Education without stepping out of the house, without wearing a school uniform, shoes, school bags, book, etc. Did anyone even think of studying in their pajamas and with a cup of tea in hand? Yet again, technology is setting its bars higher and human brains have made things achievable. Ever wondered about the chronicles of ‘CAE’? Let’s check it out.
What is Computer Aided Education?
It’s one of the processes to make learning more interesting and understandable. Well, it’s not a recent application of technology, way back in 1960, professors Patrick Suppes and Richard C. Atkinson, from Stanford University taught maths through computers. More precisely, it is a key to improve the effectiveness and the quality of the education system. From kindergarten kids to engineering students, everyone uses computer aided education. Computer aided learning is a way of education where a computer program is used to assist the user in learning a particular topic. In essence, there is no big difference between computer aided education and computer aided learning.
How useful is Computer Aided Education?
The world would have been freezed, if there was no technology and students would have wasted their time watching web series/movies. But it’s CAE, which has been of utmost use, in this pandemic. Students find it easy to understand and learn anything because of the content presentation in audio, video and graphics format. Some online sources/ applications, like Byju's, Khan academy have used augmented reality to make teaching more fun. Imagine, how amazing it will be to learn about ‘eye’, with videos and awesome animation, rather than just reading a paragraph from the book. It started with CAD software which made the designing more easy. Rather than correcting to design again and again by erasing the white sheet, one will surely find designing it on a computer much better. It gave more exposure, a good view and less time. By now, not only civil or mechanical students use to design their projects through these software, but even electrical branch students can build their complete circuit without caring about if the wire is working properly or even if we place a resistor with small value the circuit won't burst out. Some awesome software which provides every single component of the electric field, be it a variable resistor or a dc motor, is available on a single screen.
IT industry has been using collaboration tools like CISCO WebEx for decades now. With the exponential growth of computer applications, organizations spread their wings across the globe and set up development centers in different time zone. It was very important for them to have on-going communication with teams geographically separated. These collaboration tools created a virtual co-located environment for teams to work together, interact together and exchange data in real time. Not sure, inventors of Collaboration tools would have thought of applications outside of IT space. But, over the period, its true potential is unleashed. This pandemic has underlined its value. Collaboration tools turned out to be extremely effective and efficient for learning too. Right from kindergarten till higher education, institutes have resorted to various tools in this space and kept the education system moving. It won't be wrong to call these collaboration tools the backbone of CAE now.
In short, Computer aided education has added extra spice in learning compared to classroom teaching. In my opinion, even after the end of the pandemic and the world starts its crazy routine, CAE will remain part of the education system along with physical schooling.