The right of children to free and compulsory education is perhaps the biggest inclusive step taken by India since Independence, and technology can help in achieving the same, says Job Thomas , Director and COO, Smartlinx VoIP Networks P Ltd, Hyderabad (http://bit.ly/F4TSmartlinx).
If we can address the three major challenges – viz. infrastructure, trained teachers, and content delivery – we can take our country forward through the education revolution, he adds, during a recent interaction with Business Line . “The use of technology can be the biggest enabler for addressing these challenges.”
Excerpts from the interview.
On infrastructure
We are witnesses to the communication, trading and banking revolution taking place in the remotest places in our country. The television, mobile phones, e-Choupals and ATMs are catering to these revolutions in rural India.
On similar lines, for the learning requirement of small groups, we should be able to create learning kiosks (digital schools) which don’t require a large space. The sports and games facilities of the existing schools should be made available as a shared service for these learning groups. Areas where there are no schools currently existing, the local administration should be empowered to create such facilities for which there is already fund allocation from the Government.
The learning kiosks can be run by a village level entrepreneur, reimbursed by the Government as per the provisions of the Right to Education (RTE) Act. These kiosks can also be used for integrating various other e-governance initiatives such as the MNREGA, UID, midday meal schemes, and PDS.
On trained teachers
We have over one lakh teachers trained in the use of computers by Cisco, Intel and Microsoft, to teach other subjects. Just imagine if each of these teachers were to transfer this knowledge to 100 others in the next five years. This knowledge transfer can be done by these teachers sitting in their homes and using the Internet and connectivity devices such as the PC, mobile phone, tablets.
Vast content is available on the Internet which can help the teachers in improving their teaching skills. We know that good teachers prepare notes on the subject they are teaching while preparing for their course delivery. We could create a web application (Curriculum Wiki) which can store these notes, properly tagged and indexed so that anyone can search these contents and utilise the same for improving their teaching skills.
On content delivery
One solution is the creation of virtual classrooms or remote class delivery. In this scenario, an already trained teacher conducting a class in a different school is enabled with a virtual learning environment using PC, webcam, microphone, speakers and broadband connection to web-cast the class to many other locations.
If properly configured and administered it can also be made as interactive as a physical classroom. Most of us would have noticed the ad of a mobile company where the teacher takes attendance through a mobile phone and delivers the class. This is absolutely possible now as technology is currently available for creating virtual classrooms.
The wide array of electronic information sources online allows teachers to create customised materials for classes. Such individualisation and personalisation of course content enable the teacher to work on her/his students’ strengths and weaknesses and provide a more customised approach to curricular development and delivery than is possible with a “one-size-fits-all” textbook driving the curriculum.
On a few global technology initiatives in the learning space
Armenia: The Three Pomegranate Network (3PN) is a global online learning programme that connects Armenian students and teachers throughout the world by engaging them in collaborative, project-based learning activities. In this project, almost all of the training for teachers was done through the project’s website.
China: The country has an extensive system of TV-based distance education, which also has been used to provide in-service training for teachers. China’s TV University system is now being challenged by the advent of the Internet. This year, the Ministry of Education has approved 20 higher-learning institutions to develop and deliver online courses. It is expected that over time this trend will reduce the demand for TV educational programming, especially when broadband access becomes more available, and permits reasonable or even high-quality video to be instantly accessible over the Internet.
Singapore: The island nation is training pre-service teachers to use technology in the classroom and has developed a fairly comprehensive approach to training faculty and student teachers, and providing both groups with support to make this transition.
On an Indian example
There are 30 students in a Government school in Sakalvara, a sleepy village near Bangalore, and they have a simple handheld device, one larger than the iPhone, with school lessons available as videos. The ePods, each costing Rs 4,000 and funded by a Rotary Club, have content for Classes 8 to 10 in five languages. There is no reason why this ePod cannot be adapted for a classroom to change the way education is administered and managed in Government schools.
On the difference that collaboration can achieve
Collaboration has been identified as an important 21st century skill. In the digital classroom there are opportunities to have students work together to create, revise, and publish their work. Examples include co-authoring documents using shared Google documents, peer review using a blog or a post, etc.
There is also plenty of evidence from educational research that assessment and feedback are critical drivers of learning and also the RTE Act stipulates the same. Because one can easily store and retrieve an unlimited amount of school-work on computers, in the digital classroom teachers and students both make use of the ability to look at examples of work over time (both the original work, and also edited or teacher-commented work) to identify areas of strength and weakness.
This type of portfolio assessment can be used to support the parent-teacher conferencing process. Databases and data analysis enable teachers to store and access information about students over time. Personalised learning also leads to personalised assessment; students use online assessment and learning tools that can adapt to students’ answers.
For example, electronic writing assessments allow students to practise essay-writing and get past mechanical or mundane errors, allowing teachers more time to give critical feedback on the students’ thinking, and ideas expressed. Math and science students can take online homework and test assessments that can branch and adapt to the students’ level of expertise.
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