2011/6/27 Rony gnulinuxist@gmail.com:
Nowadays there is a new trend among schools in Mumbai, to install electronic interactive black boards in classrooms. The systems run on Windows and teachers are being encouraged to do everything in MS Power Point slide shows by creating them every day. Another interesting thing is that they have a server installed where teachers must upload all their teaching material so it is commonly available to everyone.
I have done some work for one of the companies that make these products - the Hyderabad-based Next Education (www.nexteducation.in). Such products certainly make the lives of the teachers easier, and are not portents of disaster like you make them to be. Next's products are Linux-based.
My question is that how much computing is needed in teaching today? Apart from showing educational films and slide shows in the auditorium, what more can be done in class using a computer?
I see a whole host of possibilities, really.
Binand