Hari Krishna Arya
           Director (Academics) & Principal
               Gyanodaya International School
               Hanumangarh Town
               Rajasthan (India)

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Professional Biography & Achievement

Qualification: M.Sc. (Zoology), M.Ed. 

38 years’ experience of teaching (Biology/Science/ICT) including 26 years’ experience of educational administration with different capacities. Lecturer, Biology (12 years) Headmaster,    Sec. school  (5 years);     Lecturer,  Institute  of  Advanced  Studies  in Education (1 year);     Senior  Deputy  District  Education Officer  (1 year);     Ad. District Education  Officer (1 month); Principal, Senior Secondary School (18 years), Ad. District Project Coordinator D.P.E.P. & SSA (Sarva Siksha Abhiyan) (Additional Charge, 3 years). Currently working as Principal in Ashwini Model Senior Secondary School,  Hanumangarh Town of Rajasthan state of India.

Always keen to learn & participate and very curious to try innovative practices. I am keeping myself updated with every new tools & techniques. 
 
Developed a number of teaching aids and actively involved in developing multimedia digital content on various topics of Biology & Science.

Outstanding efforts done for spreading Computer Literacy, for which received well recognition. 

Actively involved in On-line teaching. Teaching virtually using Skype and Lync in a huge number of government Schools, having scarcity of teachers.

Vast experience of conducting ICT training for teachers through PIL teacher Training Program sponsored by Microsoft as Centre Superintendent of District Computer Training Center and many other; and monitoring and administrating of Computer Aided Learning Project running in elementary schools under SSA.

I use Technology tools like Smart Boards, Blogs, Presentations, Videos, Worksheets, E-mail to teach students. I share presentations, study tips, worksheets, question papers etc. with students through Email. 

I am also sharing Innovative teaching practices with other   teachers through  Partners in Learning Network, Intel Engage, Google Community  and other teacher’s communities. I am regularly taking parts in discussions and contributing Learning activities and tutorials.

Member of state level E-learning core group formed by Secondary education Department for development of multimedia e-content. 
  
Author of a number of books on ICT & CS including text books for various classes published by Board of Secondary Education, Rajasthan. 
   
A good number of articles on topics related to science,education and pedagogy  have been published in reputed magazines and journals. Also a number of radio talks and features on similar topics have been broadcasted from  All India Radio.


Ed-tech blogger and Official Microsoft Hot Topic columnist.

Good experience of organizing & conducting Science Fairs, Seminars, Various Workshops & training programs etc. especially on Science and ICT.

Good experience of working as Resource Person for various educational programs including on ICT.

Participated in a number of State, National and International level Conferences, Workshops and Seminars.

E-content reviewer for ICT@Schools (Educational website run under MHRD).

Mentor, Evaluator and Contributor to NROER (National Repository of Open Educational Resources) – A web portal run under MHRD.

Member of team of CIET, NCERT for Development of National ICT Curriculum for ICT Teachers, subject teachers and students.


Recipient of several awards and accolades of national and international level.

My Interests:
Teaching; Innovations; Popularizing Science, Computer Science & Information Technology, Environment. Writing books & articles especially on Science, Computer Science & IT and Environment.

I have been very passionate to use technology in teaching and learning. In 1997 when I was posted in Govt. Senior Sec. School, Hanumangarh as Principal, with my sincere efforts I could able to select my school for start CLASS (Computer Literacy and Study Scheme in Schools) Project. This was a centrally sponsored scheme. Under this scheme one Pentium-1 and four dumb terminals were installed in school. It was none in view of modern scenario, but I was much excited to have it. I learned basics of computer in few couple of days and started use of technology in teaching. I also inspired my colleagues to learn computer and make use of technology in their teaching. Soon we were able to procure 10 more computers with printer, scanner, digital camera, modem etc. Our school was the first school in state to start Computer Science subject in XI and XII classes. All the teachers and students were taking deep interest in computer education and we opened our computer lab for students of another schools and general people also, but meanwhile I was transferred and posted as Additional District Education Officer. This was a setback to computer literacy project of school. Keeping in mind my academic taste and passion for computer education, our Commissioner of Education pleased to repost me in same school as Principal. After then, our school obviously showed excellent performance in field of computer literacy and was awarded with Computer Literacy Excellence Award 2003 by Honorable President of India Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. 

Owing to our outstanding achievements in ICT Education, government established District Computer Training Centre in our school in 2004 and I was appointed as Centre Superintendent of Centre. I conducted various training programs most successfully including ICT training for teachers through PIL teacher Training Program sponsored by Microsoft.

It is my belief that ICT plays a vital role in high quality learning and teaching. Advances in technology have opened up new possibilities for the way in which teachers educate their classes, giving potential for innovative ways to encourage students to become more engaged in their schooling. ICT increases student’s motivation to learn, engagement in learning and their independence in learning. It provides a variety of learning experiences and creates joyful learning in students. It improves their academic achievement also. The common fear that ICT shall replace a teacher is totally unfounded. Realization now seems to be slowly dawning on the teaching community that ICT is primarily to empower them and not to replace them. ICT is, therefore, not to be feared but to be embraced so as to empower our future generations by providing them high quality ICT- enabled education.

ICT has totally changed my work. With use of ICT now I am able to create my own material and thus have more control over the material used in the classroom than they have had in the past. It enabled me to deliver more material to students and it also eliminated several basic problems such as poor handwriting, poor artistic skill, contrast, lighting and visibility. I found that involving students in the creation of useful material as a part of a learning exercise is a way to make class more meaningful for students. Internet has also opened a new gateway of unlimited information and knowledge. Each and every information with photographs and video can be accessed everywhere and every time through internet. Information was not so easily accessible before using technology. ICT has helped me to develop my skills and knowledge to become more effective in the classroom. By participating in online forums, I can share my best practice and discuss new ideas and developments in teaching.

No doubt, I faced with some challenges as like lack of proper infrastructure & their maintenance, power back-up, ICT phobia in teachers, lack of qualified teachers to teach ICT in schools, limited internet access, lack of interest in students, guardians and higher authorities, lack of initiative by the community leaders. But these challenges could never obstruct my keen desire to implementing technology in teaching & learning.
 
Since last three years I have started a Virtual Class Room Project for sharing resources and service of expert teachers of different schools in my district, state and country. More than 35 schools have been connected through this project so far and we are very efficiently using the resources of one another. Both students and teachers participate and interact each other with great interest and learn with zeal. This project is a boon to government schools facing shortage of teachers. Now I am extending this project beyond country, so that the students of our country can be benefitted from expert teachers of other countries and can also interact with their students

Using ICT by me and my students and colleagues has clear impact on community. We have been working for spreading computer literacy for more than fifteen years through organizing various activities like seminars, exhibition, training programs etc. on ICT for community members. We are educating them for using e-mails, social networking, web searching, video conferencing, internet banking, on-line shopping, on-line reservation, on-line bill payment etc. Now they are using them efficiently. 


My interesting experience:
After completing 14 years as Principal in Govt. Senior Sec. School, Hanumangarh Jn.    (District H.Q.) and raising the school to its utmost heights not only in field of ICT but in all fields (academic as well as extra-curricular), I was transferred (or awarded for this extraordinary work?) to an interior, small, backward, rural school (Govt. Senior Sec. School, Silwala Khurd) in 2011 with the challenge to uplift the school. Really this was a great challenge for me. With the help of colleagues and community, after a short time, we were able to run the school nicely and soon the backward school became a pioneer school in most of the activities. New ICT lab with all necessary equipment and facilities was established with the help of community. A high speed broadband connection and diesel for generator were also managed by community. Students got benefitted with technology integrated education. They were much thrilled when they interacted with teachers and students of other schools of country as well as beyond the country through video conferencing. Teachers started searching for educational material on internet and developing their own digital content. A number of villagers became ICT literate.

I stayed there only for 16 months, but this duration became a golden time for my service period. The work done by me in this duration gave me two great achievements –
1.           National ICT Award
2.           International Innovative Teachers Leadership Award
Thanks to my department.

In my current school there is good ICT lab with high speed internet connection. I provide my teachers maximum opportunities for participate in various training programs, workshops and activities related to ICT. Most of the teachers of my school are member of on-line teacher communities.


My Future Plans:
*  I am planning to make wikis, blogs groups and websites for students and  teachers in collaboration with other teachers.
*    My effort is to convert each classroom into smart classroom.
*    I want to learn and share new tech tools of teaching with teacher’s community.
*   I am much eager to achieve good skills in advanced animation, photo & video editing and web deigning softwares.
*   I want to collaborate with teachers from different regions and countries to do work together and bring positive changes in Educational environment.

Technological environment is dynamic and progressing each day and my aim is to keep myself updated and do different online courses available through websites like PIL_Network.com, Intel in education, Google training etc.