Web-based Social Collaborations in the Field of School Education through ODL Mode: A New Initiative

Abstract

With the intensive initiatives of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and development of technology there has been continuous improvement in teacher education programmes in our country. The success of teacher education programmes demands practice of theoretical understanding of teachers and teacher educators and their attitudinal orientations also. The Distance Education Programme-Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (DEP-SSA) a national project of MHRD, Government of India being implemented in 35 States and Union Territories (UTs) in collaboration with IGNOU has made a few efforts in this direction to make teacher education meaningful and sustainable to address the issues related to quality of education at school level. Empowerment of teachers and teacher educators depends on right inputs to be delivered through technology. It is from this angle that a web based teacher training programme was thought of and implemented in
different part of the country. The DEP-SSA designed and developed a web page for this purpose. The programme was initiated in 2008 under DEPSSA, IGNOU with the support of the Department of School Education and Literacy, MHRD, Govt. of India.

This paper describes in detail various dimensions of this initiative, its objectives, processes and outcome of this programme also. The web pages created for this purpose are made available to all across the globe. The attraction of this project is that it is ever evolving to meet the needs of target groups at all time. It is important to enhance the reach, quantity and quality of teacher education and capacity building programmes through ICT under SSA. This paper is a sequel to the same and provides an approach towards implementation as a part of the modernisation of the DEP-SSA programme.