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National Conference on Teacher Education in Communication Age 11,12 Feb 2006 |
A two days National Conference on Teacher Education in Communication Age was organized recently (Feb.11-12, 2006) at Advance Institute of Management, Ghaziabad (U.P). Prof. S.K. Thakur, Chairperson, National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE), New Delhi was the Chief Guest of the inaugural function. Prof. K.S. Chalam, Hon’ble member of Union Public Service Commission, New Delhi presided over the inaugural function. Prof. B.K. Passi, Former UNESCO Chair for Distance Education delivered the Key Note Address. Other dignitaries present at the inauguration programme were Prof. R.P. Singh, Prof. R.K. Srivastava, Prof. Girijesh Kumar, Prof. B.R. Kukreti, Prof. S. Omprakash, Dr. Rajendra Mishra. Ms. Bani Dey was the Conference Director. Dr. Manoj Kumar Saxena was the Organizing Secretary and Dr. Sandhya Gihar was the Co-organizing Secretary of the conference. Pre-conference proceedings in book form entitled “Teacher Education in Communication Age” edited by Ms. Bani Dey, Dr. Manoj Kumar Saxena and Dr. Sandhya Gihar was also released during inaugural session of the conference.
Welcome address for the conference was delivered by Ms. Bani Dey, Director, Advance Institute of Management, Ghaziabad. In her address she strassed that in near future value education will be synonyms with ICT for which we need to equip our teacher educators with the required skill, knowledge and most importantly attitude towords the power of information age. The Chief Guest Prof. S.K. Thakur, Chairperson, NCTE, New Delhi expressed his views about social changes alongwith recent changes in the educational field. He opined that proper use of ICT is still far away and stressed its use in teaching. The Key Note Speaker Prof. B.K. Passi, former UNESCO Chair for Distance Education & Consultant IITE, Moscow expressed his views on virtual schools, home learning and learner centred teaching. Prof. K.S. Chalam, Hon’ble member of UPSC, New Delhi in his presidential address emphasised the importance of innovation in educational teaching. The brief about the conference was delivered by the Organizing Secretary Dr. Manoj Kumar Saxena. Sh. Harvilas Gupta, Chairman, Advance Institute of Management blessed the gathering of eminent academicians.
The various technical sessions on sub themes, in – service teacher education in communication age, pre-service teacher education in communication age, information communication technology and teacher education in communication age, teacher education via distance mode in communication age, innovative methods, media and strategies of teaching in communication age and ICT enabled teachers for children with special needs (CWSN) were chaired by Prof. K.K. Vashishtha, Prof. Girijesh Kumar, Prof. R.K. Srivastava, Prof. R.P. Singh, Dr. R.P.S.Tomer, Prof. S. Omprakash, Dr. Sumitra Kukreti, Prof. B.K. Passi, Prof. B.R. Kukreti, Prof. R.C. Nautiyal & Dr. Subhashini Passi. The recommendations of the conference were very fruitful and practically implicable.
The main recommendations of the conference were:
Information and communication technology (ICT) should be an integral part of all teacher education programmes.
The curriculum framework of teacher education programmes should be modified in tune with the latest advances in ICT.
Extensive and intensive use of internet as a resource and the ICT as a tool should be promoted in both pre-service and in-service teacher training programmes.
To promote technological competencies among teacher educators, ICT centers should be established at regional and state levels in collaboration with teacher training institutions.
Communication technologies in teacher education programmes must be included to improve teaching skills, knowledge of their subject, professional experience and improve teacher performance.
The teacher training institutions should perceive their responsibility to impart training to the teacher trainees, so that after joining teaching profession, they could exploit their utmost potentialities and teach their students with the help of ICT.
The mobile telephony should be promoted as a flexible device for guidance and counseling of teacher-trainees.
Teacher educators and teacher trainees should be made realized about bridging the possible gap of knowledge between teacher and taught, as pupils are getting techno-friendly.
Instead of emphasizing on the basic knowledge of technology in teacher training programmes, training in how to organize the information and its presentation will be more appropriate.
Rather than being the vendors of information, the teacher and prospective teachers should be trained to become the facilitator and supporter of the learner’s process of self-development.
In the valedictory session Dr. Manoj Kumar Saxena, Organizing Secretary of the National Conference shared the recommendations of the national conference with the eminent scholars and participants. The Chief Guest Prof. Ved Prakash, Director, NIEPA, New Delhi was of the view that for teachers’ advancement, technology should be utilized. The valedictory speaker Prof. G.D. Sharma, Director, Consortium for Educational Communication, New Delhi spoke about emerging challanges in educational fields. The Guest of Honour, Prof. B.R. Kukreti expressed his views on innovative methods and practices in teaching. In his presidential address, Sh. Har Vilas Gupta, Chairman, AIM, Ghaziabad stressed on need to reset the minds of people so that they accept technology whole heartedly as a part of education. Vote of thanks for the valedictory session was proposed by Ms. Bani Dey, Director, AIM. Total 150 delegates from all over the country participated in the National Conference on Teacher Education in Communication Age.
