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Home > Finer Innovations in Smart Classes for Student...

Finer Innovations in Smart Classes for Student Engagement & Positive Learning Outcomes

A visual representation of how finer innovations in smart classes can effect a positive change in student engagement and learning outcomes
Finer Innovations in Smart Classes can go a long way in enhancing student engagement and learning outcomes

In recent years, government schools across India have witnessed a surge in smart classroom implementations. However, despite this progress, several challenges persist in this sector, highlighting the need for more refined and finer innovations in smart classes.

To effectively integrate digital solutions, it’s crucial to comprehensively identify these challenges. This process lays the groundwork for tailored solutions that address specific hurdles, ultimately facilitating the seamless integration of digital tools in Indian schools. Addressing these challenges is the first step towards enhancing student engagement and achieving better educational outcomes through finer innovations in smart classes.

Challenges that Propel the Need for Finer Innovations in Smart Classes

A visual representation of the challenges that propel the need for finer innovations in smart classes
Challenges that propel the need for finer innovations in smart classes

Infrastructure challenges

Government schools in India often encounter infrastructure and resource challenges when implementing smart classes. These challenges range from inadequate access to electricity and internet connectivity to insufficient funds for purchasing and maintaining digital devices. Apart from this, the availability of trained teachers to effectively utilise smart class technology remains a concern. 

Availability of Quality Content that Drives Regular Usage

While the availability of digital content is no longer a primary concern for government schools in India, the challenge lies in accessing quality and relevant content. Curriculum-aligned and curated content, especially in local languages, is not always easily available. Engaging and relevant content is crucial for driving usage and ensuring that the installation of smart classes yields meaningful impact. 

Psychological Disconnect that leads to lack of usage

The psychological disconnect among teachers to use digital solutions in government schools in India often leads to the underutilization of smart classes. Many teachers are not accustomed to using laptops and desktops, lacking familiarity and comfort with these technologies. Consequently, they may feel hesitant or insecure about incorporating smart classes into their teaching practices. The lack of psychological comfort with digital tools hinders their effective integration into the classroom, resulting in underutilization.

Effective Teacher Training

The lack of effective teacher training poses a significant challenge for the successful utilization of smart classes in government schools across India. Without adequate training on how to integrate smart class technology into their lesson plans and school routines, teachers may struggle to leverage these resources effectively. Without proper guidance, teachers may not fully understand how to utilize the features of smart classes to enhance teaching and learning experiences in the classroom.

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Maintenance and Sustainability

Maintenance and sustainability present significant challenges for the usage of smart classes in schools. Ensuring that the technology remains functional and up-to-date requires regular maintenance and troubleshooting, which can be resource-intensive for schools, particularly those with limited budgets. Additionally, sustainability concerns arise regarding the long-term viability of smart class infrastructure, including the availability of funds for repairs and upgrades. Without adequate resources allocated for maintenance and sustainability, smart class initiatives may struggle to maintain their effectiveness over time, hindering their ability to support teaching and learning in schools effectively.

Finer Innovations in Smart Classes by iPrep

A visual representation of the finer innovations in smart classes introduced by iPrep
Finer innovations in Smart Classes by iPrep

In the educational landscape of India, the government along with CSRs, NGOs and service providers have been relentlessly working to bridge educational gaps. Drawing from extensive collaboration with leading NGOs, CSR organizations and state governments, iDream Education has implemented sustainable digital solutions in schools across India. Through iterative innovation, we have addressed practical challenges on the ground, particularly focusing on enhancing student engagement and fostering positive learning outcomes. Below, we highlight some of our finer innovations in smart classes.

Android-based Offline Solution

Despite the ubiquity of digital technology in our lives, its penetration varies across regions and socio-economic groups. While people in remote areas are familiar with phones and TVs, the integration of technology in classrooms differs. An Android-based offline solution offers familiarity, breaking psychological barriers. Teachers and students are more comfortable with Android devices, akin to smartphones. This comfort fosters acceptance and ease of use, crucial for effective classroom integration. Therefore, we prioritized making our digital solutions compatible with Android instead of focusing only on regular hardware. Our experience has demonstrated a remarkable surge in usage upon introducing Android. Additionally, Android-based systems entail lower maintenance, enhancing their appeal.  Thus, our Android-based smart classes that bridge psychological gaps are an important example of finer innovations in smart classes.

Integration of Smart Classes into Lesson Plans

Mere installation of smart TVs in classrooms is not sufficient. It is essential to ensure meaningful integration of technology into teaching routines. Along with smart classes we offer continuous support and guidance to teachers to effectively incorporate these tools into their lesson plans. Without such integration, the impact of smart classes remains superficial. We ensure that digital tools can supplement teachers’ capacity to create engaging classrooms rather than replace them. 

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Continuous Capacity Building

iDream Education is committed to empowering teachers through continuous training and support. We engage with educators on the ground, incorporating their feedback to facilitate effective integration of digital solutions into classroom teaching. To ensure sustainability, we implement scalable systems like the cascade model of teacher training. For instance, in our smart class initiative in schools of East Jaintia Hills, Meghalaya, we trained master trainers who subsequently equipped other teachers, ensuring widespread adoption and meaningful impact. This approach fosters ongoing capacity building, driving long-term success in education programs.

Bilingual Content

Our digital solutions, including smart classes, feature curriculum-aligned bilingual content, catering to the linguistic diversity prevalent in remote districts of India. Recognizing the importance of the local language in education, we ensure that our content is accessible in both the regional dialect and English. This approach facilitates better understanding and engagement among students and teachers, who predominantly use their mother tongue in classrooms. By offering content in both languages, we strive to enhance comprehension and ultimately improve educational outcomes in these underserved areas.

Multi-category Content

Our content, spanning ebooks, videos, simulations, and practicals, offers versatility to accommodate various teaching methodologies and cater to diverse learning styles among students. For teachers, this means the flexibility to integrate different instructional approaches into their lessons, whether they prefer traditional lectures, hands-on activities, or multimedia presentations. Similarly, students can engage with the material in ways that align with their individual preferences and strengths, be it through visual aids, interactive simulations, or practical experiments.

Reports for Data-driven Monitoring and Timely Interventions

Once smart classes are installed, we also try to ensure that these are consistently used. We achieve this through ongoing monitoring of data using reports and analytics features of smart classes. These reports enable stakeholders and implementers to assess the effectiveness of the implemented solutions and provide timely assistance. By leveraging these reports, it becomes easier to identify gaps and challenges that may impede proper usage. This is one of our significant finer innovations in smart classes.

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Ongoing Maintenance & Support

We provide ongoing maintenance and support for our smart classes, ensuring their effective utilization and uninterrupted teaching and learning experiences. Our dedicated team offers timely assistance to address any technical issues, optimize resource utilization, and ensure smooth operation of the smart class infrastructure. By offering continuous support, we ensure that teachers can rely on our smart classes as valuable teaching tools.

Here’s an Inspiring Story of Innovation around Smart Classes led by iDream Education

iDream Education introduced android-based plug-and-play Smart Classes in the schools of the remote East Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya. However, despite their installation, their usage did not meet expectations, and learning outcomes did not show the anticipated improvement during the initial phase. To address this issue, we decided to assess the students’ learning levels through a Baseline assessment. The process was digitized and simplified using a tablet preloaded with offline assessment forms. 

Given the challenging terrain of East Jaintia Hills, we devised a mobile digital library solution – a suitcase with slots to accommodate the tablets and charge easily was designed, equipped with wheels for easy mobility. 

Subsequent analysis of the Baseline Assessment forms revealed a significant learning gap among students. Over 90% students were performing below their current grade level by 3-4 grades. These findings shed light on the underlying reasons for the initial implementation’s lack of success. They helped us take appropriate measures to ensure the effective usage of the smart classes. 

It was decided that a bridge course be designed to tell the teachers what topics to teach from junior grades before beginning to teach the topic at the current grade. As students go through these videos from junior grades, it will help them cover the foundations. This will lead to a better understanding of the topic they need to study in their current grade. A Comprehensive Bridge Course was prepared for each school by studying their academic plans and baseline assessment results. We implemented the bridge course leveraging both Smart Classes and Tablets.

Conclusion

While the installation of smart classrooms represents a significant step towards modernizing education, addressing the underlying hurdles is crucial for maximizing their impact. Through iterative innovation Dream Education has introduced solutions to bridge educational gaps and foster positive learning outcomes. From Android-based smart classes to bilingual content and ongoing teacher training, our approach emphasizes adaptability, accessibility, and sustainability. These finer innovations in smart classes are poised to spearhead a significant shift in the usage and effectiveness of smart classrooms.


Dr. Ashrukona Deka, Manager of Content Writing and Marketing at iDream Education, is driven by a passion for addressing profound issues that shape education and digital innovation through her writing.

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