digitalLEARNING-Feb-2010-[37-38]-Report-digital LEARNING@50

report

Celebrations!!!

digital LEARNING@50 The Launch Ceremony

BEGINNING OF A CELEBRATION In a befitting ceremony on January 20, 2010, digitalLEARNING saw launch of its 50th issue along with a Curtain Raiser of 6th eINDIA 2010 Conference and Exhibition. It was an evening that saw the presence of many eminent personalities at Claridges, New Delhi. It has been a mandate with digitalLEARNING Magazine to provide with a forum where the stakeholders’ perspectives and experiences are brought together to benefit all. Disseminating the best practices and suggesting perspectives of importance to policy makers has been on the digitalLEARNING agenda since its inception.

The launch was a celebration to highlight the diverse areas that the magazine has catered to in the past years.

The magazine has received contributions from more than 320 authors representing diverse spectrum of the ICT in education community, over the past 50 issues.

These contributions were received not only from scholars of high stature but also from different backgrounds and geographical locations. DigitalLEARNING Magazine has received contributions from India, Malaysia, USA, UK, Philippines, China, Thailand, Indonesia, South Africa, Bangladesh, Singapore, China, Pakistan, Canada and Turkey. To add to the list, the magazine received additional contributions from Russia, Israel, Kenya, Ghana, New York and Australia. This showcased the expanding global reach of digitalLEARNING. Not to mention, the response of the diverse audience, who have been overwhelmingly supportive!

FELICITATING CEREMONY Dr. Ravi Gupta, Executive Director, welcomed the esteemed dignitaries to the

Dr. Ravi Gupta (on dice); From Left to Right: Prof. V N Rajashekharan Pillai, Amit Gupta, Dr. A K Bakshi, Shri Subhash C Khuntia, Shakila Shamsu and Prof. Latha Pillai.

launch and the curtain-raiser event. He gave a brief presentation on the journey of digitalLEARNING Magazine so far and opened a round of discussion amongst the eminent panelists, who graced the occasion. Following the introduction and welcome speech, the 50th issue of digitalLEARNING Magazine was launched along with the formal launch of eINDIA 2010 brochures. The panelists consisted of M P Narayanan, President, Centre for Science Development and Media Studies; Dr. A K Bakshi, Director, Institute of Life Long Learning; Dr. S S Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS); Shri Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development; Prof. V N Rajashekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University; Dr. Latha Pillai, Pro-Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Shakila Shamsu, Advisor-Education, Planning Commission; Amit Gupta, CEO, S.Chand Group; and Dr. Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi,

Shri Subhash C Khuntia being welcomed by Dr. Ravi Gupta

IAS, Joint Secretary, Government of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.

THE MAGAZINE Dr. Ravi Gupta, to begin with, requested the panelists to speak about the highlights of digitalLEARNING magazine coverage. Dr. Latha Pillai opined that the digitalLEARNING magazine reaches out to a large number of people, with the digital LEARNING

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Prof. Latha Pillai and Dr. SS Jena (L to R)

issue covering themes across diverse domains related to education and ICT. Amit Gupta mentioned that the magazine and the conferences, i.e., eINDIA and eASiA, represent a fine Public Private Partnership model, which have help perpetuate awareness. “The reason why I say so is because they represent a diverse variety in an unbiased manner to create awareness,” he added.

Dr. S S Jena stated that his opinion of ICT, earlier, was specifically restricted to Higher Education. With the magazine, he has realised that ICT can be effectively used in other fields including school education and Open Distance Learning (ODL). Shri Subhash C Khuntia congratulated the editorial team of the magazine for the 50th issue. He mentioned that initially, the magazine dealt with a niche area and that it had a jittery start. But with the efforts of the team, the magazine has been a success due to the diverse range of content which deals with contemporary issues. The team has persistently worked on the magazine to fill in the voids existing in the country about the ICT awareness, be it in terms of hardware or software.

The magazine has two very important processes embedded in itself – coverage of pertinent issues and timely dispatch. It also is a good form of PPP model. With the coming change in paradigm and ICT integration, the magazine supports the hastening of the whole process. eINDIA AND eASiA CONFERENCES AND EXPO Dr. Ravi Gupta, threw another question at the panelists, regarding their opinion on the eINDIA and eASiA forums and exhibitions. Shri Subhash Khuntia reflected that there is a need for such forums, where stakeholders from diverse backgrounds are brought together. It is a creative forum where opportunities are showcased, which has helped in furthering the elearning process. Shakila Shamsu mentioned that these conferences have broken barriers between different domains and supports synergies technology and domains of academics 38

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and the government. These are truly the largest ICT events that bring together stakeholders with different backgrounds together. It is a learning experience to participate in these conferences and she wished the organisers “all the best” for the same.

Dr. Latha Pillai added that the conferences are well organised. She mentioned that all the conferences that she witnessed had a high level of academic presentations and exceptionally good speakers. The session help in brining like-minded people together. Dr. S S Jena opined that the exposure gained through the conferences is indeed commendable.

The exhibitions are eye-opening and the exposure through the material displayed is meant not only for professionals but also for students, teachers and parents. Dr. A K Bakshi mentioned that the conferences support the exchange of ideas and expertise. Amit Gupta mentioned that the conferences have set a benchmark in quality and perfection.

Prof. V N Rajashekharan Pillai mentioned that through these forums it is possible to have cross sectional interaction and platform for exchanging ideas.

THE SCOPE Under the final point of discussion over the improvement that can be included in the upcoming issues of digitalLEARNING magazine and conferences. Prof. V N Rajashekharan Pillai opined that there has been a lot of coverage with higher educations sector in the events and the magazine, though, that in itself is not sufficient. To expand horizons further, The school education system should also be brought into the ambit. Amit Gupta added, “elearning is critical across globe and the requirements are huge.” While increasing investments, tremendous shortage of content and faculty at all levels cannot be denied, one of the major challenges that magazine and conferences have to address is not only aiding in bridging the gap between technology and education but also bringing together policy makers

and service providers together for solving “real problems”. Dr. A K Bakshi mentioned that digitalLEARNING platform needs to address all the prevailing misconceptions about the use of ICT and elearning, as it is important to dispel misconceptions.

Giving an exceptionally out-of-the-box idea, Dr. Latha Pillai opined that learning comes from failures also. So, one can refer to the already done research and question how it can be done again, if given a chance. This might lead to a spur of new ideas. Shakila Shamsu mentioned that other issues such as teacher education brought by DIETs, SCERT, transition from talk-chalk method to elearning, refersher courses, inclusive education and so on can be covered in the upcoming issues.

SS Jena mentioned that content needs to be more contextualised and additionally, magazine can be brought out in different languages to break the language barrier.

Dr. Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi mentioned that he would like to compliment the magazine for its growing stature. The issue have been brought out well. However, it needs to be an academic journal which can be accepted as a journal of excellence.

According to him more research studies will be of great value.

THE DISCUSSION ROUND There was a round of interactive session between the panelists and the audience, at the end of the discussions.

To highlight one example, of a point was raised by one of the audience from Bangalore, regarding the opinion of the panelist over the implementation of the ICT programme, to make it more interactive. Dr. Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi in response to the above point, mentioned that ICT can only supplement and not replace the teacher. The two devices – interactive & non interactive are grounded with the teacher. Amit Gupta added that content has to be interactive as well.

There are many initiatives like Kiosks for rural education. Therefore, the interactive content needs to be made available on wider scale.

THE NEW BEGINNING

Dr. AK Bakshi and Dr. Nirmaljeet Singh Kalsi (L to R)

While breaking for cocktail and dinner, near the end of the evening, all the dignitaries reposed good faith & wished digitalLEARNING Magazine and upcoming eINDIA 2010 event, all the best! It was indeed a good ending to the launch & a wonderful beginning for many digitalLEARNING issues and eINDIA conferences to come. \\