Promoting Online Education among School Children

Service Learning Group C

Academic Mentors - Dr.(Ms.) Aashani Tillekaratne

Dr.(Ms.) Gayani Perera

Corporate Partner - Commercial Bank of Ceylon PLC

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IntroductionPhase 1 – Donation of computer laboratories

Phase 2 – Promotion of online education

Project ObjectivesIntroduce the concept of online education.

Encourage the use of internet for educational purposes.

Collect statistical data for analysis.

Establish relationship between geographical distribution of schools and

the IT usage.

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Implementation Discussion with the Commercial Bank Updating the web interface Preparing questionnaires Deciding the content of the presentation Finalising the layout of the programme

Main Online Materials Introduced Web interface developed by us Khan Academy E-thaksalawa Rupavahini Jathika Pasala Skoool Sri Lanka

Workshops

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Questionnaire 01

IntroductionExplanation of Educational

WebsitesInteractive Session and

Discussion Questionnaire 02

• Conducted in 23 schools

• Covering 16,329 students

• Covering all provinces

• Covering all school categories

Layout

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Data Collection Distribution of questionnaires before and after the programme Sending an e-mail to the schools in order to obtain the feedback

Data Analysis Data was fed to the computer using SPSS software MS Excel was used to present the graphs and charts

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RESULTS

Pre Analysis84% of students use computers

Students use computers mostly from school

52% of the students do not use internet

Lack of facilities & knowledge were as noted as the main reason for not using internet

Majority of students in 1A, 1B & 1AB type schools use internet where as majority of Type 1C & Type 2 schools do not use internet

Internet was the least used source for information

81% of students have used the computer labs in their schools

Results were analysed under two main categories

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Post Analysis

99% of the students were interested in e-learning

Feedback suggested the programme conducted was very good

E-thaksalawa & Khan Academy were the most preferred websites

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Challenges Faced Aligning and Organizing web content Lack of basic computer literacy among students Unreliable internet connections Time constraints and limited resources

Skills Developed Planning and Organisation Leadership Communication Team work

Decision making Time Scheduling Data analysing Report writing and Presentation

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Suggestions to Improve

Increase individual attention and interactive sessions

Establish internet facilities for every school lab

Update the knowledge of teachers and to solve their problems

Ensure maximum attendance for workshops

Group students on their knowledge of internet and conduct sessions

accordingly

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Conclusion

Computer literacy is at a low level, specially in rural schools

Donation of computers have been beneficial to students

Students gained knowledge on e-learning web sites from workshops

The programme has created an enthusiasm among students