What is this i-School all about?

Kailash Shongbhen Rai.

M.Sc. (Organic Chemistry), B.Sc. PGCE, PGCTIS,    ANC.

Bajothang Higher Secondary School.

H

onorable Prime Minister, His Excellency Tshering Tobgye envisaged an ICT enabled knowledge generating, educated citizens in our society, at par with anyone current, progressive and productive. The result; i-School project was conceived, designed and devised with-in a very short gestation period with a huge dream. This dream will be one of the most revolutionary in the history of Education System of Bhutan. This little migration from chalk and talk to nearly Si-Fi mode of high end technological teaching learning system is by itself an achievement. What was Neil Armstrong’s foot to moon could be i-School project to our Education System. Its small but its very very big!!!

The Ericsson Company has undertaken this project as a Corporate Social responsibility to nurture and realize Honorable Prime Minister’s vision. The high end gadgets, state of the art facilities like Eagle eye cameras, smart board, i-podium, document cameras, AV systems, smart panels, laptops, smart projectors, logistics and engineering were provided by Ericsson. Co-laterally, Bhutan Telecom and Druknet are other two stake holders, who provided with Fiber Optic lines with 10 Mbps band high-speed Internet services to enable seemingly real-time, online video conferencing facilities, let alone internet aspects. They are also responsible for providing professionals for commissioning of fiber optic lines, splicing, grafting and terminating at desired locations, installing media converters, smart routers and gate keepers, assigning them with IP addresses and securing them with leak proof ambience.

This is in pilot phase with the project encapsulating six schools at different locations. Pelkhil School in Thimphu is classically named as Master School. This is being the nodal point, from where teaching and delivery of lesson takes place. The lesson delivered are being captured by the cameras and are served to other five classes at participating schools online and real-time; Tendruk HS School, Bajo HS School, Khuruthang MS School, Khatshadrapsu MS School and Phuntsholing MS School. And also the lesson is being recorded and archived at one of the data-centers servers at Druknet. The proposal for formation of content moderating and editorial board would allow live streaming of the classes to the internet, thus allowing concept of truly public and global viewing to come in prospective in future.

The classes are normal except that single teacher from one point can reach hundreds of students at geographically different locations through video conferencing facilities. All these happen on a jiffy, real time online and face-on. As of now Chemistry, Physics, Mathematics and English are being taught over this provision.

Apart from the regular curricular lessons, these schools may convene meetings and conferences, seminars, to discuss various aspects of this system of teaching-learning experiences. They also can collaborate and invite guest lecturers from any corner of the world in near future. My imagination is an erudite professor from Princeton or Havard, Standford or MIT talking to our students. I know I am dreaming, but it could not be very far away, anyway.

I have seen billions of glitters in students’ eyes through my short period of teaching life. This time, I have seen brighter ones as well. Students are excited, engaged and collaborative in learning not only lessons taught but also cultural exchange, sharing of ideas, quipping of wits, smarting each other and on top of this pyramid stands the rippling fractal of connecting friendship.

The formal launching of this program took a fly on March 29, 2014 at 9:15 AM at Pelkel School, Thimphu. This occasion was graced by Honorable Prime Minister, Dignitaries from Ericsson, CEO Bhutan Telecom, Director of Department of School Education and professionals. It was a moment, yet another step towards modernity in all its right. A moment when teachers started burying their boards and chalks, tending to nostalgic memories of them.

And yet another historic moment of this journey was the providential gracing of the i-class by the His Majesty, the Druk Gyalpo and Her Majesty, the Gyaltsuen at Tendruk HS School, while the English class was delivered from the Master School on the April 1, 2014. By itself, it is an inspiration to walk little taller.

A posteriori:  i-School solution is not about replacing contact teaching with technology. It’s a tool to enliven teaching – learning process through collaborative pool of expertise to give edge to teaching profession. 

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iSchool

Our School is one of the six schools selected for piloting iSchool Project in Bhutan. Tendruk Higher Secondary School, Khasadrapchu Middle Secondary School, Khututhang Middle Secondary School, Phuntsholing Middle Secondary and Pelkhil School are the other school connected, with Pelkhil as the center.

The project was launched formally on 29th March 2014 by Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay in Pelkhil and the participating schools took part in the event virtually. 

Prime Minister talking to all 6 Schools during the Inauguration  

What is iSchool Project about?

The iSchool Project is a joint undertaking of the Royal Government of Bhutan, Bhutan Telecom and Ericsson. In the face of a continuing shortage of qualified teachers, the project hopes to take advantage of the opportunities available from the extensive communication assets already installed in Bhutan to provide a multiplier impact. The project will use the high speed internet network in conjunction with top of the line video conferencing technology to allow a few teachers to reach dozens of classrooms and hundreds of students, across Bhutan in real time. Teachers at the ‘master' classroom will teach and reach students in the ‘remote' classroom via video and will also be able to receive and answer normal questions from the students in any of the classrooms.
The ‘remote' classrooms selected to participate in the pilot phase are not really that remote given the short time that was available to set up the project. However, in the future, the benefiting schools could well be extremely remote and yet benefit from the best teachers located in selected ‘master' classrooms located anywhere in Bhutan.
Besides having access to top quality teachers on a live platform, the lessons will also be available for download for students who missed a lesson, and these lessons can be downloaded from any school.
The iSchool idea is not intended to provide a single solution to cover every issue in the education sector. It is just one tool, that in conjunction with many other programs will help to cover every need in the sector.
In addition to providing live video conferencing technology to reach many schools, technology such as the ‘smart' camera and associated software provides innumerable tools to the teacher to improve the delivery process. Smart whiteboards with an unlimited number of ‘screens' that can be switched on demand effectively provides an endless number of blackboards on which to present lessons. A document camera will enable the teacher to show real samples to help explain specific concepts to the students.
Initially a few core subjects including Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and English will be taught. (From Phekhil, Facebook)

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Sherig Collection in Bajothang Book Fair

From: Thimphutech.com

We just returned from two days at the Bajothang HSS book fair, where we displayed and distributed the Rigsum Sherig Collection to many schools outside of Thimphu: School principals, librarians, teachers and staff from eight Dzongkhags visited the Rigsum Sherig Collection tent (Dagana, Gasa, Paro, Punakha, Thimphu, Trongsa, Tsirang, and Wangdue).

Teacher from remote Lungtengang PS downloads the collection

Lots of interest from principals, teachers, and students

Teachers were eager to gain access to quality offline learning resources. Many have told us that the Internet connection at their school was more in theory than in practice (we learned that 3am-6am was the only time to attempt sending an email). Other schools were so remote that even mobile reception was insufficient. For teachers and students in such schools, the Sherig Collection was perceived as a life-changer. At last, teachers and students will have access to encyclopedias that do not cost a fortune and do not need to be kept locked behind glass doors. Khan Academy videos in maths and sciences will provide teachers with new ways of teaching existing materials, and for students, ways to strengthen their knowledge and expand it, while keeping their curiosity healthy.

Nearly all schools that visited our tent reported having computers for students to access. A few schools have only 1-2 computers for students, whereas many others have a computer lab. School computers range from old models to newer ones, from those with Windows XP to those with Windows 7. Some visitors were surprised to learn that the Sherig Collection will work on even old computers running Windows XP.

Many of the teachers and principals who visited had an external hard-drive or a laptop with them. They were therefore able to copy the Sherig Collection (approximately 25 min), and take it back to their schools.

Gasa PS principal (left) and Bajo HSS IT teacher (middle)

An additional benefit is that these Sherig-Collection-holding-schools now serve as contact points for nearby schools. For example, the principal of Gasa Primary School, Mr. Pema Dorji, will be distributing the software to all four schools in Gasa. Mr. Passang Tshering at Bajothang HSS has been distributing the Sherig Collection to many schools in the Wangdue-Punakha area, as well as assisting fellow teachers with ideas and tips about using the collection.

Our display was also visited by several officers from the Ministry of Education's Department of Curriculum Research and Development. They too now have the collection and will serve as a distribution point for schools in Paro. Executive director of the Bhutan Canada Foundation along with a Canadian teacher have expressed much interest - we hope that they can help spread the collection to schools with BCF teachers.

The Sherig Collection can be used in many ways. Students can be instructed to conduct research on a particular topic during the weekly IT session. A staff room computer can help teachers improve their lesson plans. One of the early adopting teachers of the Sherig Collection shared that he uses a projector to show students a Khan Academy video during class.

DCRD Director getting a tour of the Sherig Collection

It was a busy two days, with plenty of visitors, demos, downloading, and interactions. We have also collected wish lists for further improving the collection.

Educators who missed the Bajo fair and the earlier information session in Thimphu are welcome to visit us at the Rigsum Research Lab and obtain the collection.

The Facebook group, intended for sharing information and experiences, already has over 100 members, including teachers, principals and other education/knowledge seekers. The group is fairly active and we invite teachers, librarians, principals, curriculum developers and anyone interested in getting their school or organization on board.

We extend our many thanks to Bajo teacher Mr. Passang Tshering for organizing the Sherig tent and for the wonderful hospitality.

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Sherig Collection in Bajothang

Bajothang eLearning Club is a new club founded by school computer teacher, Passang Tshering with 18 student members. The club aims to explore way to bring eLearning concept to school and build eLearning resources. The vision and action plan of the club could be read on their blog.
The new club, though with smart concept, was fighting endless limitations. Coincidentally, Rigsum invited the club master to attend the introductory presentation and demo of Sherig Collection in Thimphu, which was a blessing to the new club.
Read about the Sherig Collection in the following page from Kuensel, which also contain words of the school club master.

Kuensel Page

The whole collection is with the eLearning Club and could be easily shared with any school or individual during the school hours. While our own students and teachers wishing to avail the resources can visit the computer lab where at least 10 computers are equipped with the collection as of today.
The club plans to set up Wiki Booths in library and WiFi Park to make the resources easily accessible by the students.

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