@Sudeep I just read your question in bold letters. First people should have that much time to spare such elaborated questions.

In my opinion a best teacher can make understand  the student with a piece of chalk and black board. Of course this is very advanced age and you have all facilities. During my time I do not even know anything. Think about yore what do you have those days absolutely nothing. Of course we have to go with time and advancements. 

@Sudeep I just read your question in bold letters. First people should have that much time to spare such elaborated questions.

In my opinion a best teacher can make understand  the student with a piece of chalk and black board. Of course this is very advanced age and you have all facilities. During my time I do not even know anything. Think about yore what do you have those days absolutely nothing. Of course we have to go with time and advancements. 

What would you choose as an aid for teaching / taking lectures ?

Suggesting to focus in this priority - content first & teaching aid (tool) second.  Content is king - it is like treasure & tool is just an enabler to deliver the content to students.  If a teacher really understand the content well, s/he can deliver the content using whatever tool available - even though some are primitive tools.  This is better than having a tool which is state of the art but deliver nothing / no content.  If we have the options to choose some teaching aids / tools, we can choose those that can best meet students' needs or help them to learn better.

It is common to recommend  blackboard and chalk as the  most effective medium  for teaching.  

However,  the answer to such a  general question depends on multiple variables and more questions need to be asked in order to choose a method.  

I prefer  digital medium, commonly in the form of presentations using latex beamer and projected on screen using a color projector.  I can vividly expressed my thoughts using color, animation and repeat if required in a stiff schedule. I can also recreate the environment  of a chalk and blackboard using digital tools.  

If  you are teaching in a poorly ventilated room, a projector is better than blackboard and chalk, which can also cause allergies to the teacher, who is in close proximity to the chalk dust. 

However, if you must teach in a classroom  with no projectors, or electricity, then blackboard and chalk are the only reasonable option left.

It is a given that content must be mastered.

A-V content is preferred for demonstrations.

Teaching using chalk and  blackboard is not "shareable", which digital content is, increasing its reach tremendously

Students of today's classroom are very conversant with  digital tools and content and so communicating to them using digital content decreases the barrier.

Finally,  the subject being taught also weighs in on the choice of the tool. A music class may depend on audio recording but a physics class discussing  kinematics may require simulation tools and a projector to describe the concepts lucidly.  

In today's world, teaching time is limited with a lot of content to be delivered. From a productivity perspective, digital tools fare better than chalk and blackboard.

.As  mentioned earlier, I think that the choice of tool is usually based on many factors and different circumstances warrant the use of a different tool for effective teaching.

Hi Sudeep,

It depends on what you are teaching. In a public health classroom, group discussions of various subjects is good, and then each group shares their "research" via open discussion and/or posters or Power Points. The same can be done in research classes.

A computer is a good device for taking notes if anyone can type fast enough. Otherwise, a pen and paper can suffice.

Currently, I teach online, and the communication is via discussion.

From my experience,

Velma

My experience as a student and a teacher is as follows:

- uninterrupted logical and emotional connection of the teacher and the audience is of key importance

- student's attention stress is to be discharged by a quick joke or a short note every 10-15 minutes

- last 5-10 minutes of the lecture, when the students' attention is running down, the usage of digital devices may be warranted

- the main result is not the amount of content delivered during the lecture, but the amount of ideas well understood and remembered by the students - the full content they can review later themselves 

Dear Jetty Ramadevi , no disagreement at all, chalk and talk is and will remain the best student centric way of teaching for all times, nothing can beat a lecture taken with a plain board and representations made by an as small a thing like chalk, but the students these days including the period when I was a undergrad student, are highly distracted and the moment we turn our back on them to face the board, they would have got on to some-other activity that amuses them, no matter how interesting the lecture is or how good the professor taking the lecture may be, I am not generalizing just speaking of the majority here, I still would like to remain to chalk and talk method for a class of 20 to 40 students and resort to audio, visual or combination of both for a class of 100 - 150 students limiting my chalk and talk method, this way i can ensure that the attentive ones are not distracted by actions of the others. I am just a rookie and may be as i progress i would find better ways to juggle both the worlds.

Apologies for the long elaboration for the question, the question is only the one given in BOLD, the things that followed was just meant to be an explanation for better understanding the question, just in case someone missed the point.

And thank you for the lovely answer

Regards

Dear Dr. Vijay Tiwari , I agree with your thoughts regarding chalk and talk as a medium, Like how the above researcher Jetty Ramadevi has rightly said, but do you feel it would do justice to a larger audience of 100 to 150 students who would have just been exhausted after previous 2 continuous lectures, would their attention span be improved or reduced after such stress, in these situations would chalk and talk do justice ? I guess the number and the demand of the situation is causing the drift these days. 

Thank you much for your valuable opinion and as i said earlier I am in total agreement to this method as the method of choice.

Regards 

Dear Dr. Han Ping Fung, Very valid point indeed. Content is the King, tool used to impart knowledge should not be made of primary importance. I would call a class room as a dining table and the plate and glass as the medium and food, water as the knowledge, in a house with no food and water, having a huge dining table and fancy utensils is not going to keep people there from not getting hungry. (Complicate?)

Thank you for hi-lightening a major factor in your answer.

Regards

Thank you much for the links for further read Dr. Chalamalla Srinivas, and yes I agree to your preferred choice / mode of teaching, Combination of techniques is a good way to get best of both worlds. 

Regards

THE BEST TEACHING AID EVER!

Nina MK, Ph. D

When all else fails, what is left? Several times in my life, I came to deliver a lecture on ICT in the Classroom at a teacher refresher course, and the power was cut off. Surprisingly, computers and projectors do not work when they are not plugged in! An even better experience is one when you are an attendant at an event and suddenly the organizing committee approaches you asking if you could stand in for a presenter who could not come. What do you do when you find yourself facing an audience with no presentation, no texts, and no aids at your disposal? Well, what remains are yourself and your audience; both may prove to be the best resources ever.

• Know yourself. You are good at some topics; you can play-act at the drop of a hat; you remember some poems, songs, proverbs; you can mask your stage fright well. Set the mood at once. Start with a simple phrase, like, “I am happy to see you here today!” Students of any age will react to this greeting positively; they may even reply in the same vein. Be sure to explain what you are going to do, use the blackboard to write down a couple sentences to focus their attention not exactly on you but on the person standing in the center. You will ask one or several of them to come out in a few minutes. Remain on your feet, walk around checking their progress and distributing exercises. Do not sit down unless you are certain everybody is busy with some task. Amazingly, the simple act of standing up and continuously surveying your group or class helps maintain discipline and ensures relative order. Children are noisy by nature, so some noise is normal. If it becomes too loud, use this formula: “The level of noise exceeds the desired limits!” Deliver it in a loud “teacher” voice with a straight face and watch the effect.

• Whole group or class activities are much more difficult to organize than working in pairs or small groups. If you conduct a lesson with no resources but the human contingent, start with the old standby: write down any theme on the board and ask your students to compose dialogues. Be sure to set the time limit, and begin checking their progress in about two minutes. If you point at a pair and they start hemming and hawing, say “Thank you” and point at the next pair. You can always play it out as a continuous dialogue, with every pair presenting just one sentence.

• If you cannot come up with a quotation or an example suitable for the topic, ask your class to suggest one. Somebody is sure to come up with something. You have to praise the volunteer, and then ask your class to offer comments and questions. If they find this task too hard to perform, be ready to fill in the blanks yourself. Alternately, you may suggest that they try to formulate why exactly this particular exercise is so difficult. Have one or two students come out to the board to write down notes and then try to summarize them. Any answer is acceptable as long as it is produced in English. Quite often students clam up when you ask them to comment and produce questions simply because they are afraid of making a mistake. If their level is still wobbly, you may suggest that they first formulate a sentence in their own language, and then ask if the class can help translate it into English.

• As the lesson proceeds, you will see how it goes and think up more activities on the fly so to speak. Throw more questions at your students and see how they react to the new challenges. How do you think we ought to start? Do you think it is a discussion topic, or is it better to write about it? What are the most important points you would like to emphasize? When does this problem appear? Why does it become an issue at hand? Who is responsible for the state of affairs?

• If any of your impromptu activities overflow the set limits and grow into a lively discussion, encourage your students to take part in it and to continue until they run out of steam, or until the bell rings. Communication in English is our main goal. Remember, when your students start gesticulating, speaking English spontaneously, we have reached one of our main goals. The students activate their vocabulary and actually use the English language to communicate with each other!

• There are cases when a lesson with almost no resources is a planned event. On many occasions, I conducted Open Lessons for my colleagues from the region, with my class plus about fifty adults in a large auditorium or assembly hall. Many lessons were filmed, some for an educational or news program, others to be recorded, issued by a publishing house and distributed around the country. We knew what was expected from us: in a nut shell, I had to demonstrate a lesson conducted completely in English (this still remains a problem for some teachers). We would discuss with my students how to do it, what topic to choose, and mentally gear up for this rather stressful experience.

• A Round Table works really well. Students would move their tables to form a circle and sit around as they like; I may sit with them or remain in a corner taking notes, with my best student playing the leader of any discussion. The visitors would sit all around them also taking notes, asking questions, talking to students to clarify a detail or simply to check their understanding and reaction to strangers. When the lesson flows smoothly and I can see that my interference is not needed, I have a unique opportunity to observe my own students in action, to gauge their comprehension and reproduction skills, and to plan my further course of EL teaching.

https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/ninamk/best-teaching-aid-ever

Dear Ananth Saradhi, Indeed the type number and form of audience decides what kind of a medium we have to incorporate, whatever we choose, its utmost important that we are confident in delivering the lecture in that said medium, if we are not confident enough, no medium will be good enough. And as i earlier mentioned, combination of techniques can help us deliver best of both worlds.

Thank you for your valuable insights

Regards

Dear Velma Edmonds, true word, as i mentioned in my earlier post the the type form and number of audience including the subject of discussion plays the most important role in deciding the type or mode of teaching. 

Thank you for those valid points.

Regards

Dear Dr Len Leonid Mizrah, thank you for those wonderful insights and relevant points, and I am in total agreement with your opinions, we cannot blindly decide in prior and go for any lecture, we should be ready to make those switch as and when required based on the need for it and demand.

Regards

Dear Dr. Nirmala S.V.S.G , Yes Jetty Ramadevis opinion would be difficult to disagree on, our agreement to an answer can be made by clicking the recommend button here, would like to know more about your opinion regarding this question too.

Regards

Dear Waheeb Ahmed, that was a good read, but what you have copy pasted and provided a link to is both the same and are opinions put forth by Dr Nina , would like to know regarding yours too relevant to this particular question.

Regards

Hi! Sudeep no need to apologize. I said my opinion.

I do agree with the generation gap. Main thing certain items have to be shown by aids no doubt. One more thing there are interesting people just read the matter on slide, no explanation nothing (can we not do for ourselves), then what is the funda behind using the aids for teaching and being a honorary teacher!! Still I say/repeat let them be few pupil in 10s or 50s or 100s a sincere and able teacher cum orator go ahead without being a chalk in hand and black board too. 

Hello Jetty Ramadevi,

I agree, but i have to disagree to one thing, I treat my students alike, so I try to orient myself to the mixed bag of beans i have to handle, in that regard if I feel my chalk and talk sessions are only going to grab the attention of few and let others be distracted, and if that could be minimized by using audio visual aids and having eye to eye contact as far as possible with my students, then I choose the later or combine both the techniques. But the confidence, the competency and knowledge of the lecturer is the backbone of any lecture, anyone who can read and write english is otherwise equipped to talk, but not take a class, the difference remains.

Some of the answers and opinions given here, under the question by researches and teachers alike are pure GOLD. And I thank them wholeheartedly for making this discussion meaningful, hope to hear and learn more from other experts too.

Regards

Of course you have to treat all the students ALIKE, then only you are a real teacher. For your information not told that you do not treat alike.

Sudeep I never told that you should not use aids for teaching. I told an able person can teach without aids too. My point is that some persons do not justify them. Hope you got my point.

I Wish Your Teaching Should Produce More Creative Students and Serve The Nation.

Dear Jetty Ramadevi, I dont really understand certain part of your answer, never the less, I do understand that you have perceived most of the things I mentioned as an general answer, and that is not so. I was limiting myself to certain situations, As far as I can see we cannot have a general answer to this question. So the point being, we both are on the same page of things, just choose to answer in different words.

Thank you very much for the wishes, Yes indeed it is a pleasure seeing most of the students being appreciated for their creativity in national and international forums and achieving top ranks in competitive exams post their training (But, that is only because of their own hard-work, we only guide them in the right direction, no real teacher should ever take credit for that) And yes I do emphasis to them the importance of us serving in the nation for betterment of primary health care in the rural especially, and also that, this can be achieved only by being in The Nation, that is one of the reason why I decided to stay back in my Country. First and foremost I need to set an example right, only then I am in a position to advise them to do so.

It felt good to have had a meaningful conversation with you. Good Day.

Regards

Sudeep, may I know what part you did not understand!! I neither used complex sentence nor hi-fi clauses, used simple language. 

Yes sometimes simple can be the most complex form of any language, not in this case as assured by you. (this is just a general statement) 

This -  For your information not told that you do not treat alike... and the rest ignored.

Regards

Ok 👌 it is not clear setting of a  question , you can ged intresting information on YouTube channel  

Thank you dear Peter Schaefer , would you be kind enough to provide us with some links that you find appropriate from youtube.

Regards

I am also agreed with @Jetty Ramadevi, but today with the development of information technology most of them prefer to use Information technology as a tool to teach in class rooms. Most of learners depend on visuals methods, without visual methods they could't properly teach their students. If their isn't visual methods   they could't properly teach.

Dear Dr. Sudeep C B:

As you point out “the process of teaching - learning depends upon the different type of equipment available in the classroom. There are many aids available these days like, audio, visual and audio- visual aids. They have very much importance in Teaching Learning Process”. Consequently, I believe that following criteria would also be a good equipment in the classroom:

USING INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES (ICT) IN THE LEARNING PROCESS IN THE CONTEXT OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION

Although the approach, which arouses a keen interest in the didactic areas regarding second language acquisition, is clearly of communicative nature, it should be pointed out that these kinds of tasks will be adjusted to the various elements that affect our educational practice. In that way, this serves the following purposes:

• Integrate ICT in the learning process, as a key competence and contributing to the acquisition of the target foreign language;
• Use ICT in the classroom to work on information processing, authentic communication, and on the learner autonomy, as the builder of his or her own learning process;
• Give ICT a role to help young people be able to arrange, evaluate, and decide on the information that comes to them;
• Challenge students with different types of supports and formats and, therefore, a great variety of activities in which they pass from receivers to makers;
• Bring students to the real contact with the target foreign language and users (whether natives or not), by means of the electronic mail, "chats", "blogs", or spaces wiki;
• Bring students to the cultural elements through authentic and real-time documents;
• Attend the diversity of students, using the copious offer of interactive exercises available on the web.

 Kind regards,

Javier.

Hello Thishathri Fernando, probably you are right, technology is advancing so fast that it has started to moderate our life, rather than we moderating the use and misuse of technology, and as you have mentioned, some learners and teachers are so adapted to use of technological aid that they hardly find the other interesting or involving. It would be amusing to see what the future has in store for all. Thank you for sharing you thoughts.

Regards

Thank you Dr. Javier Julian Enriquez  for those wonderful insights from your end. I will further comment on the same in the project update you have made under the same umbrella.

Regards

Sudeep

Hello all,

Thought of sharing this quote with you all.

“A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary.” ~ Thomas Carruthers

Good day!

Regards

It is by teaching that we teach ourselves, by relating that we observe, by affirming that we examine, by showing that we look, by writing that we think, by pumping that we draw water into the well.

- Henri Frederic Amiel

Article Adaptive learning with e-knowledge systems