Sensitization workshop on CAL Program held in OPEPA

A two day meeting on the Computer Aided Learning (CAL) Program was organised in OPEPA(SSA), Bhubaneswar on the 21^st and 22^nd of May, 2013. The meeting was chaired by Mr Pravat Mishra, Asst. Director, MIS and Mr Subrat Sarkar, Operations Director, DE Odisha, AIF comprising members from DE team along with the 30 CAL Assistants from all the respective Districts of Odisha. The meeting commenced with a welcome note by Ms Juthika Acharya, Programmer (CAL), OPEPA. The Connectix team made a presentation on SUSE Linux operating system with specific focus on installation and trouble shooting. This was followed by a presentation on the genesis, evolution and impact of the DE program by Mr Subrat Sarkar, along with a video clip. The meeting basically focused on the implementation plan and strategy for the current academic year.

On the 22^nd, Mr S.K. Bhol, Technical Director from NIC (National Informatics Centre), Odisha, attended the meeting and discussed in details the base line study to be  undertaken by AIF for the current set of schools. He also highlighted the importance of research and evaluation, focusing on learning outcomes.

CSR Partnerships Training Workshop organized by PIC in KSRM Campus, Bhubaneswar

A two day training workshop on Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was organised by the PIC (Partner in change) team in the KIIT School of Rural Management (KSRM) campus at Bhubaneswar from 22.05.2013 through 23.05.2013. Ms Laura Donovan and Mr Bhomik Shah from PIC along with Prof. L.K. Vaswani and Prof. Sumita sindhi from KSRM, addressed the participants from different NGOs.

The following points were discussed as part of the meeting:

1. CSR practices and SROI (Social return on investment) theory
2. CSR Business and stakeholders
3. The scope for NGOs in CSR partnerships
4. The evolving CSR ecosystem in India
5. DPE (Dept. for Public Enterprises) Guidelines
6. Business mapping for CSR partnerships
7. Concept note writing and Capability Statement

DE Review cum refresher residential workshop held in Gopalpur

A three day  review cum refresher workshop was held in Swosti palm resorts, Gopalpur from 23.03.13 through 25.03.13. The basic focus of the workshop was to design the implementation plan for future expansion of the DE program from 2013 on wads. Every body had a chance to learn the fundamental nuances of different kinds of Mindset while editing videos using software like Adobe premier element, Windows movie maker, Adobe photo shop etc. A fourteen members from the DE team participated in the meeting.

Meeting organised with the Director, TE & SCERT to brief on DE Program

A meeting was organised to brief the Govt functionaries on DE Program in SCERT, on 20.03.2013. The meeting was chaired by Prof. Nihar Ranjan Patnaik, Director,TE & SCERT, Odisha and presided by Sri Subrat Sarkar, Ops Director, DE Odisha, AIF. The meeting basically focused on the significance of the DE program and its impact since its inception in 2004 and concluded with the future expansion road map across the six districts of Odisha, for the academic year 2013-14 on wards.  Dr. Dibakar Sarangi, SR. Lecture, Mrs Bijaya Patra, Dy.Director, Mrs Salila Sethi, Dy. Director, academics and the members of AIF participated in the meeting.

The MHRD team visits Odisha for Inspection

A six member team from MHRD (Ministry of Human Resources Development) was on an inspection trip to SCERT, Odisha from 11.03.13 through 16.03.13 . A JRM (Joint review mission), chaired by Dr Harekrushna Sahu, Principal, RNIASE, Cuttack was held during the visit of the delegates on 12.03.13. As part of the meeting the delegates were briefed about the DE program and its objectives including the achievements as far as positively impacting student learning is concerned while empowering teachers with additional tools and resources with the help of technology integration. 

Impact Evaluation of DE Program by Policy Innovations team

An Impact evaluation on DE program has successfully been carried out by the Policy innovations team across the three Districts, during their second visit to Odisha, from 21^st Feb 2013 through 23^rd Feb 2013. The assessment was done between six schools spread over the three Districts such as Cuttack, Ganjam and Bargarh comprising of three DE Schools or Treatment schools and three non-DE schools or Control schools.

DE Review meeting held in SSA office on 18th Feb 2013

DE Review meeting was held in SSA office, on the 18^th of Feb 2013. The meeting was chaired by the State Project Director. Additional Director Planning SSA, Assistant Director MIS SSA, Operations Director DE, AIFT participated in the meeting. A status update on the DE Program was provided by the AIFT team. Expansion plan along with a concrete road map were also discussed as part of the meeting.