When students got into the shoes of artists and teachers, technicians

Coimbatore: It was a day when a section of government school students became performers and teachers, technicians. What one couldn’t have missed was the way they handled their roles with a professional touch. It was nothing, but a dedicated show to come out with quality educational videos.
Educational videos are an attempt by the State Council of Education Research and Training (SCERT) to make classes more exciting with innovative teaching methodologies. A team of 40 school teachers from across the state have been deployed for the project and they have made about 3,000 videos on various subjects so far.

One of the students, who participated in a shooting in the city recently, said making of educational videos was itself a joyful experience. Just imagine what could be in store for fellow students, who would learn by watching these videos.

“I was scared at first. But during and after the shooting, I was very happy. My parents, teachers and friends have watched my videos in smart phones and appreciated me,” said Kiruba S, a student who acted in one of the videos.

“Ten students from our school have participated in the shooting of a Tamil poem. The video was completed in a day. This is a digital warm up for our children. The videos give the children an opportunity to see things and learn. For example, there is a chapter about sea turtles in English. Showing videos of them would be the best experience for the students than showing them pictures,” said A Saravanaselvi, teacher with a panchayat union middle school at Kinathukadavu block, Dasanayakenpalayam.

Another primary class teacher with the CCMA government high school said even parents were happy with the initiative. “Little children are more attracted to the background music and are happy to learn from the videos. Seven girls from our school have attended the shooting. Parents are overjoyed,’’ said Uma Rani S, assistant head master of the school.

The State Council of Education Research and Training has provided QR codes in the textbooks. Once the QR code is scanned using a mobile phone, the video links will open, allowing teachers to help students see and learn. Approximately 2,500 videos have been linked to QR codes for textbooks of Classes I, VI, IX and XI, and the remaining videos are at the editing stage.

Making of videos for the third term is under way and the process is expected to be completed by December-end.

“We have pushed aside the traditional methods of theoretical training and started with digital methods. The videos will be application oriented to inculcate concept visualization. Apart from book learning, it is necessary to visually imagine a phenomenon. We have used graphics wherever necessary. For primary school children, the videos will help them to learn while having fun,” said a state education department officer, who didn’t want to be named.