Stories that Inspire

The Context

E-learning is the buzz word of the day. Extensive and excellent content has been developed which is not only purchased by schools but also donated to schools in rural areas. There are also e-learning programs conducted by Education-based enterprises. The school at Kosbad, where team E1E1 launched project Vidya, was donated with the digital learning material with Computer and a Projector. The school also subscribed to online e-learning programs. However, there were some obstacles.

Teachers were so occupied with regular teaching and administrative reporting that they did not have time to use the e-learning material. Students were unfamiliar with the computers and did not have the capability on their own to assimilate the concepts. They came from a different background, and as such, they needed the physical presence of the teacher to explain concepts to them.

There was a scarcity of teachers, people from urban areas who wanted to supplement the teaching faculty, found it hard to commute to the school. We believe that e-teaching is the need of the day.

Interactive E-teaching pilot

Considering the constraints mentioned above, E1E1 launched the interactive e-teaching pilot. It was a hybrid approach. Concepts were taught in person, and then the remote lectures over the computer-internet would be used for revision and assimilation.

An e-teaching facility was set up with a webcam, speakers and microphones for a computer connected to the internet. It took a couple of sessions to make the students familiar with the camera, microphone and attend the web meeting. At the other end, teachers were also trained to give a presentation and conduct a web meeting. This took around a month of preparation.

Later, an interactive lecture was conducted from Mumbai, which was attended by students at Kosbad Dahanu, which is a distance of about 150 km away. Through the remote sessions, teachers from Mumbai could explain concepts, ask questions. Students would raise hands, use microphone and answer. The interactive sessions were educative and also fun for the students. 

Takeaway

Interactive e-teaching session combined the use of digital material, which could be customized on the spot to cater to the level of students. A concept could be explained in the language students understood, using examples, they could relate to.

We intend to institutionalize this method along with activity based learning for Project Vidya. All the lessons will be made available on our E1E1 website as we prepare them.

We are inviting all of you to join this mission. You can sit at home, and do just a couple of hours interactive e-teaching, sitting in front of your computer anywhere in the world. You need not just teach regular classroom syllabus, but you can read out stories, have interactive discussions about these stories, help students to analyse situations, characters, reactions etc. You can talk about the place you reside. Expand their world… Talk about cleanliness, healthcare... You choose the topic you want, its all open to your imagination…

Join E1E1 to contribute with your intellect and experience to Project Vidya…