ICT Enabled Teacher Training for Human Capital Formation: A study of IIT Bombay Initiative

Information and communication technologies (ICT) have become a major factor in shaping the new global economy and thereby producing rapid process of changes in the society. Many developed and developing countries are using ICT enabled education as a tool for quality education and to fill the gap between traditional methods and new methods of teaching and learning. Research shows that ICT enabled education has a positive impact on teachers and learners. This paper is based on analysis of the data drawn from a questionnaire survey of the people who participated in the teacher training programme through distance mode, conducted by IIT Bombay. In this initiative IIT Bombay has used satellite (EDUSAT) technology and Internet technology to train a large number of college teachers spread across the country through the distance mode. Specifically, around six hundred and forty college teachers in the area of computer programming were trained through distance mode under the National mission on education through ICT. The analysis of the responses given by the participants of the course suggests that ICT enabled training provides greater exposure and better knowledge to teachers in engineering colleges located in less developed regions of India.