Week 6: The Final Presentation

So, this was it...our final report and our final presentation. From my earlier post, we realized that surverys were great in trying to figure out what questions to ask on how is PV actually helping these schools raise their SSLC pass percentages.But it wasn't so great in getting the responses we were hoping for. Students were praising the videos like no other and they seem to like school...a lot. My point being that, we found out that students did not like to criticize the school or the video intervention.

Drawing from my experiences during primary and secondary school, I did realize that we were often trained to "listen to elders". We were taught that your parents, teachers, grandparents or whatever, are elder than you and you must always show respect and that they are always right.And while we were taught in school, a teacher may be giving the wrong information but we were taught to not interrupt and not "talk back", although the 'talking back' can be just correcting the teacher correctly.

We were taught to memorize the textbooks and regurgitate those information and it was drilled within our brains that "The only right answer is in the textbook.Give another answer and you are wrong." Isn't this how we prepared for SPM?We memorized a whole paragraph on the breathing mechanism of humans or how the Portugeese took over Malaysia...but do we even know why it's relevant?We are basically machines at that time.We emphasized so much on knowing the theory and being submissive to our teachers that I think our minds were narrowed by the system itself.

And I think a somewhat similar system is being practised here.Please know that I do not claim to know all about the Indian education system.I am merely trying to draw a parallel between the education system that I grew up with and what I am seeing in these students.

So,the answers were always favorable and we could not determine how these students are learning. Therefore, we did quite a bit of research and came up with a focus group approach. A focus group allows the interviewer to speak with 5-10 students on a certain topic and it is mostly driven by the answers obtained during that session. The interviewer will be with another person who will be taking notes on the session. Here, the second interviewer pays attention to the body language and certain subtle phrases that you will not normally get from a written surveys.

Basically, a focus group gives a rich set of qualitative data. And the interviewer has to be able to intepret the data objectively and be able to recognize repetitive aspects.For example a few students may say that "The moving objects help me remember better." From this, we can draw a hypothesis that animation within the videos help with students retention. To test this hypothesis, you can do statistical analysis to determine if the animations in the videos really help with retention.

We did more research and interviews with students, teaching assistants and the staff of PV to learn more about the pedagogy of PremaVidya's intervention.We found out that PV's pedagogy is actually parallel to a learning theory, Bandura's Social Cognitive Theory.

This theory states that learning happens through these four domains:Attention, Retention, Motor Reproduction and Motivation. We found out that PV's engaging audio visuals(attention),Question-Pause-Answer Method(retention), confidence in asking questions(Motivation) and Peer-to-Peer Learning(Motor Reproduction) are parallel to this theory. If the focus group is conducted using these four domains as guidelines and the answers support this theory, we can say that PV's pedagogy is sucessful as proved by this theory.

Basically,this was our argument and we have to present this argument to our advisor, our professor and the administrators of PremaVidya during our final presentation.

The four of us presenting our final report

After our presentation

Our advisor, Cathy and our supervisor Darsana

It has been an amazing journey for me this far.I have learned a lot about myself and I have grown so much from this experience.Although my interests still lie in the medical field,I have found new causes that I care about and these are the causes that I would like to fight for, as I pursue my path towards becoming a physician.

Week 5:Field Trips & Sari Day

So, every Thursday afternoons we have CSIM sessions where different speakers who are involved in the social entreprenurship field are invited to speak to us.Our last week, we went on field trips to visit two different organizations

The first organization we visited was Navadarshanam. This organization promotes alternative modern way of living and thinking. They work with eco-farming, alternative energy, and eco-restoration.They try to be 100% organic in all their activities, which is really cool. Guests are allowed to visit, but one should not treat this as a vacation getaway. They want people who are truly interested in learning about this new way of lifestyle with an open mind.

The view outside

Lord Krishna

The crow who ate part of Abby's idli

We went to explore the surrounding area

A guy cleaning the well

Next,we visited Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital. This hospital is the brain child of Dr. Devi Shetty, one of the world renowned heart pediatric surgeon. This hospital has never refused a single patient in need of medical treatment. If a patient is not able to pay for his/her treatment, the hospital sets a fund for the patient and uses its networks with numerous benefactors and non-governmental organization to pay for the medical expenses of the patient. 

Tele-medicine

                                     

The view as soon as you enter the hospital, Lord Narayana

Faith plays an important role in healing. There is a mosque,a Hindu and Buddhist temple and a church outside of this hospital

 Al Jazeera did a coverage on this hospital and you can watch it here. It has been awe inspiring to be able to tour the hospital and to see what great work this surgeon is doing. He is truly an inspiration.

Sari Day

Since Maddy and Kristen bought saris, our office decided to hold a sari day.So I borrowed Sam's sari and we all headed to PremaVidya so that our collegues can help us tie those saris. We all looked beautiful and at the same time, there was a prayer session for our boss, Mr. Naresh, who has leukemia.

The four of us!:))

Us and the ladies

Us and the guys

                                                                                                                                                           
I'm missing all of them terribly now and can't wait to see them next week when I go visit them!:)            

Week 2: PremaVidya

               As I have written in the previous post, PremaVidya makes and distribute videos as a form of teaching supplements in class. The videos are made with the assumption that the students in schools are visual and auditory learners and therefore these videos are able to help them in memorizing concepts in Math, Science and Social Science. These videos are used in schools through three different models: SSS,ISSS and TASSS. SSS is the model where the teachers within the school is trained how to use the videos and the videos are used at the teacher's own discretion. ISSS is a model where a group of 4 students sits together with a DVD player and uses the video of their choice. There is a facilitator that keeps the DVD players recharged but does not conduct any teaching.Students who have any questions about the material will write them on "Doubt Slips". These doubt slips are then given to the teacher, where the teacher will answer them. The third model is the TASSS model where a Teaching Assistant from PremaVidya conducts one period of lesson using the video. The TA's do not necessarily have to know the material but he/she does have to know how to encourage discussions in class and initiate peer to peer learning, a key aspect while using these videos.

The ISSS model

Some of the charts used for reference

One of the school managers explaining the ISS model

SaAth Centre,the centre

Some of the students' work

I like the angle

         

The government school in Begur

The kids in school

TA in the school explaining

             We had the opportunity to visit these schools to learn more about the different models.The students were very engaged with the material and it's really nice to see students' who are excited with what they are learning.

The next day, we we spent time with the Tech team to learn how the videos are being made. The videos go through a screening process by the State of Karnataka before they can be distributed by schools. Making those videos were NOT easy. First, you prepare powerpoing slides on a topic. Then, you prepare a script where you will record your voice in the VoiceOver room. Here comes the tricky part. You will have to sync your voice recording and the powerpoint presentation. We took about three days to do all of that.We started on Tuesday and got it in on Friday since we did not go to work on Thursday as there was a transportation strike due to the increase in petrol price.

This.Is.India. (TII)

The Journey Begins!

It's been more than three weeks since I arrived in India and we are already halfway through our respective projects. I am currently working with PremaVidya.

PremaVidya is under the umbrella organization called Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement. This organization was started by a group of medical students in 1984 in Mysore. While pursuing their medical education, they felt that the medical career they envisioned was not the same as what they were learning. Therefore, they decided to start of small, by helping a group of displaced tribal people in the rural Mysore area. They started with a small clinic and this organization eventually grew and they currently work with over 60 projects in the socioeconomic, education and health sector.

PremaVidya currently has a few initiatives under them but the one that I am working with is called Project 1947. Project 1947 is a project dedicated to the freedom fighters in India. One of the main goals of this project is to make and distribute video lessons to complement lessons in school. There is no copyright restriction and the videos are available for everyone. The mission of this project is to increase the pass percentages of the Secondary School Leaving Certificate(SSLC). SSLC exam is a public exam done at the final year of secondary schooling in India and is literally a ticket to higher education or jobs.

I will be recapping what happened over the past 3 weeks with lots and lots and pictures and a few words. Feel free to keep up with my blog and please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. I can be easily reached through my email