A new ‘Vikalp’, an Open Education Resource (OER) platform has been introduced by the basic education department in Uttar Pradesh which assures in advancing the technologically enabled mode of learning to the next level making it quite ‘techno-friendly’ to the parents, teachers and the students with a more comprehensible and constrained content.
The platform ‘Vikalp,’ developed with the help of HCL foundation adheres to the needs and necessities of children up to class 8. It is quite different as compared to the other options like “Diksha”, “Swayam” and “Mission Prerna”. The resource platform is already in action in some of the southern parts of the country including Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.
NEW IMPLEMENTATIONS BY THE PLATFORM
· The platform is considered to be a storehouse of 10,000 questions where the teachers and the parents can frame their questions and make question papers including some quiz to test the ability and the subject- knowledge of their children. This option is only available here and not with the other platforms.
· Lalita Pradeep, Director of the State Institute of Education and Training regarded the platform as unique and efficient in terms of ‘flexibility’, where any teacher from any part of the state can upload a content which further shall be scrutinized for a review by the moderation committee in terms of its ‘quality control’. The former factor shall also express the liberty in generating the localised content.
· The director envisions that with the passage of time, Vikalp shall be used as a platform in promoting, encouraging and exchanging knowledge through workshops, discussions and webinars, where the users will also have an option to learn on how to make a video from a cell phone and much more from the platform’s technical hand holding exercises. The platform is constituted to uphold a great example for those who believe in ‘IT for Change’.
· Alok Verma, Director of Samuday-HCL Foundation considers Vikalp as a community model of learning and exchange of ideas by emphasising on how the accessibility and exposure to the platform shall ease the process of teaching thereby enriching the quality of knowledge dissemination.
· Satish Kumar Dwivedi, Minister Of state (Independent charge) for basic education appreciates Vikalp as a great initiative in the State which is designed to shape the future of learning with various innovative practices and approaches.
By Tunisha Banerjee
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