APSCHE Success story –

Transforming institutions of learning

“Congratulations, for the great achievement of Intel, which will impact the

workforce of tomorrow”

Mrs. N. Rajya Lakshmi, Hon’ble Minister for School Education, State of

Andhra Pradesh, India

sent a congratulatory note on 23rd August 2005 on the occasion of launch of Intel®

Teach to the Future Pre-Service Curriculum, as a text book for B.Ed, in Telugu, the

regional language of the State of Andhra Pradesh. During the same event, Dr. P.

Krishnaiah, (IAS), Secretary to State, Department of School Education, State of Andhra

Pradesh, who was the chief guest, commended the release of the book and also the people

behind the great success. He said that this effort would go a long way in changing the

way students learn in the Schools and Colleges, both in the urban and the rural segment.

Dr. P. Krishnaiah lauded Intel for training large number of teachers and teacher educators

across the state. He emphasized that every Student Teacher coming out of the B.Ed

College must utilize new technology in schools.

This fascinating journey took off as a small pilot study conducted in Osmania University,

one of the oldest and the largest university in the State of Andhra Pradesh. In the year

2001, stalwarts in the field of education akin to Prof. V Sudhakar, Dean, Department of

Education, Osmania University, Prof. Lalini Varanasi, Former Dean & Principal, Institute

of Advanced Study in Education, Osmania University, Prof. V B B Sarma, Former Dean

& Principal, Institute of Advanced Study in Education, Osmania University who believed

strongly that usage of ICT will bring a paradigm shift in the teaching learning process

initiated and collaborated with Intel to launch a one-year pilot study which would cover

its 32 affiliated Colleges of Education, comprising over 3500 student teachers and 300

teacher educators.

Initially there was a lot of resistance from the teacher educators' community, student

teachers and management as well. Before carrying out training programs for teacher

educators, orientation programs and hands on sessions were conducted for the Principals

of Colleges of Education. Extensive training was conducted for the teacher educators to

become master trainers. When it became difficult for these Master trainers to go back and

train their colleagues, again the faculty of education stepped in and motivated the teacher

educators to undergo the training so that they could provide valuable feedback to the

department. Principals and Faculty who were apprehensive initially were slowly drawn

into the fold. Under the able leadership of Prof. Lalini Varanasi and Prof. V Sudhakar

these hurdles were dealt with a firm hand, which yielded positive results.

Post pilot study, the following year, Intel Teach to the Future Pre-Service Curriculum

was integrated as a practicum component in the “Educational Technology and Computer

Education” paper. This was a stepping-stone in the long voyage ahead.

The Board of Studies in Osmania University appoints external Senior Professors as its

members. During one of their meetings, a Senior Fulbright Fellow Prof. Ramesh Ghanta,

the dean of Kakatiya University, and a person instrumental in making Computer

Education a compulsory paper in Teacher Education in the State of Andhra Pradesh since

1998, came across the program and was keen to for getting other Universities of the state

associated with it. This view was voiced by several other deans and heads of the

department of education from other universities. Thus originated the collaboration

between Intel and Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education (APSCHE) a

common umbrella for the Universities. A new era in the field of ICT involving

collaboration between government agencies and Intel was born. What started off as a

spark spread like a wildfire across the state of Andhra Pradesh.

The deans of the Faculty of Education of all the Universities met to discuss the systemic

integration of technology in teacher education. The deans were very impressed with the

showcased work of the Student Teachers of Osmania University trained under the Intel

program. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Intel and Prof. C Subba

Rao, Former Chairman, APSCHE. An exhaustive orientation and hands on sessions for

principals were conducted across the state covering over 100 Colleges of Education.

Teacher Educators from all the Universities went through intensive Intel Training

program.

The State follows a Common B.Ed Curriculum. The following year the APSCHE

launched major educational reforms in the state when the syllabus underwent major

transformation under Prof. V Sudhakar, The new curriculum introduced many projects in

the B.Ed curriculum. One of these projects being Computer Education Project, wherein

Intel Teach to the Future Pre-Service curriculum has been integrated. In Prof. Sudhakar’s

own words, the concept of mentoring has also been taken from Intel program and applied

in all the other projects that have been introduced in teacher education.

Intel has since been regularly conducting Principals orientation and Principals

Technology Leadership Workshop to orient the college principals on the value, enormity

and strategies to do the tasks ahead. Intel resource persons have also trained Master

Trainers and conducted enhancement workshops in each university, who, in turn, trained

their colleagues to integrate technology in classroom processes.

By now what started off with 100 Colleges of Education with 10000 Student Teachers

had escalated to 330 Colleges of Educations covering around 35,000 Student Teachers

across the State and the 8th University to add a College of Education was Dravidian

University in Kuppam. Many of the affiliated colleges are located in remote rural / tribal

areas and the Student Teachers come from various sections of the society. While the

program was achieving great success and winning accolades from the academicians, it

was observed that the student teachers found it a little difficult to negotiate this course in

English medium, since the official language and the mother tongue of most people in the

State of Andhra Pradesh is Telugu. Hence, there was a dire need to make available Intel

Teach to the Future Pre-Service Curriculum in the local language. Keeping this in mind,

another Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed with Telugu Akademi to

translate and publish and distribute Intel Teach to the Future Pre-Service Curriculum

material from English to Telugu.

The Telugu Akademi was set up as a body to promote the development of the Regional

Language of the State so that it grows rapidly in its richness and functional efficiency and

become an effective means of communicating modern knowledge. The Telugu Akademi

launched the Telugu textbook and the companion CD with great fanfare on 23rd August

2005. Dr. P. Krishnaiah IAS, Secretary to Government, Department of School Education,

Government of Andhra Pradesh was invited to release the Textbook.

Meanwhile, beginning of 2005, major curriculum revamping of the State Education

syllabus had commenced. This included elementary, primary and secondary school

education and teacher training. The committee was constituted under the aegis of Prof. M

Malla Reddy, Former Vice Chancellor, Osmania University. The Committee comprised

of senior educationists like Director of State Council of Educational Research and

Training, State Project Director, Commissioner - School Education, Deans and Heads

from Department of Education across the State University. Upon hearing about Intel

program from various corners in the field of education, Prof. M Malla Reddy visited

Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan School in Hyderabad who were successfully implementing Intel

program. The professor interacted with the school principal and the Intel award-winning

teachers and explored various possibilities of ICT integration and Project Based

Learning. He was very impressed with the work being done and encouraged them to take

up more challenging tasks to make a difference in the lives of the students. After seeing

the accomplished work, to cite his own words, “despite, project method being taught in

teacher education, no teachers had successfully incorporated it in their schools. Intel has

done a great job in motivating the teachers to carry on the project method integrating

technology and make learning better”. Thereafter, for all the workshops conducted to

revamp the curriculum, Intel has been invited as a consultant.

Following these developments a State Review Meet was held in January 2006 under the

chairmanship of Prof. K Chenchu Reddy. Prof. K Chenchu Reddy is the current

Chairman, APSCHE, who strongly believes that higher education needs to be given a

quality dimension to strengthen its very fabric and make it equitable and relevant to the

requirements of changing society. The State Review Meet was conducted to plan and

consolidate the work being done in all the Universities. The meet was attended by Dr. P

Krishnaiah, IAS, Secretary to Government, Dept of School Education, Govt of Andhra

Pradesh); Prof. K C Reddy, Chairman, Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher

Education, Senior Retired Professors of Education Prof. M. Malla Reddy, Former Vice

Chancellor Osmania University, Deans and Heads – Faculty of Education of 8

Universities in the State of Andhra Pradesh. During this meet, Prof. K C Reddy who felt

the critical need to bring about quality in Teacher Education constituted the State

Advisory Committee. Intel was invited as one of the trusted advisor / consultant for

impacting change in the Education policies of the state.

So far it has been a long, demanding, fruitful journey bringing about a paradigm shift in

the way teaching fraternity has begun to think. In Prof. V Sudhakar’s own words “… the

idea that technology was integrated in pedagogy transformed the learning cultures in

institutions of higher education”.

Pl. visit the following link for more details:

Transforming institutions of learning

http://www.intel.com/cd/corporate/education/APAC/ENG/in/teach/india/impact/stories/ar

chive/271106.htm?wapkw=%28APSCHE+case+study%29