A Teaching & Technology Revolution that is going to change learning in India
April 11, 2020: The discontinuation of
classroom learning due to COVID-19 lockdown is bound to impact the nation’s 200
million student community negatively, if educational institutions and the
government do not proactively change the standard methodology of teaching asap.
A beginning has already been made by some schools and
institutions, who have quickly embraced e-learning solutions that have the
potential to reboot and reset the Indian Educational system. Caution should be
taken while embracing new technology so that they are not quick fix solutions
and will not lead to any sustainable learning outcomes.
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Students in Kenya using the Longhorn Learning
platform in classrooms
Manipal Technologies Limited (MTL), one of India’s most trusted
print and technology major, had forayed into online learning solutions way back
in 2015. Partnering with the largest Kenya based publisher Longhorn Publisher PLC, MTL had developed and implemented the
Longhorn Learning Platform across 150+ institutes in Kenya, that benefits over
250 thousand students. The learning management platform was built considering
the poor and low internet connectivity.
According to Guruprasad Kamath, Vice President, Digital Solutions Business, Manipal Technologies Limited, “The platform, “MiClass”, was built keeping in mind the
bandwidth challenges that can act as deterrents in full-fledged online
education with streaming videos, etc. The platform uses e-textbooks, notes and
assessments to keep students abreast with their regular curriculum and anyone
with a basic smartphone can use it. The
platform is light and available across both Android and iOS platforms, across
the web and as a desktop app as well. Since it is light, it also negates the
requirement of heavy data packs in continuing education from home.”
India, with more than 51,000 colleges and about 1.4 million
schools can also take advantage of such technology in the current scenario. As
of September 2019, India had more than 66 Million internet users in the age
group of 5 to 11 years. India also has to overcome the challenge of teaching in vernacular languages in many of
the primary and secondary schools.
Currently, all state and
CBSE exams have been postponed. Professional institutes are continuing the
classes using video conferencing methods to complete the syllabus. These ad-hoc
methods are neither secure or provide a complete solution.
During a shift to remote
teaching, one also needs to consider the low bandwidth availability, a
mobile-first approach, and the language challenges that are unique to India.
Over the last few weeks, there has been a significant surge of activities from
the virtual classroom platforms and online course providers.
State
governments in Karnataka and Telangana are
mulling over using online teaching methods. Soon, other state governments might
be onboard. Various state governments have already employed Smart Classes under
the Smart City projects to teach the students with relevant audio-visuals
effectively. However, extending that to the virtual classrooms are still one
step behind.
These are the testing times and institutes might find significant
cost saving on their infrastructure by transitioning to online teaching
platforms. Powering up platforms like the ones built by Manipal Technologies
Limited with language capabilities could be the future.
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