Bangalore: At first glance, she is highly-motivated. A master trainer (MT) coached by the Intel Teach programme, Lalitha Bilgi is now a successful social entrepreneur. She runs Swayam, a highly-motivated parent support group based in Bangalore that works to educate and empower children with special abilities.
Swayam was born out of Lalitha Bilgi’s strong determination to work towards empowering differentlyabled children, after the birth of her son Kushal, who has Down’s Syndrome. So after her training as an MT, she decided to use her skills as a teacher.
Swayam is now engaged in a slew of activities to make learning fun for differentlyabled children. They are trained to scan photos and signatures of employees, which are then uploaded for online submission of declaration of forms to the Employees’ State Insurance Corporation. They currently do this for a Bangalore-based BPO.
Like Lalitha, many others have benefited from Intel Teach Programme, which helps classroom teachers effectively integrate technology to enhance student learning.
Lalitha feels her exposure to the programme gave her the impetus to be successful in her pursuit. “I realized the realm of technology does not limit itself to downloading information from the internet. It also gives a platform to upload our opinions, raise concerns over issues and improve them. This led me to do something to empower children with special needs,’’ she says.
Launched in February 2000 in India, the programme has impacted over 1 lakh teachers across 19 states, and 73 teacher education universities, 10 State Councils for Education Research and Training (SCERT) and Central government associations like Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS), Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and National Council for Teacher Education (NCTE).
Intel believes students everywhere deserve to have the skills necessary to become the next generation of innovators. And to be successful in a global knowledge economy, young people need to develop 21st century skills like digital literacy, problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration. It requires that they use technology to access the extraordinary wealth of knowledge available through the internet.
KEY RESULTS
Independent evaluation of the programme
showed a strong success rate.
89% of teachers report using technology with their students.
91% of the teachers said students were more ‘motivated and involved in the
lesson’ 81% of teachers reported that ‘student projects showed more in-depth understanding’ than other comparable work.
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT COURSES
Whether a country has excellent internet or very limited connectivity, the programme is designed to enable teachers to support 21st century learning with project-based approaches in the classroom. Getting started course: Introduce classroom software productivity tools and student-centred approaches in class Essentials course: Face-to-face training on how to integrate technology in existing classroom curricula to promote student learning.
Thinking with technology course: On effective technology integration skills using online thinking tools to enhance students’ higher-order thinking.
Skills for success course: Training on student curriculum that develops digital literacy, critical thinking, problemsolving and collaboration skills
source: TOI