Policy Innovation team on their first visit to Orissa

The Policy Innovations team from Hyderabad was on visit to Orissa from 15th Jan through 17th Jan 2013. The notion was to conduct a study at pilot level on the effectiveness and impact of DE program at selected schools since its inception back in June 2011 through centralized Model. The team comprising of two members named as Naveen Mandva and Palaash went out on  visit to three DE schools in Cuttack on 15th Jan, where they interacted with the HM and the teachers regarding development in their teaching style as far as technology integration is concerned along with pedagogic component that has been mapped along with their curriculum. They wanted to identify the critical parameters that’s being practised to drive exercises like Lesson plans, TLMs, Student training and projects. In addition to that they interacted with students of different grades  and observed the presentations done by students on the projects they had prepared in group. The second day of their visit was at RNIASE, Cuttack. They provided couple of questions to the teachers who were present, regarding the benefit and challenges in DE training, that was followed by a meeting organised in the same premises and was chaired by the Operations Director, AIFT, Orissa. During the last day they paid a visit to Ghatipari High School and Gurunthi Nodal UPS from Ganjam Dist. They were quite happy with the overwhelming response from both the schools during their overall interaction. Now that the student training part has taken center stage, hence going forward the same indicator has to be strengthened for  bringing effectiveness in DE program while impacting lives, said the Policy Innovation team. 

Inter state visit of Karnataka DE team to Orissa from 7th through 10th Jan 2013

The Karnataka DE team, comprising of 3 members were on a inter state visit to Orissa from 7th through 10th Jan 2013. The objective of the visit was to observe the current DE model in Orissa, its implementation and the way the program has impacted lives of school children across the selected DE schools in rural and urban sectors. During their first day of visit, a meeting was arranged in Bhubaneswar Office in the presence of DE team members of Orissa, presided by Mr Subrat Sarkar, Operations Director, AIFT, Orissa. The meeting focused on importance, implementation processes and the ways to followup and track output at school levels while palnning out assessments in between in the centralized DE model. The members from Karnataka team shared about their DE model, since its inception, including the achievements at filed level so far.

 

           During the second day, they paid a visit to RNIASE, Cuttack and Beleswar Nodal UPS, Cuttack as part of their visit. They had a chance to interact with the School teachers who are part of DE training program in the particular batch during that phase. Various questions were posed by the team regarding progress in school level as far as student learning is concerned and student's contribution and participation. The basic pedagocic components being practised during class room transactions, lab transactions and while performing collaborative projects, added much importance to the appropriate way of integrating technology, said the team while observing a couple of lab transactions and a classroom transaction. During their third day of visit to the Khan nagar high School, Cuttack, the team had an interaction with the School teachers, in the presence of HM as part of focus group discussion. The positive impact of DE program through various tools including EDUKIT was demonstrated by the Students and was much appreciated. The second half of the day was crucial in discussing about the EDUBURNTU software package thats being used in almost all the Schools in Karnataka. Resources including videos and animations on different subjects were shown and explained by the team before they left for Karnataka in the end of the day. 

Interstate visit of Punjab DE team to Orissa on 3rd week Nov'2012

A DE team comprising of 6 members from Punjab were on a interstate visit to Orissa from 22nd Nov 2012 through 24th Nov 2012. The objective of the visit was to acknowledge the various aspects of technology integration in Punjab since its inception there, while understanding the centralized DE  model and its nuances that has been impacting lives in Orissa so far, in a combination of 104 schools that includes 52 Upper primary and 52 Secondary Schools. The team made it to the Ravenshaw Girl's School, Cuttack on 22nd Nov 2012, where they spared a few minutes interacting with the HM and the Teachers who are part of DE program regarding their views in implementing, imparting student training, and the initiatives they have been taking at present to sustain the CAL program post intervention. Also they had a chance to observe a classroom transaction as well as a lab transaction in the same school during their stay for near about two and half hours. During the second half of the day they made it to the Kunja bihari Jew High School, Cuttack and observed a classroom transaction. Efforts are being made to bring about the 21st century skills among children by practicing through pedagogic activity based methods and approaches that has been adopted by teachers which is inevitably need of the hour. Said the members from Punjab. The next day the team visited couple of schools in Ganjam Dist. Three of the team members made it to the Ex-Board UPS in Aska and the other group called on to the Gurunthi Nodal UPS, where in they interacted with children regarding their view and how far their level of understanding has gone up as far as their curriculum is concerned. The team was  excited indeed at the response they saw as students came forward in explaining about the projects they had performed in groups. During the last day of their visit, a meeting was organized at AIFT, BBSR office along with the team members of Orissa. The discussion happened to be quite meaningful as the Operations Director, Orissa focused on crucial aspects of  DE program that needs thorough attention while implementing and conducting an Impact evaluation assessment which is about to kick off in near future.