The Third Pillar: How Markets and the State Leave the Community Behind

by Raghuram G. Rajan

The key resource in class is the teacher, and the key constraint is student time and attention. Rather than sitting passively in class, listening to the teacher lecture, the student could do that at home, perhaps even listening to nationwide star teachers assigned by the curriculum. By preparing for class at home (or in study hours at school if the students’ home environment is too disturbing), students can replay digital content as many times as they need to absorb difficult sections – new face-tracking technologies can also indicate to the teacher whether videos have been watched. Each student can learn at their own pace. The platform can assess their understanding regularly, and offer supplementary material either to challenge them or to remedy deficiencies. Individualised adaptive teaching is thus easy with well-designed platforms, sparing the teacher the quandary of whom to teach to. Class time is freed for the teacher to motivate students with interesting projects, help students as they go over assignment problems individually or in groups, and go over any issues the students find particularly difficult. Students will learn in class from one another and the teacher, and in the process fill in the gaps in their understanding. Since the teacher works closely with the students, she gets to know who is falling behind, if she does not already from automated assessments. The teacher’s role changes from lecturer to coach and designer, who combines the triad of human, machin...

New classroom paradigm