Digital Learning Resources

 

IT@SCHOOL

 
 
The Project identifies a group of students from each school as Student School IT coordinator (SSITCs) who support the SITCs in their school in all IT related matters. As many as 27,764 SSITCs were given intense training in Hardware. In addition to this 5 day training in Animation was provided to 12,677 students. In the current year, IT@School Project has introduced another unique initiative ‘Hi School Kuttikootam' to boost the activities and interests of students in ICT enabled learning. Students who are part of the IT Clubs in schools, would be given specific training in five areas via Animation and Multimedia, Hardware, Electronics, Language computing and Internet and Cyber Safety. As many as 1 lakh school students in the State would be part of this programme in this academic year itself and IT@School project would develop a mechanism for these students to provide the awareness and training for other students and parents.
 
 
As part of the project, detailed school surveys are conducted with the help of master trainers and School IT coordinators. The Project was able to deploy ICT hardware and equipment's to the schools, with the help of the centrally sponsored ICT in Schools scheme during 2007-2012. As per this scheme a total of 4071 schools covering from Std 8 to 12 were benefited with several ICT tools such as laptops, DLP projectors, printers, scanners. These ICT equipments were supplied to the schools after scrutinizing their actual requirement.
 
The Project came up with a unique concept for the maintenance and repair of damaged computers at schools – the Hardware Clinics. Through this programme, intensive hardware training was given to the teachers which boosted their confidence to such a level that they could handle most problems found in PC. The Project has provided Broadband internet connectivity to all High Schools and Educational Offices of the state, in association with BSNL. 
 
IT@School Project has also come up with funding for the electrification of more than 20,000 class rooms in government schools this year. A total of over 2035 schools, which include 1045 high schools, have benefited in this scheme, by getting 10 classrooms and their computer labs electrified. With electricity available in classrooms, it would be possible for the teachers to bring in laptops and projectors and even wireless internet into classrooms, enabling ICT based teaching and learning. 
 
 
In order to implement an effective ICT enabled educational system, it is essential that the right content is developed and made in use. The Project understood the importance of Free Software and trained a group of subject experts to create ICT content for the school curriculum. IT@School successfully developed its own Operating System - IT@School GNU/Linux- which is now being used in all the schools in the state. 
 
Apart from this, several educational software like Dr. Geo, Rasmol, K-Tech lab, Geogebra, Chemtool, Kalcium etc. are being extensively customized by the Project in developing teacher friendly applications for facilitating complete ICT enabled education in the state. Dr. Geo and Geogebra are being used for teaching Mathematics, whereas Rasmol, Chemtool and Calcium are used for teaching Chemistry. Geogebra K-tech lab and PhET on the other hand is used to teach Physics. PhET is a collection of physics experiments and simulations developed by a group of scientists headed by Carl Edwin Wieman, the Nobel Prize Winner. 
 
As part of the project interactive multimedia CDs and handbooks, training modules for ICT etc. are prepared. Content developed by the project is strictly as per the new curriculum approach based on the National Curriculum Framework 2005. 
 
 
The Project developed a Resource Portal in 2010 (http://resource.itschool.gov.in) which enabled the self learning capabilities of students. This was a major step in the ICT education in the State. For the first time in the country, an unique Resource DVD for teachers was developed by IT@school project, which included the latest edition of Edusoft, 50 selected articles from Malayalam Wiki, Malayalam Computing tools, IT@School Linux Operating system, New Edition of Ubuntu OS, ICT Training module, Educational contents on Biology &Maths and PDF versions of Textbooks and Handbooks.
 
 
IT@School Project introduced Schoolwiki, a customized version of WIKI, which is the largest and most popular general reference website sought in the internet. The portal namely www.schoolwiki.in provides comprehensive knowledge database of all schools in the state, and include the learning outcomes of students derived from group activities as well as various educational contents prepared by the teacher groups. Launched completely in Malayalam, Schoolwiki is a never ending process, wherein the pages get updated every day. Each school in the state would be able to key-in all their basic elementary details, their historical references, infrastructure details, Alumni, School websites, Blogs etc into schoolwiki. 
 
The ICT enabled education in the State started with the introduction of an IT Textbook for Std 8 in the year 2003. This was followed by Textbooks for Std 9 and 10 in the subsequent years. All content developed by the Project is as per the new curriculum approach based on the National Curriculum Framework. 
 
The Project developed ICT handbooks for Upper Primary section in 2009 and for Lower Primary section in 2012. The Kerala model of teaching IT skills like video editing and animation effortlessly to students through fun activities was featured in the National ICT education policy of 2011. 
 
 
IT@School Project has successfully implemented several E- Governance initiatives in the state. The major e-governance initiatives are the Single Window admission system for Plus One admissions and the Online Transfer and Posting of technical assistants to teachers. The online transfer and posting of teachers gains more advantage as it benefits over 60,000 teachers in the state. Some of the other e-governance initiatives of the Project include the Noon meal distribution computerization, Youth festival software, Pre-metric scholarship online, Centralized Online Text Book Intend system, Implementation of SPARK (Service Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala) within General Education department, Total Physical Fitness Programme software etc 
A snapshot of the e-governance activities
  • Single window admission system for Plus One admissions- To facilitate a systematic admission process for Plus One students. The system brought transparency, efficiency and social equity to the whole process.
  • Noon Meal computerization- Was setup to implement the management of noon meal distribution program in all schools by using an online system.
  • Online Transfer and Posting of teachers- Was setup to enable smooth transfer and posting process of school teachers throughout the state.
  • Youth festival software- A complete free software based ERP for the State School Festivals in Kerala.
  • Pre-metric scholarship- To enable pre-metric scholarship programme online using a software so as to help the right students benefit through the scheme
  • Centralized Online Textbook intend system- To facilitate the timely distribution of all text books even before the opening of schools, through which even the online status of text book printing was made available
  • Implementation of SPARK (Service Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala) within General Education department
  • Total Physical Fitness Programme software- Completely digitized software on Total Physical Fitness Programme wherein details of 30 lakh students are available for further action.
 
 
The online procedure was intended to facilitate the smooth transfer and posting of over 60,000 teachers in the state as well as Head Masters and Assistant Educational Officers. Every year, the department receives applications from teachers working in government schools requesting to be transferred to a place of their choice. One of the significant reforms is the online submission of application and transparent transfer policy. The entire process of transfer and posting in general category can now be done even within one week. 
 
Vacancy details of Government schools are entered online well in advance, enabling the applicant to view the vacancies even before the application form for transfer and posting is set off. Thus the applicant can request for transfer based on the vacancy. The Online Transfer and Posting of teachers facilitated the transparent process for over 40,000 teachers in the state in 2009 and this year also as much as 60,000 teachers are benefited from this process.
 
 
With the technical support from ISRO, IT@School has successfully implemented various activities based on EDUSAT till date. The first phase of the programme was mainly through various interactive classroom sessions, facilitated by Receive Only Terminals, provided to selected schools, which enabled valuable exchange between subject experts and students, and besides such discussions, the students are able to expand their knowledge in academic subjects as well as gain new insights at the social level.
 
The second phase of EDUSAT initiative was the launch of an educational channel - IT@School VICTERS (Virtual Classroom Technology on Edusat for Rural Schools) in 2006. Through Receive Only Terminals (ROTs) a large majority of schools in the state are able to access VICTERS. Over and above this, VICTERS is transmitted through the local cable networks and covers 80 per cent of the households in the state. Currently VICTERS is telecast 17 hours in a day; from 6 am to 11p.m. Programs on the channel provide the right mix of entertainment and knowledge/information to the children, which include various in-house productions as well as international programs. IT@School Project has enabled the state to utilize EDUSAT's services to its optimum, when compared to any other state in the country.
 
 
Capacity Building or Training has been one of the prime activities of IT@School Project since its inception in 2001. The Project has bought in a new culture of learning wherein the teachers would transform themselves into IT enablers, wherein they are capable of handling their subjects more efficiently using ICT. 
 
During the first phase of the project, it was understood that even though some of the schools had appointed a separate person as IT instructor for their computer labs, it was learnt that a huge gap existed between the so-called instructor and teachers as well as students. It was evident that by posting an IT instructor would in no way help in facilitating ICT education in the schools but indeed would negatively affect the entire learning system. So far, the Project has trained over 2 lakh teachers of the state. 
 
Some of the training programs provided to teachers are the following.
  1. ICT training: Training given to familiarize the basics of Operating Systems and office packages and other application software.
  2. Hardware Training: 3 day training programme on hardware maintenance and basic support.
  3. Internet Training: This 20 hour training programme was given to all SITCs and interested school teachers. 
  4. IT Training for the visually challenged: In association with Insight scheme of Kerala State IT Mission, the Project has successfully imparted IT training using free software for teachers of special schools for visually challenged, by exclusively using free software based screen reading software named ORCA.
  5. Camera handling training: Two day training on camera handling was given to the teachers, enabling them to create educational videos which could be beneficial in implementing ICT enabled education.
  6. Training on ICT enabled content: Specific training on ICT enabled content was provided to teachers so as to enable them to use ICT enabled content in all subjects in order to equal teachers in classroom transaction.