Thailand - The next Asian Education Hub? : April 2006 Issue

The monthly publication on ICT and Education for Asia and the Middle East

Volume II Issue 4 April 2006

www.digitalLEARNING.in

ISSN 0973-4139

Thailand The next Asian Education Hub?

Assumption University Aspiring to be the seat of e-Learning in Thailand PAGE 16

British Council in Thailand Connecting people with learning ideas PAGE 12

Higher Education in Thailand Interview: Dr. Pavich Tongroach PAGE 6

Chulalonkorn University, Thailand

Harbingering Multimedia in Indian Rural Schools PAGE 33

Contents

Verbatim

Volume II Issue 4, April 2006

“Education is the key to unlock the golden door of freedom.”

George Washington “Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire.”

W B Yeats “Education comes from living life, following passions, accessing information, observing, reflecting, and being inspired by wise and courageous elders in the community.”

Claire Aumonier “Quality is never an accident; it is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, intelligent direction and skillful execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives.”

Willa A. Foster

Cover story

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Interview: Dr. Pavich Tongroach Commission on Higher Education, Thailand

Harbingering Multimedia in Indian Rural Schools M K Senthil Kumar and Kumar Alok, Azim Premji Foundation India

Higher education in Thailand Gearing up to join the knowledge society

8

33

36

16 Aspiring to be the seat of e-Learning in Thailand Interview: Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman

Content in a 19 Open virtualised real world Adopting UNESCO manifestations for the Knowledge Society Valery S. Meskov, Irina Smirnova, Anna Mamchenko Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

17 March, 2006, Rama Gardens Hotel and Resort, Bangkok, Thailand

Jammu and Kashmir The winds of change Mohammad Manzoor Bhat talks to Sanjeev Kr. Shrivastav

network in progress 12 The British Council in Thailand

Assumption University

Learning Asia 2006 41 Digital - A curtain raiser

India Statescan

Focus on Asia

connecting people with learning ideas David Mathias, British Council Bangkok, Thailand

Conference report

Practitioner’s Voice

38

A vision makes the difference

Regulars

24

News

40

Bookshelf

42

Mark your calendar

Upfront

Face to Face: Namrata Kumar, Uttaranchal, India

Perspective

30

E-Learning pedagogy TSOI© Model Mun Fie TSOI, Republic of Singapore

22

Sandy Walsh Cisco, Asia Pacific 3

digital Learning invites authors a Nowt h l y mon

We invite editorial contributions from our readers in the field of Digital Learning. While no guarantee is made or implied, we will make every effort to incorporate all views and experiences in the relevant issues so as to better serve the ICT and Education community at large.

Please be sure to read and follow the Editorial Guidelines above. Note that contributions may be edited for space and/or clarity. Unsolicited manuscripts and artwork will not be returned.

Editorial guidelines Digital Learning contains articles and features on the theme of “ICT and Education” and related issues. Authors are requested to follow the following guidelines while sending their articles to Digital Learning. a. Articles should not exceed 2,000 words. For book/ website/ conference reviews, the word limit is 1000. Longer articles will be considered only in exceptional cases. b. Articles/ reviews can be sent through email as an attachment or through post, typed in Times New Roman, 10 point. c. Relevant figures/ tables/ photographs should be sent. Hard copies of submitted photographs should be of high quality in a recommended size of 5 inches by 7 inches. Soft copies of imagery should be scanned at 300dpi at a minimum width of 4 inches. d. Passport size photographs and brief biodata of the author(s) must be enclosed with the article. e. For bookshelf contributions, please mention the title, name of the author/s, publisher/s, year of publication, price, number of pages and a high quality photograph of the cover. Books on Digital Learning related themes published from the year 2000 onwards are preferable. f. We are keen to cover conference/ workshop/ seminar reviews. Please mention the theme, venue, date, and name of the organiser, if you are reporting about an event. Please send photographs of the conference/workshop/ seminar. The conference held in the past two months of the forthcoming issue will be preferred. g. The Editor reserves the right to reject, edit and adjust articles in order to conform to the magazine’s format.

All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, Digital Learning G-4, Sector-39, Noida, India Tel +91-120-2502180 to 87 Fax +91-120-2500060 Email info@digitalLEARNING.in

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YOUR SAY I have been reading your magazine since I wrote to you - good stuff and fills a gap in the market. I must say that its refreshing to see a magazine that does devote itself to an important area of our life. I hope to speak to you sometime about how this publication came about and the vision and long term plans for it.

I have some other ideas on this as well from a technology perspective as story ideas which I would like to bounce off to you – I think you might find it worth evaluation for future readership.

Shubhra Aurita Roy Research Eco-system Strategist Corporate Technology Group Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd The work being done by your group is really commendable. I participated in the DIGITAL LEARNING 2005 at Delhi which was really informative and enlightening. But the real achievement is ur regular updates. I would like to contribute some article shortly.

Keep it up!

G.v.s.sastry Rohini Science Club Ranchi The selection of photographs really adds value to the article.

Venkatesh Hariharan Red Hat, India

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

digital LEARNING Volume II, issue 4 April 2006

Editorial Digital Learning joins the Global Action Week for Education in April 2006

President M P Narayanan Editor Ravi Gupta Editorial Consultant Jayalakshmi Chittoor Sr. Assistant Editor Rumi Mallick Sr. Research Associate Manjushree Reddy Designed by Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Editorial and marketing correspondence Digital Learning G-4 Sector 39 NOIDA 201301, India Phone +91 120 2502181-87 Fax +91 120 2500060 Email info@digitalLEARNING.in Group directors Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar Printed by Yashi Media Works Pvt Ltd New Delhi, India Digital Learning does not neccesarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors.

Digital Learning is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred, directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided.

Digital Learning is published in technical collaboration with GIS Development (www.GISdevelopment.net)

Education is one of the best ways to eliminate global poverty.

Yet more than 100 million children are not in school this year.

UNESCO has launched a global coordination action week from April 24-30, 2006 for highlighting the issues relating to gaps in education.

CSDMS too is part of this global campaign. We are planning to hold an Asian Conference on Digital Learning from April 26-28 at Bangkok along with the Ministry of Education, and Ministry of Information and Communications Technology of the Royal Thai Government.

There are five universities, which have joined as Institutional partners, as are numerous agencies working in the field of ICT for development. These include private sector players, academia and practitioners of Digital Learning. We invite each of the readers to be part of this campaign to show your commitment.

The question arises, why choose a technology driven platform for delivering education? First and foremost, is the need to fill the huge gap in the teachers required to fulfill the Millennium Development Goal of ensuring Universal Primary Education by 2015. The shortfall of teachers required number a whopping 30 million, to supplement the current 60 million teachers. Unless the teaching profession gains social respect, and the preparedness to train the students towards a knowledge economy, we will be facing a bigger divide in developing countries. In a number of places online courses delivered in remote areas may be able to substitute the dearth or teachers.

Learning is a continuous process, and with new skill sets required, mid-career upgrading of skills required for employed people, digital learning tools and technologies could prove its worth. It has the potential to go beyond the classroom, and on to corporate and workers’ spaces.

The online delivery in corporate training is predicted to overtake higher education usage in developing countries. This sector is emerging as an industry and is likely to grow up to US$ 150 billion by 2025. Thus there should be a multi-stakeholder interest, not only for the educators and the decision-makers within governments, who are mandated, to ensure that education, as a fundamental right, is provided to every citizen, but also to the corporate world, to respond to the need of the hour.

It also makes business sense to do so.

We look forward to hearing about your experiences and thoughts on how best to contribute.

Ravi Gupta Editor Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

Š Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies 2006

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

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Higher education in Thailand

Cover Story

Gearing up to join the knowledge society

Education reforms have been an ongoing process in Thailand as is it with its many neighbours in Southeast Asia. Reforms in Higher Education sector have also been a key area in development. The history of higher education in Thailand can dates back to 1889 when the country’s first medical school Siriraj Hospital was established. Since then, over 141 universities, both Government and private and over 50 other private higher education institutions have been established in Thailand including two open universities. Recognising today’s rapidly changing world, Thailand has embarked on a long term educational planning in order to meet the nation’s human resource requirements. The Commission on Higher Education,Thailand with support from the Ministry of Education has embarked on several initiatives that focus on technology as the engine for enhancing outreach and quality in education.

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April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

T

he history of higher education in Thailand can dates back to 1889 when the country’s first medical school Siriraj Hospital was established. Since then, over 141 universities, both Government and private and over 50 other private higher education institutions have been established in Thailand. In 1970, two open universities were also opened to provide an effective and economical way to respond to the growing public demand for access to higher education. Both have made use of modern technology such as radio and television to broadcast tutorials to a wider audience and the two universities presently share around sixty percent of all tertiary enrollments.

Act, promulgated in July 2003 has amalgamated education related agencies like the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of University Affairs and the Office of National Education Commission. The Commission of Higher Education is one of the central administrative bodies of the MoE, with a legal status as juristic person.

is also responsible for monitoring, inspecting and evaluating the outcomes of higher education management. The CHE is also involved in several other functions as prescribed by the Minister of Education or Council of Ministers.

The Commission of Higher Education (CHE) is directed by the Board. The Board has the authority to formulate higher education development policies and plans corresponding to the National Economic and Social Development Plan and the National Education Plan.

This Master Plan, which aims at training IT-related skills to teachers and educational personnel in higher education institutions, specifies two important objectives: 1) development of designers and users of technologies for education will be supported in order to promote selfstudy as well as ability in applying technologies to education and in accessing information; 2) 40 percent of personnel in higher education institutions will be trained to use technologies for education.

The CHE is primarily involved in Thailand’s higher education has been policy recommendation. Higher integrated into the national education standards, higher development plans since their education development plans, and inception in the early 1960s. However, handle international cooperation in recognising today’s rapidly changing higher education. Along with world, Thailand has embarked on a devising criteria and guidelines for long term educational planning in resource allocation and providing order to meet the nation’s human financial support for establishment of resource requirements for future higher education institutions, the CHE generations. Thus, the “UniNet, Thailand Ministry of University Affairs (MUA) Education and formulated the nation’s Research Network is first long term plan for aimed at higher education (1990 - 2004) and elements of connecting this was incorporated education and into the Seventh research National Higher Education institutions in Development Plan Bangkok with spanning the years 1992 to 1996. In order institutions in rural to achieve these goals, provinces and the plans place develop self-study emphasis on equity, excellence, efficiency centers and and distance learning internationalization.

The organization of Higher education The Ministry of Education Regulatory

systems, with electronic library databases, Internet, multimedia, videoon-demand”

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

The ICT Master Plan for Higher Education (2002-2006)

Under the IT Plans of Higher Education Institutions, most of the higher education institutions include training IT-related skills for their teachers, educational personnel and students in their master plans. A number of teachers and educational personnel have been trained to use ICT in developing teaching-learning materials while learners have been trained to use ICT as a tool in accessing information required.

Following the National Education Act, 1999, and with a focus on enhancing the nation’s competitive capabilities by creating more educational opportunities to reduce the difference between the knowledge levels of the population, the Office of the Commission on Higher Education has 7

Quality is the challenge, quality is the concern Dr Pavich Tongroach, Secretary General, Commission on Higher Education, Thailand in an exclusive conversation with Rumi Mallick of Digital Learning.

? What are the challenges of higher education in Thailand?

The challenges are same as everywhere in the world. In terms of manpower development we have to create manpower for the country who could push the society ahead. Hence we have to deliver good quality product. This is what the society expects from us. So quality is the main challenge in terms of human resource development and knowledge development, the research being either for basic knowledge or acquired knowledge

? What is the policy focus of higher

Thailand is doing quite well in terms of quantity. All together we have around 137 universities plus some other higher learning institutions so we have close to 200. This is a little too many for quite a small country. In terms of intake, we seem to be able to take care of all the demands coming from high schools. If all the students who qualify school are going to university, the chances are they will be accepted in university. However, the major concern is the quality. It does not mean we have problems with quality as such, but we have a wide range of quality, based on so many no universities. At the far end we have universities, which are ranked as world best and the others, which are trying to upgrade the academic curriculum.

? Are the quality standards same for private and Government university?

Is there any difference in the way they are enforced?

The standards are similar for private and Government Universities. The quality standard assurance agency is not very old. The agency has completely one cycle of 5 years of quality check, and is starting on the second cycle, which has more stringent rules for better quality.

education in Thailand!

? How are ICTs being used in higher

The policy is based on our situation.

education in Thailand to build human

been developing and providing various opportunities as follows: • Developing the UniNet IT infrastructure, to connect every institution of higher education to the Internet for education and research.

• Supporting the production of courseware for dissemination via UniNet. • Developing the Learning 8

•

Management System (LMS).

Developing the e-library, ecommunity and the learning resource sharing centre.

Thailand Education and Research Network (UniNet) Initiated in1996 UniNet is Thailand Education and Research Network, (http://www.uni.net.th/en) the ICT

resource that can become a part of the knowledge society and can address the challenges of globalization?

ICTs are being used extensively in higher education in Thailand. At the university level we give them freedom and independence to develop their own infrastructure. Its quite common that each lecturer will have his own website, academic department will have their own server which is a part of the campus network. At the national level our commission is running the inter-university network called the UniNet. UniNet is one of the strongest private network in the country. This is also linked to the international network in the US and its interconnection of universities in North America and also with the pacific network of universities. We have wide scope of potentiality to link internationally via the ICT. Recently Thailand has come up with a very interesting and innovative initiative- the Thailand Cyber University. It’s not an university in itself but a virtual one. This is a huge web portal. We encourage people to add educational resources that can be shared. We have engineering courses, medical, physical sciences and social science courses etc. we have 10 thousand e-book available online. infrastructure connecting all universities, institutions, and campuses in the country, through ATM network via 155Mbps bandwidth fiber optics. This infrastructure is aimed at connecting the networks in Bangkok to the rural provinces through digital leased lines with 2Mbps bandwidth The primary objective of UniNet is to provide Internet access for Universities– April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

? What tangible goals have you set for higher education institutions in Thailand to achieve global excellence in education?

We have not come up with any realistic guideline even though we talk a lot on this. We have discussed to what level is it required for all institution to put in the ICT component as standard. When I was working in Chulalonkorn university many years ago, we decided that we need to put in at least 25 ICT components at that in the learning environment in all subject areas. But that was many years ago, I am still not sure whether Chulalonkorn university is moving in that track. Thus we may have to come up with a guideline where 50% of teaching and leaning will have ICT component.

? Is CHE partnering with other countries in education?

Yes we are partnering with many countries. A few months back we had discussion with the ministry of Human Resource Development in India and UGC, the council of the Indian university we have many good programmes running with many countries. The maximum number of programmes are with Japan, more than 30 programmes with the French government from molecular biology to fashion designing. We are also encouraging direct investment of private sectors in education by encouraging direct funding for setting up universities.

Helping universities to run programmes, in kind supports or network infrastructure for research and facilitate IT campus for Distance Learning. UniNet is aimed at developing self-study centers with electronic library databases, the Internet, multimedia, video-ondemand; these centers will connect to the high performance network, develop social-learning and lifelonglearning systems by creating multimedia courseware, and providing Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

We are partnering with many countries. A few months back we had discussion with the ministry of HRD and UGC in India. The maximum number of programmes are with Japan, more than 30 programmes with the French government, starting from molecular biology to fashion designing. sponsorship to students. We encourage Private sector investment but we have not seen as much as we would have wanted to see.

? What solutions do you advocate for the broad development of lifelong learning?

We have tried to encourage this through the numerous non-formal education centres. The non-formal education centre throughout the country has been a big success. We encourage those who have missed out on learning at certain points in their life to join and learn. Lifelong learning means maintaining to learn or updating knowledge throughout life.

And we try to do these though our graduates to improve their skills so that they are able to contribute to the society productively.

? What would you say has been your achievement in your role as the secretary general of Commission?

My colleague and I have been put in a few milestones in the development of higher education in Thailand, we have developed this standard guideline, the bible that all university are working on to keep up to the standard knowledge databases and distance learning systems. This is also aimed at training teachers and assistants to apply ICT in educational development.

UniNet is the Education network backbone of Thailand. Currently this has 145 Participants including public universities, IT campuses, private universities etc.

prescribed by the commission. We have initiated industry-university linkage systematically by initiating the university to run a special unit.

This is available in many leading university. We have been very aggressive in our usage of ICT in university also.

? If you are the Secretary General 15 years ago, what is that crucial component you would have included in the education policy?

That is a very interesting question. I think the whole system expanded too rapidly. In one hand we believed in the principal of providing universities freedom academically, thinking that freedom will bring diversity in nature and quality. But what has happened is freedom has been misused. I am not saying that the quality of higher education is very low or lowering. But it could have been much better than what it is now.

So with the economic impetus that Thailand is experiencing now, academically we should have done better. So when we expanded rapidly we had also needed to lay down solid guidelines for the universities to maintain their qualities and also diversify.

The Thailand Cyber University The Thailand Cyber University (TCU) is an initiative to assist all the higher education institutes to deliver distance learning via the Internet. The initiative also aims to ensure that all online courses are of a high quality and meet government standards and promote the sharing of teaching resources and human resources.

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The backbone of education network (EdNet) in thailand

The TCU is planned to become a knowledge and education centre, using UniNet and the latest technologies to provide further education for all, for both formal and informal education. The TCU aims at increasing the number of people who can access higher education, gaining knowledge at their convenience, irrespective of time or location. The courses will meet the educational standards set by an internationally recognised quality guarantee system. A credit exchange system is planned to be created, that will allow the credit gained from an online course, to be transferred from one institution to another TCU being developed by the Office of Information Technology Administration for Educational Development, part of the Commission on Higher Education.

Technology in education under the Ministry of Education The Ministry of Education focused on several traditional and modern

technologies to enhance the quality and outreach of education in Thailand. These technologies have ranged from mass media like television and radio via satellite to the extensive use of computer and Internet in schools and higher education for teaching and learning. Some of these initiatives are discussed here.

Mass media for education outreach In cooperation with the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC), the TOT Corporation Public Company Limited, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and international organisations under the aegis of the United Nations, the DLF presently broadcasts educational TV programmes via satellite through 14 channels. Among these, 12 channels are devoted for the direct teaching programmes at basic education level. The other two channels are the international channel broadcast in foreign languages and the community/tertiary education channel.

Thailand Cyber university cooperates with higher educational institutions, state and private educational institutions to develop lessons for different courses, using quality e-learning study programmes for formal education, informal courses and study guides, short certificated courses and also promotes sharing educational resources between institutions 10

The DLF international channel airs its international programmes in Thai, English, French, German, Japanese and Chinese. The programme coverage includes arts and culture, music, science and technology, agriculture, environment, health and innovation. The Ku-band satellite pattern covers China (Kunming), Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam. All these neighbours received the Royal Granting of distance learning equipment from His Majesty the King.

The community and tertiary education channel focuses on vocational and university education.

Among the Higher Educational Institutions, the Rajamangala Institute of Technology (RIT) and Sukothaithemmathitirat Open University (SOU) produce direct teaching programmes particularly for their students. The RIT broadcasts programmes via the C-band satellite pattern while SOU broadcasts programmes through Channel 11. In September 2000, SOU was granted Royal permission to conduct weekday broadcasts via the Ku-band satellite pattern through the community/ tertiary education channel of the Distance Learning Foundation (DLF).

Thailand has 514 radio broadcast stations, of which 25 of which are designated for educational purposes.

At the level of higher education, Chulalongkorn University, Kasetsart University, operate radio stations.

Thammasat University and the RIT, etc. broadcast programmes providing general knowledge as well as entertainment.

e-Learning services The Distance Learning Foundation launched the free-of-charge contentbased eLearning service from the Distance Learning Television, Wang Klaikangwon, Hua Hin District in May 2002. The eLearning web page of the DLF “www.dlf.ac.th” allows Internet users anywhere in the world to view “live broadcast” all the educational April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

programmes broadcast via the satellite simultaneously with the actual broadcast. Moreover, by means of eLearning or eTraining, users anywhere are able to participate in the Flexible Learning Scheme via video conferencing and the Internet.

It is worth mentioning that in carrying out His Majesty the King’s lifelong learning policy, concerted efforts and support from various public and private organisations, both within Thailand and in foreign countries are leading to the achievement of the DLF. At higher education level, the increasing popularity of eLearning was seen in several universities. Among these are two state universities, Chulalongkorn University and Kasetsart University (KU) operates Chula Online and KULN (KU Learning Network). The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), a private university, has also initiated eClassrooms.

Apart from educational institutions, other government agencies also took part in providing online learning. For instance, the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) in collaboration with Thailand Graduate Institute of Science and Technology (TGIST), has launched “LearnOnline,� a website that was developed to serve as a central place for web-based courses from well-known universities and organizations. Other web-based courses offered include Cyber tools for Research, Digital Design, Bioinformatics, Biodiversity, Technology Management and English

There is an increasing popularity of eLearning among universities, the state universities, Chulalongkorn University and Kasetsart University (KU) operate Chula Online and KULN (KU Learning Network).The University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce (UTCC), a private university, has also initiated eClassrooms

for Science and Technology. More details about LearnOnline are available at http://www.learn.in.th/.

Developing materials and other technologies for Education In 2002, the MOE implemented several projects regarding the development of materials and other technologies for education to be used at the level of basic education.

As for the development of software, media and learning content, the MOE has also initiated: 1) to procure legal software; 2) to encourage teachers and educational personnel to produce software that aid the teaching-learning process; 3) to encourage educational institutions, learning centres and learning sources to develop websites so as to exchange knowledge; 4) to establish multimedia centres; 5) to develop a standardised database system; and 6) to encourage, through competition, the development of multimedia and software that aid the teaching-learning process.

So far, approximately 300 electronic books and 1,500 websites have been developed and are being used as learning sources. Among these,

educational institutions under the sponsorship of the SchoolNet project have developed 700 websites.

Moreover, the MOE also initiated a competition that will be organised annually to support the private sector in relation to development of multimedia and software that aid the teaching-learning process. For each year, 100 sets/subjects of multimedia and software will be selected as prototype. So far, 300 sets/subjects of multimedia and software have been developed and 10 multimedia centres have been established.

As a crucial factor in the transformation of Thai society into a knowledge-based society, the Ministry has embarked on an effective utilisation of technologies for education to improve the quality of teaching and learning as well as make lifelong education for all Thai people more promising. In this regard, continuous and concrete actions must be taken to deal with the priority tasks. These include development of materials and other technologies for education and bridging the digital divide between Thailand and other countries as well as between Thai people living in urban areas and those living in rural areas.

University Convocation Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

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The Network in progress

British Council in Thailand connecting people with learning ideas The British Council, the United Kingdom’s international organisation for educational and cultural relations, in Thailand connects people with learning opportunities and creative ideas from the UK and builds lasting relationships between Thailand and the UK. Operating in 110 countries worldwide, it now has 4 centres in Bangkok-Siam Square, Pinklao, Ladprao and Sri Nakarin and one in Chiang Mai, after starting in Thailand in 1938. David Mathias in British Council,Thailand talking to Rumi Mallick of Digital Learning on building partnerships and networks between Thailand and the UK, on projecting creativity, and creating opportunities to connect with the latest skills, ideas and experience.

David Mathias is a DELTA

? What are the main focuses of

? What kind of partnership do you

qualified teacher of English as a

British Council initiatives in ICT in education in Thailand?

have with the Government in Thailand?

I suppose there are many focuses, but the main relationship we have with the various ministries and agencies within Thailand is helping them in implementing their education progarmme. That goes back to revamping the tight curriculum for mainstream education that happened four/five years ago, the curriculum was rewritten and the main focus to that is teachers should adopt different approaches, that is studentcentred approach, integrated to different subject areas within their own subject. With ICT it became easy for the teachers to adopt student-centric approaches. One way was by allowing student access to information online and allowing students to develop project works themselves, where the teacher acts more as a facilitator of learning.

So the focus of our education and ICT initiatives is among leaders, teachers and students in mainstream education.

We are working mainly with the Ministry of Education, with the office of Basic Education Commission. For example we are working with them in one large project- Lab Schools. We hope, eventually there will be 900 Lab schools in the country. These LabSchools will act as community schools for their region. In these LabSchools, we run trainings for teachers in applying ideas in innovative teaching, using hardwares, ideas for putting that in practical use for curriculum teaching.

foreign language. He taught English in Spain and the Czech Republic before plying his trade in East Asia. After joining the British Council, Thailand, David has worked on a number of ICT initiatives including Access English – an online community for English Language teachers; Montage Thailand – online collaborative projects for schools, Dreams+Teams Online Community for Young Leaders, and most recently a joint initiative between the British Council and the Ministry of Education, Thailand – the Lab School Middle Leadership ETraining Programme.

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? So is the Lab-School focused on teachers’ training?

That’s one area, but the Lab-School initiative is something about the leaders, how they can deploy computers in their schools. So we have done some Head teacher leadership training through bringing leadership trainers from UK and train the head teachers here. And I have tried to introduce the use of ICT as a April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

Our trial is developing a teacher as a mentor or a guide and a student as an expert. My experience as a teacher (I was a teacher in English as a foreign language) is great to work with students; I learn use of ICT from the students. We convert to a very good team, and I never feel the lack of respect or loss of face

but if you ask that to a teacher, they cannot. So our trial is developing a teacher as a mentor or a guide and a student as an expert. My experience as a teacher (I was a teacher in English as a foreign language) is great to work with students; I learn use of ICT from the students. We convert to a very good team, and I never feel the lack of respect or loss of face.

? But do you think that kind of culture exist when a teacher and student covert to a team? tool for professional development of the head teachers. So we look at two things- Head teachers being able to talk to Head teachers in forums, and also Head teachers being able to access resources for self development and professional development.

Firstly, the head teachers from Thailand went to meet their counterpart in UK and then some teachers fro there come over to do workshops developing sports integrated to other curricular subjects, like sport and Math, Sport and Science.

? Do you have any kind of monitoring

? You still have three schools in

or evaluation method? You work for two/three years, do you have any kind of measurement system of the outcomes?

Thailand?

Yes, for this there are ongoing negotiations with the Ministry of education. There are number of aims and objectives, also indicators of what is happening. There are ways of monitoring our progress. And when we say we’ll leave the project at a certain stage, n doubt we will continue to consult.

? You also promote sports as a means of education!

Yes, that’s one of the very successful projects started in 2003; it’s a global project. It ran from British Council UK in partnership with the Sports Trust of England and its an initiative that looks to leadership skills amongst 14 to 19 year old and gives responsibility for decision making that might otherwise come from a teacher. For some reason, to reengage some disaffected learners back into the mainstream education and to give them the confidence to carry on their education. We started that project in 2003 in three schools in Thailand.

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

The project expanded in to 9 schools now. Five in Bangkok, two in Greater Bangkok, one in North of Thailand Chiang Mai and one in Sonkla. The ministry of Education is impressed with the success. So its an initiative they would like the Lab schools involved in.

? There are several challenges in ICT in education. What are the present challenges for Thailand?

The major challenge is the teaching population is quite old. And its getting people to be willing to change their attitude give it a go as such and this challenge is compounded by the fact that we still don’t have very good support teams in some of the schools, IT teams, Internet access are still quite slow and it’s the same in our teaching centers where we were trying to persuade or convince the teachers that the use of ICT might be a motivating factor for a student or might add a different dimension to teaching. There is also a knowledge gap between the teachers and the students. If you ask a student to go on a computer the do that in seconds,

It’s beginning. Teachers are realising now, they are more of a team now.

And that’s another success of Lab school project.

? You are focusing ICT as a prime medium of deliberating education in schools, or is it more in developing content, training, teachers capacity building.

It’s a bit above. I think Thailand still is in the stage of the custom in themselves with use of computers in getting familiar with that. Its in a transitional state than experimenting with the use of ICTs. I think its 50-50.

I do quite a work using multimedia devices with students to create learning objects, to create mini projects with series of lessons, to give teachers ideas so that they can have more continuity through out the entire term, rather than from one lesson to one lesson to one lesson.

And also we are bringing in teachers of other subjects as well, I run a website, where I put on projects, where I can go an integrate art and English with maths, that also have an online element, where I can discuss projects with other people doing it.

? So it’s more blended …

Yeah, it’s more blended. But more important here is the learner. May be the teachers ability is quite low, but they are aware what their students can do and if you are aware what your student can do, you can use the best of your ability.

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The Network in progress

Sport,Youth Leadership and ICT

David Mathias [DAVIDMATHIAS@HOTMAIL.COM], British Council Bangkok, Thailand How can these three things be connected? Well, they can and they are being put to a good combination of uses in Thailand where ICT has helped bring together young people from this country, the UK and others - all with common aspirations of learning, learning to lead and leading each other to learning.

Here’s how it is all happening.

Game and learning in progress

H

ow can these three things be connected? Well they can and they are being put to a good combination of uses in Thailand where ICT has helped bring together young people from this country, the UK and others - all with common aspirations of learning, learning to lead and leading each other to learning. Here’s how it is all happening.

Firstly, the sport and the leadership: It is well known that sport can be a motivating factor for engaging young people in worthwhile activities. It is also well known, for anyone who hated sport when they were a child in school, that it can be equally demotivating for others.

The Dreams+Teams project, which is a collaboration between the British Council and the Youth Sports Trust, UK, looks at how sports can be a motivating factor for all.

The project helps to develop young people’s leadership skills through sport, not only for those who play it but for everyone who has a desire to get involved in the organization, the planning, the execution and the excitement of a sports festival.

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The Dreams + Teams International Young Leader training process addresses three main areas.

1. Leadership and personal development Dreams + Teams provides structured leadership opportunities to meet these needs.

• Young Leaders are trained to lead other people.

• They take diverse needs of the group into account.

• They consider the impact that their behaviour has on others.

• They practise how to deal with volunteers, parents and the media.

• As they progress, they learn how to train other Young Leaders.

2. Citizenship Young Leaders resolve issues, such as: • Should disabled people be part of the festival and if yes, how?

• Do the rules of the games need to be changed to permit this?

• Should points be awarded for goals scored only, or should other factors (e.g. fair play) be taken into account when awarding points, and how?

3. Cross-cultural understanding •

•

Young Leaders are linked with their Dreams + Teams counterparts in other countries.

They are required to bring an international dimension into the festivals they organise.

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

content managed system that I use for the Dreams + Teams Online Community does just that.

Young Leaders in Thailand chat to UK counterparts •

• • •

For example, teams in the festival might take on the identity of another country, and study that country in the run-up to the festival.

Dreams + Teams also works at another level: it brings together sports and education professionals it facilitates international networking and knowledge sharing among government and non-government agencies who want to use sport to help young people develop.

Started in 2001, it now operates in more than 30 countries and has established more than 100 school links.

So where’s the ICT in all of this? ICT and multimedia has a large part to play in this. However, it is important to find a medium that all end users can benefit from and I’d like to talk about some of the things that work and some of the things that don’t work when it comes to using ICT as a tool to bring together communities of learners from as far apart as the UK and Thailand.

My involvement with Dreams + Teams in Thailand came about three or four months after the project had been initiated. The first three schools involved in the pilot were from

over to the UK to meet their counterparts and exchange ideas about linking.

After coming back, a video conference was set up and students were able to see each other face to face for the first time.

At that time, I had been working for a number of months as coordinator for an online community of English language teachers in Thailand. Prior to that, I had been involved in a similar project for an online community of English language learners studying at the British Council Tokyo.

Having experienced at first hand some of the tangible benefits that a user friendly and well managed online community can bring to its users, I developed a community based on open source software available free from the Internet.

Busy teachers do not have time to learn HTML or other coding skills and this is best left well alone. Content managed systems or learning managed systems enable users to interact anywhere anytime. The

Now equipped with the tools and platform with which to collaborate with their peers in the UK, students set about writing articles about their experiences of running sports festivals; posting pictures of before, during and after events; posting messages to forums and creating their own personal school web pages, which soon brought a lot of colour and quality student-created content to what would otherwise be a dull and boring web space.

A lot of work was put into the initial stages of this online community and the first six to twelve months is a vital stage where a critical mass of users must be built up in order for any community to survive. The job of the facilitator is to engage the users through interesting activities but also to encourage the users to think up and post interesting activities of their own that will engage their peers.

After just over two years of running the site, we now have over 500 members with an average of 4-500 unique hits per month, not only from Thailand and the UK, but also from other countries involved in the Dreams+Teams project such as Malaysia, Singapore, India, Ethiopia, Poland, Slovakia, Germany and others.

In order to keep our young leaders engaged in collaborative learning, we have initiated a number of online projects.

Check out the project by going to the website at www.britishcouncil.org/dreams or have a peek at what the Young Leaders are discussing at the moment at http:// dreamsandteams.britishcouncil.or.th

Bangkok and had been linked with schools in Devon and Kent. Some teachers had the opportunity to go Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

15

Assumption University

Aspiring to be the seat of e-Learning in Thailand Cathedral of Learning The ‘Cathedral of Learning’ in Banga, Bangkok is spread across a picturesque green area with modern buildings cloaked in a mantle of intriguing architecture, nestled in this natural environment. The imposing stone structures, roman arched doorways and columns, in an immaculate green landscape, is a perfect model of a ‘University in a park’. This place creates an atmosphere that is healthy and refreshing to the active mind, intellectually stimulating and enriching, in other words, an atmosphere conducive to learning. This ‘Cathedral of Learning’ is the Assumption University of Bangkok.

The residence and academic halls in Assumption University

Assumption University has aimed to provide scientific and humanistic knowledge, with an emphasis on business education and management science. With two campuses in Thailand, the University has more than 25,000 students, faculty and departmental staff. The University has many business and academic partners in Asia, including Hong Kong, India, Bangladesh, Korea, Malaysia, Vietnam, and the People’s Republic of China, as well as international students from more than 58 countries.

The Ayudhaya Anusun gate leading to the Grabriel Hall

The University is a non-profit institution administered by the Brothers of St. Gabriel, a worldwide Catholic religious order, founded in France in 1705 by St. Louis Marie De Montfort, devoted to education and philanthropic activities. The congregation has been operating many educational institutions in Thailand since 1901.

“Assumption,” besides its religious connotation in glorification of the mother of Christ, has yet another meaning in Thai language, “the Abode of Abiding Knowledge.”

Assumption University was initially originated from Assumption Commercial College in 1969 as an autonomous higher education institution under the name of Assumption School of Business. In 1972, with the approval of the Ministry of Education, it was officially established as Assumption Business Administration College or ABAC. In May 1975, it was accredited by the Ministry of University Affairs. In 1990, it was granted new status as 16

“Assumption University” by the Ministry of University Affairs.

Assumption University has 26 IT related programs. Assumption University is recognized in the USA and other countries and the transfer of credits from the University are accepted abroad. Graduates from the University can pursue advanced Degrees anywhere in the world.

Srisakdi Charmonman IT Center (SCIT Center)

The University in a park

Recognising the importance of allowing those interested in education the opportunity to continue their studies conveniently and promote Life-Long Learning by using the Internet, the Assumption University expanded its outreach from traditional classroom-based education to Internet-based distance education.

The College of Internet Distance Education is the first educational institution in Thailand to offer complete eLearning degree programs.

Although the Board of Trustees of Assumption University has approved the establishment of the College of Internet Distance Education on April 25, 2002, the government of Thailand legalized eLearning degree programs in 2005.

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

The College is located at “Srisakdi Charmonman IT Center (SCIT Center)”.

The College of Internet Distance Education is housed at the Srisakdi Charmonman IT Center (www.scitBuilding.com), constructed at the cost of about US$ 15 million.

The center has 12 floors of 12,000 square meters, more than 1,000 Internet terminals, and a Network Operation Center (NOC) with a diesel generator for power backup.

The facilities at SCIT Center spead across 12 floors includes Computer Labs and Internet Access Room, Courseware Development Center, Assumption University TV Station (ATV), Training Rooms for the Blind, the Deaf, the Retired, and Gifted Kids, Video Conference Room and MiniTheater, IT Training Room with 408 Computers Online and other facilities.These excellent facilities are complemented by an equally excellent faculty and staff. With its high standards and full accreditation, the College offers “one-stop services for worldwide eEducation for anyone, from anywhere, and at anytime”.

Prof. Dr. Srisakdi Charmonman is the first Thai national to earn a Ph.D. in computations from Georgia Institute of Technology in the US in 1964. His career spanning over 40 years has seen him as founding member and head of several renowned institutions and organizations around the world. Prof. Srisakdi Charmonman has authored more than 1000 papers on Internet and computers and was named ‘Father of the Internet in Thailand’

by Bangkok Post and several other publications. He was named ‘Man of the Year’ in 1996 and 1997 by GM Magazine, and ‘Person of the Year 2004’ by EconNews. While still serving as Chairman to several prestigious working group and organisations, Prof Srisakdi Charmonman is the Founder and Chairman of the Board and the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the College of Internet Distance Education (www.eLearning.au.edu) at the Assumption University in Bangkok. A visionary in true sense, Prof Srisakdi Charmonman speaks to Rumi Mallick from Digital Learning on his visions to lead Thailand in e-Learning ? What are the main challenges of education in Thailand?

The college at present provides a Master of Science in Information and Communication Technology (1 Year), Master of Science in Management (1 year) and Master of Science in eLearning Methodology (1 Year) that teaches designing, implementing, and operating eLearning.

Assumption University of Thailand aims to offer more eLearning programs at all levels of education - Ph.D., Master’s, Bachelor’s, Associate Degree, and short courses in future. In addition to programs originating at Assumption University, the College also aims to offer accredited degree programs from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Asian countries, eventually, serving about 100,000 students per year.

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

We still do not have adequate quality higher education institutions in the countries although there are adequate primary and secondary education institutions. There are still a lot of people who do not have access to higher education. Although we do have two open universities but the quality might not be well accepted, eLearning can help to reach the un-reached

? What do you hope to accomplish in the role as the board?

The College of Internet Distance Education of Assumption University is the only organisation in Thailand dedicated to e-Learning, We have spend more than 15 million US dollar in the college. The first totally complete e-Learning degree

programme in two subject is starting in January are being offered by us.

The Thai Government has allowed e-Learning to be legal in Thailand in the end of last year.

Eventually we want to provide eLearning to 100 thousand students all over the world. Our aim is to be the centre of excellence in e-Learning in Thailand with degree programs in Thailand and abroad.

? What are the services provided by the university?

We want to be the centre for excellence for e-Learning not only providing e-Learning but also we are teaching people to do e-Learning. We have established centers for Master and Phd in e-Learning methodologies.

So far we are providing three degree programmes through e-LearningMaster in Management, which is the 17

they will call me the ‘Father of eLearning in Thailand!

most popular, Master of ICT which is also offered through its classroom programmes and Master of e-Learning methodology.

? How do you compare Thailand to

? So what is the section of the

other countries in terms of eeducation?

population that you are targeting for your courses?

There are two main groups we are trying to address other than our regular students, people who are working full time, who cannot take a leave but would like to get a higher degree, and those housewives and women who are unable to pursue higher education as they have to look after their homes, and those who do not have regular work timings thus unable to attend to regular class hours.

? What are your views of the current higher education policy?

It took me three years to get the government to approve e-Learning.

Assumption University was the first to provide a PhD in computer science programme. Today Assumption University has 29 IT related programmes. I would like the higher education policy to be supportive and facilitating e-Learning at all level of education. We could also plan for a lot of popular courses, general awareness courses, and backup courses for our students through eLearning, when they need additional training or skill.

? How do you see the future of

With respect to computers, in 1964, Thailand had two, Singapore, Malaysia none at all.

We were ahead at that time, but we hope eventually we can catch up with them and go ahead. Last year we were behind in Cambodia, Laos and Burma too, because they had one e-Learning programme established by the Japan Government. Now we have three eLearning programme in Thailand offered by the University. Six other government universities will provide another six degree programmes. And I am sure all the other private universities will also compete.

? How much does it cost to get a degree through e-Learning?

We charge 200,000 baht (USD 5131.64) for the whole Master degree course that includes everything. But if you are abroad we charge for examinations, because we have to hire someone at the embassy or the local A classroom in the University

university to supervise the examination. This is a little bit higher from other university but our in-house facility and the quality is better than any in Thailand. We have students from 60 countries and faculty member from 35 countries. We provide over 10 million baht (USD 257,496 ) as scholarships per semester. We have 20 thousand students and our entire cost comes from student’s fees. But unlike other private universities we do not have shareholders and all our profit goes to improving the infrastructure in the university. We have a TV station in the campus. We broadcast every class free and anybody can study free. If they want to give an examination then we charge 500 baht (USD 13 ). And if they are able to pass all the 36 credits and all the course in the master degree and they want their final degree and certificate they have to qualify in a competitive capital examination then we charge 100,000 baht (USD 2,575), still cheaper than US which is a million baht. We are running a programme with San Francisco University, which charges a million baht for the master degree.

We have partnerships with many universities across the world in US, UK Australia, Malaysia. We are also partnering with Jones International University in US, which is the first e-Learning university to be accredited in the world in 1999.

? How do you like to see the

e-Learning in Thailand?

Assumption University in 10 years from now?

50-50! 50% of the population will use e-Leraning and 50% will use classroom. In Thailand it will take time for everybody to accept e-Learning, depending on how e-Learning is promoted. 12 years ago I championed the Internet and nobody believed it, I held public lectures, TV interviews, Christian churches in the morning Internet churches in the evening and demonstrated how to use internet.

Today everyone uses Internet! Now they call me the ‘Father of Internet in Thailand’ maybe after a few years

Our motto is “If you want to enjoy yourself come to the university…if you want to study go back home”.

Our main building is open 24 hours a day and 7 days. Assumption University has set up a lot of extracurricular for e-Learning students and smart facilities Students should come to the university to meet other people and interest with their teachers if they want. But they can do their main studies at their own homes at their own pace.

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April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

Open Content in a virtualised real world

Adopting UNESCO manifestations for the Knowledge Society

Valer no va [ISMIRNOVA@STAFF.MESI.RU], aleryy SS.. Mesko Meskovv [MVS@IITE.RU], Institute for Information Technologies in Education, Moscow, Irina Smir Smirno nova Moscow State University for Economics, Anna Mamchenko Mamchenko[ANNA-PRIV@YANDEX.RU], Russian State Humanitarian University

T

he UN meaning of the Information Society emphasises information opportunities as inalienable rights of each. The participants of the second phase of the World Summit on the Information Society (Tunis, November 2005) reaffirmed “the desire and commitment to build a people-centred, inclusive and development-oriented Information Society, premised on the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, international law and multilateralism, and respecting fully and upholding the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, so that people everywhere can create, access, utilise and share information and knowledge, to achieve their full potential and to attain the internationally agreed development goals and objectives, including the Millennium Development Goals”.

The Information Society is a society where the main production, communication and other processes take place in the virtual environment.

Such virtualisation of the real world results in the fact that knowledge about “the ideas” becomes much more important than practical realisation of the ideas which becomes a routine due to the progress in technologies.

The Information Society is not only a theoretical investigation of armchair scientists but it is phenomenal and today one may observe its existing shoots in some mass phenomena.

First, we mean open projects and free Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

(independent) communities developing in the Internet environment. These communities (still) take very modest practical aims but their activities comprise something common which, being extrapolated to wider community (up to whole society) makes it possible to perceive the other world, other interactions, other laws and other productiveness.

content. This empirically narrow operational definition of open content is widely used now and appeared due to the joining to the regime of production and dissemination of open software for other digital products such as texts, music, video, images and combined products united by the term “multimedia”.

The term “open content” is (still) used

The term “open content” is (still) used in almost the same sense in the UNESCO documents, but here the word “open” has an additional nuance corresponding the organisation’s spirit and means not only the open regime but also the principle of openness and availability of knowledge, information and works of art, which UNESCO advocates Along with the development of such projects and extend of the fields of their implementation principally new methodology has emerged. This methodology looks for and gradually detects the techniques and modes of co-organisation of people in the communities based on creation and dissemination of knowledge, information and products of creative activities.

in almost the same sense in the UNESCO documents, but here the word “open” has an additional nuance corresponding the Organisation’s spirit and means not only the open regime but also the principle of openness and availability of knowledge, information and works of art, which UNESCO advocates.

The Approaches to the Definition of Open Content

Nevertheless, it seems to us that the whole sense spectrum of open content could not be limited to the definitions mentioned above.

In the narrow sense, open content means digital content under the specific (open) regime of using, which is usually regulated by the special open license for dissemination of

The “content” means not only content in proper sense but also essence, substance, meaning and sense. By the way, an English word “content” succeeds in its sense to 19

The eradication of the cognitive divide requires the cardinal reconstruction of mass education system, and the post-non-classical methodology should be laid at its basis.This is an urgent task as education system, unlike industrial and services sectors, operates for future, and the future is Knowledge Societies

two different Latin words: “contentum” that means “something existing inside” and “contentus” that means satisfaction and contentment (sic!).

The second part of the term, namely the word “open” comprises in its sense not only openness as availability and accessibility but also means something what was open, released, discovered as well as “open” in the sense analogues to those used for “open systems”, namely open-ended, unaccomplished, unfinished and available for interactivity.

Science as a part of culture is in extreme need of junction of its separated and disaggregated parts into a single whole. There is a long history of dialog on the necessity of not only interdisciplinary research but also of joining science knowledge in a unified consistent environment and construction of a “Knowledge House” as well as on the need in combining of scientific, cultural and historical contexts and creation of common depository, common virtual memory of humankind. Apparently, this task must be one of the main challengers for the Knowledge Society.

Open Content as a Methodology In some works on gnoseology and science of science, the multifold correlation between the levels of social development and dominant methodologies has been realised. The 20

transition to the next level of social development is accompanied by a paradigmatic transformation of methodology. Thus, the methodology corresponding to the industrial society is a classical methodology. Its formation was routed in methods and principles applied in natural science of those times, and so-call “classical picture of the universe” was shaped.

The naturalists fondly believed that the dome of the science sky was shadowed only with a few cloudlets to be dispersed easily and shortly.

After that they anticipated completed picture of the universe basing on which it could be possible to use rather simple techniques for comprehensive realisation of necessary functions of description, prediction and post-diction.

But later it’s come clear that an attempt to remove even one cloudlet from the dome of the science sky leads to the necessity to study microcosm where the principles of classical methodology occurred to be inadequate, e.g. there is no possibility to measure with every required degree of accuracy and some measured values are interdependent. The perception of such results led to the formation of so-called non-classical paradigm of methodology evolution, and meanwhile the society entered a consumer phase of its development.

Along with the syntax and semantic elements of analysis the pragmatic elements have emerged. It has become clear that an integrated picture of the universe could not be shaped when taking into account the existence only

of the macrocosm and microcosm and not considering the presence of the world of information.

Thus, we have several pairs: industrial society and classical methodology as well as consumer society and nonclassical methodology.

Although the principles and methods of post-non-classical science has been accepted by the intellectual community and recognised as scientific thinking, our societies, economics, political systems, social and public institutions, including mass education, are still based on non-classical and even classical picture of the universe. As a result, there are examples of failed attempts to inculcate modern methods into mass education, namely methods of personalised learning, structuring of personal learning environments and tracks basing on e-learning.

Modern societies face relatively new phenomenon, namely cognitive divide, which was emphasised at the International conference “UNESCO between Two Phases of the World Summit on the Information Society”.

While the digital divide means segregation according to the access to digital facilities, the cognitive divide consists of inequality in formed basic competences and thinking skills, which allow or disallow an individual to participate on equal terms in information, scientific and creative activities. The eradication of the cognitive divide requires the cardinal reconstruction of mass education system, and the postnon-classical methodology should be laid at its basis. This is an urgent task as education system, unlike industrial and services sectors, operates for future, and the future is Knowledge Societies.

Manifestations of Open Content The methodology of open content is a methodology based on the principle of uneliminability of a Subject (as an “inner cause”, i.e. subjective sense) April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

from any process. This post-nonclassical methodology is efficacious and applicable to the most of known productive and social processes. It proved to be efficient and meaningful at global and local levels and handling to the needs of an individual and communities of every extent scaled up to humankind.

We are going to extract from the different projects taking place in various countries and fields of activities and social communication the essential common features and find out main driving forces and mechanisms. The following should be underscored: 1. The open content projects are set up for solving of definite problems. The specific goal of a project may be refined but initially in must be defined in terms of product (result) and not of process.

2. The goal of a project should be not only very definite but also socially sound. The more significant goal the more resources, attention and energy of the participants it may attract.

3.

Period

Adequate methodology

Industrial Society Consumer Society Knowledge Society

Classical methodology Non-classical methodology Post-non-classical methodology (open content methodology)

The goal should be generous and ethically sound. The explicit formulation of the goal is directly related to accumulation of energy and motivation of the participants. When the goal is degraded, the motivation is also degraded, and the prospects of success of the project and effectiveness are decreased.

Ideally, the open content projects have no need in any hierarchies for the project management or attaining the result, even in the form of some experts’ institute.

The net model works due to the fact that there is a limited number of possible rational reasons (ideas, decisions, hypotheses) while the number of the participants in the project is unlimited (possibly all habitants of the Earth). In this case a full set of hypotheses is guaranteed,

Manifestations of open content • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Mode of social communication, Milieu of co-creativity and cognition, Form of self-regulation of civil society, Technique of upholding of horizontal relations in a social community, Method of information exchange and knowledge dissemination, Environment for research, Educationally active environment, Mode of existence in a cultural stratum, Mode of existence in a virtualised real world (with primacy of ideas over goods), Adequate method of solving global problems, Technique of canalising of social energy which has no outlet in traditional social institutions, Way of dissemination of universal ethical principles (ethics of planetary responsibility), Method of social governance through discourse and active consent, Method of forming of a person of integrity with active life position and advanced function of responsibility, Way of agglomeration of human societies with synchronous preserving of cultural identity and cultivation of diversity, Method of archiving of culture and knowledge, stoking of symbolic wealth in the form of public commons, Function of ensuring of personal immortality.

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

4.

and the choice of the best one becomes simply a math task, according to the theory of taking decisions. In real life, the need in some hierarchy may happen but it should be situational. The excess of rights over necessary level causes inequity of the participants unfavorable for motivation and frightening adherents away.

Development of the open content projects on major problems allows accumulation of social energy and canalising it in line with the most important social tendencies as far as such a model of social activities play at the same time a role of an organisational mode of social discourse. A decision taken through social discourse are collective, they are carefully considered by all stakeholders and at once the fact of collective decision-making generates collective responsibility for its implementation and mechanism for implementation. Thus, knowledge immediately becomes an action and the divide between thoughtful but futile discussions and thoughtless actions disappears (in particular, the conflict between competent science and working government).

Being laid at the basis of new postnon-classical social and production institutions, the open content methodology is capable to reorganise the society in a way making the global community able to meet adequately the challenges of globalisation, cope with severe crisis situations resided in modern world, e.g. poverty, inequity, global diseases, ecological problems and other disasters putting humankind on the verge of survival.

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Cisco - continuing to close the Digital Divide

U pfront

“ It’s the students’ individual feedbacks that motivates us the most” Cisco believes that education is key to close the digital divide, a term increasingly used by educators, policymakers and government to describe the effect that the Internet and associated technologies have on the global community. Cisco works to close this divide through its flagship initiative – the Cisco Networking Academy Programme, an initiatives that focuses on capacity building of students to design, build and maintain computer networks. Cisco has more than 10,000 academies in over 160 countries world-wide helping hundreds of thousands of students acquire the skills they will need to compete in the Internet economy. Most of these initiatives are based on partnerships between Cisco , government, education institutions and other civil society orgnization. Sandy Walsh (sandy@cisco.com), Market Development Manager, Cisco, Asia Pacific, adds more to these with a vision in an exclusive interview with Rumi Mallick of Digital Learning.

? Do you believe ICT has transformed the education scenario in Asia Pacific region?

Absolutely. From the history of where we stand with education in our programme since last 8/9 years, we have seen a lot of transformation taking place around the ways instructors are interacting with students, students getting interested in the subject matter what they are learning. From academic point of view we have seen a very impressive impact of ICT in changing the way people are learning, changing the way they are being delivered.

? What kind of challenges or the biggest challenge Asia faces? Is it access?

Access to education has a couple of components access in general, educational, young people being able to continuing education to an age, that is something we do work with particularly around access to women.

We do a lot of work to ensure that young women enter into, they can participate and we can encourage their participation, this has a larger dimension to this.. Because we as a technology company are not 22

encouraging greater women participation in technology, then there are always going to technology build in the future that is only build by and serves half the population,. Its important to have equal number of men and womenusers of technology which will ensure that technology becomes an significant component in everyone’s life. So as a technology company I would like to say looking at gender issue is important. We are trying to enable the programme to be accessible in all languages, localised enough to be accessible by students in school and all.

Academic Community and leverage their expertise and inputs.

? How do you see partnership as a framework of your strategy?

We have not only partnered with the academic institutions, universities and students directly involved in the programme, but also we have strong partnerships with other multilateral organizations, so we spend a lot of time working with organizations like

The ability of the people to

? Localisation is a challenge you

be learning in not a close

said. Do you make available the things in English or in localised languages?

environment, but in total

The programme is translated in 9 languages. One of the challenges is that our programme is active in more than 160 countries. For us to keep the things translated in many -languages is a challenge. We look into the technology and how differently we fall into the future and how we can contribute more effectively, how we can partner with more academic communities around the world that become part of the bigger Cisco

global context and collaborating for education and learning is the future that I see for Asia UN (their development and volunteer programmes), , USAID, International Youth Foundation, and others having interest in education and if we partner we can be much stronger. For Cisco to go to a least developed country or community it does not make sense, April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

where we have no local office, local expertise, as having the local knowledge is very difficult. Partnering - with UNDP, which has a local office, local knowledge, working with them makes more sense and we can provide them our kind of programme thus working in countries where we otherwise might not be able to work.

So partnership element is extremely important for the work we do.

? Which are the countries you worked with ? Which are the programmes do you further over there, is it the Cisco Academic programme?

We work with UN in different countries, over all the years. Each year we try to move in a new countries depending on what their development goals are with the UN. in the Asia region, in India, Cambodia, Phillippines. We are working in the Cisco Academy programme in most of the cases. Where there is ICT in the UN charter, we try to work with UN to improve ICT capacity building. We work with them to identify either organisations we want to have the programme with,or sometimes we can work with the UN volunteers deployed we can do an evaluation of where our - programmecan have an impact and then they can make sure that the programme is can be sustainable and established well.

? You said you are working in 25 Asian countries. Can you tell us more of your outreach?

If you look at India and SAARC region, in Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, in Maldives, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos in quite a lot countries we have Academies.

China, India, Thailand, Indonesia, Phillipines in pacific islands, Figi etc and in other highly populated countries and in less populated countries like Singapore too– We have the Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

Now the IT market is becoming very complex, technology is so much more developed there is an increasing demand for IT workforce, who might not be working in the purely technology world, they may be working in fields where the underpinning technology knowledge to be effective, be it in manufacturing or healthcare strongest programme in China, India, Singapore, Thaiwan, Malaysia and Indonesia , Philippines.

? What kind of support do you expect from government ? Do you think the facilitation that you have received so far from the governments have been adequate?

You see, Asia does not have an umbrella organization or a regional body like the AU, in the US the education system is under one umbrella, but here we have to establish a country-to country relationship. The larger countries are also state or province driven. So one of the challenges in working in these countries is that they have many layer s and people involved in education..

So it would be wonderful if there were a little bit more synergies or if the government in these countries had policies or processes that were less fragmented, it would definitely help.

Yet would be easier to partner than through projects. Every state in the country has different organization that are incharge o education. So, different needs have to be addressed and different localizations needed. But I guess once we go ahead, some of these things will be addressed.

? What is your - yet to achieve goal?

From academic point of view we want to grow bigger, fill the niche, fulfill the academic demands and needs of the specific country.

? Since the past four years what personal objective, goal or achievement has been fixed?

My personal achievement might not necessarily be big partnerships, big infrastructures. But everyday the number of students that we have been able to reach out to, the opportunities that we have provided which these students might not have been able to get otherwise. There are a lot of individual feedback – when students call up or write to us to thank you, this programme has really helped me for education, to get me a job, or build my confidence that is the achievement. Personal goal - is an ongoing journey not just numbers that we have to achieve. I think it’s the students’ individual response that keeps us getting out of bed and continuing! If we can continue to have the positive impact be it on instructors or students, its motivation enough!

? How do you see Asia in 2015?

I certainly see there will be an increase in partnerships, best practices sharing, much more collaboration, and students learning across borders, technology available easily. This is going to continue from Asia to the world. The ability of the people to be learning in not a close environment, but in total global context and collaborating for education and learning is the future that I see for Asia.

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News

spread over a year and every student is handed a scholarship of Euro 17,000 for the whole year.

Since education at a European university is free, this easily supplements a student for his or her living expenses during the year. 130 Indian students have been handed scholarships in the first year.

‘Talking library’ records success in southern India

INDIA HP unveils pen keyboard for Indian languages

computer. The hi-tech keyboard makes it easier for even non-English speaking people and those who can’t type to communicate with others effortlessly. Designed and developed at HP Labs India, the keyboard is currently available in Hindi and Kannada scripts along with English fonts.

1000 scholarships await Indian students

HP Labs India has introduced its pen-based keyboard for Indian languages, including Devanagari (Hindi), Kannada and Tamil.

Priced at Rs 2,000, the gesture-based keyboard helps solve the phonetic language entry problem by allowing users to input text and data with a pen. The innovative technology also allows any Indian script to be recorded and stored directly on the 24

A strong European connection is brewing in India. The European Union (EU) has launched a e33-m fund to farm out 1,000 postgraduate scholarships to Indian students.

The scholarships, unveiled through a programme, Erasmus Mundus, will be rolled out over three years.

The EU is putting together a e10-m corpus, in three years, to back Indo-European cultural projects.

Incidentally, the European education programme draws on the name of the medieval, travelling Dutch philosopher Erasmus. The courses

Unlike in the West, audio libraries are rare in India, and “talking books” are rarely available in shops. And in such a situation, 46-year-old Madhu Singhal, herself visually impaired, runs an audio library of 16,000 works in the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

Madhu’s library has audio books in English and two Indian languages, Hindi and Kannada. It started when her brother-in-law bought her a tape recorder and encouraged her to do something for the blind. She depends entirely on volunteers to help with the recordings, who is also a founder of the Mitra Jyothi (Friendly Light), a city-based nongovernmental organisation. Two recording rooms at Mitra Jyothi’s office are the hub of the library.

Volunteers - from young students to housewives and the retired - lend their time and voices to record for the blind. For a nominal sum of 10 rupees, the visually impaired can enrol as members. With word about the library spreading, students from neighbouring southern states have begun April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

demanding audio books in their native languages. The library’s success has motivated Madhu to start a computer centre and an employment centre for the disabled.

Her efforts to get government

hamlets with about 1,000 families in interior Tamil Nadu in southern India but they are among the thousands of primary and elementary school children who use computers as a learning tool.

Red Hat and Lotus Learning in India to promote open source education in schools The Nasdaq-listed Red Hat, an open source software provider, has announced its partnership with the southrn Indian city Hyderabadbased Lotus Learning Systems Society to promote open source education in schools.

Under a computer aided learning programme launched in September, 82,400 rural children in 412 centres in 30 districts are using software packages produced jointly by the State and the Bangalore-based Azim Premji Foundation. Children answer questions in subjects such as Tamil, English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science on computer.

Village school children go online in India

Tally in tie-up with Osmania varsity in India

than Rs 30 lakh are being invested in this initiative to facilitate hands-on training in all the affiliated colleges. Accordingly, the commerce faculties of all the 120 colleges affiliated to Osmania University have already undergone a two-day training programme on Tally accounting software. The training offers both the faculty and the students a hands-on experience with real-time situations. This is aimed at grooming students so that they are employable.

Camera schools in India help inreasing teacher attendance

Tally India, a technology company, has tied up with Osmania University in the Indian city Hyderabad for education programmes on Tally accounting software across colleges under the university umbrella.

Arul Mozhi, D. Deepa and K. Maunika are first generation learners from

This is to enable Osmania University to teach Tally. A curriculum for commerce students has also been designed. Under the academic collaboration programme, more

Big names partner on IT-assisted education across private sector schools in India Computer education just got a big boost. NIIT, Intel India, Microsoft and State Bank of India (SBI), four formidable names, have formed a strategic joint partnership to initiate IT and IT-assisted education across private sector schools in the country.

Among the four partners, NIIT proposes to front-lead the education package through its NIIT K-12 (Kindergarten to 12th standard) programme by developing content in major subjects like English, Math, Science and Social Sciences. NIIT claims to have already developed 4,000 hours of content as per school curriculum and plans to take it further alongwith training teachers and thereafter students in IT-assisted education practices.

Intel India will be providing its technology, software, content and integration facilities by facilitating power efficient personal computers. It also plans to extend its reach to private schools with its Genuine Intel Dealer network for the IT-assisted education programme. Microsoft India, under its Partners in Learning Program, will be working in areas of training, certification, etc.

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

Teacher absence ranges from 20% to over 50% in different states of India, and makes a mockery of free and universal education. In such circumstances, the government’s plan to double spending on education will simply double the waste.

One possible solution comes from Sewa Mandir, an NGO, whose experiment has been analysed in a research paper by two American scholars (Monitoring Works: Getting Teachers to Come to School, by Esther Duflo of MIT and Rema Hagner of New York University).

Sewa Mandir runs non-formal schools in hilly, scattered villages of Udaipur district.

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ASIA

computer, equipped with standard PC accessories, is portable as it is the size of a textbook and weighs 500 grams. In September 2002, the ICT manufactured the first Chinese-made CPUs, coded Godson I.

Development Gateway brings out special report on online education

Opening of 15 School telecentre network in Chittagong in Bangladesh On 16 March, a ceremony at the Kala Kakoli school launched a fifteen center project bringing computers and Internet to schools and their communities in the Chittagong area. The project is part of a nationwide project by an international NGO, Relief International - Schools Online (RI-SOL) which has partnered in Chittagong with the Mahmudunnabi Chowdhury Foundation, a philanthropic organization promoting technology, education and youth development in the Chittagong area.

The RI-SOL project is funded by the US Department of State’s Educational and Cultural Affairs Bureau, the Hewlett Foundation, the Global Catalyst Foundation and other private donations.

The project promotes use and integration of information and communication technologies into secondary education. The opening took place as part of America week in Chittagong and was attended by USAID Deputy Director, Beth Paige.

Digital Learning Asia 2006: a curtain raiser Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), India in 26

association with Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and Ministry of Education, Royal Thai Government, recently organised the ‘Curtain Raiser Ceremony and First Meeting of the Program Advisory Board’ of the forthcoming digital LEARNING Asia 2006 along with the two other parallel conferences – egov Asia 2006 and the Asian Telecentre Forum 2006 to be held between 26-28 April, 2006 at Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand.

China to produce low-cost computers of its own A Chinese company has developed the first computer costing around 1,000 yuan (125 U.S. dollars) using a Chinese-made Godson II CPU, and plans to put the computers into industrial production in June.

The performance of Longmeng, or Dragon Dream, is equivalent to a 1G Pentium III desktop, according to Zhang. It is a computer, a DVD player and also a video game player. The

The new Special Report of Development Gateway- ‘Online Education: What Can It Deliver?’ (http://topics.developmentgateway. org/special/onlineeducation) looks at lessons learned, innovations that work, and the future of ICT in education for developing countries.

It coincides with related major international events, notably Digital Learning Asia 2006, Bangkok, Thailand, on April 25-28, and the 1st International Conference on ICT for Development, Education & Training, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 24-26.

No mountain high enough to reach ICT-challenged students in Mindanao, Philippines Cisco Systems, a worldwide leader in Internet networking solutions and USAID’s Computer Literacy and Internet Connection (CLIC) Program have joined hands to provide students in the Autonomous Region of Muslim Mindanao (ARMM) and other conflict-affected areas in Mindanao (CAAM) with the essential information technology skills that will prepare them for the highly competitive global information society.

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

Europe lags behind Asia in the education race: OECD study Europe, held back by France and Germany, is losing the race in education and higher qualifications faced with dogged competition from Asia, according to a study. The study, by Andreas Schleicher from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), warns Europe to revolutionise its schools and universities and tackle class bias.

Schleicher claims that increased spending on education, particularly at secondary and tertiary school levels, brings economic benefits that outstrip inflation, not just for individuals but entire countries. He points to the “miracle’’ of South Korea, which in the 1960s had lower income rates than all South American countries yet now has the highest rate of education - 97 percent among people aged 25-34 in the industrialised world.

Meanwhile most of the big European economies, including Britain, France and Italy, are struggling to hold their rank while Germany has even fallen. Finland is credited with moving to the head of the PISA (Programme for International Student Assessment) list following a radical overhaul of its education system, says OECD. High on the list of complaints was class distinctions - notably in Germany, France and Italy - that are preventing young people from getting ahead. Germany is singled out for dividing children between vocational and academic tracks from as young as 10 years old. Those from white-collar families have a four-fold better chance of heading down the path to a tertiary institution.

OECD recommendations Countries must set up a network of diverse, high-quality institutions free to respond to demand and accountable for their results. Access to schools, which are better and fairer, has to be improved, and public and private funding must be encouraged. Universities must also evolve in a way that matches their strategies to those of modern enterprises, the report said, recommending that they be governed by bodies other than just academic ones.

Through the Cisco-CLIC relationship, eight high school instructors from the ARMM and CAAM have successfully completed the Cisco Networking Academy Program’s “IT Essentials” course. The teachers, whose schools are beneficiaries of the CLIC Program, will comprise the pool of instructors who are now certified to offer the course to fourth year students in their respective high schools.

The CISCOUSAID/CLIC relationship introduces the Cisco Networking Academy Program to Mindanao for the first time. It is a hands-on, labor oriented program which provides skills-training on assembling a computer, installing an operating system, adding peripherals, connecting computers to local area Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

networks and connecting computers to the Internet.

DTK announces commitment to ICT-enabled knowledge economy DTK Computer Middle East has announced its strategy to further proliferate IT entrenchment in the region by emphasizing affordable mobility. The move comes as DTK looks to aid regional progress by encouraging the use of enabling information technology for increasing productivity.

In pursuit of its goal, DTK has recently launched the FliNote series of laptops for the mobile workforce that is characterized by robust design and is equipped with latest

technological features for added consumer value. The series has been designed for the highly mobile users such as management executives and IT professionals and boasts easy-touse functionality that allows users to connect online anytime. In addition, DTK is also catering to the industrial market by marketing the specially customized Frontline series of rugged laptops for harsh environments such as oil rigs, assembly plants, shipping docks and the police and mobile workforce as a whole.

Microsoft announces $8.2m to bridge digital divide in Asia Microsoft has strengthened its commitment to community outreach in Asia through an estimated US$8.2m in grants to fund basic technology and job training to empower underserved people with new skills for enhanced employability.

The US$8.2m in cash and software allocated for Asia is part of Microsoft’s US$25.5m in funding for the company’s ongoing Unlimited Potential (UP) programme which is now running in 95 countries worldwide. Microsoft UP is a global programme which focuses on improving learning for young people and adults by providing technology skills through community-based organisations around the world. A total of 24 new UP grants have been distributed to 12 Asian countries in this latest round of funding. The highlights of the programme include projects in Vietnam, Sri Lanka and Japan, plus a programme for Filipino workers outside the Philippines.

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Tech Target to launch Tech Target Asia IT media company Tech Target announced that it has partnered with Netremedia to launch Tech Target Asia, a network of English language websites and magazines targeted to specific communities of IT professionals in Southeast Asia. Tech Target Asia media will provide news, advice and other information for IT professionals to help them make purchase decisions, develop technical knowledge and address IT challenges.

Tech Target Asia will serve Englishspeaking IT professionals throughout the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). ASEAN includes Indonesia, Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Malaysia.

Tech Target Asia will launch Asian versions of Bitpipe.com, SearchCIO.com, SearchStorage.com, SearchSecurity.com and several Windows-related sites, as well as regional editions of ‘Information Security and Storage’ magazines. Tech Target also announced a reciprocal sales agreement with Netremedia, enabling each company to sell advertising on the other’s media.

World Bank survey highlights teachers’ absenteeism A World Bank survey has found that 25 percent schoolteachers in India are missing from work, thus leaving a gap in the government’s attempt to deliver primary education to all.

The survey is part of a broader World Bank research project on absenteeism, which set out to measure how widespread the problem is in six countries, namely Bangladesh, Ecuador, India, Indonesia, Peru and Uganda. On average 19 percent of teachers and 35 percent of health workers weren’t at work on the surveyed day in the six countries. The researchers found that the teachers and health workers are extremely unlikely to be fired for absence as 28

only one in 3,000 head teachers had ever fired a teacher for repeated absence. The study found better pay also doesn’t lower absenteeism.

Satellite technology to enable rural populace to learn English Innovative applications of the newest forms of technology can help alleviate education divides. The Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) is funding a pilot project through the Partnership Assistance Program (PAP) of its e-Society Development Initiative (e-SDI) to do just that. Gateway Educational Centre which is already a premier provider of English training in Colombo, will set up centres in two villages in Hambantota and Batticaloa and carry out a one-year English course for adults using a curriculum that is already being taught in Colombo. Project will directly benefit a total of 300 persons from these two areas.

The course will be broadcast from Colombo via satellite to the centres. Questions can be asked by the students over a speakerphone and answered by the master teacher based in Colombo. Additional assistance will be provided by a tutor at the centre and the same course materials (workbooks, etc.) that are used in Colombo will be used for this course. All participants will finally take the EdExcel English examination which will provide them with an internationally accepted

certificate of English literacy.

By giving rural Sri Lanka access to English teaching of the same quality available to those in Colombo, the ICTA is following through on the promise of its e-Sri Lanka program of delivering the opportunities and advantages of urban areas to rural populace through innovative communication technologies.

School for Land Administration Studies established On 23 March 2006 the International Institute for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC) and the Netherlands Cadastre, Land Registry

and Mapping Agency (‘Kadaster’) signed an agreement to cooperate in the establishment of a School for Land Administration Studies at ITC. The School will deliver land administration education and research within ITC, and will manage and execute a joint land administration programme with the United Nations University. This programme consists of a series of seminars, short courses, and networking.

Discovery Channel launches homework help site A new Discovery Channel homework Web site aims to remind parents whose math and history knowledge has gotten rusty how to help their children with the very things they have forgotten.

Cosmeo, a new online subscription site from Discovery Communications, offers a range of tools from a WebMath equation solver to educational videos and subject-specific Brain Games. Launched recently, the site targets Web-savvy children from kindergarten through 12th grade. It also gives parents and other caretakers a way to be more involved in the learning process while refreshing their own knowledge.

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

WORLD NGO donates 200 computers to boost ICT education in the Northern Ghana The Northern Ghana Aid (NOGAID) a non-governmental organisation (NGO), has presented 200 computers, valued at 700 million cedis to four senior secondary schools and two partners organisations in the Northern and Upper West regions at a ceremony in Accra.

The beneficiaries of NOGAID Computer Literacy Project are: Ghana Secondary School, Pong-Tamale Senior Secondary School and Tamale Business Secondary School in the Northern Region and Jirapa Senior Secondary School in the Upper West Region.

UNESCO official calls for ICTintegrated education in Africa

Saharan Africa (TTISSA), she said the use of modern technologies in the educational system offered great opportunities for the elaboration of teaching programmes, distance learning, planning and management of education. The use of various communication channels in teaching could also help replicate training programmes and reduce the prohibitive costs from national policies on education development in Africa, the BREDA chief added.

Egypt, Oracle ink MoU for education solutions

Schools in each participating country and monitor and evaluate their effectiveness in order to inform the broader rollout of the Nepad eSchools Initiative across Africa.

Africa’s vets to gain from webbased training Veterinary schools in sub-Saharan Africa have joined forces to create an Internet-based training programme that will allow vets to study for postgraduate degrees while continuing to work.

The Government of Egypt recently signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with 12 companies in the Oracle Consortium to provide ICT hardware, software, digital content and teacher development to secondary schools.

The African Universities Veterinary ELearning Consortium, which launched on 8 March, will create online courses for vets unable to attend full-time degrees. Postgraduate training for vets in Africa is currently limited to traditional full-time, residential courses.

Egypt is the fifth country in Africa to commit to the new partnership for African development’s (Nepad) eSchools demonstration project, and joins Ghana in committing to the project under the auspices of the Oracle Consortium. The agreement forms part of the Nepad e-Schools demonstration project, a Nepad eAfrica Commission initiative. The project aims to establish six Nepad e-

The consortium will develop online programmes in collaboration with the African Virtual University and the University of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. These will include masters and PhD degrees, and ‘continuing professional development’ courses.

Initially, courses will be available in Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Websites to go user-friendly for disabled people New guidelines on how to make websites more user-friendly for disabled people have been developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI). The work was sponsored by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) after an investigation in April 2004.

Lala Aïcha Ben Barka, Director of the Dakar-based UNESCO‘s Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (BREDA), has called for the integration of Information and Communication technologies (ICTs) into the educational system in Africa, especially in teacher training.

Speaking at the end of a meeting of National Coordinators of UNESCO Teacher Training Initiative in SubDigital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

The DRC’s report into web accessibility found that more than 80% of sites posed barriers to disabled people. Called PAS 78, the guidance is intended for any organisation that has a public-facing website. PAS - or Publicly Available Specification - 78 describes itself as a guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites. It is particularly aimed at the people responsible for commissioning and maintaining public-facing sites.

UK organisations with websites have been legally obliged to make them disabled-friendly since 1999. By following the new guidelines, site owners are likely to be on the right side of the law. The DRC also points out that businesses with accessible websites are in a much better position to tap into the estimated £80bn spent by people with disabilities every year.

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E-Learning pedagogy: TSOI© Model Mun Fie TSOI [MFRTSOI@NIE.EDU.SG], NANYANG TECHNOLOGICAL UNIVERSITY, REPUBLIC

T

he developmental process of designing meaningful multimedia e-learning materials whether they are to be delivered in the form of a CD-ROM or the Internet often need to be guided by educational theories (Norman and Spohrer, 1996; Mayer, 2001).

Although designers of multimedia learning environments often have a lot of information, proven instructional methods and powerful multimedia systems, it is still a difficult task to produce effective multimedia learning materials for e-learning. This is more so especially due to a lack of effective yet practical pedagogical design model for selecting, organizing and designing multimedia materials for e-learning (Tsoi et al.1999; 2000).

Hence, the following sections provide an insight on a onceptualized hybrid learning model, TSOI© model for multimedia e-learning design pedagogy.

P erspective

OF SINGAPORE

TSOI© model represents learning as a cognitive process in a cycle of four phases, namely, Translating; Sculpting; Operationalising; and Integrating. In the translating phase, multimedia experiences are translated into a beginning idea or concept to be further engaged in sculpting phase which involves logical chain of instructional events embedding episodes of thinking, guiding and reflecting leading to the identification of the attributes of the concept. The operationalising phase entails meaningful functionality for concept internalisation while the integrating phase provides the setting for diverse problem applications. Pedagogical principles of the TSOI© model are applied to science and chemical education.

Framework of TSOI© model The traditional model of ‘TransmitReceive’ which when applied to multimedia learning, has so far failed to engage learners in meaningful learning (Scardamalia and Bereiter, 1993). In contrast, this hybrid learning model (Tsoi et al. 2003) for the design of multimedia aims not only to enhance concept learning but also to cater to different learning styles. The theoretical basis of this hybrid learning model is derived from the Piagetian science learning cycle model and the Kolb’s experiential learning cycle model. The Piagetian science learning cycle model is an inquirybased student-centered learning cycle representing an inductive application of information processing models of teaching and learning. It has three phases in a cycle: exploration, 30

Figure 1. TSOI© model of learning

concept invention and concept application (Karplus, 1977; Renner and Marek, 1990; Lawson, 1995). The exploration phase focuses on “what did you do?” while the concept invention phase centers on “What did you find out”. The third phase is for application of the concept acquired.

The Kolb’s experiential learning cycle (1984) represents learning as a

process in a cycle of four stages, namely, concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. The concrete experience stage focuses on “doing”.

The reflective observation stage deals with “understanding the doing”. The abstract conceptualization stage focuses on “understanding” part while the active experimentation stage April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

Figure 2. Instructional storyboard for translating phase Animation

Narration

Text on Screen

Narrate

Your following activity focus on the relationship between mass and equal number of particles.

Relative Atomic Molecular Mass, Avogadro’s No. & Mole Mass Ratio

• Next, narrate

Suppose you have 2 bags A & B of same weight each containing equal number of particles, what can you do?

• 3s pause before narrating.

End of narration, display diagram A.

You can find out the total masses of particles A & B.

• 3s pause before narrating.

1 dozen particle A weighs 120g while 1 dozen particle B weighs 24g.

• Next narrate and show diagram B below diagram A.

I can form a relationship between total mass and equal number of particles called mass ratio.

• Next narrate and show diagram C to replace diagram A. Diagram B still remains.

Suppose you again have 2 bags A & B of same weight each containing equal number of particles, and also know the total mass of particles A, what can you do?

• 3s pause before narrating.

Can you find out the total mass of particles B without weighing?

• 3s pause before narrating.

End of narration, display diagram D below diagram B.

Yes, I use my mass ratio.

•

What have you learnt?

Next narrate. Display diagram E and also narrate the text in diagram E.

• End of narration of text in diagram E. Next narrate.

Your use of mass ratio will help you understand the next activity on relative atomic mass and Avogadro’s Number.

is about “doing the understanding”.

Bostrom et al. (1990) also conclude that learning styles are an important factor in computer-based training and learning. Hence, a hybrid learning model is derived from a synthesis of both the Piagetian science learning cycle model and Kolb’s experiential learning cycle model. This hybrid learning model termed the TSOI© model of learning represents learning

as a cognitive process in a cycle of four phases: Translating, Sculpting, Operationalizing, and Integrating.

Figure 1 shows the four phases of the TSOI© model of learning.

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

Pedagogical Design Application For illustration, in science and chemical education, the mole concept, a difficult concept which is abstract in

nature is used (Tsoi et al. 1998). The subtopic 1 is relative atomic/molecular mass, Avogadro’s number and Mole.

In the translating phase, the activity explores the relationship between mass and number of particles. The multimedia experiences are translated into a beginning idea or concept of what is mass ratio which is needed to understand Avogadro’s number and 31

Mole in the next phase, the sculpting phase. Figure 2 illustrates in the form of instructional storyboarding the activity for the learner to go through in the translating phase. At the end of the activity, the learner will have a beginning idea or concept of mass ratio as a relationship between total mass and equal number of particles through discovery and that this is help in the understanding of relative atomic mass and Avogadro’s number.

Figure 3. A relative atomic mass scale In the sculpting phase, the activities take place as a chain of logical events of skills in the activity By and large, the content sequencing, and consolidating TSOI© model of learner guiding and the understanding reflecting as shown of the physical learning, a hybrid in Figures 3 and 4 as meaning of instructional Avogadro’s number learning model storyboarding. One and Mole as well as for multimedia of the activities on their relationship “physical meaning” both qualitative and learning including at a microscopic quantitative before (particle) level proceeding to the e-learning will involves the learner third phase, the have the capacity comparing the operationalising masses of various phase which is to address not atoms that have important for annotations to go concept formation. only concept with it. The various The beginning learning but also atoms are displayed activity focuses on with the appropriate the physical the different colour and size. This meaning of is essential to Avogadro’s number learning styles enhance the first and mole in which activity on finding the learner chooses out how heavy is a single atom of a mole of atoms of an element from the carbon leading to the idea that the periodic table and balances it with the actual mass of an atom is very small correct number of particles. This is and hence, the need to compare then repeated with a different element. masses of different atoms with each The element when dragged onto the other including mass ratio. balance is represented appropriately at room temperature and pressures Activities as shown in Figure 3 will either in its solid state or if in its lead to the fundamental concept that gaseous state, it will be in the form of relative atomic mass is a number used a balloon as well as in its chemical to compare the masses of different formula or symbol including the molar atoms and it has no units. The learner mass. In this way of representation, a is provided the opportunity to be macroscopic as well as a symbolic engaged in the thinking process of view is provided. using the given information to create a relative atomic mass scale.

Quantitative relationships in the form of mathematical formula are acquired The instructional storyboarding through relevant activities to allow illustrates a way for infusing thinking operability of the mole at the three

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levels, namely, the macroscopic, microscopic and symbolic. Besides, self-questioning is embedded and the use of conversational style as in the personalisation principle is also applied. Generic questions such as, “How do you do it?”, “How are the observations in this activity alike?”, are provided where appropriate for self-questioning.

In the integrating phase, relevant and diverse problems are provided. The learner is posed review questions such as “What have you learnt regarding one mole and number of particles?” and “How is the mass of substance connected to the mole?”.

The translating phase is similar to exploration phase of science learning cycle model and concrete experience stage of experiential learning cycle.

Misconceptions can also be confronted in the Sculpting phase which is similar to concept invention phase of science learning cycle model and reflective observation stage of the experiential learning cycle. The operationalising phase involves increasing the understandings of the relationship between thinking and concept acquisition. This phase is similar to the abstract conceptualisation stage of the experiential learning cycle and prepares the learner to be operationally ready for applications in the integrating phase.

The integrating phase gives the learner the opportunity to solve diverse problems and thus integrate concepts previously acquired.

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

Harbingering Multimedia in Indian Rural Schools

M K Senthil Kumar [SENTHIL@AZIMPREMJIFOUNDATION.ORG], Technology Initiatives, Azim Premji Foundation, India Kumar Alok [ALOK@AZIMPREMJIFOUNDATION.ORG], Academic and Pedagogy, Azim Premji Foundation, India

T

he Computer Aided Learning Program (CALP) of Azim Premji Foundation (APF) envisages an environment, where learning and assessment would be fun and the opportunities to learn would be equitable. It focuses on the rural government elementary schools across multiple states in India. Our interaction with parents, community and children in rural Karnataka during the year 2000 indicated their deep desire to learn computer and spoken English.

In 2001, APF piloted 35 CALP centres in three districts in the state of Karnataka and now the model has spread to 10,086 schools across 15 states / union territories in India. The required physical and electronic infrastructure is provided by the government whereas we provide multimedia educational CDs, master teacher training, monitoring Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

assistance and inputs to teachers for integration of content with the classroom processes. Both the partners are involved in the documentation and research studies to identify the effectiveness of the program in terms of CALP influence on attracting and retaining the children in school apart from enhancing their quality of learning.

CALP is about encouraging the use of technology in class-rooms and NOT necessarily about using the content developed by APF in Computer Aided Learning Centres (CALC). Whether the content used in CALP is developed by the Foundation or not doesn’t really matter.

Educational content in the form of CD is the heart of this program. Realizing this, we moved ahead cautiously. In the beginning, we conducted a national workshop on the role of end-

user in the CALP. Experts from different fields including the Classroom Practitioners from government elementary school, Subject Matter Experts, Teacher Educators, Educational Functionaries, Community Members, Children’s story writers, e-Learning content creators and even children participated in the workshop. Based on the recommendations of this workshop, we adopted the approach of creating content with interactive features. If a child is interacting with computer, the chances of hiser engagement in learning are much more as compared to just watching a video or animation.

APF conducted another workshop to identify the “Hard Spots” that are otherwise hard to learn for an average child. We analyzed the subject-matter content for elementary classes and based on that developed a content coverage document. It comprises 33

the unfolding of a topic across the classes. Now we were equipped to develop educational CDs.

Attributes of APF CDs Self-paced learning: These CDs are conceptualized to enable a child learn at his/her own pace. Most of the CDs are story and game based with animated mascot characters in rural context with regional language. The content is tightly woven into the story and game. They do not tend to cover topics for the sake of covering them, but they allow the user to take hiser own time. The content module is so designed as to build in increasing levels of difficulty to provide motivation and challenge to the learner. The flexible navigation helps a lot in achieving it.

Non-threatening: Many a times we get feedback from children that they like computer, because it never scolds them! That speaks volumes about the need to create a non-threatening environment for good learning and we fully appreciate it. The jovial nature of our characters, songs, music and funfilled story help to create a non-threatening environment. Also, after each learning module, an assessment is conducted either in the form of a game or by asking questions by one of the Mascot characters. In effect, children hardly feel that they are being assessed and their learning gets reinforced in the process.

Facilitating peer-learning: The CALP model recommends a group of 3–5 children per computer as one child per computer is still a distant dream in rural government elementary schools in India. These CDs are so designed as to utilize this opportunity to facilitate peer-learning effectively.

A few of the CDs have built in twoplayer games that engage two children simultaneously. Other children in the group typically assist in working out mathematical problems, reading the text on screen or even directing the child handling the mouse about hiser next move. Children 34

operate the CD on rotation and hence each one gets sufficient exposure.

Besides, a post-viewing discussion in the class is also recommended to further reinforce the concepts. The group-viewing also helps to develop the affective domain of the learners.

CDs contain stories and are games based, with animated mascot characters in rural context with regional language.

The content is tightly woven into the story and game.

Interactive: These CDs present a rich opportunity for a child to participate in the learning process. Based on our interactions with children, we found that the most exciting thing for them is not watching elegant movements of characters on screen but making the movements happen. Hence limited user-controlled animation became a characteristic feature of our CDs. From clicking the tail of a dog for moving the story forward to actually playing a learning game, the CDs provide ample opportunities for a child to remain involved. Currently, we are working on enhancing it to such an extent where the subsequent event in the CD will be determined by the performance of a child in the present activity.

Competency based: It makes sense to make a CD that matches the syllabus prescribed for a particular grade. That makes the job of the teacher easier.

We have, however taken a different approach viz. the competency-based CDs instead of the state-specific syllabus-based CDs for the following reasons: • Grade hardly describes actual learning level or competency of a child and hence a grade-based CD may not help a child with a ‘competency lag’ • Within the same grade, children show varying degrees of proficiency in different subjects and topics. For example, a child may be excellent in languages but finds it difficult to handle mathematics. This is unlikely to be addressed in a grade-based CD as grade presumes homogeneity in learning levels.

• In a competency-based CD, it is possible to present topics as they unfold themselves across grades.

So fast learners may also get an opportunity to challenge their April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

and activities for the teacher that can be used in a classroom.

Typically, the Home Page of the CD has the buttons to view the CD, TRB and BCA. They can be accessed anytime while watching the CD. Language selection can also be done at the home page itself.

Role of the teacher

knowledge and imagination by tackling higher level concepts just for fun.

Organisation of a typical CD Pre-requisite: It involves an activity with questions that assess the knowledge that acts as a pre-requisite to learn the main topic(s) of the CD. It is informative in nature and NOT at all restrictive. The user gets a detailed feedback with each question and gets sufficient information to comprehend the main content of the CD. These questions are randomized to facilitate new learning experiences during repeated viewing of the CD. Main Content: Typically a CD has a simple but engaging story-line, child friendly theme and animated characters.

It is interspersed with learning components and games for assessment. In some CDs, there is extensive use of music and songs to make learning joyful.

Animal characters have been used in most of the CDs

because they are more engaging for the children. The learning components are transacted in the form of conversation between characters, presentation of contexts or direct instructions. The games usually offer either time or score challenge with the summary of scores being displayed in the end. The whole approach is to motivate the child and enjoy learn.

Except for the language learning content, the remaining CDs are in multilingual form (regional / national / English language).

Beyond Curriculum Activities (BCA): This section of the CD has interesting activities that a child can do after the class. The activities suggested are almost “No Cost Activities” as a poor CALP is about rural child may not encouraging the use be in a position to spend anything to of technology in get some extra learning. The class-rooms and activities are related to the CD topics and NOT necessarily provide children about using the with a challenge to extend the learning content developed beyond the class.

by APF in Computer Aided Learning Centres

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

Teacher Resource Bag (TRB): This section contains useful information

Appreciating the importance of teacher in any teaching-learning process, the CDs are positioned as a learning tool for reinforcement and NOT as an alternative to the teacher.

The CD finds an ideal platform once a teacher has introduced a concept and the learning from the CD gets much more reinforced if a teacher conducts a post-viewing discussion with the children in the classroom. So both the CDs and the teacher are complementary to each other as far as learning facilitation for the child is concerned.

Content creation process and Resource Both ‘Water fall’ and ‘Rapid prototype’ methods are being followed in creating these CDs. To create one 40 minute interactive CD in multilingual form, it takes approximately eight calendar months.

It involves an intensive effort on the part of the team comprising teachers, subject matter experts, academic and pedagogy experts, child psychologists, instructional designer, visualizer, graphics and animation experts, programmers, voice-over artists, music directors, children and project management team. Children are part of the content creation process right from the beginning.

APF get their ideas about a particular topic and test different learning methodologies and games before conceptualizing a CD. Finally, the near complete product is field tested with them and the feedback is incorporated before the CD is released. They also lend their voices for different characters.

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Jammu and Kashmir India Statescan

The winds of change There are about 888 thousands educational institutions in the country with an enrolment of about 179 millions. Elementary Education System in India is the second largest in the world with 149.4 millions children of 6-14 years enrolled and 2.9 million teachers.

This is about 82% of the children in the age group. Yet this state in India Jammu and Kashmir is educationally backward, despite the fact that it is the only state where education is free up to university stage. Against the national literacy rate of 44.18% for males and 19.55% for females, the state has a literacy figure of 26.67%.

Winds of change through education policy The Jammu and Kashmir government has launched an ambitious education policy- “Rehbare-Taaleem” to improve standards of education in the state.

Under the scheme, “Rehbar-eTaaleem” (teacher) would be engaged for a period of two years on contract

at a monthly honorarium of Rs 1,500. The performance of “Rehbar-e-Taaleem” will be evaluated and reviewed by the village committee after two years before extending his appointment for a further period of three years. From the third year onwards the teacher will be paid Rs 2,000 per month. After five years his/her performance will again be evaluated and certified by the village committee before he/she is considered for permanent appointment.

dropouts and supervise the implementation of various government schemes.

The education department has also started constituting village-level education committees. These committees comprise two members from the parents, a social worker and a representative of women, and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe.

•

The scheme will not only compensate shortage of teachers, but also provide teachers in the far-flung areas where many do not want to go.

Towards total literacy •

•

• The village-level committee will supervise the functioning of the school and report the cases of absenteeism to the authorities. They will also address the problem of

•

Teaching in progress

•

Massive drive launched to achieve total literacy by 2007 by effective implementation of SSA; 910 primary schools opened; 2500 Education Guarantee Centres set up; 237 primary, middle and high schools upgraded.

All primary schools being provided third teacher.

Construction of 223 primary, 16 middle schools taken up; engineers’ self-help groups encouraged for taking up school building construction; 30,000 posts of teachers created, 7000 teachers appointed in transparent manner, 24000 more teachers being engaged, political interference eliminated.

Free textbooks scheme extended up to 8th class; special grant of Rs. 50 million provided for improving conditions of classrooms for students, mats provided in classrooms.

New subjects being introduced in schools, biotechnology, biochemistry, environment sciences, humanities, psychology and sociology; computer education for higher secondary level.

Seasonal schools have been opened for people in the hilly areas and for the scheduled castes. On the technical education side, there are two regional engineering colleges in the state. There are four polytechnics to impart vocational training.

36

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

Motivating teachers to deliver is a challenge Mohammad Manzoor Bhat, Education Secretary, Government of Jammu and Kashmir, giving snap shots of education of the state to Sanjeev Kumar Shrivastav of Digital Learning ? What is the vision of current education policy in the state of Jammu & Kashmir?

The main feature is- every child is important. We have almost reached a point where we have a big push to send all left out children to schools by end of the current year. As laid down in the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme, to reduce the drop out rate to below 5%, is fortunately by large achieved. The next important feature of the vision is to improve the quality where our focus is fixed now.

By quality I mean quality of the village schools, quality in the class rooms, quality of the books, quality of the learning-teaching materials, quality of the management structures, we believe that unless we achieve the quality in all these sectors, we will be no where. We not only ensure the entrance into the school, we also ensure every child to have at least 10 years of education and completes

higher secondary level of education.

Thereafter we want to have quality at the secondary level, because we have witnessed a very weak link here, where the failure rate is quite high.

Our results are like 40-50%.

? What are the current strategy adopted to make ICT as an integral part of the educational system in the state?

We have a multi-dimensional strategy to implement ICT and make ICT a vehicle for transformation of school education. One programme is run under vocationalisation of secondary education and the other is innovative IT component in SSA. We are trying to provide computer labs to higher secondary schools. By the end of the year we must have covered around 350 higher secondary schools, the focus will be to teach computer education as a subject in class 11 and 12. Second is, to provide a

Our vision is to improve the quality where our focus is fixed now. By quality I mean quality of the village schools, quality in the class rooms, quality of the books, quality of the learning-teaching materials, quality of the management structures, we believe that unless we achieve the quality in all these sectors, we will be no where Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

compulsory computer literacy to every child in higher secondary school, irrespective of whether he has taken computer education as a subject or not. Third is, we’ll have a computer familiaralisation programme. Initially will begin from primary classes, expose them once in a month to common computer practices. And fourth is computer-aided education and to make that more attractive in primary classes. By end of April we expect Edusat coverage of 28 Higher secondary schools and around as many 54 colleges.

? While implementing the innovative education programmes do you think Jamu and Kashmir ever needs a state specific vision other than the guidelines provided by the centre?

By and large the guidelines provided by the center meet our requirements, except certain areas, one, those schools which are not upgraded under SSA programme, where infrastructure and other gaps are not filled. The other requirement is more money that should come in order to improve the quality of education.

? How improved a teacher-training facility do you have in Jammu and Kashmir with which imparting ICT enabled education comes easier?

With ICTs we have trained this time a thousand teachers. They are trained with e-level course. This course makes the teachers eligible to impart training.

? Major challenges faced so far?

Motivating the teachers. To motivate them to deliver, they are competent, trained, they are skilled. But to deliver the skill is a challenge. We should have labs in primarily level also; we have to have all facilities for deprived children.

37

Practitioner ’s V oice Voice

A vision makes the difference There has been a complete change in the ambit of education, especially when it is discussed in the context of Indian states.

Access to progress in education is but a few more clicks away right here in this part of India-Uttaranchal. Namrata Kumar, State Project Director of India’s flagship education for all project- Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in a conversation with Sanjeev Kumar Shrivastav of Digital Learning, on the state’s educational roadmap that takes it to its own zeniths. ? What are the major interventions made under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) programme in Uttaranchal so far?

We are implementing computer added learning programme in partnership with Azim Premji Foundation and it has worked out very well. We are doing it with upper primary school level where CD based content is being provided to students.

Now the most positive effect of this programme that has happened that we are not going to just use the content or CD based content in teaching process in the class room and the additional part like how to operate the computer, what are the issues related to hardware and even ensuring electricity supply and electricity backup, all these important issues are also not bothering anymore.

Apart from that if you are asking use of technology in education programme, then we have made very novel initiative in this in a way using video conferencing to disseminate our instructions which is not just happening at the district level but also at block and village level. We conduct monthly meetings via video conferencing for VRC’s and CRC’s 38

and also do meetings at the village level.

? How much support do you get from Panchyati Raj institutions in your state while implementing your programmes?

One cannot rule out the role of Panchyati raj Institutons here, SSA has this as a base line factor. We have village education committee (VEC).

At present these VECs which we created under SSA with the Panchyati Raj institutions will be the sub committees of the education committee. Every Panchyat has education committee and these VECs will be the sub-committees of these committees.

? Do the state of Uttaranchal need any state specific vision or the guideline given by the centre is adequate enough?

The government of India provides the guidelines for all the states but unless the state having its own vision I do not think that they can be outstanding. If you really want to do something outstanding then you really need to have your vision. I take

The government of India provides the guidelines for all the states but unless the state having its own vision I do not think that they can be outstanding. If you really want to do something outstanding then you really need to have your vision. I take proud in saying that every body from top to bottom is well informed about elementary education and providing all kind of support from whichever source is possible.

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

Computer literacy of the students studying in high school and senior secondary levels (class VI to XII) as well as using computer technology for classroom teaching, is being addressed in an ambitious project named “Aarohi”. It has a simple mission statement, ‘Computer Literacy for All’. The Students who pass out of the government schools as well as the aided institutions shall be computer literate, irrespective of the fact of the economic situation and affordability. The pass percentage has risen from 45% to 64% for the intermediate and from 35% to 50% at the high-school level.

The training of teachers in the schools as Master Trainers (MTs) as well as Master Trained Professional Teachers (MTPTs), is being carried out in collaboration with Intel. The course curriculum, examination system and instructors have been provided by Intel®.

Uttaranchal is been selected

by Microsoft as a launch pad for Project Shiksha in India.

An IT Academy is also being established in the State , managed by Microsoft. Project Shiksha is an ambitious scheme, following the cascade model of Aarohi and includes development of a high standard, world class curriculum, training modules, examination system, scholarships for students and teachers and a detailed follow-up.

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

proud in saying that every body from top to bottom is well informed about elementary education and providing all kind of support from whichever source is possible. What I mean is that our education minister, chief secretary, education secretary and every body is into it. The state wants to be performing above the guidelines stated in SSA and Government of India gives it.

? What are the major challenges you face in the state while implementing the programmes?

Uttaranchal is a small state. One may think that in a small state it is easy to manage and implement the programmes. But it is not so, because it is one of the hill states where we do face problems in reaching to the remotest areas. Another area, which is not difficult but challenging. In Uttaranchal, industralisation is happening very rapidly so we are getting huge number of children form other states. Their migration pattern varies from months to months, year to year. We are trying to overcome that by having a database of every child. We are conducting night service and worksite service to capture other child coming from other states and to capture interdistance migration and to take the benefit of SSA to every child. Hilly area also brings out a limitation of expanding the technology at the speed we want.

? What are the strategies you adopt to make ICTs as part of the education process in Uttaranchal?

ICT will play an important role like I said we are into video conferencing to disseminate instructions and training inputs. So in that manner if we have the proper convergence of all information technologies like satellites, computers and even mobile set and if we integrate these technologies together then we will be able to bring out solutions at very fast speed.

? How much support do you get from civil society organizations and private sector organizations in the SSA programme?

Uttaranchal is going at a pace very proactive for progress. Everybody is into it, not only government but NGO’s and private sector organizations are also involved in this process very much. For integrating ICT, we are having a tie up with Microsoft and Intel not just for elementary education but for secondary education also. Most of the elementary education has been covered by the Microsoft tools for the hardware, in fact, most of them are hardware. The teachers have sought that training with Microsoft. This training part is being expanded to elementary education teachers training also. We have the computer network till the block level and this year we are planning to expand it to cluster also and we will provide training which will be done by multiple agencies that include private sector organizations.

? Please elaborate the steps taken in improving teacher’s training programme(s)?

We already have a teacher’s training programme. Now we are talking about specific training needs, for migrating, girls and SC/ST students. We are giving a fully conscious approach to revive the teacher’s training programme. Also we have school grading and school performancemapping system where we have the endurance system by devising smaller modules for remedial teachings. This happens thrice in a year.

? Any comments you would like to give on our publication?

It is good and not only updates us about happenings in ICT and education sector but also we know, what is happening in other states/ countries. Sometimes distance is also time bound and this magazine is very helpful in bridging the gap.

39

Bookshelf PERSPECTIVES ON DISTANCE EDUCATION Educational Media in Asia Usha V. Reddi and Sanjaya Mishra, Editors

This is the first book to survey the region’s use of educational media and summarise the experiences of different Commonwealth Asian countries in one collection. The book is designed to serve as both a resource and a guide. It provides valuable background and the insights of leading academics, practitioners, researchers and students of educational media – while also offering a unique platform from which, it is hoped, new ideas and further developments will be stimulated.

The book is available online at http:// www.col.org/PSedmediaasia/ EdMedia_Asia.pdf

40

Educational media have the potential to transform the process of teaching and learning. Media have been effective in enhancing the scale and scope of learning, which in turn has made it possible to achieve other social and economic development goals.

The requirement of media is so immediate and pressing that the nature of acquisition of knowledge has already exhibited a transformation from what it was only a decade ago in the Asian societies.

Schools vie with each other to introduce computer awareness courses and even computer-based learning in established conventional courses. Software development in this area is an important priority of computer firms. Secondary schools adopt a computer-based curriculum, traditional humanities and social science programmes rush to computer applications programmes.

exploited the technology for the purposes of education. At the other end are countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka which are still at the nascent stage of deploying technologies for education and development. The book has three sections: Country Profiles, Research Reviews and Case Studies. The five country studies, three research reviews and six cases presented in the book highlight the richness of the Asian experience. The five country profiles describe the use of educational media in Bangladesh, India, Malaysia, Singapore and Sri Lanka.

The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) has tried to share this Asian experience by Documenting such developments. Asia, the home to most of the world’s big universities, open universities with over 100,000 students, generates the hope that much can be learned, from the way that these institutions deploy a variety of educational media that include radio, television, teleconferencing, interactive radio, multimedia and the Web. Educational media researchers, practitioners and policy-makers carried the similar hope through their contributions to the volume on educational media in Asia as part of the series: Perspectives on Distance Education.

The Commonwealth of Learning enriched the book with contributions from 23 authors in 14 chapters. The profound knowledge and experience of the two editors, Dr. Usha Reddi and Dr. Sanjaya Mishra, in educational media in the Asian region has properly been reflected in the rich content of the book.

Commonwealth Asia has been a region of extremes. At one end are the leaders like Malaysia, Singapore and India that have successfully

The research reviews section has documented three main areas of media application: audio, video and computer-related technologies.

The final section of case studies present six Asian case studies, which again includes two nonCommonwealth countries.

All the authors, in some way have tried to draw attention to the importance of the need for a coherent and cohesive approach.

The successful use of communication technologies for education requires the optimal deployment of sufficient resources in support of policy, structures, funding, human resources, production, research/evaluation and future planning- one can not deny to these facts while making out a gist of the book.

April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

Conference Report

Digital Learning Asia 2006 - A curtain raiser 17 March, 2006, Rama Gardens Hotel and Resort, Bangkok, Thailand

I

n recent years, several countries in Asia have responded to the global need to constantly upgrade the skills and adaptability of human resource with more imaginative educational expansion that can support an accelerated spread of new technologies in the education system.

This has happened through national education strategies with a focus on integration of ICT in education at all levels. However, counties are still in different stages of this integration, coping with challenges of infrastructure and implementation and bringing all those to limelight in order to initiate the action phase is what the Digital learning Asia 2006 is getting ready to do. And as part of initiating the process, the increasing awareness of governments and communities about the enormous potential of ICTs for fast-forwarding their developmental process and realisation of the undeniable need for mutual learning and knowledge flow, was emphasized in the curtain raiser of Digital learning Asia 2006.

The ‘Curtain Raiser Ceremony and First Meeting of the Program

Advisory Board’ of the forthcoming Digital Learning Asia 2006 to be held between 26-28 April, 2006 at Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, Thailand was organised on 17 March 2006 at Bangkok by Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), India in association with Ministry of Information and Communication Technology and Ministry of Education, Royal Thai Government.

Held as an evening programme, at the luxurious Lilavadee Room of Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, the ceremony and the meeting drew participation by more than 40 delegates, comprising honourable members of the Program Advisory Board, representatives from supporting partners and institutional partners, senior executives and leaders from the IT industry and members of press and media.

The programme started with the welcome note by the Chairman of the Program Advisory Board, Kraisorn Pornsutee, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology, Royal

Thai Government, who laid emphasis on the overriding importance for creating enabling opportunity to encourage new learning paradigms and intellectual networks through platforms like that to be provided by Digital LEARNING Asia.

Speaking on the background of this conference, Ravi Gupta, Director, CSDMS and Convener, Digital Learning Asia 2006 explained the relevance of the event and its commitment towards promoting and advocating ICT-led development of societies across the Asia-Pacific region. Highlighting the remarkable momentum and popularity that this event has already generated for itself across various countries and stakeholders of the region, Mr. Gupta gave a vivid portrayal of the 24 national and international organiations associated with these events in diverse roles and capacities.

Following this, he presented the details of conference programmes, covering each plenary and parallel session, the invited speakers, paper presenters and special workshops of the conference.

An open floor discussion followed thereafter, wherein the members and representatives of the Programme Advisory Board were engaged by the session moderator, the Chairman himself, to invite remarks and suggestions. A good number of valuable inputs did come in, laced with words of inspiration and intent of the industry to provide support for the conference.

Though concluded with suggestions, views and ideas, it was not the end of the show. Just left the Asian gathering to hold their breath for the real show to begin- Digital Learning Asia 2006.

Digital Learning | Vol 2 Issue 4 April 2006

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Mark your calendar april Distance Education and Training Council, 80th Annual Conference, 2006 9-11 April, 2006 Seattle, Washington, USA http://www.detc.org/meetingsReports. html#80

UCEA 91st Annual Conference, 2006 9-12 April , 2006 San Diego, California, USA http://www.ucea.edu/pages/ 2006confmain.html

17th International Conference on College Teaching and Learning 10 - 14 April , 2006 Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida http://www.teachlearn.org/final.html

eLearning Producer Conference 18-21 April , 2006 Boston, Massachusetts, USA http://www.elearningguild.com/pbuild/ linkbuilder.cfm?selection=doc.1067&templateid=1

6th International Educational Technology Conference, IETC, 19-21 April , 2006 Famagusta, North Cyprus http://www.ietc2006.com/

Interactive Mobile and Computer Aided Learning Princess Sumaya University for Technology 19-21 April, 2006 Amman, Jordan http://www.imcl-conference.org/

ICDE 2006 International Conference 20-22 April, 2006 Tianjin, China http://www.ihets.org/progserv/education/apc/ apc2006/index.html

IHETS/IPSE All Partners Conference 21 April , 2006 Indianapolis, Indiana, USA http://www.ihets.org/progserv/education/apc/ apc2006/index.html

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Digital Learning Asia 2006 26-28 April 2006 Bangkok Thailand www.dlasia.csdms.in

may IST-Africa 2006 3-5 May , 2006 Pretoria, South Africa http://www.ist-africa.org/Conference2006/

ASTD 2006 International Conference and Exposition 7-10 May , 2006 Dallas, Texas, USA http://astd2006.astd.org/

Interface 2006: Alberta’s Renaissance: Imagine the Possibilities 10-12 May, 2006 Lethbridge Alberta, Canada http://interface2006.uleth.ca/

Online Educa Madrid 17-19 May, 2006 Madrid, Spain http://www.online-educa-madrid.com/english/ index.php

june Distance Learning Administration 2006 4-7 June, 2006 Jekyll Island GA, USA http://www.westga.edu/~distance/dla2006.html

Lifelong Learning for all: e-learning from concept to practice 5 June, 2006 London, England http://web-dev-csc.gre.ac.uk/conference/conf27/ index.php

International Conference on e-Learning 22 June, 2006 Montreal Canada http://academic-conferences.org/icel/icel2006/ icel06-home.htm

International Conference on Information Communication Technologies in Education 2006 6 July, 2006 Rhodes Greenland http://www.icicte.com/isite/home/

International Conference on Intelligent Tutoring Systems 26-30 June 2006 Jhongli, Taiwan http://its2006.org/

Teaching Professor, 2006 19-21 May , 2006 Nashville Tennessee, USA http://www.teachingprofessor.com/

Innovation in Education (CADE and AMTEC Joint International Conference, 2006) 23-26 May, 2006 Montreal, Quebec, Canada http://www.acedamtec.uqam.ca/EN/president/

15th International World Wide Web Conference 23-26 May , 2006 Edinburgh Scotland http://www2006.org/overview/ April 2006 | www.digitalLearning.in

University of Santo Tomas, Manila, AI Foundation, National Electronics and Computer Technology Centre (NECTEC), Thailand, National Informatics Centre (NIC), India, The University of Comilla (Dhaka Campus ), IMT AVH UPCH, Peru, MASDALI, Indonesia, Al Barkaat, Aligarh, India, European Regional Academy of Caucasus of ICT (ERIICTA), Armenia, Grameen Sanchar Society, India, Kirori Mal College, University of Delhi, India, Shah Jalal University of Science & Technology, Bangladesh, The University of Hong Kong, National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Adeniran Ogunsanya College of Education, Nigeria, Sullivan University EurAsia, London, Cybernetics Institute, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, UWA, Austarlia, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, BRAC, Bangladesh, BITS, Pilani-Goa Campus, India, NIC Training Unit, LBS National Academy of Administration, IIT Roorkee, University of Colombo School of Computing, Sri Lanka, Dnyanopasak College, India, UNESCO Institute for Information Technologies in Education, Russian Federation, Trisakti University, Indonesia, DepEd-Microsoft Philippines, Aban Informatics, India, Education Development Center, Inc, India, Department of Applied Physics, Electronics and Communication Engineering, University of Dhaka, Bangladesh, M.S.Swaminathan Research Foundation, India, School of Open Learning, Delhi University, India, Hanoi University of Education, Vietnam, Expert Systems, Bangladesh, Curriculum Specialist of UNDP project, Uzbekistan, Iran telecommunication research center (ITRC), United States Agency for International Development (USAID), India, Center for Development of Advanced Computing, India, Aga Khan Foundation, India, Coventry University/National Computer Center (Tanzania), BUET, Bangladesh, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, Coventry University/National Computer Center(Tanzania), Machizo, UnnayanNews, Bangladesh, Ministry of Women Empowerment RI, Indonesia, The National Institute of Engeneering, India, International Islamic University Chittagong, Dhaka Campus, Hiroshima University, Japan, Azim Premji Foundation, India, Sunway University College, Malaysia, University of Swaziland, Developmental Informatics Laboratory,IIT-Bombay, India, Dnium Pte Ltd, Singapore, Kim Lien High school, Vietnam, Unitar, Malaysia, HP Labs India, Carnegie Mellon University, USA, Multimedia University, Malaysia, College University I hedmark, Norway, Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd., Byrraju Foundation, India, Infosys Technologies Limited, India, School of Engineering & Computer Science, Bangladesh, Plan International India, Independent University, Bangladesh, Institute of Information and Communication Technology (IICT), Bangladesh, Institute of Informatics & Communication, Centre for International Development and Training (CIDT), India, University of Wolverhampton, UK, University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore, Pakistan, Kim Lien High school, Vietnam, DOEACC Society, India, Datamation Research, India

are speaking at digital LEARNING Asia 2006 conference Interested??

Asia 2006 April 26 - 28, 2006 Rama Gardens Hotel and Resort Bangkok, Thailand

www.digitalLEARNING.in

I am a child Though, I look after two as My own.

I have dreams Though, I never talk About them.

I have needs Though, I have not The means.

I have learnt To give, without Ever demanding.

Is asking for An education, asking Too much.

I am but a child!

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