38 Role of NCERT in Development of Educational Technology

DR. Pratima Pradhan

Module Structure

37.1 Introduction

37.2 Establishment of NCERT

37.3 The Major Constituent Units of NCERT

37.4 Objectives of NCERT

37.5 Major Programmes and Activities of NCERT

37.6 Uses of Educational technology by NCERT

37.6 Efforts Initiated by NCERT in Developing Educational Technology

37.7 Let us sum up

37.1 Introduction

The life and the world around us are greatly influenced by the emergence of technology. Each and every area of life has been touched by technology. It is beyond our imagination to live even a day without the use of technology. Many researches are being carried out, resulting in new solutions to various problems of life. In this connection, education has also not been untouched by technology for solutions to various educational problems.

From providing resources in the classroom to distance education, the role of educational technologies is undoubtedly significant. These multiple facets of Educational Technology make a crucial difference to the way in which the term is interpreted. In order to understand educational technology Vasudha Kamat, Joint Director, Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), NCERT, explains: “Educational technology is a very broad term which implies those processes which facilitate learning. This includes planning, developing, using, evaluating, and managing technologies for enhancing quality of learning (and/or teaching). Also, it encompasses face-to-face, distance as well as e-learning.”

Appreciation of the role of educational technology as an agent of change in the classroom is influencing the teacher and the teaching-learning process, and its role in systemic issues like reach, equity, and quality. There are various government and non-government organizations at micro and macro level engaged in the development, dissemination and systematic implementations of educational technology for the provision of quality education. The NCERT is one such institution which plays a vital role in the development of educational technology.

37.2 Establishment of NCERT

The National Council of Educational Research and Training was set up by the Government of India. It was established on 1st September, 1961. It has its headquarters at New Delhi. NCERT helps and advises the Ministry of Human Resource Development of the Government of India in formulating and carrying out its educational policies and programmes. It collaborates with the departments in the states, the universities and institutes. Through the development of research, publication, extension training, NCERT tries to improve educational system. NCERT also provides technical advice to states for the improvement of the standard of state science exhibitions and their exhibits for national science exhibitions. It also maintains close contact with similar national and international institutions. It communicates the results of its researches by publishing books and journals.

37.3 Major Constituent Units ofNCERT

NCERT constitutes the following units:

1. National Institute of Education (NIE), New Delhi

2. Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET), New Delhi.

3. Pandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education (PSSCIVE), Bhopal

4. Regional Institutes of Education:

Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Ajmer
Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Bhopal
Regional Institute of Education (RIE ), Bhubaneswar
Regional Institute of Education (RIE), Mysore
North-East Regional Institute of Education (NE-RIE) Shillong

5. Field Advisers’ Offices in the States.

37.4 Objectives of the NCERT

The main objectives of NCERT and its constituent units are:

To undertake aid, promote and coordinate research in areas related to school education.
To prepare and publish model textbooks, supplementary material, newsletters, journals and other related literature.
To organize pre-service and in-service training programme for teachers.
To develop and disseminate innovative educational techniques and practices.
To collaborate and network with state educational departments, universities, NGOs and other educational institutions.
To act as a clearing house for ideas and information in matters related to school education.
To act as a nodal agency for achieving goals of universalisation of elementary education.

37.5 MajorProgrammes and Activities of NCERT

The NCERT, through its various constituent units carry out different programmes and activities. The major programmes and activities ofNCERT are:

Research:

Research is one of the vital functions of NCERT. NCERT provides training in educational research methodology through its different departments such as National Institute of Education (NIE), Regional Institutes of Education(RIEs), Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) andPandit Sunderlal Sharma Central Institute of Vocational Education(PSSCIVE) NCERT gives financial assistance and academic guidance for research programmes of other institutions/organizations. Assistance is given to scholars for publication of their Ph.D. theses. Research fellowships are offered to encourage studies in school education to encourage competencies in research work.

Development:

NCERT is involved in developmental activities in school education. The development of curricula and its renewal is another major area of work of NCERT. It not only develops instructional materials for various levels of school education but also makes them appropriate to changing needs of children and society. Developmental activities are also carried out in the areas of educational technology, population education, and education of the disabled and other special groups.

The developmental activities include development of curricula and instructional materials in school education in the area of pre-school education, formal and non-formal education, vocationalisation of education and teacher education. Audio-video spots on early literacy are conceptualized to generate knowledge and understanding of the concept and importance of developing literacy skills in early years and to sensitize the teachers, educational administrators, parents and community about the importance of early literacy.

Training

One of important functions of NCERT is training of teachers. NCERT work in pre-service and in-service training at various levels i.e. pre-primary, elementary, secondary and higher secondary in the following areas:

Special education
Guidance and counseling
Vocational education
Educational technology

The Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs)of five different zones of India also undertake the training of key personnel of the states and of state level institutions and training of teacher educators and in-service teachers.

NCERT has incorporated following significant features:

Integration of content and methodology of teaching
Long-term internship of teacher trainees in the actual classroom setting
Participation of students in community work through the pre-service teacher education programmes at the Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs).

PSSCIVE, Bhopal the constituent unit of NCERT organizes training programmes on Computer Technique, automobile technology etc. Training packages for classroom transactions in Science, classroom transaction in Mathematics and Biology and skills in English have been prepared by RIE, Mysore.

Extension

Various Departments of theNational Institute of Education (NIE), RIEs, PSSCIVE and CIET are engaged in various ways in the comprehensive extension programme. Constituents of NCERT work in close collaboration with various agencies and institutions in the states. It also works extensively with Extension Service Departments and Centres in teacher education colleges and schools to provide support to different group of personnel, including teachers, teacher educators, educational administrators, question-paper setters, textbook writers, etc.

The NCERT has also extended its service to rural and backward areas with the aim of reaching out to the functionaries in these areas where special problems exist and where special efforts are required. It organizes special programmes for the educationally disadvantaged sections of the society.

Publication and Dissemination

Another major programme of NCERT is publication. Publication wing of NCERT looks after the publications of textbooks for different school subjects for Classes I to XII. It also prints or brings out workbooks, teachers’ guides, supplementary readers, research reports, etc. NCERT publishes instructional materials for the use of teacher educators, in-service teachers and teacher trainees. These instructional materials are produced through research and developmental activities. These are provided as models to various agencies in states and Union Territories for adoption and/or adaptation.

NCERT publishes several journals such as ‘The Primary Teacher.’ It is published both in English and Hindi. Journal of Indian Education provides a forum for encouraging original and critical thinking in education through discussion on current educational issues etc. Besides these, a house journal called NCERT Newsletter is also published in English and Hindi (Shaikshik Darpan). It is a noticeable fact that NCERT ensures use of technology. Through the publication NCERT promotes ET and ensures that teachers and students make use of educational technology in the class rooms.

Exchange Programmes

The exchange programmes of NCERT are carried out through interaction with international organizations like UNESCO, UNICEF, UNDP, NFPA and the World Bank. The purpose of interacting with the international agencies is to study specific educational problems and to arrange training programmes for personnel from other countries. It acts as the Secretariat of the National Development Group for Educational Innovations. The NCERT has been organizing and offering training facilities, usually through attachment programmes and participation in workshops, to educational personnel of other countries.

37.6 NCERT and Educational technology

i) Preparation of teachers: – NCERT has taken initiative in implementing educational technology. It has been quite successful in training and retraining of large number of school teachers effectively and economically. It encourages teachers to be ICT literate for official and personal use to build comfort and later creativity in educational work. NCERT provides training to pre-service teachers through the Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs) to evaluate and integrate available materials into the learning process.

ii) Telecast lesson: – CIET, the constituent element of NCERT initiated in telecasting lessons for different standards in different subjects. INSAT (Indian Satellite) was launched which gave boost to a series of innovative and constructive television programmes. These programme has been taken place for national development and for educating the Indian masses living in remote areas. The programmes are telecast through National Telecast (DD) as well as GyanDarshan Channels. They are also made available on CD formats to the students, teachers as well as general public.

iii) Audio-visual materials: – NCERT plays a major role in the preparation, development and use of audio-visual material. The CIET wing of NCERT at theVideo Production Division held the responsibility of producing high quality Educational Video programmes for the school going children and teachers.

37.7 Efforts Initiated by NCERT in Developing Educational Technology

The NCERT plays a significant role in the development of educational technology single handedly through its constituent units and by collaborating with other agencies. Some of the initiatives taken by NCERT in the area are discussed below.

Establishment of Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET)

Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET) at the top level was established in 1984 with the unification of the Centre of Educational Technology and Department of Teaching Aids. The CIET is concerned with the development of educational technology, mass communication media, and extends educational opportunities to improve the quality of educational processes, practices and outcomes. The activities of CIET also include design and production of media software namely radio and television programmes. It holds

programmes to build competencies of media workers from the State Institutes of Educational Technology (SIETs) for development and utilization of such software. The institute disseminates its software through broadcast and non-broadcast modes. Need based research and evaluation activities are undertaken and studies are taken up to assess the effectiveness of materials and programmes by CIET.

Enhancing Media Programme

Mass media like radio and television have been used in an irregular fashion for education for a long time. In 1970, the Ministry of Education took up a scheme of ET. Under this scheme, an ET unit in the Ministry, a Centre for Educational Technology (CET) under NCERT, and ET cells in six SITE states were set up in 1974. Both CET and DECU (Development and Educational Communications Unit) of the Space Application Centre (SAC), Ahmedabad conducted formative and summative research in respect of the programmes that they had carried out.

CET launched a multimedia programme of in-service teacher training, which was highly successful. There was excellent coordination between the state units and CET for the first few years. Every programme of CET was directed towards solving an educational problem or enhancing learning to achieve well-defined educational goals. The programmes were related to the education of marginalized communities. However, this vision was lost some time in the early 1980s. With new directives from the Ministry of Human Resource Development (earlier known as the Ministry of Education), the close coordination between the state units and the central unit virtually came to an end.

The launching of the Indian National Satellite (INSAT) in 1980 and its availability for educational purposes, directed the Ministry of Education to take over the production of educational television programmes for transmission via Doordarshan. INSAT for Education was conceived as a tripartite project, and was supported by UNDP, UNESCO, and GOI. Under its support, an Educational Technology Division in the Ministry of Education was set up. CET was merged with the Department of Teaching Aids of NCERT and was renamed as Central Institute of Educational Technology (CIET).

Some of the Educational Technology (ET) cells in the states were upgraded to State Institutes of Educational Technology (SIETs) and ET cells were opened in some other states. Studios with adequate hardware for production were installed. CIET was charged with the task of undertaking educational television and radio production, conducting training and research, and performing as a central coordination agency for all production and utilization of efforts. Along with SIETs, CIET aimed at the utilization of mass communications in a major way to meet various educational objectives. These projects provided examples of the use of modern methods of media planning and application.

The application of media in education in an Indian situation must take into account the availability of software and access to hardware. CIET conducted experiments in teleconferencing. The project seems to have reached sub optimal achievement levels after the initial planning, as support systems were found to be insufficient. Thus the educational system has failed to appreciate the usefulness of media programmes in their educational plans.

Television and radio sets were supplied to schools over many years. AIR (All India Radio) and Doordarshan were chosen as the carriers for the broadcasts. As production and broadcasts began, equipment and personnel were put in place. So far as CIET and the SIETs were concerned, the production of video and audio programmes became their main work.

Computers in Education

Indian experiments in taking computers to schools involved the participation of a large number of institutions for tasks such as the supply of hardware and software, the development of Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) packages, and the training of teachers.

A project called Computer Literacy and Studies (CLASS) launched in 1984 was a joint initiative of MHRD, Department of Electronics, and NCERT. It covered 42 Resource Centres and 2,582 schools. It made use of microcomputers provided by the BBC. The evaluation of the project by SAC revealed the need for greater interaction between resource centers and project schools, the need to reduce the time gap between the training of teachers, the installation of systems, and the initiation of activities in schools, the imparting of adequate hands-on experience to teachers and students, and the provision of computer literacy programmes in the timetable. The project had only a limited success, and has been described at best as a “spectator sport”.

Teacher Training

The Regional Institutes of Education (RIEs) of NCERT also have ET cells. Further, even in higher education, it is recommended that teacher training in Educational Technology should form a part of their programme. The aim was to bring about qualitative development in the field of education.Through the various constituent units NCERT takes charge of training of teachers in different activities at both pre-service and in-service levels.

In pre-service teacher education:

Introduces teachers to flexible models of reaching curriculum goals.
Introduces use of media and technology enabled methods of learning, making it inherent and embedded in the teaching-learning process of teachers.
Train teachers to evaluate and integrate available materials into the learning process.
Enable trainee teachers to access sources of knowledge and to create knowledge.
prepares the teachers at the school level for teaching different subjects.

In ‘in-service’ teacher education:

Creates a system of lifelong professional development and support, especially of educational leaders and managers such as headmasters and principals.
Encourages ICT literacy for official and personal use to increase comfort and later Enhances creativity in educational work.
Supports the development of and nurture teachers’ self-help groups / professional development groups on the ground as well as online.

37.8 Let us sum up

NCERT identifies the educational goals and suggests to adopt the methods and process to achieve those goals. It devises the way to use various human and non-human resources in a systematic manner in order to provide solutions to the various problems in the field of education.

NCERT performs the significant functions of conducting and supporting research.It offers training in educational research methodology. Developmental activities in school education constitute an important function of it. The major developmental activities include development and renewal of curricula and instructional materials for various levels of school education and making them relevant to changing needs of children and society.

Another important dimension of NCERT’s activities is the pre-service and in-service training of teachers at various levels. The NCERT has comprehensive extension programmes in which various Departments of the NIE, RIEs, CIET, PSSCIVE and the offices of the Field Advisers in the states are engaged in various ways. NCERT publishes instructional materials for the use of teacher educators, teacher trainees and in-service teachers.

Establishment of CIET, enhancing media programme, implementation of computers in education, teacher training emphasizing training in ET are the major initiatives taken by NCERT with collaboration of various government bodies for the enhancement of educational technology.

It provides training facilities to the people in the field of education from other developing and developed countries so as to bring about a change in the education system and methodologies.

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References and Important Web Links

“Public Information Services.”National Council of Educational Research and Training. Retrieved on June 2014. “National Council of Educational Research and Training,” Sri AurbindoMarg, New Delhi-110016″
Aggarwal, j. c. (2009).Essentials of educational technology innovations in teaching learning. 2nd ed. http://books.google.co.in/
“National Focus Group on Educational Technology”. Retrieved on 27th April 2014 from
http://www.ncert.nic.in/new_ncert/ncert/rightside/links/pdf/focus_group/educational_technology.pdf
National Council of Educational Research and Training(NCERT)
NCERT Annual Report 2010-11. Retrieved on 11th July 2014 from http://www.ncert.nic.in/rightside/links/pdf/annual_report/annual_report_10-11.pdf
www.ncert.nic.in
http://www.ncert.nic.in/oth_anoun/NCERT_CALENDAR.pdf
http://www.ncert.nic.in/oth_anoun/rfd_ncert.pdf
http://www.psscive.nic.in/
http://www.psscive.nic.in/pdf/nvqef
http://www.ncert.nic.in/index.htm
http://www.authorstream.com/tag/NCERT
http://www.virtualcampuses.eu/index.php/
http://www.antriep.net/ncert.htm
www.ciet.nic.in/video.php
http://www.rieajmer.ac.in/
http://www.riebhopal.org//
http://as.ori.nic.in/riebbs//
http://www.riemysore.ac.in//
http://nerie.nic.in/
http://www.ncert.nic.in/departments/rie.html