FACULTY PARTICIPATION IN ADOPTION OF E-LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION

Traditional education revolved around role of teachers who have been imparting knowledge to the students for generations. The recent onslaught of technology has brought the changes at such a rapid pace that it has changed the paradigm of teaching; the learning process is now 'student-centered'. Teacher is now required to play many more roles and augment his skills for effective use of new technologies in the online teaching process. Many teachers feel that their way of teaching is good enough and they don't have to invest their time and energies in learning a new skill set, which is not directly related to their own field of specialization. Others feel alienated that they have been 'deprived' of their 'central role' in new scheme of things. ICT has demonstrated a positive impact on educational attainment of students and it is here to stay. The eLearning can propel forward with active participation of teachers; how they use the technology and to what extent. However, there is a dichotomy: the teachers need to change their approach to pedagogy, make efforts to learn new skills to implement a system only to be 'moved away' from their own central role. This paper draws an analogy between the ` perceived fear of faculty about growth of online education' with Dr Mori's ` Uncanny Valley' to predict enhanced participation of faculty and routinisation of e-Learning in Higher Education.