Sometime in May, one of my prolific university students (Dung – this shall be his name for the sake of this article) posted on Facebook: “Real knowledge is beyond the four corners of the classroom”. This statement conjured a lot of discourse – approbations flooded the comment section, particularly from his classmates and peers while criticism outpoured from a handful of teachers who felt deeply unappreciated and from a few of his peers who believed the student’s epitaph to be too simplistic and out of context. For me, it was a matter of self-reflection and assessment than disappointment – what do I teach the students as a university professor? What is my role in the classroom and outside the classroom? Do we (teachers, perhaps in a country like Nigeria) truly have what it takes to make our students compete with global educational standards? Does it mean all I have taught Dung was not enough to enable him to define knowledge ‘beyond the four corners of the classroom’? In fact, what is the ‘real’ definition of knowledge?
As I pondered on all these, I tried to imagine what Dung saw that warranted him to equate our daily struggle of standing before them for upwards of two hours weekly to ‘unreal education’. I imagined the broken chairs, the students who stand throughout the periods, the abrupt disruption of power, the unplanned cancellation of lectures without any makeup, the cruelty of certain colleagues regarding students’ needs and excuses, and the perpetual unavailability of financial resources for internet connections vis a vis the epileptic and erratic WIFI on campus, our struggle as a system to incorporate e-learning when other countries are thinking of far-reaching teaching technologies that include Artificial Intelligence. Surely Dung would be right when he feels the university system and any other one he romanced with in the past only presented him with an unrealistic world – a fake reflection of what he will encounter or has started encountering outside the classroom.
What stands out the most for me in all these is not the failing and ailing educational system, it is not the idiosyncrasy of the learner(s); it is my role as a teacher. Research has shown that although a lot has changed over the years, chiefly due to techs and deeply creative innovations, most teachers are reluctant to change their approaches to the art of imparting knowledge.
The basic traditional classroom setting where the teacher stands before a podium with his learners in rows and columns is classic and almost sacrosanct – it can be argued that this style will still be relevant in the next century – yet, it presents a formal, impractical approach to learning where the teacher is the ‘Sage on the Stage’ (with knowledge about all things and all not knowledgeable as he). This setting demeans the learner and reduces him to a spectator – learning and getting more confused about theories he could only know how to apply after leaving the classroom as Dung had insinuated.
Interestingly, this role is increasingly becoming obsolete with technology and culture. While technology improves the physical and cognitive settings in learning, culture interfaces with the social distance between the learner and the educator. The online component is an example of how the podium no longer stands immortal in classrooms while the inconvenient rows and columns in class become the comfort of a bedroom or the ambiance of a park with shades; better instructional materials and teaching aids provide a firmer bridge between theory and practice for learners; and the social distance between learner and educator is further decongested as a result of globalization, universalism, pluralism, liberalism, and integrations of cultures and more awareness of ourselves. Now, the ‘Sage’ role turns to ‘Guide’ while the ‘Stage’ symbol becomes on the ‘Side’. What this means is that the educator, professor, teacher, and tutor (as the case may be) becomes a ‘Guide on the Side’ instead. This is what the outside world offers – corporate organizations, companies, international institutions, etc; and this is what Dung and others of his kind see lacking in their ‘Four-Walled-Classroom’ teachers.
One place where this role is actively practiced is ATAFOM University International. With a vision that thrives on “Education for Integration”, you will find an environment that prioritizes skill acquisition and productive outcomes rather than theories. To learn more about this experience, visit their Website. The head of IT at the university, Anas Jawed says he is proud that ATAFOM University is bridging the geographical, technical, educational, and economic gaps across 13 countries where they currently have students, thus, enabling learning of the same thing at the same time.
Not only in the Nigerian educational ecosystem but all over the world, the educator is expected to fulfill the role of a guide not on the ‘stage’ but on the ‘side’, both in class and outside of it. However, it is important to equally understand the role of the learner in this dynamism; there cannot be a change in role for the teacher without the student effectively changing his approach to learning. As Charles Morrison of the Wilfrid Laurier University in Ontario, Canada argued, a change in role for the teacher also means a change in role for the learner (students) from passive recipients to active participants. For the teacher’s change in role to be highly effective and result-oriented, students must learn to accept the responsibility of participating actively – they must be prompt at completing their tasks, they must be available for supervision, and they must be willing to go an extra mile in learning on their own with minimal supervision and they must understand the style of their guide in other to have it easy with following in his footsteps.
One other crucial aspect of the changing role of teachers is in the aspect of mentoring. While teaching and mentoring are conceptually two different acts, it is generally believed that merging the two ideas will result in a robust learning experience for students. When a teacher becomes a mentor, he shares his experience not just his knowledge and explains why a project came about rather than how it come to be. In these two scenarios, s/he showcases practical means and steps on how and why to achieve the project. Prof. Can Katipzade, Vice Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Director, Media and Communications at ATAFOM University International believe this is the next phase of education – where learners in every program come in contact with concrete processes in their line of study. That a media student should be exposed to a live set and a live studio and an IT student should have a tech company operating in his classroom and as part of his curriculum. Well, they are achieving this with every single course at ATAFOM University
Mentoring is valuable in attracting students closer to the teacher and ensuring learned information and knowledge are duly put to use by the learner. There is a huge capacity that mentoring can bridge deficiencies in deteriorating infrastructure – that what is not assimilated in class due to lack of proper sitting facilities, for instance, could be learned in an informal discussion with the teacher outside the class.
Learning is dynamic and so are the processes towards achieving it. What was learned yesterday can be unlearned today using different methodologies from when it was first learned. The ability of the teacher to use several tools such as technology and new pedagogies will ensure that their learners get the best out of the subject matter and invariably develop a more positive worldview on education and the educator. Then students such as Dung can also unapologetically say “Real knowledge is found in the four corners of classrooms”. Well, I did not tell you that he was without remorse for telling his tutors on Facebook that what they do is to only prepare them (students) for the real knowledge to be found outside the classroom.
Educative! May be Dung was ignorant.
It’s quite a debatable topic. Looking at out educational system in Nigeria, one cannot rely only on the knowledge obtained in the four corners of the classroom, the students need to acquired extra knowledge (outside the classroom) to survive and face the world. I suggest both of the knowledges should be acquire by the students.