Changes

The intention of the language lab was not merely read the stories by themselves and check for reading comprehension, but to enable an immersive language experience. Customized digital resources have been developed based on select stories in order to facilitate interaction in English. Stories from Pratham books’ ''[https://storyweaver.org.in/ Storyweaver]'' have been used and some have been repurposed to create audio-visual resources in local languages using FOSS tools like Xerte, Audacity and Kdenlive to help apply a multilingual approach to teaching. Some of the activities included in this module are based on  KITE’s E-Language Lab software (an initiative by the Kerala Education Department). They include themes such as empathy, teamwork, managing emotions, and other interpersonal skills. The digital audio-visual resources contain level-appropriate listening and reading components, as well as assessments based on comprehension, vocabulary and grammar which can be used by learners individually or in groups, so that children can then respond according to their own language proficiency level and cognitive ability.

The intention of the language lab was not merely read the stories by themselves and check for reading comprehension, but to enable an immersive language experience. Customized digital resources have been developed based on select stories in order to facilitate interaction in English. Stories from Pratham books’ ''[https://storyweaver.org.in/ Storyweaver]'' have been used and some have been repurposed to create audio-visual resources in local languages using FOSS tools like Xerte, Audacity and Kdenlive to help apply a multilingual approach to teaching. Some of the activities included in this module are based on  KITE’s E-Language Lab software (an initiative by the Kerala Education Department). They include themes such as empathy, teamwork, managing emotions, and other interpersonal skills. The digital audio-visual resources contain level-appropriate listening and reading components, as well as assessments based on comprehension, vocabulary and grammar which can be used by learners individually or in groups, so that children can then respond according to their own language proficiency level and cognitive ability.

'''Cluster meetings- NB'''

As part of the TIIE program implementation in the Bengaluru South 3 block, IT for Change designed and conducted a digital literacy capacity building workshop. This was  to all the CRPs/BRPs/BIERTs in Bengaluru south 3 block. The objectives of the workshop were to assist these professionals in effectively using Free and Open Source (FOSS) digital tools in their everyday work, such as collecting data from schools, sharing resources with schools, creating resources for teacher development programs and establishing mobile-based communities of teachers and CRPs to discuss academic work and share IT for changes inclusive education-related resources created as part of the classroom intervention in five schools in the 2022-23 academic year.

Sharing inclusive strategies in teaching few concepts in Mathematics and Implementation of Language lab and in the Cluster Meetings:

During the workshop rround 25 participants attended. All participants actively engaged and explored a variety of digital tools and resources related to inclusive education. In addition to the digital tools explored in the workshop, the CRPs and BRPs are eager to explore and share the multi-lingual language lab resources with teachers in their cluster meetings as well. The Multi-lingual language lab resource was developed by IT for Change as part of the TIIE program, and was derived from the English Language Lab created by Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE).

Cluster meetings were held once a month. Different South-3 zones where 2-3 clusters of different schools are combined in one particular school for learning sharing by teachers on various pedagogical strategies. Following our CRP Workshop, CRPs were invited to attend cluster meetings to share our work. Each cluster had 20–30 teachers and two CRPs. Our primary objective in participating in the cluster meeting was to share our understandings of inclusive education, demonstrate inclusive strategies in teaching for a few concepts of mathematics, and introduce the [https://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Language_Lab Language Lab] work, which was customized digital resources developed based on our experiences and learnings with the KITE E-Language Lab study. During the meeting, one of the stories was shown using the projector, speaker, tabs, and so on. Teachers were given tabs and laptops to explore various stories in various languages; perhaps they found it more interesting to use in their classroom. Language lab was converted to mobile version due to a lack of adaptive technology at schools, as it is easily accessible to teachers in the offline version. The kiwix app was installed on their phones, which encouraged the teachers to use it in their classrooms. So far, the team has attended 9 cluster meetings for both primary and higher primary school teachers, reaching out to nearly 250 teachers.

The digital literacy capacity building workshop was conducted successfully and provided valuable insights into how digital tools can be used to enhance the effectiveness of CRPs/BRPs/BIERTs and using Multilingual resources for classroom teaching. IT for Change is committed to continuing its efforts to support the professional development of CRPs/BRPs/BIERTs and other teachers in the block.

'''<br />CRP workshops - RB'''

As a result of the workshop, all the CRPs/BRPs wanted to organize these kinds of workshops regularly to help their explore more FOSS digital tools for their routine work and also to exchange teaching/learning resources between them and from the IT for change.

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'''BIERT - GMP'''

=== '''BIERT - GMP''' ===

 

Block inclusive education resource teachers (BIERTs), we got to know about them from the BEO office and made plans to meet with them. There are four BIERT’s in Bangalore South 3 block, two for primary and two for secondary school, and they specialise in Learning disabilities, Visual and hearing impairement, and Mental reatardation during their Bachelor of education training. We met these resource persons informally for about 3 hours over two days with the goal of discussing our TIIE project work, learning about their work nature, pedagogical support, teachers training from the department on IE, and government schemes/facilities to support CWSN. Nearly 347 CWSN students in Bangalore's south 3 block were divided into three groups: those who attended school at home, those who were prepared for school, and those who attended school but had certain disabilities as listed by the department. 50 students from higher primary and high school in South 3 Block are currently struggling with ID and LD. For severe CWSN students (those unable to attend school), the government arranges twice-weekly psychotherapy sessions. It also provides MR kits and scholarships for those with UDID (Unique disability identification card). We are in contact with these BIERTs in order to obtain mutual support for hospital diagnoses for some children who have learning difficulties. In the discussion, we focused on the IE resource centre, whether they maintain any IE resources, if so, what kind of resources they have, and whether they are helpful to our resources, as well as sharing our IE resources with the resource centre.

Block inclusive education resource teachers (BIERTs), we got to know about them from the BEO office and made plans to meet with them. There are four BIERT’s in Bangalore South 3 block, two for primary and two for secondary school, and they specialise in Learning disabilities, Visual and hearing impairement, and Mental reatardation during their Bachelor of education training. We met these resource persons informally for about 3 hours over two days with the goal of discussing our TIIE project work, learning about their work nature, pedagogical support, teachers training from the department on IE, and government schemes/facilities to support CWSN. Nearly 347 CWSN students in Bangalore's south 3 block were divided into three groups: those who attended school at home, those who were prepared for school, and those who attended school but had certain disabilities as listed by the department. 50 students from higher primary and high school in South 3 Block are currently struggling with ID and LD. For severe CWSN students (those unable to attend school), the government arranges twice-weekly psychotherapy sessions. It also provides MR kits and scholarships for those with UDID (Unique disability identification card). We are in contact with these BIERTs in order to obtain mutual support for hospital diagnoses for some children who have learning difficulties. In the discussion, we focused on the IE resource centre, whether they maintain any IE resources, if so, what kind of resources they have, and whether they are helpful to our resources, as well as sharing our IE resources with the resource centre.

'''NIMHANS - GMP'''

=== '''NIMHANS - GMP''' ===

 

During our school visit, we found that some of the students were having learning difficulty in the classroom teaching-learning activities. We discussed the children with their teachers and began observing and recording their movements in the classroom. We designed a few activities for their level and conducted some individual interactions with those children to better understand their difficulties, and we decided to get diagnoses for a few children, for which we met with BIERT's and sought their assistance. Since the BIERTs were preoccupied with their work, they suggested taking them to the hospital and informing their school HM. We select three students from one of our chosen schools who are experiencing learning difficulties and meet with their parents with the assistance of teachers to gain their support. We first went to Sanjay Ghandi Hospital, and then we understood that only NIMHANS and Victoria hospitals in Bangalore care for children with learning disabilities. Then, with the presence of parents and teachers, three children were taken to the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NIMHANS, where they having undergone detailed and comprehensive clinical evaluation and assessment.  For one child they have been able to identify that the child have severe intellectual disability disorder and owing to the child’s difficulties we registered to the child’s Unique Disability ID(UDID) as per the ‘Rights to of person with Disabilities(Ammendments) Rules’ (2009), Government of India. This process has been initiated and is likely to take about 2 to 3 months for completion. Considering child’s learning and parent’s financial and logistical difficulties we plan to put her in a residential special school called Samartham trust located in HSR layout based on their parents' wishes. For other 2 childrens due to some NIMHANS hospital procedures, one student referred to Victoria hospital for an IQ test because her appointment is not until September, and another student referred to Venkateshwara hospital in Tirupathi because he has an Andra state Adhar and ration card. However, we hope to complete the diagnosis of these two children by the end of April.

During our school visit, we found that some of the students were having learning difficulty in the classroom teaching-learning activities. We discussed the children with their teachers and began observing and recording their movements in the classroom. We designed a few activities for their level and conducted some individual interactions with those children to better understand their difficulties, and we decided to get diagnoses for a few children, for which we met with BIERT's and sought their assistance. Since the BIERTs were preoccupied with their work, they suggested taking them to the hospital and informing their school HM. We select three students from one of our chosen schools who are experiencing learning difficulties and meet with their parents with the assistance of teachers to gain their support. We first went to Sanjay Ghandi Hospital, and then we understood that only NIMHANS and Victoria hospitals in Bangalore care for children with learning disabilities. Then, with the presence of parents and teachers, three children were taken to the Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at NIMHANS, where they having undergone detailed and comprehensive clinical evaluation and assessment.  For one child they have been able to identify that the child have severe intellectual disability disorder and owing to the child’s difficulties we registered to the child’s Unique Disability ID(UDID) as per the ‘Rights to of person with Disabilities(Ammendments) Rules’ (2009), Government of India. This process has been initiated and is likely to take about 2 to 3 months for completion. Considering child’s learning and parent’s financial and logistical difficulties we plan to put her in a residential special school called Samartham trust located in HSR layout based on their parents' wishes. For other 2 childrens due to some NIMHANS hospital procedures, one student referred to Victoria hospital for an IQ test because her appointment is not until September, and another student referred to Venkateshwara hospital in Tirupathi because he has an Andra state Adhar and ration card. However, we hope to complete the diagnosis of these two children by the end of April.

'''Teacher's workshop (DL)) - RB'''

=== '''Teacher's workshop (DL)) - RB''' ===

'''Resource centre setup- RB'''

=== '''Resource centre setup- RB''' ===

 

The event based [https://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Fun_with_Science camp]  was held for two days, with a total of four camps undertaken throughout the programme in various schools for different grades. The objectives of the events is to enable children to experience the essence of science activities and develop science process skills. In language enable children to identify story elements and use it accordingly. In general, the camp would begin by dividing the children into two major groups, and each group was further divided into six sub-groups. At the start, ice-breaker activities were planned and carried out to build rapport with students and gain a better understanding of the children and the schools. Initially, students introduced themselves to the entire class by sharing their favourite things and hobbies through a passing the ball game. Following that, they participated in a treasure hunt in which children were instructed to complete the given activities in sequence and whoever completed all of the sequenced activities first was captured on camera with the group. The children enjoyed doing the activities in groups. They would be eager to complete the activities and would do so with great pleasure.   

The event based [https://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Fun_with_Science camp]  was held for two days, with a total of four camps undertaken throughout the programme in various schools for different grades. The objectives of the events is to enable children to experience the essence of science activities and develop science process skills. In language enable children to identify story elements and use it accordingly. In general, the camp would begin by dividing the children into two major groups, and each group was further divided into six sub-groups. At the start, ice-breaker activities were planned and carried out to build rapport with students and gain a better understanding of the children and the schools. Initially, students introduced themselves to the entire class by sharing their favourite things and hobbies through a passing the ball game. Following that, they participated in a treasure hunt in which children were instructed to complete the given activities in sequence and whoever completed all of the sequenced activities first was captured on camera with the group. The children enjoyed doing the activities in groups. They would be eager to complete the activities and would do so with great pleasure.   

A [https://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Science_Exhibition science exhibition] was held in two different high schools. In each school, nearly 100 students took part in this event. We organised this event with teachers' interest and support. We first gathered all students and announced the science exhibition, and then volunteers from various classes came forward to participate in the event. We conducted a science exhibition brainstorming session and asked them to choose topics from science and maths subjects. Those who chose the same topics were asked to change their topics and were given some ideas to think about. We instructed students to finalize the topics before getting involved in the event process. Students from various classes select their science and mathematics topics for working models and experiments. Some students are working in groups, while others have started to prepare individually. Students spent about 5-6 days working on their chosen topics for 2-3 hours per day.During the preparation period, 5-6 facilitators from our team visited the school, with each facilitator engaging 15-20 students. We distributed the necessary materials and stationary items for making models and experiments after the students' topics were finalised. Students were given tabs and laptops to help them gain an understanding and knowledge of the selected topics before beginning work on them. Students discussed their preparation work with us in person, over the phone, and in a WhatsApp group. We created a WhatsApp group for this event for each class section. Students used that group to share their progress levels, needs, and challenges, which helped us in resolving their issues and having completed their model. We given multiple reference links to help you better understand the concepts. In addition, prepare for explanations during presentations by using additional resources such as charts and videos. On the day of the exhibition, we arranged the models and experiments by theme and created an adequate presentation space. We requested that the school to invite other students from nearby schools to this event.

A [https://karnatakaeducation.org.in/KOER/en/index.php/Science_Exhibition science exhibition] was held in two different high schools. In each school, nearly 100 students took part in this event. We organised this event with teachers' interest and support. We first gathered all students and announced the science exhibition, and then volunteers from various classes came forward to participate in the event. We conducted a science exhibition brainstorming session and asked them to choose topics from science and maths subjects. Those who chose the same topics were asked to change their topics and were given some ideas to think about. We instructed students to finalize the topics before getting involved in the event process. Students from various classes select their science and mathematics topics for working models and experiments. Some students are working in groups, while others have started to prepare individually. Students spent about 5-6 days working on their chosen topics for 2-3 hours per day.During the preparation period, 5-6 facilitators from our team visited the school, with each facilitator engaging 15-20 students. We distributed the necessary materials and stationary items for making models and experiments after the students' topics were finalised. Students were given tabs and laptops to help them gain an understanding and knowledge of the selected topics before beginning work on them. Students discussed their preparation work with us in person, over the phone, and in a WhatsApp group. We created a WhatsApp group for this event for each class section. Students used that group to share their progress levels, needs, and challenges, which helped us in resolving their issues and having completed their model. We given multiple reference links to help you better understand the concepts. In addition, prepare for explanations during presentations by using additional resources such as charts and videos. On the day of the exhibition, we arranged the models and experiments by theme and created an adequate presentation space. We requested that the school to invite other students from nearby schools to this event.

== 6. Student Endline – MI, AS ==

== 6. Student Endline – MI, AS ==