Schools need to look beyond boundaries and teachers need to go beyond textbooks to create a learning environment conducive to real education.

This resolution, adopted at the recently concluded 17th National CBSE Sahodaya Conference in Bengaluru, underlined what Amrita’s Adaptive Learning software seeks to do.

Prof. Prema Nedungadi, key architect of the software, was invited to speak at the conference that was attended by Principals of over 500 top schools from across the country.

Prominent key note speakers represented institutions of higher education in Bengaluru such as IISc, IIM and IIIT. Minister of Human Resource Development, Shri. Kapil Sibal also addressed the gathering via. video conference.

“I shared our work at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham wherein we use adaptive learning methodologies to develop educational material for school students,” noted Prema.

Today over 34,000 students across India use this program. A pre-assessment forms the basis of an individualized curriculum that is offered to the student. The mode of instruction is adapted to the individual’s learning style.

“Learning must be made fun, and enable learners to experience,” emphasized Prema. “The program uses various modalities of instruction including video, drama, games and animations to support different learning styles.”

Commending CBSE’s bold move for introducing a continuous and comprehensive evaluation (CCE) scheme, Prema spoke about the assessment methodology in the program.

“Formative assessment with immediate instructional feedback is offered continuously.”

“Besides the learner’s knowledge base, his or her cognitive, affective and physical states should be understood. After such an analysis, the knowledge gap areas should be identified and an effective plan of instruction determined for each learner.”

“We plan to carry out further research to evaluate various ICT and classroom techniques and study their effectiveness.”

“The initiative was shaped by our Chancellor Amma’s vision of developing high-quality educational material for Indian schools and colleges,” she added.

The conference theme Managing Change for Better Learning was further highlighted in talks by Shri. Kuntia, Joint Secretary, MHRD and Shri Vineet Joshi, Chairman, CBSE.

Key issues including school-based assessment, resistance to change, teacher empowerment and embedding technology in the CCE scheme were discussed.

January 4, 2011
Amritapuri Campus