The Center of Research in Advanced Technologies for Education (Amrita CREATE) conducted a workshop of Amrita OLabs (Online labs) for teachers of Class 9th to 12th on 26 November 2015 at The Hotel Presidency, Bhubaneswar.
With the goal of training 30,000 teachers, Amrita CREATE is expanding the training of school teachers in educational technology and STEM skills to other Indian states. Amrita OLabs is based on the idea that lab experiments can be taught using the Internet. Seventy-four teachers from over 50 schools participated in the workshop.
Shri. M.S.Padhi, IAS, Commissioner-cum-Secretary, Food Supply and Consumer Welfare Department inaugurated the workshop. Smt. Mona Patnaik, Principal of Amrita Vidyalayam, Orissa, delivered the Welcome Speech. Shri. M. S. Padhi suggested having the scope of Odia language into the system so that it can be introduced to the board of secondary education Odisha and HSE Odisha.
The workshop started with a demonstration of a real lab experiment which was followed by the demonstration of a virtual experiment showcased in OLabs by Suresh D., Amrita CREATE Team Member. Later on, in the presentation session, Rathnam Arun, Online Labs Project Coordinator, gave a brief introduction to Online Labs and explained some other experiments to the participants. After the demo session, the teachers were really excited to initiate the use of this new educational tool in the school.
“Online Labs, especially in biology field, will help to save the sacrifices of animals and students can repeat the experiments as much as they wish. Online Labs is a great way to learn experiments,” shared Nabamita Goswami, Doom International School, Patrapada, Bhubaneswar.
“Online Labs helps students to easily understand practical experiments in a well-organized manner. The program is encouraging and creative in nature,” shared Biswabhusan Dhal, Times Scholars Gurukul, Gothapatna, Bhubaneswar.
