Learning Computers in a Fun Way

www.computermasti.com

A Collaborative Product from IIT Bombay and InOpen Technologies

The inception of Computer Masti (CM) has come about at a critical juncture when there was a visible need for a standard Computer curriculum, trained teachers and quality instructional material. 'Masti is a Hindi word meaning fun and CM considers fun as an important element of learning Computers. Computer Masti is a collaborative product of IIT Bombay and InOpen Technologies. CM is designed as a content-service solution to teach computer science in schools. The content is presented in a story format through two children, Tejas and Jyoti having a conversation with Moz who is conversant with computers. CM adopts a constructivist pedagogical approach, which encourages the characters to keep asking questions, and to explore on their own. The content apart from teaching the computer literacy skills, also teaches others concepts like stepwise thinking and logical reasoning. These skills lay both the foundation for future programming skills as well as help students develop important life skills considered as skills of the 21st century. Information and communication technology (ICT) is rapidly changing the way we learn.The last decade has witnessed a phenomenal transformation in the field of education and training, with several technologyinitiatives aimed at developing human capital. In academic learning and vocational training, it has resulted in wider reach and innovative practices in education for development. ICT has made a vast difference by widening the horizons of learning to include several innovative and creative ways of knowledge acquisition and skill development. Changing pedagogical paradigms of the 21st century aims at bridging the gap between de-contextualized instructional practices which were solely teacher centric to the present day blended learning approach. The new generation of children growing up in this fast evolving techno-savvy world need to acquire technical sophistication. The integration of ICT into school curriculum is instrumental in developing key learning skills of the future interpersonal skills, information skills, technology skills, basic skills, thinking skills and learnability.

Thinking Skills

Narrative Style

Spiral Curriculum

Yoga And Ergonomics Thematic Integration

Computer Masti does two wonderful things. One it adopts its own alternate style to teach i.e. focus on concepts and logic and secondly it integrates the whole content as a main stream curriculum - Bageshri,Teacher.

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FEATURES
THEMATIC INTEGRATION Thematic integration views learning and teaching in a holistic way and reflects the interactive nature of the real world. Traditionally, thematic integration is achieved via computer enabled learning, that uses technology to teach other subjects. Computer Masti adopts a reverse thematic integration approach. It reinforces what students learn in other subjects such as Science, Maths while learning Computers. SPIRAL CURRICULUM There is an iterative revisiting of topics across different level books, so that they are graded according to difficulty level, from simple to complex. This provides students an opportunity to achieve higher cognitive levels during successive encounters with a topic.

NARRATIVE STYLE For young children, story format works better than other methodologies. This is because it uses contextual examples that seem realistic and draw in natural comprehension abilities of children. It provides role models that students can identify with and makes the course engaging.

YOGA AND ERGONOMICS Computer Masti addresses the ergonomics factors. It covers topics of healthy computer practices, which are dealt by teaching proper postures, Do's and Don'ts and different exercises.Yoga asanas are included to imbibe healthy lifestyle in the students.

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CM & 21ST CENTURY SKILLS

Critical Thinking
In order to nurture the natural thinking capacities of children, CM includes chapters devoted exclusively to teach this. Thinking skills included in CM are stepwise thinking, problem-solving, stepwise gathering of information, multiple representations, brain storming and mind maps.

Collaboration
Real life situations demand team work abilities. To address this, CM includes group activities based projects that provides opportunities for collaborative (group) learning.

Communication
CM reinforces communication skills by including topics such as use of modern day tools to create multimedia presentation, communicate with individual and group using e-mail, view and share content over the cloud.

Creativity
CM nurtures creativity in young students by including activities and projects that expects them to go beyond the book and apply wider skill set. In addition, applications such as multimedia programming, image editing, digital story telling provide opportunities for creative expression.

OPEN SOURCE
CM is based upon Open Source philosophy. The operating system(OS) referred in the course content is Ubuntu, which is 'free' and comes with a lot of flexibility. Besides, it provides a far more secure environment than other OS. Applications included in CM can be downloaded from internet and used without any cost. The students learn the software for various applications as recommended by the National Curriculum Framework. We focus on concepts rather than skills associated with specific applications. These applications include gCompris, Scratch (from MIT), Open Office, Tux Paint. Computer Programing begins from using 'Scratch' in the primary classes, to 'Basic', and then gradually moving to higher programing languages.

Computer Masti nurtures creativity in young students by including activities and projects that expects them to go beyond the book and apply wider skill set. In addition, applications such as multimedia programming, image editing, digital story telling provide opportunities for creative expression.

The curriculum covers topics spread across five themes: familiarity with computers, computer applications, thinking process skills, computer programming, social ethics and safety. Each of the themes have multiple sub-themes. Education as fun Education as fun retains students interest levels and ensures active participation. Guided inquiry through the narrative style engages students and makes learning of computers enjoyable.

Why CM ?

Concept above skills

CM focuses on conceptual understanding rather than skills associated with specific application. Spiral curriculum There is iterative revisiting of topics across themes across grades, with each successive encounter of the topic building on the previous one, and aims to deepen the knowledge of that topic. Thematic integration CM reinforces what is taught in other subjects while learning computers. This integration of interdisciplinary knowledge is achieved by use of analogy, real life situations, educational games.

Enabler of 21st century skills

Critical Thinking skills: The primary vision of CM is to nurture clarity of thought. Hence it lays equal emphasis on computer knowledge and thinking process. Collaboration: Group activities are included to facilitate knowledge sharing and nurture team work abilities. Communication: Use of modern day communication tools between individuals and group such as multimedia presentation, email, sharing content over the cloud are included. Creativity: CM nurtures creativity by including activities such as digital story telling, multimedia programming that allows students to go beyond the book and apply wider skill set. Scalable CM includes free applications to ensure maximum reach. This is particularly relevant for Indian schools, since it has been recognized that unless an attitude and aptitude of knowledge creation is established, developing countries will continue to remain as mere consumers of technology. Use of FOSS facilitates a culture of freedom and builds confidence of the students. It enables them to be the driver of the technology rather than being driven by the technology.

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IMPLEMENTATION DETAILS
The implementation process adopted by InOpen is fairly interesting. InOpen and IIT Bombay strongly believes that in Education Sector One size doesnt fit all. They believe that every school is different and comes with its own learning. Every school gets its customized curriculum which involves a different set of learning material, extensive training and assessment guidelines.The goal is to help schools reach the right level.

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

EDUCATION OFFICER VISIT

UNDERSTAND THE REQUIREMENT OF MANAGEMENT AND SCHOOL

DESIGN AND CUSTOMIZATION OF COURSE CONTENT

IMPLEMENTATION

TEACHER`S TRAINING ON-SITE

HANDHOLDING VISITS

STUDENT`S EVALUATION

CLASSROOM OBSERVATION

ATTENDING GRIEVANCES

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KEY HIGHLIGHTS IN 1st YEAR

st

Super stuff! - Mark Shuttleworth - Founder, Canonical and Ubuntu .

What people say

A dream for every parent and must for every child Economic Times - ET Now This is a story where we in the west can look to the developing world, to a country like India who is using technology innovatively. I am talking about Computer Masti.. - Times of India The Curriculum is very helpful for teachers with its Teachers guide.The worksheet and the activities are very attractive. I enjoyed it very much - Mrs. Haseena Suresh IES group of schools The curriculum makes me feels good as I able to relate to the need which I see in my schools.The students are bored of dry and mechanical Curriculum - Mr. Chandrasekhar Orchid International School, Nasik Our Routine Computer Classes have turned into so fun.... - Mrs. Lalitha Hariharan Principal, Rizvi group of schools

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IMPLEMENTATION IN RURAL / LOW INCOME SCHOOL

The rural urban distribution is skewed as the percentage of primary schools having computers is 5.34 percent which is much lower than 18.20 percent in urban areas. The percentage of government schools with computer has shown an improvement over years from 6.57 percent in 2005-06 to 8.57 percent in 2010-11

Mohd. Sajid from Ashraful Uloom Public School in Sikar whose students are from less privileged background and can only manage a modest School Infrastructure is thrilled with the ease in which Computer Masti have been implemented in his school. He says The best what I like about Computer Masti is its focus on teaching Computers in local language and emphasis on collaborative activities.We managed to to teach computers to class strength of 45 students using 4 machines

www.inopen.in

Aspiring to be the best Content generation and resource Training Company

InOpen Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a IIT Bombay based Educational startup. The Company was started in Oct 2009 and has its office in the serene campus of IIT Bombay. It designs, develops world-class educational content and solutions for academia.The solution is designed based on the inputs and extensive validations from academicians in the country and abroad. InOpen offers products and services to government and private schools and meets the requirements of state, national and international boards. InOpen is among the few companies that work full time in-sync with Free and Open source (FOSS) technologies. InOpen envisions itself as developer of Computer learning system by creating quality education standards using Open Source.We take pride in our research, our academic team comprising of professors, psychologists and experts in various fields from world-class universities. We strive to become a global Education Enterprise. The company is expected to reach to 1 million students by 2013. The simplicity of our solutions addressing the complex and underlying problems of academia is our strength, justifying our tag line ...adding simplicity to sense.

Call us at : + 91 - 9619 609509

InOpen Technologies Pvt. Ltd. M-03, SINE, CSRE Building, IIT Bombay Powai, Mumbai-400076.

Email : info@inopen.in

visit us : www.computermasti.com