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How pedagogy must evolve for effective online learning
How pedagogy must evolve for effective online learning
For generations, education has followed the same pattern. Teachers teach, students learn from textbooks, and exams measure what they have learned. This system has educated millions of students and continues to provide the structure needed for quality education. Today, as digital technology becomes a bigger part of classrooms, the question is no longer whether technology should be used. The real question is how it can help students learn better.
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According to the latest report by NCAER, the number of internet users has increased from roughly 198 million in 2015 to over 1.03 billion in 2025. However, simply improving connectivity may not lead to better learning outcomes. To use technology for improving the learning outcomes and not only digitisation of classrooms will be the actual challenge.
This is echoed in NITI Aayog’s recent report, School Education System in India: Temporal Analysis and Policy Roadmap for Quality Enhancement. Drawing on UDISE+, PARAKH, ASER, and the National Achievement Survey, it highlights India’s progress in expanding access, improving school infrastructure, digital connectivity, and enrolment. Today, the country has nearly 14.7 lakh schools serving over 24.6 crore students, with improvements in electricity, sanitation, internet access, and smart classrooms.
The report also notes encouraging progress in Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) through different initiatives, including NEP 2020. However, it argues that the next phase of reform must focus on learning quality. Better teaching, stronger school leadership, meaningful assessments, blended learning, holistic education, AI-enabled innovation, and teacher development will be critical. As India moves towards becoming a knowledge economy, success will be measured not just by enrolment, but by how well students develop foundational skills, critical thinking, creativity, and digital fluency.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a rapid transition from face-to-face instruction to remote learning. This prevented an educational disruption, but it also highlighted an issue. As majority of instructors simply transferred their classes to virtual lecture format, students often did very little other than listen with little to no formative assessment prior to testing the retention of memorised facts. The greatest takeaway from the use of technology had been that technology itself is not sufficient for improving the outcomes of student learning. We also need to revise our methods of instruction. Textbooks are effective for developing a foundation for students, while AI-enabled textbooks aid in the interactive, personalized, and enjoyable aspects of learning.
The ultimate goal of NEP 2020 is to promote creativity, develop critical thinking skills, improve teamwork, and foster lifelong learners. Numerous research studies have also found that children are more likely to be successful when they are able to ask questions, share ideas and collaborate with others, participate in project-based-learning, and receive timely ongoing and formative assessment. Technology is at its most effective when it is used to facilitate such student-centered learning processes, rather than completely supplanting the need for an actual classroom environment.
Beyond measuring students’ memory and retention of learned content, digital assessment tools such as online quizzes and AI-enabled assessments can help teachers monitor student progress. These technology-enabled assessments allow teachers to identify learning gaps early, enabling timely remediation and targeted support before students fall significantly behind in their learning. Additionally, computational thinking is another skill involved with coding, and serves as a means of teaching students how to deconstruct and logically evaluate problems and solutions while being aware of patterns within the environment. Thus using project-based assignments, simulation-based assessments or collaborative classroom activities will enable students to use the skill of computational thought in all subject areas.
As the classrooms become more electronic, teachers will become an even greater resource. Teachers not only teach directly from textbooks alone, but they also provide guidance and support to help both lead and facilitate learning for students in multiple avenues using technology. For teachers to effectively utilise technology to support and enhance their teaching, they require regular teacher training sessions in how to harness the benefits which technology presents. Ultimately, technology will support the will of a good teacher, but technology will never replace a great teacher.
Learning management systems, curated digital resources, diagnostic assessments, parent engagement platforms, and personalised academic support create continuity between school and home. Among the most promising models is blended learning, which combines face-to-face instruction with carefully designed digital experiences. Instead of viewing online vs offline learning as rival strategies, blended learning mixes the best of both worlds. Physical classes provide students with face-to-face guidance, social interactions and class discussion while the use of online applications and resources offer the chances of personalized practice, flexible hours, and more ways to collaborate and get feedback. Students can revisit concepts, practise independently, and apply their knowledge through projects, while teachers gain better visibility into learning progress and parents become active partners in the educational process.
India’s ongoing education reforms provide a strong policy foundation for this transformation. NEP 2020 promotes competency-based learning, experiential education, multidisciplinary thinking, and greater integration of technology throughout schooling. It also reinforces multilingual education through the Three-Language Formula (R3), encouraging students to learn three languages, including at least two Indian languages (regional/native). As schools strengthen multilingual learning, digital platforms can support language acquisition through interactive content, personalised practice, and adaptive learning experiences. The National Curriculum Framework similarly emphasises conceptual understanding, inquiry-based learning, flexibility, and reduced dependence on rote memorisation. Digital platforms can accelerate these reforms by supporting differentiated instruction, competency-based progression, personalised feedback, and collaborative learning. Emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence offer additional opportunities to personalise instruction, identify learning gaps, and improve educational decision-making, provided they remain grounded in sound pedagogical principles.
The NITI Aayog report supports this path, underscoring that much beyond infrastructure development is necessary for ongoing improvements in learning outcomes. Foundational literacy and numeracy will continue to form the spine around which further learning can be constructed and ensure learners are able to tackle digital education, advanced reasoning, and complex concepts. At the same time, improvements in governance, teacher quality, classroom practice, and assessment must accompany investments in infrastructure for reforms to produce lasting gains. Without continuous teacher training, even the best digital infrastructure cannot translate into better learning outcomes.
The challenges that are hindering the successful implementation of digital learning must not be solved simply by adding more technology. We must provide teachers with guidance on the use of technology in their classrooms to create equitable and effective learning environments, develop age-appropriate digital content for students, and engage parents and communities in ensuring that technology supports student success. The success of digital learning will depend on how well we develop trust in technology as a solution to the many challenges facing education.
We cannot think of this as being a conflict of the future being only textbooks or only tech. It must be a combination. Traditional textbooks ensure foundational strength whereas technology ensures an interactive, personalised and engaging experience for all students. The path towards ‘Viksit Bharat’ in the domain of education is not through how many classrooms we digitise, but how well every child is equipped at the end of schooling to develop foundational skills, creativity, problem-solving abilities and confidence. Technology must help improve learning, and not just digitise it.
(Praveen Singh, CEO of AASOKA, by MBD Group)
Published - July 07, 2026 08:30 am IST
education
Source: TheHindu
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