When Google started the hangout feature in Google+, it was seen as another video chat platform. But since its launch Netizens have found multiple use for it – education being one.
The platform is being used by expert teachers from across the world to reach out to children in villages and small towns that don't have access to quality education.
Remote systems
Take for example, Kolhapur-based Samaritan Help Mission and Snehalaya which have taken to the Internet to ensure quality education to children. Over the last few months, remote education systems have been set up using Google + hangout that allow students access to expert teachers from Mumbai, Pune and London.
Mr P.D. Deshpande from Helpers of Handicapped, a social body that offers training for over 1000 physically challenged boys and girls in Kolhapur, said, “We are not only witnessing but also creating history for our school by holding a remote class. Thanks to Google, our students have access to the best teachers who volunteer from the cities.”
Students from Samarth Vidya Mandir in Kolhapur now take part in such remote classes. “There were times during the class when I forgot that the teacher is not physically present with us. It was fun learning this way and I look forward to more such classes,” said Pranali Khot, a Class VII student.
But such projects face connectivity challenges due to lack of broadband availability. “Connectivity is a major issue we are facing especially in non-urban areas,” says Mr Deshpande. Although NGOs like Helpers of Handicapped invest in buying the computing devices required for such projects, the communication link between students and teachers are not reliable. “But one is hopeful that going forward this issue will be resolved as communication networks expand,” says Mr Deshpande. The National Optic Fibre Network being set up by the Government at Rs 20,000 crore aims to address this gap.
New tool
Apart from network issues, the level of teaching could be different when the teacher is remotely located. “When the teacher is physically present in a classroom then he or she can give personalised attention to students. Sitting miles away on a computer it's difficult to gauge the mood sometimes,” says Mugdha, a teacher associated with the project.
But clearly education on hangout is not aimed at replacing classroom teaching.
It is being used as a tool to reach youngsters who have no access to basic education.
UK-based Mr Syed M Qureshi volunteers to teach children in the slums of Tikiapara in West Bengal as part of an initiative started by the Samaritan Help Mission.
In this school where most of the children come from families facing abject poverty, The Mission's founder Mr Mamoon Akhtar has big ambitions for his students.
“We want our children to have access to the best teachers in the world. Technology now makes it possible,” he says on his Web site.