School of Education - State Level Workshop on Multimedia Applications in Teaching and Learning

The state level workshop on “Multimedia Applications in teaching and Learning” was organized was organized by the School of Education, Christ University, on 14^th September 2013 at Room No 911, Central Block. The day’s proceedings were deliberated by the eminent experts in the field of education. The delegates who participated were teachers from reputed schools of various parts of Bangalore city, the faculty members and the students of School of Education, Christ University.

            The Chief Guest for the work shop was Dr.SrikantaSwamy , Professor (Retd.) IASE, R.V. Teachers College-,Bangalore. The major speakers were Dr. T.N. Raju ,Professor at B.E.S College of Education-Bangalore and Dr.Hanumanthappa, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Applications, Bangalore University.

            The workshop commenced with the lighting of the lamp by the dignitaries followed by invoking God’s blessing through a prayer song sung by the students of School of Education. The convener of work shop Dr Sumita Rao,Assistant Professor at School Education, Christ University greeted the dignitaries, the guests and the gathering. 

Professor  Srikanta Swamy delivered the inaugural address and stressed on incorporating multimedia in class room teaching. He quoted that the teachers play an import role in helping the students to change the Society and Multimedia facilitates in achieving of this goal and therefore it is the need of the hour today. The Indian education system is lagging behind in this respect when compared to that of innovative systems that are practiced in UK, where, multimedia input is used extensively with the use of advancement of information technology. There is a need to create greater awareness and commitment toward the use of multimedia among teachers to make them competent in classroom teaching. He also emphasized on the resistance among teachers and teacher education institutions to incorporate multimedia as a new technique in the teaching methods. He suggested that there should be a paradigm shift in the education system i.e., a blend of modern and traditional methods of teaching. Both these methods need to be incorporated effectively in the curriculum to stay abreast with the fast changing globalized world. He alerted the participants to come out with personal workable action plan with a view to implement the multimedia techniques in the classroom teaching.  He also quoted that teachers are nation builders and engineers who constructed the society and brought about healthy changes in it. He concluded by saying that education is a step by step process of information that leads to Knowledge, Knowledge leads to Application, Application leads to Attitude and Attitude to Action. Hence education is a powerful tool to change the world by changing attitudes and actions of a student through an effective system of education.  

            The first session was conducted by Dr. Hanumanthappa. The main highlights of his presentation were- 1.  the present day teachers’ lacked computer knowledge , 2. Many teachers do not make deliberate attempts to get equipped with the multimedia skills.3.  As a result students have lost interest in the education. Hence, teachers need to take a lot of initiatives in this regard to implement new techniques by incorporating multimedia in the class room teaching.

            He focused on “The need of technology in Education”. Technology brings about interactivity, effective content delivery, managing resources, collaboration, and good communication, easier process to formative and summative evaluations. This helps in self learning, importance to guidance and engaging learning experiences. Innovative methods could bring about effectiveness in teaching. He quoted that, “I hear and I forget, I see and I believe and I do and I understand.” This will lead to effective means of teaching. Traditionally, teacher was the only source of information but today teacher is one of the many sources of information. So, teacher has greater role to play and the multimedia will help a teacher to go a long way.

            The second session conducted by Dr T. N Raju, the prime focus of the discussion was on the different dimensions of application of multimedia in class room teaching and learning. He stressed that the teacher should make the class room teaching interesting. His major suggestion to the student-teachers was that there has to be effective communication between teacher and students in the class room. The teacher has to work on developing competencies in effective communication. Through a video, he presented the Challenges faced by the Teacher of 21^st century. The main highlight to ponder is, is teacher the main source of information today? He enumerated the Blooms taxonomy.  A teacher needs to adapt to the present day requirements. The concept of REPERTOIRE needs to be given importance and should be applied in class room.

Multimedia not only includes visual domain but also the audio and the text. He shared some of the techniques of creating multimedia presentation that could be used in a class room as follows a) process of preparing and editing a PPT, b) on narration and off narration techniques which are used in the classroom c) the steps in developing the multimedia presentation. It includes 1. Creating an outline of the point, 2. Creating a strong introduction and Conclusion, 3.Practicing and Presenting, 4. Refining the presentation, 5. Editing and proofreading, d) use of e-books and other multimedia techniques in a classroom can be very effective in teaching process.

            Prof.Vinay, M Department of Computer Science, Christ University, briefed the participants on the usage of technology at Christ University. The main focus of his session was to highlight the initiatives of the Christ University incorporating the recent advancement of technology in the campus. Starting with attendance, Continuous Internal Assessment and publishing of the results through Moodles software programme that helps the students to access academic information online. Many useful software programme which are useful for class room teaching such as open class, blend space, moodles etc were explained in detail supported by quick demonstrations.  He discussed how Christ University is effectively using moodles for all the curricular transactions that took place between the students and the staff. He concluded by saying that the teachers of today need to have a sound knowledge of technology in order to have an effective teaching experience.

Dr. Samson Victor, Professor at School of Education, Christ University, guided the participants to the Green View Studio of Christ University. The participants were given first hand information about to how technology is applied in class room teaching. A promo video was presented before the participants to sensitize them on the recording of an audio and video followed by the recording and editing of e-classes.

            The Valedictory function was organized at 4.30pm in the conference hall .The dignitaries of the  occassion s were Rev.Fr T.V Thomas- Director of School of Education, Christ University, Dr T. N. Raju, Prof.Jose Cherian- HOD of School of Education, Christ University and Prof. SumitaRao. Mr.Vikram Bhat was the Emcee of the ceremony. Two participants, Mrs. Sheela Murthy of Mahila SevaSamaj and Mr.Surjit Singa of Kristu Jayanthi College shared their experiences for the day. Fr T V Tomas addressed the delegates and quoted that the teachers need to have sound knowledge of multimedia skills in order to reach out to the present generation.  Towards the end, Rev.Fr.T.V Thomas distributed the certificates to the participants the workshop concluded with the singing of University Anthem.

One of the participants, Mr.B.Sudhakar, composed a beautiful poem and recited in during the valedictory function which was as follows:

Truly Inspired

To experience the meaning of unity in diversity,
We have to come to Christ University,

I was really honored, to light the lamp,

Which will remain in my memory, this lovely and lovely camp,

I am so happy to attend this Workshop,

Which has made us so friendly to the Lap-Top,

Teachers being the architects of the Nation,

Should be aware of Multimedia and lead Innovation,

Many points made us to sit-up and Think,

Some clips were so could, we didn’t even Wink,

Now we know
Teachers may not be the only source of Information,

But should remain the source of Inspiration,

We look forward to move of such Interaction,

On behalf of the delegates I thank the School of Education

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Date: 14/9/2013                                                                 Venue: Central Block, Room No- 911

Workshop Organizing Secretary: Prof. Jose Cherian              Workshop Convener: Dr .Sumita Rao