case Study
ICT in Education @ National Institute of Open Schooling www.nios.ac.in
Usage of ICT for facilitating learning definitely is a thrust area for enhancing the quality of courses offered by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). The focus in recent years has been a transition from print-based instruction system to the ICT supported instruction dissemination. NIOS took a significant step of providing the facility of On-line Registration for admissions and on-demand examinations under the NIOS Online (Ni-On) Project. NIOS ONLINE (NI-ON) PROJECT The Ni On Project, a unique initiative in the field of school education, which is conceptualised to enable NIOS to move in the direction of e-governance so that it could provide better educational services to its learners as a service provider and also improve efficiency, transparency, accountability and cost effectiveness with high quality. Such an e-governance initiative has not only helped to bring about a structural transformation of NIOS to a higher level of openness in education but also allows NIOS to play a lead role in the horizontal transfer of this technology to other State Open Schools and Open and Distance learning institutions of developing world. This Project was launched on 3rd July 2007 with the in-
Salient features of Online Admission Admission process made simpler and faster • Freedom to select Study Centers of choice through a computerized system on a First Come First Served Basis • Admission open throughout the year • Improved Learner Support Services and faster redressal of problems • Easy payment of fee online through Credit Card or Bank Draft •
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built mechanism for Online Admissions to NIOS, through online submission of application form available on the NIOS website. This gave learners the freedom to access education from anywhere in India, at any time without involving any outside agents. From the year 2010-11, the NIOS has introduced 100% On-line admission to facilitate learners to register themselves with it. For the detailed procedure for On-Line admission and other details, learners may log on to the NIOS website www. nios.ac.in Under Ni-On, a Learner Support Centre (LSC) is functional in NIOS to address the problems of online learners related to admissions, examinations etc. The Ni-On Project of NIOS won the National Award for e-Governance 2008-09 instituted by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Department of Information Technology, Government of India. On-Demand Examination Scheme (ODES) To introduce greater flexibility in the system, the NIOS has introduced the OnDemand Examination System (ODES). Under the system of ODE, a set of question papers having defined number of items is generated randomly by the computer out of the already developed question bank on the basis of question paper design and the blue print of the subject as and when demanded. All such generated Question Papers are different with the same difficulty level. A number of items having comparable Block for Online Admission I Block II Block
difficulty level are developed for each activated/marked cells of the blue print. These questions covered in the item bank test learning objectives under knowledge, understanding, application and skill competencies of a student. For identification, all these items are given a code indicating the subject, the content area to which the item belongs, the objective being tested, the type of question, the marks allocated to the item and the serial number of the item. In contrast to the conventional examination pattern in which a learner has no choice with regard to dates and timings of examination, this novel concept introduced by the National Institute of Open Schooling gives freedom to learners to appear in the examination in the subject(s) of their choice whenever they feel confident about taking an examination. ODE is being conducted in the NIOS headquarters at NOIDA as well as all its regional centres. The results are made available on the NIOS website within a period of about one month. Submission of examination fee can also be made on-line by the learners. On-line Course material The entire NIOS course material is available on the NIOS website for the benefit of its learners. The syllabus, Tutor Marked Assignments as well as question papers of previous examinations held are also available on the website. Interaction of learners with the NIOS has been facilitated through e-mail and ‘Ask Your Teacher’ provided on the website.
Dates for Online Admission 1 March 2010 to 31 August 2010 1 September To 28 Feb.2011
Examination in which students can appear First time in the next year April/May 2011 First time in Oct./ November 2011
Under this scheme, there are four streams of On-line admission catering to learners with different needs. • Stream 1 : is open to all learners as per the laid down eligibility criteria for Secondary and Senior Secondary level. • Stream 2 : is open from 20.05.2010 to 20.07.2010 for all those learners who had appeared but could not clear the Public Examination of Secondary/ Senior Secondary levels from selected examination Boards. Learners will be eligible to appear in the October/ November 2010 Public Examinations of NIOS. • Stream 3 : open throughout the year for learners wanting to appear in On-Demand Examination System(ODES) of NIOS for Secondary Level. • Stream 4 : open throughout the year for learners wanting to appear in On-Demand Examination System(ODES) OF NIOS for Senior Secondary Level.
Other Areas of IT Applications Proper connectivity is established with the NIOS Regional Centres for better and effective communication services. The student information system beginning from registration to certification has been computerised. So also are the
processes of registration, scanning of admission forms, pre-examination work, conduct of exam, secrecy work, spot evaluation result processing and result declaration. Learner Support Centre (LSC) Under the NIOS on-line initiatives, a Learner Support Centre (LSC)is established to address the grievances of the learners, be it for admission, examination result, TMA, issue of Identity Cards, general counseling etc. The LSC functions on the pattern of a call centre with the on-line support of counselling engaged as the expert executives. The LSC functions with the support of toll free call at 1800 180 9393 by the caller. Initially the learners connect to the IVRS and facilited by the voice recorder for any queries. In case the learner intends to have additional information, she/he is connected to the counselor known as executives. The learners can obtain the
information by sending an e-mail to lsc@ nios.ac.in. The reply is sent instantly by the on-line experts. On-line Applications for Accreditation The NIOS has introduced the eaccreditation process for choosing its partner institutions, popularly known as AIs and AVIs, by inviting online application. This milestone is achieved to obtain accurate information related to accreditation of institutions. The compiled information of the accredited institutions has been also placed on the website for information of enhanced accessibility of the learners. Even though most of the governance activities are supported by the ICT in the institute, lot more grounds are yet to be covered to ensure the learning activities are also predominantly supported by ICT. The institute is in the process of developing on-line based learning with well designed LMS. \\
IT related subjects/courses offered by the NIOS NIOS has been offering the following courses to support ICT based learning. • Data Entry Operation (Stand alone course with Secondary & Senior Secondary level) • Computer Science ( Stand alone course with Senior secondary level) • Certificate in Computer and Office Applications • Certificate in Hardware Assembly and Maintenance • Certificate in Basic Computing • Certificate in Advanced Web Designing • Certificate in Desk Top Publishing • Certificate in IT Essentials : PC Hardware and Software
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