It has been more than 25 years since ICT (information communication technologies) debuted in primary-secondary education. Computers were venerated and computer labs were hallowed precincts that strictly followed the no footwear rule. For many years, computers were used only for teaching programming-related concepts, detached from mainstream teaching-learning processes.

Fast forward to contemporary ” especially top-ranked private ” schools and one cannot help but notice the ubiquity of ICT. Impressive computer labs, digitised classrooms, online learning ” technology seems to be revolutionising K-12 academics in a big way. But beneath the surface, the more things change, the more they™ve remained the same.

Why should there be a change in the way learning is transmitted in our schools? The answer: we are living in an era when the internet has democratised knowledge.  Absorbing and retaining information is no longer the prerequisite of business and professional success. Instead, contemporary workplaces increasingly demand problem-solving and creative capability. Therefore critical thinking skills need to be developed right from primary school onwards. To enable this shift of focus, technology can play a critically important role that it hasn™t discharged thus far.

Admittedly, new technologies have enabled content aggregation. Smart boards pour rich multimedia content into classrooms and help students to better understand some of the concepts being taught. But pedagogically, smart board content is a trendy upgradation of lecture-based teaching. Canned content is not very different from a prescribed textbook. In fact in most cases, smart boards reduce the teacher™s role to that of a disengaged equipment operator. The hype surrounding smart boards has lulled schools into a false sense of pedagogical advancement when actually there™s none. No wonder that most schools showcase new technologies essentially for marketing purposes.

Test preparation is another space that has seen big action. Numerous websites offering practice tests have proliferated in the past few years. The focus of these websites, as proudly asserted in their advertising messages, is to help students score higher marks, feeding test scores mania. Even if these websites deliver what they claim, they merely endorse and even reinforce, the status quo that is obsessed with exam scores.

Most ICT companies which have ventured into primary-secondary education fall within these two categories. Their purpose is to utilise new technologies to improve learning outcomes by making content available in quantity and quality. But new ICT-in-education companies haven™t made any serious impact on the way teaching is dispensed.

An examination of the use of technology in existing teaching-learning processes indicates that ICT reduces teachers™ burden by enabling organised communication and auto-correcting digitised assessment. Some schools use a disparate set of generic tools such as email, online storage and survey questionnaires for communication. Increased usage of technology, if integrated correctly, certainly has the potential to make academic processes more efficient, and these efficiencies free up teachers to better prepare for their classes and continuously upgrade their skills. But all this makes the extant system more efficient. They improve ” but don™t change ” the teaching-learning process.

So can technology be a game changer? To answer this question, we have to first concede the limitations of technology. Merely introducing a technical solution doesn™t precipitate change. However, technology can be a catalyst of change if there™s awareness of what we need to do to promote critical thinking in K-12 education. For a start, to develop capability to think, question and interpret, classrooms have to be more interactive, with teachers encouraging students to fully use their imagination to solve complex problems. The teacher plays a pivotal role in enabling students to learn this skill. She needs tools which enable her to excite students™ interest in subjects and help them to think beyond mere facts and data. She needs tools that help her grow continuously so she can constantly challenge her students. This metamorphosis can™t happen in a single step, it™s a process.

What are the characteristics of such a solution? Paradoxical though it may seem, ICT is most effective outside the classroom. There™s less of a role for new technologies inside the class, as students develop critical thinking through interactions with teachers and peers. Instead, ICT enables beyond classroom learning driven by teachers. Such self-learning needs to be an extension of classroom interactions; hence the need for it to be teacher-directed. Videos recorded by the teacher, or interactive content curated and created by her would facilitate and enable the self-learning process.

Intelligent ICT usage will inevitably lead to the discovery of novel ways of enhancing students™ learning outcomes. But improved learning outcomes through self-learning are less dependent upon technology innovations than teacher innovations through technology usage. Teacher-driven ICT innovation is a precondition of switching to new teaching-learning processes.

(Gagandeep Josan is co-founder and CEO of Nittio Learn, a technology platform for empowering teaching in schools)