A seminar on Technology in Education was organized on 16th of July 2009 in the Resource Center, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom, Trivandrum. The main objective of the seminar was to bring together Principals from both Private and Government schools in Trivandrum.

Through a panel discussion the need and the importance of making technology integration more effective in schools was discussed. The initiation of National Educators’ Network in Kerala to was another objective of this meet.

Invocation

The event was traditionally begun with the guest of honour Dr. Rathan U Kelkar, IAS, Director Kerala State IT Mission, Govt. of Kerala, lighting the lamp along with the other dignitaries while girls from the Kendriya Vidyalaya, Pattom rendered an invocation song.

The State Coordinator Ms. Mallika Mohan Chand welcomed all the dignitaries and the principals after which Mr. Sunil Pathak, Director, Business Eco-system, Intel, gave a presentation on enabling 21st Century Education.

Ms. Sudha Priyadarshan, the South-West Education Manager, gave a presentation on an update of Intel’s education initiatives in Kerala and the future plans for private as well as government schools. She highlighted the fact that more than 40,000 teachers have been trained by Intel through the IT@school project. A special mention was made about the IRIS program and the Intel Learn Program which is being successfully implemented in partnership with KSITM. Intel’s intention of reviving the National Educators’ Network was also shared during the presentation.

In his address the guest of honour, Dr.Rathan U Kelkar, spoke about the importance of IT in education and IT education. He pointed out that it was the need of the hour and thanked Intel for what it does through ‘Intel Teach’ and ‘Intel Learn’ Programs, to promote the use of technology in education. He spoke about various challenges and stressed on the need to take the positives and minimize the negatives. He felt sincere efforts were needed from all sides to promote the use of IT in education.

Mr. Sunil Pathak also conducted a demo on Intel’s Classmate PC (CMPC) which promotes an excellent learning environment in the classroom. The video he shared on the experiences of teachers who have used CMPC was very effective and impressive. The demo was interactive with many of the participants posing queries about its use and function. CMPC Demo by Mr. Pathak

Following this activity there was a panel discussion on Technology in Education.

Dr. K. Y. Benedict, one of the panelists for the discussion, spoke on how IT is being made use of in the pre-service sector and its impact in the classrooms. He briefed the audience about the various initiatives taken by his college in promoting IT enabled education and exhorted the participants to use problem-based/project –based learning methodology in the teaching learning process. Some of the participants shared their opinion on the need of revising the B. Ed curriculum, so as to make the new generation teachers well versed in the use of technology.

Dr. Cicy Roy Mathew another panelist shared her experiences in integrating IT into the teaching learning process. The best known methods shared by her were very inspiring and useful. She also briefly explained about the various awards and recognitions that her school and teachers have received from various governments and non-governmental agencies like Intel. She shared about the innovative ways in which Internet is being used in her school like the use of Blogs for sharing book reviews. This practice, she shared has inculcated reading habit among students and also enabled them to critically review and share their reviews on the World Wide Web. In the interactive session that followed some of the principals shared best practices related to the integration of technology in their schools.

As a result of the seminar 30 schools have shown interest in starting the National Educators Network in Kerala and a request for trainings and other Intel education initiatives have come from several principals.