Using ICTs for educational change

ICTs are not a panacea for all our educational problems. However, they have a role (sometimes limited, and on other occasions, expansive and critical) to play in addressing some of the most intractable issues in the domain of education.

In this piece, we share with you some ICT resources that can potentially help educational non-profits work more efficiently to serve their target communities in a more effective manner.

Some of these resources/programs are about accessing commercially available software either for free or for a discounted fee. Some others involve using platforms built on open-source technology to create one’s own interfaces and tech-enabled interventions. Some can help in streamlining organizational
work by using software or platforms that specifically target non-profits.

We have also included here instances of NGOs using ICTs to better serve underserved communities such as CwDs. We hope that these resources help you in making choices that are better informed.

BigTech Software Donation Program

Organization: NASSCOM Foundation Nature of the resource: Information, communication and office tools.

NASSCOM Foundation helps Indian NGOs achieve greater impact by making relevant technologies affordable to them. The BigTech Software Donation Program supports NGOs with donated and discounted technologies. It does this for an administrative fee that is generally less than 90% of the market value of the technology. This is made possible by the generosity of the technology donor partners of NASSCOM Foundation.

Curated tools

Nature of the resource: General, multipurpose

The link provided above contains a curated list of FOSS (free and open-source software), freemium tools and guides that are relevant for NGOs in their ICT journeys. These include operating systems, tools for collaborative decision making and social intranet, email, messaging, project management, publishing, broadcasting and streaming, content management system (CMS), data management, visualization, etc.

Digital literacy tools for the visually challenged

Organization: Vision Empower Nature of the resource: Learning & development, Digital literacy.

Digital literacy is a key skill for teachers and students with blindness. Vision Empower has been working with Microsoft India to create a curriculum for digital literacy for learners with visual impairment.

DIKSHA

Organization: National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)
Nature of the resource: General, multipurpose, with a focus on learning and development.

DIKSHA (Digital Infrastructure for Knowledge Sharing) is a national-level platform for school education, built on an open-source technology called Sunbird. It is an initiative of NCERT. It was launched in 2017. Meant for learners and teachers across the country, it currently supports 36 Indian languages. Users have the freedom and choice to design and run stakeholders including teachers, learners and administrators. DIKSHA offers over one hundred micro services as building blocks to develop platforms and solutions. Some of the potential use-cases of the platform include creating online courses, composing content, content sourcing, making interactive quizzes, compiling question banks, chatbots, analytics and dashboards. Audio books and ISL (Indian Sign Language) videos are also available on DIKSHA for CWSNs.

ELEVATE(Energizing Leadership with Enhanced Visibility & Administrative Transformation towards Excellence)

Organization: ShikshaLokam
Nature of the resource: Admin-office, Project management, Education leadership.

ELEVATE is an open-source technology project by Shiksha Lokam. It is aimed at supporting the work of educational initiatives and enhancing the capabilities of education leadership. It uses societal platform thinking. ELEVATE’s building blocks are meant for human development. These have been designed for scale and are under the MIT license. ELEVATE supports NGOs in their technology journeys. Toward this end, the ELEVATE team offers a range of support services.

Firki

Organization: Teach for India (TFI)
Nature of the resource: Learning & development, Teacher professional development.

Firki is an online platform for teacher education created by TFI. It provides a large variety of resources for learning experiences in this space for teachers, pre service training, school leaders, teacher coaches and other interested stakeholders. These resources are in the form of courses, webinars, learning paths and online learning circles.

Google Workspace for Non-profits

Organization: Google
Nature of the resource: Information, communication and office tools

Google offers some services completely free for eligible non-profits. These include professional email addresses at the organization’s domain, 100-participant video meetings, 30 GB cloud storage per user, security and management controls and standard support. It offers other services at discounted rates.

MobileVani

Organization: Gram Vaani
Nature of the resource: Communication

Mobile Vaani is a social media platform for rural areas in the form of an Android app. It has an intelligent IVR (Interactive Voice Response) system. This allows registered users to call into a number and leave messages about their issues and communities. They can also listen to others’ messages. Registered users can contribute content, share the same over WhatsApp and Facebook, and forward it to mobile numbers. Images, links to YouTube, titles, relevant transcriptions and contributors’ profile are available to be seen along with the items. This platform can be used by educational CSOs for their work as well.

Radio Mewat

Initiating Organization: SMART (Seeking Modern Applications for Real Transformation)
Nature of the resource: Communication.

Radio Mewat is a community radio station located in Mewat. This district is one of the most backward ones in Haryana. Radio Mewat seeks to give voice to the voiceless in this backward community. Starting with two hours in 2010, the radio station now broadcasts 14 hours per day. Its programs cover several local issues and concerns. This has become a great example of how we can use an apparently “old” technology for addressing very contemporary concerns.

Software Donation Program, Microsoft Tech for Social Impact

Organization: Microsoft
Nature of the resource: Admin-office

As part of its Technology for Social Impact initiative, Microsoft supports non-profits in leveraging appropriate technologies to work toward social good through its Software Donation Program. Through this program, it offers low-cost/no-cost technology solutions for eligible non-profits.

StoryWeaver

Organization: Pratham Books
Nature of the resource: Communication, Learning & development, Children’s literature.

Story Weaver is a platform created by Pratham Books in 2015 for creating and distributing books. It has been successful in taking books to disadvantaged children in whose mother tongues reading resources are not readily available. Story Weaver acts as an online library of openly licensed storybooks. All the books available on this platform are available for being read online and offline. These books can also be downloaded, printed and repurposed. Story Weaver is a good tool for creating new books for your reading communities. You can also use it to translate and create versions to customize already existing books for your own context.

The Managr

Organization: Vodaphone Idea Foundation
Nature of the resource: Project management

The Managr is a product whose goal is help digitize the project management cycle. for non-profits. It has features for grant management, personalized dashboards for users, individual responsibility metrics, risk
mitigation, milestone tracking, reminders for task completion, and others.

TISSx

Organization: Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS)
Nature of the resource: Learning & development

TISSx is the online platform of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), which offers the institute’s resources and courses. Through TISSx, the institute’s goal is to offer learners with opportunities for continuous learning and professional development. The platform was first trialled in 2016. In its current avatar, it houses courses from three programs in education. These include: Reflective Teaching with Information and Communication Technology (RTICT); Post Graduate Certificate in Contemporary Education Perspectives and Research (PGC CEPR); and, Master of Arts (Education). The courses on TISSx have gone through academic review. As a platform, TISSx fulfils the standards set by UGC-SWAYAM. Each course is announced separately.

Each course has a faculty and TA in charge. Older courses, and those not being currently run, are accessible on the platform’s archive. Students/users can accumulate credits and work toward the relevant certificate, that are governed by the rules germane to the programmes.

TISSx supports learners through mobile based communities of practice. You can access TISSx through desktops, laptops, tablets and mobile phones. The relevant app is downloadable on Google Play Store

YouTube Non-profit Program

Organization: Google Nature of the resource: Communication, Learning & development

YouTube’s non-profit program aims to support non-profits in reaching out to supporters and larger audiences. It allows non-profits to link supporters to any external URL. YouTube Giving features can potentially help in fundraising. It can be used for advocacy purposes as well. The Creator Academy has lessons that specifically target non-profits.