reader’s corner
Exploring Digitised Content yukti pahwa
In today’s world when most of us our running after the most recent information in any subject matter, what is required by any one of us is content. In education sector, content is not only the most sought but also required to fulfill conditions of access, equity and quality. This is where digitsation of content becomes the saviour. eContent, be it in school education or higher education, if appropriate, can lead to great achievements. Quality of the econtent provides with correct information access and supports use of search engines in most effective way. Content whether digitised or otherwise, needless to say has to suit the target audience. It should, however, be remembered that mere digitising of the print content doesn’t mean it is more useful. In fact the purpose of using econtent arises when something different from print medium is to be implemented, that guarantees better comprehension and application by the receivers, which in most cases are the students. Open Sources In addition to the e-content service providers’ services, the educational institutions at times also refer to open source e-content for deployment amongst students. But open source econtent risks lacking quality; although it offers flexibility, can be accessed quickly and is cost effective. Current Scenario eContent in education in India, is usually associated with the information that is available in digitised form on websites, internet, e-version of print content, TV, Radio, CD/DVD, memory sticks, films and mobile phones. Private sector and the companies that invest in education sector as education service providers are sought for most of the relevant e-content that they prepare with years of expertise, research and knowledge of the given sector – K-12 or Higher Education. 18
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They cater not only to the education system but also to the society by providing education solutions in the era where India is facing shortage of cost effective infrastructure, trained and qualified teachers, low Gross Enrollment Ratio, high drop-out rates and lack of dissemination of education to large population of children in the country. eContent supports not only education but also ‘edutainment’ that includes both education and entertainment.
eContent when facilitated appropriately, along with quality can provide with: • • • • •
Diverse ways of comprehending concepts, Cost effectiveness, Inclusive of global approaches, Introduce various methodologies of learning, and Reach more students in less time.
eContent encourages reduction of gap between poorly informed and digitally advanced groups of students, when disseminated properly. India as a nation is not only supportive of formulation of e-content abroad but is also receptive of the successful implementation of the same in developed or other developing countries. This is building a momentum in the country to gain expertise in developing, disseminating and maintaining quality e-content for educational institutions. Government is no less in providing its support to gaining understanding and use of e-content. For instance, Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India; and Minstry of Human Resource Development, Government of India have been active in providing to e-content at large to the educational institutions. eContent is the future! It is hard to stop it from gaining its well deserved space in Indian schools and higher education institutions. Therefore, the focus is rightly set on providing it within the frameworks of quality, access and equity.
Ideal eContent, Some Shoulds In an ideal situation, whenever econtent is developed is should be prepared in consultation with the educationists (more than one person) and the stakeholders of the education sector. It should be verified and validated to provide the requisite information, for which it has been designed. It should be comprehendible. It should serve the objective of serving large audience and yet provide with individual performance. eContent should be available at anytime and any place to any learner and perhaps should be compatible to aid self and group assessment by both the teacher and the taught, respectively, under varying circumstances. It should be replicable, if required, and should be flexible so that it can be modulated to suit various academic environments. eContent can help in overcoming language barriers by providing with multi-lingual access, it can help in inculcating organisation and monitor the workflow, it can possibly provide for data management and data security along with managerial control,
Overview of UGC’s eContent scheme The UGC e-content scheme aims at developing high quality e-content, as well as expertise for generating such content over the long term. The scheme provides financial assistance and technical support to teachers and other experts based in colleges and universities for the development of e-content. The e-content development and associated web based learning described here does not seek to replace traditional teaching and learning, but is expected to supplement them. The inclusion of e-content in learning is now inevitable, and the UGC initiative is designed to meet the new challenges, and to help India take the lead in this newly emerging field. The content, once developed, will be maintained at the mirror sites of the UGC Information Network (UGC Infonet) and made accessible to all teachers and students of the Indian Universities system. The present scheme addresses the important issue of the creation of content. The goal of the UGC scheme is to encourage individual teachers, groups of teachers in colleges and universities and experts in the IT industry in visualization and multimedia production to develop educational content, in electronic format, suitable for use in various teaching and learning programmes. This scheme is open to teachers in all subjects and disciplines. UGC is working with following objectives: generation of e-content, in all subjects, development of teachers and experts resources in e-journal creation; distribution of the e-content to teachers and students from formal and nonformal educational modes, for supplementing and complementing professional teaching and learning content; development of partnerships between educational institutions and the IT industry for the continuous development of new content and methodology taking into account contemporary technology. (Source: http://www.csdms.in/gesci/pdf/econ.pdf) it can help overcome the barriers of demography and access, provide quality
with equity, encourage learning beyond the traditional talk-chalk method. \\
Commentary Opinions of some stakeholders
Amit Gupta CEO, S.Chand & Company Ltd.
Anand Kannan Managing Director GRE EDGE
How relevant is the use of e-content in educational Institutions? “The relevance of e-content in school education cannot be doubted or debated anymore. Today the students learn continuously from their environment and day-to-day living of a digital world. The mobile phones, televisions, computers, multimedia appliances in some way or other touch their routine on a daily basis. In such scenario, the school environment cannot be left isolated and a digital intervention is a must.
Usha Saini Principal, Government Girls Sr. Sec. School, Tagore Garden, New Delhi
The most relevant feature of e-learning in schools is that it brings engagement. This engagement is beneficial as it handles the multisensory faculties of human brain and reach out to students in more than one way. The e-content brings information and data in various formats and can be easily interpreted in various forms with click of a mouse. It also provides a real life opportunity of learning to students.” –Amit Gupta CEO, S.Chand & Company Ltd.
digital LEARNING
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“Very relevant. More and more of teaching and learning is migrating to the electronic domain. Publishers and authors are also producing their material for direct digital consumption.” –Anand Kannan, Managing Director GRE EDGE “We lack sufficient infrastructure. So if infrastructure for e-content is provided and if facility to maintain the given infrastructure or facility of e-content then it can be successful.” –Usha Saini, Principal, Government Girls Sr. Sec. School, Tagore Garden, New Delhi Does e-content serve teaching-learning process in more fruitful way? “e-content, if pedagogically correct and instructionally designed, can support learning objectives and outcomes in a more scientific manner than the traditional teaching. What is essential and important to understand that econtent is complimentary and not stand alone solution. The e-content addresses different learning styles and provides an opportunity for immediate assessment. The e-content has flexibility, choice and helps in analysis and evaluation which are key factors of teaching and learning process. The e-content can bring high levels of interactivity and engaged children in an active learning process suited to their needs and abilities, hence, giving them an immersive learning. econtent if properly used in teaching learning process, would enable the child to develop high order thinking skills and make them lifelong learning.” –Amit Gupta CEO, S.Chand & Company Ltd. “More than the content, the processes and pedagogy is very important. personalization of learning experience is the key driver and e-content delivery must subscribe to that. When that happens it is fruitful for the student.” –Anand Kannan, Managing Director GRE EDGE “No doubt it is a marvelous system!” –Usha Saini, Principal, Government Girls Sr. Sec. School, Tagore Garden, New Delhi How do you compare the e-content utilisation, across India and rest of the world? “The e-content utilization in India presently is at an early stage. In the developed world use of e-content has become a routine. The reason for same is not only infrastructure, hardware and networks but the way these economies are structured now. Since, services, e-commerce and most of the day-to-day life has digital influence, the schools could also not do away without e-content being a major part of schools routine. It is also important to note that the teacher training and availability of resources to a teacher are integrated with e-content. In such a scenario, the use of e-content in other developed countries is much more than India. India faces a major challenge at three levels: 1. Policy makers, decision makers and administrators 2. Teachers 3. Parents Considering the size of our country, there is little or limited awareness of using e-content in schools. This puts forward the major challenge in allocation of budgets, training, commitment and awareness among all the three levels. In
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India, it is more important as this would provide economies of scale for also reaching the margin wise and bridging not only the digital divide but also meeting the challenges of urban and rural divide.” –Amit Gupta CEO, S.Chand & Company Ltd. “From our GREedge experience, I feel the adoption of elearning is the same in India and the US. At that segment. Most students use online learning experiences at some stage or the other. We expect that a significant amount of test preparation, especially at graduate and post-graduate level will shift online. There has been a rapid shift in student patterns and institutional attitudes over the last five years, especially in India.” –Anand Kannan, Managing Director GRE EDGE “Uncomparable” –Usha Saini, Principal, Government Girls Sr. Sec. School, Tagore Garden, New Delhi How do you rate the monitoring of e-content in the educational Institutions? “The e-content comes in various forms and shapes. Most important is that e-content is going to impact the basic education and lifelong learning of an individual. It is important that not only it is culturally and factually correct but should also have the sensitivity required for every age group and levels of learning. The pedagogy, the instructional design and the learning outcomes of e-content are most critical than having some expensive animations or bytes which do not support the main objective of e-learning. The development of quality e-content is an expensive and time consuming proposition and these resources should be fully utilized to bring full advantage to users. The clear benchmarks of quality and delivery need to be established. The government of India is presently making huge budget allocations but unfortunately there is no clear cut distinction between computer literacy and computer aided learning.” –Amit Gupta CEO, S.Chand & Company Ltd. “The market is the monitoring mechanism. The market will reject lower quality solutions and content and endorse higher quality solutions. Transparent marketing and consumer and teacher forums for rating products will be the best mechansim for regulation. e-content and educational technology is an area which needs to rapidly innovate and create new solutions and superior, scalable personalized economics. A government body or bureaucratic monitoring mechanism will prevent and kill such innovation. So I would not recommend it. However, the industry (the emerging educational technology industry) can come together and adopt voluntary standards for both content production and transparent and ethical marketing of products.” –Anand Kannan, Managing Director GRE EDGE “Definitely, to monitor the system decentralisation would be objective and convenient. Monitoring should not be left under control of one person. It should be given independence and should be given to the grass-root level workers, it shouldn’t be under one thumb.” –Usha Saini, Principal, Government Girls Sr. Sec. School, Tagore Garden, New Delhi