Tuesday, February 26, 2008

And now, 'Topper TV'

Just noticed the test signal of 'Topper TV' (Tata Sky channel # 570). This is a whole new channel dedicated to tutoring science students of CBSE class 10 & 12.

It is decades since I myself gave a Board exam but here's what I felt after watching it over an hour or so.

The chemistry class 12 episode featured covalent bonds, amorphous and metallic crystals and so on. Most of the lesson consisted of the teacher reading out the TV version of a powerpoint slide. To prevent students from falling asleep he had worn a
bright red shirt and some fancy graphics jump across the screen from time to time.

The 'Exam Special' on polynomials and quadratic equations was a little better. A lady in pink salwar kameez (Priya Venkatraman) was the presenter. The speed at which sums were being solved was a little fast (those in the thick of it may feel differently!).

The helpful part was the constant references to what Qs were likely to appear and tips on how to write your answers (eg include steps as there are marks for steps).

However it all seemed quite far removed from Greycells18 co-founder Sricharan Iyengar's assertion that 'Topper' would feature a group of 'star teachers' who have been carefully identified.

With exceptional track records - iconic and inspirational – these individuals come armed with experience gathered from teaching in the best institutes of the world, coupled with a passion for their subject. This team will present modules to students in the simplest manner.

Yes, the "educators" of the channel include Chandralekha Singh, PhD from University of California, currently teaching at Pittsburg University; Shankar Venkatagiri, Phd from Georgia Tech, currently teaching at IIM Bangalore; and so on. But I can't help think that it might be better to get famous coaching class teachers instead. Because they have far more passion, enthusiasm and a more individual style.

Topper TV is free to air till April 15. There is also a website with online tests and an 'ask the expert' feature. The TV + website package is being called an "Integrated Learning System". I guess students would be asked to pay in various ways, in due time.

Topper TV can't replace the traditional coaching class model and for that reason I see the website being more useful than the TV version. The average student would attend school, then go for classes, come home, eat, and put on the TV to relax a bit. Not watch sums being solved...

But who knows. Maybe the point is like joining a gym. You do it but don't necessarily work out everyday. Parents will make all kinds of investments in the interest of educating their kids.If all the neighbours have a subscription, dijiye humein bhi!

And TV has such huge reach - so it makes sense vs an only-internet offering. Can't recall the name of the company but there was precisely such a dotcom in 1999-2000. Now defunct, of course!

As for me, I will switch to Topper TV anytime I have difficulty falling asleep :)

22 comments:

  1. I am very skeptical about all these technology mediated education program . it might work on internet to certain extent .but on TV ?? without any interactivity ? I don't think its feasible .

    Education on TV has never really woked with the exception of Sesame street , but that too has a limited audience . teaching something to a student in Sr.Higher Sec /College level is more hard .


    on internet its a bit different ,Audience is mature and content is
    interactive. you can choose from a wide selection . MIT WORLD , Stanford edu corner , are best of the course material and available for free .

    i don't think this thing has got any future beyond one more way to throw kids away from TV

    ReplyDelete
  2. I believe in the concept. TV has quite a huge reach and getting some good education while sitting in your home comfort (and no travelling time which also becomes a big facter at times) can be a great thing. I remember while I was preparing for JEE a prog on Zee Tv used to come where some prof would solve diffcult problems and I had quite liked that. Just hope topper team also get some good profs which makes the tv learning a fun process :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. I dont quite agree that the "The helpful part was the constant references to what Qs were likely to appear and tips on how to write your answers (eg include steps as there are marks for steps).
    " .. This kind of mentality really needs to go away. The idea shouldnt be to coach them for exams but rather to teach them something. As a kid i wasnt all that smart , but still my blood used to boil when the teachers used to say somethinng like .. "this is important" ... "read first 5 q from 250 page no" or the best of it all "leave this it wont come in the finals" .... what crap!!! you dont even need to get me started on "how to write you answers" part of it, i mean as long as the kid knows the answer what the hell does it matter how s/he writes the bloody answer , creativity and alternative methods of problem solving should be encouraged not shot down just because it doesnt follow the "pattern"
    We really need a total paradigm change in the way we look at education when even well meaning and forward looking adults who have just come out of the education system are not able to look back and see the obvious holes in it.

    As far as topper T V is concerned well i think its brilliant as far as the system to which it caters is concerned , good faculty teaching with focus on results which is what the parents, and lets face it the smarter kids also want anyway.

    But in the larger scheme of things , thats one more step in the opposite direction of where i think we should be going.

    ReplyDelete
  4. ha! revenge of the nerds! thank god i'm not in school anymore. im sure my dad would've made me watch this.

    ReplyDelete
  5. why promote education in such a way....topper tv???

    ReplyDelete
  6. It is a valiant and bold attempt to try to promote Education TV and that too with the real iconic figures as most of the iconic figures have little time to delve into such experimentation. And yet the very fact that Sunil Khanna and Sricharan Iyengar did manage to get a set of a few iconic figures ready for becoming the first one to be experimented on is commendable! Most of the iconic figures have never faced camera for extended periods or even acted in their entire life for that matter. In order to become iconic in their fields they typically had to really slog & study!
    So, the very fact that the IIT Professor on whom the review by Rashmi starts off looks uncomfortable on camera essentially proves the point that it is a real life effort with iconic figures and not with actors! I would have hated the show and would have counted it worthless, if this honest discomfort was missing. All reality shows with too much of professionalism have always flopped and I am sure Rashmi with her boasting background of writing blogs should know that. I am surprised that she did not start with this iconic honesty shown by the channel to be the first and foremost point to discuss with.
    Obviously, there is enough room for improvement for anything that starts off for the first time and I am sure in the able hands that Greycell-18 is and with the honest choice of icons, improvements are bound to happen. It is remains to be seen how long the iconic figures will be in a position to provide time for such activities. I am sure, the show will then reduce to the “Coaching Center Fellows” coming on TV & teaching! And guess what, someone like Rashmi would like that so that the “Coaching Center” develops even better! I hope her blogs are not getting funded by the coaching center fellows…
    However, it is a completely different matter how it will be received by the public, which as some of the comments posted here shows, still need time to realize TV to anything but an entertainer. If it can reduce even a percent of the dependence of our education system on the plaguing coaching centers, I would say that it has done a lot!

    ReplyDelete
  7. I remember when i was in 10th class, i used to watch the UGC-CEC show that came on DD national. Since it was non-business sort of thing, it could never come to the prime time slot. But it was good enough for me to take pains to wake up at 530 in the morning sometimes, just to watch that show!
    Although the traditional teaching centres, coachings can never be replaced becoz, on TV they they just show question and solutions. while a student can not learn until he makes a mistake by himself while trying to solve a question and most of the times it needs a teacher to tell where he/she went wrong. That can never happen in the case of TV.
    But the power of TV is that they can show you the things that a teacher in a class or a book will tell u just to imagine. On TV they can show the practical application of laws etc. for instance, for a question on car or aeroplane, they can actually show the question as a video, which can make a big difference in the understanding. This will also help imparting practical knowledge to students, rather than just limiting them to theoritical knowledge available in books.
    It depends on the TV channels, whether they want to make it totally business oriented and spoil it or Give it as a value added service to the subscribers and keeping it good.

    ReplyDelete
  8. I really have a problem with the chanel called Topper Tv. cz duz tata-sky expect that evrybdy watchin that will bcum a topper. Y cnt students b jus average..or jus whatevr they r. This will put even additional pressure on the students.
    Frankly all this topper n stuff is nt goin to help d students . Good old teachers with a blackboard still wins.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I seriously wonder why Rashmi could not make a comment on the content of the show, instead of the presentation. The show is about learning science, and not acting. The IIT Professor she picks on is an expert in his field, and not in acting. The anchors tried to teach for the first time at a very lower level and under 1000 and one odd restrictions imposed by the TV channel.(e.g the “red shirt”). It is a reality show on education, nothing filmy like song/dance competition etc. The students, who want to fall asleep, will even fall asleep in front of a raging bull on a real ‘plaza de toros’, if they are forced to learn something. The bloggers will never know how it feels to present something on a reality show, as they only do safe blogging. Anyways, I personally think the channel is trying to do something good for the students and the honest efforts of the otherwise very busy professionals, who have given their time and mind to help the kids should be encouraged. Rashmi, in whatever form of editor she is, should try to understand the effort and not criticise other things, like appearance of a teacher. It is a very typical Indian way of discouraging all good efforts! Give the poor channel and everybody some time and hear it from the present students of class 9-12. Do not compare your own experience with anything that is happening now, as the world is changing fast! What you did not like yesterday may be very well liked by today’s students! All the best & HAPPY, SAFE blogging!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Think of people getting access to teaching they might not have otherwise. In addition to the blackboard/teachers/coaching classes, students now have affordable access. Coming from a small town, I remember that getting classroom coaching for exams was not even an option. All I could do was to get a package from a tutorials and struggle to crack it myself.

    Wish I were a student in these days - I would have enjoyed the learning process. Isn't that the very crux of learning - that people with interest are given the tools to make what they will of them?!

    ReplyDelete
  11. This post and the the latest about Bansal classes left me disturbed. I didn't really understand why until I read the following blogpost by Atanu Dey. Link to Finnish Kids Finish First.

    http://www.deeshaa.org/2008/02/29/finnish-kids-finish-first/

    "When sufficient numbers of people accept a certain way of doing things, it becomes the norm regardless of how irrational the thing is. In this respect, people can be seen to be very closely related to sheep." - Atanu Dey

    ReplyDelete
  12. According to the National Bureau of Crime Records, 2005, every day 6 students commit suicide in India, because of failure in exams.

    Thank you, Tata Sky, for adding to the kids' stress with Topper TV.

    In case you are thinking topping exams is a great achievement in life, watch 'Taare Zameen Par' and listen to Aamir Khan's description of great personalities.
    (Not that it gives the best possible argument, but rather it gives the most concise argument against the "My child has got to top the exams" mentality.

    Not a case of sour grapes either. I passed my SSC and HSC with distinction, and graduation and post graduation in first class, was already an MBA at 22 years of age, and have quit a higher paying job to work in advertising.

    ReplyDelete
  13. its not about becoming topper but how the things are understood and assimilated... only the person who does the above will be able to make the difference and will be recognised in the field he or she chooses...

    its high time to take a look into the exam system that we have in india which mainly depends on reproducing wats there in the book and giving least importance to the concept oriented exams...

    its not always neededto become topper to achiev things but education with concept and human values will help india to have a perfect citizen....

    even abdul kalam had an backlog during his college days but its his concept oriented learing which distinguised him from the rest....

    plz dont be misguided by the topper tv....

    do the things that ur interested in and be master in that then life is yours... so believe in yourself and ur ablities

    ReplyDelete
  14. everybody wants to be topper but atlast its obvious that only one can reach that mile. but its human defined way of measuring intelligence through the system of examination which gives greater emphasis on memory power rather than concept level....

    a thing learned by concept retains in our memory for a longer duration than anyother.

    there can be many ways and means to become but the achievement is how u become one.......

    do u opt for concept oriented exams?


    with regards,

    flying officer gk thiyaga sundaram
    http://flyformoney.com/

    ReplyDelete
  15. That's really cool, I really appretiate that.Indian Premier League is really the hot topic in today's cricket.
    visit aly's blog for more information about Indian Premier League .
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    ReplyDelete
  16. the irony of it is that tomorrow we could see a "rankers TV" come up and more such and then they would compete amongst themselves to be the " topper".

    ReplyDelete
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