Is India Ready for Tablet Adoption in Education

TABLETS
Is India ready for their adoption?
Contemporary Concerns Study Report
Submitted to: Prof. Rahul De
Submitted on: 26th
February 2014
Submitted by: Vishrut Shukla (1211314)
for Education

Contemporary ConcernsStudy Report
By Vishrut Shukla (1211314),PGP 2012-14
Contents
Overview and Objective of the Project.................................................................................................. 2
Phase 1: Exploratory Study .................................................................................................................. 2
Indian Education Overview .........................................................................................................................................................2
Market Opportunity ........................................................................................................................................................................2
ICT at K12 Level .............................................................................................................................................................................2
 Infrastructure .....................................................................................................................................................................3
 Payment Model.................................................................................................................................................................3
 Adoption..............................................................................................................................................................................3
 Competition........................................................................................................................................................................3
1. Pure ICT Players..............................................................................................................................................................3
2. Mobile Devices/Tablets..................................................................................................................................................4
Phase 2: Descriptive Study ................................................................................................................... 6
Technology in Classrooms..........................................................................................................................................................6
 Parameters for Consideration......................................................................................................................................6
 Types of ICT Solutions in Use .....................................................................................................................................6
Stakeholders in the ICT Ecosystem.........................................................................................................................................7
Understanding the Tablet Ecosystem .....................................................................................................................................9
1. Hardware Manufacturers...............................................................................................................................................9
2. Educational Content Providers....................................................................................................................................9
3. Aggregators.......................................................................................................................................................................9
Implementation of Tablet-Based Solution ...........................................................................................................................10
1. Payment Model..............................................................................................................................................................10
2. Use Case of Tablets....................................................................................................................................................11
Considerations for Implementation of Tablet-Based Learning ....................................................................................12
Primary Research & Data Collection on Pilot Runs ........................................................................................................15
1. Primary Research in Schools ...................................................................................................................................15
2. Primary Research in Higher Education Institutions ..........................................................................................20
Phase 3: Consolidation, Conclusions & Recommendations............................................................... 22
Conclusions and Trends ...........................................................................................................................................................22
Recommendations and Future View.....................................................................................................................................23
Tablet-Based Solution Implementation Architecture .......................................................................................................24
Recommendations for Implementing Techno-Classes at IIMB ...................................................................................26
Appendix ‘A’ ....................................................................................................................................... 27
Appendix ‘B’ ....................................................................................................................................... 27
Appendix ‘C’ ....................................................................................................................................... 28
Appendix ‘D’ ....................................................................................................................................... 29
Appendix ‘E’ ....................................................................................................................................... 30
Appendix ‘F’........................................................................................................................................ 31
Appendix ‘G’....................................................................................................................................... 32
Appendix ‘H’ ....................................................................................................................................... 33
Appendix ‘I’......................................................................................................................................... 34
Appendix ‘J’........................................................................................................................................ 35
References.......................................................................................................................................... 35

Overview and Objective of the Project
The project is a study on the emerging trend of using tablets as an ICT tool in classrooms with a special
focus on educational content availability and impact on performance of students. In the entire story of using
tabletsas the new-age ICT media to be used in classrooms, two key components are yet understudied: (a)
Availability of ready educational content to be consumed on tablets; and (b) a measure of effectiveness of
the tabletsover the traditional mode of education. Thisstudy is aimed primarily at going deep in both these
areas. Studying both of these is the key objective of this project. Please refer to the project proposal
document for timelines and deliverables.
Phase 1: Exploratory Study
The following are to be achieved aspart of the phase 1 of thisproject: (a) Collecting information about the
variousICT toolsused by the Indian education sector till now; and (b) Find how the case for tablets have
emerged as a media for education over the last few years.
Indian Education Overviewi
India has most recently begun reforms to promote new teaching approaches and ICT. Across India’s
decentralized education system, national and state leadersface big challenges in their efforts to support an
education system that must reach so many students. Efforts to shift curricula from behaviourist approaches
to learning to a constructivist approach that emphasizesthe personal experiences of learners are recent. A
growing number of policies support ICT integration, but expert revi ews suggest that there is still great
variation in implementation of these policies and access to ICT is still limited for most students. Although
there is variation by state, the duration of the standard school day is five hours, divided into 35 -minute
lessons. The class sizes tend to be large; the classes typically ranges from 45 to 60 students. Indian
teachersare expected to cover a lot of content, and the textbook often becomes the centre of the learning
process. The state curriculum varies (in Maharashtra State, for example, the students have a very full
schedule by the upper gradesstudying 11 compulsory subjects) and the medium of education also differs
across regions and boards.
Market Opportunity
To make a business case for using tablets for education, it is essential to understand how big is the
opportunity for tablet manufacturers and content providers who are two key pillars of this ecosystem going
forward. As Step 1, the Indian education market was examined via secondary dataii
:
 The total number of schools in India is 1.3 million.
 20% of schools are privately run and only 10% of these schools have adopted multimedia.
 The currently predicted market size for digitized school products in private schools is $500 million,
which at a CAGR of 20%, is predicted to grow to a worth of $2 billion by 2020. However, if every
private school isattracted to adopt the digitized products, the total market worth will be of $4 billion.
 If the top 100,000 private schools in India are considered as the captive market, the potential is
approximately 2 million classrooms of which currently just about 80,000 (4% only) have been
digitized. Thisleavesa 96% majority of classrooms still on the table for ICT players in India today.
 The market for Information & Communication Technology (ICT) is promising even if government
schools are considered. Current market of $750 million is expected to grow by 400% by 2020.
 In terms of device usage, the opportunity for low-cost tablets in India is extremely huge. As per
recent projections, in the next two years, thismarket will exceed the size of the computer market in
India i.e. 10 million unitsper year. Thismeansthere is enough room for new entrants in this sector.
 Looking at the total tablet market in India, according to a study by MAIT, an industry body
representing India'sIT hardware, training, and R&D services sectors, the tablet market is predicted
to see growth rates of 40% compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the next five years. It
expects 1.6 million units to be shipped in 2013, increasing to 7.3 million units by 2016.
 According to a recent The Economic Times (16th
Dec 2011) estimate, the opportunity to digitise
educational content in India is of the magnitude of $3 billion (Rs 15,000 crores).
ICT at K12 Level

The current digitized school products operational modeliii
at K12 level operates as follows:
 Infrastructure
The current model includessetting up of a Knowledge Centre (usually a computer laboratory sort of
control room) within the school premises and deployment of a resource coordinator to oversee the
ICT programme, facilitate training and support teachers. The model requires connecting the central
repository of ICT educational content (maybe on cloud) with each ICT -enabled classroom. The
classrooms themselvesmay require some modifications such as installation of network link, large -
screen televisionsetc. to make them ICT-compatible. Content development, designing and sourcing
is the essential last piece of the current ICT model. Mostly, the ICT currently operated under a
BOOT (Build-Own-Operate-Transfer) model under 3-5 year contracts awarded by schools to the
companies providing end-to-end solutions in this sector.
 Payment Model
The above ICT model iswidely gaining acceptability as in most cases, the model does not require
schools to invest huge capital expenditure into the facilitiesor even maintenance expenses. In most
cases, the ICT solution providers charge the students directly. Otherwise the schools charge a
reasonable fee like $2 per student per month to obtain license for such solutions.
 Adoption
Schoolsin tier-II and tier-III citiesare increasingly adopting the latest technology aswell to effectively
compete with their counterpartsin tier-I and metro cities. In many case, ICT firmsare partnering with
state/national governments under state’s public schemes to provide their services.
 Competition
Based on the prevailing situations, the current playersin the schooling space can be divided into two
parts:
1. Pure ICT Players
These include early market playerswho have multimedia solutions for ICT-enabled classrooms
in India. Their solution typically involves a flat-screen TV with audio and video support in a
media-enabled classroom which delivers multimedia content to students from a central
knowledge centre located either within the school premises or over the Internet or via satellite
links. The dominant playersin thissegment are Educomp Solutions, Everonn Education, NIIT,
Core Education & Technologies, IL&FS and Compucom. New entrants include HCL
Infosystems, Learn Next, Tata Interactive Systems, MexusEducation, S. Chand Harcourt (India)
and iDiscoveri Education. Except for S. Chand Harcourt, which is a joint venture between S.
Chand and US-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, all the others are Indian firms. For tablets
aimed at education specifically, some of these may be competitorsand the othersmay be viable
for partnership to obtain and deliver content. A brief background search about some of these
players enable a better understanding of current market offerings:
a. Educomp Solutions (product: Smartclass, More than 12,000 schools use across 560
districts (new users @ 20 schools per day), Price: US$4,000 per installation  so, EMI
based payment approach, Augmented features: simulations, mind maps, worksheets,
web links, diagram maker, graphic organizers and assessment tools for teachers and
students) + (Edureach, a divison of Educomp, haspartnered with 16 state governments
and more than 30 education departments and boards in the country, cove ring over
36,000 government schools and reaching out to more than 10.60 million students to
provide ICT.)
b. Everonn Education: Everonn is India’s first education and training company to offer
satellite-enabled learning, presently reaching out to millions of students through
thousandsof learning centresacross 27 states, working with several State Governments
Create a Local
Knowledge Centre
Connect classes to
Centre via n/w
Modify existing
classes for ICT
Develop content for
ICT teaching

of India and isthe largest VSAT education network in the world. Everonn is in troubled
waters currently and as part of its recovery process, has decid ed to reduce its
dependence on government-funded programmes and focus on the schools and
kindergarten education business where its investor GemsEducation hasspecialization.
Educomp, over the years, has developed rich content for most Indian curriculum
courses across classes and isnot launching content that isdevice agnostic and can be
run even on tablets.
c. HCL Infosystems: HCL's Digischool program, launched in 2011, hasalso made a strong
beginning, with a client base of more than 2,500 schools as of Ju ly 2012 dataiv
.
d. Tata Interactive Systems: Launched Tata ClassEdge in early 2011 and haspartnered up
with more than 900 schools as of July 2012.
e. Pearson Education Services: Pearson providesend-to-end education solutionsin the K-
12 segment. Itsmultimedia tool, DigitALly, hasbeen adopted in more than 3,000 private
schools across India since 2004. According to company sources, DigitALly installations
have been growing at three times the market for the past two years. Currently, more
than 60% of their customers are from tier-II and III towns, such as Barpeta (Assam),
Sohagpur (Madhya Pradesh) and Balia (Uttar Pradesh). In order to make its offering
attractive to the schools, Pearson hasdevised a monthly payment model under which a
school pays around US$2 per student per month. As the price point is affordable,
schools across all locationsand fee structuresfind it viable to opt for their solution. They
focus on towns and citieswhere penetration isrelatively low and desire for adoption of
technology is high. Besides the DigitALly programme, Pearson already has a huge
repository of existing published content. Adding the right level of interactivity to deliver
richer experience is now their number one priority. Meanwhile, in November 2012,
Pearson Education announced the launch of a new tablet-based education application
for schools in India. Known as the MX Touch platform, it promises school children
access to more effective, personalized, and collaborative digital learning, with rich digital
content, 3D animations, quizzes, and videos. Pearson offers free and paid educational
content upto K12 for schools under the brand Edurite.
2. Mobile Devices/Tablets
As per a 2012 Cyber Media Research (CMR) report, there are at least 90 vendors in the Indian
tablet market space out of which the top five manufacturersare Micromax (18.4% market share),
Samsung (13.3%), Apple (12.3%), HCL and Karboon. Most vendors in India sell tablets in the
price range of $90-$180. With an increasing interest in technology for school education and push
from the governments, there has been a rush of education-focused tablet computers in the
market with over 50 modelsof Android tabletsavailable in the market today, as well as Apple's
iPads, RIM (Research In Motion) BlackBerry, and several new modelsrunning on Linux. Several
are affordable, priced in the US$50 to US$500 price rangev
. Below are their specification and
capabilities in brief:
a. Aakash Tabletv i
: The device wasdeveloped as part of the country's aim to link 25,000
collegesand 400 universitiesin an e-learning program. Originally projected as a "$35
laptop", the device will be sold to the Government of India at US$50 until further orders
are received to obtain the $35 committed price, and will be distributed to university
students for free. A commercial version of Aakash is currently marketed as UbiSlate 7+
at a price of $60. Aakash is now available in an enhanced version (Aakash -2) of the
original tablet with 7 inch multi-touch 4-point capacitive display and 800x480 pixel
resolution. It hasa 1 GHz processor, 512 MB memory, 4GB portioned NAND flash and
micoSD card slot which can extend upto 32 GB memory and it runs the Android 4.0
Operating System. For applications, the Aakash will have access to Getjar, an
independent market, rather than the Android Market. The tablet also includes Mango
learning solutionsfor game-based educational modules, interactive smart books and the
full CBSE curriculum and assessment tools. Some of the salient applications for Aakash
include: Clicker (exercising responses in classroom polls via Aakash), proximity (for
creating interactive lecturesincluding video and PPTs), Robot (robot control app) etc.

Aakash tablets support C, C++, Python for programming activities. Also, SciLab is
available for numerical computations and for research activities. IIT Bombay has
planned to deploy the Aakash tablets in engineering institutions in India, with two
objectives. The first is to test and enhance the effectiveness of these tablets for use in
class rooms. The second is, development of new educational applications and contents
on Aakash, largely through final year Research and Development projects done by
BE/ME students at institutesv ii
.
b. HCL Infosystems MyEdu Tab: Launched in April 2012, which is priced at around
US$230 for the K-12 version. The device comespreloaded with educational applications
and also books from the NCERT. Teacherscan upload content, which can be accessed
by students and parents for tasks such as homework and progress reports on their
respective devices. The parent can monitor the progress of his or her child through the
cloud-based ecosystem.
c. Micromax Funbook: Micromax has also partnered with Pearson and Everonn to make
available relevant content for students. Everonn hasinvested in developing content and
services targeted toward tablet audiences. To start with, Micromax offers Everonn’s
school curriculum-learning module and at-home live-tuition products on the Funbook.
Everonn’s content addressing the needs of CBSE classes 1-12 has been ported onto
the latest Android 4.0.3 (ICS) platform. Perfectly aligned to the CBSE curriculum, the
content isavailable preloaded on individual SD cards that once installed on the tablet
provides for offline learning. Students need to connect to the Internet only fo r
assessments.
d. Sky Tablet: Skytabv iii
isthe fully owned tablet PC brand of Edware Technology Solutions
Pvt. Ltd. established in 2009 by a group of IITians in Delhi. With latest Android
technology, Skytab provides superior browsing, a more responsive touch experience,
faster processing with ultra-low power CPU for longer play time. SkyTab’s vision is to
become a leader in K-12 Educational industry by providing schools quality products
/content and other modern solution for teaching and learning. Price: Rs. 2,990/-.
e. Classpad: Classpadix
, touted to be a competition for Aakash, the world’scheapest tablet,
boasts of features such as touch screen, 7-hours of battery life, 1.3 GHz processing
speed and a built-in memory of 8GB, which can also be expandable to 32 GB. The
device is also equipped with WiFi, artificial intelligence and is built on the Android
platform. The use of Classpads makes the teachers transfer class works to the students'
tablet, share their own content instantly at ease and conduct tests. Moreove r, the
students can also attempt to answer queries, quizzes on the interactive platform.
f. Aakash iTutor: Aakash Educational ServicesLimited (AESL) launched Aakash iTutor, an
education tablet targeted at students preparing for various medical and engineeri ng
entrance exams, as well as foundation-level examinations, such as the National Talent
Search Examination and Olympiads – basically target at students from Classes 8-12. In
addition, AESL launched iTutor Labs, which offers schools and students educationa l
content available for view 24/7.
g. Intex iBuddy Connect: Intex iBuddy Connect is aimed towards students and comes
preloaded with Educlass app which offers NCERT text books on various subjects, for
classes 1 to 12. Running on Android 4.0.4 Ice Cream Sandwi ch, the tablet sports a 7-
inch capacitive touch screen display, 1GHz dual -core processor, 1GB RAM and 4GB
internal storage, expandable memory up to 32GB. Further, the iBuddy Connect features
a 3-megapixel rear camera, 1.3-megapixel front-facing camera and connectivity features
including 3G, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, HDMI and dual-SIM support, besides being equipped
with a 3,500 mAh battery.
h. BSNL Penta T-Pad: BSNL has surprised everyone with the launch of its ultra low cost
Android-based tablets. The company hastied up with Pantel, a Noida-based company,
to introduce three new Android 2.3 tablets--Penta T-PAD IS701R, Penta T-PAD

WS704C and Penta T-PAD WS802C. The lowest priced device in the series is Penta T -
PAD IS701R tablet, which packs a 17.8-cm (7-inch) resistive touchscreen, front-facing
camera, 1GHz processor and 256 MB RAM, expandable up to 32 GB via memory card.
The BSNL Penta TPAD ismodestly priced at Rs 3,499. The BSNL tabletsare up for pre -
order and are expected to hit the stores in coming days.
i. EducationBridge ATab: The $100 tablet includes three years of free access to
EducationBridge, an educational platform developed by AcrossWorld, which gives
students and teachersaccess to a wide range of open knowledge resourcesand legacy
content through a single sign on. EducationBridge, according to their press release, will
allow “academic institutions, teachersand studentsto use a variety of content elements
including Open Content, Open Educational Resources, Legacy Content and proprietary
content sources to connect, collaborate and innovate. It also includes professional
services for deployment and training schoolsand collegeson using EducationBridge to
leverage premium global educational content.” The 7 inch touchscreen tablet has a 1.1
GHz processor, 512 MB RAM, 2GB memory expandable upto 16GB, Wi-Fi and an
external 3G USB dongle.
Phase 2: Descriptive Study
The following were to be achieved aspart of the phase 2 of thisproject: (a) Evaluating the merits, demerits
and challengesof using tabletsin education; (b) Looking at the availability of suitable educational content for
all classes, who creates the content, how it is licensed / sold for consumption and what is the business
model for the same, how the content creation can be accelerated in the future to achieve the required scale
and coverage of topics; and (c) Exploring means to evaluate the effectiveness of tablets as an education
media over current classroom mode of teaching either by primary or secondary-only sources.
Technology in Classrooms
It is imperative to understand what different ICT solutionsare being used in schoolstoday and the meritsand
demerits in each of them in order to propose a tablet-based solution and evaluate the same.
 Parameters for Consideration
A World Bank studyx
(2011) suggested that merely putting computers in schools and training
teachersto use them will not improve the learning levels in students. Based on secondary study, a
number of parameterswere identified to be kept in mind before deploying tablet-based education
model in any school. Resistance to change, capacity building of teachers, Internet usage, language
barriers, infrastructure, availability of appropriate educational content and availability of finance for
deploying ICT in school are some of the important factors that the bucket list could be narrowed
down to. Based on some of these factors, schools for possible primary research and pilot
deployments for tablet-based solution should be selected.
Another study of affordable private schools (located in Hyderabad city) has revealed that a good
number of schoolshave already adopted ICT for education but are not making optimum use of the
same.xi
For example, among other statistics, 69% schools have computer labs but they are
ineffective in 34% of them either because the devices are in poor condition to use or are not
effectively put to use by the school itself. Around 58% of schools have techno classes with
multimedia facility and/or smart classroom technology. Schoolson an average spend 2% of revenue
on technology with the average spend on technology being $2048 in the year 2011. Also evident is a
strong correlation between the fee charged by the school and their use of technology in classrooms.
87% of such private schools with fee more than $11 every month have techno-classes. However,
only 37% charging below $5.50 on a monthly basis have classrooms equipped with educational
technology. Schoolswith fee exceeding $11 per month are 19% more likely to have formal computer
education than those that charge less than $5.50. Thishashuge implicationssince until the prices of
the ICT solutionsdecrease, schoolscharging about $8 or less will be unable to implement even the
basic type of smart class solutions. Therefore, before making a mass push towards tablet-based
solutions, payment model and technology ownership costs need to be addressed.
 Types of ICT Solutions in Use

The term “Techno-classes” commonly used these daysrefers to an in-class educational technology
solution which enablescontent to be displayed through a projection of multimedia on plain surfaces
– typically walls or white boards. Broadly, these projection systems can be classified into (a)
projectors; (b) smart boards; and (c) smart classes.
Smart boards, alongwith projection capability, also have interactive surfaces that respond to touch
and hence, the users become able to annotate on top of the content being projected. As a result,
smart boards decentralize control over the content as well as the lesson by allowing direct
interaction for studentsand teachersas well as finer explanationsby the teachers in addition to the
multimedia content. While most smart board content isunidirectional, some of the more advanced
smart board solutions include prompts for teachers built-into the educational content modules
thereby reminding them that there isa need for further annotation and explanation for the concepts
currently being displayed. The teacher may then choose to reinforce the material being projected or
interact directly with the students to drive home the concept clearly. Needless to say, effectiveness
of such solutions depend a lot on how adept the teachers are in fully exploiting this powerful
resource in their hands and this is where proper teacher trainings become important.
The other type of techno-classes category is that projectors, some of which come equipped with
advanced communication infrastructure that makes them self-sufficient as a standalone device. For
eg: K-Yan, a projector solution from IL&FS, isa portable device with built-in speakers, Wi-Fi access,
multiple USB portsthat allow external content to be played directly without the need of a computer.
K-Yan also comespre-bundled with digital and video content in major subjects of maths, science,
social sciences and English.
Smart classes (most notable providers in India: Educomp and Pearson’s Edurite) are much more
advanced systems which come with an exhaustive quantity of modules in select subjects that span
across variouseducational curriculumsand boards. The content comprises of videosand animations
explaining key conceptsin the subjects. The payment/subscription models for these solutions have
already been discussed earlier.
Stakeholders in the ICT Ecosystem
Before designing and evaluating any ICT solution for education, it isimperative to understand how different
stakeholders of the education technology view and operate these solutions. Below is an attempt to tie the
technology with the behaviour and motivations of stakeholders:
School Management
 View technology positively, compete globally
 Way to distinguish from competition
 Often use ICT solutionsas marketing tools
 See ICT as meansof improving spoken English,
reduce heavy bag load, connect studentswith
others to create cross-cultural learning
opportunitiesand improve learning and retention
in studentsvia audio-visuals
 Buying Criteria:
o Content: Availability suited to their curriculum
and board, aligned to chaptersto aid teachers
in teaching, colourful animations, interactive
optionsfor learning.
o Price: Schoolsusually get enroleesfrom
different income backgroundsand hence, price
becomesa function of revenues, profitsand
parents’ ability to pay for technology.
o Training: Most teachersunfamiliar with
technology, so teacher training modulesand
interactive prompting by toolson their own.
o Resource Requirements: Whether the content
Students
 Use three major formsof technology: cell phones,
computersand Internet (Refer to Appendix)
 Mostly see them asentertainment sources
 Most common activity student engage in across
three technologiesis playing gamesfollowed by
downloading / listening to music
 Internet isused for watching movies
 Access to personal devicesand technologiesout
of school dependsupon income level of families
 Girlslack access pointsand encouragement for
using technology when they are not at home,
unlike boys.
 Two types of technology personasemerge:
o Technophiles: enthusiastic about technology
and have much wider exposure, parentsare
strong technology advocates, more likely to use
Internet but with restrictions, teach each other
how to use technology, view it asan asset to
their career aspiration.
o Techno-Skeptics: May not be fearful of tech but
question itsrelevance and value in their lives,

require Internet access, hardware setup and
procurement, staff requirementsand what kind
of maintenance costs to incur, who controls
the content etc. are some questionsduring
decision-making.
more focuson identifying the drawbacks of
technology and the problemsit creates, don’t
believe how technology helpsin their career
ambitions
Teachers
 Most schools in India use a very teacher-centered
approach to education pedagogy and the top two
primary toolsfor teaching are the chalkboard and
the teacher’slecture.
 As a result, if the technology being pushed isfar
from this“chalk-and-talk” model, it will face greater
resistance from teachers.
 Teachers’ reputation and priorities are dependent
on examsas they feel pressured to improve the
performance for their students. Hence, any
education technology aimed at reducing testing
stress for teachersand studentsalike findsmuch
greater acceptance. Thisis obviousin the patterns
of how schools adopt educational technology first
starting with tech-enabled testing modules.
 Teachersview the following benefitswith tech:
o Teach more in limited time: smart boardsand
tabletshelp cover more material than previous
“chalk-and-talk” model with at least one key
concept designed to be taught in each class.
Animation and video content keeps students
more focused and engaged. Software testing
is a standardized way of administering tests.
o Reinforce conceptsvisually: techno-classes
allow appropriate audio-visual aidsto lessons
especially useful in mathsand science courses
where students find some thingsdifficult to
imagine and teachersfind it time-consuming to
draw the diagramson board before explaining.
o Simplicity of use: Teachersappreciate
systems where the learning curve isnot long
and steep and system has enough content to
aid their teaching.
o Cost-Effective: Cost in termsof both time and
money issaved especially for younger grade
students where technology can be used to
engage with studentsby meansof colours,
songs, videos, cartoonsand imagesto drive
across the learning.
o Easy assessment: Solutionssuch as tablets
and voting padsautomate student assessment
in a quicker, more routine and standardized
manner. Teachersare left with more time to
design lessons, work on reinforcing concepts
that are not understood properly and instantly
weave teachingswith testing within the class.
 Teachersview the following drawbacks with tech:
o Increased planning: If the technology being
used doesnot come with content aligned to
the curriculum, teachershave to carefully
select which media to use for which lesson.
Parents
 Parents are generally approving of technological
innovationsand understand the role they play in
the education of their wards. In fact, most parents
consider whether their ward will learn computer
subjects as part of the curriculum while assessing
if the school isworthy of sending their wards to.
 On the other hand, many parentsare also wary of
technology use by their wardsdue to the following:
o Inappropriate content: Parentsfear that their
wards might access inappropriate content
which will lead to distractionsduring the study.
o Lost touch with paper: Parentsalso fear that
due to the use of computers, smart classes and
tablets, children will lose the ability to complete
examsadministered on paper effectively.
o Health concerns: Impact of staring at screen for
long periodsof time isanother aspect that tops
the worry list of parents.
 Parents live in closely knit communitiesand their
perception of the school’squality of education is
determined by opinionsand recommendations
from their peers. Thismakes peer pressure an
important factor influencing what technology
parentsare willing to pay for in school and
purchase for their wards in home.
 If they decide to purchase tabletsfor their wards,
parentsare often confused what to do with the
device once the child graduates. The problem gets
complicated if the tablet isdesigned specifically for
consuming educational content which isoften
copyrighted. In many such cases, the devicescan
often not be used asa general purpose tablet at
home.
 Parents also fear that tabletsprovide easy access
to Internet and video content such as movies,
gamesetc. within the reach of children practically
at all timesi.e. 24x7 and it isvery difficult to how
their wards are using the device when not in
school.
 The use of ICT has also allowed parentsto closely
monitor the performance of their wardsin school.
Whether it isvia web access to grade sheets,
assignment remarks or accessing report cards and
teachers’ feedbacks online or on tablets, parents
are better equipped to exactly know how their child
is doing and when/how to take corrective actions.

Incorporating the step of matching tech
content with the lesson plan isan extra effort.
o Low exposure level: Aseducational technology
is expensive, most schools often have special
classrooms equipped with smart boardsand
tabletsetc. As a result, students use techno-
classes only for very limited duration. Power
outages, equipment being out-of-order or
absence of operating staff are other reasons
due to which smart classes fail to achieve their
purpose in most schooling environments.
Understanding the Tablet Ecosystem
It is important to understand the various pieces of tablet ecosystem to analyse which parts need to be
addressed and strengthened before a wide-scale adoption of tablets can be performed in classrooms.
1. Hardware Manufacturers
Hardware manufacturers sell devices with standard operating systems, pre -defined basic apps, pre-
installed content (in some cases) and access to more applications online via app stores. Most low-cost
affordable tabletshave settled on Android OS universally. Imported tabletscome with better quality with
an option of bulk procurement. However, local service and repair is not an option for these devices.
Meanwhile, locally manufactured tablets such as HCL, Karbonn and Micromax are more expensive
which drives up the cost of the solution but on the other hand offer better servicing and support – a
critical consideration since they will be used extensivel y on a daily basis by students. Brands and
manufacturers have already been discussed in detail above.
2. Educational Content Providers
There players specialize in developing content through various means such as textbooks, CDs, smart
boards, tablet-based appsand so on. These companies have usual ly been in the market for long and
most of them have managed to build an affinity towards their brands based on the textbooks they have
published in the past. Though there are quite a few playersin the market developing educational content
for K12 classes, there are not many providersdeveloping content for higher education for eg: technical
or engineering courses. Thus, the only available option for higher education institutes remains to be the
electronic version of textbooks already available by well -known publishers worldwide. Also, content
providersusually provide their packages exclusively i.e. a device manufacturer usually gets locked -in
with a particular content provider. Often, these content providers, being large players, are not flexible
enough to tweakthe content based on suggestions from teachers to better align them with the lessons
being taught in the classroom. In short, even teacherscannot create or modify content to better suit their
teaching style. Thisisa drawback for students since they don’t necessarily get access to the best digital
resources available online simply because of the strict licensing agreements and inflexibility towards
integration. An ideal case will be when the same device can seamlessly integrate content from different
providersto offer choicesto the studentsand the teachershave some degree of flexibility to modify the
content to suit their classroom environment.
Another possible source of content can be crowdsourcing from multiple individual content creators.
These can be independent teachers, education enthusiasts, volunteers, subject matter experts, those
working in industries, technical experts and technology leaders etc. who are willing to devote limited
amount of time developing content for students. More on thismodel iscovered under the next section on
aggregators.
3. Aggregators
The aggregatorsdo not have a core competency in either device hardware manufacturing or educational
content creation, but rather teaming up with other players of both kinds to bui ld learning solutions for
classrooms. Khan Academy and the Indian company Pengala are examplesof aggregators. Aggregators
may have one of the following business models:

a. Source content through licensed deals: Aggregatorsenter into licensing deals from educational
companiesand modify the product to suit a tablet environment. This is precisely done by large
content publisherswho already have textbooks and CDs but want a third -party to optimize that
content quickly for newer ICT tools such as tablets in cl assrooms.
b. Open Educational Resources (OERs): Aggregators can also compile content through OERs
which are freely available materials. The open nature allows anyone to download, use, modify
and redistribute the content and aggregatorsoften optimize the content to give cohesive learning
experience on tablet devices. Besidesoptimizing, the most important contribution of aggregators
is to build a platform where OERs from multiple different sourcesare organized into categories,
making it easier for teachersand studentsto download on their devices and use them for class
learning.
c. User-generated Content: Aggregators can also sort and host user-generated or crowd sourced
content on their platform asdiscussed above. The primary benefit of this method of sourcing is
the diversity of content in a single solution – giving studentsa chance to enjoy access to the best
of learning resources on the device. However, this may lead to several drawbacks such as
inferior or not up to the mark quality of content and inconsistency of content since everything
becomes a function of the quality and number of users creating content. This has to be a
controlled exercise where aggregatorsmaintain some basic quality check, issue guidelines and
review content for correctness and appropriateness before making it available for downloading
and using via their platform on devices.
Implementation of Tablet-Based Solution
Based on expectations, concerns and behaviours of the various stakeholders of the ICT ecosystem
discussed earlier, the following typical decisions need to be taken:
1. Payment Model
Who pays for the solution? Who bearsthe fixed investment? Who bears the repeat cost of content
and annual maintenance or servicing? How to ensure the solution isfinancially viable for even l ow-
income communities? There are broadly 5 different payment modelsfor technology in classrooms as
follows:
a. Government Distribution Model: Under thismodel, government pays for the devices (tablets
etc.) and distributesthem to schools. Content usually comespre-loaded with these devices.
While this practically lifts all fixed cost burdens off the school management, parents and
students, it leavesa lot of room for doubt about how the educational program will sustain
itself in future. Government distribution practically means a one-time activity leaving open
questionssuch as who owns the device (the government or school or parents), who pays for
maintenance of the devices, who services them, what if the content becomesoutdated, who
refreshes the content and paysfor it and so on. In any case, a loosely designed government
distribution model seems like a short-term exercise and it is definitely not sustainable.
b. Government Subsidy Model: Under thismodel, government offers to subsidize a portion of
the device cost and the rest is borne by parentsor schools themselvesin previously agreed
fashion. The ownership of the tablets rest with schools or parents, depending on who has
paid for the device out of their pocket. This is the familiar model of marketing the low-cost
Aakash tablets in India.
c. School Asset or Tablet Lab Model: Under thismodel, school management buys the devices
(tablets) at 100% market rate and keeps it under its own control. The tablets are given to
students only to be used during the school time within the classrooms and students are not
allowed to keep them for use later at their homes. The school makes the content available
on the device either by partnering with third-party developers or aggregators or simply uses
the content pre-loaded on the device, if any. In thiscase, school teachershave quite a lot of
control over the content to be used and in some cases, they add and modify content to the
devicesas well to better suit their lesson plans. Also, thismodel makes it very clear that the
school has to maintain and service the tablets, replace them carry out the update of software

on them etc. The schoolshave different waysto finance the cost: (a) they can roll out tablets
optionally to students whose parents wish to pay the increased fee for their us; (b) school
can mandatorily roll the tabletsout for all studentsand increase the fee to finance the cost;
(c) school can market the tablet-based solution to increase the enrolment into their programs
and use that revenue to offset the investment.
d. Parent Ownership Model: Under thismodel, parentspurchase the devices separately or the
school makes them available for purchase at market price, with instalment payment options
if desired. The studentshave 100% ownership of the tabletsand can carry them home when
the school isover. The school makesuse of the content available pre-loaded on the device
or distributescontent to be consumed on the device. In case the content is licensed, some
schools only allow the same to be accessed within the premises. Studentsdo not get access
to the content at home usually.
e. School Subsidy Model: In this model, which is a variation of the parent ownership model
itself, school management procuresthe tablet devicesfrom manufacturers and makes them
available at subsidized price to studentswho can’t afford to pay the full market price of the
device. Depending on whether the student’sfamily payscompletely for the device or partly,
they are either allowed to take the device home or use them only within the school premises
and submit them back at the end of the learning day.
2. Use Case of Tablets
This dimension investigates how tablets are going to be used by students and teachers and the
degree of change they will bring to the existing learning environment. The following frameworkxii
aptly providesthe basic platform to classify the variousways tabletscan be used a given classroom
or learning environment. The education ecosystem, comprising of school management, students,
teachersand parentscan then choose where to place their finger before designing and adopting a
tablet-based solution for their environment.
Based on the above framework, the role of tabletsin education can be used to picture the following
distinct learning scenarios:

a. Tabletsfor Reading: Under thisscenario, tabletsserve a very basic purpose in the learning cycle
– not disruptive but sustaining in nature and confined to use in formal, classroom learning
environment only. Using tabletsto read electronic version of educational textbooks is commonly
adopted and mentioned by teachers and school management when discussion about the
deployment scenarios. As the textbookremainsthe same, the studentsdo not have adapt to an
entirely new way of consuming content and the scenario also reduces the bag burden for them.
E-books on tablets provide students an opportunity to quickly search for any term in the text
where their understanding isnot clear and use built-in note taking, highlighting abilities and add-
on featuressuch as dictionaries, voice reader etc. to have a seamless absorption of content, an
advantage over traditional paper-based books.
b. Tablets for Assessments: With respect to placement on the framework above, this scenario as
well belongsto the ‘Improve’ section on the grid. This is how many early adopter schoolsin India
are using tablet devicesin classrooms – to accelerate and automate testing process for school
students. By enabling teachers and administrative staff to conduct electronic tests via tablets,
schools are saving on time, improving scoring accuracy and beginning to automatically
disseminate scores to students as well as their parents in some cases. The tablet assessment
platform freesthe teachersto devote their time on more important things such as working with
students to improve where the test shows a weaker conceptual or application -oriented
understanding, class preparation and actual teaching.
c. Tablets as Primary Study Supplements: Under this scenario, tablets serve as a tool to bring
sustainable learning to informal, classroom environment. Tabletsfilled with educational content
aligned with the curriculum and built-in assessment tests for periodic examination of students’
learning can be an effective replacement for the traditional method of instruction via tex tbooks.
To start with, it can be good supplement to the core concepts taught by the teacher in the
classroom. Students can consume the learning content on tablets outside classroom, with
friendsand neighboursas well. They can refresh the conceptstaught in class, practice exercise
via built-in assignmentsand tests thereby effectively adopting self-learning without completely
relying on the teachers.
d. Tabletsas Primary Medium of In-Class Instruction: Under thisscenario, tabletsserve as a tool to
bring disruptive learning to formal, classroom environment. This is a use case where teachers
extensively use tabletsto deliver lectures – so much so that it becomes integrated in the lesson
plan asthe primary medium of interacting with students. The adoption of this scenario depends
a lot on teacher’scomfort level with using tablets, availability of educational content aligned with
the curriculum, planning efforts spent on seamless integration of tablets with other delivery
media and classroom activitiesand behaviour of studentsetc. It is thisdependence on multiple
factors that makes this use case ideally the most extremely integrated but difficult to adopt.
e. Tabletsas Unconventional School: This solution combines disruptive learning in an informal
environment using tablet devices. In thismodel, animation, video content and textbooks all are
made available to be accessed via the tablet by students on their own and from wherever they
want without restrictions. The tablet and its content are the ‘primary te achers’ and the school
teachersin classrooms simply reinforce the content learnt on tabletsthrough activities and tests.
Thismodel may prove to be particularly very useful where there isa difference in the quality of
teaching between classes and students have access to informal networks to help each other
learn on their own. The model enablesa shift from a teacher-centric learning to a student-centric
learning where students are in-charge and the teacher only serves as a guide.
Considerations for Implementation of Tablet-Based Learning
Based on secondary researchxiii
, following are some of the +/- points regarding tablet-based education:
1. What are some of the key challenges likely to be faced while implementing tablet-based education
programme and how can they be overcome?
a. Curriculum Alignment: Educational instituteswant the content in the tablets to be fully aligned
with their curriculum and mirror the material currently being used in traditional classrooms. Any

solution needsto ensure that content from different providers can be integrated and offered to
the students. Some tablet-based solution providerssuch as Edutor have partnered with multiple
publishers of textbooks & multimedia content such as Pearson, Cambridge University Press,
Orient BlackSwan, APT Academic Solutions and Encyclopaedia Britannica etc. to offer fully
aligned learning content to students.
b. Content Security: The solution needs to ensure that all the content remains fully secure and
safe. It should be able to address any apprehensionsthat publishersmay have about piracy and
digital rightsmanagement for each device user license. Credential based or biometric access
control must be built into any tablet-based learning solution especially, when device is shared.
c. Affordability: While most affordable tabletsprovide Wi-Fi access on the device, due to high fixed
and monthly costs, not all schools and universities provide wireless access in classrooms and
across campus. Thus, a major functional benefit i.e. interactive connectivity stays unused by the
teachersand studentsin most cases. For low-income parents, tablet pricesare still relatively not
affordable and hence, the business model for using these devices daily in schools needs to be
figured out.
d. Durability: While books continue to be available for use well beyond the period of education and
students in emerging countriesare used to sharing of reading materials, durability of tablets and
for that matter, any techno-class solution isstill in question. Theft, hardware damage, breakage,
water damage, accidental dropping of device etc. are occasions apart from normal wear and tear
which result in relatively very high monetary loss as compared to the tools used for tradi tional
learning i.e. books. The battery life of the tablet device isanother common pain point since at the
current levels, tablets cannot last for the entire day (7-8 hours) without the need of charging.
e. Role of the Teacher: The technology solution has to be designed keeping in mind its role of
complementing the teaching experience by teachers. It must offer a variety of tools to empower
the teacher to perform better in the classroom. Once the student is outside the classroom, the
teacher again prescribes the broad course of student’s personal learning experience and can
monitor and review the progress and performance of students.
f. Balancing Stakeholders: The solution must provide features that ensure the learning
environment in the tablet isconfigurable. This means that distractions such as games & movies
can be blocked off completely while students in higher classes can be given safe browsing
optionsor access to specific edutainment applications. Also, too much reliance on tablets may
result in students’ not remaining familiar with writing on paper, also leading to a deterioration of
writing skills of the students. The right balance of needs of various stakeholders – students,
parents & teachers – should be achieved.
g. Threat of disparity: The use of tablets, if and when made optional within the same classroom, will
end up creating disparity among studentswho can afford it and those who can’t and hence, will
result in disrupting the purpose for which the deviceswere introduced. Therefore, the payment
and ownership models used to introduce these
devicesmust be very carefully thought of before
implementing.
h. Identifying educational technology that delivers
and not just a fad: For studentsin a developing
country such as India with poor infrastructure,
inconsistent teaching quality, cramped
classrooms with little individualized learning and
a poor emphasis on conceptual mastery,
variouseducation technology innovations such
as computers, smart-classes, mobile phones, e-
readers and multi-media tablets are often
identified assolutionsto promote education up
the social ladder. However, the initial

excitement and optimism around huge potential impact of a new technology often gives rise to
the “hype” which beginsto obscure clear judgment on the part of educators regarding the use
and deployment of the technology. What follows is nothing but poor integration of technology
poorly selected and designed for the requirementsof the students. Often, a poor understanding
of the educational ecosystem and community leads to weak technology integration and
ineffectiveness in fulfilling its purpose. Policies such as One-Laptop-Per-Child and the
nationwide rollout of Aakash tablets in India are examples of a poor understanding of the
technology’srole in the ecosystem. The way tabletsare used to engage students, enhance inter-
student collaboration and seamless delivery of content from teachersto studentsshould not be a
mere imitation of traditional learning through textbooks, but must add extra meaningful value.
2. How can the tablets serve as a model that can be replicated or adapted by others?
a. Lightening school bag: interactive enriched textbooks on tablets are found to work better at
engaging the studentsand would also serve towards lightening the load of the school-bag for the
students.
b. No continuousdependence on electricity: Tablets, once charged, are independent of continuous
power requirement and hence are less affected by power outagesthat are frequent in emerging
world countries.
c. Augmenting the Classroom: By using tablets, schools are empowered to extend the classroom
and engage with the student even at home. Teachersare publishing material like homework and
assignments for the studentsto complete at home and are able to review the progress easily .
d. Formative Assessments: Schools are increasingly encouraged to assess students at formative
stages – so that learning gapscan be quickly identified and addressed. Tablet-based solutions
can be used by schools to conduct such assessments at greater frequencies. Assessment
enginesbuilt into the course platform on such tablets ensure that tests are easily created and
administered and results& diagnosticsare immediately available with the teachers – thus saving
a lot of time & effort for the teachers. In short, tabletsmake the assessment cycle more efficient.
Parents can also easily keep a tab on the child’s performance at school.
e. One-to-one interactions: Tabletsallow studentsto spend time with their individual device without
having to share a computer with multiple students and smart board with the whole classroom.
The one-to-one interaction allows students to learn at their own pace for eg: if they want to
revisit a concept, they can pause and rewind the content individually without causing interruption
in the class or the fear of others knowing.
3. How scalable is the table-based education programme?
a. Ease of Use: The tablet-based solution should be extremely intuitive and easy to use. Students
across variousage groupsshould be able to adopt the solution very quickly and with minimal
amount of training. Similarly, teachers must find the solution extremely easy to use – minimal
amount of training is required and hence scale can be achieved.
b. Customisation of Tablet: The solution ensures that content from different providers can be
integrated and offered to the students. Thisensures that fully aligned learning experiences can
be offered to students– irrespective of the exact curriculum being followed in the school. Thus
the same product can be deployed at scale across schools.
c. Portable: The learning content must be portable across a wide variety of tablets. Hence, as
penetration of tablets increases (due to the efforts of multiple hardware brands), centralized
device management solutionsneed to be developed and deployed to customize multiple devices
for educational content. Thisfurther enhancesthe scalability and ease of managing the solution.
d. Payment Models: The scalability of the tablet-based educational solutions depends upon how
easy and affordable the adoption is. Availability of content and the payment model of content,

price of new content and how authentic the content will be are some of the issues that need to
be converged upon before proclaiming that the era of tablets in classroom has begun.
e. Internet Access for Girls: With 3G capabilities, tablets can improve Internet access and hence,
improved learning for girls in particular.
f. Content Generation and Sharing: One of the key areas where tablets can help scale up the
shared learning is by making it easy and encouraging different educators/teachers to create
educational content for these deviceswhich can then be shared and collaborated upon to create
a vast library available online for use by anyone. If thiscrowd-sourced model of content creation
works, it will also ease the extensive planning to integrate these devicesinto existing curriculum
alongwith the educational content.
Primary Research & Data Collection on Pilot Runs
The intention of primary research was to find out what kind of educational technology iscurrently being used
in classrooms today and whether there isa case for large-scale adoption of tablets in the learning delivery
system. Due to geographical and accessibility limitations, the efforts and focus of trying to conduct primary
research and data gathering was decided to be carried out among Bangalore schools only. Apart from
schools, it was also decided that at least one higher education institution must be covered under primary
research to cover the entire spectrum of target population.
1. Primary Research in Schools
Before taking up field work, some time was spent to understand the local secondary education
sector in the city.
Schools in Karnatakaxiv: Karnataka, renowned for itsrich culture, isthe address to some of the finest
schools in the country. The state haswitnessed an increase in the literacy rate in the last decade,
climbing from a mere 66.64 per cent to an impressive 75.60 per cent. Thishasbeen possible due to
the improvement in the primary education sector of the state. The schools in Bangalore can be
divided into three categories based on their affiliation:
 Karnataka State Board
 Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE Board)
 Council for the Indian School Certificate Examinations (ICSE Board)
A list of schools in Bangalore across boards is captured in the Appendix. Another table in the
Appendix captureshow the state of Karnataka fairsin termsof government’sbudgeted expenditure
(revenue account) on education as per 2007-2008 figures.
 The Appendix also lists down those schools in Bangalore which are known to be using
tabletsor have used tabletsin the past for imparting education to secondary students. With
a number of foreigners living in Bangalore, the city houses a few international schools as
well. These schoolsfollow IGCSE (International General Certificate of Secondary Education)
syllabus. From the list provided in Appendix, it can be seen that quite a few of such
international schoolshave already deployed tablet-based education solutions in different
capacities. These schools may be sources of useful primary research data through
interactions with teachers and students.
 Bangalore city also has schools affiliated to ICSE, CBSE and to State Board.
The ideal way to select schoolsfor first-hand interaction with stakeholders and shortlist likely target
for a possible pilot run would have been spending per student. However, even after extensive
search, the relevant data about spending per student for schools in Bangalore could not be found.
The same is the case with schools anywhere in India, whereas this data is readily a vailable for
developed countries. Therefore, a good measure of looking at schoolsfor primary interaction can be
based on their rankings. Rankings published on the internet can be considered a reliable source in
this regard as listed in the Appendix. Accessibility of schools should also be kept in mind while

approaching them for thisactivity. The most likely schools that can be approached for carrying out
primary research study in Bangalore are as follows:
 Greenwood High School, Whitefield – Sarjapur Road (IB)
 Indus International School, Billapura Cross, Sarjapur (IB)
 Delhi Public School (South), Kanakapura Road (CBSE)
 Freedom International School, HSR Layout (CBSE)
 St. Joseph’s Boys High School, Museum Road (ICSE)
 Baldwin Boys’ High School, Richmond Town (ICSE)
 Bethany High School, Koramangala (ICSE)
 Clarence Public School, J.P. Nagar (ICSE)
Further, two schools in Bangalore were visited for primary interaction and observation where with
principals, faculty and ICT program ownersto understand how the schoolsare using the technology
in classrooms. The two schools visited were Delhi Public School, Bangalore East and Indus
International School, Sarjapur, Bangalore. Appendix ‘F’ details the set of questions that were asked
in the personal interviews carried out as part of the primary research.
The data extracted issummarized below for each of the interactions which gives a clears picture of
how schools and higher educational institutions are using technol ogy in classrooms currently.
Primary Research 1: Delhi Public School, Bangalore East
Personnel Contacted: (a) Ms. Manila Carvalho (Principal), (b) Ms. Ambica Vijayan (Head Mistress)
Type of Interaction: Face to face, on-site, in school
Date of Interaction: Friday, 14th
February 2014
School
Overview
Delhi Public School Bangalore East, a franchise of the Delhi Public School Society,
New Delhi, was established by the K.K. Educational & Charitable Trust in 2007 and
has students from Nursery upto Std. 12th
. The target segment of students for this
school belong to the middle and upper middle class of society. The school promptly
accords top priority to e-learning and believes it will help students meet the
challenges of the modern day living.
ICT Solution
Used by the
Institution
(a) Smart Boards: Since 2008, each classroom has an Educomp “Smart Class”
smart board solution setup which comprisesof multimedia projection device,
PC CPU, a keyboard, a mouse and a whiteboard. The digital content is
projected over whiteboard and the teacher can overlay the projection with
writing for further explanation if required for a topic. The installed smart
boards have Internet connectivity. The boards are not supposed to be used
by the students on a daily basis but are used by students of Std. 6th
and
above during their PowerPoint or video presentations in their respective
subjects. (Pic: Appendix ‘G’)
(b) Content Infrastructure: The school hasa central resource centre which hosts
servers to keep educational content. Each classroom has network
connectivity and smart boardsin classrooms access digital content from the
central repository over the network.
(c) Educational Initiatives’ Mind Sparks: For the last 3 years, DPS has been
using Mindspark, which isa computer-based, self-adaptive learning program
that helps students of Std. 1st
to 4th
improve their skills in Maths. It allows
each student to follow a learning path that isbased on their current level and
at a pace they are comfortable with. Over 60% of the problemsin Mindspark
package make use of visuals and animations. Students earn “sparkies” if
they answer consecutive questionscorrectly. The graphicsin Mindspark are
mostly used as serious learning toolsfor students. It is optional for students
to opt for the service for which a fixed charge per students in collected by
the school. DPS maintainsthat barring 1 or 2 exceptions, almost all students
opt for the package. A dedicated Mindspark team from the company is

stationed at DPS and they maintain tablet devices with the entire learning
content pre-loaded in it for use by the students in pre-scheduled time slots
(double-periodsduring the designated days in lesson plan). Students have
login and password credentialsso that they can access the test from home
over the web as well. The Mindspark team manages the entire service,
taking care of updating content, servicing the tablets, charging and
preparing them for daily use by students and the school simple pays to the
company a license fee per student. Every month Mindspark mails out a
detailed report to parents and teachers. These reports show the level the
child has reached on each topic, the time taken by the child to master a
concept, the success rate and number of logins and so on. The report to
teachersprovide additional information on the performance of the entire
class.
(d) Educational Initiatives’ ASSET test series: DPS gets its students to take the
EI’s ASSET tests in English, Maths, Science, Social Studiesand Hindi once
a year. The test providesdetailed skill-wise feedback highlighting strengths
and weaknesses and also benchmarks the student’s performance with
peers all over the country. The test serves as a measure of teacher’s
effectiveness and is used to identify areas where students need
reinforcement of concept already taught.
(e) CBSE Life SkillsEducational Content: Studentsget access to video content
via CDs uploaded in Resource Centre which can be played on smart
boards.
(f) NIIT MathLab: Mathematics Lab room in DPS consists of PCs, projections
system, projector screens and educational content which is based on CBSE
curriculum is provided by NIIT.
(g) One Learn: DPS uses a user friendly Parent Child Portal to provide regular
online updatesto parentsabout notices, alerts, events, student performance
metricsand report cards, fee due information, attendance etc. Every child is
provided with an ID and password to access the portal. Additionally, DPS
also has SMS and email functionality for events, notices, reminders etc. to
be relayed to students and parents.
Educational
Content
(a) Most of their digital content is limited to English language only.
(b) Educomp’s content is included in the per student license that the school
buys. The content comprises of presentation, videos, animations, photos
etc. and are copyright protected, meaning they can be used within the
school premises for classroom teaching only.
(c) Students are not permitted to take the content home or on their personal
devices or copy the same on storage media.
(d) In addition, teachersuse a number of freely available multimedia resources
available on the Internet to teach in the classroom, which are often emailed
to the students.
(e) Teachersconstantly give feedbackto Educomp over the appropriateness of
content for their course topicsand the service provider modifies the content
periodically based on thisfeedback. Hence, in summary, the teacher has an
influencing role to play in both the design and delivery of educational content
used on the Educomp Smart Class infrastructure. It takes about 3 months
for Educomp to modify the content before it can be used in the classroom.
(f) Teachers also give constant feedback for MindSparks to EI over content.
(g) However, in case of ASSET tests and MathLab, DPS teachers do not have
a say as they have a standardized content which is the same across
schools.
(h) Teachersalso often create presentations, animationsand diagrams on their
own to be shown in the class over smart boards. These contents are freely
distributed with students over emails for their reference at home as well.
Teachers (a) While recruiting teachers, DPS tests their comfort level with technology used

in the classroom. It is not left to choice for the teacher whether they wish to
employ the use of techno-classroom solutions.
(b) DPS also maintainsthat most teachers have found the use of techno -class
rooms beneficial and they haven’t faced resistance from the teachers’ side
when deciding to adopt new way of delivering better knowledge to students.
(c) Teachersare also tracked using reports generated on a weekly and monthly
basis whether they are effectively using digital content available to them via
Educomp smart boardsor not. If a teacher isfound to be not using the same
the management tries to find out the reason and take corrective measures
accordingly.
(d) Most service providersemployed by DPS including Educomp also have well
defined training modules which can be used by the teachers to undergo
training and gain familiarity with the system and resources.
Return on
Investment,
Effectivenes
s Metrics
and
Feedback
(a) The school continuously tracks the use of technology and itsrich plethora of
digital educational resourcesby both studentsand teachers. Thisallowsit to
continuously review content, modify it if needed, train teachers and gauge
effectiveness of its technology investments.
(b) Quarterly meetingsat the minimum with each of its service provider helps
discuss areas of improvement and review if the existing technology is fulfils
its objectives.
(c) Test such as ASSET and continuous tracking of student performances in
MindSparks and MathLab serve as metrics regarding how useful the tools
have been for learning purposes.
Primary Research 2: IndusInternational School, Bangalore
Personnel Contacted: (a) Ms. Sarojini Rao (Principal), (b) Mr. Rakesh Pandey (Director, ICT) and
(c) Ms. Jyothikiran Hoskere (Curriculum Coordinator)
Type of Interaction: On-site and telephonic interaction, in school
Date of Interaction: Friday, 14th
February 2014 and Thursday, 20th
February 2014
School
Overview
The IndusInternational School, Bangalore isan International Baccalaureate school
situated on a 40-acre campusat Sarjapur, Bangalore, which was established by the
IndusTrust in 2003. The school isrun by the IndusTrust, comprising members who
represent the IT sector, real estate and business investment. Established in 2001, as
a day school with boarding facilities, Indus currently hasover 1100 students from 32
countries. Each classroom seats 30 students, is fitted with projection systems and
computer facilitiesalongwith Internet access throughout the campus. The school is
targeted towardsexpats, foreignersbased in India, children of embassy staff and the
affluent rich Indians who wish to provide a global education to their wards.
ICT Solution
Used by the
Institution
(a) Smart Boards: For primary classes, Indus International School uses smart
board solutions provided by the leading global vendor SMART
Technologies.
(b) Laptops: For Std. 5th
and above, the school has partnered with Intelxv
for a
“one laptop per child” policy to enable 1:1 student-centric learning for its
enrolees. Each student is provided a Connoi®
Smart Book, a netbook
specially designed keeping in mind the conditionsthat studentsoperate in –
requiring sturdy build, child friendly, special features and buttons to provide
ease of use for students. The laptop hasstudent-friendly operating systems,
monitoring, web and content filtering features. (Photos in Appendix ‘G’)
(c) BYOD: As most students in higher classes (Std. 8th
and above) already have
their own favourite mobile tablet devices such as iPads which their parents
have purchased for them, the school allows them to bring the same to the
classroom and use during course sessions.
(d) ESL Teaching Resources: Indus, due to its large number of foreign

students, has courses that teach English asa second language (ESL) to the
natives of other countries. It uses technology in classrooms extensively to
develop language proficiency among the enrolees.
(e) Online web-based tests: Indus uses online testing platform for its students
(web-bases and not tablet-based tests) in various diverse areas such as IQ,
leadership curriculum, aesthetics, kinaesthetic quotient, self-study and EQ.
The school also streams TED talks in classroom on the smart boardsas part
of its leadership curriculum.
(f) e-Textbooks on Tablet Devices: From grade 9th
and onwards, Indus school
uses e-textbooks as the primary medium of instruction in classrooms. It is
mandatory for all teachersto have a laptop and studentshave tablet devices
such as Kindle etc. where they have electronic versions of their textbooks.
Except for on an average 1-2 studentsin a class who still prefer hardcopy of
textbooks, the rest of the students read on tablet devices.
(g) 3D Printer: Indushas recently invested in buying a 3D printer technology in
the school to expose studentsof grade 6th
, 7th
and 8th
hands-on with respect
to building models, production, manufacturing and also product and material
designing practices etc.
(h) Flip Teaching Model: Indus prides itself on pioneering the flip teaching
model in the senior secondary classes where students consume the primary
lecture content and teaching of concepts offline i.e. not in the classroom.
Teachers regularly send learning materials created by them or obtained
from the Internet to students via “Show Me” mobile and tablet app (see
screenshots in Appendix ‘G).
(i) CloodOn LMS Portal: The school uses Clood On – a learning management
system which serves as a technology environment to plan, organize, deliver
learning content and assess the performance of students. A hosted service
that Indusis experimenting with, completed its pilot run in the school last
year and is currently being used for delivering a different learning
experience for Physics and Mathematics.
(j) TCS ION ERP System: The school has deployed this ERP system to make
student progress reports, attendance information, grade sheets, homework
dissemination, fee payment details, notices, instructions to parents etc. via
the Internet. Each student has a login id and password through which the
above mentioned information can be checked by them or their parents.
Educational
Content
(a) For smart boards, Indususes few of the endless freely available interactive
whiteboard resourcesfrom online websites (such as http://www.iwb.org.uk/)
which are distributed without license.
(b) The school maintains that using technology in classrooms, students are
developing inquisitive learning, learning by exploration. The enquiries from
students have increased since they self-learn 1:1 using information available
on the Internet and other sources. The students create mindmaps, use
graphic organizers and other such resources to present their learnings in
class on smart boards in line with the curriculum taught in the school.
(c) Indusoften uses free resources available online for ESL learning sessions.
(d) For e-textbooks, the school does not purchase any license or bulk usage
rights for the textbooks and provides them to students on their individual
devices. The school only recommendswhich textbooks to buy off the online
e-book stores and the studentsindividually purchase the content for each of
their devices.
(e) The “Show Me” app used in flip classroom model by Indus, besidesallowing
teachersto create their own tutorials, givesaccess to featured content from
other users and the company’sown content developers for school children
across subjects. The students go through this content before coming to
class and the classroom time isdevoted towardsreinforcing these concepts
for deeper understanding using activities, discussions and in -class
assignments.

(f) The teachers develop their own content using a combination of lesson
plans, assessments, videos, animations, PowerPoint slides, audio and
games on the CloodOn platform, just as the content available at Khan
Academy.
Teachers
(a) It is mandatory for all teachers to demonstrate comfort with using technology
and all teachersare provided with laptop to be used on a daily basis while
teaching.
(b) Teachersacross all subjectsdevelop their own content using PowerPoint,
animationsetc. besidesthe free content available on the Internet to be used
for teaching in classrooms.
(c) Using shared technology with students, teachersare able to understand the
pain pointsof individual studentsthereby taking the learning on a 1:1 route.
Return on
Investment,
Effectivenes
s Metrics
and
Feedback
(a) The Connoi®
Smart Book model allows teachers to monitor exactly what
every student in the class is doing on their individual netbooks through the
teacher’s own netbook.
(b) However, Indusdoes not employ the use of any device management system
of sorts for monitoring what students are doing on their individual tablet
screens. Monitoring whether the students are sticking to the lesson being
taught in the class on their Kindles, iPadsetc. isdone by teachers in person
the old fashioned way i.e. while they roam around in class interacting with
the students.
(c) Visual Policy: Indushas a well-defined strict visual policy to shield younger
students from harm caused by staring at device screens for long hours. The
policy caps the screen time for students at 20 minutes for videos, movies
etc. shown during the class and encourages teachers to keep such content
to the minimum. Instead, Indus keeps videosshort and encourages students
to reflect and discuss on the takeaways from the videos.
(d) Effectiveness Measures: The school hasnot carried out a comparison of the
new technology-based learning environment with the traditional textbooks-
based system. However, enhanced collaboration between among students
and with teachers is also evidently visible in the school following the
introduction of technology.
(e) Survey: Indus has carried out its first survey among parents and students
regarding the effectiveness of ICT in classrooms. Only 150-160 parents out
of 1000+ students studying in the school responded to the survey, so the
results may not be representative of the entire target population. There have
been mixed responses to the use of technology with one group supporting
the rapid embrace of technology such as PCs and tablets in the classroom
teaching environment while the group worried about the threat of students
getting hooked on to these devices which may cause distraction.
2. Primary Research in Higher Education Institutions
To get broader opinions from different use cases, it was decided to cover a higher education
learning environment as well which is suitable for the tablet-based classroom. The below primary
research activity captureshow tabletsare being used and can be used in an engineering education
institution in India today:
Primary Research 3: Birla Institute of Technology & Science, Pilani (Pilani Campus)
Personnel Contacted: Dr. Rahul Banerjee, Professor of CSE and Leader, Technology-Enablement
Imperative (Mission-2015) at BITS Pilani University
Type of Interaction: Telephonic
Date of Interaction: Saturday, 22nd
February 2014
School The Birla Institute of Technology & Science, BITS Pilani is an all -India Institute for

Overview higher education and isone of the few top institutesin India to favour a ‘Merit Only’
based admission policy. To ensure complete transparency in student intake in the
undergraduate courses BITS has instituted BITSAT since year 2005, a fully online
pan-India exam testing prospective students on their aptitude for Maths, Physics
and Chemistry. BITSAT also hasa section on English and Logical reasoning, thus
becoming a complete analysisof a candidate’sintelligence and capability. BITS has
been a leader in using ICT for education with long-term and heavy investments in
ERP system, CMS, state-of-the-art video-conferencing Cisco Telepresence solution
and campus-wide networkconnectivity in all classrooms, faculty offices, residences
and student hostel rooms.
ICT Solution
Used by the
Institution
(a) BITS is examining the use of tablets for the students enrolled in distance -
learning programme (DLP) courses to enable them in taking their semester
examswithout visiting any of the BITS campuses or satellite centres. Also,
tabletsare being examined for making it easy to assess the answer scripts
of DLP students. It is important to note here that BITS isnot looking to carry
objective-only MCQ-based examsas part of thisinitiative but also aiming at
assessing full-length handwritten or typed subjective answers from students.
(b) Pilot for Tablet-Enabled Classroom: BITS isgoing to run a full-length course
on Pervasive Computing next semester using tablets in classroom. The
course requiresstudents to collaborate in groupsand that is specifically for
which tabletswill be used. The class will have a secure wireless connection
to which each tablet will be connected and the students can access the
content only after proper authentications(biometric or via user credentials).
The tabletsare currently planned to be institute-funded and will be a shared
resource to be used across courses. A glimpse of the tablet-based learning
environment being developed revealed features such as class timelines,
virtual breakoutsetc. built into the tablet software itself to enable studentsto
step into “discussion mode” where they can collaborate before coming back
and presenting their work to the class. The learning environment will use
audio and video features on the device to permit life-like classroom feel.
(c) BYOD Support: While the pilot cases for tablet-based learning methods will
be satisfied using institute-funded tablet devices, in the long term, institute
aims to fully support BYOD for students in classrooms.
(d) BITS is developing biometric-based attendance systems as well in-house.
(e) Video-conferencing on tablets, laptopsand in-class screens are being used
for running multiple multi-campus courses at BITS currently.
(f) BITS is also using tablet devicesas an infrastructure to carry out the various
research projectsitsgets from industry and government. Tablets are used
specifically wherever suited for the research project and condition.
Educational
Content
(a) For evaluation of hand-written and typed answer scripts over tablets, BITS
is perfecting character recognition and intent matching techniques so that
the system can grade subjective answers correctly based on both content
and meaning of the text.
(b) For higher education institutionssuch as BITS, educational content is not a
problem since most learning methodology is lecture-based where digital
content delivery hasalready been adopted. The faculty already develops
and uses lecture slides, videos, animationsetc. for delivering lecturesin the
class which will not be difficult to consume on tablets.
(c) For content to be consumed on tablets, BITS will adopt the model of having
a central repository on the network from where students can access the
content on their devices. Since institute-funded deviceswill be shared, they
cannot be preloaded with content and hence, a network repository makes
more sense in this use case.
Teachers
(a) At BITS, both teachers as well as researchers are developing content and
software for use on tablet devices.

(b) Due to the use of ICT such as multimedia and PowerPoint in lectures for
close to a decade now, the teachersare pretty comfortable with the use of
technology in classrooms.
Return on
Investment,
Effectiveness
Metrics and
Feedback
(a) Monitoring: For monitoring the activity of students in classrooms on their
individual screens, BITS isdeveloping classroom and device management
systems in-house tailored to the need of the course pedagogy. The decision
was taken since none of the commercially or freely available management
systems currently satisfy all the various combinations of use cases for
higher education. While the off-the-shelf products may suffice for school
education, higher education courses demand different policy sets to monitor
and restrict access to content etc. asper pedagogy requirements specified
by the respective instructors. It is therefore required to develop a solution
from scratch in which instructorscan select the suitable policy for setting up
the learning environment on tablet devices of students before the class
starts. Thiswill also come in handy to restrict access to content etc. on the
device and over the Internet when studentsare taking tests on their devices.
(b) Metricsfor RoI and Effectiveness: While BITS wasnot ready to diverge the
detailsof metricsplanned to be used to measure the RoI and effectiveness
of the solution, it mentioned that a Data Analytics Office is being setup to
constantly measure and keep track of these metrics and make the reports
available to the management whenever required.
The first-hand data gathering activitiesand interactionsthat were carried out in schoolsand higher education
institution build a sound platform to identify the loopholes, problems and build solutions to address them
which is covered in the next section.
Phase 3: Consolidation, Conclusions & Recommendations
In thisphase, the learningsfrom both primary and secondary data sources regarding the use of tablets and
ICT in classrooms were compiled into conclusions and based on these, several recommendations about
designing, implementing and managing an effective tablet-based learning environment are provided.
Conclusions and Trends
The following are some of the important trends and conclusions emerging out of the analyses:
1. Better learning: Tabletsand technology improve learning for the target students. All stakeholders
in majority are of the opinion that ICT and most importantly, tablets are a better way to learn
leading to more conducive physical aswell asmental conditionsfor a student-centric learning to
happen. Tablets allow students to self-learn at their own pace, individualize their learning
environment to their likes, and enable development of inquisitiveness and exploration, besides
lowering the number of textbooks students need to carry. Moreover, in this digital age, tablets
allow students to grasp concepts quickly and permanently using audio -visual cues.
2. Not without apprehensions: Both teachers and parents have some apprehensions with respect
to using tabletsin classrooms. While teachersare concerned about the lackof control over what
students are doing and the content they are consuming on their screens, parents are more
concerned about the health and behavioural hazards of using tablets. A signi ficant number of
stakeholders hence lookat tablets supplementing the traditional method of teachersteaching via
books and not replacing the same.
3. No hard proof of effectiveness: While most stakeholders, especially school leadersand teachers
believe that tabletsare useful for better learning, no instance wasfound where they made efforts
to corroborate the claim quantitatively and conclusively. Comparative testing between student
test group (tablet-based learning) and control group (traditional learning) seems to be the ideal
method which schoolshaven’t undertaken yet. Therefore, the belief looks to be purely based on
what they hear from peer institutionsand ICT service providers. In many cases, schools also use

tablets and ICT based learning environm ents as factor to differentiate themselves from
competition.
4. Continuous monitoring for effectiveness: Institutions are heavily relying on the use of mostly
periodic analytics (sometimes real-time as well) to ensure technology in classrooms remain
effective and deliver on their purpose. Review of educational content for relevance, alignment
with the curriculum and ease of understanding iscommonly carried out. Monitoring of teachers is
also undertaken to ensure the technology put in place is actually being utilized well as per the
curriculum design.
5. Assessment is the starting use case: For most institutionslooking to experiment with tablets for
education, using them for assessment or conducting objective multiple -choice tests is the most
common starting point. Thisis so because thismethod of testing finds quick approval from the
teachers since it reduces their workload, saves time and shows its effectiveness immediately.
Graduation to the next step from assessments i.e. active use of tabletsfor delivering lectures via
PowerPoint slides, animations, videosetc. requiresmore effortson the part of the teachers and
also require creating and searching for content, needless to say preparing the lesson plan
accordingly, which somewhat tests the technology-friendliness and motivation of teachers.
6. Resource Limitations: One of the biggest challengesin large-scale adoption of tablets in classes
for educational learning isthe high cost associated with their use and lackof a reliable hardware
to serve the purpose of sustaining throughout the day at that affordable price. Even if most
schools agree on benefitsof tablets, at current prices, battery life capabilitiesand the additional
wireless infrastructure required, their classroom implementation will be limited to a shared use
model with definite time periods when a particular class of students can get access to the
device. This itself is a fractured way of learning and goes against the goal of delivering a
student-centric self-paced learning environment through the use of tablets.
7. Content isno longer the missing piece: With ample content, both free and licensed available on
the Internet, it issufficient to conclude that lackof availability of content to be consumed on the
tablet devices are an impediment in their adoption in classrooms. Moreover, private school
teachersare finding it increasingly comfortable to create content suitable for their lessons on
their own, thanks to the ICT trainingsmade available to them by the schools. It was also found
that teachersand school management both are open to adopting content created through purely
crowd-sourced initiatives, of course, after their own curriculum coordinators and faculty review
the same for quality and correctness. Reliance on ICT service providers (such as Educomp)
totally for content across the entire learning spectrum i.e. right from K12 to all the way upto
higher education, specialized courses etc. is unrealistic and that iswhy crowd -sourced model of
content generation makesmore sense to drive large-scale adoption of technology in classroom.
8. Newer education delivery modelspicking up pace: Though not evident yet in large numbers and
limited only to upscale, innovative schools for the affluents, some newer learning models such
as flipped classrooms, classroom in the cloud etc. are already finding their way in the Indian
education system.
Recommendations and Future View
Unlike South Korea, which aimsto replace the use of paper in itseducational institutions with tablets by the
year 2015, India isa bit too diverse to roll out a blanket policy on similar lines. However, it isonly a matter of
time that the latest toolsof ICT find their way into the classroom and hence, large-scale adoption of tabletsin
education appears to be where the modern learning environments are heading. The following
recommendations are presented to accelerate the process:
1. Expansion of Internet Use in Schools: In preparation of the upcoming tablet-based learning era,
educational institutions need to expand the use of ICT by actively including Internet-based
resources in the classroom. One idea isto make them part of the teachings listed in curriculum
so that both studentsand teachersbecome familiar with searching, consuming, discussing and
contributing to the vast amount of learning resourcesavailable for free on the Internet. This will
later solve the problem of pre-loading the tablet device with content specific to the course and

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