Computers are their New Found Joy !!!

During the last two weeks of my internship, I got the opportunity to put my hands into SELCO's new project 'Computers for Schools'. Intel had developed a specially integrated laptop for kids which can sustain rough handling. SELCO got one such laptop from Intel to experiment on this new project.

Intel's Classroom PC (with Windows 7 OS) that was used for the project 'Computers for Schools'

Meanwhile a DELL INSPIRON 600 (with Windows XP)  in a decent working condition made it's way into the project. Anand sir had donated the laptop for the noble cause. We decided to give the two laptops to a government school in Kukkavu which is 18KM from Ujire.

DELL INSPIRON used for the project

The plan was to just give the laptops to the students of 7th standard and monitor the usage of the laptop by the kids to find their level of understanding and inquisitiveness towards the laptops. The pilot phase began from the day when the laptop was donated to the school (i.e 24/03/2012) in the presence of dignitaries from Rotary Club. As an intern my job was to go the school and give the children basic computer education. We had planned that this 'basic computer education' would include teaching the kids how to use the mouse (right click,left click,scroll bar), keyboard, MS Word, and Paint. Four interns from SELCO (Myself, Kanmani, Anantha and Nithin) and two students from SDMIT college (Amit and Pallavi) were there on 27th at the school, sharp at 2.30pm to meet the kids unaware of the surprise that was awaiting us. We entered the classroom, and all the kids gave us due respect by standing up and wishing us 'good afternoon'. We started the interaction with the kids with the discussion on 'Use of Computers' to find out what they knew about the computers. They were mum for some time and we promised to give chocolates to the those who answer. Slowly one kid stood up and told computers can be used to see another person who is far from us. That stunned us !! A kid who has not seen a laptop ever before knows what is used for. Then we continued with the practical session. We had planned to teach them basic things like how to switch on and off the laptop. To our surprise they had already learnt to switch on and off the laptop. The kids had tried their hands on the computer on the day the laptop was donated to them. That is the level of interest the kids had. Before giving the laptops we had put some educational videos into the it. The surprising part was that the kids had already discovered the videos and somehow found the way to play the videos also. We thought of showing the videos but the kids were far ahead and told us that they have already watched the videos. Then I told myself, "We better come with good content for the next visit. These kids are on a roll."

The super 20 of 7th grade who were the beneficiaries of the laptop.

On 29th two interns went to the schools and taught them to type their names in MS Word. They made sure each of the 20 students got the chance to type their names. They also taught them to color the names they had typed.

Kids using the Intel laptop. Look at the smile on their faces !!

On 3rd, the same team of six reached the school at 3pm. Today we had planned to teach Paint to the kids. So I sat down with 10 of the kids with my notebook to teach them paint in theory before the practicals. To make the session interactive I was asking questions. Before explaining how to save the file in Paint I happened to ask 'How to save the file ?'. And here comes a sharp reply from one of the kids Riyaz who happens to be the class topper, "You click third option SAVE to save the file and then type the name". Wow !! Here I am trying to explain the kids how to use Paint and here is this cool kid who has already explored Paint and also saved the file. Nevertheless I continued to explain and gave them few exercises to do in Paint.

The next visit was on 10th. This time it was only me and Sandeep (one of the employee's at SELCO). I acquainted them with the basics of MS Word. I taught them to make a table and gave them a homework of preparing a table which has the names of the students in the class along with their contact number. The next day,that is, 11th was the last day for the school and also the end of the first phase of our project. We had planned to bring back the laptops to SELCO LABS. On the last day, the kids showed me the assignment. The same day the final examination results were out. They had created a table with names of the students along with the marks obtained by them in each subject. That is the level of creativity these kids have. I was so delighted. A teacher is always on cloud nine when her kids are creative.

This painting was done by Abuthwayar (in the right). Though his fingers were impaired he was using the laptop comfortably.

A bit of gaming !!!

The last day I interviewed all the kids and they were of the opinion that they love the laptops and wished that the high school also has laptops/computers. They loved working on the Intel laptop compared to the other laptop.

These were the things they learnt in just 2 weeks. The computers will be useful to these kids in a long run. The second phase of the project will begin from June. The second phase will be 'Computer Enhanced Education', that is,using computers to enhance the quality of teaching. The teacher can use the computer to teach the existing subjects.

In the first phase we had given two laptops to only 7th standard students. The second phase will require more laptops. If you have a laptop in decent working condition which you can donate for this noble cause, then do get in touch with me. The kids will be more than thankful for your gift!!