Release of chatShaala.in

We are happy to announce the release of chatShaala.in!

metaStudio.org, now has a new simplified Interface, which works and looks like whatsapp/Telegram genre, but with threaded discussion support absent in Telegram and WhatsApp. It is launched at https://chatShaala.in. This development is initiated by BITS Pilani interns during this summer, and is developed entirely during the lockdown period, under our guidance including Mr. Puneet Kishore(@punkish) from Madrid, Spain. After their initial contribution, Siddhu(@Siddhu_Dhangar) and Mahesh(@mahesh.tirthakar) (our collaborating staff from CIET of NCERT) took this prototype into a this stage. The students are excited and encouraged about this development, they brought in two other students from BITS, and started on another project called gnyanINIT, on their own and will be integrating BigBlueButton with https://chatShaala.in very soon. We will soon be adding other important features, while keeping in mind the app will work with limited 3G bandwidth.

This does not need any installation, and works on all mobiles and Desktops using a normal web browser. One major improvement of this App is. it consumes 50% less Internet bandwidth to access metaStudio.org, by making it a very thin and fast application. metaStudio.org as well as chatShaala.in both use the same backend, therefore users can continue to use any Interface as per their preference.

We will be specifically listening to feedback on this new avatar. And also encourage to create communities of teachers and students of your own projects to engage them during the lockdown period and beyond.

PS: Conversational mode vs lesson delivery mode has been invoked as a design principle of CUBE and metaStudio projects at our lab. Uninterruptedly CUBE chatShaala’s are being held, 7 days a week for more than 100 days by now. Attended by students and teachers from across the country and with minimal support from us. Please do join occasionally as spectators any time between 5.30pm - 9pm https://webinar.hbcse.tifr.res.in/b/kir-vgc-6jf as a token of your appreciation of these young undergraduate scientists.

GN(@G_N ) – Gnowledge lab, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, https://www.gnowledge.org/