1. Infusing Dynamism in Teacher Education through ICT Integration:
Facilitating the Advancement of University Curricula and Research through
Technology Integration
Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy College of Education
Soubhagya Laxmi and Venkanna Sarala
The Institution
The Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy (N S R) College of Education is a reputed college under the Vivek
Vardhini Education Society which was established in 1907. The esteemed President of India, Dr Abdul
Kalam recently graced the centenary celebrations of the society. The College of Education is the
youngest of the institutions under the ambit of the Vivek Vardhini Education Society. It was established
in the academic year 1972-73 with the magnanimous donations made by the 51st Birthday Celebrations
Committee of the beloved former President of India and former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, late
Neelam Sanjeeva Reddy, and under the guidance of the founder-principal Sri S N Vyapari. The present
annual intake is 115 students. Most of the students come from rural areas and poor socio-economic
background.
The infrastructure of the college has five teaching halls, a big library with one hall and two reading
rooms for reference section, six laboratories —Bio-Science, Physical Science, Mathematics,
Psychology, Language, and Computer—Staff room, Office room, and Principal’s Chamber.
The Principal, along with nine lecturers and a librarian, is supported by twelve members of non teaching
staff organize the academic activities. The management is very supportive and provides encouragement
for professional development of faculty as a result many of the faculty pursued higher education after
joining the institution. At present, six faculty members have Ph.D. degrees and two faculty members are
pursuing their Ph.D. work.
Objectives of the Practice
The objectives of the practice are to inspire the students and teachers:
l To learn and effectively integrate technology in Teaching Learning Activities
l To acquaint with necessary skills of handling Microsoft Office Packages for the purpose
of Education in the institution
l To inspire the student teachers to think and reason at high level
l To encourage and empower them with skills to harness technology
l To facilitate the advancement of university curricula and research in strategic areas
through technology integration
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2. Infusing Dynamism in Teacher Education through ICT Integration
Need Addressed and the Context
Many of the student teachers admitted are from rural areas and they do not have any prior
knowledge, skills or exposure to computers. It has been a challenge to make them come out of their
misconceptions about computers and their use in teaching-learning and make them familiar with
computer operations. The college has therefore initiated steps aiming at “equipping the teacher trainees
with the latest techniques and technology that can be integrated with the teaching and learning
process with special reference to Information and Communication Technology (ICT)”.
Osmania University, to which the college is affiliated has prescribed ICT as a compulsory component
of the common core curriculum for B. Ed. The compulsory component has been of great help in
achieving computer literacy and also in providing computer skills to the student teachers. In this context,
the college has taken the initiative and put all possible efforts to make each of the teacher trainee
computer savvy and equip them with at-least a minimum working knowledge of MS Office specially
with reference to MS PowerPoint and MS Word. However, to achieve this making available the required
Lab resources and trained personnel has been a major challenge. Though this could be overcome to
some extent by persistent negotiation with the management, it still remains a major hurdle.
Implementation of the Practice
The very first day the students report to the college, there is an introduction and induction session,
where the skills and abilities of the students are identified. Based on the pre-knowledge and skill levels,
the students are divided into six mentor groups consisting of 16 - 20 students in each group. As the
entire faculty is computer savvy and trained under Intel Teach Program, each one of them is assigned
to a group to act as a mentor. A time table is prepared allotting one and half hours hands-on-experience
per week for each group of students. Every day, one batch goes to the computer lab from 3.45 p.m. to
5.15 p.m. along with the mentor.
Depending on the skill levels the students are paired for the practice and project work under the
guidance of the mentor. The college inducts the students slowly and gradually. Initially, they are just
exposed to the use of computers through peer observation then to computer basic operations and
finally on how to use internet, email, Encarta, encyclopedia etc. Once comfortable with using computers
they are merged with the group they are assigned.
The hands-on session however is proceeded by theory sessions in the regular B. Ed. time table which
encompasses the Intel-Teach Pre-Service curriculum. Students are trained in fundamental operational
skills such as starting the system, creating the files, folders, saving and editing through word processors,
spread sheets, database, multimedia, Internet surfing, E-mail, etc. They are encouraged to prepare as
many presentations as possible. One presentation in each methodology subject covering high school
curriculum, is a core component of their computer education besides the other computer applications
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3. Infusing Dynamism in Teacher Education through ICT Integration:
such as. word processors, spread sheets and database. In preparing for teaching VIII, IX and X class
subjects, they are encouraged to explore and use technology for information retrieval, to prepare
various projects, and to develop multimedia presentations on various topics.
There is an intensive project period for 11 days from 8.00 a.m to 5.00 p.m which is exclusively meant for
Computer Education project. During these 11 days the mentors are expected to be with their respective
groups all through the day and guide them in planning, working on computers , evaluating the project
work and in report preparation. This also covers preparing them for the final Computer Education
practical exam. The students are encouraged to use the Internet to gather information regarding the
topics given by the teacher educators or on the project works they do. Students use either the internet
facility available in the college or go to the cyber cafes for collecting information. They are trained to
browse through the web for gathering information and storing it for use in project work and classroom
interactions.
Students are also encouraged to use multimedia presentations while doing micro-teaching and macro-
teaching. Some of the students used PPTs, work sheets, brochures, invitations, news letters and word,
very effectively for micro as well as macro-teaching. By using this, the students respond well,
communication is improved and overall there is improved response and learning. The high school
students expressed satisfaction saying that they understood the concepts better when PPTs are used.
Prior discussions and peer reviews on organising information in slides, evaluation tools, unit plan
templates, newsletters, brochures etc., has helped the student teachers to use them more confidently
in their classrooms.
Resources Required
At present, the college has passed through the stages of hiring computers, sharing the lab facilities of
sister concern institutes to establishing its own lab. Both the management and the faculty contributions
helped in equipping the computer lab. The lab has 13 computers each with a UPS for 30 minutes back
up. It is also equipped with a scanner, two printers, web camera, etc. The systems are networked with
LAN and also have an Internet connection. Educational CDs available include the Encarta encyclopedia,
Encyclopedia Britannica and subject CDs for various subjects given by Intel.
As the LCD projector plays a key role in presentations, prowsing it is our immediate priority. The lab also
plans to procure latest software packages to facilitate the student teachers learning in the college of
education and in their practice teaching schools.
Challenges Faced and Solutions Devised
Initially, lack of motivation among student teachers, the teacher-educators and the management was
the major challenge. As the students come from rural, poor socio economic background and do not
have enough exposure and awareness of computer education, additional effort and time was required
for bringing them up to the desired levels.
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4. Infusing Dynamism in Teacher Education through ICT Integration
The limitation of infrastructure (Computer lab) and trained teacher educators was a challenge. Initially
the college had only one computer with which it was not possible to give hands on experience, except
demonstrations. Hence, ten computers for the 2000-2001 batch were hired to give hands on experience
for the students. Later on, for 2001-02 and 2002-03, the computer lab of the afternoon college of the
sister concern institution was used. Finally, the college could establish a computer lab of its own with
the help of faculty contributions, UGC grants and the development fund of the college. At present there
are 13 computers with Internet, UPS and other facilities.
Having acquired the infrastructure and other resources, the next challenge to overcome was the
requirement for trained personnel. Master Trainers training of the Intel® Teach program at the Institute
of Advanced Study in Education (IASE), Osmania University was attended by two of the faculty members,
who in turn trained other faculty members. As a result of this training, all faculty members are now
trained resource persons in the Intel Pre- Service curriculum and in project work.
Lastly, when the student teachers were trained and had prepared PPT’s, the hurdle in putting them to
use arose as there were no computers and projection devices, such as LCD projectors, in their
practice teaching schools. In such a situation, to retain their spirit and motivation, student teachers
were encouraged to use PPT and other packages in their microteaching sessions in the college and
in peer teaching.
Impact/Outcome
As a result of the efforts detailed above, today pre-service teacher educatiors are equipped with
computer operational skills, they are preparing their own PPTs on concerned subjects, can
judiciously select computer applications and browse the Internet for information retrieval. They
are also equipped to meet the needs of the students in making them computer literate. The college,
in the process, has also gained experience in training students for computer skills and thus is
guiding other colleges of education in this regard.
The initiative of the course has resulted in producing trained pre-service teachers, but the use of their
skills in the field situation i.e., schools is very limited, as most of the schools are not equipped with
computers and are not in the practice of using ICT in the teaching-learning process, a limitation which
the college could not do away with as yet.
Requirements for Adoption and Adaptation
Given this experience, it would be desirable for the teacher education institutions to provide an opportunity
to all the teacher educators to be equipped with pre-service computer education curriculum. This will
enhance the possibility of integrating ICT in various subjects and widen the resource base of the
college with regard to the availability of trained personnel. This will provide the necessary expertise of
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5. Infusing Dynamism in Teacher Education through ICT Integration:
equipping 100+ student teachers with 21st century skills to be shared by the 9 -15 teacher educators
instead of one or two computer resource personnel.
Further, technical staff with required qualifications but without exposure to teaching in schools or
experience and/or exposure to teaching education courses may not be able to appreciate and
understand the needs of the institution and their students. They should therefore be oriented on the
requirements of the institution. While recruiting such staff, preference may be given to people with
some general understanding of ICT application in education instead of just looking at the qualifications.
Total integration of Information and Communication Technology i.e. in teaching all the subjects of
teacher education course and in administration and management aspects of the institution , would not
only be economical but also results in an ICT culture which on its own brings in a change in the attitude
of one and all participating in the institutional process. That means this should become a regular
practice, visible in every aspect of institutional functioning.
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33 Infusing Dynamism in Teacher Education through ICT Integration