Computer Masti Information Brochure 2011

8/4/2019 Computer Masti Information Brochure 2011

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Learning Computers in a Fun Way


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A Collaborative Product from IIT Bombayand InOpen Technologies

www.computermasti.com


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Thematic Integration

Spiral Curriculum

Narrative Style

Yoga And Ergonomics

Thinking Skills

The inception of Computer Masti (CM) has comeabout at a critical juncture when there was a visibleneed for a standard Computer curriculum, trainedteachers and quality instructional material. 'Masti isa Hindi word meaning fun and CM considers fun asan important element of learning Computers.

Computer Masti is a collaborative product of IITBombay and InOpen Technologies.

CM is designed as a content-service solution toteach computer science in schools. The content ispresented in a story format through two children,Tejas and Jyoti having a conversation with Moz whois conversant with computers. CM adopts aconstructivist pedagogical approach, which

encourages the characters to keep asking questions,and to explore on their own. The content apartfrom teaching the computer literacy skills, alsoteaches others concepts like stepwise thinking andlogical reasoning. These skills lay both thefoundation for future programming skills as well ashelp students develop important life skills

stconsidered as skills of the 21 century.

Information and communication technology (ICT) israpidly changing the way we learn. The last decade haswitnessed a phenomenal transformation in the field ofeducation and training, with several technology-initiatives aimed at developing human capital. Inacademic learning and vocational training, it hasresulted in wider reach and innovative practices ineducation for development. ICT has made a vastdifference by widening the horizons of learning to

include several innovative and creative ways ofknowledge acquisition and skill development.

stChanging pedagogical paradigms of the 21 centuryaims at bridging the gap between de-contextualizedinstructional practices which were solely teachercentric to the present day blended learning approach.The new generation of children growing up in this fastevolving techno-savvy world need to acquiretechnical sophistication. The integration of ICT into

school curriculum is instrumental in developing keylearning skills of the future interpersonal skills,information skills, technology skills, basic skills,thinking skills and learnability.

Computer Masti does two

wonderful things. One it adopts

its own alternate style to teachi.e. focus on concepts and logic

and secondly it integrates the

whole content as a main stream

curriculum

- Bageshri, Teacher.


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FEATURES

COMPUTER MASTI

THEMATIC INTEGRATION

Thematic integration views learning and teaching in aholistic way and reflects the interactive nature of the realworld. Traditionally, thematic integration is achieved viacomputer enabled learning, that uses technology to teachother subjects. Computer Masti adopts a reversethematic integration approach. It reinforces whatstudents learn in other subjects such as Science, Mathswhile learning Computers.

NARRATIVE STYLE

For young children, story format works better than othermethodologies. This is because it uses contextualexamples that seem realistic and draw in naturalcomprehension abilities of children. It provides rolemodels that students can identify with and makes thecourse engaging.

YOGA AND ERGONOMICS

Computer Masti addresses the ergonomics factors. Itcovers topics of healthy computer practices, which

are dealt by teaching proper postures, Do's andDon'ts and different exercises. Yoga asanas areincluded to imbibe healthy lifestyle in the students.

SPIRAL CURRICULUM

There is an iterative revisiting of topics acrossdifferent level books, so that they are gradedaccording to difficulty level, from simple to complex.This provides students an opportunity to achievehigher cognitive levels during successive encounterswith a topic.


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CM & ST21 CENTURY SKILLS

COMPUTER MASTI

Critical ThinkingIn order to nurture the natural thinking capacities of children, CM includes chapters devoted

exclusively to teach this. Thinking skills included in CM are stepwise thinking, problem-solving,stepwise gathering of information, multiple representations, brain storming and mind maps.

CommunicationCM reinforces communication skills by including topics such as use of modern day tools tocreate multimedia presentation, communicate with individual and group using e-mail, view andshare content over the cloud.

CreativityCM nurtures creativity in young students by including activities and projects that expects themto go beyond the book and apply wider skill set. In addition, applications such as multimediaprogramming, image editing, digital story telling provide opportunities for creative expression.

Collaboration

Real life situations demand team work abilities. To address this, CM includes group activitiesbased projects that provides opportunities for collaborative (group) learning.

CM is based upon Open Source philosophy. Theoperating system(OS) referred in the course contentis Ubuntu, which is 'free' and comes with a lot offlexibility. Besides, it provides a far more secure

environment than other OS. Applications included inCM can be downloaded from internet and usedwithout any cost.The students learn the software for variousapplications as recommended by the NationalCurriculum Framework. We focus on conceptsrather than skills associated with specificapplications. These applications include gCompris,Scratch (from MIT), Open Office, Tux Paint.Computer Programing begins from using 'Scratch' in

the primary classes, to 'Basic', and then graduallymoving to higher programing languages.

OPEN SOURCE


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Computer Masti nurturescreativity in young

students by includingactivities and projects thatexpects them to gobeyond the book and

apply wider skill set. Inaddition, applications suchas multimediaprogramming, image

editing, digital story tellingprovide opportunities forcreative expression.


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The curriculum covers topics spread across fivethemes:

Each ofthe themes have multiple sub-themes.

familiarity with computers, computerapplications, thinking process skills, computerprogramming, social ethics and safety.

Education as fun

CM focuses on conceptual understandingrather than skills associated with specificapplication.

Spiral curriculum

Thematic integration

Critical Thinking skills:

Collaboration:

Communication:

Creativity:

Scalable

Education as fun retains students interest levels and

ensures active participation. Guided inquiry through the

narrative style engages students and makes learning of

computers enjoyable.

There is iterative revisiting of topics across themes across

grades, with each successive encounter of the topic building

on the previous one, and aims to deepen the knowledge of

that topic.

CM reinforces what is taught in other subjects while learning

computers. This integration of interdisciplinary knowledge is

achieved by use of analogy, real life situations, educational

games.

The primary vision of CM is to nurture clarity of thought.

Hence it lays equal emphasis on computer knowledge and

thinking process.

Group activities are included to facilitate knowledge sharing

and nurture team work abilities.

Use of modern day communication tools between

ndividuals and group such as multimedia presentation, e-

mail, sharing content over the cloud are included.

CM nurtures creativity by including activities such as digital

story telling, multimedia programming that allows students

to go beyond the book and apply wider skill set.

CM includes free applications to ensure maximum reach.

This is particularly relevant for Indian schools, since it has

been recognized that unless an attitude and aptitude of

knowledge creation is established, developing countries will

continue to remain as mere consumers of technology. Use of

FOSS facilitates a culture of freedom and builds confidence

of the students. It enables them to be the driver of the

technology rather than being driven by the technology.

Concept above skills

Enabler of 21st century skills

Why CM ?


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stKEY HIGHLIGHTS IN 1 YEAR

COMPUTER MASTI

Whatpeoplesay

Super stuff!

A dream for every parent and must for every child

This is a story where we in the west can look to the developing world, to a

country like India who is using technology innovatively. I am talking about

Computer Masti..

The Curriculum is very helpful for teachers with its Teachers guide. The

worksheet and the activities are very attractive. I enjoyed it very much

The curriculum makes me feels good as I able to relate to the need which I

see in my schools. The students are bored of dry and mechanical

Curriculum

Our Routine Computer Classes have turned into so fun....

- Mark Shuttleworth - Founder, Canonical and Ubuntu .

Economic Times - ET Now

- Times of India

Mrs. Haseena Suresh IES group of schools

- Mr. Chandrasekhar Orchid International School, Nasik

Mrs. Lalitha Hariharan Principal, Rizvi group of schools

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st


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IMPLEMENTATION IN RURAL / LOW INCOME SCHOOL

COMPUTER MASTI

The rural urban distribution is skewed as the percentage of primary schools

having computers is 5.34 percent which is much lower than 18.20 percent inurban areas. The percentage of government schools with computer hasshown an improvement over years from 6.57 percent in 2005-06 to 8.57percent in 2010-11

Mohd. Sajid from Ashraful Uloom Public School in Sikar whose students arefrom less privileged background and can only manage a modest SchoolInfrastructure is thrilled with the ease in which Computer Masti have beenimplemented in his school. He says The best what I like about Computer Mastiis its focus on teaching Computers in local language and emphasis on collaborative

activities. We managed to to teach computers to class strength of 45 studentsusing 4 machines


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Aspiring to be the best Content generation

and resource Training Company

...adding simplicity to sense.

InOpen Technologies Pvt. Ltd. is a IIT Bombay based Educational startup. TheCompany was started in Oct 2009 and has its office in the serene campus of IIT

Bombay. It designs, develops world-class educational content and solutions foracademia. The solution is designed based on the inputs and extensive validationsfrom academicians in the country and abroad. InOpen offers products andservices to government and private schools and meets the requirements ofstate, national and international boards. InOpen is among the few companiesthat work full time in-sync with Free and Open source (FOSS) technologies.InOpen envisions itself as developer of Computer learning system by creatingquality education standards using Open Source. We take pride in our research,

our academic team comprising of professors, psychologists and experts invarious fields from world-class universities. We strive to become a globalEducation Enterprise.

The company is expected to reach to 1 million students by 2013. The simplicityof our solutions addressing the complex and underlying problems of academiais our strength, justifying our tag line

Call us at : + 91 - 9619 609509

Email : [email protected]

visit us : www.computermasti.com

InOpen Technologies Pvt. Ltd.M-03, SINE, CSRE Building, IIT Bombay

Powai, Mumbai-400076.

www.inopen.in

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Computer Masti Information Brochure 2011