As Interactive White Boards (IWB) change the education paradigm in India and make it more interactive, digitalLearning’s Ankush Kumar looks at the segment to gauge its impact, and challenges

To most of us of a certain vintage, classrooms have meant a teacher facing a blackboard, his back to us, writing furiously on it with a white chalk. As the teacher writes, the chalk powder spreads all over the floor. The sound of the chalk’s journey on the board is etched in our memories. From that era of white dust and chalk fights, classrooms have now moved into a digital domain, where a range of innovative tools are used for making education interactive and engaging, with no chalk fights.

Out of 1 lakh pvt schools in India, only 7-10% have adopted smart classrooms

The Interactive White Board (IWB), first manufactured in 1991, has made education interactive and simulating. Its introduction in the Indian education system has changed it drastically. IWBs function as an effective tool for teachers to plan their lessons and make it more exciting for the students. They are used in a variety of settings, including classrooms, corporate boardrooms and work groups, in training rooms for professional sports coaching, in broadcasting studios, and others. Its impact on students has been noteworthy, as observed by teachers.
Interactive projectors can make any surface in the classroom interactive and allow teachers to interact with their projected lesson plan from practically anywhere in the classroom. By using a special interactive pen, they can draw, point and click by touching the screen directly or away from the screen. Projectors play a very important role, especially in language classes. Speakers and projectors are used to enhance listening skills, which are very important in the study of foreign language. The market of projectors has grown by 25 percent this year. In financial year of 2013-14, 2.3 lakh units were sold in the Indian market. Education sector’s share in this is roughly 28 percent. Out of the overall education sector share in the market, nearly 35 percent is of data projectors.

Raising academic standard in schools
“ICT plays a very important role in changing and modernizing teaching systems and ways of learning. Using Interactive White Boards and audio-visuals has brought about a sea of change in the teaching learning processes in school. The most significant advantage is that students are more enthusiastic and motivated to learn even the abstract concepts using multiple layers. Class work can also be made available to students in real time so students save time on copying work,” said Madhvi Chandra, Principal, Gitanjali Devshala, Secunderabad (AP).
Children today are tech savvy and know how to operate the latest technology. They even help their parents when they get stuck with some functions on their mobile phones. These kids are very enthusiastic and creative, and grooming them is a very delicate task for the teachers. Those who do not adapt to the technological change will have difficulty in managing the students. Teachers need to be encouraged to keep abreast of the latest technology and the best way to do so is to hold workshops and seminars and give opportunities for hands on use in the school.

Teachers’ training and students’ feedback
According to Pratibha Kohli, Principal, Maharaja Agrasen Model School, New Delhi, “For a tech-savvy teacher, using the IWB is an easy task and such teachers readily accept the novelty of using IWB to make lessons fresh and appealing to the learner. However, a teacher not so comfortable with the use of computers shall need adequate training and timely guidance. Therefore it is important that refresher training courses should be organized for all teachers. Lack of appropriate training might dishearten the staff towards the use of IWB, hence it is important to hold regular training sessions to keep the teachers motivated to adopt and adapt to the new technology.”
The response from the students to the changes has been overwhelming. Our young learners, especially the digital natives, are at ease with the advent of digital learning tools in the classroom.
Since IWB overcomes the monotony of the lecture method of tutelage, the new generation learners are definitely fascinated by the ‘wow factor’ of the interactivity that IWBs offer. The enthusiasm in the classroom is apparent. Student participation and engagement in the teaching-learning process is greatly enhanced, so the learning quotient definitely increases. Teachers can also allow students to touch and experience the IWB and also explore its interactivity.
“IWB has the advantage of group-based synchronous learning where, in the class room, a group of students learn in real time using multimedia resources. This type of learning can also include audio or video conferencing, where the teacher, placed away from group of students, interacts and teaches them using IWB. Asynchronous teaching-learning is also facilitated by IWB where the teacher can save the lessons and the students can watch them after a time delay, not in real time.” Pratibha added.

Parent’s response
It is important to know whether the parents are happy with this technology and how cost effective it is for the schools to install them.

“Of course the parents are happy; the students have been very excited about this technology and have shared their views with the parents about the same. Parents are happy with this kind of a teaching aid which is making learning process easier and is enhancing lateral thinking, creating mind mapping & making children socially compatible,” said Jaydeb Kar, Principal, Calorx Public School, Gujarat. “It is economical and cost-effective and is considered to be a one-time investment,” he adds.
Many schools have also started using social networking platforms to engage with their students. Corporates have come up with bundles of such applications that can be used by the institutes. Parents are ready to provide the best of the education to their children, be it any cost. They have started feeling the competition among the children at various levels of examination.
 “Today’s parents are ready to pay the price if there is an impact on the child. IWB and AVs are no longer cosmetics for a school. They have become essential components of a classroom. They are also easily affordable and available to schools. Government introducing it in government and corporation schools is a major step which has made a big difference to the situation,” said Shanti Krishnamurthy, Principal, Chinmaya International Residential School, Coimbatore.

Global scenario
The main aim of deploying ICT is to empower children and teachers to match up to the demands of a global society. According to a report by Global Industry Analysts (GIA), the global market for Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) is projected to reach US$1.85 billion by the year 2018, primarily driven by rising demand for technologybased education, Government education initiatives, and technological advancements in the sector. Further, increased adoption of Interactive Whiteboards in emerging economies including China and India is expected to fuel market growth.
One of the key factors contributing to this market growth is the increased government funding for the education sector. The global IWB market has been witnessing an increase in the significance of e-learning and virtual learning environments. Demand for IWBs from the corporate sector is set to rise exponentially. Futuresource consulting forecasts show that the total display technologies market of IWBs, interactive flat panels and interactive projectors will reach 1.05 million devices by 2017. However, the adoption rates of the three products vary by the country and even by the region.

Factors driving IWB market in India
IWBs have managed to find a wide acceptance amongst education institutes and enterprises in India. “The need for innovative teaching and faster means of collaboration is mainly driving the IWB adoption mainly in education and also in large enterprises. Education sector holds the maximum share in the market whereas the enterprise segment is slowly showing a growing inclination towards interactive whiteboards. Altogether, the market is poised for a steady growth in the years to come, from its current emerging stage,” said Ramya Chatterjee, Director – Sales & Marketing, Cybernetyx. Touch screen products were available in the market for a long time but only recently their demand has gone up. Such is their impact of the technology that kids even try to slide television screens, thinking it is a touch screen. The other important thing which will drive the market is awareness. Many schools have not experienced this technology and are not aware about its advantages. But when they see the results of the schools using these technologies, they will consider buying it.
The first half of 2013 witnessed sales of whiteboards mainly in the education and corporate sector, which grew by 20 percent. “Whiteboards have managed to find a widespread acceptance amongst the education and enterprise segment in India. The country has also experienced a substantial quarter, with more than 50 percent rise in sales for 2013”, said Prasenjeet Bhattacharyya, Business Head, Security and Mobility, Panasonic India. The growing number of meeting rooms in India, especially in tier two cities, is a potential market. “The need off writing during any meeting is very common, and whiteboard gives the option of continuing the written discussion on two pages and prints the document through inbuilt printer which is a necessity for post meeting notes. Keeping these factors in mind, we see a growth of double digits in India,” Prasenjeet adds.
Digital products are generally expensive and delicate, so installing these devices for a small school will be difficult. The Government has always played an important role in the education sector. India has been committed to providing free and compulsory education to all children for the purpose of nation building. “If the government makes the use of IWB in classrooms mandatory while issuing licenses to new schools, the rise in demand will be multi-fold. At the same time, if the government starts buying IWBs for the existing and upcoming government schools, the demand will go up in multiple numbers,” said Radha Krishna, Aveco India.

Branded IWBs start from ` 21,000 and go as high as ` 64,350

Challenges
For a developing country like India, installation of IWB may prove to be quite expensive. “In case, the equipment of IWB is damaged, replacement may prove to be expensive. Since all areas in India do not get a continuous supply of electricity, the regular use of IWB may be a challenge in the remote areas of the country,” said Pratibha of Maharaja Agrasen Model School. Front projection boards may get obscured by the presence of the teachers. Acquiring a lot of information in a small time can become a daunting task and may lead to information overload for the students.
Industry experts say that IWBs is turning into a low profit business.
“In the last few years (excluding last year), we saw the peak business for interactive segment and it won’t be returning. A sharp fall in selling prices, easy availability of low cost products and interactivity through tablets have contributed to the fall in business, and this is resulting in losses for interactive companies. Few have closed or even sold out,” said Mohammed Ghouse, consultant.

There are challenges for companies selling only interactive products, as even more projector companies join in. Ghouse adds, “It takes fewer efforts for mobile phone manufacturers to add the time feature, but it has damaged the watch manufacturing industry. Similarly, interactive projectors are giving IWBs, a tough time.”

India’s talent pipeline in information security skills are extremely weak, according to ‘The Talent Crisis in Infosec, Report by EC Council (International Council of Electronic Commerce Consultants), October 2013’. This could cast a shadow on the government, business and individuals.

What is Infosec?
Information security is the practice of protecting information from unauthorised access, use, disclosure, disruption, modification, perusal, inspection, recording or destruction. Protecting confidential information is a business, ethical and legal requirement.

Demand is big…
By 2015, India will need at least 5,00,000 cyber professionals. Government, IT/ ITeS, financial institutions, telecom organisations and hospitals are more vulnerable to cyber threats.

…Supply Situation is Bleak
Only 0.97 percent of Indian students have the basic skills in information security.
Just around 13 percent of students have an understanding of concepts and can be trained in information security.
More than 86 percent have not been made aware of skills or are not trainable.
McAfee’s Tweens and Technology Report 2013 said online tweens are potentially vulnerable to risky behaviour on the Internet a good number of them have chatted to someone online that they didn’t know previously.
“On an average, online tweens in India are using between 3 and 4 devices that can be Internet-enabled, laptop, mobile and desktop predominantly. While 61 per cent respondents said they user desktops, 40 per cent use tablets and 68 per cent use mobile to access the Internet,” the survey said.
However, a disturbing trend on the rise among tweens is their apathy towards their own online safety. 58 per cent of the respondents surveyed use risky or low level security passwords online and Almost half of the tweens surveyed share information about themselves over FB (41 per cent), it added.
McAfee’s report was conducted through a survey across Indian online tweens comprising of 572 male and 428 female respondents from Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad.
Another dangerous trend that the survey by the US-based firm revealed is that Indian tweens are becoming more trusting of the virtual world to familiarise themselves with unknown people, in spite of being aware that it is risky.
Thirty-six per cent of the respondents said they have spoken to someone online that they didn’t previously know, while 22 per cent said they have shared personal information online. 26 per cent who did share this did not think it to be risky.  “Tweens have a clear preference for not only the devices used for Internet connectivity but also the type of activity on these devices. So while desktop is preferred mainly for home work, tablets are dominant when it comes to exchanging pictures and playing games,” McAfee said.
Seventy per cent of the respondents covered said they use desktop for home work related stuff compared to 38 per cent, who use tablets. Almost half of the respondents said they use tablets for playing games and exchanging pictures compared to 40 per cent using desktop, it added.
About 22 per cent of the respondents said they spend 2-4 hours every day on Microsoft’s gaming platform Xbox, it said.  Though the country boasts of producing the maximum number of engineering talent in the world, only 1 percent of Indian IT students have been found skilled in the information security space.
According to a study done by EC-Council, a global certification body for information security professionals, nearly 86 percent of student IT talent pool in India display no awareness of cyber security basics, while a mere 13 percent was found to be trainable in the space.
“This is very alarming news to the country’s corporate and defence establishments. India is known as the software and outsourcing capital of the world. However, recent industry data shows how vulnerable the Indian IT industry is. Lack of skills in both working professionals as well as students is a major area of concern for the nation,” says Amit Kumar, president and co-founder, Cyberfort.
The study is indicative of the fact that while the current curriculum has some introductory topics on the subject, focus via its inclusion as a separate subject is missing. India declared its first national cyber security policy in July this year, which aims to create 5 lakh information security professionals over next five years.
“Given the fact the 86 percent of the current IT talent has no awareness of cyber security, the role of academia becomes all the more challenging,” says Kumar.
In a recent move to up the ante on cyber security, the government has hired 4,446 experts.
However, the number is miniscule compared to the increasing number of attacks on websites every month. Financial institutions, telecom, mobility, internet organisations and hospitals are more vulnerable to cyber threats today, because of the data they handle.
According to reports by CERT-In, 4,191 Indian websites were hacked in the month of August this year, up from 1,808 in May this year. In fact, corporates too agree that they have a tough time filling up positions in the information security space.
“It is difficult to find basic engineering talent, let alone talent in information security space. The problem is not with students, but the whole system. You can’t expect them to be good at something they are not taught,” says the CFO of an IT company who did not wish to be named.

AT Rajan, Chief Marketing Officer & Head Corporate Strategy Office at Ricoh discusses the Indian IWB market with Ankush Kumar of Elets News Network (ENN) and the growing awareness of IWBs among schools

How do you think use of IWB & AVs has changed the teachinglearning process in schools?
The education process in schools has undergone significant changes since the concept of smart class gained ground in the last two-three years. Interactive display solution in teaching has made the communication more visual than verbal and the process has become more interactive and collaborative. Learning has started to become enjoyable and fun!
The smart class has paved the way for more adoption of technology in schools like language labs, digital library, etc. Students now are more conversant with technology and computers and applications are a part of their daily life rather than yet another subject.

Do teachers require any special training to work on IWBs?
Most IWBs from reputed manufacturers are designed on the concept of ‘appliancelike’ ease of operation, and the teacher can get used to its various functions and applications in no time. The vendors also provide training and on-site support as part of the solutions package.
However, more than IWB training, teachers require orientation training on the new approach to teaching and learning. From being instructors, teachers have become facilitators in the student’s learning process. For an experienced teacher who has gained expertise in the conventional teaching method, this shift to interactivity can be challenging and needs training for new skill sets and change in mindset. Focus is needed on teachers’ training in order to make the transition to IWBs smooth and successful.

How has been the response from parents?
Parents in general have not been involved or exposed to this change, except in schools having high level of technology adoption, where parents can access to their children’s accounts online. Although the response from parents in cities is encouraging, we feel it could be a challenge in remote areas where awareness levels are low and there is resistance to changing the conventional methods of teaching.

Where do you think India stands vis-à-vis other countries in using IWBs in schools and colleges?
India has one of the largest number of classrooms globally, comparable only to China and US. However, in terms of penetration of interactive display solution, India ranks one of the lowest, just about two percent penetration compared to approx eight percent in China and over 40 percent in US (as per Future source data).

What are some of the challenges that you see in the market?
Indian education market has interested major manufacturers and system integrators due it sheer size and the enormous growth potential. Obviously, this has made the market fiercely competitive with buyers trying to get the best solution at the lowest price. This is evident from the data of IWB market share in India, with almost half the market comprising of “other” brands. When technology is purchased purely based on price, quality is risked, which has led to products of questionable quality being imported and rebranded in India to match the lowest price expectation on the box, without focusing the quality of the total solution, and reliability of after sales support.
But it is heartening to note that there is a growing awareness in the market, especially private schools, who evaluate various technologies before designing total student information and school management solution, focusing on quality and reliability in addition to affordability.
Although business will be good in metro cities, schools in remote villages could be a challenge, not only in infrastructure, but also due to mind set issues.

Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA) is the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants, headquartered in London. It has over 218,000 members and students operating in 177 countries.
CIMA India has been offering qualification courses for eight years. Its management accounting course is a balance of accounting and business management skills. The CIMA qualification develops analytical, application-oriented and decision-making skills, rather than just theoretical knowledge.
Management Accountants not only do financial performance reporting, but also manage the company’s business opportunities using non-financial, qualitative data, prediction models, external research and environmental factors to contribute to decision making in organizations.
In any organization, management accountants are the most qualified to justify the CFO and CEO’s decisions using these methods. Hence, they can also be referred to as business navigators, as they provide justification for Board’s decisions. They can gauge the integrity of the information, interpret it, and use its insights to inform, or make decisions.
Drawing on extensive global research into employer needs, CIMA has developed and launched its 2015 Professional Qualification syllabus, in response to growing concerns about rising youth unemployment. Studies by CIMA and others have shown that youth, the world over, are unemployed not due to lack of vacancies but because they do not possess the right skills. This is because the stakeholders in the education process rarely interact with each other. It has been suggested that education providers should engage with employers to understand their needs and design courses accordingly. CIMA developed its syllabus following such an approach. This ensures that the syllabus remains relevant. It seeks to develop competent and confident management accountants who can lead their organizations to a sustainable success.
For its research, CIMA interacted with leading organizations in Europe, Asia, Africa and the US, followed by roundtable discussions involving 200 organizations in 13 countries. The results of the research were validated with responses from over 3,000 participants to a global questionnaire survey.
The competencies that top employers seek from finance professional are core accounting and finance skills, business acumen, people skills and leadership skills.
Core accounting and finance skills include financial reporting, forecasting, planning, financial analysis, risk management, corporate finance and taxation.
These competencies were organized into a competency framework which formed the basis for creating a syllabus that met the needs of both, students and employers. New topics relevant to business accounting such as managing big data, finance function transformation and sustainability were also included. The updated syllabus maintains the current structure of three levels, with three subjects at each level. It focuses on equipping future finance professionals with the skills that meet the business needs of the day.
CIMA has also changed its examination system. Previously, each subject examination had essays and calculations. Now there are objective tests for each subject at a particular level and a case study that integrates knowledge from all subjects at each level. While the objective tests focus on intellectual and academic knowledge, the case studies judge how the knowledge is put into practice. This is to ensure a practice-oriented approach. It is no longer enough for students to learn by rote and not know how to apply their knowledge at the work place.
In addition, CIMA is moving towards paperless tests that can be taken more frequently. While the objective tests can be taken 365 days a year, the case studies can be taken four times a year. These changes have been made to meet the needs of today’s generation, which uses technology much more than previous generations to learn, gather and share information. Research has shown that students write for less than ten minutes a day and this has had a great impact on learning methodologies, assessment tools, etc. This generation also has a more flexibility approach to learning. The exam system’s flexibility will allow students to choose their pace of learning and progress.

In the last five years, huge funding has come into school and higher education but sincere effort is missing which is more important than money. Piyush Trivedi, Vice Chancellor, Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya in an exclusive interview with Mohd Ujaley says, “Today, money is not a constraint in our country but we need to have sincere teachers, sincere efforts, right approaches and it does not matter who provide it, be it state or central government”

You are an educationist and have almost three decades of experience. How has the technical education scenario changed over the years?
Entire technical education scene has changed over a period of time, right from the days when we were student and now, when we get students in our university. There has been vertical growth in technical and professional education in the country. Number of seats available for technical education has significantly increased. Also, the quality of the student, we get today is entirely different. Earlier, universities used to get top-notch student such as IAS meritorious. When I was student, there were 700 seats in engineering and only 30 seats in pharmacy. Today, that has changed to more than a lakh in Madhya Pradesh alone. Similarly at national level, number of seats has increased. Over the years, technical education has expanded and is available to all who are interested in pursuing technical education.

It is true that access to education has increased over the years but there are a lot of educationists who say that value education has equally deteriorated in the country. How do you look at it and does RGTU have any programme that focuses on value education?
I completely agree with the statement that there has been deterioration in value education in our country. At times, I wonder why it has come to a point where we have to teach value; rather it should have been inherited. With growing young population, it is important to have right set of education and value to use the young energy for the nation building. Basically it should come from home and by in large inculcated at school level. Even at university like RGTU, we organise programme intended to inculcate more values among our students. I also feel right intervention of spirituality can help in bridging this gap in our education system.

Your university portal is one of the good examples of using ICT for better interaction, bringing transparency and accountability. What is your overall perspective in the use of tools of technology for education?
Information technology has changed the scenario across the globe, not only in India. The main objective of centre and state governments are access and equality in education. The idea is to provide quality education to all, but to have best professors at the remotest part of the country is a huge challenge. This challenge can be overcome by using ICT. The lecture can be delivered to the remotest part of the country with the help of using technology.
Vocational education is one area where ICT can play important role. The National Knowledge Commission has provided knowledge network to large number of institutions and apart from that all the panchayats are going to be connected with the internet. Once they are linked, education can be promoted, propagated and spread.Also, technology has crucial role to play in skill development. Prime Minister who is also the Chairman of the Planning Commission have said that we require at least 40 percent skilled population in coming years if India has to grow at a pace that is able to generate ample employments. That is why 12th five year plan consider skill development as mission for the country.

There seems to be disconnect between university and industry. Industry say that whatever they required is not being taught in university and similarly university complains that they do not participate in research. In your opinion how we can bridge this gap of different goals and mindsets of academia and industry?
Yes, there are some gaps between academia and industry. The issue that graduates are not being properly trained does have some merit but universities are focusing hugely on training and practical assignments. We are also looking at establishing corporate school at university campus to bridge this gap. I also believe that on the board of university people from industry should be there so that syllabus can be revised quite often as per the requirement of the industry. But the major challenge comes from industry; they are only ready to participate in training once somebody is employed with them. They are not ready to invest into education system. Some large IT companies have supported us and actively participated at university discourse, I feel same effort is required from whole chunk of the industry. More interaction with academia and industry will raise productivity and quality for both. I agree that we require more of the training of teachers, more sincerity and access to the industrial training and regular dialogue between academia and industry. In my opinion we may have different mindsets but we are not very different to each other.

There are bills pending in parliament that are directed towards bringing quality, transparency and access into education system. But they have not seen the light of the day because majority of states oppose these bills as they think that these are against the federal structure of the country and encroach into the power of states. In your opinion aren’t we being over-federalist?
I feel there has to be good coordination between states and centre on all the issues. As far as education and health are concerned, more coordination and agreement is needed due to its sheer impact on the life of the people. What I have noticed that in last five years, huge funding has come into schools and higher education, but we need sincere effort more than money. Today, money is not constraint in our country but we need to have sincere teachers, sincere efforts, right approaches and it does not matter who provides it, be it state or central government. In the area of education, we should not go into nittygritty of federalism rather we should focus on how objective of the nation as a whole should be achieved. Nation development should be our target despite all the difference between personalities or states. Health and education for all can only grow this country.

Policies of the government are excellent but we need to implement them sincerely and wholeheartedly

As an educationist you come across young people and also engage at leadership level to motivate them. In your opinion are we channelizing the energy of our young minds in right direction?
Policies of the government are excellent but we need to implement them sincerely and wholeheartedly. My understanding is that the sincere effort in this direction will bring laurel to the country. A young India is not and should not only be about cheap labour or more productivity, it is more about being knowledge capital and making India a developed nation.We can be a better model of growth and democracy because of our flexible nature and easy acceptability to new ideas. In this direction, proper channelization of the energy of the young students are very important and I personally feel, we have to do lot more by giving them quality education and more avenues for employment or entrepreneurship.

What are the major initiatives RGTU is taking in the area of academic excellence, research and use of ICT?
We have taken lot of initiatives in last 4 year. We are using various e-governance tools to enable reforms for financial transparency, academic excellence and easy access to information and tracking of the university. Apart from above, we are also planning to use web portal as a resource for students and teachers by providing them with online lectures, presentation and study materials. One important area in this regard is content development by which we shall be able to focus on all the part of the state.As far as infrastructure is concerned, we have made huge progress and now we have campus development programme in place.
For promoting research and academic excellence, we are giving scholarships to meritorious students. We have also created corpus of `10 crore for research and development. In future, we are heavily going to focus on skill development programme on the campus. At RGTU campus, we have solar and wind energy creation programme which produces about 33 Kilowatts that is almost 10 percent of our energy consumption on the campus. So overall when you look at RGTU, we have made huge progress and there are lot of initiatives in the pipeline.