Smart Classroom is a mechanism for combining traditional classroom teaching with digital learning. It can be implemented by installing a digital screen, or a Smart TV or a projector, thereby playing digital content in the classroom. The ‘blending’ of the conventional teaching methodology and modern-day technology creates an efficient learning environment. Course content can be made available either live or via recorded lecture videos delivered to teachers beforehand, which are then telecasted in front of larger groups of students on school premises on a daily basis. Digital content will help teachers introduce effective and innovative pedagogy methods and use technology as a tool. Complex concepts can be explained to students by curating interactive digital videos. Engaging videos, and videos of eminent
Can be collected and played during the class to make the classroom sessions more exciting and attractive for the students. A smart classroom is an efficient12 and cost-effective intervention based on various research studies. According to the India Report on Digital Education by the Ministry of Education13, in Bihar, 3,304 schools have been provided with Smart TVs in one classroom under the Bihar14 Initiative. Inverters were also installed under the Bihar initiative to provide power backup for Smart TVs. The invention enabled the provision of uninterrupted electricity to support technology. Uttar Pradesh, through Funds, provided 2,487 Smart TVs in schools
SCHOOL EDUCATION platform developed by the Ministry of Education has the necessary building blocks to develop online courses, energised textbooks, questions bank tools and others. It caters to all the persona in the ecosystem and is supported in 30 languages.
Being an open-source platform, can be further enhanced by integrating the Learning Management Personalised eLearning services on the platform. While registering on the DIKSHA platform, students would be asked to fill out a questionnaire, which would help in identifying the student’s learning styles. It may also administer a pre-test before the course's commencement to assess the student’s knowledge level. The pre-test will also be used to segregate students into three groups: Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced. The metadata of the students will be stored in the database and will be accessed by the expert system. A customised learning path would then be designed for the students, basis their level of understanding, learning style and pace.
The Indian Education system can be comprehensively transformed through the above-mentioned appropriate applications of ICT to enable access to quality education and to improve learning outcomes.
Thukral is a Senior Specialist at Aayog. Views expressed are personal.
When the pandemic disrupted existing practices of imparting education and forced the world to rethink its medium of instruction, technology was the saving grace. Reliance on technology in the post-pandemic era has made education increasingly mobile, creating an opportunity to make quality school education accessible in the country’s most remote areas. Technological integration is poised as a critical catalyst in the field of education. The world has recognised that technology will inevitably be crucial to education for all. Countries worldwide have been developing national-level schemes to promote ICT usage, which World Bank and UNESCO have also recognised. Most developed and developing countries are trying to leverage technology to address their country's challenges. National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 has emphasised that technology will play an essential role in improving educational outcomes, and the relationship between technology and education is bidirectional1.
Under the Digital India initiative, the government has taken extensive steps to boost digital education activities. Few of the ICT initiatives for school education are: PM eVIDYA Programme2 – it unifies efforts related to digital/online education so as to enable multi-modal access to education, with 12 eVidya TV channels, based on the line of One Class-One Channel for class 1 to 12; National Digital Educational Architecture (NDEAR)3 – a digital platform to support activities related to education planning; DIKSHA4 – a platform offering school curriculum-based learning materials; ePathshala Portal5 – a portal that acts as a storehouse of audios, videos, epubs, flipbooks etc.; NISHTHA6 – an integrated teacher training programme, widespread use of radio and podcast; QR codes in textbooks. etc. As per the Union Budget 2022-237, PM eVIDYA will be expanded from 12 to 200 TV channels so as to enable all states to provide supplementary education in regional languages, for classes 1-12. 750 virtual labs in science and mathematics will be setup to promote crucial critical thinking skills, and quality e-content will be developed to empower and equip teachers with digital tools of teaching and to facilitate better learning outcomes.
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