Winnou - School and College Management Software, Hyderabad

This week's theme is Impact of Technology on Educational Sector. Technology has slowly entered the traditional and hallowed precincts of educational institutes. Agreed, the march into the school was slow due to various reasons, but it has been steadily gaining pace over the last few years and is now almost everywhere in a school. So what are the areas that it has touched and how has it changed them?

1. School Administration

2. School Curriculum / Lesson Plans

3. Examinations

4. Technology as a subject

5. Communications

School Administration

On a recent visit to one of the top ranked engineering college in Hyderabad, I got to see a few notebooks so large that they can probably be used as weapons to kill someone.. well, that is if one can lift them in time. These notebooks, or registers, as they are called are being used to house student admission, academic and attendance data. The college had made a few attempts to computerize the records earlier with mixed success. The weapons err.. the registers were still a fact of life for the administrative staff. The department head had now wisely decided that it was time to take them out of the way, and take a holistic view of bringing in computers along with corresponding software to manage the data. He opined that the productivity benefits of error free recording of data at the source, to be used on multiple reports for a variety of stakeholders was just impossible to resist. I couldn't agree with him more, especially when I was there as a vendor! Not just the records section, but while schools are business entities, it only helps to have the most current information at your fingertips – so that you can make the right decisions in time.

School curriculum / Lesson Plans

Last week, my kid who studies in third grade brought home a CD. He was proud to show it off to his sister who is one year younger than him and both of them immediately agreed that they share it. To my surprise, it included interactive study material that supplemented the topic that was being taught at school. The kids were mighty excited, and spent quite some time on it clicking their way through the study material. While we have to wait to see how the novelty wears off, I can see some benefits right away. When I grew up homework was the only way to supplement in-school learning – which ended up being a chore that we just couldn't get away from. But it really taught us much less than was expected. Computer Based Training (CBT) material was introduced in the corporate offices in the late 1990s to cut costs, and now I can see many on line learning tools being used in corporates. So why not in our primary schools?

Examinations

The first time I took an exam online was my GMAT in 1998 in Michigan, where we lived at that time. I really loved the way I could go online, schedule my exam date and time. Best of all, I get my result right after I click “Submit Exam” at the end. I still remember the way I took my GRE not too further back in 1992. It was supposed to be conducted only 4 times in a year – and you had to rush, wait in line to submit the application and pray to God that you were given an exam center in a city near you! It took only six short years for the change to happen. Now I see the same change happening in our schools in India. BITS Pilani entrance exam is conducted online, and one can schedule the exam based on preference. JNTU conducts many of its exams online today. Looks like technology is going to change the way we look at exams and their evaluation.

Technology as a subject

I guess this week is all about anecdotes. Just tells you how old or young I am. Anyway, the day our school principal bought a computer for school – he proudly showcased it for everyone who visited the school. If I remember right, I think he charged an extra tuition fee from each one of us – not that any of us ever got a chance to get close to it. But today, it is a completely different situation. My kids' school has a computer lab that is equipped with around 30 odd systems, all networked and connected to the Internet. They are taught how to use one right from their 1^st grade. Not that many 1^st graders need to taught – they already know their way around and can use a computer much better than many grand parents of today.

Communications

The way an educational institute communicates with its customers – the students and their parents – is at the cusp of a major change. Now my kids' school requires me to give them my updated email address along with my contact phone and residential address at the beginning of every year. There are schools that I know today that communicate with parents using SMS – attendance on SMS, test results on SMS, PTM notices and reminders on SMS and the list goes on. There are some schools, very few today, that have provided a portal for parents to login and monitor their student's performance or communicate with teachers. The numbers are increasing and every year many more are going online. Very soon, the good old Almanac or School Dairy may be history. As I said in my last newsletter, the day that school students carry a laptop to school and not a bunch of books in a bag is not too far.

I am sure there are many other ways that technology has influenced you as an educator than I can mention here. I would love to hear from you about your experience of technology on your way of life.

Next week: Essential 21^st century skills – are we inculcating them to our kids TODAY?

Game of the week: Math General @ http://www.edu4kids.com/index.php?page=12

Audience: Primary to Middle School

Theme: Work on the basics, with interactive feedback.