Abstract:

Higher Education is facing ever-accelerating technological changes, increasing enrollments with diverse student profiles, diminishing resources and transforming pedagogical methods. Higher Education institutions (HEI) must find the right balance between tradition and innovation to remain relevant and current in a rapidly evolving world. The abundance of quality content that is not limited by time, geography and cost are redefining the student/teacher relationship. The concept of a physical classroom is fast giving way to interactive platforms on the web. Moodle - Learning Management Platform, Blogs, and Slideshare, MOOCs are some of the tools that are changing the way educational content is delivered and accessed in the present day. Mobile devices with internet connectivity have put students in control of the learning experience due to which they have got the flexibility to access the learning resources from any place and at their own pace. Millennials are no longer content with classroom lectures and are more oriented towards the Experiential Learning approach that uses a different pedagogy, one that focuses on the application of knowledge through demonstration and outside learning experience. Learning is moving towards treating students as part of the learning process, not as passive recipients of the information. Therefore, it is imperative for the Higher Education Institutions to embed ‘digital – interaction’ into the college curriculum.

A wide range of abilities, backgrounds, preparedness, and motivation of the higher education students poses a challenge to inclusive learning. The higher education institutions must be ready to balance the requirements of developmental and remedial coursework in the educational content. Fiscal challenges coupled with calls for greater accountability means that the HEIs will be required to deliver more education with lesser resources. Competition for students and resources is also forcing the HEIs to sharpen its brand to appeal to the best and the brightest in the manner an organization would seek the best workers. Embracing the change would mean that the HEIs can reach out to students like never before and be more proactive in participating in local and regional economic development.

This research paper reviews the implementation of such practices in HEIs in order to provide some guidelines especially to those HEIs which are newly established, or which are planning to implement such practices.

Keywords:

Teaching pedagogies, Experiential Learning, Education technology, New trends in higher education.