| Type | Government Agency |
|---|---|
| Acronyms | IT@School |
| Head | K.Anvar Sadath Executive Director |
| Status | Active |
| Established | 2001 |
| website | [http://www.itschool.gov.in |
| parent | Department of General and Higher Education (Kerala) |
| Subsidiary(s) | ViCTERS |
| Wikimedia Commons: |
IT@School |
The IT @ School Project, is an Information Technology project under the Department of General Education, Government of Kerala in India. Launched in 2001, the Project has remodeled conventional teaching methodologies in classrooms through the use of IT. The project, is being implemented in over 12,000 schools in the State of Kerala, and also in schools Mahé and Lakshadweep, and the Middle East which follow the State syllabus. The Project is now been implemented from 5th to 12th Standards in the State covering as many as 12000 schools. An estimated 50 lakhs students and 2 lakhs teachers are now part of this project. it has a network of 160 Master Trainers and 5600 School IT Co-ordinators statewide, who are school teachers themselves.The project also conducts specialized training for visually challenged teachers in the State.[1] The Project functions on Free Software platform.
Contents |
IT@School is the nodal agency for implementing EDUSAT network and runs an exclusive channel for education called ViCTERS (Virtual Classroom Technology on Edusat for Rural Schools), which is now aired for 17 hours a day- from 6am to 11pm.India's epoch making first broadband network on EDUSAT for schools ViCTERS (Virtual Classroom Technology on Edusat for Rural Schools) - inaugurated by A P J Abdul Kalam the President of India on 28 July 2005 in Thiruvananthapuram. ViCTERS offers interactive virtual classrooms that enable the school students as well as the teachers to directly communicate with the subject experts and educationists. It also ensures the dissemination of high quality education to the students and teachers from the original source. Various programmes telecast through ViCTERS are as follows;
The Project also engaged in giving training in Animation movie making skills entirely based on Free and Open Source Software such as KToon, Gimp, OpenShot Video Editor and Audacity.[2]
Some of the free software applications developed or customized by the Project include the following.
The project also engaged in organizing State-wide awareness campaign,exposing the everyday computer user to the possibilities and advantages of using Linux-based software.Resource persons of the IT@School Project in these sessions, demonstrate how there is a free software alternative to each and every computer application that an average user requires on a daily basis.[6]
‘School Wiki’—modelled on the Wikipedia—attempts to foster the culture of collaborative learning in Kerala’s schools.The portal named www.schoolwiki.in provides a comprehensive knowledge database of all schools in the state. The innovative portal include the learning outcomes of students derived from group activities as well as various educational contents prepared by the teacher groups.This collaborative website is completely Prepared in Malayalam All High Schools in the state include their educational contents and other details in their allotted space. Each school would be able to enter details such as basic elementary data, their historical references, statistics, infrastructure details, details of alumni, school websites and blogs, various clubs and forums, class magazines, supporting images and videos. Apart from these contents, analytical language projects such as “Pradeshika patram – [School Newsletter]”, “Nadodi Vijnanakoshan – [Local Encylcopedia]” and “Ente Nadu- [My Village]”, which are part of learning Malayalam language, would also be entrusted to all students in Std 8, 9 and 10 respectively, which, under the guidance of language teachers, would be completed and the reports and findings would enrich the knowledge base of Schoolwiki. Schoolwiki, also feature an “ICT Learning Corner”, which include the various contents prepared by schools for all subjects in ICT enabled education. By facilitating the students with easy access and modification of all contents in Schoolwiki, this project also ensure the participation of general public including school Alumni[7]
IT@School project to upgrade infrastructure in schools