How to choose the right computer lab for your School

Nurturing the Creativity of the Students with ICT Labs in Schools

Digital Literacy refers to the knowledge, skills, and attitudes that enable students to empower themselves in today’s increasingly digital world. This includes their use of digital devices for play, involvement, socialising, searching, and learning.

The ability to think critically, knowledge of online norms of behaviour, and an appreciation of the shared societal concerns generated by digital technology are needed for digital literacy.

The government is dedicated to providing a safe and secure digital environment that is also relaxing and friendly. ICT Labs in schools offer state-of-the-art technology to help students create and collaborate with others.

Thanks to the Ministry of Education of the Indian Government, educational institutions are now able to reach out to the students in developing the next generation of technology experts. Education has always been a key priority for social development and it is heartening to see the Government of India provide a platform for children to widen their horizons with the latest computer technology.

The Beginning:

Since technology has advanced so much in recent years, teachers must use this to their advantage, as this can help students learn much more quickly and retain information longer. With the help of technology, classrooms can feel more engaging and teachers can be more productive by using technology instead of teaching out of a textbook.

The multimedia approach to teaching subjects in ICT Labs schools allows students to be more interested and engaged in the course material. Visuals, sound effects and animations are essential elements that make learning genuinely attractive to students.

The first ICT Labs schools were set up so that the students could get early exposure to computers and programming. Here is a list of equipment that was typically used in a computer lab in schools:

• A desktop display that includes a CPU, keyboard, and mouse (in many cases desktop monitor is not used)
• Projector
• Screen displays
• A sound system and a slew of wires connecting all the equipment

Present Day ICT Lab in Schools

Smart classes have been around for years, but recently the Ministry of Education has decided to incorporate them into their policies, to make classrooms more interactive for the students to foster a better learning environment.

In March 2019, information technology equipment including tablets, laptops and notebooks was made available to high schools in a bid to improve the quality of education in these institutions. The government ensured that the schools included a proper charging system for the laptop and notebook computers under the ICT (Information Communication Technology) lab. Teachers were able bring the equipment from the labs to the classrooms when they are needed for teaching.

At Schoolnet, since our inception, we have been working to research and fine tune the design of ICT Labs in schools. The purpose is to:

• Make the hardware setup, usage & maintenance very easy
• To build a proactive interest in students to learn and provide them with a personalised platform to enable them to cover up previous learning gaps
• To empower the teachers with tools which naturally align with their psychology and which make their work much easier

TABLAB is one way of setting up a Tablet Tablet-based Smart ICT Lab consisting of a certain number of tablets, a storage and a charging rack, all digital content preloaded and available offline and a reporting dashboard to track usage. 

In-school ICT lab: PC-Free Smart Class

No PC! No electric bill! No maintenance! An entire Smart Class Set-up in a School can be set up with a Smart TV or an Interactive Flat-screen and Digital Content preloaded on a Pen-drive that is hooked into the hardware.

Digital literacy is crucial in today’s world. To gain a competitive advantage in the global market and to be successful in this era of advanced technology, professionals, students and even hobbyists must be digitally literate. Now, if you would like to know more about Schoolnet and PC-Free Smart Class, click on this link.