Karnataka govt launches new digital learning platforms

The Higher Education Department on Wednesday launched a new set of digital learning platforms, which allow students pursuing higher education courses at government-run institutions to learn “anytime, anywhere”.

To bridge the digital divide between those studying in private institutions and government institutions during the pandemic, the department has converted 2,500 classrooms into smart classrooms and distributed tablet PCs to around 1.55 lakh degree, diploma and engineering students from 430 government degree, 82 polytechnics and 14 government engineering colleges and launched a Learning Management System (LMS).

Higher Education Minister Dr C N Ashwath Narayan said the programmes would “enable ‘anytime, anywhere’ learning” and benefit 25,000 teachers and five lakh students.

The tablet PCs will be distributed to students at a cost of Rs 163 crore.

“These initiatives will help resolve the imbalance between offline and online, digital and physical, rural and urban, government and private, rich and poor and also English and native language barriers with respect to access to quality teaching and learning, besides providing a strong platform to implement the National Education Policy effectively,” he said.

The department is also spending on converting 2,500 smart classrooms (Rs 27.77 crore) and development of a Learning Management System (Rs 4.04 crore). The department aims to convert the remaining 6,000 classrooms into smart classrooms during the 2021-22 academic year.

Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa inaugurated the smart classrooms and also symbolically distributed tablet PCs in Bengaluru on Wednesday. He said the initiatives were aimed at benefiting students belonging to the economically weaker sections studying in government institutions.

Briefing about the initiative, Pradeep P, commissioner, Department of Collegiate Education said the initiatives allow students to access the classroom and refer to the content uploaded by teachers.

He said the tablet PCs are sim card based and can be accessed anywhere. Desktop and mobile apps that work without the Internet are also part of the programme. “The content uploaded in the Learning Management System is bilingual and the uniqueness of this system is, students can also rate their teachers,” explained Pradeep.

Currently, 3.5 lakh content modules are uploaded on LMS from experts in 15 state-run universities and affiliated colleges. The students can access any of the contents and rate them to help teachers improve.

Meanwhile, students will be assessed by teachers periodically based on multiple choice questions and question banks on the LMS. “This will help bring in revolutionary changes in the teaching and learning process,” he added.

The smart classrooms include projectors, whiteboard, Android box, UPS, and the Internet to facilitate the use of modern teaching and learning models and LMS enables access to learning both in online and offline modes.