Assignment

1. Write a note on role of teacher in digital age?

          In this digital age, teachers are expected to become technologically oriented and responsible not only for their teaching but also for their students learning. They have to cater for particular needs of individual students in heterogeneous classes,and create a student-centred learning environment which endeavours for excellence and offers opportunities for enquiry and dynamic learning. The teacher should also be a subject developer. By this one means that the teacher should, through continual work, bring new knowledge to the subject through his/her own experience, research and development work. The role of teacher has changed and continues to change from being an instructor to becoming a constructor, facilitator, coach and creator of learning environments.

The teacher’s daily plan is often full of countless challenges and the time constraints are very tight. However, it is expected that creativity should given space at work in an active search for new knowledge and new methods. With the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT), the role of teachers has transferred to a more broad and diverse definition to meet the needs of learning communities. As conventional classrooms continue to transform into digital ones, it is inevitable for the teacher to deliver instruction through multifaceted modes of learning. Content and knowledge management is a key knack for teacher to survive in digital environment. They have to select, develop and enrich teaching learning material in digital structure and with anytime-anywhere mode.

In distance education, as in all types of teaching, teaching materials is presented and a structure for dialogue between teacher and student is established.Here the teacher and students meet as a part of learning process. The teacher is only responsible for promoting learning preconditions such as working habits, attitudes,knowledge and motivation.

2. Differentiate between synchronous and asynchronous learning?

Synchronicity means doing something at the same time, and with learning, it's no different. Synchronous learning refers to a learning event in which a group of participants is engaged in learning at the same time . For that, they should be in the same physical location, such as a classroom, or at the same online environment, such as in a web conference, where they can interact with the instructor and other participants. There is real-interaction with other people. 

If synchronous learning takes place at the same time, asynchronous learning refers to the opposite. The instructor, the learner, and other participants are not engaged in the learning process at the same time. There is no real-time interaction with other people. An example of this method in corporate training is creating online content with pre-recorded videos or publishing an on-demand online exam.