Sikshana Technology in Education Program
Introduction
STEP is currently implemented in 362 rural Govt. schools around Bengaluru, Karnataka and rural Govt. schools around Pune, Maharashtra. STEP is geared towards motivating schools to engage and integrate technology in their daily teaching and learning processes. The model thus employs a dual approach which builds the basic ICT (Information Communication Technology) and 21st century skills in students and empowers teachers to leverage technology in the classrooms in an experiential manner. The design of this program ensures optimized usage of laptops by the students’ groups and teachers, as everyone gets to use it on a rotation basis.
STEP has two components namely:
- Digital Literacy
- Technology Integrated Teaching
Digital Literacy
Students from 4th to 8th grades work on group based projects that require the use of technology. The approach aims to deliver not only ICT skills, but also enhance their research skills & critical thinking, which are the 21st century skills that students can build on. As part of this, Students of grades 4th and 5th work on a single, year-long project under the guidance of Sikshana’s staff with teachers teaching & supporting them. Whereas, for grades 6th through 8th, student groups work independently on curriculum aligned projects with guidance from teachers and Sikshana mentors.
Technology Integrated Teaching
In addition to building and enhancing the basic ICT and 21st century skills in students, the “Technology Integrated Teaching” piece aims to motivate teachers to take greater ownership and use technology in the classroom. Schools are equipped with an “Offline Content Package” that contains open source, curriculum aligned, audio visual content, which the teacher can use in the classroom to enrich the students’ learning experience. The content is hosted through a local server, installed on the desktops (if already present in the schools) or on the laptops provided by Sikshana.
Monitoring & Evaluation
Sikshana evaluates STEP with analytical measures of success for
both teachers and students at various levels. Sikshana will measure and report the
impact of its work by assessing improvement in skills (viz. planning, research,
organizing and analysis) achieved between a baseline assessment conducted at the
beginning and an endline assessment at the end of the year. We will also provide
a quarterly update of progress.
Progress will be measured through metrics defined for
teacher & students’ group engagement, effort & involvement of students’ groups in
project work and usage of STEP planners & devices.
Impact:
Impact through maximizing utilization of existing resources is the core to our philosophy. Sikshana expects to enable 70% of children and atleast one teacher from each school to actively participate in STEP thereby enhancing skills specified above.