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Mobile app is learning tool: ZP teachers turn tech-savvy to help students
Nine-year-old Saani Jadhav is glued to her father’s smartphone after she is home from school. No, she is not playing games or watching cartoons.
Nine-year-old Saani Jadhav is glued to her father’s smartphone after she is home from school. No, she is not playing games or watching cartoons.
Saani, a resident of Desalepada, Shahpur, instead browses educational applications recommended by her teachers, which help her understand her syllabus and make revisions easy. Saani is a Class 3 student of zilla parishad school in Shahpur, 50 km from Thane, where such digital learning platforms are gaining popularity.
The idea to make learning simple for school students by using digital platform is the brainchild of ZP teachers of Thane district. The teachers upload videos of poems, stories, science practical, history lessons or mathematical equations online in a simple format.
They make use of applications, social networking sites or blogs among others to reach out to students. The digital platforms have helped students of ZP schools to understand the concepts better, as most of their parents aren’t educated enough to help them with studies nor can they afford private coaching.
Saani said, “It is important to get the pronunciation right while reciting poems. However, my parents are not well-educated to guide me so I rely on videos posted online by other teachers. This helps me understand better and solves my doubts.”
The teachers from ZP schools across the district have connected through common groups. Each teacher uploads information according to the subject expertise, which is then circulated to all the schools.
Teachers are uploading poems, stories, detailed science experiments, additional questions and answers for students to learn and understand better. “Initially, we started off with audio recording on WhatsApp. We would upload stories and poems that would be shared with teachers across the district. Teachers would also share it with students and as we started getting a good response, more teachers joined with different topics from the syllabus,” said Alankar Warghade, teacher at the zilla parishad school.
Another teacher, Pandurang Bhoir, has been giving detailed instructions about science experiments in video format. “Children find science interesting and they develop a curiosity related to all the different formulas and theories which is great for young minds.”
In most ZP schools, only one teacher is allocated to one class and might not be an expert in all the subjects. Thus, teachers also use these applications to explain the concept to the students by playing the videos in the digital classrooms.
“Not all teachers can explain both science and languages well. Not all schools have equipment to make learning fun. However, every school has a provision for a digital classroom which can be used to show videos and make it easier for children to learn and understand,” added Bhoir.
Teachers have helped each other to learn to operate the applications and also provide details related to the videos or audio explanation.
“We not only show the videos in classrooms but they are also helpful in some remote areas where it becomes difficult for children to reach school during monsoon. They can revise or learning process through the videos. When uploaded on websites or applications, even old videos can be viewed making it an archive of the entire syllabus for students,” said Mangla Doiphode, teacher from zilla parishad school in Shahapur.
Students are excited to use phone app. “The videos help me understand better and clear my doubts. Some of them also have additional questions which are helpful,” said Vansh Naik, Class 6 student of zilla parishad school near Titwala.
Inspired by the efforts taken by teachers to reach out to students, the Maharashtra government launched an application called Diksha. It has all details and additional information related to the syllabus of each class. On the last page of every chapter, a QR code is published which if scanned will lead to a detailed and informative page on that chapter. This was initiated on a trial basis in schools however it will be implemented from the next academic year.
“We have got a good response from students and teachers and we will continue it for the upcoming academic year. We will rope in some teachers who have worked to build the app to guide us,” said an officer from the state government’s education department.
