Technology should work for the educators
TO THE EDITOR: We read with interest the informative research article by Saadeh et al. (1) The descriptive questionnaire survey conducted among veterinary physiology students in preclinical years revealed some vital information in physiology learning. First, all the students (97.5% used internet search engines for physiology topics and the tendency to ask the instructor about problems was low. Although the lecturer is still the preferred source, more than 90% of students accessed online videoclips to understand physiology concepts and were reluctant to ask their questions in person. The inclination is to find the solution to a question instantly rather than ask the educator. Even the time saved seemed significant to the students. The use of social media is widespread for interacting with coursematerial. Simultaneously, students showed their willingness to use instructor led technology and thought that this would improve communication between educators and students. This study is relevant not only for veterinary students but for human physiology as well. Thus this work of the authors to explore this aspect in physiology education is commendable. We cannot deny that internet use for teaching and learning physiology has penetrated students' and teachers' lives (2) In the present times of the COVID 19 pandemicinduced work from home scenario, it makes perfect sense to use the worldwide web and related resources to meet the students' learning needs. The tendency is to use the internet search engines rather than ask the instructor. This straightforward approach to "learn" from the internet must not belittle an educator's critical role (3) Understandably, it takes strength to raise a hand in a class than search alone on the laptop. The barriers could be due to various reasons, e.g. one may feel like the answer to the question is obvious. Moreover, the query may sometimes appear unrelated to the topic of the class (4) Similarly, many students may be shy to ask the educator about their problems (5) Likewise, some are self conscious that peers will make fun of them and thus resist asking for fear of appearing less knowledgeable. Language and social barriers also make question framing difficult for many students. (6) We feel that role of teachers is much beyond just the source of information (7) While addressing students' concerns, educators encourage the students to come out of their shells. Educators inspire the need to learn, which is inherent in every person. This assures the student that he/she is not alone in facing the difficulty as a learner. The educator answers the query and tries to identify themisconception and improve the understanding (8) Technology cannot and should not replace lecturer student interaction. The teacher, while answering, identifies nonverbal cues, which is impossible for a machine to comprehend. The teacher may locate roadblocks of learning that might be more personal or even emotional. Human connection cannot be underemphasized for something as crucial as learning complex physiological systems, forming medical practice fundamentals. To conclude, technology must not replace the educator but inspire teachers to transform (9) Technology itself does not, but teachers do, improvise and innovate education. The critical findings of this study should motivate teachers to be digitally literate. Efforts need to be directed tomake technology work for educators rather than replace them. (10) Rather than pining for the good old days before the internet, this work makes us realize we cannot go back but can go along with the present generation to make learning more approachable.
Advances in physiology education