Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx)

Gnowledge lab at HBCSE contributes to the CLIx by advising and assisting CLIx technology team for the design, development, integration and deployment of CLIx platform – a next generation digital learning platform which is both a course maker (CMS) and a course player (LMS). The CLIx platform is powered by gstudio, which is a node based framework for learning technologies developed at the Gnowledge lab. The platform hosts all the CLIx students modules and works both online as well as offline. The lab also developed installation technology for distribution of the platform in the remote schools which fosters connected learning in disconnected spaces through the concept of internet in a box. The team at HBCSE collaborates with MIT technology team to integrate the Open Assessment Tool and Open Assessment Client with the platform. The Gnowledge lab is also involved in the CLIx OER release.

The lab also contributed to CLIx in the design and development of i2C – a digital literacy course for high school students. The HBCSE staff actively contribute towards the technology transfer to CLIx implementation teams by conducting workshops, training teachers and providing technical support on an ongoing basis.

The core technology team of CLIx project was hosted at the gnowledge lab from 2016 till 2019. The design and development of the school server used in the project was designed and developed in the lab. The GStudio platform used for NROER.gov.in is reconfigured to peform as CMS (Course Management System) and LMS (Learning Management System). The very first course for the CLIx project, Invitation to CLIx (i2c) was designed, authored and developed at the lab. This became a prototype design for the other courses launched through the platform from 2017 onwards. The platform and the courses can be accessed from CLIx Platform.

The platform is deployed in more than 500 Govt schools in four states of India (Rajasthan, Chattisgarh, Telangana, and Mizoram) Apart from the design and development, the lab trained and transferred the technology to the CLIx team through workshops and regular meetings with the technology team. We developed a decentralized and distributed disk which can be copied and distributed to schools. The multi-partner CLIx project was awarded the UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa prize for ICT in Education for the year 2017.

The project won another international award for OER Collaboration award for Excellence 2019, under the category resources, tools and practices. This award is from the Open Education Consortium. The award recognises the CLIx collaborative partnership dedicated to developing open education resources of the last five years, seeded by the Tata Trusts, involving MIT, USA, State Governments of Telangana, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Mizoram; several Indian Higher Education Institutions: HBCSE (TIFR), NIAS Bangalore, IUCAA, Pune, Mizoram University, Aizawl; NGOs: Eklavya, MP; CERP Jaipur; and Corporates: Tata Class Edge.

The success of knowledge transfer is best demonstrated when the team becomes autonomous and continues with little inputs from the lab. The core technology team of CLix eventually developed another module using GStudio platform for publishing all the resources developed through the project as CLIX-OER.

CLIx OER launch event