Edinburgh College takes Delhi into 21st century learning with Tweets, blogs and apps.
Edinburgh College has teamed up with a university in India to create a new training course that will harness the power of social media to make education accessible to all.
The Digital Literacy and Innovation for Tomorrow’s Education (D-LITE) training course has been designed by Edinburgh College and the University of Delhi. The pioneering project will give students, teachers and employers in India the skills to access high-quality learning through technology, regardless of their geographical location.
With a focus on training in Web 2.0 tools such as WordPress, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the two-year training will include everything from how to set up an engaging educational blog to using virtual learning software such as Moodle in the classroom to speak to people all over the world. Thirty-five teachers from the University of Delhi have now received the training and more will travel to Edinburgh College in April 2014.
David Hiddleston, Edinburgh College lecturer in Essential Skills, said: “The D-LITE course has massive potential to break down barriers, whether geographical or social, to allow people to access the very best educational resources through technology. Digital skills are becoming increasingly important and the D-LITE project focuses on how teachers and students can use technology to add to a deeper and more personal form of learning.
“At Edinburgh College, we strive to engage, inspire and excite our students through new technologies and have made this a key part of our curriculum in order to develop employable graduates who can embrace 21st century technology.”
Edinburgh College students are also benefitting from the innovative new partnership with the University of Delhi as a group of six students will soon be travelling to India to work alongside the students and teachers of the University of Delhi to observe the training.
Twenty-five year old Visual Communication student Jennifer Lynn Pearce said: “What initially drew me to the project in India was the idea of using my skills in creative industries to assist in education systems within developing countries. I find this quite exciting and I will hopefully achieve a greater understanding how digital technology could be used in order to benefit future educational programs.”
Scott Burgoyne, who is 19-years-old and lives in Tranent, said: “One of the exciting aspects of the course is the use of social media to empower and educate people. For example, we use a blog and a Facebook page to communicate on our course to add to a pool of knowledge. I’m looking forward to using my experiences and knowledge on the trip and I think it will really add to my CV.”
With India’s ever-improving internet connectivity and the economy continuing to grow at a pace, the new partnership with Edinburgh College has been launched at the optimum time in order to embrace cutting-edge technologies to engage students and prepare them for future employment.
Founding Editor of The Edinburgh Reporter.
Edinburgh-born multimedia journalist and iPhoneographer.
