Why do Vikalp students learn better?

Vikalp Online School places significant emphasis on cultivating digital literacy and computational thinking, which are crucial in today’s tech-centric environment. Students are trained to proficiently utilise digital tools while employing a methodical problem-solving approach that involves deconstructing complex problems and creating algorithms. This methodology not only sharpens their technical capabilities but also bolsters their analytical and logical reasoning skills.

Personalised Learning

Chatbots

Students learn how to interact with Chabot, ask questions and solve their doubts.

DBTS

Dialogue-based tutoring systems (DBTS) adopt Socratic approach to tutoring, probing with AI-generated questions rather than providing instruction, to develop a conversation in which the students are guided towards discovering for themselves an appropriate solution for a problem. The aim is to encourage students to co-create explanations to reach an in-depth understanding of the topic rather than the shallow understanding that can result from some instructional Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITS).

Learning Companions

We are in the process of developing learning companions for life long learning. It will be like personalized lifelong tutors which would provide contentious support. This AI-driven companion will know the students interests and goals and would build on it, to help them decide what to learn, as well as where and how. It would guide the students along their individualized learning pathways.

Assessment is more holistic

AI-driven face recognition, voice recognition, keyboard dynamics, and text forensics are increasingly being used to verify candidates in examinations for distance learners. This has made assessment more reliable. Now it’s possible to implement continuous and comprehensive assessment as failures and achievements of each student can be recorded and analyzed continuously in real time. There are AI tools designed to constantly monitor student progress, to provide targeted feedback, and assess the student’s mastery. All of this information might be collated throughout a student’s time in online school. This can replace stop-and-test examination by AI-driven continuous assessment.

Prediction

Learning outcomes of each student is analyzed to predict student outcomes and identify students at risk of failing. These predictions are available to the facilitators and support team so that they intervene and solve the difficulties a student might be facing. Data collected from learner’s interaction provide valuable insight into when and why the learner might be struggling or achieving. This makes personal learning possible. This kind of predictive analysis keeps both the teachers and students on their toes. Both of them know what is working and what is not.  And they know this in real time. They can use this objective feedback in making improvements.

Critical Thinking

Most schools rely on one right answer model of learning. In most classrooms, discussions are centered around simple recall. Mistakes are considered as sin. Discussions to reason out and think are rare. But the problem is mastery of reading, writing and arithmetic may be sufficient for entry level jobs, but because of the constantly changing nature of work, minimum skills are not sufficient for career advancement.  Therefore, there is a lot of emphasis on development of Higher order Thinking. These thinking include learning how to analyze, evaluate, apply and create.

In Vikalp Online School concepts are not introduced as given facts. Concepts are introduced via learning tools. Students are guided to do activities and discover the concept on their own. There is no lecture. No one tells them. They discover it by doing. After discovering, the facilitator asks a series of questions and assigns projects works. These questions and project works help students in finding answers. Gradually students are able to recall and understand, but also apply, analyze, evaluate and create. Students are supposed to do this with each concept in their curriculum. By the end of their school years, students became proficient in these skills which will help them stay relevant in the fast-changing world of AI.