Electronics and Information Technology Exposition

1. Electronics and Information Technology Exposition e - Education Azim Premji Foundation Technology Initiatives Dileep Ranjekar, Azim Premji Foundation April 26, 2005 Delhi Every child has the right to childhood

2. Opportunities: 16% of world’s population 34% of population below 15 years Adding over 150,000 qualified engineers per year Challenges Contributes to just 1.6% of world GDP Human development rank – 125 out of 175 ranked Among bottom 30% in the Governance Index Paradigm change – “receivers of knowledge” “creators of knowledge” Need a fundamental review of our education system Opportunities and challenges

3. Schools: Implementation machines, not thinking entities Culture - stressful and boring Low motivation and competence of teacher (Pre and in service training) Parent & community participation in schools non-existent Learning: Equated with memorization (exams primarily test memory recall) All round development of the child ignored Systemic accountability for learning and development of every child is missing Current vexations in education Cannot be a first class country with second class education

4. Children who are Critical thinkers Creative Team players Well developed in cognitive, affective & psychomotor domains Citizens who are just, humane and equitable Education that is Individual Interactive Integrative We need

5. Myth 1: Technology itself improves social life Myth 2: Progress in technology = progress of the society Reality What Technology achieves for the society is important Only when technology is in the hands of the majority of the members in the society and they use it imaginatively for the well-being of the society can the society be called progressive Myths about Technology The focus must be on the application and not on knowledge itself

6. Long Term Global Access to knowledge Sharing of experiences and best practices Self paced and self based learning Virtual world of information Simulations Experiential learning Distance learning of high quality Special learning tools for the uniquely challenged IT will become a fundamental literacy for the world Short Term Attracting and retaining children in school Creating excitement in and around the school Joyful learning IT & Education

7. A Not-For-Profit organization with 140+ full time professionals and over 1700 paid field volunteers Operational since Jan 2001 Funding through personal resources of Azim Premji Partnership with Government in all programs Vision: “Significantly contribute to achieving quality universal education as a foundation for a just, equitable and humane society” About Azim Premji Foundation

8. Outreach of the programs March 31, 05 **The total figures are appropriately discounted to accommodate overlap of programs in the same school Current approach in going to states – demand based

9. e – Education Initiatives Of Azim Premji Foundation

10. Objective Make a significant contribution towards realizing quality universal elementary education

11. Multimedia curricular content Child centric Interactive Self paced Animation, games, play based Local language Fun based assessment tools A leveraged model of content deployment Partnership with Government Both in school and out school models Local content development to develop creativity & excitement Technology solutions to build capacity Education management in Government – through EMIS Education functionaries, teachers & community members Key initiatives

12. Continuous, indepth interaction with teachers, educators Identify topics that are Hard to teach, boring to learn Fundamental building blocks for learning Map on state curriculum Develop content: Scope definition Script Prototype Animation, music, voice, games to create joyful learning Rigorous quality approval at each stage by a team of Pedagogists, child psychologists, educators Final testing with children to get feedback Content development - process

13. Content deployment - process • Role of the state Government • Express serious interest by understanding process at the Foundation • Dedicated academic team to review and validate content and translation • Dedicated team of master trainers to train teachers • Agree to create a monitoring system for effective deployment of content • Ensure that every child gets minimum 80 minute (2 periods) exposure per week to the content within the norms prescribed by the Foundation • Role of Azim Premji Foundation • Translation of content in the state specific language • Train master trainers of the state for teacher training • Provide a representative in the state to help the state to monitor program • Provide free content through master CDs • Carry out research to understand factors influencing learning, impact, quality feedback etc.

14. Local Content Development - process • Provide resources and leadership in schools to encourage children to develop content on issues of their choice to promote • Curiosity • Creativity • Passion to learn • An attitude to share learning • Provide an opportunity to children to interact with the community • Facilitate learning through activity based projects • Create a bank of locally created knowledge by children for dissemination schools across the region • Contests to identify the best efforts

15. Education MIS • First phase of MIS development completed • The Foundation is catalyzing successful implementation through • necessary modifications, • training of personnel, • recommending optimum hardware and software requirements etc. • Careful documentation of learnings

16. Technology innovations • Objective • Lower cost, • Lower power consumption • Lower voltage power • Solutions • Three in one PCs • Step up stabilizers • Solar power packs • Monitoring software (under test run in schools)

17. Objectives for 2005- 06 (Quantitative) Partnership: State level for content creation & District level for deployment

18. Program monitoring system Effective program = score of min. 5 out of 10 This system has now been extended to 5 States / UT

19. Key Research Findings • Significant improvement in learning levels among children from teacher involved Computer Aided Learning schools • Schools where program is run without teacher involvement do not show much improvement in learning levels • In case of children with learning disabilities (external research by Spastic Society of Karnataka): • Most children showed improvement in visual motor coordination, social intelligence and non-verbal reasoning • Tremendous improvement in social behaviour, attention, language (verbal), communication and motivation • Positive impact in promoting reading skills

20. Infrastructure Power, electricity Cost Connectivity, Speed Content Excessive focus only on IT and not on subject matter content Content in local context and language Urban mindset vs. rural reality/needs Robustness of the model Sustenance Maintenance and replacement issues Ownership, participation of community Talent development Leveraging on existing local talent Building managerial / supervisory talent e – Education – some challenges

21. Thank You For further details, visit us at www.azimpremjifoundation.org