aakash-can-bridge-the-growing-digital-divide
2013-08-24 , Issue 34 Volume 10
Sky is the limit Schools where Aakash tablets are in use saw a marked increase in attendance Photo: AFP
Educators have spoken for more than a decade about the need to bridge the digital divide, but the actual implementation of technology in education has failed several times. Precious time slipped by because our educational institutions were slow in responding to a changing world, and restricted the use of computers merely to computer labs, where they have been used only to teach Microsoft Office software by temporarily- appointed computer teachers. Their potential as an actual tool for teachers was never fully explored; IT was never woven into the fabric of education.
The Aakash school pilot project, sponsored by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, aims to test whether the use of Aakash tablets as a teaching and learning device can significantly enhance the quality of education in rural schools. Four village schools located within a 20-km radius of Pandharpur, a temple town in Solapur district of Maharashtra, were chosen as the site. At first glance, they did not look all that impressive. But the 1 Gbps connection, provided by the National Knowledge Network, and the well-placed access points in the classrooms, impressed us. It was the right place to start the pilot.
Although the schools have excellent Internet connectivity, power supply is a serious issue in the area. Electricity is essential for the working of servers and therefore the availability of the WiFi network, as well as regular charging of the tablets. The problem was solved by allowing students to take the tablets home for charging, and some content was loaded on their internal memory so that it could be used in offline mode.
Since a major drawback to rural education is the lack of in-depth subject knowledge among teachers, superior content and teacher training were essential for implementing the pilot project. A team from IIT Bombay created high-quality content in Marathi language, and workshops were held to empower teachers in donning the role of facilitator and using the tablet as a teaching device. Though they were slow and reluctant in the beginning, we saw a very good response by the end. Many of them are still confused on how to effectively use the tablet, but a few more training programmes will help in building confidence.
The students, however, showed no such reluctance. We planned to distribute the tablets, which were limited in number, to each student in one Class IX classroom of every school and measure the performance of these students against those from the classes that did not use tablets. But the students were too enthusiastic and curious for that; we finally decided to distribute them to all Class IX students and ask them to share. They were only too happy to do so.
Both the teachers and students were familiar with a few PC-based software, but none of them had seen a tablet before. To our surprise, the students adapted to the technology very fast, much ahead of their teachers. Their familiarity with mobile phones helped. Within a few hours, they had explored most of the features of the tablet, which was pre-loaded with the Android Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and lots of open-source content.
A perennial problem of the school system is the unavailability of textbooks at the beginning of the academic year due to delays in printing, as well as the fact that the poor quality of binding means that the books fall apart by the time examinations come around. We solved this problem by providing digitised textbooks, developed using the latest ePub and HTML5 technology, which also help make concepts clearer through interactive lessons. The tablets also have tool tips, which provide additional information on difficult words used in the textbook, as well as an in-built dictionary and translator. Self-assessment quizzes were included at the end of every lesson. Learning and relearning at their own pace will help strengthen the child’s basics and keep them engaged.
The greater engagement was evident in the marked improvement in attendance; even students who left school out of frustration have returned and started taking interest in learning. Handling the tablets has also made students responsible, and sharing them has helped build collaboration skills, listening to others and respect for peers. Students also rigorously follow the rules that were set when they were given the tablets, since unethical use would lead to them losing the tablet permanently. To build collaboration skills further, different projects were assigned to groups, for which they could use all the tablet’s features. Some of these projects were genuinely impressive, and this has even motivated teachers to start designing mathematics and science projects.
After a year-long pilot, we plan to develop a standard process that can be scaled up to an all-India level. Pedagogy can be further improved by creating virtual laboratories for students to carry out experiments and better integrating field work with class lectures. There are also ways in which Aakash can benefit the students’ lives outside the classroom. Considering the prevalence of anaemia and malnutrition among children, we plan to develop health and nutrition modules with the help of experts. Special modules will also be developed for female students to get better understanding of their body and health. There are also plans to develop simple and engaging content and literacy programmes for their parents. Our hope is that the Aakash tablet will emerge as a ubiquitous tool for the entire family.
As the education market grows at a breakneck pace globally, the tablet is enabling a paradigm shift due to its large potential to grow exponentially. Students will get exposed to the latest knowledge and technology. Knowing how to use technology to collect data or relevant material will help students become critical consumers of knowledge.
The utility and potential of the tablet as the ultimate convergence device would cater to the students’ and teachers’ various computing consumption and communication needs. The realisation of self-aptitude and confidence in self-learning would decrease the fear of failure among students. Finally, bringing in the individual pieces of all these initiatives into reality will augur well in fulfilling our long-standing ambition of extending quality education to every nook and corner of this vast nation.
