For most of us, school and college meant a physical place – a campus with buildings and playgrounds where teachers taught students, and students learnt from teachers. As teachers and students, we were certain where our classes were going to be held. It was almost always in a classroom in a building, located in a place, geographically, which could be pinned on a map.

Most of our lessons were taught in classrooms. For science and engineering subjects, which usually required larger spaces and working on experiments with instruments, glass apparatus, solid and liquid stuff, even plants and (dead) animals, the classroom was a laboratory. A few exceptions were for music, dance, theatre, art and sports.

The classroom has been re-designed to meet our changing times

Although learning was at the centre of everything we did, we called ourselves students or teachers depending on the roles we fulfilled. Learners we all were and we understood what that word meant, but we didn’t refer to ourselves as ‘learners’. And, although we subconsciously understood that the practice, process and application of learning never really ended in life, we did not refer to ourselves as lifelong learners.

We engaged in learning to meet personal goals, typically, measured in academic performance (i.e. graduate from school and university, acquire knowledge and expertise in specific domains), and its outcome (i.e. find well-paying jobs in reputed companies, build enviable careers, gain social standing). All of these achievements were placed on a timeline and monitored for success.

The classroom-as-the-anchor model was the bedrock of our education for hundreds of years and was responsible for building our economies, societies, culture and character. However, over the years, growing learner feedback and some astute thinking from educators have led us to believe that there is room for improvement. In fact, the classroom has been re-thought and re-designed to meet our changing times.

Equitable distribution of education

To begin with, classrooms which are anchored to geographic locations are now believed to automatically favour those learners who have easy commuting access to the classrooms; thereby, putting all other learners at a distance and disadvantage. This discourages equitable distribution of learning opportunities for everyone. That means, for years, what has been a normal state of affairs in education now seems undemocratic!

Next, the classroom as a learning environment has come under scrutiny too. Observations by and feedback from learners, instructors and educators suggest existing classroom instruction practices favour only a portion of learners in the classroom – usually those who are quick to pick up on what is being taught and quick to recall facts when questions are being asked by instructors or when discussions are in session in the classroom.

For other learners in the classroom who can’t quite keep up, this can be disappointing and stressful. And yet, if given a chance and adequate time for assimilation, these same learners can be flexible in their thinking and prove to be creative problem-solvers. Educators and institutions now believe that they need to be more inclusive in their teaching practices (e.g. classroom lessons, learner assessments) and in their handling of learners in the classrooms.

The internet has freed the learners and the instructors

Educators have thought long and hard about these problems that define classroom-based education even today. And, over the years, they have offered solutions in various formats. The biggest improvements have accrued when educators began using the internet for online classes, freeing both learners and instructors from being anchored to the physical classroom for most of their learning and teaching needs, respectively.

With personal computers, mobile phones and the internet, new opportunities have opened up access to education for billions of learners and instructors across the globe through online formats. For them, the classroom is no longer what it used to be: a location on a map to which they had to commute to every day for their classes. Thanks to the internet, online classrooms are now accessible everywhere.

Nor do learners have to depend on single lecture classroom sessions for their learning entirely. Thanks to the internet, online classrooms now allow playback of lectures through videos any number of times, with room for tutorials, group discussions, and multiple attempts at assessment. Until the learners have mastered the lessons. This is good news for learners everywhere.