The field of Educational Technology goes beyond tools; it focuses on supporting core goals in learning and teaching through the use of technology. Taking an expansive view, it explores various connections between technology and education: Technology /for, of, in & across/ Education. This can include (but is not limited to) understanding the processes and conditions in which learning and teaching take place, designing technology-enhanced learning environments, developing pedagogical strategies for technology-enhanced learning, understanding the role of context and so on.In this talk, I will begin with a broad overview of the work at the Centre for Educational Technology at IITB that engages with these connections and themes. I will then turn to a growing challenge in EdTech: the proliferation of solutions of varying quality and the lack of adequate standards. Towards this, I will discuss our work on a research-based framework that sets quality standards to help governments and other stakeholders select effective EdTech solutions for their context.
Sahana Murthy is a Professor in the Centre for Educational Technology at IIT Bombay. Her research interest is /Technology enhanced learning of disciplinary practices,/ which includes developing students' problem-solving, design thinking and inquiry practices in STEM domains via interactive technology enhanced learning environments. Another area of focus is /Teacher use of educational technologies/, which focuses on effective and meaningful use of technology by teachers, in various modes. She has conducted several faculty professional development programs on effective integration of ICT and research-based teaching strategies. Till recently, she was leading the /EdTech Tulna initiative/, a quality evaluation index for edtech products being used by multiple state governments in their procurement.