Many schools replacing textbooks with tablets

Mumbai: Flipping through textbooks and jotting points in notebooks may soon be a thing of the past. To match up with digital generation children, schools are beginning to think out of the box, beyond textbooks and blackboards.

Tablets will replace textbooks at four centres of VIBGYOR High Group of Schools from the next academic year. The school is introducing its digital curriculum for class V students. "VIDGET, the integrated curriculum, will be pre-loaded on tablets. The tablets consist of self-curated curriculum for seven subjects with interactive applications like videos, audio, animation, web-links and concept maps," said Kavita Sahay, director, school operations.

The application will be used for homework and assessment. "It will take off the load from teachers and students. Students can take assessments digitally and teachers will have less correction work," said Ramesh Karra, co-founder, IGNITOR Learning, which has developed the app for the school.

Many other schools here are also moving to tablet learning. Podar International School, Santacruz, went digital last year. The school used tablets for class VI to XII and plans to introduce it for lower classes this year. "Tablets have helped us in differentiation in assessment. We can give students tests according to their abilities. We can also share the best answers that a student writes with others in the class, which helps others answer better the next time," said director, Vandana Lulla.

Some schools are trying to strike a balance between technology and traditional methods. "We are integrating technology in classrooms but we are not doing it by replacing textbooks. Ours is an amalgamation of the traditional chalk and blackboard, and digital means like smart boards," said Suma Das, principal, Pawar Public School, Bhandup. Similar is the case at H V B Global Academy, Marine Drive.

Digitisation in the classroom is also helping schools reduce the weight of the bag. "The tablet weighs only 499gm. Students also have to carry notebooks, which means the school bag weight drastically reduces," said Sahay.

But Swati Popat Vats, president, Early Childhood Association, said, "Care must be taken that kids are not introduced to concepts through use of tablets. Students need to touch and feel to understand certain things. The tablets' blue light affects young children as they do not know the concept of blinking."

Source | Times of India | 8 April 2016

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