Kerala Edu Dept revises ICT textbooks for schools by integrating AVGC & AI
The curriculum also integrates game design and coding.
The curriculum also integrates game design and coding.
The curriculum also integrates game design and coding.
Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Infrastructure and Technology for Education (KITE), a wing of the Department of General Education, launched its revised Information and Communications Technology (ICT) textbooks for schools across the state on Sunday.
The updated textbooks, which incorporate Animation, Visual Effects, Gaming, and Comics (AVGC), align with the AVGC-XR (Extended Reality) policy introduced by the state government last year, offering students a unique learning experience. An official statement mentioned that KITE had previously introduced curricula integrating Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Fact-Checking.
The new curriculum aims to introduce students to digital arts and music early on. For example, in Class 3, the chapter titled "Songbox" helps children learn musical notes through a trial-and-error method. By Class 4, students start composing songs, with further development in digital music composition in Class 8, where they use the Digital Audio Workstation software LMMS (Linux Multimedia System) to create background scores for their own animation films.
The textbooks also introduce animation technology progressively. In Class 6, students learn basic animation techniques using Pencil 2D software, and by Class 10, they tackle advanced animation projects with Open Toonz, covering storyboarding, character design, keyframing, and tweening.
The curriculum also integrates game design and coding. Starting with logical gaming in Class 3, students progress to building simple games using Scratch software by Class 4. By Class 6, they design their first computer game, with more advanced learning in Python programming introduced in Classes 9 and 10.
K Anvar Sadath, CEO of KITE and Chairman of the ICT textbook drafting committee, highlighted that these textbooks will help students acquire technical skills, understand complex subjects, and develop job-ready skills in the age of AI. The content was refined through feedback from members of the 'Little KITES' clubs and will now be extended to all students.
The second volume of the textbooks for Classes 8, 9, and 10, available in Malayalam, English, Tamil, and Kannada, will be distributed after the Onam holidays. KITE has also trained ICT teachers to effectively implement the new curriculum, and all necessary software has been provided to schools along with a customised Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) operating system suite.