Integrated Approach to Technology in Education in India

Implementation and Impact

Amina Charania, Amina Charania

• Publisher: Routledge India
• Year: 2022
• ISBN:
  9781000608045
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

This book explores the evolution of Integrated approach to Technology in Education (ITE), an initiative of Tata Trusts in India, and the many innovative ways in which it has helped enrich the learning process and fostered new skills for young people, especially those living in challenging environments.

The book offers an in-depth look into authentic, creative and project-based learning experiences that have been facilitated by using technology in education in different settings in India, with case studies about opportunities and challenges of implementing ITE in the tribal pockets of West Bengal and Maharashtra, madrasas in West Bengal, government schools in rural Assam and sites in Uttar Pradesh. It examines the viability and sustainability of using ITE and other digital methods to address the complex education needs of children and address the challenges in the professional development of teachers. It also highlights the creative use of inquiry, project-based collaborative learning and distance education technologies during the pandemic in government-run schools.

This book will be of interest to teachers, students and researchers of education, education technology, digital education and information technology. It will also be useful for educators, policymakers, educational institutions, EdTech start-ups and NGOs in the education sector.

1 Introduction to Integrated approach to Technology in Education

Amina Charania

DOI: 10.4324/9781003300274-1

Introduction

This book describes a large initiative to integrate ICT into the education of young people who attend public/government schools in India. The initiative is called ITE, an Integrated approach to Technology in Education. This book is the story of the evolution in collaboration with many of those who took a lead in the integration of ICT, aiming to improve the quality of education for young people.

This book is about the journey of the ITE initiative, to share the learning and the challenges and what worked. The chapters illustrate the stories of the experiences of students and teachers from rural and urban areas and across diverse social settings. The overall impact of this ITE intervention is also presented through research-based data. Before the ITE intervention is described in some detail, it is necessary to describe the evolution of ICT in public schooling in India, from its inception in 1984 to the present time in 2021.

ICT in public schooling

The journey of ICT in Indian government school education started with the National Policy on Education in India, which was introduced in 1984–1986. This policy led to two central schemes for ICT and Education. The first was introduced in 2004 and revised in 2010, which mostly focused on computer literacy and Computer Aided Learning (CAL), namely, Educational Technology (ET) and Computer Literacy and Studies in Schools (CLASS). The second, in 2012, the ICT Policy in School Education came into existence. Its mission was to develop, accelerate, support and sustain ICT and ICT-enabled activities and processes to improve access, quality and efficiency in the school system. The 2012 policy stressed the inclusion of technology in school education to improve the quality of education. As described later, the policy continued in this direction in 2020. Over time, the emphasis on ICT in education schemes and policy progressed from just computer literacy to making ICT connect with school subjects in order to improve the learning process.

However, on the ground, the use, role and relationship of ICT with quality learning remains elusive. This opaque relationship is a global phenomenon. An OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) 2015 report challenged the value of ICT in influencing learning in the classroom. A 2010 report by infoDev, a World Bank Group programme, reported that in India and other South Asian countries, there is much interest in using ICT tools and devices in schools, but its actual use is low.

Infrastructure is a huge challenge for using ICT worldwide (Twining et al., 2015). In India, most government schools are challenged on infrastructure. Poor or non-existent power supply and connectivity in rural areas are obvious obstacles. Even where there is infrastructure and connectivity, it may not result in access for educational purposes. Mobile phones, for example, are accessible in many rural areas, but they are not widely used for ICT in schools. However, mobile ICT has been used in innovative ways to reach out to some very rural communities (Charania, 2015)

On the other hand, schools that have ample infrastructure do not necessarily use ICT to improve the learning of school subjects. In my extensive field visits in around 7 of the 29 Indian states over the decade 2010–2011, I observed that government and aided schools used ICT in computer labs primarily for digital literacy, computer science classes or for non-governmental organization (NGO) driven intervention using CD, DVD and server box–based CAL. This CAL was usually run by an NGO facilitator or a computer instructor. Schools in some of these states also used radio and satellite connections to conduct audio and video–based lessons from external experts. In this way, in many semi-urban and connected rural areas, school ICT use had moved beyond digital literacy to CAL and audiovisual instruction delivered through a device.

Even today in 2021, CAL is mostly seen as reinforcing basic learning skills in mathematics and languages at primary and secondary school level; it is used for remedial learning through e-content. Since 2014, I have seen an increase in classroom use of ICT in the form of smart classrooms, where packaged lesson plans using multimedia are delivered by the teacher with little, if any, adaptation for individual classrooms or students. These vendor-made lesson plans are mostly mapped to one or more chapters in the textbook with the aim of supporting teachers deliver their lessons with media-rich resources.

This type of teacher-centric content for classroom use is often what is meant by a smart classroom. Here, I clearly sense a dichotomy of the way that ICT platforms have evolved for use in Indian schools. In computer labs where there is a low computer-to-student ratio, ICT tools are in the hands of the students, but the activities in the labs are not connected to mainstream subjects. In classrooms, on the other hand, the ICT tools are in the hands of teachers, not students; and here, the tools deliver the content relevant to mainstream subjects. It seems that computer teachers and subject teachers have fixed territories, and they seldom want to cross these boundaries of space, role and expertise. Although this division was observed in other countries in Europe and North America during the first decade of the introduction of ICT into schools, the division later reduced as access to ICT-related continuous professional development (CPD) increased for subject teachers. As the need for widespread provision of ICT-related CPD for teachers was recently recognized in the 2020 National Education Policy (NEP), it is possible that this divide will begin to decrease.

In 2019, the NEP draft included a substantive chapter devoted to Education Technology with substantial emphasis on ICT use for CPD of teachers, effective classroom practice and assessment, administration purposes and improvement of access of education content for students in remote areas, as well as increased access to the curriculum for students with disabilities. Then in 2020, this National Education Policy (MHRD, 2020) was released with ample focus on education technology. Extensive opportunity for using distance technologies for teacher professional development was articulated, and for the first time, this CPD connected with career progression. The policy emphasized the use of artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML) and computational thinking in the curriculum and assessment, accompanied by research led by a central body made up of experts in the area called the National Educational Technology Forum (NETF). Although the challenge of ICT infrastructure was recognized and the provision remains unclear, this direction of activity-based teaching and learning with ICT was welcomed. However, an overemphasis on e-content made for the learners but not by the learners and disseminated through national platforms need to clarify the scope and route to activity-based teaching and learning with technology.

Open Educational Resources (OER) and proprietary content have gained much attention; teachers and other educators and education technology vendors are encouraged to create digital resources for learners in English and local languages. OER is the new buzzword in schools in the last three years. Free, but not necessarily open, video-based tutorial classes have mushroomed, and there are claims that they have contributed to improving conceptual understanding through the power of digital media and the potential to replace conventional tuition classes. OER that runs on a wider bandwidth or spectrum offers tutorial-type videos for better remembering and understanding, with some quiz-like questions to test memory and understanding and others with simulation and games that engage learners and encourage critical thinking.

There has been a rapid development in capacity building for teachers on how to use existing OER or to create new ones for their students, that is linked with national online platforms, such as e-pathshala, Diksha and the National Teacher Platform.

Examples of interactive and engaging OERs are Pratham’s StoryWeaver programme and Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx). Pratham’s Story-Weaver allows children to read digital stories in their local language and context, and the Creative Commons License of the Pratham StoryWeaver allows students, teachers and educators to contextualize or remake the digital stories in their local language/dialect and milieu. Thus, this digital platform makes the content more accessible and flexible so that learners may engage with high-quality language material in local context and language. This is linked with the CLIx programme that is designed to promote the development of higher-order thinking skills in Science, Maths and English for high school students and is designed within the academic milieu. The OER created in this platform are based on three pedagogic pillars: enhancing collaboration with students, allowing students to learn from their errors and fostering authentic learning.

The COVID-19 lockdown period (CLP) has seen a surge in education technology initiatives globally and in both rural and urban areas in India. However, the digital divide in terms of infrastructure, skills and literacy have pushed millions of children out of education. In India, 6 million children were pushed out of education due to the COVID-19 situation, and smart-phones became important to access education; however, only 38.2% of children had access to smartphones (ASER, cited in National Herald, 2020). The Government of India and other NGO developed a number of guidelines and digital resources in an attempt to support the continuity of the teaching and learning processes across the country. However, centralized digital resources were not contextualized for the local needs of teachers and students, and fewer than 50% of the students in the study by Singh et al. (2020) had access to devices and/or connectivity, with rural students more disadvantaged than urban students.

A study conducted on a few ITE teachers and students showed similar findings that access to devices and connectivity were major issues in connecting with students. However, these teachers and students adapted distance technologies confidently to adapt or create digital resources and activity-based learning in the COVID-19 period (described in chapters 6 and 7).

ICT in public schooling – the ITE pedagogy

A contrasting approach to the use of ICT in public schooling is to encourage students to create their own artefacts or resources using ICT as a tool. The Integrated approach to Technology in Education (ITE) is one such approach situated within the concept of Learners as Producers of ICT resources. I got an opportunity to design and implement the concept of ITE in 2012 at Tata Trusts in India. What sets ITE apart from the OER and CAL approaches is that it focuses on students creating a learning artefact complemented by teachers designing the learning activities, deciding when and how to integrate which ICT application and/or OER, and ways to foster students’ creations.

There are a variety of forms of students’ use of ICT in India. Figure 1.1 displays the PACC model, which has evolved over time (Charania, 2018), depicting the types of ICT interventions that I developed based on my engagement with many ICT initiatives, many of which focused on reaching the marginalized sections of Indian society. PACC clarifies ways in which teachers assess and select technology tools to integrate ICT meaningfully with curriculum and pedagogy. Within PACC, the ITE situates itself in the Create (see Figure 1.1) category of ICT use by students.

Figure 1.1 PACC model

Source: Charania (2018)

Long Description for Figure 1.1

The PACC model represents the different ways in which teachers assess and select technology tools to integrate ICT meaningfully with curriculum and pedagogy.

Thus, the central pedagogy of the ITE intervention is that the teacher designs so that the students create based on the concepts in their textbook. In this way, ICT is embedded within the design of each teacher’s lesson plan and pedagogy, rather than applied as an additional layer in the classroom. This project-based learning (PBL) allows them to use and adapt the learning within the local context.

ITE philosophy is rooted in the conviction that learners are not mere consumers of ICT resources made for them but are creative producers of ICT artefacts, and this shapes their learning and cultural expression. The Learners as Producers (LeaP) concept encompasses digital agency (Passey et al., 2018), which is central to ITE. The concept of digital agency claims teachers and learners use their competency, confidence, accountability and autonomy to adapt technology to suit their own and their community’s needs. The LeaP approach of ITE is also often referred to as constructivist use of technology in this book. The constructivist approach to the use of technology has been well-documented in the literature of learning sciences and technology. Learners should be actively engaged in constructing artefacts using technology for constructing knowledge (Papert & Harel, 1991; Jonassen’s, 1999). PBL and authentic learning environments lead to the development of higher-order thinking skills (Jonassen, 1999; Papert & Harel, 1991; Bagley & Hunter, 1992) and the ability to transfer these skills to newer contexts (Neo & Neo, 2010).

This ITE pedagogy was designed for upper primary education, mostly targeting the most marginalized sections, such as rural areas, including interior rural tribal areas and Muslim minority ghettos, and slums. In addition to government schools, the locations used are community learning centres and madrasas.

Students use ICT tools and applications to seek information, to construct and organize their learning, and to present their work. Examples of the work created by the students are as follows:

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Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of figures
• List of tables
• List of contributors
• Foreword
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• Glossary
• 1 Introduction to Integrated approach to Technology in Education
• 2 The evolution of ITE in India
• 3 Adoption and spread across geographies and cultural contexts
• ITE at scale, the Assam story
• A visit to Assam
• Life beyond the suitcase
• ITE breaking the barriers in the tribal pockets of Birbhum
• Revolutionising the madrasas of West Bengal
• Setting up in Bahraich, Uttar Pradesh
• Discovering rural India through ITE
• 4 Most celebrated activities: melas and camps
• 5 Workshops to digital badges: a dynamic journey of teacher professional development in ITE
• Emerging phases and models of teacher professional development (2012–2021)
• Master trainer teachers: stories from Assam
• Story of an outstanding outreach teacher
• Innovative adoption of technology in vocational education classroom
• Master trainer teachers: stories from Kolkata
• Testimonials of master trainers
• 6 Adaptation of ITE activities during COVID-19
• 7 Findings from outcome studies
• Afterword
• Annexure: ITE resources
• Index