Rural India is hungry for digital tools
Ed Tech Review conducted a full day training workshop in Digital Empowerment Foundation Head Office on 8th June 2015. The training focussed on Digital Citizenship and Internet Maturity. Digital citizenship was identified as a life skill with contrasts drawn out from the analogies of a tourist, a resident and a citizen. Copies of the book titled “Become an iMature Student” authored by Mr. Raghu Pandey were distributed among the participants at the start of the training.
The focus was to train the participants about conducting similar workshops in the rural/semi urban areas keeping in mind their proficiency in Internet.
The training was conducted by Mr. Raghu Pandey, Founder , CEO (iBranch.in) and Mr. Utkarsh Lokesh, Co-Founder, CEO (EdTechReview). 8 staff members from DEF participated in the workshop. The disciplines represented by all the participants were different which led to diverse interactions and broader perspective of the topic.
Mr. Utkarsh Lokesh initiated the training by highlighting key reasons due to which the concept of Digital Citizenship emerged. He identified them as need for good online personas, prevention of cyber bullying, importance of key skills information, search and analysis, digital literacy and economic security. Mr. Raghu Pandey carried the training forward by first highlighting the problem that students face being online, both being aware and unaware. Then he talked at length about making the best use of digital media for education and being well prepared for a career. He touched upon what exactly is meant by the term iMature student also mentioning professional online networking.
Post this opening talk, the importance of social presence and digital citizenship was discussed as regards to finding a job and even doing one along with the key components included under each head. The participants and resource persons moved a step ahead in discussing the importance of digital citizenship in employability.
It was agreed that iMature.in and EdTechReview will create a different and a very simple workbook for the target audience. After the coursework will be done, another round of talk will be held. Apart from that, they also shared 75 books to be distributed. They also proposed videos support for teaching and a portal that can be created which can have the services of blogging and opinion forums to enhance the practical professional experience of students.
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