New Delhi, May 11, 2021: The pandemic has brought to light the digital divide existent in the Indian society than ever. There are digital natives who have access to technology and digital aliens who are not so familiar with technology. Majority of the students in various Government Degree Colleges of the state come from rural areas and some of them may not own a smartphone. They use their parent’s or sibling’s phones to study and most of these phones will not be available during the online classes. Hence, these students could not benefit much from the synchronous methods of teaching due to various issues like poor connectivity, limited internet access, etc. Google sites offer a possibility of asynchronous teaching. This English Learning website is created out of zero budget.
Ideas that Materialised into a Website
During the initial stages of the pandemic, The Commissionerate of Collegiate Education, Telangana in association with UGC-HRDC, Osmania University, conducted a Faculty Improvement Programme (FIP) for all the teachers of Government Degree Colleges in Telangana. This helped the teachers to know about various ICT tools other than the commonly used ones. It is important that teachers integrate technology that is appropriate for the learning needs of students. The attendance of students in synchronous classes was really poor in rural areas. And this necessitated many of the teachers resorting to alternative methods of teaching. Teachers recorded voice messages of important topics, created video lessons and sent them to the students via WhatsApp. Photos of lessons from the textbooks were also shared via WhatsApp. So, this website presents a better option. All the English language learning resources are available on a website, students can access it at their convenience.
Features of the Website
The video lessons and Lessons in PDF are based on the UG Curriculum of Osmania University. Many students in the rural areas do not generally buy English textbooks. So, these extracts from textbooks will be a boon to the students who do not have any other means to read textbooks. The PDFs also have a set of pre-reading questions to prepare the students to read, understand the lesson and connect it to their real life. The set of post-reading activities also make students enthusiastically relate to the lessons. The other pages of the website are applicable to all ESL learners of the same level. Various exciting learning materials, activities, games, films, stories, songs, speeches, and other similar materials are added to the website. During the occasion of English Language Day, various Literary Competitions were conducted online and the selected entries are displayed on the website.
How does it differ from other websites?
A majority of the English Language Learning websites found all over the world is mostly developed by a centralised body and not an individual teacher. Duolingo, Hello English etc. use first language to teach English. Our website is not so. Most of the educational websites like k12 learning, BBC learning English, British Council etc. are loaded with learning resources, but a student with minimum digital skills will find it difficult to identify relevant information.This website can definitely save the precious time of students who otherwise have to surf among numerous English learning websites. As many of the students will be accessing the website from their phone, the site has a mobile view also which is simple and user friendly.
Reaching maximum students is the motto
A survey was conducted for students to have an idea about their views on the website. Around 200 students participated in the survey. In the survey students have mentioned that they are quite eager to utilize the resources available in the website. At present, there are 3 WhatsApp groups with around 500+ student participants. The WhatsApp group contains a mix of UG students from various parts of India. Communicative Language activities are posted to the WhatsApp groups daily. Students are given time to work on these activities. The groups will be open for discussion in the evening hours. During this time, the students post their findings and ask questions.
A Key to Future
A lot of brainstorming, research and redoing of the lesson plans have gone into the creation of this website. Pandemic will slowly fade. Blended learning is here to stay. This website is created by Mrs.RoopnaRavindran, Assistant Professor of English, Government Degree College, Chevella. This website can supplement the face to face classroom learning in the future. Many of the strategies followed while developing the Google site may be applicable to other institutions as well. This is just a prototype; any teacher can create a customised website on their own for the students.
The link to access the English Language Learning website:
https://sites.google.com/view/gdc-chevella-english/english-video-lessons
Corporate Comm India (CCI Newswire)
