Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Technology innovations in schools

Sangeeth Kurian

StateTrends With information technology beginning to play a major role in classrooms, the way teaching and learning take place in schools in Kerala is in for tech-tonic changes.

IN KEEPING WITH THE TIMES: Prayer through Web Cam at Nirmala Bhavan Higher Secondary School in Thiruvananthapuram. - Photo: S. Gopakumar

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Uniformed school choir solemnly reciting morning prayers at school is a familiar sight. But beaming it simultaneously through a web cam to the rest of the students is not.

School authorities intimating parents about an unexpected holiday or a PTA meeting through newspapers and class diaries is common. But conveying it in the form of mobile phone alerts via SMS is unique.

Grim looking teachers poring over the shoulders of students while solving a brain-racking mathematics problem is traditional. But providing tips through the Internet is novel.

Across the State, computer technology and the Internet are revolutionising the school education sector in a way never seen before. Overall, more schools are using technology to increase interaction, track student performance and provide tutoring. The number of service providers offering educational technology too has leapfrogged from just a couple in 1999 to more than 15 today.

Gone are the days when students were herded into that forlorn looking computer lab for a few perfunctory sessions during an entire academic year. Technology today has moved right next to the black board, inside the classrooms. No matter whether your child is studying at an up-market school in the capital city or at an obscure village in Kasaragod, their education will inevitably be touched by technology at some point. If the officials of some of the leading companies providing educational technology in the State are to be believed, the classrooms of the future is already becoming a reality.

"Today, instead of just reading a chapter on volcanoes, you can explore all its geological features through the audio-visual medium right inside the classroom," says Abhilash G.S., an education solution provider with Educomp, a Delhi-based online education company.

The company's `Smart Class' technology enables teachers to use digital resources such as graphics, animations and video clips in addition to the conventional chalk and talk method. Multiple 17-inch colour monitors encased in tamper proof custom designed casings are installed in each classroom as a part of the project. The monitors are linked to a `knowledge centre' that acts as the nerve centre of the network. The `knowledge centre' set up inside the school is equipped with a library of digital resources tailored to the requirements of the syllabus. A full time resource coordinator appointed by the company assists the teachers in selecting the content for the respective subject.

"Children's interest and involvement in learning has picked up dramatically since the introduction of `Smart Class'," says Sobha Joseph who teaches English at the Nirmala Bhavan Higher Secondary School, Kowdiar, where the technology was introduced nearly a month ago. "Now they (children) have less number of doubts and whatever that is taught with the aid of audio-visual medium is imprinted in their minds," she says.

"We no longer find any passive children in class," she says. The children too seem to be in total agreement. Says Kavya R.S., a class X student of the school: "Earlier we had a tough time staying awake in history classes. But now we look forward to it. A session on the functioning of the United Nations Organisation was actually like paying a visit to the place."

The importance of audio-visual medium in enhancing the grasping capacity of children is also emphasised by A. Padmakumar, chairman, Ambedkar Vidyaniketan English Medium Higher Secondary School in Kasaragod and the State organising secretary of Kerala Recognised School Managers Association. "The difference between teaching with technology and teaching without technology is like watching an ordinary movie and a 3D movie," he says.

"We have found that academically weak students benefit the most from technology-assisted education. For them it is less strain and more marks," he says. The school with a total strength of 1,500 students in Periya, a remote village situated 24 km South of Kasaragod, has already signed up an agreement with Educomp for introducing `Smart Class' in its classrooms.

According to Mathew Muricken, Principal, Labour India Gurukulam Public School and Junior College at Marangattupilly in Kottayam, the arrival of classroom technologies have made the task of teachers all the more demanding. "They (teachers) have to prepare more thoroughly as the retention capacity of the students has increased and they will ask intelligent questions," he said. The presence of visual medium also helps teachers to demonstrate dangerous science experiments inside the classroom without any risk," says Colonel Muricken.

But then academic instruction based on visual medium is just one method of using technology innovatively in schools. Educomp has launched mathguru.com, an online tutoring facility that helps students to solve difficult problems at the click of a mouse. The website promises to take students to the heart of a problem by illustrating the solution in the `most common and useful method.' Then there is `Guardian Connect', a device designed by Linuxense, a city-based IT company that protects children from viewing inappropriate content on the Internet.

The product, which acts on the network layer, has an exhaustive database of blacklisted websites and bad words that function as a protective shield while browsing. "We started it (Guardian Connect) with schools in mind as the first time access to Internet for most of the children takes place in schools," says Anil Kumar K., vice-president, operations and engineering, Linuxense. At Nirmala Bhavan, the classroom monitors are also used to relay morning prayers, national anthem and important announcements.

At the Carmel Girls' Higher Secondary School, Thycaud, teachers, students and parents keep in touch with one another through `instaBeep,' a facility that enables the school to send automatic or manual SMS to parents on their mobile phones on any incidents of significance. "The service is of great help in emergency situations such as strikes, hartal or the declaration of a holiday at short-notice," says Sr. Renita, Principal of the school, who uses only her first name.

Explains Bino Chakupurakal, director, marketing, Spaceage Solutions, which introduced the technology: "Schools are increasingly recognising the growing significance of technology on their campuses."

The city-based company, which entered the education field in 1999 with `School Mates,' a school management software that helps to automate everything from student details to store records, had a tough time making its presence felt.

"In those days we had to spend hours explaining the benefits of technology to the school authorities to convince them," he recalls. "Now that has changed," he says. The award for Excellence in Information Technology (IT) from the President has also kindled a competitive spirit among schools in adopting technology, says Mr. Bino.

It may be easy to get carried away in this whirlwind of technological change, but as Colonel Muricken of the Labour India Public School reminds us, technology does not replace the teacher. "It only helps him to teach more effectively," he says. After all teaching is also about building relationships and you cannot replace a teacher with a computer.

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