Technology plays the most important role in modernising global education systems and India shows no exception in that. In such scenario, the usage of Interactive Whiteboard and Audiovisual equipments is emerging as one of the powerful pedagogical innovations in the teaching and learning process.
sangita ghosh de, digitallearning, explores.
The advancement and inventions in the domain of technology are having an unprecedented effect on the methods of teaching-learning process globally developing the concept of “classroom of the future” as an extremely advanced and modified picture.
Technology plays the most important role in modernising global education systems and India shows no exception in that. Need and awareness for technology-enabled education is spreading in across the verticals of the education system in India. According to the researchers and experts, technological determinism and the predictability of technological change in education have now become the area of research and analysis.
In the process, the idea of multi-media concept in education, has gained much momentum where the integration of voice, data and video resources creates synergistic effect. The emergence of this new concept of media convergence is also changing the curriculum in universities all over the world.
Multimedia, which also connotes to Audiovisual term of the medium, is usually a combination of computerised and electronic devices that includes a combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity content forms in contrast to conventional media which only use traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material. Here particular attention is paid to the audio and visual presentation of the material with the goal of improving comprehension and retention. In that scenario, the usage of Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) and Audiovisual equipments is emerging as one of the powerful pedagogical innovations in the teaching and learning process.
The background and opportunity
According to a recent research report by Futuresource Consulting Ltd. of United Kingdom, India provides a significant market opportunity for suppliers of IT equipments, because of its 4.9 million classrooms spread across 1.2 million schools (of which 1.6 million are in private schools – private schools only represent 19% of the total number of schools in India). Overall, there are almost as many private schools in India as there are government schools which have computers, however, the market is extremely fragmented with a vast disparity in the education system throughout
the country.
In most schools, IT equipment tends to be located in an IT lab as opposed to individual classrooms, thereby limiting the potential penetration opportunities for IWBs and projectors.
According to Jaemes Shanley, Director of Sales-Asia Pacific-Latin America-New Mexico, mimio – a leading IWB vendor, “Given that today's students tend to be already “digital” in their awareness and orientation, one could also argue that use of Interactive Whiteboard in the classroom simply makes the environment more relevant for students. The IWB and related interactive systems at work in the classroom not only utilise the power and versatility of digital media and information as content for learning but also synchronise the classroom context with the contemporary world outside the school.”
Outside IT Labs, a cost-effective bundled solution incorporating PC, projector and IWB
