Summary – DSH is still in action and developing with the aim of, Improving education for slum and rural schools in India by the distribution of recorded live lessons by leading grass route professionals. This is then combined with local teachers who ‘mediate’ the video lesson.
This results in improved teaching standards and offers local teachers to develop their own practice by collaborating and being actively involved in delivering standardised video lessons.
It offers flexibility in its implementation to account for various levels of access to technology such as internet access and/or use of DVD. The project also includes the provision of the most basic technologies such as TV, DVD and batteries to allow basic level access as a minimum.
Pedagogy - "mediation-based pedagogy" refers to the need of placing a teacher (or a "mediator") in between the students and the TV. DSH www.digitalstudyhall.in
On checking their website www.digitalstudyhall.in , at last count they had developed over 2000 videos covering ‘curriculum, special education and teacher training’ subjects.
It was also very positive to see the development of going beyond the general educational needs but also developing resources for Information, Advice and Guidance on life issues such as Sexual Abuse and Child Marriage to offer 2 examples listed on the site. Additional and beyond the original academic project, DSH runs a ‘Gender Empowerment’ programme ‘to reach 3800 adolescent girls from underserved communities’.
It details further that it has moved into collaboration with the organisation ‘State Council of Education and Training’ (SCERT), where it is running a capacity building project.
It emphasises its’ aim to contribute to the ‘Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education’.
DSH is designed to work as a ‘decentralized network of hubs and spokes’. Therefore, for this model to succeed it requires a significant numbers of partners to meet local needs. It offers a framework that is flexible enough to accommodate the diversification, both culturally and in language that a large country such as India holds.
In their own admission, the research project is still young so not yet ready to be ‘replicated or deployed as a model’ and they are in the process of a thorough review and evaluation.
DSH is part of the ‘Study Hall Foundation’ which believes in, ‘Building a self is the most important part of the education. We believe that there has to be a relationship between self and the world, a relationship of mutual respect and care’. www.studyhallfoundation.org
There are a number of articles and forums of debate for the use of collaborative recorded and live interaction. In 2008, Shalni Galati (University of Oxford), issued a e-journal on ‘Technology-Enhanced Learning in Developing Nations: A Review’, where other examples had been identified. One of which was in ‘1968 Mexico - Telesecundaria. A form of ‘televised lessons in distant classrooms in the presence of a teacher, to extend lower secondary schooling to its rural and far-flung communities’. This has some commonality to the DSH project.
Since 1994 this project has used satellite systems which has increased delivery costs but in 2000 Perraton still evaluated it as a ‘fruitful alternative modelling to schooling’.
In 1996, Telesecundaria was rolled out on a trial basis to: Costa Rica; El Salvador; Guetemala; Honduras and Panama. Usage figures is listed below from the Ministry of Public Education of Mexico.
On reflection, my only concern over this 'mediated' delivery is the motivation and enthusiasm it offers teachers in these rural settings to develop their own innovative delivery. I intend to read further into this to see what the projects objectives beyond this first phase and if there is a 'phase 2'. It may be that they have a way to integrate experienced and highly skilled teachers to be involved in the hubs and spokes to support less experienced teachers. This is referenced in the article 'Minds on Fire' (John Seeley Brown and Richard P. Adler) that covered examples of 'legitimate peripheral participation'.
05/02/14 - Digital Study Hall Project
Digital Study Hall.
Summary – DSH is still in action and developing with the aim of, Improving education for slum and rural schools in India by the distribution of recorded live lessons by leading grass route professionals. This is then combined with local teachers who ‘mediate’ the video lesson.
This results in improved teaching standards and offers local teachers to develop their own practice by collaborating and being actively involved in delivering standardised video lessons.
It offers flexibility in its implementation to account for various levels of access to technology such as internet access and/or use of DVD. The project also includes the provision of the most basic technologies such as TV, DVD and batteries to allow basic level access as a minimum.
Pedagogy - "mediation-based pedagogy" refers to the need of placing a teacher (or a "mediator") in between the students and the TV. DSH www.digitalstudyhall.in
On checking their website www.digitalstudyhall.in , at last count they had developed over 2000 videos covering ‘curriculum, special education and teacher training’ subjects.
It was also very positive to see the development of going beyond the general educational needs but also developing resources for Information, Advice and Guidance on life issues such as Sexual Abuse and Child Marriage to offer 2 examples listed on the site. Additional and beyond the original academic project, DSH runs a ‘Gender Empowerment’ programme ‘to reach 3800 adolescent girls from underserved communities’.
It details further that it has moved into collaboration with the organisation ‘State Council of Education and Training’ (SCERT), where it is running a capacity building project.
It emphasises its’ aim to contribute to the ‘Millennium Development Goal of universal primary education’.
DSH is designed to work as a ‘decentralized network of hubs and spokes’. Therefore, for this model to succeed it requires a significant numbers of partners to meet local needs. It offers a framework that is flexible enough to accommodate the diversification, both culturally and in language that a large country such as India holds.
In their own admission, the research project is still young so not yet ready to be ‘replicated or deployed as a model’ and they are in the process of a thorough review and evaluation.
DSH is part of the ‘Study Hall Foundation’ which believes in, ‘Building a self is the most important part of the education. We believe that there has to be a relationship between self and the world, a relationship of mutual respect and care’. www.studyhallfoundation.org
There are a number of articles and forums of debate for the use of collaborative recorded and live interaction. In 2008, Shalni Galati (University of Oxford), issued a e-journal on ‘Technology-Enhanced Learning in Developing Nations: A Review’, where other examples had been identified. One of which was in ‘1968 Mexico - Telesecundaria. A form of ‘televised lessons in distant classrooms in the presence of a teacher, to extend lower secondary schooling to its rural and far-flung communities’. This has some commonality to the DSH project.
Since 1994 this project has used satellite systems which has increased delivery costs but in 2000 Perraton still evaluated it as a ‘fruitful alternative modelling to schooling’.
In 1996, Telesecundaria was rolled out on a trial basis to: Costa Rica; El Salvador; Guetemala; Honduras and Panama. Usage figures is listed below from the Ministry of Public Education of Mexico.
Country
Schools
Teachers
Students
Groups
Telesecundaria Costa Rica
50
117
2500
120
Telesecundaria El Salvador
96
166
5057
288
Telesecundaria Guatemala
384
786
20564
939
Telesecundaria Honduras
37
125
3118
111
Telesecundaria Panama
5
24
367
18
(2013). Telesecundaria.
On reflection, my only concern over this 'mediated' delivery is the motivation and enthusiasm it offers teachers in these rural settings to develop their own innovative delivery. I intend to read further into this to see what the projects objectives beyond this first phase and if there is a 'phase 2'. It may be that they have a way to integrate experienced and highly skilled teachers to be involved in the hubs and spokes to support less experienced teachers. This is referenced in the article 'Minds on Fire' (John Seeley Brown and Richard P. Adler) that covered examples of 'legitimate peripheral participation'.
Resources
Digital Study Hall. (2014). What We Do. Available: http://digitalstudyhall.in/what_we_do.php. Last accessed 5th Feb 2014.
Shalni Gulati . (2008). Technology-Enhanced Learning in Developing Nations: A Review’. Available: http://www.irrodl.org/index.php/irrodl/article/viewArticle/477/1012. Last accessed 5th Feb 2014
Study Hall Education Foundation. (2014). Awards and Achievements. Available: http://www.studyhallfoundation.org/awards_achievements.php. Last accessed 5th Feb 2014
Wikipedia. (2013). Telesecundaria. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telesecundaria. Last accessed 5th Feb 2014.