COMPUTERS FOR LEARNING: A student learning with the help of computer software in Coimbatore. –
COIMBATORE: Computer-aided learning is no longer a new concept in schools. With more and more schools in the city taking to this concept, the service providers in this field are experimenting with innovative techniques.
The latest is promoted by ’Amrita Learning’. Developed in collaboration with the Amrita University, this online educational service calls its package, ‘adaptive learning.’ It has software on Mathematics and English. “The lessons are very interactive and the visual element makes it very appealing to the children,” says Raghu Raman, Founder of Amrita Learning.
Though this system does not replace the conventional method of teaching, it supplements it, Mr. Raghu Raman says. “It greatly helps students in the primary level to be thorough with the concepts. The visual and audio elements reinforce what they learn,” he adds.
This method is useful in a classroom with a number of students as it can cater to slow learners as well as bright students. The content addresses students of the Kindergarten section to Class VI. It also contains a set of exercises.
The content has been prepared according to the NCERT syllabus. Thus the system greatly helps the teacher in getting the concepts across to the students more effectively, Mr. Raghu Raman observes.
The concept of teaching languages and subjects with the help of computer software was introduced in G.Ramasamy Naidu Matriculation Higher Secondary School early last year and the experiment was largely successful, says Seetha Poovaiah, Principal of the school.
The students showed greater interest in subjects which they initially found tiresome and spent longer hours in learning, she remarks. The software, with its rich audio and visual content helped students in retaining what they learnt for a longer time, she said.
Such software can even be used in home computers, says Mr.Raman. Since frequent tests and assessments are built into the programme, instant feedback is given to students on their own performance. They can measure their own progress and this would help teachers evaluate them too.
At home, the performance of their children can be monitored by the parents.
The programme is also being used at some schools in other parts of the country to administer the CBSE mandated Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE). Teachers can replace a large portion of paper-based CCE with computer based assessment.After the teacher teaches a set of topics in the classroom, students are immediately taken to the computer and evaluated on the topics taught. Students who have mastered one topic move on to the next level and those who have not mastered a topic are provided with more practice and automatically go through a retest on the same topic.
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