Chennai :

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are all about accessibility, and this group of youngsters is taking it closer to learners. Cloud Vidyashram, an initiative by data analytics firm Report Bee and the non-profit AMM Foundation, has taken to translating the popular Khan Academy videos to Tamil.

“The idea is to help poor children study the same stuff that Bill Gates’ children study,” said Anant Mani, co-founder of Report Bee. Language was an initial barrier that had to be overcome. When Cloud Vidyashram wrote to Khan Academy about it they were more than happy to let them do the translation. “We experimented with radio artistes and translation professionals for the videos, but finally teachers were the ones who could pull it off,’ said Anant. The videos are 95% in Tamil and include English mathematical terms. Over three months, Cloud Vidyashram has translated 42 Khan Academy videos into conversational Tamil, the kind one hears in classroom across the state. The videos will explain basic concepts of the real number system, data handling and algebra. The project is being piloted in a Chennai Corporation school in Maduvankarai and a government aided school, Sir Ramaswamy Mudaliar Secondary School, in Ambattur.

“Khan Academy is a hit among children worldwide, and has helped children who found maths terrifying to start liking it. A lot of schools across the globe have started using them in classrooms. So we thought it was ideal for our classrooms as well,” said Bharath. Indian classrooms face the ignominy of a high pupil-teacher ratio, and teacher training is nothing to write home about.

Sharanya said Class 11 students were chosen for the pilot as they were a little more relaxed after completing a board exam, and needed a refresher in the basic concepts that they will need to brush up for higher maths. A baseline study of how many Class 11 students could read a bar diagram, pie chart and other basic applications of the three concepts, taught from Class 6 onwards, showed that only around half the students had passable knowledge of it. At the end of three months an endline study will be conducted to see if there has been any impact, and if the effect has percolated to other subjects.

source: http://www.timesofindia.indiatimes.com / The Times of India / Home> City> Chennai / by M Ramya, TNN / July 05th, 2014