A workshop on “ICT for Schools” was conducted by CDAC on July 22, 2016 at CDAC, Kharghar. Online Labs (OLabs) for the School Environment is a virtual online E-Learning initiative jointly developed by CDAC, Mumbai and Amrita University, Amritapuri, Kollam with funding from the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India. The target is to reach out to 30,000 teachers by 2017.
The workshop highlighted the benefits of using Online Labs in schools and showcased the benefits of incorporating this interactive and innovative platform in mainstream education. For those students who get limited time in labs, it is yet another opportunity to visit the various projects in the CBSE syllabus through interactive simulations and animations. Assessment questions at the end of each experiment help teachers to evaluate the students. It is available in both online and offline modes. The OLabs content has been developed in Physics, Biology and Chemistry for classes IX to XII, and Science, Mathematics and English for classes IX and X. Hands-on training enabled teachers to fully understand the benefits of this tool.
Along with OLabs, eBasta is an app which focuses on making resource material like course content available online. This will reduce the burden of heavy school bags for students and also give them a plethora of resources according to the choice of the school and Board. This is available for both State Board and CBSE.
CDAC has also designed an AMF (Assessment and Monitoring Framework) tool which will give a detailed and statistical analysis of the growth of every student. The tool comprises managing formative and summative assessments, calculating and storing student data like marks, grades and percentage for scholastic and co-scholastic areas, and helps to analyse the student’s performance. It also gives teachers a complete picture of the performance of a particular student or students of a particular class, tells them the need for improvement in the performance of a particular student, and alerts them about sudden changes in the performance of a student.
The workshop concluded with a question and answer session. Certificates were awarded to all the teachers who attended the workshop, and a DVD was given to each school which will help in the immediate implementation of the OLabs.
