A three day Enhancement Workshop of the Intel® Teach Essentials Course was conducted by transmission through EDUSAT for 450 DIET Lecturers from 30 DIETs (one in each district) in Chennai, from 23^rd to 25^th February, 2009.

With the DIET lecturers of Tamil Nadu, trained on ICT, a need was felt for conducting an Enhancement Workshop. The workshop once discussed with DTERT officials was agreed to be conducted through EDUSAT to have wider coverage in a minimal timeline.

EDUSAT is the first Indian satellite built exclusively for serving the educational sector. It is intended to meet the demand for an interactive satellite based distance education system for the country. The EDUSAT program provides a common place to interact with all DIET lecturers simultaneously. It is extremely useful for saving on travel time both of the participants and the resource persons.

The aim was that the participants should leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of the core content strands of the Essentials Course and with strategies to effectively integrate Project Based Learning (PBL) in their classrooms.

The enhancement workshop was inaugurated by Dr. R.Ayyappan, Senior Lecturer (Acting as Coordinator for CAL Implementation) with a welcome address. Using EDUSAT, he spoke to the lecturers across the DIETs about the significance of the Internet and emphasized the importance of 21^st century skills in this knowledge filled society. He felt that the usage of resources like computer, Internet and EDUSAT should be effectively planned to the optimal level. Dr. Ayyappan also shared a proposal to provide better computer lab facilities for the student teachers in 11th five year plan.

The participants from the DIETs also presented their views. Mrs. Parimala, Senior Lecturer, from DIET Oddanchathiram, Dindigul shared a project on waste management through which she suggested that by planning an effective project the students were able to create awareness to the public about how the waste materials can be converted into manure.

A detailed discussion was focused on the selection of right topic in the syllabus for PBL methodology implementation. Mr. Srinivasan from Thirumurthynagar DIET, Coimbatore explained that not all topics can be implemented using PBL methodology. He felt that other factors like syllabus guidelines, 21^st century skills, higher order thinking skills, learning objectives, assessment techniques, interdisciplinary approaches and community involvement should also be kept in mind. All these would together lead to successful PBL implementation. Effective Questioning techniques – usage of Curriculum Framing Questions was also discussed in detail.

Mr.Mani, Senior Lecturer from DIET Vellore used a presentation to explain Bloom’s taxonomy with a verse from Thirukkural. He also appreciated the effective usage of technology as the presentation that was transmitted from Chennai was being viewed by all the DIETs across Tamil Nadu.

Guidelines and suggestions on topics for PBL implementation from different subjects were discussed. This was followed by the ‘Need of effective assessment’ session. Dr. Vrithasarini Senior Lecturer, DIET, Krishnagiri shared her experience on evaluating the state government contest using a rubric and explained how rubrics could be effectively used as scaffolds for the teachers and students.

Mr. Mariappan from DIET Mannargudi, Thiruvarur shared the Karakottai project and explained how the project done in his district by a group of students and their teacher has created an impact in the society. He shared that the project was based on eradication of child labor and informed that 13 child laborers were brought back and enrolled as students as a result of this project which won accolades not only at district level but also at state level in the Intel SSA contest. This project has also gained recognition at a global level.

Mrs. Packiam, Senior Lecturers, DIET T Kalluppatti, Madurai shared the various projects successfully completed by her DIET students. She was very keen on encouraging her students to develop digital portfolios and showed keen interest in implementing the teaching and learning methodology promoted by the Intel Teach Program.

Dr. R. Ayyappan further talked about the uses of technology in implementing project based learning. He shared that the government is working on giving more systems to the DIETs because in 2^nd year syllabus, a practical using computers has been included. The QA session was focused on enhancing skills through PBL method of learning.

The workshop was a success because all lecturers participated and interacted with great enthusiasm. The DIETs were able to follow the content of the workshop and were keen to use EDUSAT for regular training. Intel’s guidance and support was appreciated by all the DIETS and government officials.