Wednesday 21 May 2014

Computer Aided Learning in Regional Languages

Access to quality learning resources for every child anywhere…
(Registred as Children’s LoveCastles Trust) www.cltindia.org
Background:
CLT India is a non-profit, non-government organization that has worked since 1997 to support and strengthen government schools in rural India. Our mission is to use technology to create, enhance and monitor the delivery of education in an affordable, scalable and modular manner.
Program Objective:
India faces the most severe shortage of teachers. We need 1.2 million teachers to fill this gap. Additional challenge is our existing teachers do not have subject expertise to teach Science, Mathematics and English. Our program is intended for during-school and after-school intervention. Master Teachers design relevant courseware for teachers in remote areas. Technology delivery enables us to build a process to transfer the best teaching practices and innovative lesson resources to schools in a cost-effective, efficient way.
CLT has created a suite of e-learning programs under the banner of CLTe-Patashale, to bridge the gap of missed learning opportunities children face in under-served communities.
CLTe-Patashale is both a product and service, where veteran teachers design low-cost, localized e-content. The model is adaptable to suit the needs of local schools. It can facilitate teacher-mediation, self-learning and collaborative learning.
Our process - CLT Resource Center acts as a Hub, bringing together pedagogy experts from different Boards, resource people with subject expertise and few Text Book Committee members to design and develop curriculum-aligned digital courseware, with quality-check.
The key elements of this approach -
• Master teachers, Technology experts design electronic course material in English and Regional languages.
• Digital content is aligned with government curricula, localized to the language of instruction, adapted for rural student populations.
• Technology delivery enables us to build a process to transfer the best teaching practices and innovative lesson resources to schools in a cost-effective, efficient way.
High-caliber teachers are still essential to good instruction and remain core to our approach. Nevertheless, by using digital technology for its strengths in replication and scaling, CLT e-Patashale is able to provide a cost-effective model of high-quality instruction. The strength of CLTe-Patashale lies in its adaptability to suit the varied needs of rural schools. Schools have access to our content in off-connectivity environment on DVDs / PCs or Tablets with e-books and videos. It will also be accessible online by July.
Reach and Impact:
• CLT e-Patashale digital content has been used in 650 classrooms in rural government schools comprising of 35,000 students (direct beneficiaries).
• 42 of those classrooms (1800 students) received live on-line distance education with our master teachers for 3 years (2011-2014).
• Preliminary evaluations show gains in learning and changes in teaching style among remote teachers.
• CLTe-Patashale has brought about a transformation in the way transactions happen between teachers and students. Both parties are capacitated with access to more information that encourages them to lead discussions and share knowledge.
• In 2014 April -
- We are in the process of executing MOUs with multiple partners to cover another 6,000 classrooms., to reach another 25,000 children.
- Our 1ste-book will go live in April 2014 on Amazon Kindle, followed by more books to cover a total of 36 e-books in Science, Mathematics, English Grammar over the next few months.
Awards & Recognitions
• *Millennium Alliance Award 2013 for low-cost innovation by FICCI and USAID
• Social Innovation Acceleration Program 2013 by Marico Innovation Foundation
• The Manthan Award South Asia & Asia Pacific 2012 for e-learning content
• e-asia 2011 Award - 1 of Top 5 Finalists for Best ICT initiatives in Classrooms
• e-North East Award 2011 - Jury Special Mention Award for Innovation in Education 2012
• Intel Computer Clubhouse Network Kudos Award 2009
• Canara Bank Service to Mankind
*CLT bagged the prestigious Millennium Alliance Award, an Indo-US partnership for Affordable Innovation. The award is the result of a joint initiative of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Technology Development Board, Government of India. Millennium alliance aims at supporting and scaling-up low-cost, innovative solutions being developed and tested in India to address development challenges that will benefit base of the pyramid populations across India and the world.
Content sample and Teacher Mediation in a classroom: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w1w22angxc6kx8j/bMcE9Col4f?n=96745575
Summary:
We are now at the stage where our work is recognized for its quality, impact, affordability and scalability. We have a 3-year grant from FICCI / USAID to develop all the content for K-12 in English and 1 regional language. With the grant, we are also getting the project evaluated by an external agency. We are seeking partnerships to support us with the replication cost for more regional languages, as well as low-cost Tablets/ PCs/other devices to load our content to send it to remote schools, so we may scale our reach!
www.cltindia.org