Now, a ‘tablet’ comes to assess school children

Innovative tool demonstrated at Jeevana School in Madurai city

Technology-enabled learning went a step further as a ‘tablet’ is now being prescribed to assess school children and find out the “learning gaps.”

Educational Initiatives, an Ahmedabad-based educational research company, is promoting its innovative assessment tool in schools in Madurai region claiming that it had developed it with a deep understanding of child psychology and research.

The Detailed Assessment (DA) tablet computer was demonstrated to subject teachers and students at Jeevana School in Ponmeni here on Friday.

Speaking to reporters about the tablet way of diagnostic assessment, Sudhir Ghodke, Director, Educational Initiatives, has said that continuous and comprehensive assessment is of paramount importance to identify the learning gaps among students at regular intervals.

The 17.8 cm tablets being used for DA are with captive touch screen and topic-wise tests will be customised to curriculum of respective schools. It will be suitable for State Board, CBSE and all types of schools.

“Once the subject teacher finishes doing three or four topics, he or she can go the online system and ask for conducting a test for students. Questions are prepared keeping the course structure in mind and every child gets personalised report which the parents also can access,” he said.

According to him, the tablet test will be very helpful to schools because teachers should not assume that every student had understood what was taught. “Assessment method drives learning and teachers will be effective in their work. Mistakes committed by students can be corrected and explained to them. Schools can decide on which date they want to conduct the test,” Mr.Ghodke said.

In the first phase, the Detailed Assessment through tablets is available for three subjects- English, Mathematics and Science. Totally, 24 tests would be conducted for these three subjects and it will be Rs.1,800 per student for one year. This testing method is available for students from third class to Tenth standard.

“Ours will be an apt example of technology aided learning and it offers year long assessment programme. Schools in various States have come forward to introduce ‘tablets’ and our representative will carry a set of tablet computers to school on the test date. The assessment report will be ready in 24 hours and teachers can view the results online,” he explained.

After getting the results, teachers can take remedial action and Mr.Ghodke claimed that schools would benefit in formative/summative assessment of students.