Bese 135b2e PDF

BESE-135
Information and
Indira Gandhi
National Open University Communication
School of Education
Technology
Block
2
TEACHING-LEARNING RESOURCES
UNIT 5
Non-digital Teaching-Learning Resources 5
UNIT 6
Digital Teaching-Learning Resources 31
UNIT 7
Open Educational Resources 58
UNIT 8
Educational Software Applications 84
EXPERT COMMITTEE
Prof. I. K. Bansal (Chairperson) Prof. Anju Sehgal Gupta
Former Head, Department of Elementary Education School of Humanities
NCERT, New Delhi IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof. Shridhar Vashistha Prof. N. K. Dash (Director)
Former Vice-Chancellor School of Education
Lal Bahadur Shastri SanskritVidhyapeeth, New Delhi IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof. Parvin Sinclair
Prof. M. C. Sharma
Former Director, NCERT
Programme Coordinator- B.Ed.
School of Sciences
School of Education
IGNOU, New Delhi
IGNOU, New Delhi
Prof. Aejaz Mashih
Faculty of Education Dr. Gaurav Singh
Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi Programme Co-coordinator-B.Ed.
School of Education
Prof. Pratyush Kumar Mandal
IGNOU, New Delhi
DESSH, NCERT, New Delhi
SPECIAL INVITEES (FACULTY OF SCHOOL OF EDUCATION)

Prof. D. Venkateswarlu Prof. Amitav Mishra Ms. Poonam Bhushan
Dr. Eisha Kannadi Dr. M. V. Lakshmi Reddy Dr. Vandana Singh
Dr. Bharti Dogra Dr. Elizabeth Kuruvilla Dr. Niradhar Dey
PROGRAMME COORDINATORS
Prof. Saroj Pandey Dr. Gaurav Singh
School of Education School of Education
IGNOU, New Delhi IGNOU, New Delhi
COURSE COORDINATOR
Professor N.K. Dash, School of Education, IGNOU, New Delhi
COURSE PREPARATION TEAM

Unit 5 Adapted from Unit 8 of BES-002 and Format, Content Editing and
Unit 5 of ES-361 of IGNOU Course Coordination
Prof. N.K. Dash
Unit 6 Dr. Ajith Kumar C
SOE, IGNOU, New Delhi
Asst. Professor, SOE, IGNOU, New Delhi
Language Edition
Unit 7 Dr. Ajith Kumar C Dr. Parmod Kumar
Asst. Professor, SOE, IGNOU, New Delhi
SOH, IGNOU, New Delhi
Unit 8 Dr. Nisha Singh Proof Reading
Deputy Director, IUC Mr. Ajith Kumar, C
IGNOU, New Delhi SOE, IGNOU, New Delhi
Material Production
Prof. Saroj Pandey Mr. S.S. Venkatachalam
Director A.R. (Publication)
School of Education School of Education
IGNOU, New Delhi IGNOU, New Delhi
March, 2018
© Indira Gandhi National Open University, 2018
ISBN-
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form, by mimeograph or any other
means, without permission in writing from the Indira Gandhi National Open University.
Further information on the Indira Gandhi National Open University courses may be obtained from the
University’s Office at Maidan Garhi, New Delhi-l10068.
Printed and published on behalf of the Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi by Director,
School of Education, IGNOU, New Delhi.
Laser Typeset by Tessa Media & Computers, C-206, A.F.E.-II, Okhla, New Delhi.
Printed at:
BESE-135: Information and Communication
Technology
Block 1 UNDERSTANDING ICT
Unit 1 Meaning, and Nature of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT)
Unit 2 Scope and Evolution of Information and
Communication Technology (ICT)
Unit 3 Learning Theories: Implications for ICT
Unit 4 Teaching-learning Systems
Block 2 TEACHING AND LEARNING RESOURCES

Unit 5 Non-digital Teaching-Learning Resources
Unit 6 Digital Teaching-Learning Resources
Unit 7 Open Educational Resources
Unit 8 Educational Software Applications
Block 3 ICT AND PEDAGOGY

Unit 9 ICT Mediated Teaching-learning Environment
Unit 10 Selection and Integration of ICT Resources
Unit 11 ICT and Assessment
Unit 12 Collaboration, Co-creation and Sharing of Knowledge
Block 4 SUPPORT SYSTEMS, LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES

Unit 13 ICT for Educational Management
Unit 14 Learning Support Systems
Unit 16 ICT for Inclusive Classroom
Unit 17 ICT: Social, Legal and Ethical Issues
Teaching-Learning
Resources BLOCK 2 TEACHING-LEARNING
RESOURCES
Introduction to the Block
As you know, Block 1 dealt with understanding of information and

communication technology (ICT). Block 2 will focus on teaching-learning
resources which a teacher of secondary school can use in transacting learning
experiences in the classroom.
Unit 5 deals with non-digital teaching learning resources. In the beginning, we

explain the meaning and purposes of teaching-learning resources and meaning
of non-digital teaching learning resources. It is followed by a detailed discussion
on various non-digital teaching resources used by a teacher for classroom teaching.
Chalkboard and printed materials like textbooks, workbook programmed learning
materials (PLM), self-instructional module, newspapers and magazines, case
study and case report have been discussed. Similarly, non-projected teaching-
learning resources like charts, maps, models, poster, and puppets have been
discussed. We also discuss projected teaching learning resources like OHP, slides
and filmstrips. In the end, a detailed discussion on how to prepare low cost
teaching learning resources has been made.
Unit 6 focuses on digital teaching learning resources. Meaning of non-digital

teaching learning resources has been explained. We discuss different digital
teaching- learning resources like radio, television, computer, Internet, web radio,
Web 2.0 technologies, E-book, chat rooms, E-conference, and search engine.
We explain the meaning of mobile and describe its uses in education. Moreover,
advantages and disadvantages of mobile have been mentioned.
Unit 6 is concerned with Open Educational Resources (OER). The Unit begins
with the meaning of OER, their uses, how to create and share OER. Limitations
of OER have been highlighted. A detailed discussion has been made on Creative
Commons License. We have presented OER repositories like MERLOT, You
Tube, Teacher Tube, SlideShare, Sakshat, E-Gyankosh, and NROER. and
discussed how these OER repositories can be used for teaching-learning purposes.
Unit 8 deals with educational software application. The meaning, categories and
principles of educational software have been discussed in the beginning of the
Unit. Difference between proprietary software and free and open software has
been mentioned. The unit discusses in details software for classroom learning,
software for special learners and software for assessment.
4
Non-digital Teaching-
UNIT 5 NON-DIGITAL TEACHING Learning Resources
LEARNING RESOURCES
Structure
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Objectives
5.3 Meaning and Purposes of Teaching Learning resources
5.3.1 Purpose of using Teaching Learning Resources
5.4 Non-digital Teaching Learning Resources
5.4.1 Meaning of Non-digital Teaching Learning Resources
5.5 Chalkboard
5.5.1 Types of Chalkboard
5.5.2 Chalkboard Writing
5.5.3 Chalkboard Drawing
5.6 Printed Materials
5.6.1 Textbooks
5.6.2 Workbook and Copybook
5.6.3 Programmed Learning Material (PLM) and Self-instructional Module
5.6.4 Newspapers and Magazines
5.6.5 Case Study and Case Report
5.7 Non-Projected Teaching Learning Resources
5.7.1 Charts
5.7.2 Maps
5.7.3 Models
5.7.4 Poster
5.7.5 Puppets
5.8 Projected Teaching Learning Resources
5.8.1 Overhead Projector (OHP)
5.8.2 Slides
5.8.3 Filmstrips
5.9 Preparation of Low Cost Teaching Learning Materials From Available Local
Resources
5.10 Shift from Non-digital to Digital Teaching-Learning Resources
5.10 Let Us Sum Up
5.11 Suggested Readings and References
5.12 Answers to Check Your Progress
5.1 INTRODUCTION
All of us have memories of our teachers who had taught us during school or
college days. A few of them were good, whereas others were not so good. Let us
analyze why did we call them good? Yes, they were caring, sympathetic, and
pleasant besides being effective in their teaching. One thing common among
This Unit has been adapted from Unit 8 of BES-002: Teaching, Learning and Assessment and
Unit 5 of ES-361: Educational Teachnology of IGNOU 5
Teaching-Learning them was that they used new methods, techniques and different teaching-learning
Resources
resources to make teaching interesting, thus, effective. Teaching -learning
resources facilitate a teacher in achieving the learning objectives formulated by
her/him prior to teaching-learning activities start. Teaching-learning resources
cover a wide range of teaching-learning materials, devices and tools. Some of
these resources are digital in nature, whereas others are non-digital in nature.
Many of you may be using non-digital teaching-learning resources like textbook,
chalkboard, chart, map, globe, models, etc. while teaching your students. With
the advent of digital technologies, now teachers use a number of digital teaching-
learning resources like radio, television, computer, Internet, mobile, etc.
In the present Unit, we will introduce you to various non-digital teaching learning
resources, which are used to make classroom teaching and learning interesting
and effective. In this chapter we shall discuss a variety of non-digital teaching
learning resources used in classroom teaching. We will also explain how to
prepare low or no cost teaching learning resources from locally available
resources.
5.2 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to:
• explain the meaning and purposes of teaching learning resources;
• explain the meaning of non-digital teaching learning resources:
• distinguish the uses of different teaching learning resources;
• demonstrate the skill of chalkboard writing;
• discuss the uses of non-projected and projected teaching learning resources;
and
• prepare low cost TLM using locally available materials;
5.3 MEANING AND PURPOSE TEACHING

LEARNING RESOURCES
Draw picture
of a Rabbit.
Draw picture
of a Rabbit.
Figure 5.1: Instruction without the picture Figure 5.2: Instruction with the picture of
of a Rabbit a Rabbit
6 Look at these two pictures, what do you observe?
You are right that the learner will be more enthusiastic, willing to learn in second Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
figure. Why? Because the picture of Rabbit in the second figure will help the
child to learn, how Rabbit looks and draw its picture. The picture of Rabbit is a
type of teaching learning resource about which you will study in this section.
Teaching learning resources are, therefore, tools, which are used by teachers to
help learners learn concept with ease and efficiency. Teaching learning resources
have been in existence in our educational system for a long time. The role of
teaching learning resources in the classroom is to make learning real, practical
and fun for children. Teachers use teaching learning resources to illustrate or
reinforce a skill, fact or idea. Teaching learning resources also help in bringing
novelty and freshness in classroom teaching as they relieve learners from anxiety,
fear and boredom.
Teaching learning resources provide a range of learning experiences to learners

from direct to indirect. Edgar Dale (1969) arranged the learning experiences on
a continuum of ‘directness to indirectness’ which has correlation with continuum
of ‘concreteness to abstract’. He called it a ‘Cone of Experiences’.
Verbal
symbols
Visual
Symbols
Still pictures,
radio, recordings
Motion pictures
Exhibits
Field trips
Demonstrations
Dramatic participation
Contrived experiences
Direct, puposeful experiences
Fig 5.3: Dale’s Cone of Experiences
The organizing principle of cone is progression from most concrete (direct)

experience at the bottom of the cone to most abstract (indirect) at the top.
According to Dale, the least effective method is at top i.e. more use of verbal/
textual symbols like reading or listening to spoken words. The most effective
method is at bottom involving direct, purposeful, concrete learning experiences,
such as hand on or field experience. As action learning results in upto 90%
retention, teachers should strive for making classroom teaching nearest to direct-
experiences.
7
Teaching-Learning
Resources
Fig 5.4: Dale’s Cone of Experiences showing Degree of Abstraction

Source: http://www2.education.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.Bilash/best%20of%20bilash/Images/
dalescone2.gif
As field or hands on experiences are not possible in all the cases, a teacher should
try and making the classroom instruction most direct using appropriate teaching
learning resource. The kind of teaching learning resource used affects the learning
of students. For example, the same content can be taught using different teaching
learning resources and the retention will vary according to teaching learning
resources used. If you want to teach parts of a plant, you can provide a continuum
of direct to indirect experience to learners. You can provide real experience of
plant, which a student can see, smell, touch, and handle in class. You may also
bring a model or chart of plant to show its parts. You may also explain the parts
of plant verbally with the help of diagram on chalkboard. Not all the learning
experiences of the same content ‘parts of plant’ are similar and therefore, learning
will not be similar as well. You want to guess in which case learning will be
more effective and permanent. Yes, you are right, the learning will be maximum
in providing real, direct experiences.
Therefore, learning outcomes are highly dependent on the learning experiences

given in classroom using teaching learning resources.
5.3.1 Purposes of Using Teaching Learning Resources

Teaching learning resources are used to enhance the learning of students in
classrooms. A teacher uses it to make teaching-learning effective. Teaching
learning resources also help learners achieve the learning outcomes after
classroom teaching and learning. Some of reasons to use teaching learning
resources in classroom are-
• Motivate Learners – Capturing attention is the first step to any learning.
Teaching learning resources help in capturing the attention of learner in
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classroom. Once motivated to look at teaching learning resources, the Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
children are curious to learn new things. Teaching learning resources provide
a variety of stimuli, which help in making classroom teaching most effective.
• Help in Longer Retention of Information – The more the number of

sensory channels involved in interacting with teaching learning resources,
the longer will be the retention of information. Therefore, the learning will
be effective and will last long.
• Facilitate Holistic Learning – You have read about Blooms –Taxonomy

of Objectives. Learning objectives to be achieved through classroom
teaching in all domains- cognitive, affective and psychomotor. Therefore,
to achieve varied objectives, varied learning experiences need to be provided,
which can be done through the use of teaching learning resources.
Motivate
Learners
Concept Help in
formation Retention of
Information
Making
Teaching
learning fun Facilitate
learning
TLMs
resources Holistic
learning
Practical Help in
applications Organizing
Facilitate Classroom
change in Teaching
Attitude
Figure: 5.5: Purposes of Using Teaching-learning Resources
• Help in Organizing Classroom Teaching – As a teacher you need to

organize learning experiences, making them as realistic as possible. You
can use visual or verbal teaching learning resources to present accurate data
in sequentially organized manner. This helps teacher to verbal and visual
communication in classroom. Thus, you may use teaching learning resources
to overcome shortcomings in verbal or visual communication.
• Facilitate change in Attitude – Teaching learning resources also help in
changing attitude of learners towards learning in general and subject content
in particular. Pictures, models and other teaching learning resources help in
inculcation of positive attitude of learners.
• Application of Theoretical Knowledge into Practical Applications-
Teaching learning resources show application of theoretical knowledge into
practical applications. The theoretical knowledge studied in class is shown
in concrete form through teaching learning resources for effective learning. 9
Teaching-Learning • Teaching learning resources help in making learning fun in the
Resources
classroom. Students enjoy the novelty of handling new objects and learn
new concepts through them.
• Teaching learning resources facilitate the formation and attainment of

concepts among children. They concretize the abstract concepts; thus
children are able to understand them and not resort to rote learning.
Therefore, use of teaching learning resources in classroom teaching is an essential

aspect about which you should focus your attention while designing and
developing your lesson. There are a variety of non-digital teaching learning
resources to choose from depending on the context, level of learners and
availability. The next section will acquaint you with the various types of non-
digital teaching learning resources available.
Check Your Progress

Notes: a) Write your answers in the space provided.
b) Compare your answers with the one given at the end of the unit.
1) Explain the purpose of using teaching learning resources in teaching-
learning process.
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...............................................................................................................
5.4 NON-DIGITAL TEACHING LEARNING

RESOURCES
5.4.1 Meaning of Non-digital Learning Resources
Non digital teaching learning resources, as the name suggests, means those
teaching learning resources which are developed or used by a teacher or any
other individual, not with the help of digital technology. Prior to the availability
of digital mediums like computer, Mobile, Internet, etc. a teacher used to take
the help of teaching-learning aids developed by him/her in his/her teaching
activities. These teaching-learning aids which are developed by teacher himself/
herself mainly constitute non-digital teaching learning resources. For example,
pictures, models, charts, etc. are developed and used by teachers in classroom
teaching. Let us try to study a few of these non digital teaching learning resources
in detail, which you can easily use in your classroom teaching.
5.5 CHALKBOARD
The chalkboard provides the teacher with an opportunity to create verbal and
visual messages in the class. If properly developed, the words, graphics and
visuals on a chalkboard can contribute immensely to classroom learning. As a
10
teaching-learning resource, the chalkboard has always occupied the pride of place Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
and alongwith the textbook, is the most used aid.
5.5.1 Types of Chalkboards

To begin with, chalkboards used to be black in colour and hence the name
blackboard. This was so because the black surface would provide the perfect
contrast to the white chalk. However, due to functional reasons one now finds
the chalkboards to be made up of green ground glass painted from behind and
called the ‘green board’. The glass green board, unlike the blackboard, which is
wooden, is also found in shades of green, yellow and grey. A third type of board
is the white board which is made of mica or hard plastic. Since the board is
white in colour, you would know that the white chalk cannot be used for effective
presentation. With such boards one uses ink and marker pens. Writings by these
pens can be wiped out and are user friendly as they do not create chalk dust to
which some people are allergic.
Apart from the material of which they are made or their colour, chalkboards can
also be classified on the basis of their arrangement and mounting in a classroom.
Normally, chalkboards are either painted or mounted on the wall. But they are
also mounted on a stand with three/two legs or hung on the wall or can be rolled-
up. The roll-up board has two rods on both ends and is made of flexible plastic,
or rexin. The stand mounting and the roll-up boards are portable.
Chalkboards may have other fittings also. The wall mounted board may have a
wooden frame, concealed tubelights on top and firments to place chalks and
duster at the bottom. Chalks are also available in different colours such as blue,
yellow and red even though the white chalk is most extensively used, as it contrasts
well with black, green and grey background. Needless to say, all colours are not
equally visible for students on all chalkboards and hence one should know the
colour that contrasts most and otherwise. So, while using more than one colour,
maximum writing is done with the most contrasting colour.
5.5.2 Chalkboard Writing

Skill in chalkboard writing is not difficult to acquire though it needs hard work
and a lot of practice. Just as handwritings are different for different persons,
chalkboard writing also differs from person to person. As a teaching-learning
medium, for chalkboard writing there are certain guidelines to be followed for
increased effectiveness in chalkboard writing:
1) The matter written must be important, since a chalkboard is not a scribble
pad.
2) The matter must be sequentially and logically arranged.
3) Utilize the space available so that the chalkboard writing is organized and
balanced.
4) Maintain appropriate size to enable all learners to read without difficulty.
Authors suggest a size of 3 cm letters for a 6 m deep room.
5) Write from top downwards.
6) If the board is too long, divide the space into two by drawing a dividing line
in the middle, if necessary.
11
Teaching-Learning
Resources
Fig.5.6: The multiple chalkholder used by musicians
7) If, in the beginning, the writings are not parallel to the base use guidelines
for practice.
8) Avoid running hand, write bold, independent letters.
9) Underline important words and sentences, use different colour, if necessary.
10) Let the chalkboard writing be in points. Avoid writing notes on a chalkboard.
11) Try to preserve the writing for a review at the end of the lesson.
12) Half a stick of chalk is better to write with than a whole stick. Hold it
between the thumb and forefinger so that an inch or less projects.
13) The most convenient place to stand is towards the left side of the board.
This allows convenient turning to face the class or board.
14) Use a duster to erase the writing and not your hand.
15) For the sake of practice, try drawing parallel lines from one end to the other
vertically, horizontally and diagonally without lifting the chalk.
5.5.3 Chalkboard Drawing

You know that the visual material on a chalkboard is not restricted only to writing.
A chalkboard is used for drawing diagrams, stick/line figures, action scenes and
pictures. Of all this, you would agree that diagrams are the most frequent drawings
on a chalkboard. A diagram is a visual made of straight and curved lines or
geometrical figures, unlike a picture, a diagram merely represents something or
idea. You may remember the following, while drawing diagrams.
1) Straight and curved lines are the most common components of diagram.
So, practice drawing lines of different types at different heights on the
chalkboards.
2) It is easier to draw short lines and curves on a chalkboard. Practice drawing
lengthy lines and curves.
12
3) Diagrams are accurate and proportionate visual representations. In doing Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
so, lines of different thickness may have to be drawn. Sharpen and shape
chalk with the help of blade, knife of sand paper to get desired effect. Holding
the chalk at different angles to the board also gives lines of different thickness.
Fig.5.7: Chalk may be sharpened like a drawing pencil, shaped with a knife or with a
sand peper pad
4) Several types of chalkboard drawing devices are available in the market.

They make drawing diagrams easy and accurate. Uusally, they are oversized
geometrical drawing tools made of wood or plastic.
5) Templates and stencils are other aids for chalkboard drawing. One could
make them using hardboard or wood.
6) Even thread can be a useful device in drawing lines, circles and curves on a
chalboard.
7) For enlarging a small diagram on a chalkboard, methods such as use of
grid/squares and projection are useful.
Wrong Handwriting Correct Way of

On Chalk Board Writing
Constitution of
di o n
In u t i
Indian Principles/
of s t i t
a
Practices
n
Co
Beautiful But oursive and

Hence Legible
Fig 5.8: Cursive script and correct way of writing
13
Teaching-Learning
Resources 5.6 PRINTED MATERIALS
5.6.1 Textbooks
Fig 5.9 : Picture of a Textbook

Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ATextbook.JPG
You must have read many books. In books, text is the method of communicating.
Books are written by authors for learners to help them learn new things. The
book specially written by authors for learners of a particular course is known as
textbook. Textbook is very important basic teaching learning resource. It is written
specifically to satisfy specific needs of the syllabus. In most cases, a textbook
serves as a focal point base for organizing learning activities. In some textbooks
like the NCERT textbooks both teacher’s and pupil’s activities are included in
form of questions, suggestions, experiments, topics for discussion, etc. As often
they are prescribed by the schools, and are based on specified syllabus under a
curriculum, they are often referred to as curricular resource.
Textbooks are predominantly textual with some images. Normally, content in a

textbook is organized under chapters, units and lessons. Most textbooks are written
in factual or information giving style with little or no interactivity inbuilt in the
text. When textbooks are written in conversational style with activities, they
serve as a basis of self-study as well. They, therefore, assist learners to acquire
good reading skills and develop language comprehension. If textbooks are well
illustrated and written in interesting style, they act as interesting individualized
learning materials for the learners. Thus, the quality and utility of textbook depends
on the author.
While writing a text book for students at secondary level, the author needs to
keep in mind the following points:
i) Text book should provide authentic content knowledge.
ii) Contents in the text book should be logical, coherent and sequential.
14
iii) Language used in the textbook needs to be simple and comprehensible by Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
students.
iv) Presentation of contents needs to be conversational and based on sound
pedagogic principles.
v) Concepts and propositions need to be explained with examples and
illustration.
vi) There need to be a lot of activities, cases built into the textbook.
vii) Presentation of contents needs to motivate the learners throughout the process
of learning.
Activity
Analyze the textbook of your class with respect to following points:-
1) Is it relevant to the prescribed curriculum?
2) Is language suitable for the grade?
3) How many illustrations are there?
4) Do you find any difficulties using it in class?
5.6.2 Workbook and Copybook

As the names would suggest, workbooks and copybooks are meant for the learner
to perform a written exercise or undergo writing practice. Normally, they support
textbooks in the sense that they cover those responses of the learner which involve
writing. It is not necessary, though, that every textbook should have an
accompanying workbook. Normally, a workbook or copybook does not give the
learner any new information. Workbooks and copybooks provide learners with
graded exercises which proceed from easy to difficult tasks.
5.6.3 Programmed Learning Material (PLM) and Self-

Instructional Module
Unlike textbooks, programmed learning material (PLM) and other variations of
it like the open university course materials are used exclusively by the learners
and they are designed to be so. If a text or supplementary book presents matter
in one chunk, the PLM and other ‘self-instructional material’ provide the content
in meaningful and convenient ‘bits and steps’.
Also, unlike the textbook, the SIM ensures ‘learner participation’ and involvement
by presenting answers to them. This ensures that the learner ‘evaluates’ his/her
progress. The answers provided to the questions help him/her do so and they act
as ‘reinforcement’ in learning. However, the SIMs have one thing in common
with textbooks and that is ‘self-pacing’ or the possibility for the learner to proceed
with learning at a speed convenient to him. Such a thing, for example, is not
possible at the speed with which the material in a lecture is delivered.
5.6.4 Newspapers and Magazines

Newspapers are usually for a mixed age group of readers and carry items of
news and current affairs. They contain sections for school age children on varied
15
Teaching-Learning subjects. Magazines are published for the public at large and also for school age
Resources
children. A few important applications of newspapers and magazines in teaching-
learning are: current events study and analysis, study of local, national and world
problems, practice in the reading, study of written expressions and styles; and
visual and pictorial support to classroom work.
5.6.5 Case Studies and Case Reports

Simulation and case reports are specially designed materials that centre around a
problem or issue. They present the learner with the background and necessary
data on one or more problem or issue which may be of general interest or may
pertain to a particular subject of study. If some of them require ‘assuming a
role’, most of them involve the learner effectively. Decision-making and problem-
solving are other important features of case studies and case reports.
Case studies are normally used in business/management programme and case

reports are normally used for discussion in medical/legal education programmes.
The learner is either made to analyse the decision of someone else or is himself
required to make decisions and solve problems. The most common drawback of
simulation and case reports is that they do not provide factual information or
‘hard content’.
Check Your Progress

2) Fill in the blanks.
a) Material which ensures learner participation and which provides
for self-pacing is .................................................
b) Printed material that presents matter in chapters, units and lessons
for the learner to read and remember is ............................................
c) Materials that are designed to support a textbook are ....................
and ...............................................
d) For study of written expression and styles, one may use ....................
and ..............................................
e) Materials which are problem or issue-centred and which involve
the learner are ........................ and .........................................
5.7 NON-PROJECTED TEACHING LEARNING

RESOURCES
5.7.1 Charts
A chart is a diagrammatic representation of a system, process, and historical
sequence of event. It is visual representation used to summarize, illustrate,
compare or contrast, communicate the subject matter in effective and concise
way. Charts are used in all subjects for concept formation and development among
learners. For example, in order to teach solar system, the science teacher can
make use of a chart depicting solar system comprising sun and other planets.
16
Learning Resources
Fig 5.10: Solar System

Source : http://centros1.pntic.mec.es/cp.alcarria/solar_system.jpg
If you look around, you will find wide variety of charts being used. The different
types of charts are-
1) Process charts – which are used to show steps in a process. Life cycles of
insects, energy cycles, etc are shown as cyclical processes. Stepwise making
of a slide box or any other object may also be shown with the help of process
chart.
2) Organizational chart – are used to represent functional relation among the
different components in our organization whether manmade or natural. Food
chain, administrative hierarchy in institution, etc. can be shown on
organizational chart.
3) Time Chart – are used to represent events, occurrences in chronological
sequences. Evolution of human beings, political empires, etc can be shown
using time chart, which helps learners compare and contrast events in relation
to time. It is very important for wholistic comprehension of the topic or
subject under study.
4) Tabular chart – represents data in tabular form for easy comparison and
understanding. For example, types of crops, plants, etc. are represented in
tabular form, which makes comprehension easier.
5) Tree chart – shows growth and development from single source to many
branches like in a tree. In a time chart, it is generally a single line
representation whereas in a tree chart many branches are there like a tree.
For example, family tree is a familiar example.
6) Stream chart – is opposite to tree chart wherein may branches come together
to converge into a single stream. For example – many rivers like Yamuna
fall in Ganga, which then flows down to fall in the sea.
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Teaching-Learning
Resources
Tree Chart Stream Chart
Figure 5.11: Examples of Tree and Stream Charts
Source: IGNOU (2000)
7) Sequence Charts or Flip Charts are collection of charts like flip charts used
to show many events or series of events in succession.
The flip chart is like a calendar with a sheet each for twelve months. As the
month changes the sheet is flipped over. Actually, flip chart consists of several
charts arranged in a sequential order and fastened together at one end with this
spiral, metal or wooden strip. (IGNOU, 2000)
5.7.2 Maps
Fig 5.12: A Topographical Map of India
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:India_topo_big.jpg
18
You must have used maps to find your way to a new place. Google maps have Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
become almost indispensable finding our way around places. Maps are scaled
down representations of the real earth’s surface on paper. Every map is symbolized
summary of earth’s surface; therefore, it provides information in condensed form.
The symbols used are through lines, dots, colours, words and signs.
Maps are useful tool in every discipline. In social science, it is very important for
learning geographical, historical, and economical concepts. Details in map at
elementary level are kept simple enabling learners to locate places, different
physical features and to read directions.
Maps are broadly classified into following categories:
• Physical Maps, which show climate, soil, forest areas, resources, rainfalll,
etc.
• Political Map which show political divisions of countries and places.
• Economic Maps are those maps showing the crop distribution, land use,
transport, etc.
• Social Maps, show demographic distribution, in country. The literacy rate,
language, tribes etc. are shown on maps for easy comprehension.
• Historical Maps show boundaries, of the empires, routes taken by travelers,
places of war, treaties, etc.
Map reading skills should be taught to students. Some significant aspects of

map reading skills are: symbols of places; location of places – longitude, latitude;
different physical features – land form, water form; human factors; climate and
resources; distances; transportation.
Activity
Go to Google maps (https://maps.google.co.in/?hl=en). Find out the location
of your school. Also find out the route from your school to your home
Check Your Progress

3) Distinguish between Map and Chart.
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Teaching-Learning
Resources 4) What are the various types of Maps?
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5) Draw an example of process chart.
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5.7.3 Models
Model is recognizable imitation of real thing (eyes) or abstract thing (magnetic).
Usually a model is similar to the original object in every aspect except the size.
The size of an object may be reduced or enlarged. When size is reduced, the
object is simplified to show only the essential parts. For example, globe is model
of earth simplified to show earth’s essential parts only. On the other hand, when
size is enlarged, it shows the details of the object. For example, model of eye is
enlarged to allow all the details to be seen easily and clearly.
Fig 5.13 : Model of Eye
Source: http://www.keystone.fi.edu/photos/nikidonato/001.jpg
20
Models are useful as these: Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
• Simplifies difficult concepts.
• Reduce large objects to a conveniently observable size.
• Demonstrate interior structure of an object or system.
• Help learners to understand difficult part of object or system.
It simplifies difficult concepts, processes or complex situations by focusing on
essential features only and eliminating complex details, which may hinder in
understanding the concept. Models are useful teaching learning resources. While
using models certan points need to be to the taken care of-
• Models should be large enough to be seen easily by everyone in the class.
• Models may be supplemented with other teaching learning resources like
chart to help leaners understand the relationships.
• If it is working Model – check before you use in your class.
• Leaners should be allowed to touch the model and feel it for effective
learning.
• True colour should be used in models for realistic learning. It also makes
the model more eye-catching.
Model can be of two types:
1) Stationary or Non-working Model- Stationary or non-working model is
the type of model in which all the parts of model are stationary i.e there is
no movement. It is easier to make and is widely used as teaching learning
resource, for eg. Model of eye is a non-working model.
2) Working Model- Working Model is a model in which either all or some
parts are moving to show the process in the system. They appear interesting
to learners. Solar system where all planets revolve around Sun is an example
of working model.
Preparation of models
The following standard techniques may be used to prepare models (IGNOU,
2000)
• Use cheap materials such as cardboard, wood and are to prepare static models
like models of a dam, a building and the like.
• Use materials like modelling clay and plastic line to produce realistic models
of living creatures, organs of a human body, etc.
• Use materials like plaster of paris and paper mache to produce a physical
map of a continent, or a country, or landscape of a particular area.
5.7.4 Poster
Poster is symbolic representation of a single idea. As a single idea is depicted
posters are usually bold, eye-catching to attract learners for giving a message.
Posters have both visual and textual components. Visual component is to attract
the attention of learner and thus has to be colourful and eye-catching. Text is
used to convey message related to visual and is called ‘Caption’. Caption conveys
the important message and the visual is to attract attention and therefore to support
21
Teaching-Learning the message to be converged. Ministry of Health for generating awareness
Resources
regarding Rural Health.
Fig 5.14 Poster on National Rural Health Mission

(Source: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nrhm_logo.jpg#)
Posters show creativity in their designing and development. In addition, various

Ministries release attractive posters regularly for generation of awareness.
Activity
A) Find out the various posters published by Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).
B) Give a Caption to the following Poster.
(Source: http://www.ssapunjab.org/images/1.jpg)
5.7 .5 Puppets
Puppets are a very useful media in the teaching of history, drama, and literary
topics. They are available in the market or can be prepared locally according to
the requirements. Puppets can be made of cardboard, cotton, colour and other
locally available materials. They are used to dramatise any historical events like
war, life of people during a particular historical period etc.
Check Your Progress

Tick on the right option-
1) Poster
a) represents Earth’s surface
22
b) Has only textual message Learning Resources
c) Is a type of flip chart
d) Is symbolic representation of a single idea.
7) Distinguish between the two types of Models.
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5.8 PROJECTED TEACHING LEARNING

RESOUCES
5.8.1 Overhead Projector (OHP)
Fig 5.15: Over Head Projector

Source: http://i.classificadosmil.com.br/i-a/Ltxd-14.jpg
Overhead Projector (OHP) helps in displaying still visual material as projection

on a screen. It is a simple projector which is very easy to operate and therefore,
popular among teacher. It is better than using chalkboard as it helps teacher to
talk and show visuals at the same time. As a teacher, you can observe the reaction
of students and interact with them. It also helps in saving time as you can use
these visuals / transparencies again and again. OHP does not require a darkened
room and is easy to handle and transport from one classroom to another.
You need to use visual material either textual or pictoral by preparing

transparencies.
Transparencies need to be designed and developed for achieving the objectives

of the teaching-learning. There are two forms of OHP transparencies. One is
single transparency. If you want to use ten transparencies, then you may have to
make ten single transparencies. Second is using a continuous roll of OHP
transparencies. As you proceed with your classroom teaching, you unroll and
show it over OHP platform. 23
Teaching-Learning Single transparency – Thick transparent Acetate sheets are used to display visual
Resources
or textual material while talking in class. They can be stored in boxes with blank
sheets of paper in between two transparencies to ensure that they do not stick
together.
Continuous roll – OHP has provision of winding acetate rolls from one end to
other. You may start from one end to use it as you proceed through the class.
Some may use it in lieu of chalkboard. Some may use it for calculation,
derivations, etc. Roll may also be used where visuals need to be shown in
continuity for better comprehension.
Points to be kept in mind while preparing OHP slides.

1) As blank acetate sheets are slightly larger than the top glass frame of OHP.
You should leave margin on all four sides.
2) Prepare slides in landscape or horizontal position. If you need to use in
portrait or vertical position, try not to use bottom 1/3rd portion.
3) Use water-soluble or permanent marker pens according to context. When
the slides are to be reused again, use of permanent pens are preferred, whereas
for one time use of water-soluble pens are preferred.
4) Bold strong colours like Black, Red, Blue, and Green are preferred as they
provide good contrast on transparent sheets.
5) Preferably eight lines should be written per transparency and eight words
per line. This makes it readable with naked eye from 2 meters enabling
students sitting at the back to read it clearly.
6) Ensure that all students can see the whole screen. Larger the screen used
better is the projection showing the details.
7) While teaching progressive disclosure of the slides should be used. The
transparency is totally covered with paper. You reveal the portion being
discussed in class progressively as the classroom teaching proceeds. This
helps the learners in concentrating on the topic being discussed and keeps
alive the curiosity about the next point to be discussed.
8) You should face the class while explaining a concept with help of OHP
slide. The presentation speed should be controlled.
9) Use pointer to focus on point being discussed.
10) Switch off projector when not needed.
5.8.2 Slides
A slide is a film transparency contained in a frame or mount. When pictures,
diagrams, specimens, etc are to be shown to students, they can be mounted on
slides and projected on screen by the use of slide projectors or viewer. Slides are
a versatile medium. They are easy to arrange and rearrange to meet a variety of
instructional needs. There are several ways of preparing slides. Diagrams,
pictures, graphs, and illustrations can be drawn on a glass slide using ink or by
enclosing them between two glass slides (of 120 mm) and binding them together.
A micro-specimen can be projected by mounting it on a slide (e.g. blood). These
are usually projected, using an epidiascope. An epidiascope is also used to project
opaque objects like a page book or a small three-dimensional specimen. Slides
24
of 35 mm can be prepared by photographing objects, pictures, events, landscapes, Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
etc. and by getting a dia-positive mode. An over exposed scrap film negative
can be used to make/ethnic a needle on it. Another way of improving it is to
project photographic negatives, which is much cheaper in comparison to a dia-
positive. Now-a-days, it is possible to use a computer to design and produce
photographic slides.
The slides have to be projected in a dark room. Since it is a visual medium,

back-ground commentary on the content of the slides may be necessary. The
teacher can make the commentary while showing the slides or it can be pre-
recorded and played on the tape recorder along with the projection. But this has
to be synchronized, i.e. the commentary and the visuals should match one another.
A machine called synchronizer can be attached to the automatic slide projector.
By adjusting speed of the commentary, the commentary and visuals can be
synchronized.
5.8.3 Filmstrips
A filmstrip is a length of 35 mm film containing a series of still pictures intended
for projection in sequence on at a time (Gerlach and Ely, 1980). Just like slides,
filmstrips can be prepared for pictures, diagrams, graph, etc. But unlike slides,
there is sequential movement of filmstrips on a screen. Filmstrips are projected
with the help of a filmstrip projector. Filmstrips can be hooked to a tape-recorder
to provide the commentary. The teacher can teach a lesson very affectively by
way of stopping and moving different frames in a filmstrip. The teacher can
prepare filmstrips by shooting appropriate frames in the film of a camera, and
then sequencing them according to the lesson or theme he wants to deal with
Fig. 5.16: Filmstrips projector
25
Teaching-Learning
Resources Check Your Progress
8) Fill in the Blanks
A) OHP transparencies are made up of ........................................
B) OHP slides should be made in .....................................................
position.
C) OHP helps teachers to .................................................while
showing the visuals.
D) While using OHP progressive ............................................ of
transparency should be done.
E) If you have to show derivation of a theorem which type of slides,
you will use ..............................................................
5.9 PREPARATION OF LOW COST TEACHING

LEARNING MATERIALS FROM AVAILABLE
LOCAL RESOURCES
You want to use Teaching Learning Resources to teach your class. What will you
do? You will go and buy it. Oh! The model and chart you want are very costly.
The school has not enough budgetary provision for costly teaching learning
resources. What should you do then? You also realize that you can easily design
and prepare the chart with little cost.
You are right. You can easily make many teaching learning resources with the
help of locally available materials. The waste materials like used wrapping papers,
cardboards, etc.can be used to prepare teaching learning resources. You will be
able to design and develop teaching learning resources at low cost using waste
materials. Also the locally available materials can be used which will not be
costly and you will be able to use teaching learning resources in your classroom
teaching without financial burden. It will also give you an opportunity to involve
your students in creating teaching learning resources. Let us discuss how to make
teaching learning material using local resources with some examples.
A) Making a Neighborhood Map-You want to teach children about their

neighborhood and want to use map for teaching. How to get a map of the
neighborhood? It will not be available in shop. You can make map of the
neighborhood with the help of help of students and community. You can
request children, their parents or your neighbors to help in developing
neighborhood map.
Steps –
1) Procure a large sheet of paper and coloured papers to draw the map.
2) Sit in-group and identify important and most frequented places in the
neighborhood.
26
3) Make a list of places. Also, select pictures and symbols to represent those Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
places like… for house, for doctor, etc.
4) Start from your school. Make it in the middle so that you can map the
surrounding neighborhood. Indicate the roads and important places in
vicinity.
5) Then you can move around in Maps and make the important places and the
roads connecting.
6) You will get a neighborhood map to teach your learners.
7) The map will help you in teaching Neighborhood to children in your class.
It will generate their interest as it reflects the learner’s own lives. Thus, you
are able to use Map at a very low cost.
8) Maps can be used for community’s natural resources; level of education;
out of schoolchildren, etc.
8) Flannel Board
Flannel boards can be used in classrooms in variety of situations. Advantage of
using a Flannel board is that it provides flexibility of using material to teach
students.
Steps in making the flannel Board:
• A plywood board of desired dimension should be obtained.
• Cloth like Velvet, Wool blanket or any other hard textured cloth can be
used. The cloth needs to be stretched and fixed on the board with the help of
nails.
• Flannel boards are used to display pictures, messages. You can add, move
the pictures easily on flannel board.
• For pictures to stick on flannel board a small piece of sand paper or two-
way tape should be used on the back of the pictures.
A) Low cost Experimental Aids

i) Expansion of Gases- A simple experiment to show this can be made from a
fused bulb, a balloon, a candle and a match stick.
Steps-
• Remove inner content of fused bulb. Ensure that no sharp edges are
left.
• Fix a balloon on the open end of the bulb
• Heat the bulb.
• The gases expand and thus the balloon will blow up.
ii) Expansion of Liquid can also be demonstrated. You will need additionally,
to earlier experiment of gases, a cork and an empty ball point refill .
27
Teaching-Learning Steps-
Resources
• Empty fused bulb.
• Fix an empty ball point refill inside the cork.
• Fill the bulb with colored water as expansion will be more visible in
coloured water.
• Fix the cork on the bulb.
• Heat the bulb.
• You will see the water over flowing through the refill. This shows that
gases expand on heating.
iii) Use of Cardboards- Cardboards may be effectively in teaching concepts in
Math. Shapes, sizes, addition, subtraction, multiplication, fraction, etc, can
be taught using cardboards.
iv) Use of Match Sticks – Match sticks may also be used for teaching children
geometrical shapes. Two sticks may be joined by a bicycle valve tube or any
other narrow tube material.
The above examples are suggestive list of low and no cost teaching and learning
materials. You can try to make a large number of teaching learning resources at
home at no or very little cost. You only have to let your imagination run free and
you will realize that you have a basket full of teaching learning resources to
choose and use.
Check Your Progress

9) Why should we make teaching learning resources at low or no cost?
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5.10 SHIFT FROM NON-DIGITAL TO DIGITAL

TEACHING-LEARNING RESOURCES
We have discussed various non-digital teaching-learning resources which are
used by classroom teachers in most of our schools. Although non-digital teaching-
learning resources like textbook, pictures, charts, models, etc. are still being
used by our classroom teachers, with the advent of digital devices or tools, many
of these non-digital teaching-learning resources can be presented to students
28
during classroom teaching with the help of digital devices. For example, charts Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
and diagrams can be prepared with the help of MS PowerPoint. Now-a-days,
many schools are equipped with LCD Projector instead of Over Head Projector
(OHP). Now, audio and video programmes can be developed by a teacher or a
student with a smart mobile. Pictures and models can be developed with the help
of a computer. Therefore, there is now a gradual shift from use of non-digital
teaching-learning resources to digital teaching-learning resources. We will discuss
in details about digital teaching-learning resources in the next Unit.
5.11 LET US SUM UP

Teaching learning resources are designed and developed towards achieving the
learning objectives. Teaching learning resources are, therefore, tools, which are
used by teachers to help learners to learn concept with ease and efficiency. The
role of teaching learning resources in the classroom is to make learning real,
practical and fun for children. Teachers use teaching learning resources to illustrate
or reinforce a skill, fact or idea. Teaching learning resources also help in bringing
novelty and freshness in classroom teaching as they relieve learners from anxiety,
fear and boredom. They help to provide a range of learning experiences to learners
from direct to indirect. Teaching learning resources are used to enhance the
learning of students in classrooms. A teacher uses them to make teaching learning
effective. They also help learners achieve the learning outcomes after classroom
teaching and learning. Some reasons to use teaching learning resources in
classroom are:
• Motivate Learners.
• Longer Retention of Information.
• Wholistic on Integrated Learning
• Organizing Classroom Teaching
• Facilitate change in Attitude.
• Application of theoretical knowledge into practical applications.
• Making learning fun in the classroom.
• Facilitate the concept formation and attainment among children.
Therefore, use of teaching learning resources in classroom teaching is an essential
aspect about which you should focus your attention while designing and
developing your lesson.
Non digital teaching learning resources, as the name suggests, means those
teaching learning resources which are developed by a teacher or any other
individual, not with the help of digital technology. Prior to the availability of
digital mediums like computer, Mobile, Internet, etc. a teacher used to take the
help of teaching-learning aids developed by him/her in his/her teaching activities.
There are a variety of non-digital teaching learning resources to choose from
depending on the context, level of learner and availability.
You can easily make teaching learning resources with the help of locally available
materials. The waste materials like used wrapping papers, cardboards, etc. can
be used to prepare teaching learning resources. This way you will be able to
design and develop teaching learning resources at low or almost no cost. Also 29
Teaching-Learning the locally available materials can be used which will not be costly and you will
Resources
be able to use and teaching learning resources in your classroom teaching and
share them with others without financial burden.
5.12 SUGGESTED READINGS AND REFERENCES

• http://www2.education.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.Bilash/best%20of%20
bilash/Images/dalescone2.gif
• Lal, H. (2011). Manual of Low Cost Technological Aids. Faridabad: Sai
Publications.
• Kumar, k L (1996). Educational Technology. New Delhi: New Age
International.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open_educational_resources
• IGNOU (2000) Unit 5: Instructional Media and Materials-1, ES-361:
Educational Technology: State of the Art. New Delhi: IGNOU.
• IGNOU (2013) Unit 8: Teaching-learing Materials of BES-002: Teaching,
Learning and Assessment, New Delhi: IGNOU
• http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/33122/1/Unit10.pdf
• http://www.egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/33123/1/Unit11.pdf
• http://www.ischool.zm/media/ptddl_m1_wholemodule.pdf
• h t t p : / / w w w. s i l . o r g / l i n g u a l i n k s / l i t e r a c y / r e f e r e n c e m a t e r i a l s /
glossaryofliteracyterms/whatisateachingaid.htm
• http://georgeyonge.net/sites/georgeyonge.net/files/Lesontwerp_Ch5.pdf
• http://www2.unescobkk.org/elib/publications/nonformal/M5.pdf
5.13 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS.

1) Teacher can make the class interesting by using teaching learning resources.
They motivate learners and make learning fun. Teaching learning resources
help in longer retention of information and facilitate change in attitude.
They further facilitate the concept formation and attainment among children.
2) a) Self-instructional Materials
b) Textbook
c) Workbook and Copybook
d) Newspapers and Magazine
e) Simulation and Case Report
3) Map is a scaled down representation of real earth’s surface on paper whereas
chart is diagrammatic representation of any system, process or any other
thing.
4) Various types of charts are
• Physical Maps, which show climate, soil, forest areas, resources,
rainfall, etc.
• Political Map which show political divisions of countries and places.
30
• Economic Maps are those maps showing the crop distribution, land Non-digital Teaching-
Learning Resources
use, transport, etc.
• Social Maps, show demographic distribution, in country. The literary
rate, language, tribes etc. are shown on maps for easy comprehension.
• Historical Maps show boundaries, of the empires, routes taken by
travelers, places of war, treaties, etc.
5) Process chart of a butterfly
Larva
Egg
Caterpillar
Adult
6) A) d.
7) The two types of models are Stationary or non-working Model and working
model.
8) a) Acetate sheets
b) Landscape
c) talk
d) disclosure.
e) Continuous roll.
9) Teaching learning resources can be easily made from low cost from used or
locally available resources. On one hand it helps in motivating and orienting
learners towards local resources. It also helps in saving environment because
resources are not wasted but recycled for good cause.
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Teaching-Learning
Resources UNIT 6 DIGITAL TEACHING LEARNING
RESOURCES
Structure
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Objectives
6.3 Digital Teaching Learning Resources
6.3.1 Meaning of Digital Teaching Learning Resources
6.4 Digital Teaching-Learning Resources for use in Education
6.4.1 Radio and Television
6.4.2 Computer
6.4.3 Internet
6.4.4 Web Radio
6.4.5 Web 2.0
6.4.6 E-book
6.4.7 Chat Rooms
6.4.8 E-Conference
6.4.9 Search Engine
6.5 Mobile
6.5.1 Meaning of Mobile
6.5.2 Use of Mobiles in Education
6.6 Let Us Sum Up
6.1 INTRODUCTION
With the widespread use of ICT, teachers are increasingly use modern digital
resources that enable students to effectively engage in the learning process. As
we know, apart from the new digital resources like blog, wiki, social networking
sites, internet, e-book, e-conference, etc., traditional digital devices like radio,
television are also used in teaching-learning process owing to their advantages
in making learning contents available to wider population. Thus, both traditional
and information and communication technologies (ICTs) based teaching-learning
resources are in use in the educational process. In this unit, we will discuss the
meaning of digital teaching –learning resources and the difference between
traditionaland new digital mediums. Also, the pedagogical utility and method of
integrating various digital mediums in the teaching –learning process will be
discussed.
6.2 OBJECTIVES
After going through this unit, you will be able to;
• describe digital teaching-learning resources;
• explain the uses of Internet in education;
32
• use web 2.0 tools in teaching learning sessions; Digital Teaching-Learning
Resources
• explain use of e-books, advantages and disadvantages;
• organise e-conference;
• set up chat rooms; and
• practice m-learning applications in teaching –learning.
6.3 DIGITAL TEACHING LEARNING RESOURCES

6.3.1 Meaning of Digital Teaching-Learning Resources
In the Unit 5, we have described various non-digital teaching-learning resources.
In this unit, we describe digital teaching-learning resources which can be used
for teaching-learning purposes. Let us first understand what digital teaching-
learning is? Any teaching –learning activity that uses digital tools to deliver
instructions and facilitate leaning is termed as digital teaching-learning or
digital learning. Thus, digital teaching-learning resources are any digital
device or tool that helps teachers teach and learners learn. The digital device
and tools that are used in the teaching-learning process include: e-books/digital
books, computers, television, radios, iPods, tablet, camera, digital repositories,
discussion forums, blogs, e-content, e-learning, m-learning, e-mail, chat,
MOOCs,OERs, LMS, online learning, online teaching, podcast, simulations,
second life, virtual reality, social networkingservices,webinar, teleconference,
e-conference, radio interactive instruction, you-tube, wiki and WhatsApp, etc.
Digital teaching-learning resources are those teaching-learning resources

that are digital in nature. You can use these devices as such or through accessing
the Internet or by installing specific application software.The application software
and tools includes Blog/M-blog,Concept Mapping,Digital Online
repositories(NROER),Discussion Forum,E-Assessment/Onlineexaminations,E-
book,E-content, E-library,E-Mails,Instant Messaging/Chat,Interactive
PPT,Interactive SLMs,LMS,Mashups,MOOCs, OERs, (FOSS),Online Learning,
Online Library,Online Teaching,Podcast/Videodcast,QR Code,RSS,Search
Engines,Second life, Animations, Simulations,Social Networks, Tagging/Social
Book Marking,Twitter/Instagram,Video Calling, Augmented Reality,Virtual
Reality,Web1.0, Web2.0, Web3.0tools,Webinar/Web conference/Teleconference/
E-Conference,WhatsApp,Wi-Fi/Hotspots,Wiki, You Tube, etc.
A teacher can use digital teaching learning resources in his/her classroom.Let us

understand through an example. Suppose the teacher intends to teach the concept
of ‘different forms of mechanical energy’ to his/her children. In such a case, he/
she may provide some group activity to the children and let them identify the
differences between kinetic and potential energy. After doing that, he/she may
show children a YouTube video. For instance, the video availablein the YouTube
(Available at URL, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqV5L66EP2E) can be
used for the same. This video will help children to clearly understand the
differences between kinetic and potential energy. In this example, the teacher
uses a digital application for teaching a science concept. It is to be noted that, the
use of digital device depends on the planning and creativity of the teacher. You
may try other devices/tools during your teaching sessions.
33
Teaching-Learning
Resources
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqV5L66EP2E retrieved on 17/08/17
Check Your Progress

1) What are digital teaching learning resources? Give examples
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6.4 DIGITAL TEACHING-LEARNING RESOURCES

FOR USE IN EDUCATION
After having understood the meaning of digital teaching-learning resources, let
us discuss some digital teaching-learning resources wich are used for educational
purposes.
6.4.1 Radio and Television

With the emergence of technologies various electronic devices are being used to
facilitate student learning in more meaningful and effective way. Among the
available technologies, the most common and cheap media is the Radio. Radio
broadcast started with analogue technology. It operated on analogue modes using
frequency modulation. Analogue radios transmit natural voice. With the advent
of digital technology, digital radios are now available. They operate in digital
mode, which means they use a mathematic system represented by binary numbers
1 or 0 to transmit voice, which becomes digital. Radio is a mass media i.e. it can
34
reach messages to millions of people at the same time. When radio is used for Digital Teaching-Learning
Resources
the teaching- learning purpose, we call it educational radio. Educational
programmes are broadcast through radio. Students can listen to such programmes
staying in far off places. The communication through educational radio
programmesis primarily one-way, which means the subject experts deliver the
contents and students listen to them. Of late, there is two-way communication
between the subject experts and the students. This is called the interactive radio
instruction or interactive radio counselling(IRC). Today radio programmes
are also available through the Internet. This form of webcasting radio programmes
is called web radio. In the interactive radio instruction, students get opportunity
to interact with the subject experts who deliver the contents, respond to their
queries on the subject contents and other related aspects of the academic
programme. We will discuss web radio in details later on under 6.4.4.
Let us discuss some of the uses of radio in education. The following are the three
main uses of radio in the teaching-learning process.
i) Radio can be used to teach students directly from a centralised radio station
through interactive radio technology.This provides students opportunity to
interact with the experts and clear queries.
ii) Radio can be used as a support to regular teaching sessions by providing
additional and supplementary lectures. For example, after teaching the
concept of democracy, students may be asked to listen to radio programme
on the topic ‘Democracy-Advantages and Disadvantages’
iii) Radio is used to provide general information about the various aspects of
the educational programme/course and career opportunities. Counselling
sessions in distance learning system can also be organised through radio.
Fig. 6.1: Ineractive Radio Instruction Fig. 6.2: Interactive Radio Counselling
Source: http://nohadraradio.com/ Source: http://www.educationinnovations.org
One of the limitations of radio is that it broadcasts only sound and not visuals.
Through television both visuals and sound are transmitted together. So,viewers
get real feel of events.The educational programmes telecast through television
are called educational television programmes. Like radio, earlier television
broadcast was done through analogue mode. Now television broadcast is being
done using digital mode. Like radio, television can also be used to transmit direct
teaching lessons, supplementary teaching lessons and provide counselling classes.
But the greatest advantage of television programmes is that students get real
experiences by watching visuals presented through it. Both radio and televisions
programmes can be prepared in different formats like direct talks, dialogues,
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Teaching-Learning discussions, interviews, documentary, quizzes, docu-drama, drama,
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demonstration, and experiments.
Fig. 6.3: Educational Television programme

Source: http://rusembindia.com/home/embassynews Source: http://hisplus.blogspot.in
Check Your Progress

2) How radio is used in teaching learning processes? Briefly explain
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6.4.2 Computer
Computer is one of the commonly used digital devices in teaching –learning
process. Computer has a lot of applications in the field of education such as
preparing digital documents, accessing Internet, communication between students
and teachers, storing data, etc. Due to growing importance of computers in
education, you should have basic knowledge about the various aspects of
computers. Let us discuss them.
Meaning of Computer
First, let us understand what is a computer. Computer is an electronic device
that accepts raw data from the user, processes these data under the control of a
set of instruction (called programme), gives the result (output), and saves output
for future use (storage). Thus,computer accepts data, processes it and gives result.
These are the major operations/functions of computers. Computer has mainly
four components; input devices, central processing unit (CPU), storage device
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and output device. Input device, the piece of hardware component,is used to Digital Teaching-Learning
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enter data/instructions to the computer. The piece of hardware component used
to provide output data/convey information are called output device. The device
that is used to store data is called storage device.The central processing unit
(CPU) is the unitthat performs most of the processing inside a computer. CPU
consists of Control Unit (CU) and Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU). The different
types of computers include microcomputer, minicomputer, super computer and
main frame computers. Various input devices, output devices, storage device
and components of CPU are shown below.
Fig. 6.4: Input Device, Storage Devices and Out put Devices
Source: http://www.computersprofessor.com; Source: http://www.aimgovtjob.com/Source: https:/
/www.tes.com/
Output Devices Storage Devices Output Devices
Fig. 6.5: Central Processing Unit

Uses of Computers
In education, computers can be used for various purposes such as preparing
presentations, developing documents, storing student data, accessing internet,
downloading teaching materials, using social networking sites, communicating
with students, teaching online, attending e-conferences, and so on. In this sub-
section, let us limit our discussions to the use of computers for office applications.
There are many office applications of which Microsoft Office (MS Office)is
popular. You can use MS office to prepare texts, presentations, etc.
How will you access MS office? After switching on the computer, you may
click the start button to access various softwares. To open the MS office
application, click on the Microsoft office and then you can access all MS office
applications.
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Teaching-Learning Thereafter, click on the Word 2016 so that the Word application as you see in
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Fig. 6.7 will open. Then you can start typing in the large white space. This will
help you to develop word/text files. After preparing word files, you may store it
at any suitable location in the computer
Fig. 6.6: MS.Office
Similarly, to develop presentation, you may use Microsoft PowerPoint

Presentation, an application software developed by Microsoft. When you open
Microsoft PowerPoint Presentation, it looks like the one given below (Fig. 6.7)
. Thereafter, you may prepare slides in the white space (where Click to add title
and click to add subtitle are shown). You can also add design and other effects to
your presentation.
Fig. 6.7: Microsoft PowerPoint

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The two other commonly used application software’s are Microsoft Excel Digital Teaching-Learning
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Worksheet (Fig. 6.8) and Microsoft Publisher Document (Fig. 6.9). You can use
Microsoft Excel Worksheet is used to store and retrieve numerical data in a grid
format i.e. columns and rows. Microsoft Publisher Document is used for
developing brochures and notices. The open up window of these two applications
are shown below:
Fig. 6.8: Microsoft Excel Fig. 6.9: Microsoft Publisher Document
Check Your Progress

3) Briefly discuss the major components of computer
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Teaching-Learning 6.4.3 Internet
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If you want to collect the latest information about a concept to be taught to your
students, what do you do? The traditional approach is to refer to a book from the
library. But today, Internet provides you the required information. Similarly, if
you wish your children to attend any online classroom lecture, you need Internet.
So,Internet has a lot of applications in the educational field. Before proceeding
to discuss various uses of Internet, let us understand the meaning of Internet and
its difference from the World Wide Web(WWW).
“Internet is a means of connecting a computer to any other computer anywhere

in the world via dedicated routers and servers. When two computers are connected
over the Internet, they can send and receive all kinds of information such as text,
graphics, voice, video, and computer programms”.(www.businessdictionary.com/
definition/internet.html). Thus, The Internet is a decentralized global network
of computers. In other words, Internet is a network of the interlinked computer
networking worldwide that is accessible to the general public. The interconnected
computers transmit data thorough a special type of packet switching known as
internet protocol or IP.While world wide web is a collection of documents
that you can access using the Internet and web searching software. The web
comprises the vast content available over the Internet.Thus, WWW is the
collection of a large number of documents and these documents are called web
pages. Thus, we can say, WWW is one of the services offered by Internet. Internet
server is a special computer built up with selected high-quality components which
can endure incessant work and high load and is connected to the Internet
(http.www.iitk.ac.in). Websites located on computers called Internet servers.
When you are connected to the Internet, your web browser software can
communicate with the Internet servers, ask them to send your computer a copy
of the web page that you look for. The Uniform Resource Locator (URL) you
type or the hyperlink you click informs your computer about the server you
intend to contact and the page you look for.
Fig. 6.10: Internet

Internet (Source: http://slideplayer.com/slide/4899750/)
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What are the uses of Internet in education? The following are various uses of Digital Teaching-Learning
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Internet in education.
• Internet helps to get updated information about various topics and current
events.
• It helps to make communication fast and easy among students, teachers and
peers.
• Internet helps to share and access various learning materials and subject
contents.
• Internet helps to conduct online teaching and assessment.
• Internet helps teachers to supplement their lessons.
• Internet helps to organise interactive and collaborative teaching sessions.
• Internet provides unlimited amount of information in various formats like
text, audio. video, etc.
• Internet helps to reduce cost of teaching-learning process.
• Internet helps to enhance skills of students.
Being a teacher trainee, you may like to know the uses of Internet in the teaching
–learning process. Let us understand it with an example. Mr Naveen, a secondary
school teacher intends to help his children understand the concept of ‘democracy’.
To teach this concept, Naveen has developedthe lesson plan based on 5E model
in which he has asked his students to collect information about the forms of
democracy existing in various countries belonging to Asian and European
continentsduring the exploration stage. How can students collect such an
information? One of the ways could be searching the Internet (the search procedure
and results are shown in Fig. 6.11(a&b)). This could be practised during the
classroom teaching-learning or may be provided as a home assignment. This
simple example has given you an idea about the use of internet in teaching-
learning.
Fig. 6.11a: Searching the Internet Fig. 6.11b: Searching the Internet
6.4.4 Web Radio

Radio is a powerful means of communication and educational programmes
broadcast through radio can reach any nook and corner of the country. Similarly,
radio is a very cheap medium compared to other electronic devices. Therefore,
it is extensively used in teaching learning process. There are two ways to broadcast
educational programmes through radio i.e. the expert/teacher delivers educational
content live or the pre-recorded lecture is broadcast. During the live session,
students who listen to educational programme can interact and raise questions
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Teaching-Learning with the expert while in pre-recorded educational radio programmes students
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are passive listeners. But with the emergence of Internet, the means of broadcasting
educational programmes through radio have changed. Nowadays, web radios
are also used to deliver classroom lecture.
What is a web radio? When radio programmes broadcast through Internet,

it is called as web radio. Normally, radio programmes are broadcast using
satellites and the reach of the programme is limited to a particular geographical
location, while web radio programmes can reach any part of the world. Web
radio is similar to normal radio programmes but in web radio, the broadcast is
through Internet. When normal radio programmes are simultaneously made
available in the Internet, it is referred to as web radio programmes. In the web
radio, student has the opportunity to interact with experts via microphone and
also by texting message. These facilitates have made web radio more popular.
Fig. 6.12: IGNOU gyandhara
Check Your Progress

5) What do you mean by Internet? Discuss the use of Internet in education
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6) How web radio programmes are different from normal radio
programmes?
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6.4.5 Web 2.0 Digital Teaching-Learning
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In traditional classrooms, teachers play an active role while delivering classroom
instruction whereas students remain passive listeners. But in constructivist
classroom, students engage in various learning activities and work collaboratively
to construct knowledge themselves.Thus, students are knowledge creators than
receivers as compared to the traditional classroom. Prior learning experiences
help children construct knowledge. Now, learning experiences could also be
provided by using latest web 2.0 technologies that allow children freedom to
create, collaborate and share information. Through this process, they not only
acquire new knowledge, but also, they create new knowledge.
Let us understand the generations of web technologies. The web 1.0 technologies
include mainly read only materials, while web 2.0 technologies allow to create
and share information through varied means. The latest web 3.0 technologies
are live in nature where the individual get real experiences through virtual settings.
The differences among these technologies are given in Fig 6.13. You may try to
use these technologies in your teaching- learning sessions. In this section, we
restrict our discussions to web 2.0 technologies. What do you mean by web 2.0
technologies? According to Devis (2010), “web 2.0 is a social philosophy that
aims at abandoning the individual control over matters and gaining a greater
number of participation”. It provides learner freedom to actively engage in learning
activities. Miller (2010)defines, “the web 2.0 as an equal regrouping of the
evolution and revolution which benefitted from existing standards such as HTML,
CSS and XML and the Web browser”.According to Richard Mac Manus, “Web
2.0 is social and open; it leaves the control of data and combines the global with
the local. It corresponds to new manners to search and access to content. It is a
ready platform for educators, media, politics, and communities and for everyone
else”. Thus, web 2.0 technologies help users to create contents, and publish and
share them with other users. Web 2.0 technologies also operate through various
social networking.The web 2.0 technologies include blogs, wikis and social
media, social bookmarking, podcast/vodcast, RSS feeds and tagging. Let us
briefly discusssome of these technologies/tools and their uses in teaching –
learning.
Fig. 6.13: Generation of We Technologies

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Teaching-Learning Blogs
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Blogs are personal websites where contents are organised like a diary or a
journal. The contents posted in blogs appear date wise in chronological order
and the public can get access to these contents, Teachers can create learning
contents and post them in blogs for the access of students. The materials that are
posted can be either text, audio, video or multimedia. Similarly, students can
also create blogs to post their creations such as literary works, assignments, project
reports, and so on. Let us know how to create blogs and how to access the blogs
available in the Internet. To access the blogs, you may use the option of general
search through any Internet browsers. Or else if you know the exact blog address,
the same can be typed in the search bar of Internet browsers to access it. Thereafter,
the materials available in the blog can be integrated in your teaching-learning
sessions. To create blog, you may use any application software designed for
create blog. Blogger.com is one of the application software you can use for creating
blog. You need to sign in to the website to create blog. After creating your blogs,
you can start posting materials in the blogs so that your students are able to
access them.
Wikis
Wikis are open dynamic websites where collaborative constructed knowledge
is available for the use of public. Wikis are webpages that carry information on
varied topics. You may use those materials in your teaching-learning sessions.
One of the common wiki is the Wikipedia. In Wikipedia, you can search for any
topic that you want. Similarly, you can also edit contents available in the
Wikipedia. Similarly, you may also direct your students to update contents on
Wikipedia which help them develop skill of writing and enhancing subject
knowledge. How do you edit contents in Wikipedia? Create an account in
Wikipedia and use the edit option to edit contents that are available.
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Digital Teaching-Learning
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Fig. 6.14: Homepage of Wikipedia
Social media
Social media are one of the most influential learning tools of the twenty first
century. They help individuals maintain social relationships through social
networks. Social media serve as a platform to create social networks or social
relations among people who, for example, share interests, activities,
backgrounds, or real-life connections. Some of the most popular social media
websites are Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and MySpace, etc.Social networks help
in teaching –learning process in a variety of ways. As teacher you can create
student groups of your class in social media sites through which educational
contents can be made available to them. This helps you interact with your students
using tools available for chatting. How will you create groups in social media
cites?For example, in face book, you may login and click on the link ‘Create’
(shown below in Fig. 6.15a) .Then a new window opens (Fig 6.15b) where you
can type the group name and personalize the privacy setting of the group.
Fig. 6.15a: Creating Groups in Social Media Fig. 6.15b: Creating Groups in Social Media 45
Teaching-Learning Podcast and videocast
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Now let us discuss about podcast and videocast. The short digital audio and
video files containing meaningful learning contents are termed as podcast
and videocast respectively.The process of creating and distributing such
materials are known as podcasting/videocasting. You can use any digital tool
(mobile, computer, etc) or any application software (free or paid) to develop
podcast/videocast. Thereafter, the same may be posted in the Internet for use by
students.
Rich Site Summary (RSS)

Another web 2.0 tool is RSS feeds.Rich Site Summary (RSS) is a tool to provide
updated information of website entries. In order to use RSS feeds, you have to
use any RSS feeder. In the RSS feeder the website address may be stored and
whenever any new entry is made, the message about that particular website is
shown on the RSS feeder. This helps teachers and students get updated knowledge
about their subjects, and information about various courses, etc.
Social book marking

Social book marking helps individuals to book mark documents of different
formats available in the web. Bookmarking helps students and teachers to access
materials at a later time. Teachers bookmark materials for the use by students
and they share the materials among them.
6.4.6 E-book
Meaning of E-book
Textbooks are the most common learning resource used by students. For
enhancing subject knowledge students also use reference books. Both textbooks
and reference books are available in printed form and follow a specifc style of
aligning contents. But with the emergence of technology, books are now prepared
electronically. E-books are electronic version of printed books. JISC defines e-
books as “an online version of printed books, accessed via the Internet”.The
electronic version of the whole book is generally treated as e-book.It is
downloaded to a computer, PC, Mac, laptop, PDA or any other kind of computer,
and is read on the screen. E-book can exist in different formats (i.e., PDF, EXE-
compiled HTML pages, PDA, etc.). Similar to printed books, e-books also contain
table of contents, page numbers, pictures, graphics, illustrations, hyperlinks and
other attachments. Even video and animations can also be embedded in e-books.
How are e-books developed? You may use any application software used for
developing texts/documents. For example, open office, word document software
developed by Microsoft or Adobe Page Maker can be used. Once you have inserted
the text, the same may be saved. Now the saved file is an e-book. Thereafter, e-
book can be uploaded in the Internet. Even e-books can be accessed from the
stored location and you can read them off-line. To read e-books, computer and
reading devices/software (e-book reader) is essential. Some of the reading devices
(e-book reader) are Kindle, Kindle DX, Sony Daily Readers and Nook, Nook
Color, KOBO, Astak EZ Reader.Thus, the process is simple; search the e-book
and read it using an e-book reader.
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Digital Teaching-Learning
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Fig. 6.16: E-Book of NCERT

Source: http://ncert.nic.in/textbook/textbook.htm?kemh1=1-16
Advantages and Disadvantages of E-books

The following are the advantages of e-books:
• The contents of the e-books can be updated any time. The costs involved in
updating is less as compared to printed books.
• E-books contain texts, audio, videos, animations, etc. Even e-books are
interactive in nature.
• E-books are easy to purchase and can also be downloaded from the Internet
and do not involve packing and shipping costs as in the case of printed
books.
• E-books are instantaneously delivered and can be purchased any time. E-
books are universally accessible.
• The storage space of e-books is very less as compared to printed books. E-
books are easy to prepare and do not require papers.
• E-books are portable. They can be carried in laptops, mobiles, iPods,CDs,
etc.
• The information in e-books are easily searchable. The pages can be easily
located by typing the requisite page number.
• Many e-books can be carried to wherever you go.
• E-books are very easy to sell and distribute.
• E-books are easy to use. The font size, colour of texts and background can
be changed as per the preference of the reader.
• The reader can bookmark and highlight important points in e-books.
• E-books are never out of stock.
The following are the disadvantages of e-books:
• E-books are not convenient to read. Reading e-books using digital device
develops health problems.
• Printed books come with properly bounded form. But if you wish to print e-
books, printing costs are involved and may not be properly bound.
• E-books can be downloaded, printed and distributed abundantly and this
creates the problem of piracy.
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Teaching-Learning
7) What is a blog? How blogs are created?
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8) How will use social media for teaching-learning?

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9) Describe the advantages of e-book.

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6.4.7 Chat Rooms

The communication between teacher and students in the classrooms is mostly
verbal in nature. But in the technological era, different tools and application
software help students and teachers communicate between themselves in multiple
ways. Teachers and students use telephone or mobile to interact verbally (voice
message).Apart from verbal communication, sending message in text format
(text message) is also possible. It started with the telegraphic communication.
Thereafter, e-mail was used to send text messages. Through e-mails, people can
also attach audio, video and other files of different formats along with text
messages. At present, there are different digital devices through which one can
send text messages using the application software. Most of the social networking
sites provide these facilities. Thus, the process of sending voice messages and
text messages is called chatting. Chatting can be used effectively in the teaching-
learning process. Let us know more about chatting.
Chat refers to formal or informal form of conversation with one or more

people through the Internet. Chat is the process of communicating, interacting
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or exchanging messages over the Internet with one or more people. Chat is form Digital Teaching-Learning
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of communication over the Internet that offers a real-time transmission of
messages fromthe sender to the receiver. When messages are typed during chat,
it reaches the receiver’s monitor instantly. Thus, we also call chat as instant
messaging. Chat is also known as chatting, online chat or Internet chat. Usually
messages (Short Message Service, SMS) are delivered through chat. But today,
verbal, audio, video, audio & video, and emotions are also sent during chatting.
Chat can be both synchronous and asynchronous. Chat enabled service or software
that supports chat are required to organise a chat. After enabling the chat software,
individual starts chatting by signing in. Individuals can also participate in group
chat for which chat rooms are required. Let us discuss about chat rooms.
Chat rooms are virtual rooms that are used to chat individually or in groups
via the Internet. Chat room is a website, part of a website or part of an online
service that allows individual or communities of common interest to communicate
in real time. Generally, one to one chat or one to many chat (group chat) is
conducted in chat rooms. As discussed above, generally text messages are sent
through chat rooms. But today, people also sent files of different formats like
audio, video, etc. through chat rooms.Even, individual can see each other in chat
room for which cameras need to be installed in the chatting device. Chat room
users can register to any chat room of their choice by logging in using user name
and password. After logging in, they can see the list of people who are online
anddecide the individual they want to send messages to and to receive messages
from.
What is the relevance of chat room in teaching-learning? How do we set up your

chat rooms? Which are the common chat service providers? Let us answer to
these questions. There are many chat service providers. They make chat options
available along with other services. For example, Google, Facebook, Yahoo,Skype
etc. provide the facility to chat. To start a chat or chat room, you need to create an
account first. Thereafter, for individual chat the inbuilt chat software can be
used. The same is followed to develop chat rooms. But in chat rooms you can
add participants. In the context of teaching-learning, you may create a chat room
and add your students to the list of participants. Then the students are able to
chat with you as and when they wish.
6.4.8 E-Conference
Traditionally, conference means gathering of individuals to discuss matters of
common interest face to face. In such conference people are invited to specific
location and meetings are conducted. Digital technology has changed the way of
organising conference. Now there is no need to travel to any specific location,
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Teaching-Learning instead you may use the Internet connected digital devices to organise the
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conference. Such conference organised in a virtual environment is called e-
conference. E-conference refers to electronic conference. So, any conference
conducted through electronic mediumis termed as e-conference. In e-conference,
people are present to discuss matters of their interest in a virtual space. So, any
one located at any place of the world can attend the conference through the
Internet connected electronic devices such as computer, mobile, iPad, etc. In e-
conference, People can see each other though video call facility; share files,
attachments, audio and video files; make presentations; discuss among
themselves, etc. E- conference is also known as e-meeting, web conference, web
seminar, webinar, etc.
How is e-conference organised? Application software are needed for organising

the e-conference. There are plenty of software’s (both free and commercial)
through which you can conduct an e-conference. You need to download them for
organising e-conference.Some of the software are given below in Box 1 and
Box 2. After selecting the software, you need to sign in for using it. For example,
let us discuss the method of using a free software “drum” for conducting e-
conference. You may search the URL “https://thisisdrum.com/” to access Drum
(Or else you may use key word “Drum”in any search engine). Once the website
is opened, the home page opens. First, you have to create an account,and then in
the home page you see a link on the right top corner to sign in. Click it and start
organising the e-conference sessions. But keep in mind that you are ready with
the plan to organise a conference like selection of theme of the conference, time,
schedule of conference, list of participants, award of certificates, etc.
Box 1
Free Applications: Amazon Chime, Any Desk, Anyplace Control, Appear.in,
Big Blue Button, Blab, Drum, JoinME, Learn Cube, Manage Meet,
Mikogo,Share Anywhere, Uberconference, WebEx, Yugma, Zoom
Box 2
Commercial Applications: Adobe Connect, Any Meeting, Big Marker,
Blackboard Collaborate, Click Meeting, Demio, eBVLD, Gather Place,
Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, Mega Meet, Mighty Meeting, OmniJoin,
Presenter Net, Screen Connect, Vison Pro, Vitero
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6.4.9 Search Engine Digital Teaching-Learning
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One of the most prominent features of the Internet is to make information available
to the doorsteps of the users. Suppose, anyone wants to collect the details about
‘the Parliament of India’ from the Internet, how does he/she do it? The key word
‘the Parliament of India’ has to be fed into the Internet. The keywords are entered
to the search engine. Thus search engine is a software programme or script
available throughthe Internet that searches documents and files for
keywords and returns the results of any files containing those keywords. Or
else the search engine is a computer programme that searches data bases and the
Internet for the documents containing key words specified by the user. In short,
we may say that, search engine is the software that is used for searching
information on the world wide web. There are a number of search engines
available on the Internet. Some of the most popular search engines are Google,
Bing, Yahoo, Ask.com.AOL.com,Baidu, Wolframalpha, DuckDuckGo,Internet
Archice,ChaCha.com,Dogpile Search, Yippy Search andWebopedia, etc.
Fig 6.17: Search Engines
How do you access search engines? It is through browsers. Browser is a software

application that allows people to access, retrieve and view information on the
Internet. So, in order to fetch the information from the Internet, browsers are
used. The information that is browsed can be a website, image, audio, video files
or any other files. We can also say browsers are tools to browse the Internet. The
most popular browsers are Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer,
Opera and Safari.Thus, using browser, you can access search engines. Then in
the search engines, key words are typed to retrieve the required information.
Thus, search engines are software programmes that search for websites based on
the keywords typed in. Or else search engines are used to search for information
on the Internet. So, browsers are used to browse the Internet while search engines
are used to search for information on the Internet.
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Teaching-Learning When key words are typed and searched, the search engines search the data base
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and sorts pages that match the keyword out of the million pages and produces
the results in ranked order according to the relevance of the information searched
for. Let us understand the steps of searching the information on the Internet
through an example. In order to retrieve information about the Parliament of
India, we have to first choose any browser. For example, we choose Google
Chrome. So, open the Google Chrome browser, and then select any search engine.
Here we may use the Google search engine. So, to access Google search engine,
type www.google.com in the browser and enter it. Then the Google search engine
is activated. Then in the search bar type the Parliament of India, and enter it.
Then the results are produced. The steps of searching are shown in Fig.6.18a and b.
Fig 6.18a: Steps of Searching Information in the Internet
Fig 6.18b: Steps of Searching Information in the Internet

Let us discuss the use of search engines in teaching-learning process. As we
have discussed earlier, search engine helps teacher retrieve whatever information
he/she wants. For example, a teacher teaching language wants podcast on teaching
vocabulary, he/she may search the Internet and find a suitable one. The same can
be used to teach his/her students. Similarly, a science teacher, who wishes to
show a video related to nuclear fusion to his/her students, can use search engines
to find an appropriate video and can show the same to his/her students.If a teacher
wishes to update his/her knowledge on any specific content that he/she teaches,
he/she can use search engine to explore the latest information on that particular
52
topic/content. Also search engines can be used to locate various audio/video Digital Teaching-Learning
Resources
files, PDF files, and other relevant websites. Thus, search engines are of great
help to teachers in a variety of ways.
Check Your Progress

10) What do you mean by e-conference? How is e-conference organised?
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11) Briefly discuss search engines and browsers. List a few examples for
both.
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6.5 MOBILE
6.5.1 Meaning of Mobile
Mobile phone or simply mobile is a wireless hand-held device that allows
users to make calls, capture photos, send messages, etc. Mobile phone connects
to wireless network through radio waves or satellite transmissions. The earlier
form of mobile phone was very heavy and used only for making calls. These
mobile phones were called cellular phone or cell phone. Now, advanced cell
phones are available. Today cell phone is used to send messages both text and
multimedia, make video calls, access the Internet, etc. The mobile phones with
advanced features are called smart phones.
As discussed, mobiles are common digital devices used for communication

specially making calls. But apart from communication, mobiles are also used for
various other purposes such as audio/video recording, capturing photos through
camera, multimedia messaging, playing games, document viewing, accessing
the Internet, making bank transactions, online trading, online booking, paying
bills, communication via social media, storing files and so on. The use of mobile
phones in education is also increasing day by day. When mobile device is used
for teaching-learning, it is called mobile learning or m-leaning. By m-learning
one means the use of mobile phones for teaching-learning, but the use of any
hand-held devices can also be termed as m-learning. The hand-held devices
53
Teaching-Learning include tablet, smart phones, laptops, notebooks, digital reader, MP3 player, etc.
Resources
Thus, any kind of teaching-learning activitythat takes place via a portable hand
held electronic device is known as m-learning.
The key characteristics of m-learning is the unlimited access to learning materials

and contents over mobile devices. Thus, students can use, study and learn those
materials at any place and any time as per their choice. The importance of m-
learning is increasing owing to the easy access to mobile devices. Also, the mobile
devices are small, handy and less costly as compared to other digital electronic
devices. Students can also work collaboratively, share materials and access
information.
6.5.2 Use of Mobiles in Education

Mobiles can be used in variety of ways in your teaching -learning process. Let us
discuss some of the major uses of mobiles in education.
• Access to Teaching-learning Resources:One of the major uses of mobile
is the access to educational contents. Both teachers and students can search
for relevant educational contents in an Internet connected mobile. The
content/file can be downloaded and read offline. For example, you may
visit NCERT website to download textbook materials and store them in
your mobile. Similarly, you may visit any website and retrieve information
that you search for. Educational video, audio, etc. can also be watched through
mobile. So, you may use mobile to access any educational content.
• Use of Mobile Apps: There are many mobile applications (mob apps) related
to education. These mobile apps are either free or paid and accessed via a
mobile device. Some free mob apps are given below. You may use such
apps to teach your children and develop your own professional knowledge.
Fig 6.19: Mobile Apps
54
Mobile Apps Digital Teaching-Learning
Resources
• Interactivity and communication: Classroom communication between
teacher and students is confined to the four walls of classrooms, but mobile
technology has expanded the scope of communication among the various
stakeholders of education. Teacher and students can communicate, share,
exchange information and learning materials beyond classroom timings.
For that, various social media apps need to be used. Similarly, those apps
can also be used for communication among parents. For this, you need to
use chat apps or create social media groups. The most popular social media
are WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter, etc.
Check Your Progress

12) Discuss the use of mobiles in education?
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6.6 LET US SUM UP

The teaching learning process in the twenty first century is dynamic in utilizing
different digital teaching learning resources/tools. Today, digital mediums like
radio, television, computer, mobiles, iPod, camera, web 2.0 technologies, and
other application software are used for educational purposes. Owing to the
growing importance of the digital mediums in teaching learning process, this
unit has discussed various digital mediums. Uses of Internet, the alternative style
of using radio i.e. web radio, various web 2.0 technologies like blogs, wiki, etc.
are also discussed. In addition to that, the concept of e-books, ways of organising
e-conferences, difference among search engines and browsers with its application
in educational settings are also discussed. The Unit ends with discussion about
mobile and its uses in education.

Anderson,J.(2010). ICT for Transforming Education.Bangkok: UNESCO.
Dangwal,K.L.(2000). Computer in Teaching and Learning. Agra, India: Vinod
Pustak Mandir.
NCERT.(2013). Information and Communication Technology for the School
System Curricula for ICT in Education. New Delhi,India: CIET.
Rawat,S.C.,&Agarwal,S.(2000). Essentails of Educational Technology.
Meerust,India: Lal Book Depot.
55
Teaching-Learning Satyanarayana, P. &Sesharatnam, C. (2000). Distance education: What? Why?
Resources
How? Hyderabad,India: Booklinks Corporation.
Singhal, A. and Rogers, E.M. (1989). India’s Information Revolution. New Delhi,
India: Sage Pub.
Websites
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IqV5L66EP2E
http://www.ccrane.com
http://showoffclub.com
http://www.ormondbeachcomputerrepair.com
http://www.ccrane.com
http://showoffclub.com
http://www.ormondbeachcomputerrepair.com
http://nohadraradio.com/
http://www.educationinnovations.org
http://rusembindia.com/home/embassynews
http://hisplus.blogspot.in
http://www.computersprofessor.com
http://www.aimgovtjob.com/
https://www.tes.com/
http://slideplayer.com/slide/4899750/
https://www.google.co.in
http://www.ignou.ac.in/
https://www.blogger.com/
https://www.wikipedia.org/
http://www.ncert.nic.in/index.html
https://alien182blog.wordpress.com/
https://thisisdrum.com/
https://in.yahoo.com/
6.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1) Teaching –learning environment that employs digital tools to deliver
instructions and facilitate leaning is termed as digital teaching-learning or
digital learning. Digital learning refers to both teaching and learning utilizing
digital resources. Thus, digital teaching-learning resources are any digital
device or tool that helps teachers teach and learners learn. The digital
device and tools that are used in the teaching-learning process include: e-
books/digital books, computers, television, radios, iPods, tablet, camera,
digital repositories, discussion forums, etc. For example, use of computers,
softwares like presentation software, mobile apps, etc for teaching and
learning are considered digital teaching-learning.
56
2) Radio is used to deliver educational programmes (lectures), supplementary Digital Teaching-Learning
Resources
learning materials and general information about the courses.
3) The major components of a computer are input devices, central processing
unit, storage devices and output devices.
4) Computers can be used for preparing presentations, developing documents,
storing student data, accessing the Internet to download teaching materials,
using social networking sites to communicate with students, online teaching,
attending e-conferences, etc.
5) Internet is the interlinking of computers worldwide. Refer to section 6.4.1
for additional details.
6) Web radio educational programmes are transmitted using internet (web)
while normal educational radio programmes use satellites for transmission.
7) Blogs are personal websites used for storing digital contents/materials like
that of a diary. To develop blogs, application softwares/websites (for example,
www.blogger.com) are used are used.
8) Social media help communication via the Internet. In most social media
sites, ‘groups’ of similar interest can be created. For example, those having
interest in science education can create group and post resources/materials
related to science teaching like lesson plans, video clips, podcasts, audio
files, etc.
9) Refer to section 6.4.6
10) Conferences conducted in a virtual environment(internet/web) using
electronic devices are called e-conference. Application softwares (both paid
and free) are used for organising e-conferences.
11) Refer 6.4.9
12) For accessing and disseminating educational resources, use of mobile apps
and using mobile for sharing information
57
Teaching-Learning
Resources UNIT 7 OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES
Structure
7.1 Introduction
7.2 Objectives
7.3 Open Educational Resources
7.3.1 Meaning of OER
7.3.2 Use and Identification of OER
7.3.3 Creation of OER
7.3.4 Sharing of OER
7.3.5 Limitations of OER
7.4 Creative Commons License
7.5 OER Repositories
7.5.1 Wikipedia
7.5.2 MERLOT
7.5.3 YouTube
7.5.4 Teacher Tube
7.5.5 Slide share
7.5.6 Sakshat
7.5.7 E-Gyankosh
7.5.8 NROER
7.5 Let Us Sum Up
7.1 INTRODUCTION
Learning resources play a pivotal role in the teaching –learning process as they
help teachers organise an effective classroom environment and students to actively
participate in learning. Learning is more live and effective in classrooms supported
by learning resources. Apart from the traditional audio visual teaching aids,
development in information and communication technology (ICT) has provided
various innovative teaching-learning resources, which teachers need to use them
in their teaching-learning activities. Open Educational Resources (OERs) are
such resources, which are readily available in the internet. Teachers are free to
use such resources. They need to select, adapt and integrate those OERs in teaching
–learning process. This unit discusses the concept and nature of OERs, types of
licences associated with OERs and various OER repositories. In the end, we will
discuss various initiatives taken by both state and central agencies in utilizing
and maintaining OER repositories.
7.2 OBJECTIVES
After reading this unit, you will be able to:
• describe the meaning of open educational resources(OERs);
• explain uses of OERs;
58
• create OERs suitable for teaching-learning process; Open Educational
Resources
• identify and share OERs online for public use;
• describe the limitations of OERs;
• explain different creative commons licences;
• locate creative commons license in OERs;
• describe OERs repositories;
7.3 OPEN EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

In the information age, data (contents) is available indifferent forms; it can be in
printed form, electronic form,or Internet (online) form, etc. The contents in the
printed form at the school level are available in various school textbooks. The
teacher uses these textbooks for teaching while students use them for learning.
Textbook contents can be used by anyone without taking the permission of the
author. But if anyone uses the contents of the textbook (say for preparing a similar
text with a few alterations or reprinting the text in one’s own name, etc) without
permission, then it is considered as the violation of copyright. So, whoever wants
to reuse contents of others (text, message, image, video, etc.), then he/she needs
to take their permission as they have created these contents. But the biggest
challenge for teachers and students is to identify the appropriate contents and
utilize them.
7.2.1 Meaning of OER

Before explaining the concept of OER, let us understand how OERs came into
existence. Earlier teachers were using audio-visual aids in the teaching -learning
process. Even today audio-visuals are extensively used by teachers in classroom
teaching. But later on, audio-visual aids were treated as ‘learning objects’.
Thereafter, the concept of ‘reusable learning objects (RLO)’ came into effect.
RLO refers to the reusable educational resources. For example, if a teacher of
history develops a presentation (e.g. PPT) on a particular topic, the same can be
made available on the Internet (online) and can be used by other history
teachers.Thus, RLO denotes teaching-learning resources that can be adapted
and reused. But while using RLOs, you need to consider the legal aspect as
RLOs are copyrighted. Thus, if you want to use any RLO, you need to take the
permission from the author.
With the widespread use of digital technologies, many educational resources

(learning objects) are available on the Internet/online (public domain) and can
be accessed via digital devices like computer, iPod, etc. These educational
resources that are available in the public domain are called Open Educational
Resources (OERs). The key difference between RLOs and OERs is that OERs
are attached with legal copyright label or open license that gives information on
the rights of an individual to reuse them. Thus, OERs can be adapted and reused
depending on kinds of rights attached to it. Let us go through some definitions
which are given below;
• “Open Educational Resources (OERs) are any type of educational materials
that are in the public domain or introduced with an open license. The nature
of these open materials means that anyone can legally and freely copy, use,
59
Teaching-Learning adapt and re-share them. OERs range from textbooks to curricula, syllabi,
Resources
lecture notes, assignments, tests, projects, audio, video and animation”
(UNESCO,)
• “Open Educational Resources (OER) describes any educational resources
(including curriculum maps, course materials, textbooks, streaming videos,
multimedia applications, podcasts, and any other materials that have been
designed for the use in teaching and learning) that are openly available for
use by educators and students, without an accompanying need to pay
royalties or license fees” (COL,).
• “Open Educational Resources (OER) are teaching and learning materials
that are freely available online for anyone to use, whether you are an
instructor, student of self-learner. OER can exist as smaller, stand-alone
resources that can be mixed and combined to form larger pieces of content,
or as larger course modules or full courses” (Open Commons,).
The above definitions explain that OERs are any form of teaching -learning
materials that are available in the public domain with open license. Generally,
OERs refer to online materials that can be adapted, reused, shared and even used
for commercial purpose. Thus, OERs are reusable teaching-learning materials.
OERs can be as short as small text, audio, video, image files, etc. as well as big
files like textbooks or whole courses. The OERs that are arranged in logical and
sequential manner to accomplish particular objectives are called “learning
objects”. Similarly, OERs developed as a whole course are called as Massive
Open Online Course (MOOC).
Examples of OERs
Let us discuss a few examples of OERs. The National Repository of Open
Educational Resources (NROER) of NCERT is an OER repository containing
digital textbooks and audio video files for various classes.The educational
resources available in the NROER repositories can be used by the public without
taking the permission from NCERT.Similarly, there are many such repositories
like MERLOT, OER commons, etc.
Fig. 7.1: Homepage of NROER

Source: http://nroer.gov.in/welcome
Apart from OER repositories, educational resources are also available in the
Internet/online and such resources are identified using the open license attached
to it. To identify OERs in the Internet, you have to check for the license attached
to it. Generally, the open license of creative commons is attached to OERs. For
example, the report ‘The United Nations World Water Development Report 2014’
60
available at http://unesdoc.unesco.org/ images/ 0022/002257/225741E.pdf Open Educational
Resources
(accessed on 08/12/17), is an OER as it is attached with CC-BY-SA license as
shown in figure given below.
Check Your Progress

1) What do you mean by Open Educational Resources (OERs)? Give some
Examples
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7.2.2 Use and Identification of OERs

Technology provides teachers and students the scope to use different open
educational resources that are readily available in the Internet/online.OERs can
be used by teachers for teaching while students use them as supplementary
materials for learning to enhance their subject knowledge. But the important
concern is how to find out and select OERs suitable for teaching and learning.As
we have discussed, there are many OERs in the Internet in the forms of texts,
videos, games, simulations, and other digitised formats. So, one should be careful
while identifying suitable OERs. So, let us discuss the availability of these OERs
and their adaptation and integration in the teaching-learning process.
As mentioned in the earlier paragraph, OERs are available in the Internet/online.

This means, OERs are generally available in any website. So, one can use any
search engine (like google, Bing,yahoo, etc) to locate OERs. Since the world
wide web (WWW) contains enormous educational resources and other materials,
it is, sometimes, very difficult to locate them. Therefore, to locate OERs available
online, one can use specialised search engines. Specialised search engines locate
the resources/materials more accurately i.e. if you use specialised search engines
for OERs, they will filter the materials available and will provide only the OERs.
Some of the specialised search engines are given below:
• Creative Commons ( https://creativecommons.org/) 61
Teaching-Learning • Directory of Open Educational Resources ( http://doer.col.org/)
Resources
• OER Commons Open Educational Resources (https://www.oercommons.
org/)
• Folksemantic (http://folksemantic.com/)
• DicoverEd( https://wiki.creativecommons.org/wiki/DiscoverEd)
Apart from the specialised search engines, there are other search engines that are
helpful in searching and locating OERs. Some of these search engines are given
below:
• Open Education Consortium(http://www.oeconsortium.org/)
• Computer Science Open Educational Resources (http://iiscs.wssu.edu/
drupal/csoer)
• temoa (http://temoa.info/)
The other way to identify OERs is using Google. But while using Google, you
may make changes in the settings by clicking ‘Advanced Search’. Then after,
you may choose one among the options provided under ‘usage rights’. Then
save the changes and do google search for any OERs. The steps to be followed in
searching OER materials via Google is given below:
Step 1
Step 4
Step 3
Step 4
The other commonly used method to identify OER is searching OER repositories.
OER repositories are websites where digital materials are stored. The digital
materials include e-texts, audio and video files, multimedia files, etc. Thus, OER
repositories are web spaces where educational resources of varied nature are
stored. In the Internet, there are many such OER repositories where educational
resources are stored. Some of the OER repositories are NROER, MERLOT,
Sakshat, Wikipedia, Teacher Tube, You Tube, etc. The description of some of
these OER repositories are given in section 7.4.
62
We have discussed the search strategies for identification of OERs. Let us discuss Open Educational
Resources
how to utilize OERs in teaching-learning process.The three common ways of
utilizing OERs in teaching-learning process are mixing, adaption and asset
extraction (COL,2015). Mixing means combining different OERs and adding
additional content to produce entirely a new content that suits local context. For
example, you can develop a new video for students of class ten by mixing two
videos available at teacher tube (OER repository) and adding a video produced
by yourself to it. Adaption occurs when one OER is used and multiple adaptations
are developed to suit multiple contexts. For example, you can select an OER and
translate the same into different languages for use.. In asset extraction, only
selected assets/parts of an educational resources/material are extracted (taken)
and used in a completely different context. For example, a single image from an
OER in PDF format is used for teaching in ninth standard.
Having discussed the common ways of using OERs,let us understand how OER
is used with an example. Suppose you are teaching the concept of energy to
students of eighth class.They find it difficult to understand. In such a situation,
you may think that a video on the concept of energy will make your children
understand better. But you have not developed such a video. Therefore, you can
search OER repositories for videos on the concept of energy. You may download
a video available at YouTube or Teacher Tube for use. But make sure that the
videos that you download are OERs and are attached with open
licence.Acknowledge/ give credit to the owner of the videos depending on the
licence attached to it. In this way you can utilize the available open educational
resources in the teaching-learning process.
Check Your Progress

2) How will you locate OERs available online?
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3) Discuss the different ways of utilizing OERs in teaching –learning

process?
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63
Teaching-Learning 7.2.3 Creation of OER
Resources
Being teachers, we develop a number of lesson plans,teaching-learning aids and
use them for teaching-learning purpose. But with the emergence of the concept
of OERs and knowledge sharing, teachers have the option of sharing their teaching
learning resources with the public. Thus, the public has the advantage of using
teaching learning resources produced by someone else and somewhere. Thus,
sharing resources helps others make use of your teaching learning resources.
But there is a word of caution. While sharing resources, the owner has the right
to decide upon the ways his/her teaching learning resources are to be used by the
public. Here the role of the license comes into picture. While sharing the teaching
learning resources, the owner attaches a license to it. The most popular and
commonly used license is the creative commons license(discussed in section
7.3). So whenever you develop a material and attach an open license to it, then
that material becomes OER and the public can use and distribute that material as
well as remix and develop new material out of it as per the license attached to
it.
How can you convert your teaching-learning resources as OERs? To do so, you
may first develop the teaching learning resources; could be text, audio, video,
presentations, images, etc. After developing the material, you may attach an open
license to it. Depending upon the nature of open license attached to your teaching
learning resource, the public may distribute, remix, share, develop new material
using your material or may use it for commercial purpose. The public has to
necessarily give credit to or acknowledge your work.
Let us see how open licenses are attached to the educational resources/materials
that you develop. As discussed earlier, first develop your teaching learning material
and thereafter select an open license. To select an open license, decide upon the
right that you plan to give to the public. For example, whether you permit them
to simply share your work, remix, make derivatives or use it for commercial
purpose. Depending upon the right that you assign, the public can use your
teaching learning material. The six creative commons license types are given in
Fig 7.2. You may use any of these licenses for the material that you develop.
Fig 7.2 : Types of Creative Commons License
Also, you make use of the creative commons website to decide upon the license
you want to assign. For this visit creative commons website. While visiting
creative commons website, the homepage appears (Fig. 7.3). Thereafter, click
on the ‘share your work’ link. After clicking on the link, you may choose the
option for two questions ‘allow adaptations of your work to be shared’ or ‘allow
commercial uses of your work’. Depending upon the options that you provide,
the website automatically selects the type of license that you may use.
64
Open Educational
Resources
Fig. 7.3: Homepage of Creative Commons
Check Your Progress

4) How are OERs developed? Discuss
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65
Teaching-Learning
Resources 5) Discuss the ways of using creative commons website to decide upon
the open licences needed to attach with OERs?
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7.2.4 Sharing of OERs

We have discussed the ways of developing OERs.Let us discuss how one can
share them for general use. The possible ways of sharing OERs are: i) post the
OER in your own website, ii) post the OER in institutional website, iii) post it in
OER repositories, iv) Create OER online,and v) use social networks for sharing
OER. Let discuss these in brief.
i) Own Website: After developing OERs, the owner can share them through
his/her own websites. Individuals create websites of their own. These
websites are used for various purposes including educational use. Such
websites can be used to host the OERs and the same can be accessed by the
public.
ii) Institutional Website:Educational institutions have their own websites.
These websites can also be utilized for sharing the OERs. For example,
IGNOU hosts its self-instructional materials and audio/video programmes
through its institutional website. Similarly, NCERT also shares various
educational resources in its website.
iii) OER Repositories: There are many paid and free open source OER
repositories. These repositories are sources for hosting the OERs. To submit
OERs in such repositories, one has to register in those repositories. Thereafter
submit the OERs which will be reviewed and evaluated for quality criteria
prescribed by the repositories.Those OERs which meet those criteria will
be available in their database and can be accessed by anyone. Various OER
repositories are discussed in the section 7.4.
iv) Build Online: There are websites which allow online development of OERs.
It is possible to create educational resources in an online environment i.e.
the content available at websites can be edited, added and modified online.
For example, the websites like connexions (http://cnx.org), wikieducator
(http://wikieducator.org), Wikipedia ( http://wikipedia.org), etc. allows online
adding and editing of contents. As you add content, the websites themselves
attach open licenses as per their copyright policy.
v) Social Networks: Social networks can also be used a medium to share
OERs. Today social networking sites are extensively used for communication
and have gained wide popularity. Thus, OERs shared through social networks
can reach large population. There are some common social networks used
for sharing OERs. For example, flicker (www.flickr.com) is used to share
images and You Tube (www.youtube.com) for sharing videos having creative
commons license attached to it.Similarly,twitter, and Facebook can also be
used to provide information about OERs online.
66
Open Educational
Check Your Progress Resources
6) What are possible ways of sharing OERs? Give some examples of OER
repositories that are used for sharing OERs
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7.2.5 Advantages and Limitations of OERs

The uses of OERs have considerably increased owing to its several advantages.
i) The cost of obtaining educational resources has reduced as educational
resources are available anytime anywhere online.
ii) OERs provide quality materials as there is involvement of eminent experts
and sharing of educational resources among the users located in any part of
the world.
iii) Learners of any age group get access to excellent study materials
iv) OERs promote independent and collaborating learning.
v) Teachers can also share their teaching resources across the world as OERs
and thus help to enhance the quality of teaching by comparing their resources
with other teachers.
vi) Teachers can publish their work(educational resources) with an open licence
for the use of public.
Although OERs have several advantages, their limitations act as obstacles in the
acceptability of OERs in the field of education.
i) The first limitation is the policy pertaining to OER use. It is difficult on the
part of the stakeholders of education to use and adapt OERs available online
in the absence of a well-defined policy on OER.
ii) Second, the copy right issues also hinder the use of OERs. Even though
OERs have an open licence, the restrictions imposed on them make them
difficult for many users in identifying and adapting as per their contextual
requirement. This brings out the issues of identification and
contextualisation. Online provides numerous OER materials but to identify
context specific OERs using specialised search engines are time consuming
and difficult. Even if the OER is identified, adapting it with context specific
examples is difficult.
iii) The third limitation is associated with quality concerns and validity of
OERs. Today, it is possible for anyone to develop educational resource and
upload the same as OER. But those who create OERs may find problem in
67
Teaching-Learning identifying reliable OER repositories or websites that assure the copyright
Resources
concerns.
iv) The fourth limitation is regarding the willingness of experts in posting

educational resources online. They may be willing to share the resources
among the colleagues but not to the public. This may be due to their fear of
losing credit of their work or for some other reasons.
v) The fifth limitation is concerned with the quality of OERs. No one can
assure that the OERs available online are valid and reliable as there is no
such well-defined policy checking the quality of OERs. So many OERs
may not be relevant and authentic. There are issues of language and cultural
barriers of OERs. OERs might have been developed by their creators keeping
in view of their own culture and language, but they may not be suitable for
public at large and may be difficult to contextualise as per the local
requirement.
vi) The last limitation is concerned with technical issues associated with OERs.It
is fact that teachers and learners are technologically literate but they may
not possess computer and Internet facilities. For them, searching and
identifying OERs may be a difficult task.
Check Your Progress

7) List some advantages and disadvantages (limitations) of OERs
...............................................................................................................
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7.3 CREATIVE COMMONS LICENSE

As you know, when you create a lesson plan and upload the same on the Internet,
automatically you are the copyright holder of that particular lesson plan. Unless
and until you allow, the public cannot use your lesson plan. Also no one is
supposed to reuse, adapt (modify) or share it. In this case, your lesson plan is not
an OER. But OERs are legally free and the right to use OERs is expressed through
a license called the open license.This right implies OERs can be accessed, used,
adapted, shared, redistributed by anyone with a few restrictions. In other words,
the owner or the copyright holder of the OERs grants others permission to use,
adapt, modify, share and distribute his/her educational resources but with a few
restrictions. For example, a lesson plan of yours can be made an OER and posted
on the Internet with an open license attached to it. Similarly, whatever teaching
materials you prepare, such as audio, video, diagrams, presentations, diagrams,
images, and pdf texts, can be made OERs with an open license attached to them.
68
As there are plenty of OERs available in the Internet, the methods of identifying Open Educational
Resources
such OERs need to be understood. We will discuss the same in the coming
sections.
Thus, OERs always attach some kind of licenses commonly called the open
licenses. What are those licenses? The commonly used and most popular licenses
in use are Creative Commons (CC) licenses. Creative Commons Licenses are
internationally recognised, standardised and well established. CC licenses are
easy to understand. CC licenses allow others legally to use work, edit, and
remix(You may be aware of the remix of songs by singers.). In remixing, different
songs are mixed to produce a new tune or a new version of the song. In the
similar way, various educational resources can be clubbed and new materials
can be produced, adapted and redistributed without taking the permission of the
copyright holder. Once the educational resources (text, audio, video, images,
presentations, etc.) are developed, the owner attaches the CC licenses to it so
that anyone can use and reuse, depending on the license attached, without taking
the permission of the owner. But while you reuse other’s content/educational
resources, you need to give credit to the copyright owner. If you fail to give
credit to or acknowledge the author/owner, then it is considered as plagiarism.
Now let us discuss the various CC licenses. There are six CC licenses and these
licenses describe the rights that others can use while reusing educational resources
that are located in the public domain. The licenses describe the restrictions and
permission attached to educational resources and these licenses are represented
using the symbols given below:
The first symbol is “Attribution” (BY). BY represents that, if you

use other’s work/content/material, you need to give credit to/
acknowledge the owner. Thus, if you are using other’s /educational
resource/material, definitely you need to use this symbol.
The second symbol is “Share-Alike” (SA). SA represents that you

let others distribute, display, perform and modify your work, as long
as they distribute the work and modify work on the same terms. This
means that, when others use your material (as it is or modified form),
they need to attribute the work to you and they must also attach the
same license as you have attached for your material). If they want to
distribute modified works under other terms, they must get your
permission first.
The third symbol is “No Derivatives” (ND). ND represents you let

others copy, distribute, display ad perform only original copies of
your work. This means that, others cannot modify (cannot make
derivatives) your material and have to use your material as it is. If
they want to modify your work, they must get your permission first.
The fourth symbol is “Non Commercial” (NC). NC represents you

let others copy, distribute, display, perform and (unless you have
chosen NO Derivatives) modify and use your work for any
purpose other than commercially, unless they get your
permission first. This means, others cannot use your material
for commercial purpose i.e. your material cannot be sold and
make profit out of it.
69
Teaching-Learning You will see these symbols or combination of these symbols in OERs. Depending
Resources
on the license attached to OERs, the public can reuse it. The six CC licenses and
the meaning of each of these licenses are described below:
1) Attribution (CC BY)

This license lets others distribute, remix,
tweak, and build upon your work, even
commercially, as long as they give credit to you for the original creation.
This is the most used form of licenses. It is recommended for maximum
dissemination and use. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/). In the
educational context, suppose you use the lesson plan prepared by someone
else having CC BY license, then you can use it for your teaching purpose,
but you need to acknowledge/give credit to the owner of the lesson plan.
2) Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for
commercial purposes, as long as they give credit to you and license their
new creations under the identical terms. This license is often compared to
“copyleft” free and open source software
licenses. This is the license used by Wikipedia,
and is recommended for materials that would
benefit from incorporating content from
Wikipedia and similarly licensed projects(https://creativecommons.org/
licenses/). In the educational context, you may use lesson plan of others and
you are free to modify it. But after modifying you need to give the same
license.
3) Attribution-NoDerivatives(CC BY-ND)
This license allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as
long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit given to
you(https://creativecommons.org/licenses/). This license is opposite of the
Attribution Only license which means, you
have to give credit to other’s works but are
not allowed to make any changes in the
content. But you can use other’s content for
any commercial, non-commercial, educational purposes, or whatever
purposes you look for by giving due credit to the original owner. In the
educational context, you can use a OER video available online but cannot
remix (edit) to produce a new video.
4) Attribution-Noncommercial (CC BY-NC)

This license lets others remix, tweak, and build
upon your work non-commercially, and
although their new works must also
acknowledge you and be non-commercial,
they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms(https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/). You can use other’s material but not for
any commercial purpose. In the educational context, you can use an ‘OER
image’ for teaching-learningpurpose. Also, you can develop a new text with
that image included but cannot sell and earn money in your name.
70
5) Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike (CC BY-NC-SA) Open Educational
Resources
This license lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-
commercially, as long as they give credit to
you and attach the license to their new
creations under the identical terms(https://
creativecommons.org/licenses/).In the
educational context, you may use materials (text, audio, video, presentations,
etc.)carrying CC BY-NC-SA license i.e. you are free to remix, adapt and
build upon those materials. But the new material developed must carry the
same license and have the facility to share. Also the new material should
not be used for any commercial purpose.
6) Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND)

This license is the most restrictive of six main licenses, only allowing others
to download your works and share them with others as long as they give
credit to you, but they can’t change them in
any way or use them commercially i.e. with
this license all you’re able to do is: share the
work. Of course, you must provide
“appropriate credit”, but you cannot modify the work in any manner and
distribute it even if the distribution is not for commercial gain. In the
educational context, you may use a text available in the internet as it is
providing due credit to the owner. You are not supposed to edit (remix or
adapt to produce a new material) the text or use it for commercial purpose.
Apart from these six licenses, copyright of

educational resources is neither reserved nor fully
reserved.? This means that, those educational
resources with symbol ‘public domain’ attached to
it can be used by anyone without taking any
permission and credit need not be given to the owner.
And those educational resources with symbol ‘All
rights reserved” cannot be reused without taking the permission of the owner.
Thus, the freedom (restriction) in reusing the OERs varies as shown in figure
7.3:
Fig. 7.4: Spectrum of Rights

Source: http://howlround.com/the-creative-commons-or-commonly-creative 71
Teaching-Learning
8) What is open license? Why is it used with OERs?
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9) Briefly discuss the different creative commons open licence?

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10) Explain the meaning of the terms ‘public domain’ and ‘all rights reserved’
in the context of OERs
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7.4 OER REPOSITORIES

As we have discussed in earlier sections, OERs are developed and hosted online
in your own website or OER repositories. So OER repositories are spaces where
OERs are located. There are various OER repositories where you can post your
OERsas well as educational resources/materials are made available for public
use.OER repositories are developed and owned by both private/public and
governmental agencies both at international and national levels.MERLOT, You
Tube, Teacher Tube and Slide Share are some of the OER repositories available
at the international level. Examples of some OER repositories are given in Box-
1and 2.
72
Box-1 Open Educational
Resources
Box-2
OER Repositories (Source: COL,2013)
In India, a few autonomous bodies (central government organisations) and state

government agencies have developed their own OER repositories. NROER has
been developed by CIET, NCERT. National Programme on Technology Enabled
Learning (NPTEL) has been developed by IITs, IISc and other premier institutions.
Ministry of Human Resource Development(MHRD), Government of India has
created Sakshat (NMEICT, Govt. of India), E-Gyankosh has been created by
IGNOU. Other examples areInstitutional website and Wiki based platform,OER
of (NIOS), IT@ School (Govt. of Kerala), Karnataka Open Educational
Resources (KOER) (DSERT,Karnataka),Eklavya&OSCAR (IIT, Bombay), E-
Grid (IIIT, Kerala), etc.
Now let us discus some of the international and national level OER repositories
in brief.
73
Teaching-Learning 7.4.1 MERLOT
Resources
MERLOT (Multimedia Resources for Learning and Online Teaching) is a program
of the California State UniversitySystem partnering with education
institutions,professional societies, and industry. Thus, MERLOT associate with
various educational organisations, partnering institutions and other industries
and all those stakeholders contribute educational resources to MERLOT and
they are converted to OERs and made available in the website. The MERLOT
project began in 1997 and is an online digital repository that houses different
OERs useful for teaching learning of higher education. The MERLOT community
staff, volunteers and members collects, peer review, organise and make available
higher education learning resources belonging to various academic discipline in
the MERLOT website www.merlot.org. Thus, MERLOT is a curated collection
of free and open online teaching, learning, and faculty development services
contributed and used by an international education community. You may access
educational resources available at MERLOT by community (discipline) wise,
ISBN number wise, etc. Also, educational organisations can associate with
MERLOT by taking membership or by partnering and can provide educational
resources.
74
7.4.2 YouTube Open Educational
Resources
You Tube is an American video sharing website founded in 2005 and its
headquarters is at California. Presently, Google owns You Tube. Today, You Tube
is the most popular website where different videos like movies, TV
show clips, music videos, shortand documentary films, audio recordings, movie
trailers, live streams, and other contents such as video blogging, short original
videos, and educational videos, etc. are stored/archived and can be watched
anytime. Generally, individuals register (those who create accounts) in YouTube
and upload videos of different nature, while some companies/organisations also
upload their videos in You Tube. Unregistered users are free to watch videos
available at YouTube. Thus YouTube allows users to upload, view, rate, share,
add to favourites, report, comment on videos, and subscribe to other users. Today,
You Tube is available across the world in about fifty languages.
The videos available at You Tube are copyrighted and thus you must properly
acknowledge/give credit to the creator while reusing it. There are two ways by
which you can make your videos copyrighted while uploading in You Tube.
First, while you upload videos, it becomes the part of You Tube and You Tube
provides a default copyright license. Second, you may attach a creative commons
license to the video that you create and then upload the video in You Tube. Thus,
You Tube is a website where educational resources in video form can be stored
and archived and can be reused by the public depending upon the copyrights
attached to them.
Check Your Progress

11) What do understand by the term ‘OER repositories’?. Give some
examples
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75
Teaching-Learning
Resources 12) What kind of educational resources are stored in YouTube? Are they
OERs?
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7.4.3 Teacher Tube

Teacher Tube was founded in 2007. Teacher Tube is a website for sharing
educational videos (instructional videos) created by teachers. Students are also
allowed to upload videos created by them in Teacher Tube. Thus, Teacher Tube
is a video sharing website similar to You Tube with the difference that Teacher
Tube archives educational videos. Apart from educational videos, Teacher Tube
also contains audio, photo(image), documents, etc. Teacher Tube houses
educational videos suitable for all grades of education ranging from elementary
school to higher education. The educational videos available at Teacher Tube
covers broad topics like science, technical education, fine arts, health and physical
education, mathematics, social sciences, technology, language, computer science,
special education, etc. It also includes educational news, educational games, and
podcasts.
Similar to You Tube, one has to register (create account and sign in) with Teacher
Tube to upload his/her educational videos. The videos uploaded are copy righted
by Teacher Tube. You can also attach creative commons license to your videos
that helpspublic understand the way your videos are to be reused and adapted.
Those who have not registered with Teacher Tube can watch the educational
resources and are free to comment, like, subscribe, etc. Thus, Teacher Tube is
basically a video sharing website that allows individual to upload, watch and
reuse videos at a later stage depending on the copyright attached to them.
76
7.4.4 SlideShare Open Educational
Resources
SlideShare was founded in 2006 with the objective of sharing knowledge across
the world. In the near 2012, Linked In has taken over SlideShare and it is
commonly known as SlideShare. As the name indicates, SlideShare website is
basically for archiving slide shows (presentations). Thus, SlideShare is a
repository that stores slide shows (presentations). Also, individual has the freedom
to upload his/her slide shows (presentations). Today, SlideShare stores 18 million
slide shows belonging to 35 different categories and is one of the most visited
website across the world. The categories include arts, business, automotive, career,
data analytics, design, hardware, economy, finance, engineering, education,
entertainment, environment, food, health, internet, law, management, lifestyle,
medicine, marketing, mobile, politics, real estate, presentation and public
speaking, politics, HR, retail, sales, services, social media, software spiritual,
sports, technology, travel, etc.
Similar to You tube and Teacher Tube, registered users (those who create account
and then sign in) are able to upload their slide shows to SlideShare. The slide
shows uploaded is copy righted with LinkedIn Corporation. Users can upload
files privately or publicly in the following file formats: PowerPoint, PDF, Keynote
or Open Document presentation. It also supports documents, PDFs, videos
and webinars. SlideShare also provides users the ability to rate, comment on,
and share the uploaded content. You may also upload your presentations in
SlideShare by attaching Creative Commons license, so that the same will be
available for public reuse and thereby sharing your knowledge to a wider
community.
77
Teaching-Learning
13) Why is SlideShare used? Briefly discuss.
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7.4.5 Sakshat
Along with the other objectives of National Mission on Education through ICT
(NMEICT) by the Govt. of India, it is decided to develop an online educational
portal to provide educational services to stakeholders of education. The facilities
include: information about scholarships, certification and testing, making
available educational resources and lectures/talks of educational experts/teachers,
etc. With this view, an education helpline – ‘One Stop Education Portal-
SAKSHAT’ was developed by Ministry of Human Resource Development,
Government of India. In Sakshat portal, various educational resources like audio
and video lectures, MOOC courses, virtual classrooms and various other
educational resources in e-content form are available. These educational resources
are licensed under creative commonslicense.
78
Open Educational
Resources
Check Your Progress

14) Discuss the resources available at Sakshat portal
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7.4.7 E-Gyankosh
E-Gyankosh is a National Digital Repository maintained by the Indira Gandhi
National Open University, New Delhi to store, index, preserve, distribute and
share the digital learning resources developed by the open and distance learning
institutions in the country. The educational resources available at E-Gyankosh
are OERs can be accessed by anyone but while reusing one has to acknowledge
and give credit to IGNOU. Presently E-Gyankosh stores self-learning materials
(SLMs) of different programmes offered by IGNOU. These SLMs are arranged
as per schools of studies of the university and programme wise (doctoral, masters,
degree, diploma and certificate programme) in E-Gyankosh. Apart from SLMs,
the video programmes developed by various school of IGNOU is also available
at E-Gyankosh. 79
Teaching-Learning
Resources
7.4.7 NROER
NROER is a digital repository for Open Education Resources. The Repository
housesa wide range of educational content and resources covering all subjects
and all gradesfor school student teachers and other stakeholders. In addition to
the educational resources which are available in a wide variety of forms, the
NROER also provides opportunities to users to enroll in various online courses
and participate in online contests. NROER is initiated by the Department of
School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development,
Government of India and managed by the Central Institute of Educational
Technology, National Council of Educational Research and Training
(NROER,2017). All the educational contents available at NROER arelicensed
under creative commons CC BY SA license which allows it to legally reuse,
revise, remix and redistribute content. To contribute to the repository, one must
ensure that they are hosting the resources under a Creative Commons license
(CC BY-SA) and that the documents uploaded are encoded using non-proprietary,
open standards.
80
Open Educational
Resources
Check Your Progress

15) What is NROER? What type of open licence is attached to educational
resources available at NROER?
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7.5 LET US SUM UP

With the emergence of Internet, many educational resources are available online
and those resources can be used for your teaching-learning. While adapting online
educational resources, you need to acknowledge their owner . Or else it may end
up in copyright issues. But there are educational resources that you can use in
your teaching learning without taking the consent of the owner and such resources
are called OERs. Any educational resources in digital format and available
primarily online are called OERs. OERs are attached with an open licence that
describes the mode of reusing it. Today you may see many OERs online and
each day the count is increasing. Keeping the relevance of OERs, in this unit we
have discussed the various aspects of OERs like: meaning of OERs, use and
identification of OERs and search strategies for finding OERs, etc. Then we
have discussed the commonly used open license (creative commons license)
that are used for describing the nature of reusing OERs. The unit ends with the
discussion of some of the OER repositories.
81
Teaching-Learning
Resources 7.6 REFERENCES AND SUGGESTED READINGS
Butcher,N.(2015). A basic guide to open educational resources (OER). Vancouver:
UNESCO&COL.
OECD.92007). Giving knowledge for free:The emergence of open

educqationalresources.Paris:OECD.
Websites
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
http://www.sakshat.ac.in/
http://egyankosh.ac.in/
http://nroer.gov.in/welcome
https://www.merlot.org/merlot/index.htm
https://www.youtube.com/
https://www.teachertube.com/
https://www.slideshare.net/
https://search.creativecommons.org/
https://www.oercommons.org/
https://www.google.co.in/search
7.7 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

1) The educational resources having an open licence attached available in public
domain/internet are called OERs. OERs can be in the form of print, audio,
videos, podcast, etc.
2) OERs can be located either using specialised search engines or search engines
like Google search (use advanced search option). Or else, OERs can also be
located from OER repositories.
3) Mixing, adaption and asset extraction
4) Develop the educational resource and attach an open licence (creative

commons open licence is commonly used). There are six creative commons
open licences.
5) Refer section 7.2.3
6) The possible ways are; post the OER in your own website,post the OER in
institutional website, post it in OER repositories, Create OER online, anduse
social networks. Examples of institutional OER repositories includes e-
Gyankosh(IGNOU), NROER(NCERT), etc.
7) Refer section 7.2.5
8) Open licences are the license attached to OERs. Open licences describe the
ways of reusing the OERs i.e. the permission and restriction imposed on
OERs. Depending on the open licence attached to OERS, public can adapt,
reuse, remix and can use even for commercial purpose
82
9) Refer to section 7.3 Open Educational
Resources
10) OERs mentioning‘public domain’can be reused without taking the
permission of the author/creator of that particular educational resource, while
for reusing OERs mentioning ‘all rights reserved’, permission needs to
obtained from the author/creator
11) OER repositories are space/place (usually website) where OERs are stored.
MERLOT, SlideShare, YouTube, NROER, E-Gyankosh are some of the
examples of OER repositories.
12) Educational resources in the form of videos. Yes, videos (educational

resources) available at YouTube are OERs
13) SlideShare is an OER repository used for storing educational resources in

the form of presentations.
14) Refer to section 7.4.6
15) NROER is an OER repository maintained by CIET, NCERT. It mainly houses

educational resources related to school education. The educational resources
in NROER is licenced using CC-BY-SA licence.
83
Teaching-Learning
Resources UNIT 8 EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE
APPLICATION
Structure
8.1 Introduction
8.2 Objectives
8.3 Educational Software
8.3.1 Principles of Educational Software
8.3.2 Free Open Source Software (FOSS)
8.4 Software for Classroom Learning
8.4.1 Multimedia
8.4.2 CD and DVD
8.4.3 Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)
8.5 Software for Special Learners
8.6 Software for Assessment
8.7 Let Us Sum Up
8.1 INTRODUCTION
When you look around, you will find world full of electronic gadgets. These
have slowly pervaded each and every aspect of our life. All systems and their
operations have slowly switched from manual to digital. You are aware of Digital
India movement. When you see electronic gadgets, for example, a television or
a computer, you assume that it is the hardware which is important. But actually
these hardwares are being operated with the help of software. It is pertinent to
know here that the hardware is not complete in it and needs software to function.
Software are used in all ICT based systems or gadgets,
Software are also used in teaching and learning and other areas of education and
are known as educational software. In this unit, we will discuss educational
software.
8.2 OBJECTIVES
After studying this unit, you will be able to:
• explain educational software;
• discuss the importance of educational software;
• explain the role of multimedia in teaching-learning process;
• describe the free and open source software;
• explain various technologies used for learners’ with special needs; and
• describe various uses of ICT for assessment.
84
Educational Software
8.3 EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE Applications
Software are used for a variety of purposes. The software which are used in
teaching-learning process by teachers and students are called educational software.
Wikipedia defines educational software as computer software, the primary
purpose of which is teaching or self-learning. Educational software help teachers
improve their teaching skills and students their learning skills.
Educational software are available in plenty, though many of them may not suit
everyone’s requirements. . Thus, you have to select a software as per your
requirement and context. You can choose appropriate software from a huge range
of educational software. You have to be very careful in selection of the software
for their use for educational purposes..
Educational software can be divided into two categories. As already mentioned,

the teacher can select as per the context, need and the level of the learners.
1) Content-free Software: They help or facilitate the learners/users to create
their own contents. Learners can create their own contents as these are more
open-ended like word processing suite, and graphic programs. It can be
used across disciplines/subjects. For example, if you want to develop a
material for its use in teaching history or geography, it can be easily done by
word processing software. These software not only facilitate creation of
text files but also multimedia files. If you want to add an audio file, it can be
done through audio recording and editing software like Audacity. Similarly,
planning an essay or a brainstorming session in any subject area can be
done through any concept mapping software like c-map, or freemind. The
graphics can be used and modified using Paint, etc. If a teacher intends to
use technology for teaching-learning purpose, these Content-free Software
facilitates him/her for a wide range of cross-curricular teaching and learning
activities. Content-free software also offers better opportunities for sharing
and collaboration of reusable resources.
2) Content-rich Software: As the name indicates, they focus on content. These
are discipline/subject specific software which are used for teaching-learning
purpose in particular subject. They typically comprise multimedia content
(e.g., graphics, video, sound, animation, etc.), which are presented in a very
structured way for concept building as well as concept clarification. Teachers
use these software for teaching new topics for concept attainment and
clarification among learners. They are often used as supplementary to
classroom teaching in schools and provide an alternative way to teaching-
learning. In using the content -rich software, the learner has the advantage
of re-running the software till the mastery of the concept. These are used in
schools, sometimes, as part of SMART classroom project and are useful in
teaching-learning activities in schools. Most of these software are copyrighted
and proprietary.
8.3.1 Principles of Educational Software

Principles are the guiding rules which help in smooth functioning of any area of
knowledge. Though there are many principles of educational software, but there
are three main principles which need to be considered while using educational
software.
85
Teaching-Learning 1) Usability: This is most important principle as it helps us to select whether
Resources
the educational software, under consideration, is suitable for the intended
task. This principle also takes care of the effectiveness and efficiency of the
educational software in achieving its intended outcome.
2) Usefulness: The software should be able to make positive changes or help

in improving teaching -learning process in the classroom. If it is not able to
bring any improvement in teaching-learning process, its use becomes
redundant. Thus, usefulness is another principle in selection of educational
software.
3) Desirability: The quality which makes the software popular and desirable
is its quality to motivate learners to learn new learning tasks. It should be
effective in helping learners attain new concepts and clarify doubts.
Any good software, especially educational software, must have all the three
characteristics. All of these are interlinked to each other like desirability depends
on usability.
Most of the software development are governed by two general guidelines to

accommodate these three principles -
• Know the user: This means the human aspect like the age , cognitive level
and reasoning, leaning styles, social and psychological aspects; and
• Know the system: It is concerned with the delivery aspect i.e. the platform
has the maximum reach, interoperable, etc.
Check Your Progress

1) State whether true or False:
a) Educational software are used for teaching the slow learners. ( )
b) MS Word is content rich software. ()
c) Desirability of a software is one of the important principles of
software selection. ()
d) A good software can run on any system. We should only bother
about the software features for the users. ()
8.3.2 Free Open Source Software (FOSS)

Software are the computer programmes, which are written in programming
language (codes) by developers. This is called ‘coding’. The coding is done as
per the requirements, as discussed in previous section. To use a everyday analogy,
coding is like recipe of a new dish. A cook keeps on modifying the recipe till the
perfect desired taste is achieved. Similarly, coding is developed, modified,
tested and revised till the desired output as software is reached. It is quite a
comprehensive process. Now it depends on the developer or the organization
he/she is working for to decide whether the code (source) should be shared with
others or not. It is this decision which makes the software proprietary or free
and open source.
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Proprietary Software: Most people want to retain the rights of their creations Educational Software
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and this is the concept of copyright or the intellectual property right. In case of
software it is called proprietary software where code or the recipe is not disclosed
by the developer to the users. One has to pay a license amount to use the proprietary
software. In case of freeware, the code is not shared but the use of software is
allowed for free.
Free and Open Source: The application of democratic values in education gave
rise to free and open philosophy and the copy left movement. The basic premise
of the copy left movement is sharing the code and the software with the user/
learner who in turn has the freedom to access, use, modify and, if need be,
redistribute the software back to the community.
Free and Open-Source Software (FOSS) is computer software that can be
classified as both free software and open-source software. Anyone is free to use,
copy, study and change the software in any way as per his/her need and context.
As already discussed, the source code is shared with all and others are encouraged
to make changes for the betterment of the design. This is in contrast to proprietary
software, in which the software is under restrictive copyright and the source
code is usually hidden from the users.
Free in FOSS does not mean free in price but the liberty given to the user to run,
copy, distribute study, change and improve the software. To understand the
concept, you should think of “free” as in “free speech”. It is also sometimes
called “libre software”. Software Libre (or libre software, or Free software)[1]
is software released in a way which grants users the freedom to run, copy, study,
change, improve and share the software. (http://wikieducator.org/Software_libre
) (https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html). It further states that free
software grants its users four essential freedoms:
• To run the program as you wish for any purpose.
• To study how the program works and change it so that it does your computing
as you wishes. Access to the source code is a precondition for this.
• To redistribute copies so you can help your neighbour.
• To distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
This can be done through the sharing of source code so that the whole community
gets a chance to benefit from your changes.
The GNU General Public License (GNU GPL or GPL) is a widely used free
software license, which guarantees end users (individuals, organizations,
companies) the freedoms to run, study, share (copy), and modify the software.
The license was originally written by Richard Stallman of the Free Software
Foundation (FSF) for the GNU Project.
Limitations:
Though it seems very attractive, the use of open software also has its limitations:
i) User Interface - Sometimes the user interface is not as user friendly as in
case of proprietary software. This is because in case of Open and free
software, commercial angle is not involved, and therefore, it is more in
terms of developer’s perception of the need of the users than the researched
need of the user.
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Teaching-Learning ii) Service support - As the software is free and open, there is absence of any
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dedicated support service as in case of proprietary software. There is
community of users who respond and fix problems for the user but that is
not as prompt as in case of proprietary software.
iii) Compatibility issues - In case of some proprietary hardware, there is
requirement of specialized drivers to run open source programs. These have
to be procured from the equipment manufacturer. This can potentially add
to the cost of your project. Even if an open source driver exists, it may not
work with your software as well as the proprietary driver.
iv) Hidden costs - Software that is free up-front but later costs money to run
can be a major burden, especially if you haven’t considered these hidden
costs from the outset.
Check Your Progress

5) What are the differences between proprietary and open source software?
...............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
6) List few Free and Open Source Software.

...............................................................................................................
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...............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
...............................................................................................................
7) What are the four freedoms of the FOSS?

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8.4 SOFTWARE FOR CLASSROOM LEARNING Applications
When many media or multiple media are integrated in a comprehensive and

cohesive manner in a single software for concept clarification, it is called
multimedia (the combination of different media i.e. audio, video, graphics,
animations and text in a software). We have to keep this in mind that though
multimedia is a combination of two or more media, it is not merely mixing of
the media but an integrated and well weaved programme designed to be used for
teaching and learning.
The quality and effectiveness of a multimedia package depends both on the types
and kind of media used and also how the parts are integrated together to create a
whole. Multimedia, initially were linear and had very little interactivity other
than pressing of arrow key or mouse press for moving forward. This gave learner
very little option to be active and interactive. It was realized that interactivity is
as important an aspect of multimedia as the types of media integrated. Let us
understand more about Multimedia.
8.4.1 Multimedia
Of late, we come across many modern electronic devices in classroom, like
computer. Communication through these devices is done using images,
animations, videos and graphics. Many media are used for concept formation,
attainment as well as clarification. Multimedia are used on the premise that
students learn better from well-designed multi-media materials in comparison
to traditional modes of communication. The basic premise is that more the number
of senses involved, the more efficacious is student learning.
Multimedia uses text, graphic, animation, video and sound in a unified and
integrated manner so that the content is presented to students comprehensively.
This comprehensibility would have been less if only one medium was used.
Thus, we may say that Multimedia uses text, graphic art, sound, animation, and
video in different combinations but in an integrated and holistic manner.
Elements of Multimedia
Text Audio
Image Video
Multimedia Animation
Graphic
Fig. 8.1: Elements of Multimedia

Multimedia has six basic elements: Text, Images, Graphics, Audio, Video, and
Animation. These are also referred to as building blocks of multimedia. Therefore,
any multimedia consists of any or all of these elements.
89
Teaching-Learning i) Text: It is the simplest of the six elements both in creation and
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communication. It needs less space, and bandwidth. HTML, and Postscript,
PDF are the types of text used in multimedia.
ii) Images: A picture says louder than thousand words. It can be digital picture,
scanned image, slide, or painting. All of these are mostly used in multimedia.
It can be easily used for clarification of concepts and also generation of
student interest.
iii) Graphics: Graphics are visual representations to enhance or enable the

representation of an idea or feeling to the user. Graphics may entertain,
educate, or emotionally impact the user. They are crucial for strengthening
clarity of illustration.
iv) Audio: It uses the strength of sound to facilitate learning of concepts. It is

also used to reinforce ideas presented as text or graphics on the screen.
Audio becomes very important in language education. Audio is used as
voice over (narration), background sound or to create effects.
v) Video: It is very important element of multimedia with respect to clarification

of concepts, generation of interest and motivation among students. It
demonstrates different processes, equipment and the context among other
things. The lengthy processes involved in a learning task can be demonstrated
in less time. Minute details of the processes can be highlighted. It has a
wide scope and should be judiciously used as downloading a video requires
large bandwidth though it is very useful for transacting certain learning
tasks.
vi) Animation: It is an interesting way of illustrating concepts with movements.

This has the strength of video and at places is better than a video as one can
focus only on important things. It involves graphics with movement. Flash
is mostly used for creating animations. Simple 2D animations can be created
using open source tools like pencil or tupi and more advance tools like
blender.
Types of Multimedia:
Multimedia are broadly of two types: Linear and Non-linear.
• Linear Multimedia: In linear multimedia, the content is presented in linear
way i.e. without any navigational control for the viewer. Here the sequence
of content is pre-determined and learner is passive receiver and interacts
with the multimedia application in which the content is sequentially
presented. The viewer does not control the progress of the content. For
example, in a video there is a combination of audio, graphics and animations,
but the viewer has no control over the sequence of events presented in the
video.
• Non-linear Multimedia: It uses learner interactivity to determine the

progress in the content. The example is self-paced computer based
programme, or a video game. The learner is able to progress as per his/her
ability. Thus learner is not passive but is active in a two way communication.
This communication can be controlled by using buttons, links and hypertext.
Hypermedia is an example of non-linear content.
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The multimedia, having so much potential for teaching and learning, will not Educational Software
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be meaningful if the learner is not able to learn as per his/her ability and remains
as a passive learner. Thus there is an important component of interactivity added
to multimedia. Such multimedia is termed as Interactive Multimedia.
Interactive Multimedia:
According to Reimann (as stated in Andresen, 2013), interactivity influences the
process of learning and the content through a broad range of possibilities. It
could vary from simply manipulating objects on the screen by mouse activities
to immersed contextual interactivity wherein within virtual reality the user
ventures into a simulated three-dimensional world.
• Linear navigation: It means only moving forward/backward on the screen
is allowed.
• Hierarchic navigation: It allows the learner to select content/links by using
special menus.
• Interactive help: This kind of help, which is available through special menu
buttons, is most effective when adapted to the topical presentation of
information;
• Feedback: The programme answers by giving an assessment on the quality
of user activities. These answers are visible on the screen. The further
programme may be dependent on this assessment, i.e. adaptability is
established.
• Communicative interaction: There is possibility of interaction with other
persons, i.e. other users or ‘friends’ in social networks. Since, social networks
consist of people who are connected by a shared object, networks can foster
learning about these objects (Zengestrom, 2005).
• Constructive interaction: The programme provides an opportunity for
constructing or configuring objects on the screen. For example, users have
a possibility to actively create their own nodes and link models, i.e. they
can add new nodes and new links between already existing nodes and in
this way develop their own hypertext structure.
• Reflective interactions: The programme stores the learner’s individual
activities for further analysis (e.g. a navigation path within a hypermedia
lesson). Furthermore, the programme can provide the learner with an ‘expert
path’ or a ‘guided tour’;
• Simulative interactivity: Objects on the screen are linked together and
exchange information in such a way that a particular configuration of objects
produces ‘behavior’ of these objects (simulations of machines, simulations
of social interactions, etc.);
• Non-immersed contextual interactivity: The learner is involved in an
activity that implies a pedagogical purpose. Many edutainment applications
(software which combines education and entertainment) and adventure
games use this kind of interactivity .
• Immersed contextual interactivity: This is virtual reality. Within virtual
reality the user dives into a simulated three-dimensional world.
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Teaching-Learning 8.4.2 CD and DVD
Resources
With the rise of demand for educational software and the personal computers
having very limited storing space approximately 10 MB of data (in initial years
of personal computers), compact disc (CD) became a very appealing option for
storing and retrieving data as well as playing the educational software. CD is an
optical media storage device which has enhanced storage capacity than the earlier
used magnetic media storage device like Floppy disc. One CD could contain
data equivalent data capacity of 500 floppies and is almost seven times more
durable than the floppy.
A compact disc (CD) is a round, thin portable storage medium that can be used
to record, store and play back audio, video and other data in digital form. A
standard compact disc measures 4.7 inches, or 120 millimeters (mm), and is 1.2
mm thick. You can store up to 700 MB data in any form, though initially CD was
used for storing audios.
CD has many formats like:
• CD-Read-Only Memory or the CD-ROM could only be read by CD-ROM
drive on any computer. It was available in 1985.
• CD-interactive was released in 1993 wherein more interactivity was
introduced. It started with educational music and self improvement titles
but later on games were added.
• CD-Rewritable (CD-RW) was available for rewriting data as the CD used
earlier when burnt could not be used again. The problem in using CD-RW
was that it was unreadable to many early CD players as CD-RW used a
metallic alloy that reflected differently than regular compact discs.
• CD-Recordable (CD-R) is a compact disc that can be written once and read
many times, but unlike the CD-RW, the CD-R can be read on CD players
released prior to its own introduction.
• CD-ROM extended Architecture: The CD-ROM XA is an extension of the
standard CD-ROM that allows audio, video and computer data to be accessed
simultaneously.
CD was widely used for multimedia and educational software. As its cost became
more affordable, its popularity gained tremendously. But now-a-days, its use is
on decline with the availability of cloud services and other digital data managing
and storing options.
A more advanced and somewhat digital version of CD is DVD. DVD is Digital
Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc. A DVD or DVD-ROM is a disc capable of
storing large amounts of data on one disc though it is of the size of a standard
CD. Like a CD, any kind of media data may be stored on DVD and retrieved
whenever needed. DVD can be played on a computer through a part or unit
called DVD drive and its associated software. One of the free and open source
media player which works across many operating systems like Windows, Mac,
and Linux is VLC. The Windows Media Player on Windows operating system
also supports most DVDs and CDs as well as all DVD drives are capable of
reading both CDs and DVDs. DVDs are especially used for large sized multimedia
programs and video programmes. Also educational games with high level of
interactivity are available on DVDs.
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Although with advent of cloud, streaming and pen drives, DVD usage has Educational Software
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declined, but it is still quite popular and widely used. In spite of more cloud,
streaming and other storage options, CD and DVD are available for games and
other uses.
Besides the use of CD and DVD, other computer based teaching learning
programmes are Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI), Computer Based
Instruction (CBI), etc.
8.4.3 Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)

As the name suggests, CAI is an interactive and self-learning technique. The
content is presented on computer screen and the learner interacts with the
computer for learning. It could be offline/online, involving interaction of the
student with the contents presented on the computer screen in the form of
programmed instruction.
CAI uses a multimedia i.e. combination of text, graphics, sound and video in
enhancing the learning process. It is delivered through the use of the computer
to facilitate and improve instruction. Important modes of delivery or instructional
strategies used in CAI are tutorials, drill and practice, simulation, games, etc..
These are used for presentation of content and assessment of learner’s
understanding. Therefore, a typical CAI will have multimedia content, mostly
text, multiple choice questions, problems for application , immediate feedback,
notes on incorrect response, exercises for practice, and result of learner
performance.
Advantages of CAI
The advantages of CAI are:
• Individualized instruction i.e. Learners learn according to their own pace.
• Learning is self-directed as learners decide when, where, and what to learn.
• It motivates learners as they learn at their own way and pace.
• There is freedom to experiment with different options as learner learns
individually.
• Immediate feedback to the answers is provided to enhance student learning.
• It provides teacher more time to devote for individual student.
• It helps shy and slow learners to learn as they do not feel awkward and
humiliated in front of class.
• Use of multimedia in CAI helps learners to understand difficult concepts
through multi sensory approach.
Disadvantages (Limitations) of CAI
In spite of many advantages, CAI has some limitations.
• Lack of adequate infrastructure.
• Non-availability of good CAI packages.
• If not used judiciously, a learner may feel overwhelmed by the information
and resources available.
• Tendency of overuse of multimedia which may divert the attention of learner
from the content 93
Teaching-Learning • Learning becomes too mechanical.
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Computer based learning is not only meant for the normal children but has the
capacity to cater to learners with special needs.
Check Your Progress

8) Fill in the blanks with suitable words
a) The different building blocks of Multimedia are Text, Images and
graphics, Audio, ...................... and .................................
b) Multimedia may be broadly divided into ............. and ..................
c) The storage capacity of CD is .......................................
d) Passive learning through multimedia can be made active through
the uses of .......................................................
8.5 SOFTWARE FOR SPECIAL LEARNERS

In earlier sections, we have discussed how technology helps in individualizing
learning experiences. Learners with special needs also require individualized
learning experiences. Learners with special needs have a range of provisions of
education from regular schools to specialized residential schools. Learners with
special needs receive their education in the least restrictive environment (LRE).
In recent times, inclusive education is being implemented in school system. In
Fig. 8.2: Assistive Technologies

Source: Unit 10 : ICT for Educational management in Critical Understandings of ICT,
94 www.riemysoure.ac.in/ict/index.html
inclusive schools all students with special needs are taught in regular classroom Educational Software
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and extra provisions are provided to cater to their special needs, over and above
the needs of the regular classrooms.
There are many technological innovations which can help learners with special
needs to learn in the regular classroom. There are many assistive technologies
and many software which can help learners with special needs (Fig. 8.2).
The technology which helps students with special needs are commonly called
assistive technology (AT) which simply means technology that helps a learner
with special needs to enhance or maintain his/her level of functioning. AT includes
technologies like laptops with specialized programs, like speech to text, text to
speech, graphic organizers and word prediction software which increase, maintain,
or improve the functional capabilities of a child with a disability. It is enabling
and empowering for all individuals with special needs, various range of cognitive/
learning, and physical disabilities, to be more independent, self-confident,
productive and better included in everyday life, education, employment and living.
Nature of Assistive Technology

Assistive Technology refers to any technological tool that allows learners with
special needs to be more independent, self-confident, productive and better
included in everyday life. It helps in compensating for the deficit in the learners’
abilities and skills. It increases their learning and functioning by lessening and
removing any barriers in learning and functioning. This forms the basis of
inclusive education, wherein special learners are taught in the regular classrooms.
Assistive Technologies support their participation and learning in classroom. It
further motivates them to learn like normal children in the classroom and also
strive to do best of their abilities.
As with normal children learners with special needs have their own unique set of
strengths, weaknesses, interests, experiences and special abilities. Therefore,
technology needs to be individualized and chosen with reference to the special
abilities of learners and the context of learning. The technology varies from low
grade technology to medium to high, sophisticated technology. Some commonly
used technological devices are:
• Digital recorders, and books which are reading systems that utilize a
computer, scanner, and software to “read” scanned book pages out loud,
e.g. Kurzweil
• Speech recognition software that allows a computer to operate by speaking
to it, e.g. Siri, Watson
• Speech recognition system that turn oral language into written text, e.g.
Dragon. Google also provides this facility.
• Software that predicts and edits words for students who struggle with
spelling, e.g. WordQ.
• Mind mapping/outlining software.
• Global Positioning System (GPS)
Besides these, there are some specialized software which help learners with special
needs in their learning. These are screen reading software or the screen readers.
Screen Reader is a screen reading software especially designed for visually 95
Teaching-Learning impaired learner to learn the displayed matter on the computer screen. It is
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especially designed to recognize and detect text as input and give speech or the
voice as output. Thus, it acts by recognizing the text being displayed on computer
screen, which is spoken aloud by speech synthesizer as speech which is enabling
and empowering for a visually impaired learner to be independent in use of
computer. If a print is required in form of tactile dots, the system may be connected
to Braille display wherein the Braille printed matter will be provided as output.
With the use of screen readers, a visually impaired learner can communicate
through computer like a sighted person. There are many screen readers available
compatible with different operating systems of the computer. They may be chosen
according to the context and need of the user.
JAWS10.00
JAWS for Windows is one of the most popular
screen reader which reads aloud what’s on the
computer screen and helps the visually
impaired person to be an independent
individual as a learner as well as a worker. It
was developed by Freedom Scientific
Company. JAWS are compatible with most
of the commonly used applications. It has an array of versatile features wherein
it provides for Braille output in addition to speech output.
Non Visual Desk Top Access (NVDA) is a

free and open source solution to visually
impaired person supported by NV Access
Organization. NVDA is bundled with
eSpeak which is also a free and open source
multi-lingual speech synthesizer which helps
learners to use many languages. NVDA has
been translated in twenty languages of the
world. It allows visually impaired learner to get feedback as synthetic speech
and Braille. It has ability to run entirely from an USB stick without installation,
thus supporting mobility. It has basic support of Microsoft and thus empowers
the special learners to access and interact with Windows Operating System and
many third party applications.
Super Nova: It is developed by Dolphin , one of

the reputed players in the field. Super Nova is a
full screen offering magnification, speech and
Braille support, offering visually impaired learners
the freedom to access Windows as per their desires
and needs. It supports the whole range of visual impairments. It is suited for
individual learners as well as group settings like classrooms, or work place.
SAFA: Screen Access For All (SAFA) is an improved version of READER. It

supports Hindi text and helps in detecting a language. SAFA automatically speaks
the language of the input or text in windows. It currently works with Microsoft
word, notepad.
All the above software are on Windows Operating System.
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A Linux supporting software is: Educational Software
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ORCA: ORCA is a free and open source scriptable screen
reader using various combinations of speech, Braille and
magnification.
As mobiles have become omnipresent, so there is presence of Mobile Screen
Reading Software.
TALKS: It is developed by Nuance, a leading
service provider. It supports over twenty languages
. The screen reader can be adjusted with respect to
volume and speaking rate. It has automatic caller ID
announcement network, battery and other status
indicators. No additional hardware is required for the software to run.
Mobile Speak: It is developed by Code factory. It also supports speech and
Braille like other software. It can speak in Hindi
besides ten other languages like Hungarian. It has
‘voice on call’. It has integration of full screen
magnifier with unique features such as font
smoothing, cursor customization, status shortcuts and more. It has built-in
dictionary to customize pronunciation.
Technology devices have helped to decrease isolation of learners with special
needs to some extent. They empower learners with special needs to learn in
regular classrooms in an inclusive environment.
One needs to do regular practice to use these devices effectively. The assistive
technologies should be selected on the criteria of:
• Effectiveness: how well the technology enhances the learners’ learning
abilities.
• Affordability: how much it costs to purchase, maintain, and repair the
technology.
• Operability: how easy the technology is to use.
• Dependability: how long the technology operates without reduced
performance or breakdown.
Therefore, all the teacher education preparation programs should ensure that
prospective teachers have knowledge and basic exposure to the technologies for
learners with special needs. The learning environment needs to be designed or
adapted for all students to have the opportunity for learning.
Check Your Progress
9) Fill in the blanks by choosing the suitable words
a) The technology to help learners’ with special needs is called .............
(assistant /assistive).
b) ORCA is ................... Software (Proprietary/free and Open source).
c) TALKS is screen reader for ........................ (laptop/mobile).
d) Inclusive education is possible because of .............................
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Teaching-Learning
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8.6 SOFTWARE FOR ASSESSMENT
Learning is validated only through assessment. Assessment has significant role
in teaching -learning process. Thus, we may say that assessment is the process of
identifying, gathering and interpreting information about learner’s learning. It
involves a wide variety of methods and tools to evaluate, measure, and document
both the process and the product of learning. There are two major types of
assessment: formative and summative. It basically helps teachers and the system
to improve student learning and also sets direction for ongoing teaching and
learning process.
Formative assessment is usually considered “for learning” whereas Summative

assessment is “of learning”. Formative assessment helps to improve the process
of learning whereas Summative assessment helps us to know whether we have
been successful in achieving learning outcomes..
ICT has also opened numerous possibilities for assessment. Software for
assessment are readily available like other fields of education for assessing student
learning and providing feedback. Digital devices and software are available for
construction, delivery, storage or reporting of student assessment tasks, responses,
grades or feedback.
Various terms are used to describe the use of a computer for assessment purposes.
These include:
• Computer-Assisted Assessment or Computer-Aided Assessment (CAA);
• Computer-Based Assessment (CBA);
• Online Assessment.
Although these terms are commonly used interchangeably, they have distinct
meanings. Computer Assisted/Mediated Assessment refers to any application of
computers in the assessment process. The role of the computer may be extrinsic
or intrinsic in the assessment process. Computer Assisted Assessment is also
known as e-assessment, which describes a wide range of computer-assisted
assessment. In computer-assisted assessment, the computer often plays no part
in the actual assessment of responses but merely facilitates the recording and
transfer of responses between candidate and human assessor.
Computer-Based Assessment refers to assessment which is built around the use

of a computer; the use of a computer is always intrinsic to this type of assessment.
This can relate to assessment of IT practical skills or more commonly the on
screen presentation of knowledge tests. The defining factor is that the computer
marks or assesses the responses provided by Iearners. Online assessment refers
to assessment activity which requires the use of the internet. In reality, few high
stake assessment sessions are actually conducted online in real time but the transfer
of data is conducted through the internet prior to and after the assessment session.
There are many examples of practice and diagnostic tests being run on real time
over the internet.
Christine, R. (2013) provided an overview of developments and trends in

technology-enhanced assessment by elaborating the work of Bunderson (1989),
Martin (2008) and Bennett (2010)) in the following figure:
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Applications
Figure 8.3: overview of developments and trends in technology-enhanced assessment

Source: Elaborated by the autor on the basis of Bunderson (1989), Martin (2008) and bennett
(2010)
Christine, R. (2013) tried to consolidate the use of e-assessment and identified

two conceptually different approaches:
Computer-Based Assessment (CBA): In this form of assessment computer acts

as a platform to run the assessment. It involves assessment questions like multiple
choice questions. Assessment is not only summative or “of learning” but formative
or “for learning”. It is not done at the end of teaching consisting of recall or
recognition type questions but is now being designed as part of teaching-learning
process integrated with contextual problems or case study based questions. Thus,
mere memorization does not help but the use of Key Competencies is required
to answer these questions.
Now, there are software available for student assessment. These are also
customized according to the need of the learner, curriculum and the organization.
Technology-enhanced learning (TEL) environment is another software based
application of assessment wherein focus is on learning analytics besides there
are provisions of embedded assessment of higher cognitive abilities like critical
thinking, and problem-solving.
Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA): In computer-assisted assessment, as
the name suggests, computer is used to assess students’ learning and performance.
It is used in both formative and summative assessment. The computer assisted
assessment could be online or offline. Offline assessment is done with the help
of Optical Mark Reader (OMR). Computer Assisted Assessment is primarily
formative in nature and provides teachers timely feedback on how best to teach
a subject. It can also be summative, with limited feedback being given at the end
of a course and serves to grade and categorize student’s work. It can also be
diagnostic to find out learning difficulties of learners.
Advantages
• Computer assisted assessment is generally objective testing; testing that
can be marked objectively and thus offers high reliability. 99
Teaching-Learning • The tests can be marked quickly and easily, and adapted to meet a wide
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range of learning outcomes.
Disadvantages
• Construction of good objective tests requires skill and practice and so it is
time consuming;
• Hardware and software must be carefully monitored to avoid failure during
examinations;
• Security issues can be a problem in Web based CAA;
• Students require adequate IT skills and experience to answer assessment
questions.
Online Assessment: Online assessment is the process used to assess student
learning wherein the assessment is carried out via a computer connected to a
network. It is a CBA but through connected network. Network connectivity is
important for this as assessment is carried out online. The test is not located in
the stand alone computer but is administered through the networked computer.
Online assessment provides flexibility and scale to conduct examinations of
various candidates at a given point of time. Processing of result is quick. It can
also provide useful analytics for the academic and administrative decision-making.
Very often, online assessment is carried out for recruitment, employee training,
entrance examinations, etc. With the emergence of read write web and the
development of software as a service ( SaaS), it is possible to design and conduct
online assessment with ease.
Online assessment can be used to assess cognitive and psycho-motor abilities.

The cognitive abilities are assessed using online-testing software, whereas psycho-
motor abilities can be assessed using e-portfolios, virtual labs, or simulation
software. Online assessment has the following advantages:
• Flexibility: There is flexibility in conducting online assessment in terms of
time and place like the open education system.
• Lowers the overall cost: It can be used again and again.
• Feedback is instant: Students get instant feedback in most cases and thus
acts as a motivator to learners (immediacy of reinforcement is very important)
• Reduces the subjectivity: It reduces subjective biasness of the assessor as
it happens in paper and pencil test.
• Helps in analytics of both system and learner: Data is stored for a longer
time and can be retrieved as per the need for analysis.
• Incorporation of multimedia and interactivity: Multimedia and
interactivity can be incorporated in the assessment process.
The major disadvantages of e-assessment are its higher cost of development in

the beginning, in establishing assessment system and creation of question bank.
Any e-assessment has to consider three major components. To effectively conduct
e-assesment, three major components have to be catered for efficiently. They
are:
1) Creation of assessment questions – Online assessment involves mainly
100
two components: one is the platform which is software to create and deliver
the assessment questions and the second is the creation of question bank. Educational Software
Applications
The question bank is created by subject matter experts. Subject matter experts
can also create assessment questions online. The questions have to be kept
securely until the examination starts. The online assessment questions can
be of different difficulty level and interactivity can also be incorporated in
them.
2) Supervision of assessment - Students have to be properly identified, and
screened to ensure that they do not compromise the standards of the exams.
3) Marking of the student performance- Marking is the ultimate stage in
any assessment as it determines the success or failure of students. It is the
stage that dictates the next level of success.
A major highlight of using a web based exam software or an online examination

system is that it gives a high level of transparency as opposed to the traditional
method of assessment. It is almost impossible to influence the process of framing
questions and carrying out evaluation of student performance. Most online
assessment generate their results instantly and it is often possible for the learner
to get his/her results almost immediately.
There are many online service providers, both free and paid, for designing and
developing online tests and quizzes.
One of the e-assessment is hand-held response system, which is used to carry

out polls and surveys. It is popularly called voting device or clicker. In many
school classrooms, it is used in combination with an interactive board.
Some of the online service providers are:

Eklavvya:
Eklavvya is an online assessment and knowledge
management solution used by many Corporates,
Professional Training Institutes, and Universities
involved in skill based training. It is designed for regular Assessment for
University Courses, Entrance Tests for Academic Courses, Various Test
Preparations. It supports to assess according to difficulty level and curriculum.
Question bank is created and questions randomization is possible. (reference:
https://www.eklavvya.in/)
Rogo:
Rogô is the University of Nottingham e-Assessment
management system used to create and deliver online
assessments. This online system supports the full
process from question and paper creation (including
peer and external examiner reviews) to the analysis of exam results and creation
of reports. (refernce: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/rogo/)
Hot Potatoes:
The Hot Potatoes software is a freeware since
October 2009which is widely used to design e-
assessment. It includes five applications that can
create assessment exercises for the World Wide
101
Teaching-Learning Web. The applications are JCloze, JCross, JMatch, JMix and JQuiz. There is
Resources
also a sixth application called The Masher that will compile all the Hot Potatoes
exercises into one unit. Hot Potatoes was created by the Research and
Development team at the University of Victoria Humanities Computing and Media
Centre. Commercial aspects of the software are handled by Half-Baked Software
Inc. (reference: https://hotpot.uvic.ca/)
E-Box
E-Box is a Technology Enabled Active Learning and
Assessment platform. Apart from the basic LMS components
like quizzes, assignments, lesson components, resource
components etc. It has numerous activity components
pertaining to technology and engineering concepts that could be used for design
of analysis oriented learning. These components are also used for assessing the
design and analysis of skills of candidates, apart from testing their regular
knowledge. (reference: http://e-box.co.in/#page-top)
myexambox
myexambox is platform to create your own online
examinations and share them privately free. You may also
create and share your quality online examinations with
others and publicly. The platform also allows you to
modify and update your online exams on the basis of learners’ performance,
feedback and ratings. The platform also provides publicly available quality online
exams which may be used anytime. (reference: https://www.myexambox.com/)
Activity
• Explore the websites of any three assessment tools
• Compare the features of these tools
• Find any two assessment tools you think good.
8.7 LET US SUM UP

Software, used in teaching-learning process and other functional areas of
education, are known as educational software. The vast collection of educational
software can be divided into two categories: content-free software and content-
rich software. There are three main parameters to assess educational software
:Usability, Usefulness; and Desirability. Any good software, especially an
educational software, must have all the three characteristics. Free and Open-
Source Software (FOSS) is computer software that can be classified as both free
software and open-source software. Anyone is free to use, copy, study and change
the software in any way as per his/her need and context. Multimedia uses text,
graphic art, sound, animation, and video in different combinations but in an
integrated and holistic manner. Mostly, multimedia are broadly of two types:
Linear and Non-linear. Interactivity influences the process of learning and the
contents in different ways. It could be simply manipulating objects on the screen
by mouse activities or immersed contextual interactivity wherein the user ventures
into a simulated three-dimensional world within virtual reality. CD and DVD
are widely used for multimedia and educational software. Technologies which
102
are used for empowering the learners with special needs are called Assistive Educational Software
Applications
technologies (ATs). They include technologies such as laptops with specialized
programs, like speech to text, text to speech, graphic organizers and word
prediction software which increase, maintain, or improve the functional
capabilities of a child with disability. Learning is validated through assessment.
Assessment has significant role in teaching –earning process. Thus, we may say
that assessment is the process of identifying, gathering and interpreting
information about student’s learning. Various terms are used to describe the use
of a computer for assessment purposes. These include:
• Computer-Assisted Assessment or Computer-Aided Assessment (CAA);
• Computer-Based Assessment (CBA);
• Online Assessment.

• Anderson, B.B.& Brick, K.V.D. (2013). Multimedia in Education
Curriculum.Russia Federation: UNESCO Institute for Information
Technologies in Education. retrieved from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/
0022/002241/224187e.pdf on 19.05.17
• Computer Software (n.d.) RIE, Mysore. retrieved from http://

www.riemysore.ac.in/ict/unit__3__computer_software.htmlon 21.05.17
• ICT in Assessment (n.d.) RIE, Mysore. retrieved from http://www.riemysore.
ac.in/ict/unit__9__ict_in_assessment.html on 21.05.17
• ICT for Educational Management (n.d.) RIE, Mysore. retrieved from http:/
/www.riemysore.ac.in/ict/unit__10__ict_for_educational_ management.
htmlon21.05.17
• Redecker Christine. R. (2013). The Use of ICT for the Assessment of Key
Competences. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.
8. 9 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS:

1) False.
2) False
3) True
4) False
5) Proprietary software is software that is owned by an individual or a company
and Open source software is software whose source code is available for
modification or enhancement by anyone.
6) UBUNTU; Audacity; Free Mind; eXe; Libre Office; GIMP; Inkscape
7) FOSS grants four essential freedoms to its users:
• to run the program as you wish for any purpose.
• to study how the program works and change it so that it does your
computing as you wishes. Access to the source code is a precondition
for this.
103
Teaching-Learning • to redistribute copies so you can help your neighbor.
Resources
• to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.
8) a) Video; Animation.
b) Linear; Non-linear
c) 700 MB
d) interactivity
9) a) assistive
b) free and open source
c) mobile
d) assistive
104

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SPECIAL INVITEES (FACULTY OF SCHOOL OF EDUCATION)

COURSE PREPARATION TEAM

Block 2 TEACHING AND LEARNING RESOURCES

Block 3 ICT AND PEDAGOGY

Block 4 SUPPORT SYSTEMS, LEGAL AND ETHICAL ISSUES

Introduction to the Block

As you know, Block 1 dealt with understanding of information and

Unit 5 deals with non-digital teaching learning resources. In the beginning, we

Unit 6 focuses on digital teaching learning resources. Meaning of non-digital

5.3 MEANING AND PURPOSE TEACHING

Teaching learning resources provide a range of learning experiences to learners

Fig 5.3: Dale’s Cone of Experiences

The organizing principle of cone is progression from most concrete (direct)

Fig 5.4: Dale’s Cone of Experiences showing Degree of Abstraction

Therefore, learning outcomes are highly dependent on the learning experiences

5.3.1 Purposes of Using Teaching Learning Resources

• Help in Longer Retention of Information – The more the number of

• Facilitate Holistic Learning – You have read about Blooms –Taxonomy

Figure: 5.5: Purposes of Using Teaching-learning Resources

• Help in Organizing Classroom Teaching – As a teacher you need to

• Teaching learning resources facilitate the formation and attainment of

Therefore, use of teaching learning resources in classroom teaching is an essential

Check Your Progress

5.4 NON-DIGITAL TEACHING LEARNING

5.5.1 Types of Chalkboards

5.5.2 Chalkboard Writing

Fig.5.6: The multiple chalkholder used by musicians

5.5.3 Chalkboard Drawing

4) Several types of chalkboard drawing devices are available in the market.

Wrong Handwriting Correct Way of

Beautiful But oursive and

Fig 5.8: Cursive script and correct way of writing

Fig 5.9 : Picture of a Textbook

Textbooks are predominantly textual with some images. Normally, content in a

5.6.2 Workbook and Copybook

5.6.3 Programmed Learning Material (PLM) and Self-

5.6.4 Newspapers and Magazines

5.6.5 Case Studies and Case Reports

Case studies are normally used in business/management programme and case

Check Your Progress

5.7 NON-PROJECTED TEACHING LEARNING

Fig 5.10: Solar System

Tree Chart Stream Chart

Figure 5.11: Examples of Tree and Stream Charts

Source: IGNOU (2000)

Fig 5.12: A Topographical Map of India

Map reading skills should be taught to students. Some significant aspects of

Check Your Progress

Fig 5.13 : Model of Eye

Fig 5.14 Poster on National Rural Health Mission

Posters show creativity in their designing and development. In addition, various

Check Your Progress

5.8 PROJECTED TEACHING LEARNING

Fig 5.15: Over Head Projector

Overhead Projector (OHP) helps in displaying still visual material as projection

You need to use visual material either textual or pictoral by preparing

Transparencies need to be designed and developed for achieving the objectives

Points to be kept in mind while preparing OHP slides.

The slides have to be projected in a dark room. Since it is a visual medium,

Fig. 5.16: Filmstrips projector

5.9 PREPARATION OF LOW COST TEACHING

A) Making a Neighborhood Map-You want to teach children about their