Background
The American India Foundation has been implemented in 15 Dell Connected Classroom (DCC), which is one of the most fascinating ICT set-up for students and teachers. The evaluation of the program was undertaken by EZ Vidya and findings from the report are discussed below.
For evaluation, a total of 12 schools were selected of which, 6 were from Delhi (5 DCC schools & 1 non-DCC school) and 3 schools each ( 2 DCC & 1 non-DCC ) from Punjab and Tamil Nadu.
The evaluation methodology was based on two group control design, as this approach enables one to segregate the influence of intervention on the treatment or experimental group (DCC schools), vis-s-vis non-treatment or the control group (non-DCC schools). The average sample size comprised of approximately 250 students in each of the groups (experimental & control).
Result highlights
The pretest and post test scores of both the groups yielded interesting pattern
a. Performance in competency tests in 3 subjects - English, mathematics & science were based on their syllabus, logical and higher order thinking. The experimental group improved its performance in Science (from baseline to end line). However in English and Mathematics, the scores of both the groups declined at end line.
b. The gender wise analysis of performance indicates that boys performed better in Mathematics and Science whereas girls excelled in English.
c. Teachers and students were also evaluated on various technology parameters and respective scores indicated that the experimental group scores improved in all the technology parameters but one (teacher internet usage).
d. Attendance rates improved significantly in Dell Connected Classroom schools and no improvement was seen in the control group schools.
e. Teachers and school heads observed an increase in student participation and collaboration in the DCC classrooms.
Challenges
Transfer of trained teachers, a very high number of students per class/section, less than 3 months gap between the baseline & end line evaluation aere some of the major challenges encountered during evaluation. To overcome these challenges, the recommendations emphasized the ownership & internalization of the program by schools, more time for practice (both for teachers & students), content-creation for supplementing the existing repository , training of teachers & facilitators.
The results indicate that Dell Connected Classroom has had a positive impact on science competency in students and as compared to the control groups, the Dell Classrooms have shown significant improvement in teacher and students’ general familiarity with technology.The teachers are confident that DCC would help them acquire new teaching skills which they can use in the classrooms. The school heads and the teachers felt that the DCC program was very beneficial, especially to the lower income group students, who otherwise would not have access to computers or technology.
