CSE 590f Seminar,  4pm,  Wednesday,  March 4.  CSE 403.

Title: PCs for whole-classroom instruction in developing region schools

Speaker: Saurabh Panjwani, Technology for Emerging Markets, Microsoft Research (India)

Abstract: Computers have found their way into numerous K-12 schools in the developing regions of the world but they are used in these schools primarily as self-learning tools for children. Our group at Microsoft Research India has been developing a technique to enable teachers in such schools to utilize computers for whole-classroom instruction. One of the essential characteristics of our technique is its reliance on paper materials (like curricular textbooks) for the purpose of generating digital content, which, we  have found, not only simplifies the process of content creation considerably, but also induces significant changes in students’ learning outcomes. The technique is currently being tested in two public schools in India.

In this talk, I will describe what our technique is and the lessons we have learnt through our test deployments.