Article series: Under-represented groups in academia: issues and way forward
Confluence Series on under-represented groups in academia.
Author: Moderator
Can the pandemic catalyse efficient distant and distributed education in India?
I envisage a distant, distributed mode of education which is efficient at teaching and measuring learning. It is of great advantage when applied to cases and countries where there is demand for highly quality educated people – in short, a society striving for more education with only minimal capital and financial resources to deliver them.
Homeopathy: Scien-sy Sounding Things and Illusions of Immunity
The fact that homeopathy thrives is not proof of efficacy. Just like the existence of tarot readers and astrologers does not prove that these practices have any scientific basis.
Press Release Regarding Clinical Trials of a Vaccine Against SARS-Cov-2
IASc welcomes the exciting development of a candidate vaccine and wishes that the vaccine is quickly made available for public use. However, as a body of scientists – including many who are engaged in vaccine development – IASc strongly believes that the announced timeline is unfeasible. This timeline has raised unrealistic hope and expectations in the minds of our citizens.
Education made Remote: Concerns on Digitally Mediated Education in Pandemic times
The gendered nature of domestic work, most of which falls on women and girls at home, may affect the chances of women students to access their online classes and prepare for assessments and examinations. They may also be negotiating with other family members to access shared gadgets and internet connection and would be affected in case there is selective preference for their elder siblings or male members of the family.
Post-Corona Turmoil in Theological Education
There is a need to broaden the vision – for a theological education without borders – keeping and developing the interconnectedness between nations and cultures. This may point towards finding new ways to merge various world-views, new ways to serve, especially those in needy situations, new ways to even up an increasingly unequal and uneven world. The higher education system for religion studies will have to be more tolerant and inclusive, and this may mean rewriting staunch doctrines.
Education in the time of Corona: Will the system withstand the chaos?
Education is not merely about completing the syllabus in time, or about lecturing on a topic for hours to convey profound bookish knowledge. Gaining experience for life through social interaction and communication is a major component, and this nuanced art of living can only be achieved through classroom learning.
'New’ Directions in Higher Education in India after COVID-19?
It is important to realize that education at all stages is inherently a political process but much more so at higher education stage, where values and ideas are discussed and debated, and the very choice of a course, a research problem or how these are chosen, framed and delivered, is reflective of these ideas and values.
Covid-19: Disparities in Social Distancing Rules
The lack of robust science behind the current social distancing rules contributes to uncertainty and raises legitimate questions about expert advice.
The Choices before Us: Online or Bust?
In broad strokes, online education teaches what you could learn from a book, without any of the subtlety involved in learning. It imparts knowledge, but not a way of thinking. It does not readily permit the formation of learning communities, ones that can critique and prevent people from going way off course. The face-to-face generational transmission of experience and learning is also not the focus of this model – this was what was valued in India as the guru-kula system.