India’s changing classrooms with computers
Educational institutions in India are gradually incorporating internet—computers link devices for use in their academic activities, according to a study by London-based consultancy Technavio.
These are desktops, laptops, tablets, projectors and interactive whiteboards or IWBs, according to Technavio researchers.
“Educational institutions in India are gradually incorporating these devices to emphasize their use for academic activities,” said Jhansi Mary, one of Technavio’s lead industry analysts for education technology.
“Active participation by private players is another boost to the education hardware market in India. Consequently, many leading global technology enterprises have contributed to a boost in the sales of hardware such as tablets in the education market,” said Mary.
To exemplify this driver, Microsoft India, which is in partnership with MBD Group, Acer, and Tata Teleservices, has launched bundled tablets to serve private schools, according to Technavio.
Education institutions spend a great deal of time in managing administrative and operational activities that result in additional overheads.
The inclusion of education hardware in institutes has significantly reduced this burden.
“At present, there is a wide range of education software solutions available in the market from domestic and international vendors that find significant adoption in India,” added Jhansi.
Technavio’s market research study identifies the following three emerging trends expected to propel the education hardware market:
• Deployment of tablets for learning
• Ease of school administrative activities with education hardware
• Cloud-based online education system
Deployment of tablets for learning
The education sector in India is witnessing a massive expansion of digital devices such as PCs, tablets, and laptops that are fast replacing traditional hardbound textbooks.
Tablets, among other computing devices, have emerged as the fastest growing segment in India.
It is predicted that tablets will overtake notebooks and desktop PCs in the future.
These are considered more reliable than other computing devices due to the mobility offered and other benefits when compared to other devices.
The proliferation of tablets is predicted to be high at the secondary or higher education level.
This is because tablets reduce the need for students to refer to textbooks for each subject.
Moreover, with the growing number of digital applications in the education sector, teachers engage students in gathering information from these applications.
Thus, deployment of tablets is expected to surge in India over the next four years, said Technavio.
Ease of school administrative activities with education hardware
Technology-aided classroom creates trails of information that can be captured with the help of educational software and technologies such as school enterprise resource planning (ERP), student information system (SIS), and school administrative software (SAS).
These help capture data about each and every aspect of an institution, from enrollment to their payrolls.
Presently, various modules of ERP software are available, such as finance, HR, student management, and others, of which, finance module is primarily used in India, according to Technavio.
Simplified management of various school activities is another driver for ERP installations in the country. Other software systems, such as SAS and SIS serve the same purpose but at a granular level.
With the use of efficient hardware, institutes can deploy learning analytical tools through which data can be carefully analyzed for meaningful interpretations.
It is expected to help institutions in India structure their growth strategies and fund initiatives in efficient ways to ensure that advancements in the teaching process are quick and frequent.
All these developments will ensure sustained demand for education hardware from schools and colleges during the forecast period, it said.
Cloud-based online education system
Presently, the majority of software and mobile apps are available in the cloud with large storage capacities. However, many educational institutions in India are shifting towards SaaS based learning management systems (LMS) solutions due to the technical support provided by service providers.
Many vendors are working in collaboration with central and state government and education boards to popularize cloud learning technologies.
For instance, Live@edu, provided by Microsoft, is a customized cloud-based service offered to approximately 10,000 technical colleges through an agreement with the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE).
It supports communication and collaboration services such as storage, web apps, and emails. Lab-in-Box is another prototype created by HP India to increase accessibility of online education by learners in remote areas.
“Thanks to these developments, students can obtain National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) courses online through a remotely accessible, compact lab instead of an on-premises one,” it said. fii-news.com
