V for Value, I for Integrity & S for Strength

Digital Education in the Indian Classroom

Private schools are encouraging lesser use of pen and paper and more use of computers. As classrooms get digitised, the bigger question is will this lead to better education.

Vinay, a 13-year-old student in a village of Himachal Pradesh, is learning the dissection of a toad's heart. But his hands are not messy, nor does he feel disgusted watching the procedure. He is watching the entire process on a screen in a digital classroom in his school. Vinay may be disappointed that he belongs to a less known village, but is delighted that he can avail of ICT-enabled solutions in his village classroom, similar to his urban peers.

Technology in schools has seen a swift evolution from the times when computers were introduced to simplify the administrative workflow, to when computer labs were created to impart computer skills, and later for the purpose of learning other subjects, to the present times when technology has moved into the classroom.

Schools, big or small, have realised the potential of getting multimedia-based content to support teaching in the classroom. Digitisation of classrooms includes curriculum on smartphones, digital content management and infrastructure to support technology. Digitising the content is very important and students in schools need to get used to reading such content.

India has 10,00,000 schools and 90% of them are government schools. That means 1,00,000 are private schools and of which only 80,000 classrooms are digitised. The digital classroom solution has been adopted by 10,000 schools across cities, small towns and rural areas spread across 560 districts in the country.

The child-centric concept in classrooms is what prompted the schools to adopt this technology. Availability of good teachers in smaller towns has always been an issue. Therefore, it makes sense for teachers and parents to go for these solutions, instead of shifting the child to a larger town for education.

There are many challenges in this area - internet connectivity to enable cloud solutions has been a major challenge, getting the infrastructure down to these areas is another challenge. However, the acceptance of the solutions overshadows the challenges.

Although the future of digital education in India is quite bright, yet it is a long road to traverse.

Creating a school brand

Melwin Braggs, Business Editor

At the core of all school communication, whether it is the website, interaction with pupils and staff, the prospectus, recruitment advertising, uniform or  any other outward vestige of school life is the School brand. Branding isn't just a "nice logo" and corporate colours with a tickle round the edges every once in a while, it is much more about delivering a promise that has true meaning to the school and all of its constituents. A great brand in education will:

• Guarantee standards

• Create differentiation

• Build an emotional bond with stakeholders and

• Afford protection from competition

The components of the brand creation process are:

Understanding Stakeholders

To deliver the brand promise the school needs to have a real understanding of the needs and desires of those that count, the existing attitudes, beliefs and aspirations that are held about the school and how the school relates to its wider context. One needs to get valuable insight into the views of all relevant stakeholders i.e. parents of pupils (both prospective and existing), pupils themselves, staff and school leaderships.

Creating a value proposition

 Thorough analysis of the research findings will clearly define; the attributes of the school, and how they deliver benefit to the stakeholders - the strengths to be built upon the weaknesses to be addressed and the advantages that can be exploited in a competitive situation. These will be shaped into a value proposition that in essence will encapsulate the key message of the school brand.

Designing a visual identity

Bringing that school brand essence to life visually is the next part of the process; from determining the colour palette, typography, photography style, tone of voice and logo designs and their application across all school marketing materials from website to prospectus to letterhead and so on. The school needs to be guided through the process from initial design to concept development to final design and artwork.

Effective and dynamic brand management

Managing the school's brand is an ongoing process that needs dedicated resource and clearly allocated responsibility. We recommend that research (either dedicated to branding or as part of the general school research programme) be used to measure adherence to the brand promise and monitor any changes in the needs of customers at regular intervals.

Assuming you have already established colors, mascot, logo, etc., we're going to focus on how you can present a unified brand (representative of your school) on social media

Five ways to push your branding in social media:

1. Create your own private, online community. The only way you can be assured that your students (prospective, current and former) are viewing and connecting in an online community surrounded by your brand is to establish a private community that you control.

2. Use hashtags on Twitter. Claim them early, take some time and research available hashtags. Choose one and use it consistently.

3. Give your school a voice. As important as your mission statement or motto is, your blog will give words and lend a voice to all the good you are accomplishing. Use it to showcase members of your faculty, student body, awards, even challenges.

4. Maximize the power of email signatures. Adding information to your email signature is a great way to spread news and information. Looking to hire teachers, spread the word about your latest education award or just let people know what your school stands for - add it to your signature.

5. Take part in user groups. You are not alone in your mission. There are many people who can help you. Joining a technology (or social media) group that understands the needs of the educational community is a great way to learn, connect and establish relationships within the industry. Social media is about connecting and while you're out there doing that, your brand is becoming even more established.

We at Develop Schools take pride at our expertise at offering such solutions.