New mechanism of learning English in government schools
A small but growing number of cos using tech-driven solutions to assist
teachers, improve learning
Geetanjali Krishna
July 30, 2017 Last Updated at 00:15 IST
In a quiet classroom, class six students follow the cursor on their
digitised textbook on a large projector facing them in a government school
in Delhi.
Deepa reads the text, slowly and with emphasis on every word. Whenever the
class encounters a difficult word, she slows down. When the cursor is
dragged
to the word, she opens a visual dictionary on the screen, showing the
students what it means. She also pauses to allow the students to read the
text aloud
after her. But Deepa is not a person - it's a "neutral" South Asian voice
that education
technology
company
English
Helper (EH) uses across India as a digital teaching aid in government
classrooms.
Using a patented
technology
that converts text into voice, and with two human editors to oversee the
process, EH can digitise a 100-page textbook in a week.
Swift scaling-up
"Once the
technology
and the digital infrastructure are in place, we can scale up at speeds
that
traditional educational interventions can't dream of," says EH's CEO,
Sanjay
Gupta. In Maharashtra, for example, from 125 government schools, EH was
able
to reach 3,720 in mere weeks. Learning outcomes have improved
significantly:
A 2016 assessment of 12 schools in Aurangabad by independent agency Grey
Matters shows that reading comprehension among students almost doubled
after
a
year of implementation of the EH program.
At $1 per child per annum (standardised across the world), EH has
accelerated from 300 to 6,000 schools across nine states in one year. Now,
it is setting
its sights higher: "We could take less than three months to intervene in
all
the 150,000 Information and Communication
Technology
(ICT)-enabled
government schools
across the country," Gupta prophesies.
English
Helper shows how smart technologies can transform the Indian education
sector, which is churning out batch after batch of unemployable educated
youths
out of sync with a rapidly globalising job market that's intimately
connected to the internet.
"The challenge in India right now is to offer good-quality education to a
huge number of people in a very short time," says Venkat Srinivasan,
author
of
The Intelligent Enterprise in the Era of Big Data (2016). "
Artificial intelligence
technologies can provide teaching aids as well as give students
(regardless
of where they are) access to top quality learning materials in tune with
their
level of learning and learning styles."
He should know. Srinivasan founded Rage Frameworks in the US (recently
bought over by Genpact) which develops
Artificial Intelligence
(AI) applications for different industrial sectors. He also founded EH in
India, in the belief that intelligent technologies have the potential of
democratising
education and standardising the quality of teaching across schools.
"AI can automate basic classroom activities like assessment, leaving the
teacher with much more time to motivate students and facilitate their
learning,"
he says. "And of course, it can provide students access to the latest
study
materials, making them global learners."
Growing numbers
Today, there is a small but growing number of companies using
technology-driven solutions to assist teachers and improve learning
outcomes
among students
in India's
government schools.
In 2007, Infrastructure Leasing and Financial Services IL&FS launched
K-Yan,
a single-wire computer with internet connectivity, a projector, a
multimedia
device in 35,000 government and private schools.
The device is pre-loaded with educational materials and converts any wall
into a smart projector screen and even a blackboard. A report published in
Case
Studies on
e-Governance
in India (2013-14) found that after the introduction of K-Yan in rural
schools in West Bengal, student learning outcomes and school attendance
improved
discernibly. Moreover, teachers said that they were able to cover the
syllabus faster with all the hi-tech help that K-Yan provided. This was
Phase One.
In June, IL&FS Education and
Technology
Services unveiled Phase Two - the next-gen educational app Geneo, which
gives students access to curated digital content from multiple sources
with
continuous
assessments and round-the-clock mentor support. What sets it apart from
the
plethora of learning solutions in the market like Meritnation, Byjus, and
more,
is that the app is adaptive. The assessments allow the app to deduce how
much, and how fast the user is learning.
"Depending on each user's learning patterns, the app adapts itself to
throw
forth more complex ideas, or explain the basics in greater detail," RCM
Reddy,
managing director of IL&FS Education and
Technology
Services, explains. "Not only will the app take learning out of the
classroom and into the cloud, it will adapt to user needs and ensure that
their learning
is comprehensive." Startups like Hyderabad-based Next Steps are offering
assessment solutions that allow apps to tailor themselves to their users.
The question of the hour is whether Deepa, and other computer-generated
voices, can ever replace teachers. The answer, as of now, is a resounding
NO. Reddy
envisions Geneo as a product that students can use to supplement what they
learn in school. Also, teachers control the K-Yan in the classroom,
deciding
how they want to use it. "For us, the teacher will always be at the centre
of the learning universe," he says.
EH's Right to Read pedagogy is also designed as a teaching aid, not a
replacement for the teacher. Srinivasan, however, adds a caveat: "Teachers
will have
to rethink their roles in the classroom, keeping in mind the fact that
their
students may not remain dependent upon them for educational content," he
says.
"They will in future, need constant training to stay relevant and enable
their students to ask the right questions, instead of providing all the
answers
themselves."
Indeed, digital teacher-training platforms are coming up, like the
American
India Foundation's (AIF's) Digital Equalizer Programme, which trains
teachers
in use of technology, and Google Educators Group, which facilitates online
learning groups of teachers. Another company, Beyond Teaching, offers
several
online courses and forums for teachers to upgrade their skills. Their
motto?
No teacher left behind?
Given that the 2016
Union Budget
has pledged funds to connect 60 million rural households through 'digital
highways' in the next three years, implementing smart, intelligent
technologies
in schools will perhaps become easier. The extent of their impact remains
to
be seen, but one thing is for sure. Boring old-fashioned classrooms are in
for a makeover.
How K-YAN is changing education as we know it
A study published by the
National
Institute for Smart Government on the impact of IL&FS’s K-YAN in select
West
Bengal schools shows the following results:
• 98% of schools surveyed reported the quality of teaching improved after
implementing K-YAN Classroom group activities increased from 67% to 78% as
teachers
were able to complete the syllabus before time.
• 48.52% teachers felt they became more confident in class.
• 57% teachers organised special competitions or tests based on K-YAN
lessons.
Regards
Mr. Sameer Latey
Mumbai, India
-----Original Message-----
From: avinash shahi via Ai
Sent: 30 July, 2017 3:46 PM
To: ai
Cc: avinash shahi
Subject: [Ai] Need help: please need this paid report from Business
Standard: "New mechanism of learning English in government schools "
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--
Avinash Shahi
Doctoral student at Centre for Law and Governance JNU
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