At a time when the printing of textbooks needed for Classes I to X is in limbo, the IT@School programme has posited its Digital Collaborative Textbook (DCT) as a limited alternative to printed textbooks.
The IT@School has made available the digital form of these textbooks on the websitewww.dct.kerala.gov.in. For Classes I to VIII, only the e-version of textbooks has been prepared. In the case of Standards II, IV, VI and VIII, only a limited portion of the textbooks have been readied. Therefore, as of now the DCT is not a complete alternative to printed textbooks.
However, it is for Standard X that the IT@School has made use of a range of IT options in the e-textbook. In each chapter, select portions have been identified as ‘hard spots’ and additional resources provided for the elucidation of these lessons/concepts.
For instance, in the portion dealing with Alzheimer’s disease, the hyperlink to additional resources takes the student to a video clip of actor Mohanlal describing his experiences while preparing to portray the protagonist of the film Thanmathra who is affected by this disease.
Holding forth on the importance of organ donation is industrialist Kochousep Chittilappally. The portion on outer space contains a link which takes the student to a clip of former ISRO director G. Madhavan Nair explaining space research. At different points, Ministers Aryadan Mohammed and M. K. Muneer too put in an appearance talking about their spheres of activity.
The Standard X text also features academic Achuthsankar S. Nair, health activist B. Ekbal, bureaucrats Nalini Netto, Hanish Mohammed, M. Shivshankar, and Ananthakrishnan from the police service.
Thiruvananthapuram district coordinator of the IT@School K K. Rajeev told The Hindu that another specialty of the DCT is that anyone from anywhere in the world can contribute to the additional learning resources featured in the textbook. “Initially such inputs would land on the primary server of the IT@School. From there the content would be whetted by a special team of teachers at the IT@School. Only if it is found relevant and appropriate would the content get linked to the textbooks,” he added.
