has now developed ‘learning power’, a concept articulated by Guy Claxton ( https://lnkd.in/fQQqrwF).
Building Learning Power (BLP) is an approach to learning created by Professor Guy Claxton. It is based on the idea that we are all capable of becoming better learners through a variety of strategies and techniques. It depends on a learning culture that encourages children and teachers to become better learners without fear of failure, develops confidence and develop an understanding of learning processes.
Soon after chatGPT was launched,Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that self-learning through technology is an opportunity for today’s generation: https://lnkd.in/d9FJN9Jh
Press release from PMO dated: 20 JAN 2023 11:59AM by PIB Delhi
Nowadays, you can learn many things with a YouTube tutorial, or learn an entirely new language with a single app.  And the recently introduced Generative AI Chatbots like chatGPT and Bard serve to accelerate this self-learning.
The NEP 2020 at para 4.6 states that its thrust will be to move the education system towards real understanding and ‘learning how to learn’ – and away from the culture of rote learning. Self-Learning is perhaps the most important 21st Century Skill. Once a person has ‘learnt how to learn’ the person is on the way to become a self-learner. Robert Frost, the famous poet and Professor said “ I am not a teacher, I am an awakener”. And Richard Feynman in his famous “ Lectures on Physics” quoted Edward Gibbons ‘ and the power of instruction is of little efficacy except in those fortunate dispositions, where it is almost superfluous’. In other words the teacher has disappeared. 
The futurist Thomas Frey says “If we continue to insert a teacher between us and everything we need to learn, we cannot possibly learn fast enough to meet the demands of the future”.

I am working on a book “ When Teachers were human”, which should be available in the 3rd week of July 2023. The book will cover dispositions, strategies and AI powered tools for self-learning for the Eklavya and the Dattatreya of today.

If like many other educators, you are wondering about how AI will shape the future of learning, it may be a good idea to develop your own ideas. And a good place is to start with reading a few books. Here is a list of 10 books to begin with. Reading these will give you links and references to many others.
You may then supplement these with blogs, TEDTalks, TEDx talks, articles on Medium, inputs from Google alerts, and reports of various think tanks.
And of course by giving these as examples to chatGPT and asking for more. And sooner than you realise, you will be a well informed person on the subject.
1: Anthony Seldon “The 4th education revolution” (2018)
2: Anthony Seldon “ The 4th education revolution reconsidered” (2020)
3: Melanie Mitchell “ Artificial Intelligence: A guide for thinking humans” ( 2019)
4: Audrey Watters “Teaching Machines” (2021)
5: David Alan Grier “When Computers were human” (2005)
6: Thomas Lewis “The Youngest Science” (1983)
7: Clayton Christensen “Disrupting Class” (2008)
8: Caleb Scharf “The ascent of Information” (2021)
9: Kai Fu Lee and Chen Qiufan “AI 2041: Ten visions for our future” (2021)
10: Douglas S Robertson “ Phase Change the Computer Revolution in Science and Mathematics” ( 2003)

National Science Day 2023:

India celebrates National Science Day on 28th February every year to mark the discovery of the Raman effect on 28 February 1928 for which Sir C.V. Raman was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics for the year 1930. The theme of the National Science Day 2023 is “Global Science for Global Wellbeing”. In the first National Science Day of the ‘Amritkaal’ this is recognition for the idea that Science is universal and is for everyone’s well being and progress, not the preserve of a few. The Department of Science and Technology (DST) acts as a nodal agency to support, catalyse and coordinate celebration of the National Science Day throughout the country. 

As a Physicist who studied at Allahabad University, I have made some contributions on this National Science Day. All of them are in the nature of spreading Scientific awareness for Global well being. I am a Ph.D. student of Prof SK Joshi, who was a Ph.D. student of Prof K Banerji, who was a Ph.D. student of Prof KS Krishnan, who worked closely with Sir CV Raman. 

The first is a weeklong course on ‘ First Principles and Scientific Temper’ in fulfilment of the Directive Principles in Article 51(A) (h) of the Constitution of India. The second is a series of weekend courses on topics that I have labelled as ‘Contemporary Physics’, for high ability students who dream beyond just getting into IITs. The typical School leaving curriculum does not cover the most exciting recent developments in Physics. Much of contemporary  physics topics, of which some have been the subject of recent Nobel Prizes is available to almost everyone with an enthusiasm, and a good Internet connection. 

This series begins with the James Webb Space telescope ( JWST), not knowing about which cost Google US$ 100 billion in its botched up demo of Bard, and explores topics such as ……. Symmetry in Physics, key Quantum concepts, spin, Quantum Entanglement, Superconductivity, the standard model in Physics, Complexity, Complex adaptive systems, Special Theory of Relativity, General theory of Relativity, Frontiers of Physics. 

And the third is another weekend course “ Why learn Physics?” directed at students of class 10 to share the enthusiasm and excitement of the world of Physics. The NEP 2020 encourages the learners to not restrict themselves to traditional courses and combinations, but explore choices based on their interests and aspirations. But who informs the prospective learner about what are the features and attributes of different subjects, that make it worthwhile to learn them. I have made a beginning with this weekend course on “ Why learn Physics ?”.

The flow of topics for this weekend course is : What is Physics?,thinking like a Physicist, The map of Physics, and how the life of an ‘ordinary’ Physicist can be ‘extra-ordinary’. 

To know more, feel free to send me a WhatsApp message at +919810073724

Wishing everyone a wonderful National Science Day 2023. 

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Learning Prescriptions: 

We need inspirations from other professions to bring about innovations in education. One such innovation is the concept of a ‘Learning Prescription’. I had earlier espoused the idea of a “to learn” list like the “to do“ list that is well known in management.

By investing in a reading habit, you can ensure you’re growing yourself every day. That’s why the 1st example is of ‘Reading Effectively’. The NEP 2020 emphasises ‘learning how to learn’. The 2nd sample learning prescription is therefore on ‘ Building Learning Power’. It has been said that the future will in due course, become the present, whether we are prepared or not. It has also been said that success happens when preparation meets opportunity. Hence the 3rd sample learning prescription on ‘Anticipating the future’. In the present and coming era of information explosion, available information must be absorbed critically,hence the 4th sample learning prescription is on ‘ Critical Thinking’. Finally there is both a hype about as well as great promise from the Metaverse. The 5th sample learning prescription is therefore about ‘ Education in the Metaverse’. 

It builds upon the concepts of “ Bibliotherapy” and “ CBT: Cognitive Behavioural Therapy” to create a product for self-directed learners, who would want to stay away from joining the useless class ( https://youtu.be/OMDlfNWM1fA ) predicted by Yuval Noah Harari.

Distance Learning has used self-instructional learning materials designed by specialised Instructional designers for its learners. This was done by the UK Open University, the Indira Gandhi National Open University and other similar Institutions. But that course material was the same for all the learners pursuing a particular course. Learning prescriptions are designed for an individual learner.

The next edition of this weekend course is on Saturday March 25th and Sunday March 26th 2022. Thereafter it will be on offer on every fourth weekend of the month.

Flow:

Day 1: The Concept of a Learning Prescription

1.1: What is ‘prescribed’ in education?

1.2: The elements of a medical prescription

1.3: Generic format of a ‘learning prescription’?

1.4: Self-learning and ‘learning prescriptions’

1.5: Who should be giving ‘ learning prescriptions’?

Day 2: Examples of Learning Prescriptions

2.1: Reading effectively

2.2: Building Learning Power

2.3: Anticipating the future

2.4: Critical Thinking

2.5: Education in The Metaverse

The fee for this weekend course is Rs 1000/- and can be easily remitted through PayTM to MM Pant ( mobile number : +919810073724).

* For those who would rather pay into a Bank account, the relevant information is : 

* Madan Mohan Pant

* HDFC Bank, Unitech Cyber Park, Sector 39, Gurgaon 

        A/c 26451000000301

        HDFC0002645

* (The account number is 26451 followed by six zeroes followed by 301)

To know more, please send a WhatsApp message to Prof MM Pant at +919810073724

Why learn Physics? 

This is the time of the year when millions of students moving from class 10 to class 11 would have to make choices for the subjects that they will be studying for the next 2 years. The NEP 2020 encourages the learners to not restrict themselves to traditional courses and combinations, but explore choices based on their interests and aspirations. But who informs the prospective learner about the features and attributes of different subjects, that make it worthwhile to learn them. I am creating a series of weekend WhatsApp courses labelled “ Y learn X ?” and Why learn Physics is the first in the series. 

One of the oldest academic disciplines, Physics is a natural science whose goal is to understand how everything works at its most fundamental level. Physics studies nature on scales as small as an atomic nucleus to as large as the observable universe. Physics is the cornerstone of the other natural sciences (chemistry,computing, geology, biology, astronomy) and is essential to understanding our modern technological society. At the heart of physics is a combination of experiment, observation and the analysis of phenomena using mathematical and computational tools.

Learning Physics trains you to become an expert problem solver. You learn to break down a problem into its component parts and apply advanced mathematics, computing, data analysis and experimental techniques to arrive at a solution.

In due course we will have “ Why learn Maths?”, “ Why learn Biology?”, “ Why learn Economics?”, “ Why learn Psychology?” and others. 

The flow of topics for this weekend course is :

Each of the posts comprise short interesting videos, short pieces of texts, visuals and animations, and not long lectures. There maybe links for further information for those who want to explore further.

Why learn Physics?

Day 1: About Physics

1.1: What is Physics?

1.2: Elon Musk on thinking like a Physicist

1.3: The map of Physics

1.4: Humanity progresses with advances in Physics

1.5: Resources for learning Physics

Day 2: The benefits of learning Physics

2.1: Physics develops measurement and estimation skills

2.2: Physics develops thinking and problem solving skills

2.3: Learning Physics equips you for a number of opportunities 

2.4:  Knowing Physics helps appreciate the limits of human Knowledge 

2.5: The life of an ‘ordinary’ Physicist can be ‘extra-ordinary’

 The first edition of this course will run on Saturday 18th and Sunday 19th March 2023, and thereafter it will be on offer on the third weekend of every month. 

The fee for this weekend course is Rs 1000/- and can be easily remitted through PayTM to MM Pant ( mobile number : +919810073724).

* For those who would rather pay into a Bank account, the relevant information is : 

* Madan Mohan Pant

* HDFC Bank, Unitech Cyber Park, Sector 39, Gurgaon 

        A/c 26451000000301

        HDFC0002645

* (The account number is 26451 followed by six zeroes followed by 301)

To know more, please send a WhatsApp message to Prof MM Pant at +919810073724

Contemporary Physics:

The frontiers of knowledge, especially of Science are moving at an accelerated pace and while a bright young mind may be excited by all the new developments, the School curriculum does not often promote this excitement. In Physics for example, at the School level there is little appreciation of quantum, relativistic, nuclear, particle and interdisciplinary and cross-disciplinary physics. These topics are covered at the end of an undergraduate Physics course  or in a program for post graduate Physics students. This need not be so now, in the 3rd decade of the 21st century. The fact is that much of contemporary Physics can be learnt by almost everyone with an intense desire and a good Internet connection. These weekend learning explorations guided by Prof MM Pant take the learner through an exciting tour of quantum physics, relativity, modern particle physics and its history. Comprising a number of fascinating topics, of which some have been the subject of recent Nobel Prizes. They have been structured as weekend learning events. This “road less travelled”  in the spirit of Robert Frost is created out of the joy of Physics; it is not designed to produce problem-solving ability to crack the IIT-JEE but rather is designed to reveal some beauty and joy of Physics.

It is not only in intellectual terms that you could be losing by not being up to date with modern developments, but in real dollar terms, the Google team lost $100 billion because of being unaware of the JWST ( https://www.space.com/james-webb-space-telescope-google-100-billion). Our weekend topic for the first weekend in Contemporary Physics is therefore the James Webb Space Telescope. 

March 11th and 12th: Contemporary Physics: The James Webb Space Telescope ( JWST)

Saturday 11th March 2023: From Galileo’s telescope to the JWST

Sunday 12th March 2023: Discoveries from the JWST: the map of Physics

Some of the topics to be explored during future weekends: Symmetry in Physics, key Quantum concepts, spin, 

Quantum Entanglement, Superconductivity: the phenomenon and its applications, The standard model in Physics, Complexity, Complex adaptive systems, Special Theory of Relativity, General theory of Relativity, Frontiers of Physics

By way of follow up on this Contemporary Physics, similar weekend courses are also being developed for Contemporary Mathematics and Contemporary Biology. 

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The fee for this weekend course is Rs 1000/- and can be easily remitted through PayTM to MM Pant ( mobile number : +919810073724).

* For those who would rather pay into a Bank account, the relevant information is : 

* Madan Mohan Pant

* HDFC Bank, Unitech Cyber Park, Sector 39, Gurgaon 

        A/c 26451000000301

        HDFC0002645

* (The account number is 26451 followed by six zeroes followed by 301)

To know more, please send a WhatsApp message to Prof MM Pant at +919810073724

ChatGPT and education:

Backdrop:

Just two months after its release, in November 2022, ChatGPT reached over 100 million users in January 2023. This, and similar AI chatbots based on LLMs have the potential to permanently transform education, as had been projected in Sir Anthony Seldon’s book : The fourth education revolution. 

ChatGPT is a free tool that anyone with a device and internet can use — making it widely accessible, especially for students who, at this point, are all digital natives.

When a human user inputs questions or commands into ChatGPT, the AI processes the text and generates the answer based on the neural network data.

The Indian National missions in education are being guided by Goal4 of the SDGs, the Indian NEP 2020 and the current deliberations of the G-20 education working group. And ChatGPT seems to the right stimulus provided by the technology in analogy to what IBM had done for the US 1880 census operations. 

Some education Institutions have hastily reacted by banning or restricting the use of chatGPT to preserve the integrity of the traditional examination, whereas educators should lead by changing the form of examinations and their assessment. Maybe by assessing the questions that a student asks chatGPT. 

In addition to the sound pedagogical reasons for treating ChatGPT as an opportunity and not a threat, there are practical ones as well. It simply isn’t feasible to effectively ban access to this technology. Honor code or not, many students will be unable to resist the temptation to seek AI assistance with their writing. And how would an educational institution enforce a ChatGPT ban? 

This WhatsApp course is offered in the 1st weekend of every month beginning with : March  4th and 5th

The themes for the flow of posts on these 2 days are: 

Day 1: What is chatGPT and why the buzz?

1.1: The huge adoption of GPT

1.2: From Eliza to chatGPT

1.3: Similar products

1.4: The promise of chatGPT in education

1.5: The red flags 

Day 2: Impact of chatGPT in education

2.1: Key activities in the classroom

2.2: Course syllabus and outlines

2.3: Personalised Learning

2.4: Assessments and GPT

2.5: Academic cheating and chatGPT

Enrolment and fee payment: 

* As the course is delivered through WhatsApp the enrolment process is simply to send  a WhatsApp message to Prof MM Pant at +919810073724. 

* The fee for each of the above courses is Rs 1000/- and can be easily remitted through PayTM to MM Pant ( mobile number : +919810073724).

* For those who would rather pay into a Bank account, the relevant information is : 

* Madan Mohan Pant

* HDFC Bank, Unitech Cyber Park, Sector 39, Gurgaon 

        A/c 26451000000301

        HDFC0002645

* (The account number is 26451 followed by six zeroes followed by 301)

To know more, please send a WhatsApp message to Prof MM Pant at +919810073724

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