Preparing for a Knowledge Network : February 2007 Issue

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

Volume III Issue 2

February 2007

ISSN 0973-4139

Rs 200

...

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Contents Verbatim

Volume III Issue I1, February 2007

Many highly intelligent people are poor thinkers. Many people of average intelligence are skilled thinkers. The power of the car is separate from the way the car is driven. Edward De Bono If I were asked to enumerate ten educational stupidities, the giving of grades would head the list... If I can’t give a child a better reason for studying than a grade on a report card, I ought to lock my desk and go home and stay there. Dorothy De Zouche Often brilliance is dismissed as rubbish because nobody really expects it to be there. Collin Douma

Cover Story

the Web 37 Evaluating Accessibility of World’s

Higher Education in Malaysia

Top Ten Universities’ Home Page

Towards a Goal of Global Excellence Rumi Mallick

Poonsri Vate-U-Lan

Interview: Professor Tan Sri Anuwar Ali, President, Open University, Malaysia

Video Setup for Classroom Learning Jayanthy Maniam

Managing e-learning environment Mind Map Learning Approach Using SCORM Standards Hanan Ettaher Dagez

National Knowledge Commission’s Report to the Nation 2006 People’s Access to Knowledge can Transform India

Corporate Diary Leaders’ Speak Simo Hoikka Programme Manager, Nokia Corporate Relations and Responsibility

Research virtual to augmented 14 From reality

Report

Andrew Cheong, Country General Manager, Nokia Malaysia

Regulars

M-Learn Language Learning made easy Rani Wemel

On the Web

Mark Your Calendar

School Track

Science Across the World

News

12 20 33 35 45

Malaysia Asia Corporate India World

digital LEARNING is accessible on the web. Link up to www.digitalLEARNING.in

Money matters! No matter for bright students in Indonesia! Indonesian students who show potential, but are prevented from making the most of their time at university by financial constraints, can now apply for student loans. The programme was launched by the Sampoerna Foundation in cooperation with Bank International Indonesia (BII) and the International Finance Corporation. Four universities have signed an agreement to participate in the programme: Prasetya Mulya Business School, the University of Indonesia (School of Economics), Bina Nusantara University and Indonesian Institute for Management Development (IPMI). Students at a number of other universities — namely Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB), Gajah Mada University, Bogor Institute of Agriculture (IPB), Atmajaya University, Trisakti University and Pelita Harapan University — can also apply for a loan. Only students who did not receive scholarships but had excellent academic records were eligible for the programme. The loan for undergraduate students will cover registration and administration fees, as well as their yearly tuition fee, while graduate students are eligible for a loan to cover their tuition until they finish their studies. According to data from the National Education Ministry, less than 4 percent of Indonesians can afford to go to university. Student loan programs are offered in a number of other countries, including neighboring Australia and Malaysia.

Free government schools no longer attract poor The crisis in the Indian educational system is prompting poor families to pull children out of free government schools and enroll them in the private sector at an unprecedented pace, according to an independent study released. The emergence in slums and

villages of private schools that charge near-destitute families between US$1US$3 a month for basic primary education is regarded as an indictment of the states’ ability to provide a traditionally core service. The shift to the private sector, where teachers are more accountable, has been dramatic. Eight Indian states now

digital LEARNING invites authors 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. Note that contributions may be edited for space and/ or clarity. Unconsolidated manuscripts and artwork will not be returned. Please be sure to read and follow the Editorial Guidelines available at http:// www.digitallearning.in/editorial.asp All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, Digital Learning G-4, Sector-39, Noida, India Tel +91-120-2502180 to 85 Fax +91-120-2500060 Email info@digitalLEARNING.in 4

Next issue: e-learning in higher education

YOUR SAY I must congratulate you on your magazine; it is very well done and provides good reading material. Simmi Kher, IT Coordinator, Springdales School, Pusa Road, New Delhi, India We would like to have a continued association with you... We would be interested in contributing content for the magazine. Seema Acharya, Infosys Technologies, Mysore, India

have more than 30 per cent of children in non-government-run schools and a further 10 states with between 15-30 per cent in private education.

INR5 billion to attract youth to science India will spend INR5 billion to attract about one million students in the 1017 age group toward science education, according to the Science and Technology Minister Kapil Sibal. Under a new project called Innovation for Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE), the ministry would award INR5,000 each to the students over the next five years. “India is growing in the field of science and this initiative will help inspire students to take up science as a career,” Sibal told reporters. He said the central government had expressed its willingness for the project, which would be started soon. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

digital LEARNING Volume III, issue 2 | February 2007

President M P Narayanan Editor Ravi Gupta Editorial Consultant Jayalakshmi Chittoor Sr. Assistant Editor Rumi Mallick Sr. Research Associate Manjushree Reddy Marketing Siddharth Verma +91-9811561645 (India) email: siddharth@csdms.in Designed by Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Web Zia Salahuddin 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 Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. (www.elets.in)

Editorial Preparing for a Knowledge Network What are the factors that shape the effective adoption of innovations in education technologies to particular local situations? How to scale-up promising innovations in ICT in education from a near perfect ‘pilot’ environment in which they were conceived to the striking realities in the vast majority of schools? Are teachers’ capabilities and effective pedagogy the most crucial contextual variables that shape the effectiveness of an innovation? Questions abound, so does the efforts to find out viable solutions to the many challenges that confront a seamless integration of ICTs in education. The Digital Learning Asia Conference and Exhibition (6-8 February, 2007) at Putrajaya, Malaysia, a part of eAsia 2007 Conference, is an initiative towards providing a platform for collaborative learning, knowledge networking and strategising among innovators and practitioners in ICT in education in schools, universities and lifelong learning for communities. The conference, second in the series of regional forums organised by CSDMS is being hosted by the Ministry of Energy, Water and Communications, Malaysia and is supported by key government organisations and International thought leaders in Asia and outside. While most countries in Asia are struggling to close the existing divides – digital and educational, countries that have adopted ICT-enabled education are evaluating their interventions and strategising for the most effective processes for a sustainable ICT invention for improving the quality and reach in education. The Digital Learning conference is aimed at providing an opportunity to stakeholders to share practical experience of ICT use in education in geographically and culturally diverse regions. The knowledge networking opportunities provided through structured sessions and discussions, and informal networking spaces in the conference, are aimed at bringing businesses and the knowledge base together and connecting the stakeholders to catalyse collaboration and partnerships that are mutually beneficial. While innovators will showcase their products and practices and get a informed feedback from the practitioners and users of their products, donors and investors may get to look at some of the programmes and researches that are currently in practice and require support for deepening the process, field testing of experiments and up-scaling and expansion of operations. In this special issue on the learning opportunities in Digital Asia, we have covered some experiments and researches in this sector. The conference is an extension of the knowledge sharing and networking space that we provide though this publication. While in this issue we continue our focus on Asian countries, Malaysia in particular, as the Digital Learning magazine and Digital Learning Asia 2007 Conference takes a step further in bridging the knowledge gap between decision-makers and practitioners and promotes dialogues, new alliances, inter-personal networks, and cross-sectoral links so that “useful knowledge” is shared and channeled to develop “best management practices” and practical decision support in ICT in education. We invite you to join and expand this knowledge network. Happy Reading!

Ravi Gupta Editor Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in 5

Cover Story

Higher Education in Malaysia

Towards a Goal of Global Excellence

n an environment characterized by rapid advance in ICT, globalization, liberalization, and greater reliance on knowledge for value creation, Malaysia has planned to leapfrog into the post-industrial age by leveraging ICT as a strategic lever for national development and global positioning. Malaysia had achieved its independence in 1957. Since then the country has implemented nine five-year economic development plans. Believing in the philosophy that economic development should not be left entirely to market forces, Malaysia had focused on the eradication of poverty, restructuring of society, equitable growth and investment in human capital as its key national goals.

The New Economic Policy (NEP), 1970–1990, and the National Development Policy (NDP), 1991–2000, formed the bench-mark of all policy and plans for the country. In 1991, Malaysia launched a program called “Vision 2020’’, which laid out a plan to build a fully developed, knowledge-rich Malaysian society by the year 2020 through the development of the ICT sector and the use of ICT to increase global competitiveness. Lessons from several researches indicate that well crafted government policies can make a difference in a country’s economic and social development. However crafting the right public policy can be a huge challenge, particularly for a developing country. The development of the ICT sector presents a unique opportunity to build technological innovativeness that can accelerate the economic growth. However, it also presents significant challenges of developing a sound technological infrastructure, a highly skilled workforce, economic openness, and broad social participation. Malaysia had setup the National Information Technology Council (NITC) in 1995 to spearhead, the development of information technology in the country. This gained further momentum with the development of Multimedia Super Corridor in Putrajaya a high-tech environment and infrastructure for IT companies. 6

Malaysia’s leadership recognized the need for a comprehensive policy and cooperative partnership to achieve its development objectives and its ambitious vision. The Vision 2020 liberalized educational policies were introduced leading to a more democratic, privatized, and decentralized educational system. With respect to elementary and secondary education, the country has shifted its focus on the provision of basic education for all to the provision of quality education for all in the 21st century. Changes were also introduced in higher education and training systems, permitting the establishment of private universities and branch campuses of foreign universities and efforts to provide financial assistance to students. In the non-formal educational sector, there was an increased emphasis on human resource updating and meeting individual and business needs for job advancement and higher wages. At the same time comprehensive policies were developed not only to accelerate the growth of the ICT sector but also to encourage ICT use in various sectors of the economy and development including education.

The thrust of higher education Currently, Malaysia allocates an average 20% of its development budget for education. This amount ranks very high compared to many other countries and reinstates Malaysia’ vision to become a February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

knowledge powerhouse in the region. In 2004, the government formed the Ministry of Higher Education to oversee tertiary education in Malaysia. The education sector offers a variety of higher educational programs as well as professional and specialised skill courses that are comparatively priced and of excellent quality. In the late 1990s, following the amendment of the Education Act in 1995, The Private Higher Education Act 1996 was introduced. Malaysia has been able to improve its education standard with the support of its private sector over the last couple of decades. While some of this has been in the form of private collaboration for setting up universities others have been through industry-academia collaboration in project-based training programmes. Several major corporations were licensed to run private universities including Telekom’s Multimedia University, Petronas Universiti Teknologi and Universiti Tenaga Malaysia. Two distance learning universities were also created: Universiti Tun Abdul Razak and the Open Univesity of Malaysia. The liberalization of education had also

Currently, Malaysia allocates an average 20% of its development budget for education. This amount ranks very high compared to many other countries and reinstates Malaysia’ vision to become a knowledge powerhouse in the region.

led to the trend of reputable universities from the UK and Australia setting up branch campuses in Malaysia. These include, Monash University, Australia, The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, SAE Institute, Australia and Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Currently, Malaysia has 72 public tertiary education institutions, which comprises of 12 universities, 6 university colleges. For private tertiary education institutions, Malaysia has 11 universities, 11 university colleges, 5 branch campuses and 532 colleges. At present the total number of students registered in tertiary institutions is about 732,000 and expected to be doubled in the year 2020. After the vision 2020 was formulated, all

universities in Malaysia are urged by the government to focus more on the fields such as science and technology.

Internationalisation of Higher Education The Private Higher Education Act of 1996 allowed many private colleges in Malaysia to offer programmes whereby the student does part of his degree course in Malaysia and part of it in the other institution, this method is named “twinning”. Thus students can do their foreign bachelor’s degree programmes at these colleges in Malaysia, which have an interinstitutional collaborative arrangement with host-universities from overseas. Universities from USA, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and New Zealand offer twinning,

The changing focus of the National Policy

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

‘We Sustain our Growth Momentum by Focusing on the Market’ Professor TTan an Sri Anuwar Ali, President and Vice-Chancellor, Open University Malaysia The Open University Malaysia (OUM) is the largest Open and Distance Learning institution in Malaysia with over 50,000 students. In terms of teaching and learning, the OUM utilises the blended approach that combines printed learning materials as the main learning resource supplemented by face-to-face interactions at regional centres and online learning through specially designed Learning Management System. In a conversation with Professor Tan Sri Anuwar Ali, the President and Vice-Chancellor of Open University Malaysia, Digital Learning tries to elucidate how Open University empowers a geographically dispersed group of students to participate in a collaborative learning environment.

Could you elaborate on how and why the OUM was established? What are the various programmes of the Open University? Open University Malaysia or better known as OUM was established in the year 2000. It was born from the idea of our holding company formed by the consortium of eleven public universities in Malaysia. The main objective for the establishment of OUM is to democratize education, by which we mean that education should be made accessible and available to all. We are offering a second chance to people from all walks of life to pursue an academic qualification which they had missed without having to offer themselves for full time programmes at a single designated location. In terms of programmes, OUM offers from diploma right up to the PhD level. Our popular programmes are Business and Information 8

Technology related degrees, and our degree in Education has the most number of enrolments. What are the approaches employed in OUM, for the process of teaching and learning, and how do they meet the needs of ever-changing borderless world? At OUM we adopt the blended pedagogy in the delivery of all our programmes. We have developed comprehensive printed modules, which were designed on the basis of self-managed learning. We have developed and implemented Learner Management System to provide the platform for on-line learning, and at OUM, we still do offer the face-to-face sessions. This approach that we have taken helps us to meet the changing scenarios in this field, especially in our programmes conducted outside of Malaysia. We find that this blended approach can be catered (based on the location) in deciding on matters

What have been the milestones for the OUM? Looking back, we have come a long way, and looking ahead, we see a longer path. We are fortunate that we have supportive academics and staffs who constantly strive to bring out the best in them. As mentioned earlier, if the enrolment forms a basis for success, then we have one. Our ISO certifications for Tan Sri Abdullah Sanusi Ahmad Digital Library and the Center for Instructional Design and Technology are our milestones. Accreditation of our programmes by the National Accreditation Board is another. OUM had won the Asian Association of Open Universities’ Best Paper Award, Merit Award for Education & Training Learning Management System from MSC Asia Pacific ICT and also the Technology Business Review Award for Excellence in Education (Provision of Continuing Education). February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

capital investment and sustainability. In this business, the return on investment is not immediate. Comparable to the rest of Asia, many universities in other countries are also going on this open and distance learning mode. It is a good step, and we are willing to share our experience and expertise in this industry with others.

such as whether the face to face sessions should be increased or whether the on-line component be reduced. Who are your target group? Has the OUM been successful as an alternative channel for tertiary and life-long education? OUM’s target markets are the working adults, who for some reason or another had missed the opportunity to obtain the academic qualification and some who intends to enhance their current qualifications. We are stepping into our sixth year of operations, and we have an enrolment exceeding 50,000 students. If this means that we are successful (for having the largest number of adult learners at a single institution in Malaysia), I would definitely attribute this to our government’s initiatives to promote human capital development and the concept of life-long learning in our race to achieve the developed nation status. Being the nation’s pioneer Open and Distance Learning institution, we are proud to play a small role in this.

high as 40%. Fortunately, at OUM we manage to cap to less than half of that industry rate. This could be attributable to the positive steps taken by the Learner Services Center that provide counseling and advisory services. How far has the national policies supported such Open University initiatives?

As I had mentioned earlier, the Malaysian government’s emphasis on human capital development and lifelong learning had placed the importance of academic qualifications to face the future challenges. We have the various ministries’ support to implement programmes for We are stepping into our sixth year of operations, their staff. and we have an enrolment exceeding 50,000 Financing for our programmes are students. If this means that we are successful (for available and having the largest number of adult learners at a further, the fact that OUM had single institution in Malaysia), I would definitely been appointed attribute this to our government’s initiatives to by the government to be promote human capital development the national center to assess prior learning clearly Where do you see the main shows the seriousness of our challenges for such Open University government in this matter. programmes? In terms of challenges, this makes a few. The quality of learning materials is very important. We strive to provide the best in terms of content, with good support during the delivery of the courses. The other challenge would be the attrition rate of students. In open distance learning institutions throughout the world, the attrition rate of students can be as Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

How do you see the market for private ventures for online or distance education in Malaysia? How do you compare Malaysia’s market to the rest of Asia? The market in Malaysia is big enough for private ventures for on-line or distance education. The issues that I could foresee would be the high

How has been OUM partnering with the industry? In what way has the industry supported the university? The industry-academia partnership could be interpreted in many ways. We do work very closely with the industry by offering programmes that are designed and developed based on the input from the industry. The Ministry of Defence is one example, the other being Nestlé. By way of support, we use many facilitators from these and other industries. I think that this approach is better to position the students learning closer to the practices adopted in industries. What do you hope to achieve for the University in your role as the President? What is your future plan for OUM? As the President and Vice Chancellor of OUM, I have focused on three fundamental thrusts for 2007 and beyond to enable us to be recognised as one of the mega universities in Asia by 2015. Firstly, we have to sustain our growth momentum by focusing on marketing and business development initiatives. OUM would also be consolidating learner-centered activities by making our graduates relevant to the future development of OUM. Finally, OUM would also be strengthening organisational capacity and refine internal processes by enhancing our human resource capability, especially the number of academics or faculty members. All these, I hope would steer us to reach greater heights in our industry among other great open and distance learning providers in the world. 9

public higher education institutions with the remaining in the schools level. The students mainly come from China, Indonesia and Middle Eastern country. Ministry of higher Education has set up a target to get 100,000 foreign students to be registered in Malaysia by the year 2010. As one of the steps in making Malaysia the centre of educational excellence, the ministry also plans to establish four education promotional offices at four different countries namely Jakarta, Ho Chi Minh City, Dubai and Beijing, that have the potentials to sent their students to Malaysia.

ICT in higher education franchised and external degree programs in partnership with Malaysian institutions. Malaysian institutions are also setting up programmes in over a dozen countries and the number is growing. Malaysia attracts over 30,000 foreign students for higher education each year, compared to 15,000 to 18,000 students in India and 140,000 in China. As a result of their higher GDP spending on higher education, Malaysia along with Singapore and China have emerged as global players in the cross-border higher education thereby attracting many reputed universities from the advanced countries and hosting a large pool of

globally mobile students. The Malaysian approach to Higher Education is thus very “businesslike”. The role of universities is seen as supporting business and that universities themselves should run as businesses. Public universities have been “corporatised” meaning that they should run along business lines, seeking cost recovery and thus depending to a lesser degree on public funding. The number of international students in Malaysia 40,686 in 2004 which includes 25,939 international students in private higher education institutions, and 6,315 students in the

Malaysia attracts over 30,000 foreign students for higher education each year, compared to 15,000 to 18,000 students in India and 140,000 in China. As a result of their higher GDP spending on higher education, Malaysia along with Singapore and China have emerged as global players in the cross-border higher education thereby attracting many reputed universities from the advanced countries and hosting a large pool of globally mobile students. In 2004 the number of international students in Malaysia was over 40 thousand 10

The rapid growth of information technology (IT) globally has also spurred the growth of e-learning projects in higher education in Malaysia. In higher education, Malaysia had supported distance learning and is today of the leading countries in the application of digital information technologies to education. Although the first generation of distance learning was mainly paper and print based, the country quickly graduated to audiocassettes, audio conferencing, audiographic conferencing, one-way, to video, two-way video and computer conferencing. In 1996, Malaysia saw the launch of its first satellite; the Malaysia East Asia Satellite, Measat-1 and later Measat-2. Measat-1 and Measat-2 represented a category of new generation satellite for direct users service by television users in homes as well as institutions. Users only need a small 500 cm antennae and a receiver. In short the transmitter allowed for voice, data and video transmission, which was suitable for interactive distance learning. With the increasing demand from adult working population for selfdevelopment and upgrading of skills, universities and institutions are increasingly adopting and February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

implementing distance education. These programmes are either ‘crafted’ in their conventional faculties, delivered through the establishment of a special unit or institution under the universities or creating separate institutions. In 1971, Universiti Sains Malaysia (Science University of Malaysia) in Penang started to use distance learning with the admission of students pursuing degrees in humanities and social sciences. In 1990 MARA Institute of Technology (now known as Universiti Teknologi MARA) started offering diploma programs in public administration, banking and business studies. In 1995 the government directed all nine universities operating in Malaysia at that time to open their doors to distance learning. However, inspite of the credible progress in Malaysian higher education in the wake of vision 2020, experts have often pointed put that much of this development had happened without any specific policy direction from the government for higher education. While the vision 2020, when formulated in 1991, had focused on IT revolution and privatization, it had not identified institutions of higher education as critical players in the revolution. Although, the Vision identified skilled Malaysian labour as the critical missing variable that was holding

Malaysia has been able to improve its education standard with the support of the private sector in last couple of decates. While some of this has been in the form of private collaboration for setting up universities others have been through industry-academia collaboration in project-based training programmes.

back the possibility of sustained economic growth, it had not placed university-based research at the forefront of the country’s development strategy. Various key researches have revealed that for IT education to deliver its potential, national government must have policies in place and ‘ICT integration in education’ as key priority. This will make university education more dynamic and innovative. The privatisation drive of the government did support and encourage domestic private sector and foreign investment in higher education and several

positive filter effects happened in the overall higher education space, including the increased interest to explore ICTs to expand the reach of higher education through distance learning. However, Malaysia has only it is only after 2000, that Malaysia has consciously turned to IT learning strategies as a way to accelerating educational development and creating world class universities. Rumi@csdms.in References Ayob Ahmad Mahdzan, Yaakub Noran Fauziah, (1999), Business of Higher Education in Malaysia: Development and Prospects in the New Millennium, ASAIHL Conference, New Zealand http://mahdzan.com/papers/hkpaper99/ Anuar hassan, Current practices of Malaysia higher education, International forum on Higher education Vicziany Marika, Puteh Marlia, (2004), Vision 2020, The Multimedia Super corridor and Malaysian Universities http://coombs.anu.edu.au/ASAA/ conference/proceedings/Vicziany+PutehASAA2004.pdf UNESCO Country Report on Millenium Development Goals, Malaysia

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

News MALAYSIA Southern academic centres network to share resources Viet Nam National University in HCM City and the city People’ s Committee are working on a project to link up academic institutions in the south for the purpose of improving information and resource exchange. The Malaysia-based Multimedia University and the FSBM group will support the project Development of Integrated ICT Infrastructure among Universities, Colleges, Research Institutions and Academic Centres in the South, whose feasibility study is estimated to cost US$3 million.

MDeC promotes graduates as technopreneurs

National Education Blueprint 2006-2010 The National Education Blueprint 2006-2010 outlines six strategies to make national schools premier schools and the people’s preferred choice. The blueprint, which was launched by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi at the Putrajaya International Convention Centre, aims to develop the nation’s people through education irrespective of race or socio-economic background. Its main agenda is to develop national schools as the mainstream of education with the majority of students attending them. The blueprint, which covers educational development over the same period as the Ninth Malaysia Plan (2006-2010), encompasses three main aspects — infrastructure, content and manpower.

The six core strategies in the blueprint: •

• • •

Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC) is promoting the job of a technopreneur as a career choice among the local information and communication technology (ICT) graduates. This is because Malaysia still lacks technopreneurs coming to the mainstream business environment. The move is part of MDeC’s effort to encourage local ICT graduates to get involved in the ICT business field.

•

Egypt seeks Malaysian firms’ involvement in ICT development

•

Egypt is seeking involvement of Malaysian companies in its large information communication technology (ICT) development projects. Many Egyptian firms had investments in enterprise resource planning (ERP), e-government and automation projects in several African nations and other Arab countries, urging Malaysian firms to engage in knowledge and knowhow transfer.

•

The ministry aims to develop citizens from their early school stage to be ‘glokal’ and patriotic apart from appreciating and upholding the nation’s cultural heritage and arts. The ministry will give attention to value systems, disciplinary aspects, character, morals and resilience of students. National schools will be adequately equipped with facilities, including ICT facilities and enough trained teachers. There shall be emphasis on narrowing education gaps between locations, school types, races, gender, socio-economic levels and students’ capabilities. This is to ensure the profession is respected and held in high regard in line with the trust and responsibility placed on it to build future generations. Efforts will be made to make excellence a culture in educational institutions by forming “school clusters of excellence” that will be based on academic, co-curricular and sports achievements or specific fields.

Key Highlights: • •

• • • •

The ministry aims to provide 300 selected schools with the autonomy meant to help them boost their standards sky high The selection of principals and the school management will be based on applications or through identification by the top leadership or by the school’s Parent-Teacher Association The schossols will be allowed to select 10 per cent of its student enrolment which are relevant to the specific fields or niche areas the school would like to develop. Schools will also be allowed to offer curriculum and teaching and learning methods which are in line with their targeted niche areas, like the O-level or General Certificate of Secondary Education and A-level. A national pre-school curriculum for children five years and above to be established by 2010 One hundred special education pre-school classes for children with special needs to be set up by 2010 To have 90% of all primary schools and 70% of all secondary schools becoming single session schools within four years 22 more vocational subjects, an invention subject at 150 schools, expansion of sports science subject to 80 schools and more music lessons with the upgrading of 233 music rooms. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Research Jayanthy Maniam [JMANIAM@ ACADEMIC.SUNWAY.EDU.MY], Chin Seng Choy [SENGCHOY@SUNWAY.EDU.MY], Prakash Raman [PRAKASHR@ ACADEMIC.SUNWAY.EDU.MY], Sunway University College, Malaysia

From virtual to augmented reality

Video Setup for Classroom Learning

ugmented Reality (AR) is part of the growing research area of Virtual Reality (VR). The term VR, defined as “a computer generated, interactive, threedimensional environment in which a person is immersed” (Steve Aukstakalnis, David Blatner, Stephen P. Roth , 1992). As the field of research is growing, it is important for the researchers to enhance learning and data gathering from the environment and provide new ways to obtain knowledge. One way of achieving this is through the usage of Augmented Reality. The augmented reality system generates combinations of view for the user. In simpler definition, it is actually a combination of the real environment and virtual objects, generated to produce a combined output to the viewer. AR enhances the person’s perception of the world.

Augmented Reality in medical training AR has been used in entertainment, military training, medical, engineering design, robotics and tele-robotics, manufacturing and consumer designs for many years prior to its introduction. Fotis Liarokapis, Panos Petridis, Paul Lister and Martin

White (2002) have developed “an interactive e-learning AR environment” called Multimedia Augmented Reality Interface for E-Learning (MARIE) in which users can view and interact with 3D virtual objects aided by online instructors. This system uses the head-mounted display, camera, and computer for visual augmented reality to present 3D multimedia information to the learner regardless of gender or age group. The usage of AR in medical field increases the efficiency especially in the students training area as there is no more the need to make use of real human or animal body to do analysis and surgery trial (Wenzel D., 2004). The same 3D object can be used to train a number of students instead of using one human body to train a group of students. In addition, AR enables students to learn more and become skilled in the surgery as the 3D image can be recreated and the surgery can be repeated whenever errors are made (Fuhrmann, 2001). AR is capable of creating end result of any actions taken in an artificial body similar to a real body. Students and trainee surgeons get the opportunity to learn from the consequences of each of their actions during surgery through AR.

While virtual reality is being widely explored by the computer scientists, Augmented Reality that improves the human vision and perception is becoming the focus of many researchers around the world. While virtual reality is computer generation of immersible environments based on real world, Augmented Reality is integration of graphics, text, sound, images and force feedback with real environment. Augmented reality can be the next wave that will revolutionise teaching and learning through real time interaction. This article discusses the use of AR to augment teaching and learning in classroom by presenting a simple and cost effective AR setup that merges real scenes with virtual scene or objects.

Experimental setup

Augmented Reality equipment setup

A topic on recreation of dinosaurs using DNA extracted from amber was selected to this experimental study. Storyboard was created to depict the sequence of extraction of DNA, injection into an egg and recreation of dinosaurs. 3D models were created to be merged with scenes inside classroom for interaction purposes based on the storyboard. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Virtual objects were developed in the format of 3D using 3DS Max software. The created 3D models of dinosaurs were converted to VRML format. In order for the AR software to recognise the model, a marker was assigned to each model. Each marker had a pattern, which was unique to distinguish the recognition of virtual objects assigned to them. Markers were assigned to the models using the AR software.

Camera is connected to the laptop using fire wire cable

The setup The setup has three steps as explained below. Setup digital video camera and calibrate. The digital video camera is setup in front of the classroom. The equipment had to be set in front of the classroom in order to connect the laptop to the projector, which is already mounted in front. Place the marker in the desired environment. The AR markers were placed in at a location where camera is calibrated to recognise the markers to merge virtual models to augment. Capture real scene and merge with virtual image. Markers were placed in different locations of the classroom where the digital camera can be moved to capture the scene and the marker. AR software merged the real scene with virtual objects, which are the 3D models of dinosaurs to form augmented scene which is displayed in the monitor. This is projected on to the screen for the audience in the classroom to view. Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

This type of AR setting was chosen, as it is cost effective compared to using the head-mounted devices. A video camera was setup to capture the real world scenario. The video camera relayed the real environment captured. It passed through the graphics system using a Firewire card and an IEEE 394 cable connected to the video camera. Alternatively, if there is no Firewire card available, a video-capture card with attached Firewire port is also usable. The scenes were merged using AR Toolkit. A few different versions of AR software were used for these experiments. The augmented result was then projected as the output on the screen. 20 students who attended this experimental study were very excited to see the real time augmented scenes in the classroom. They interacted with markers by moving them to different location within the camera view where the virtual models were recognised. In this case, a projector is connected up from the laptop and the whole class gets to view what is displayed. However, the following limitations were found while using this setup in the classroom.

Low Latency Low latency is the image registration error caused by system delays. The low latency problem can be solved by predicting the future motion or through careful system design (Azuma et al, 2001). However, this requires a thorough knowledge of the application domain to be incorporated as part of the AR system. In this case the topic for teaching selected must be analysed to create models, which are appropriate to be used with fixed AR setting. This careful planning and designing of the virtual models with the consideration of the real scenes in perspective will provide effective and enhanced learning environment for the students. Limitation in the degree of movement and interaction Tracking using markers and fixed camera method is currently limited in providing the degree of freedom of movement to the instructor. Camera has to be moved every time the markers are moved in order to be recognised to display the virtual models. The camera needs to be calibrated to recognise the markers when the markers are moved. Good results were obtained when the 15

markers were fixed on the wall with fixed camera position. However, when the students want to hold the markers to interact, they had to hold the markers still in order to be captured and recognised to generate augmented scene. One way to solve

The virtual models developed as part of Augmented Reality can be used to train students to interact with virtual objects and real scene that allow them to visualise and understand certain topics in the subject taught in classroom better Image of dinosaur (Output with recognised marker merged with virtual model)

Picture of person holding marker

the above problem might be developing teaching material that caters for fixed markers and camera in the classroom.

Key lessons In conclusion, the AR setup proposed for classroom in this article is feasible, cost effective, easy to setup and maintain. The virtual models developed can be used to train students to interact with virtual objects and real scene that allow them to visualise and understand certain topics in the subject taught in classroom better. However, registration of virtual object with real scene is one of the major challenges when a student wants to interact by moving the markers in the

classroom. Camera is unable to capture the marker accurately when the marker is moved or the camera is moved. This caused the recalibration of the camera, which made the recognition of the marker to be slow and time consuming. The interaction with virtual models and real scene is limited due to fixed markers and fixed camera position. The image needs to be fixed to still surface in order to get good results. Planning and designing of the teaching material that can take advantage of fixed camera and marker position may solve the problem. Future work will focus on refined techniques and development of teaching material that can be tested with this AR setup and measurement of the outcome of learning using Augmented Reality.

Jayanthy has been a staff of Sunway University College for more than seven years. At present, she is the Head of ICT R&D Centre of the School of Computer Technology. She works closely with industrial and institutional partners on cooperative research in the areas of mobile technology, neurosurgery log system, web based technology, school library network application and 3D and video production. Her research interest is in the area of application of Augmented reality in teaching and learning. Jayanthy is currently working on her PhD research on Augmented Microwave imaging to detect brain tumour.

Refrences Fotis Liarokapis, Panos Petridis, Paul Lister, Martin White (2002), “Multimedia Augmented Reality Interface for E-Learning (MARIE)”, World Transactions on Engineering and Technology Education 2002 UICEE Vol.1, No.2,173 Wenzel, D., (2004), “Augmented reality in Medical application”, http://www.fabuloz5.de/dirk/avr. pdf#search=’augmented%20reality%20in%20 medical%20field’. Fuhrmann, A. L., (2001), “Virtual reality in medical application”, http://www.bmvit.gv.at/ sixcms_upload/media/223/virtual_reality_in_ medical_applications.pdf#search=’augmented%20r eality%20in%20medical%20field’, Date referred 26 May 2005

LET’S HEAR FROM YOU Please use this address to send us your comments, suggestions and story ideas or to subscribe to digital Learning: info@digitalLEARNING.in (include your contact details)

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Research Hanan Ettaher Dagez [UB0410701@MAIL.UNITAR.EDU.MY], Khairuddin Hashim [KHAIRUDDIN@UNITAR.EDU.MY],University Tun Ab dul Razak (Unitar), Malaysia

Managing e-learning environment

Mind Map Learning Approach Using SCORM Standards

eople learn in different ways. Learning is a complex, interrelated system of accessing information, getting it into the brain, and processing that information to solve problems or support activities. Understanding learning styles leads to success. Once an individual knows what learning environment works best for him/her and what his/her preferred learning style is, the individual will see how he/she can use the preferred learning style to move information through the learning process and to learn new information more quickly and efficiently, remember new information for a longer period of time, and increase ability to recall the information more quickly and completely for performance, discussion, or test taking.

Although mind map learning approach is widely accepted, there is still little research on e-learning and teaching using this approach for developing course content. SCORM has become a widely used requirement for e-learning projects. However, there is still a lot of confusion, especially within the instructional design community, regarding what it is and when it should be used. This article presents an experiment in developing course content taking the advantages of one of the most powerful approaches in displaying information visually, in a learning and teaching environment using SCORM standards. The aim of this experiment is to accommodate individual learning styles in an adaptive learning environment that teaches the â&#x20AC;&#x153;C programming languageâ&#x20AC;?.

Mind maps and SCORM for course content development This article presents the mind map approach as one of the learning styles. Mind map is a way of representing information graphically using keywords, links, and key images, allowing a lot more information to be put on a page. Mind map works the way the brain works, which is non linear. Any idea probably has thousands of links in your mind. Because mind maps are more visual and depict associations between key words, they are much easier to recall than linear notes. Starting from the center of the page rather than top-left corner allows you to work out in all directions. Mind maps are easy to review. Visual quality of mind maps allows you to make key points to stand out easily. Mind map has been used in many fields such as notes, problem solving, planning, and presentations. Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

SCORM standard is another aspect this project is using. SCORM nowadays become a widely used requirement for e-learning projects. There is still a lot of confusion, especially within the instructional design community, regarding what it is and when it should be used. SCORM or the Sharable Content Object Reference Model provides a

common technical framework for the development of reusable instructional objects for computer and Web-based learning. This paper presents the design and implementation of course content development based on mind map approach using SCORM. SCORM is a model that describes a standardized way to design and 17

develop learning materials. The greatest advantage of implementing SCORM standard is that it makes it possible to integrate learning objects from different sources in a common environment. SCORM as model describes two main elements a Content Aggregation Model (CAM), which describes the ways in which SCORM materials are organised and packaged so that they can be exchanged between different learning management systems (LMS) and a Run Time Environment (RTE), which provides the means for the learning materials to communicate with the LMS and for the collection of data to track and monitor learners.

Define the course root aggregation.

Develop a content package which, contain two main principals component must be developed carefully, first all the physical files such as Assets (Assets are any digital objects of media, text, images, sound, web pages or other data can be delivered to a web client), and SCO (SCO is a collection of one or more assets). Second a manifest file, which is a list of all the resources (SCOs and assets), the organisation, sequencing rules, and all of the metadata.

Identify the metadata for each SCO and the metadata for the entire content package by indicating the ownership, cost (if any), the technical requirements, and educational purposes.

CAM in Mind map implementation The most important thing is how to package together a collection of learning objects, their metadata, and information about how the content is to be delivered to the user. Developing SCORM Content Package

Zip the content package together with the IMS files, which is standard communication specifying data model between LMS and SCO.

Test the package in any LMS to ensure it functions the way you had intended.

Mind Map Course Design For developing any content package the following steps should be followed.

The â&#x20AC;&#x153;C programming languageâ&#x20AC;? course was developed based on mind map

The user interface design of the main page of the course

approach as follows: 1 The root aggregation is defined and all the physical files and their links are developed. 2 The course main page is designed based on Mind map approach using only key words and whenever possible images emphasized by color. 3 Starting from the center of the page and moving outwards, making the center a clear and strong visual image. 4 Create the sub-center. 5 Put keywords on lines using lower case and using color and arrows to show links between elements. The testing tool used in this stage is TestSuite 1.3.3 ST from ADL.

RTE in Mind map implementation Run time environment describes the LMS responsibility to launch SCOs based requests from the learner and the sequencing rules of the content organization. Therefore, the main requirements in this phase are: to have Application Programme Interface (API), which is a set of functions to achieve the communication between the course content and LMS and facilities to utilise details from manifest file through data model. This data model enables the LMS to track learnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; progress. The steps developed in this phase are as follows: 1.

All the physical files in this course have been designed and developed using hyperlink, text, and images such as in. All the course content files have been developed as assets. The nature of the mind map approach requires allowing the learner to jump through the links in the main page. As such, SCOs cannot be implemented due to the following reasons: (1) A SCO is not allowed to contain hyperlinks to other SCOs. (2) A SCO is not allowed to interact with the runtime environment, except through the SCORM API. (3) A SCO is not allowed to create additional

February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

windows, unless it can close them reliably when the SCO terminates. (4) A SCO should not contain hyperlinks to resources that may not be available when the SCO is run in different context than the original context [3]. 2.

The strategy of the course is jumping from section to section through the main page by the links.

The manifest file represents the course sequencing and navigation showing the structure of the course organization and all content resources using IMS Simple Sequencing, which is the specification, which describes three models: sequencing definition model, tracking model, and activity state model. Manifest file also represents the navigation model which indicates how the content is presented to the learner by controlling certain user interface devices that the content may wish to provide, such as Continue and Previous.

Because of the nature of the mind map, only the following aspects in SCORM sequencing definition model and navigation presentation has been implemented: •

Sequencing control choice: This indicates that the learner is free to choose any activity in a cluster in any order without restriction, which contains a boolean (True/ False). Therefore False was chosen to prevent the learner from browsing the course through the cluster instead of the

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

map, which is the heart of the mind map approach. •

Sequencing control choice exit: This indicates whether a Choice navigation request can target activities that are not descendents of the affected activity, thereby causing the affected activity to terminate. This element contains a Boolean (True/False). The value True indicates that while an activity is active the learner has the ability to trigger Choice navigation requests that targets nondescendent activities.

concepts are not easy to handle and in some cases, impossible to implement.

The course content implementation This work is part of research work done and Sample RTE 1.3.3 from ADL has been modified and used as LMS to cope with this research. First the course must be uploaded and the prerequisite chapters identified by the administrator from the main menu to choose how many chapters this course contains and then the prerequisite chapters for each chapter will be determined for the course.

Mind map is a way of representing information graphically using keywords, links, and key images allowing a lot more information to be put on a page. It works the way the brain works, which is non linear. Because mind maps are more visual and depict associations between key words, they are much easier to recall than linear notes •

The Continue and Previous devices have been disabled to enforce the learner to navigate the content object through the map only.

The tracking and activity state model is simply recording progress and have no interest in user preferences or learning styles. Therefore, implementing advanced function such as prerequisite or other pedagogy

When a learner logs in into the system and registers for the course the system allows him to view the content by displaying the mind map main page. Through the links the learner reviews the course and by answering the tests and the assessment test tracks progress by recording the chapters he/she have failed to answer their questions correctly. The learner, in this case, has to redo failed chapters with all the prerequisite chapters. Even though the learner quits accidentally and gets back into the module, by clicking on “Learner record”, the list of remaining chapters will appear to remind the learner to finish them for record in completing the course.

Hanan Dageez from Libya is a lecturer in Libyan High Institute and university and the head of computer science department in High Institute. She has a Masters in computer sciences in 1999 from University of Malaya, Malaysia. Currently Hanan is doing her Ph.D research in Education management at University Tun Abdul Razak, Malaysia.

News

generations of the Godson — Godson II B, Godson II C and Godson II E. The latter models triple the computing speed of the previous ones.

ASIA Vietnam’s first Mobile Internet library launched Vietnam’s first mobile Internet library has been launched to serve rural and suburban areas. The library will have a multimedia room with a computer network, CDROMs, 1,500 scientific documentaries, special documentaries for the blind, and others. Korea based LG Electronics Corp., has granted US$85,000 to the library. The library is especially meant to serve people, youth without any charges.

Computers with home-grown CPU debut on Chinese market The first batch of 80 computers powered by home-grown Chinese CPUs are undergoing user tests, The computer, which uses a Linux operating system, comes with a 40gigabyte hard drive and 256 megabytes of memory. It costs 1,599 yuan (about 200 U.S. dollars), and users have to buy the monitor, keyboard and mouse separately. China started CPU research and development in 2001, and the first chip, Godson I, came out in September 2002, bringing the country’s microprocessor industry a step closer to the world leading manufacturers in the United States and Japan. China has since developed three more

US commits $100m for Pak education

third of the teachers or (32.5 percent) in Sri Lanka are computer literate.

Pakistan and the US announced an elaborate programme to promote education at all levels in Pakistan with the US committing another $100 million in 2007 in addition to $200 million already provided.

Goverment hopes to establish 35 centers that will teach ICT and English literacy to teachers. The preliminary report of the Census on Computer Literacy of Teachers conducted among, government schools approved private schools and Pirivenas shows that Sri Lanka’s computer literacy among teachers varying within 30 to 40 percent across districts.

The seven points to expand educational opportunities for the people of Pakistan include: teacher training programmes; promotion of teacher, student and faculty exchanges; improvement of secondary-level science and math studies; administrative capacitybuilding, including school infrastructure; vocational/ workforce

Number of knowledge workers in Taiwan is on the rise The number of knowledge workers in Taiwan totalled 3.2 million between January and November 2006, up 3.2 percent over the year-earlier level, according to tallies released by the Council for Economic Planning and Development (CEPD). The figure compares with 2.35 million in 1996 and 3.07 million in 2005. During the first 11 months of 2006, the number of knowledge workers accounted for 31.7 percent of the country’s total employed population, up from 25.9 percent recorded in 1996 and 31 percent in 2005. Among Asia’s four little dragons, the number of knowledge workers as a percentage of the employed population in 2005 in Taiwan was lower than Singapore’s 37.3 percent and Hong Kong’s 34.2 percent but higher than South Korea’s 20.9 percent. education and training to meet Pakistan’s labor needs; public/private sector partnerships; and the establishment of linkages between the higher education academic and research institutions of our two countries and training of Pakistani academics in US institutions.

Majority of Sri Lanka’s teachers lack computer literacy! The Ministry of Education says a new government survey shows that only a 20

Ministry of Education say literacy in English is also a factor contributing to teachers’ literacy in ICT where only 53.7 percent of teachers in schools and Pirivenas or temple based schools

have the ability to read and understand documents written in English. Of the 200,000 teachers, 28 percent are graduates, but they are not computer literate. From the facilities related to ICT, only 76 percent of schools and Pirivenas have electricity, 26.2 percent have telecommunication facilities and less than ten percent have internet facilities. The ministry has already given 100 computer laboratories that run on solar energy to schools without electricity, and 500 are scheduled to be built in 2007. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Sometimes the simplest solutions work best.

How do you harness the power of todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s digital technology to help bridge the educational divide in hard-to-reach areas of the developing world? Using readily available, affordable technology, Bridgeit offers a solution. By sending a simple text message, teachers can download multimedia materials directly to the classroom.

Bridgeit is a global initiative of Nokia, International Youth Foundation, Pearson and the United Nations Development Programme. For more information, visit www.nokia.com/ CommunityInvolvement

National Knowledge Commission’s Report, 2006

People’s Access to Knowledge can Transform India

‘We hope that our recommendations will receive the attention they deserve and create necessary public discussion, debate and dialogue to generate a favorable public opinion. We say this with a particular emphasis on the 550 million people below the age of 25 who hold in their hands the destiny of not just India but the world as well.’

national drive to ensure access to knowledge and learning can transform India’s potential for development, lift young Indians to new levels of understanding and competence, and make India one of the leading knowledge societies in the world. This is the central affirmation of the National Knowledge Commission in its 2006 Report to the Nation, released recently. The Report was presented to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, by Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda. This is also marked by the Prime Minister’s inauguration of two 22

national knowledge portals, opening public access to knowledge and ideas on the issues of Water and Energy. Appointed by the Prime Minister in October 2005 with a three-year mandate, the Commission is assigned to prepare a blueprint for radical improvement of knowledge access, knowledge creation and application, by and for the Indian people. The assignment includes the generation of practical plans for comprehensive improvement of education standards and opportunities at all levels and notably the uplift of vocational

knowledge and skills. The Commission’s initiatives focus especially on youth and children, who comprise 54 per cent of India’s people, and are its vast human resource of talent and potential competence to meet both national and international needs. The NKC recommendations are wide ranging, taking in their sweep higher education, vocational training, libraries, e-governance, right to education and translations. Each of the recommendations has been crafted to achieve the objective of tapping into India’s ‘enormous’ February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

reservoir of knowledge and prepare the country for the challenges of the 21st century. According to the Chicago-based chairman of the Commission, ‘While making the recommendations we have been guided by how knowledge will impact the lives of ordinary hardworking people of India. We are conscious that knowledge is about farmers having access to accurate information about water resources, land quality and fertilisers, students having access to schools and colleges of high quality and good libraries, scientists having access to well equipped modern laboratories, industry having access to skilled workforce and people generally having right to information and good governance.’ The Report to the Nation highlights key areas where change could significantly improve people’s inclusion and capability in existing and new fields of knowledge use. This would entail reform in education,

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

On 13th June, 2005 , the Prime Minister of India constituted the National Knowledge Commission, with the mandate of devising and guiding reforms that will transform India into a strong and vibrant knowledge economy in coming years. The National Knowledge Commission focuses on certain key areas that can help India achieve this goal. These include education, science and technology, agriculture, industry, and e-governance. (http://knowledgecommission. gov.in/)

learning processes, governance, enrichment of knowledge institutions like libraries and centres of research and learning. A major thrust is proposed in translation across all Indian languages to further knowledge creation and information dissemination. Access to new technologies and services for information provision and the transfer of knowledge is a priority. The commission has already submitted wide-ranging recommendations for action to the Prime Minister, to which the report has now been made public. Based on a year-long process of consultations with experts and representatives of government,

parliament, academia, industry, civil society and the media, the recommendations are based on open and intensive discussion to identify priorities, concerns, and needed action. The Commission Chairman Pitroda expressed the hope that the Report will generate further discussion and debate, so that public participation enriches the Commission’s efforts. The inauguration of the two national web portals on Water and Energy marks the Commission’s bid to enhance public access to information and knowledge on these two critical development issues. The promotion of web portals on Internet is just one of the Commission’s initiatives to open up knowledge sources and resources for public use.

Key recommendations of the Report Right to education

•

• •

•

Central legislation is required to affirm the Right to Education The Central Government must provide the bulk of the additional funds needed The legislation should include a schedule of norms and standards There should be well-defined but flexible norms for qualifications of teachers The Right to Education should be justiciable

• •

•

Knowledge network

•

Build a National Knowledge Network to connect 5,000 nodes across institutions Consider various options, including utilization of available commercial networks Security of data along with privacy and confidentiality to be ensured A Special Purpose Vehicle should be set up for coordination and ownership

•

• • • •

•

Set up a National Commission on Libraries Prepare a National Census of all Libraries Revamp Library and Information Sciences education, training, and research Re-assess staffing of libraries Set up a Central Library Fund Modernise library management Encourage greater community participation in library management Promote Information

• • • • • • •

Create many more universities Change the system of regulation for higher education Increase public spending and diversify sources of financing Establish 50 National Universities Reform existing universities Restructure undergraduate colleges Promote enhanced quality Ensure access for all deserving students Affirmative action should account for multiple dimensions of deprivation

Vocational education •

•

Place vocational education entirely under the Ministry of HRD Increase the flexibility of vocational education within mainstream education

•

• • • • • • •

• • • •

Higher education • •

•

The pedagogy of language learning should be suited to the context To meet the requirement of teachers, graduates with high proficiency in English and good communication skills should be inducted

Translation Libraries

• •

Quantify and monitor the impact of vocational education Increase resource allocation to vocational education Expand capacity through innovative delivery models Enhance the training options available for the unorganized and informal sector

Provide impetus for developing translation as an industry Establish a store-house of information Promote printed as well as virtual publication Create and maintain various tools for translation Provide quality training Translate pedagogic materials Project Indian languages and literatures within South Asia and outside Set up a national web portal Organize annual National Conferences Promote book launches, festivals, fellowships and prizes etc. Establish a National Translation Mission (NTM) to carry out these activities

National Science and Social Science Foundation •

•

Communication Technology applications in all libraries Facilitate donation and maintenance of private collections Encourage Public Private Partnerships in LIS development

Language •

•

Teaching of English as a language should be introduced, along with the first language, starting from Class I in school Language learning must be integrated with content learning

A National Science and Social Science Foundation to be established to suggest policy initiatives to make India a leader in the creation and use of knowledge, to ensure that science and technology are maximally used for the betterment of the lives of people, and to develop the scientific temper in the country

digital LEARNING will continue with the National Knowledge Commission report in the upcomming issues February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

India's Premier ICT4D event 31July - 02 August, 2007 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

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Organisers knowledge for change

A report by Goldman Sachs stated that between 2007 and 2020 India will see a structural increase in potential growth to nearly 8%, four times increase in productivity in industry and services as compared to agriculture, four times increase in GDP per capita, and house ten of the fastest growing cities in the world. This report has identified investment to information technology, openness to trade and greater financial deepening as the key drivers to this accelerating growth. While India has made huge strides and has been a key player in the Information technology revolution, vast digital divide still exists that inhibits a sustained all-inclusive growth for the society. India is bracing itself to catalyse the potential of ICTs in all spheres of development and creating opportunities for private investment and initiatives to supplement its development. In this immense growth environment, there is also a need for strategic planning, knowledge sharing and collaborative vision building between the government and the private sector to leverage the country’s growth potential and steer the country to lead the knowledge revolution. eIndia 2007 is an inclusive, consultative and constructive ICT for Development forum – the largest and only one of its kind in India – promoting and propagating the use of ICT4D through its five seminal conferences. Through its five different but interrelated conferences namely, egovIndia2007, Digital Learning India 2007, Indian Telecentre Forum 2007, eHealth India 2007 and mServe India 2007, the conference will address the issues of digital divide and identify and explore opportunities for Digital India.

INDiA

2007

The Ministry of Communications and Information Technology has formulated the National e-Governance Plan which aims to bring all government services to the doorstep of each citizen by making the services citizen centric and ensuring that the right people get the benefits. To further bolster the drive towards efficient and transparent governance, the Right to Information Act was passed in late 2005. While these measures are making a positive impact on the governance practices, there are still issues of access, content, partnerships which need to be addressed for creating the desired environment of trust between the state and her citizens. egov India 2007 aims to consolidate the information available in the domain, giving key stakeholders from India and around the world a chance to showcase the progress and highlight hindrances in this field. The conference will shape the debate around egovernance and build the path towards a constructive knowledge sharing platform and the way forward for the Indian egovernance programme.

India is trying to achieve the ‘Education for All’ goal in one hand and investing in building infrastructure and initiating programmes to build a world class human resource capacity on the other. The National Knowledge Commission has emphasised the need for extensive use of ICTs for research, collaboration and university networking for building ICT skills, sharing education resources and reaching the un-reached in higher education though distance learning. The Indian Government has also recognised that skill building and lifelong education has to begin from school and has increased its investment in school education and technology-enabled learning. Taking a cue from the global trends in education and capacity building, India’s progress to a driver of the knowledge revolution through its human capacity is possible only though sustained efforts by the government, global assistance and collaboration and partnerships with private sector and civil society. Digital Learning India 2007 will take on the existing debates and provide a platform for all stakeholders to deliberate on the issues of enabling and strengthening capacities to achieve the national goals of education.

With the launch of a national programme 100,000 Community Service Centres, the Indian telecentre movement is at a vibrant stage of development, with the key stakeholders representing government, private sector and civil society besides donors being engaged in fulfilling the aspirations of the grassroots community to join the knowledge economy. Technological innovations to improve access have begun to get tested for emerging markets/ emerging people. Civil society is piloting and testing role of upscaled ICTs and telecentres/ public access knowledge centres to fulfil social objectives, provide access to governance and empower the communities, at a scale un-thought of anywhere else in the world. How exactly will we measure the progress, and monitor the impacts? Second year in the series of annual consultations, the Indian Telecentre Forum 2007 will provide the platform to take stock of what has happened. The Forum will shape the way forward for the telecentre movement within India, and for creating an example for the world to learn from.

Telemedicine has been a technological takeaway for the developed countries. Defined as the use of communication networks for the exchange healthcare information to enable clinical care, it is increasingly being viewed as a tool for improving care and enhancing access to healthcare. One of the major ehealth initiative in India was executed by the Indian Space Research Organisation. ISRO took up the initiative of telemedicine in the year 2001 to further expand the application of INSAT to newer areas with the specific aim of bringing in the expert medical facilities to the grassroots level population.Telemedicine helps to connect remote rural hospitals/health centres to super specialty hospitals located in the cities and helps patients in remote and rural areas to avail timely consultations from specialist doctors without the ordeal of travelling.

The Indian telecom sector after liberalisation has shown tremendous growth with its growth rate being one of the highest in the world. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has said the total number of telephone subscribers in India had hit 189.9 million, of which 149.5 million are mobile customers.The mobile phones apart from bringing in the aspect of mobility in connectivity have an inherent ease in terms of usage unlike computer-based connectivity, which requires people to be literate and eLiterate at the same time. The immense growth has also meant that the cost-perequipment has also come down drastically. This growth though, has been lopsided and the mobile revolution has been limited to urban areas primarily.The rural areas have remained untouched and in a nation which is plagued by connectivity lapses, mobile technology may well emerge as the key to bridging the digital divide.

eHealth India 2007 will deliberate on such initiatives and many other excellent though scattered efforts in this field and bring it together to form a conduit of critical information.

mServe India 2007 will showcase the immense potential of mobile technology in the implementation of existing and future m-Government, education, agriculture and other applications.

Past Sponsors and Exhibitors empowering education... enabling careers

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Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), G-4, Sector - 39, Noida, Uttar Pradesh - 201301 Phones: +91-120-2502180-85 Fax: 91-120-2500060

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Good for thinking, teamwork, sharing. Good to grow. As educators work to integrate technology, digital content and pedagogy, schools are recognizing the value of SMART Board™ interactive whiteboards in the classroom. Students can use them to grow ideas through brainstorming, researching and collaborating on projects. Teachers can use them to grow the skills and knowledge they need to encourage inquiry-based learning with digital content. But growth doesn’t have to come with steep learning curves. If you can use a computer, you can use a SMART Board interactive whiteboard. Get the world’s leading interactive whiteboard. It’s good to grow.

For more information on SMART products, please call EP-TEC Solutions Sdn Bhd Selangor 603 8941 5055 www.smarttech.com © 2007 SMART Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. SMART Board, smarttech and the SMART logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of SMART Technologies Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

INT 637 - Digital Learning Ad fo1 1

1/16/07 11:00:55 AM

CORPORATE DIARY | LEADERS’ SPEAK

Giving People the Power of Communication Mobile communications is now more than just voice and text. From technology innovations, to communities, it has marched a long road to take the centre stage. Nokia today not only leads in mobile technologies and services connecting people in a fast pace, it has also made its technologies available for education. Digital Learning explores Nokia’s revolutions in the mobile communications industry by taking a look at its present actions and how it has always been challenging the future. What kind of innovations is Nokia supporting and initiating to bridge the digital divide, enhance communities’ access to affordable technology, and use technology for development? What are the challenges in such sustaining such innovations? We at Nokia want to give people the power to communicate. This is the single biggest contribution we can make to bridge the digital divide at this time. But, it means addressing issues other than the cost of a phone like taxes, service costs, and competition. Together with operators, we can give people this power, and we are working on each of these angles. We also care about social innovation, and the kind of initiatives that naked technology cannot solve without the cooperation of governments and social service providers. For example, in the Philippines, teachers in remote areas can send an SMS and receive cutting-edge educational materials – via satellite.

Simo Hoikka is Programme Manager at Nokia Corporate Relations and Responsibility. He currently manages the Bridgeit project in the Philippines, a global programme designed to deliver digital education materials to schools using mobile technology. Prior to this assignment he held various positions within Nokia in sales and marketing as well as General Manager of Nokia subsidiaries. 30

Other initiatives like the Village Phone microfinance projects in Africa have been well documented for their role in raising the status of women and improving the economies of poor communities. We haven’t seen the best that mobile phones can offer, and we’re working with charities and governments to explore their full potential. Is the company engaged in preparing young people to embrace opportunities and possibilities created by the global economy and new technological advancements? Yes, we are. The means of preparation from country to country can be somewhat different, but we’re trying to find February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

CORPORATE DIARY | LEADERS’ SPEAK the most appropriate way. In South America, for example, we mix IT education with “life skills” training and internships. It means that the students graduate not only with hard skills, but soft skills and practical experience as well. We have quite a few projects like these from country to country, and we are very optimistic about the potential of mobile communications in education.

Nokia has a global youth development initiative working together with the International Youth Foundation and Plan, which has been active in more than 30 countries, benefiting more than 300,000 young people. The programmes are built to meet the local needs in the countries in which they are running but have a focus on improving young people’s life skills such as self-confidence, Text2Teach School, a BridgeIT initiative in the Philippines

One of such activities, the Bridgeit – programme, was developed through a unique multi-sector collaboration between Nokia, International Youth Foundation, Pearson and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Bridgeit has provided quality educational material focused on math, science and English already for more than 700,000 students in more than 200 schools in the Philippines. With our local programme partners we are committed to scale the programme to cover an additional minimum 400 schools during the next 2 - 3 years. This programme has gained international interest and currently we are studying different opportunities in Asia, sub-Saharan Africa and Latin America for replication. Do you believe m-learning can open new learning opportunities for people? Can a handset be really turned into an educational tool?

Can you elaborate on how Nokia has contributed to youth and education causes? How does Nokia aim to expand the education opportunities for young people? Focusing on youth and education is a natural fit for Nokia as they strongly tie into Nokia’s core values, renewal and respect. Within education there are two aspects: access to education and quality of education. We can help to improve both with mobile phones. When the physical presence of a teacher is no longer needed, it is possible to deliver education to more people. But, we also need to make sure that quality is not compromised. We want children to receive a genuine education, not gimmicks and we are just one of many organizations that are working together in this area. Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

creative thinking, respect and conflict management.

Nokia has a global youth development initiative called the Bridgeit working together with the International Youth Foundation and Plan, which has been active in more than 30 countries, benefiting more than 300,000 young people. Focusing on improving young people’s life skills such as selfconfidence, creative thinking, and conflict management

Many educational tools can be adapted from computers to phones and if we look to phones delivering Internet access, the educational possibilities start to expand. Almost any kind of e-learning can be replicated on a phone, so m-learning offers great potential. The University of the Philippines National Institute for Science and Mathematics Education Development conducted a study on the Bridgeit programme which utilises several different technologies like mobile telephony, satellite TV and fixed line broad band connectivity for ordering and delivering educational content to the classrooms. The study showed significant improvement in students’ performance and more positive attitudes toward science and technology. It also showed improvement in teachers’ competence and attitude toward using technology in teaching. The project also inspired and motivated school officials, parents and community leaders. 31

CORPORATE DIARY | LEADERS’ SPEAK

Providing a Platform for Effective and Flexible Learning “In today’s world, mobile devices have become social staples, helping people to feel close to what matters. Nokia believes in communicating, sharing, and in the awesome potential in connecting the 2 billion who do with the 4 billion who don’t.” Andrew Cheong, Country General Manager, Nokia Malaysia How do you see the market or mlearning in Asia? How mature is this market? To our knowledge, there is no external analysis yet on the maturity of mobile learning in Asia, but the mobile device definitely has great potential in that space. However, with the popularity of the Internet in today’s society and the proliferation of wireless computing, we can expect mobile learning to be made more readily available on campuses and in offices, providing a platform for effective and flexible learning anytime, anywhere. How do you see the future of mobile and wireless communication? Would Nokia play a key role here? In today’s world, mobile devices have become social staples, helping people to feel close to what matters. Nokia believes in communicating, sharing, and in the awesome potential in connecting the 2 billion who do with the 4 billion who don’t. By tapping into the mobile industry’s global growth potential as it unfolds, Nokia 32

intends to be at the forefront of this new era and be the company that truly merges the Internet and mobility. By adding mobility to the Internet, Nokia creates new opportunities for companies and further enriches the daily lives of people. Nokia will continue to play a key role in enhancing communication and exploring new ways to exchange information.

applications and solutions that meet all of the concerns above. In order to meet the growing demands of consumers in today’s society, Nokia has undertaken intense research and development work to integrate Internet to mobile devices, expanding the memory capacity in phones, as well as ensuring usability of different platforms and systems in order to ensure hardware flexibility.

There are many obstacles in implementing any significant mlearning applications. Based on current mobile technology capacity, limited memory and storage, lack of cross-platform solutions, lack of an appropriate array of compatible mobile devices to perform useful learning or training activities, etc. make some of the obstacles. How is Nokia addressing these?

Is Nokia aiming for a sufficient localisation of its technological infrastructure to make a handset a real educational tool?

The developments in mobile technology has led to breakthroughs in features and functions present in mobile devices today. Nokia aims to provide a holistic experience for consumers through creating products,

Nokia believes in enhancing communication and exploring new ways to exchange information, and plays an active role in contributing to technological development. Nokia believes in open source to push the industry, and provides tools to create mobile applications and solutions using a range of integrated development environments via the Forum Nokia developer community, allowing mobile developers greater flexibility, security, and mass-market appeal. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

CORPORATE DIARY | NEWS PROJECT Hughes to set up 1,000 rural ICT Kiosks based software development major Hughes Network Systems will set up 1,000 rural information communication and technology (ICT) kiosks within the next three years in India. However, no mention is made on how much the company is going to invest in this project. But the cost of building a satellite terminal in a village would cost about INR100,000. Broadband satellite is a viable solution for India for popularising distant learning: India has 350 million illiterates and the dropout rate is 87 percent. And broadband satellite is ideal for inclusive growth. The company has signed an agreement with global IT giant Microsoft to offer various kinds of IT services in rural India. Hughes Network Systems has so far invested over $300 million since its entry in India in 1992.

Qualcomm’s wireless dream Qualcomm recently announced the names of the developers who will participate in its Wireless Reach BREW Application Funding Programme. The company has established a fund of $1 million to encourage the creation of BREWbased wireless applications for segments such as education, government, healthcare, public safety and environment. The initiative empowers underserved communities through the use of third generation (3G) wireless technologies. This initiative is already empowering communities in countries such as China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Peru, South Africa and Vietnam. In India, Qualcomm has formed an alliance with the Nasscom Foundation to enable Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

connectivity and provide content based solutions to village resource centres across nine states. As part of the Nasscom Foundation’s Rural Knowledge Network Program, CDMA2000 based wireless Internet connectivity will be deployed in 65 village resource centres.

Tata Tele bags order for Internet connectivity to 1,800 Indian schools Tata Teleservices Limited has won the Tamil Nadu (Indian state) government’s order to offer Internet connectivity in 1,800 higher secondary schools. In three months time the schools, sizeable number of them located in remote villages will be able to connect to the Internet. While the order size is not large, Tata Teleservices hopes to see some money in the actual usage by the schools. The expected usage charges from each school are around INR750 per month.

PRACTICE Microsoft launches Software4Students plan Microsoft has announced plans to offer discounted software to Irish students and provide rebates to educational institutions. The National Centre for Technology Education (NCTE), Union of Students of Ireland and the Combined Higher Education Software Trust (CHEST) have signed an agreement with Microsoft to offer specially priced software to every primary, second and third level student in the country. The Software4Students programme will be made available to the 917,000 students in Ireland, providing discounts on all Microsoft software including Office, Windows and Encarta. The programme will see schools and third level institutions receive a rebate worth roughly 5 percent of the licence price every time a student purchases software under the agreement.

Moodle users may go an extramile with RapideL RapideL, the MS-Word based elearning content authoring solution developed by Brainvisa is now compatible with Moodle! Brainvisa, the learning solutions provider in India, has succeeded in seamlessly integrating RapideL with Moodle, which will spell boon to the approximately 4.9 million Moodle user base worldwide. RapideL enables

rapid development of instructionally sound, flash e-learning courses at less than 60% of conventional development cost. Moodle users can now develop courseware from RapideL and can directly integrate the output into Moodle and also host and track their instructionally sound, flash e-learning courses on this open source content management system. RapideL enables Instructional Designers and SMEs to author AICC/ SCORM compliant content from the basic MS-Word authoring interface. RapideL comes with inbuilt robust project management capabilities such as online review mechanisms, issue tracking and the ability to publish web versions. It promotes collaborative development over the network/ Web while also working as a standalone tool without multiple installations. It allows publishing with track changes and support for language localisation.

Microsoft awarded communities for helping people with learning disabilities The software giant, Microsoft has awarded community groups to help people with learning disabilities use computers and improve their IT skills. Microsoft has given £75,000 and 33

CORPORATE DIARY | NEWS Microsoft’s Office software to communities across the United Kingdom to help physically and mental disabilities through Microsoft’s annual Community Learning Awards. Microsoft’s global giving initiative, a scheme is aimed to eliminate technology illiteracy supported by a long-term investment of cash and software. The award scheme is supported by Citizens Online, which is hoped to IT training through supporting informal training projects that introduce ICT to disadvantaged young people and adults. The awards have gone to a range of charities, including a project in Northamptonshire which helps people with autism learn the necessary IT skills to enter the

workplace and Sense Scotland who have used the award to buy new equipment.

RFID e-learning tool is efficient and cost-effective An e-learning product which aims to help users understand the different aspects of radio frequency identification (RFID) implementation has been developed. OTA Training has unveiled RFID on the Web, which is designed to assist people who need to be trained and certified in the use of RFID. The company has already produced the RFID+ Exam Cram guide, which allows self learning and makes information for training purposes available. In addition to creating an “accessible” product, OTA Training operates with the sole intention of assisting companies in implanting RFID systems effectively and successfully. 34

educational material, content and services in seven European countries like Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Germany, Belgium, Austria, and Hungary.

Oracle University offers eBusiness Certification course

PARTNERSHIPS Harbinger Group ties up with GeoLearning to create content in India India based Harbinger Group, a global provider of software products and services, has tied up with United States based GeoLearning Inc, a leading provider of managed learning services. This alliance will allow Harbinger to bundle up its unique technology for rapid and interactive content creation with GeoLearning’s comprehensive learning and performance management offerings. The alliance with GeoLearning will allow Harbinger to build on the strengths of the Raptivity software. Harbinger also announced the launch of the latest Raptivity 4.0 version, which allows trainers to track the learner’s progress during interaction.

Excelsoft in an agreement with Wke to provide e-learning applications Excelsoft Technologies, provider of eleasrning solutions with development centers in Mysore and Hyderabad, India has signed a five-year agreement with Europe based Wolters Kluwer Education (WKe), an information services and publishing company. According to the agreement, Excelsoft will provide e-Learning framework across all Wke publishing houses. It will also include development of custom e-learning applications on the Framework, for each of the publishing houses. WKe is the leading provider of primary, secondary, and vocational

Oracle University introduces its eBusiness Suite certification course to strengthen the credentials of Oracle professionals and help them provide better service to customers. The Oracle University has introduced e-Business Suite 11i Applications Certification programme to provide better service to its customers. The application is based on the version 11i of Oracle EBusiness Suite and Oracle University E-Business Suite curriculum, which may need series of online and proctored examinations.

Intel honours teachers, students Intel India along with the Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) has honored students, teachers, and schools trained through the Intel® Teach program under a joint initiative launched by the Department of Education and Intel. Under the Intel World Ahead Program, Intel Teach is a worldwide initiative to help classroom teachers learn how best to use technology to improve teaching and learning. NVS with support from Intel, conducted a state level joint competition, and received over 440 entries from across the country. Some innovative projects showcased by winning teachers and students include creation of an interesting software which contains all possible questions for students appearing in exams, report on how laws of motion can be practically applicable in daily routine, detailed study on the impact of radioactive elements like radium and uranium in curing deadly diseases. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

News

Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford University, to make more creative work available legally to others to share and build on.

INDIA Kalam calls for World Knowledge Platform President A P J Abdul Kalam has called for a World Knowledge Platform, comprising renowned scientists, ‘to ensure development of people and participating nations’. During his visit to Singapore, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea, he had put forward the concept of ‘World Knowledge Platform’, aimed at integrating the core competencies of the partner countries to develop knowledge products. The World Knowledge Platform may take up issues- ICT , Energy, Agriculture and Food Processing, Water, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Materials. The World Knowledge Platform would also evolve a virtual design centre with the participation of collaborating countries.

India gets Creative Commons chapter

In the first phase, the Creative Commons licenses are likely to be more attractive for educational content than for India’s large film industry, popularly known as Bollywood. People working in education and governmentsupported research in India are far more open to exploring new concepts such as Creative Commons. The Indian chapter of Creative Commons is already working on drafting versions of licenses that are more in tune with Indian culture and the legal system.

Applications of EAMCET to become online The Government is toying with the idea of allowing students appearing for Engineering Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) and Integerated Common Entrance Test (ICET) this year to download application forms from the web and also register online. However, they have to send the hard copies of the applications to the respective convenors. The convenors of EAMCET-2007 and ICET-2007 would prepare a concept note on this and based on their report a decision would be taken soon. The issue of submitting application forms online was also discussed with the State Bank of India authorities and the ESeva officials but nothing concrete came out.

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay is setting up a chapter of Creative Commons with the aim of providing easier access to educational and other content. Creative Commons offers a content licensing system that gives copyright owners the option to reserve only some of their rights. The organisation was founded in 2002 by Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

C-DAC launches open source enterprise software applications The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has launched five new open source products, including a directory of open source projects, a network security tool, and a supply chain management solution for SMBs.

The five products are Bharat Operating Systems Solutions (BOSS), Network@Guard Enterprise Edition, Area Traffic Control System (ATCS), e-SAVYA and Bangla-AssameseManipuri Speech Corpora.

Pune University goes digital

The University of Pune (UoP) will bring one single digital platform in all its 408 affiliated colleges across the three districts, Pune, Ahmedabad and Nashik by using existing satellite, broadband and other terrestrial network. The University panel is planning to connect all colleges in three terms of component video, voice and data. The project named Triple Connectivity Project (TCP) will include various features like virtual classroom for students, teachers and student friendly measures like online application and admission procedures.

AP to forge ties with MIT for open source software The Andhra Pradesh government is forging ties with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States, for collaboration in the areas of egovernance, data standards and service-oriented architecture. MIT will provide funding and technological assistance for developing and promoting different software components including an open source platform. To encourage the IT sector, the government is also planning to extend its IT education programme for students to regular degree colleges. 35

Currently, there are 86 such centers covering 240 engineering colleges. This year, this has been extended to degree colleges in four districts Kadapa, Warangal, Ranga Reddy and Vizag.

scholarship scheme in the state education to encourage talented and meritorious students.

Kerala plans technical university

student exchange programmes and case research. Many international colleges and institutes have been showing interest in collaborating with IIM-A in the last few months.

Orissa promotes Mid-day-Meal scheme in schools

A new technical university is to come up in Kerala as part of the government’s attempt to overhaul the educational sector.

Rajiv Gandhi Technical University launches website to connect students with administration

The proposed university will be the umbrella body for all science and technological institutions in the state. The government also wants to convert 104 government schools as model institutions with the full support of parents, teachers and students.

The Rajiv Gandhi Technical University (RGTU), India is planning to launch website which will offer students to get in touch with authorities directly. The administration is aiming to establish a better understanding between students and authorities to help students to sort out their problems regarding educational and other matters.

The State Government is trying to keep their eye on Akshaya Patra model of mid-day meal (MDM) scheme in Orissa, India. Bnagalore based voluntary organisation Akshaya Patra Foundation (APF) has started the

IIM-A lines up string of foreign tie-ups

programme in Puri, Orissa. The Orissa Government has decided to put the model of MDM programme in other districts also after the success of programme in Puri. APF is feeding about 2800 school children daily in 190 primary schools of Puri. The State Government has invited APF to partner with it in implementing the MDM programme. Now, Government is providing food to 500 children in Government schools.

Kerala to set up higher education council Kerala government will soon set up a higher education council for addressing the problems that are being faced in the higher education sector. The information to this effect was provided by State Education Minister M. A. Baby. The minister also disclosed that the government is contemplating of instituting 36

Some internationally acclaimed Bschools from around the world will soon tie up with IIM-Ahmedabad for student and faculty exchange programmes, apart from sharing modules and case studies. Among them is Columbia Business School, which will tie up with IIM-A for

India’s education budget about three times less than defense Planning Commission of India announced the increment in allocation of education funds by 2% of India’s GDP which was INR 24,115 crore (6.70 billion US$) whereas the defense budget at the same time was INR 83 crore (19 billion US$). The defense budget announced for next fiscal year by the Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram by an increase of 7% stood at INR 89 crore (20.11 billion US$). According to a press report, the Planning Commission of India said fund allocation for the education sector would have to be raised to six percent of the GDP in the 11th Plan from the current four percent.

The website will see the students of all parts of the state. The website will help the students to view forth their complains regarding academics and other administrative problems.

Madras University initiates digital record system for examination The University of Madras is planning to use digital encoding and encryption of examination answer sheets to prevent cheating.

The university administration is establishing e-Governance initiatives in university campus. . The University administration is talking with HCL technologies to set the modalities. The digital records of all mark sheets would be stored in future for next 10 years. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Research Poonsri Vate-U-Lan [POONSRIVTL@AU.EDU], Assumption University of Thailand

Evaulating the Web Accessibility of World’s Top Ten Universities’ Home Page

While last numbers of colleges Universities and business organisations around the world are adopting e-learning for learners, the website accessibility is becoming of critical importance. This article is the result of evaluating the web accessibility of the World’s Top Ten Universities’ home pages with the World Wide Web Consortium’s (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0. The analysia of the source code of the individual home page of each selected university was conducted using “Bobby,” a Web-based analysis tool designed to help determine page features that may be inaccessible for students with disabilities. Based on these evaluations, half of the 2006 World’s Top Ten Universities’ Home Page or five universities of the 2006 Top Ten Universities did not meet all WCAG 1.0, Conformance criteria. There are three universities of the 2006 World’s Top Ten Universities’ Home Page that meet WCAG 1.0.

he importance of web accessibility for e-learning is an issue that is gaining incresing attention. There are two main reasons supporting the need of evaluating the 2006 World’s Top Ten Universities’ Home Page. First is, there is no clear database or collection of e-learning web sites in the global rank. However, the Times Higher Education Supplement has published World University Rankings annually from 2004 to 2006. The third edition was published in October, 2006. The World University Rankings report came from a survey, which focused on many aspects such as research, teaching and international expectations of universities around the world. The second reason is the 2006 World’s Top Ten Universities are in countries that declared legislation related to web accessibility. Seven of the 2006 World’s Top Ten Universities are in the United State (U.S.) and three universities are in United Kingdom Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

(U.K.). Currently both U.S. and U.K. have policies involving web accessibility.

Using ‘Bobby’ to evaluate web accessibility This study focuses on evaluating conformance to accessibility standards based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 by the automated tools, Bobby. The reason for selecting “Bobby” as the only evaluation tool for this study is because Bobby is a free web accessibility testing tool designed to generate reports of accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines, including Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and the WCAG 1.0. The usefulness of Bobby confirmed that it reduced time for automatic testing of 14 guidelines, which include 65 checkpoints of WCAG 1.0. In addition, Bobby is free from CAST,

the Center for Applied Special Technology. Bobby has been recommended for web developers as a first step to ensure accessible Web page design. Bobby might be used only as a tool for checking completion of three levels of conformance, Priority 1 or “A”, Priority 2 or “AA” and Priority 3 “AAA”. The evaluation has focussed on determining the strong inaccessible features of the selected web sites of World’s Top Ten Universities.

Ranking the web accessibility of university websites The results discussed in this report are based on an evaluation conducted on October 30, 2006. The home pages of selected universities may have changed since that time. The results of the evaluation can be 37

categorised into four groups as is explained in the figure below.

occurred at each level are discussed below.

The first group is the home page that reached the Conformance Level “AAA”: all Priority 1, 2, and 3 checkpoints were satisfied. Cambridge University is the only university in the first group. The second group was the home page that reached the Conformance Level “AA”: all Priority

The most common mistake for Conformance Level “A” is ‘1.1 lack of alternative text for all images’ on the home pages of both Harvard University and California Institute of Technology. The home page of Princeton University also had similar errors - ‘12.4: lack of alternative text for

Berkeley and Princeton University. The second common mistake for Conformance Level “AA” include two checkpoints that were ‘12.4: explicitly associated with controls and their labels with the LABEL element using relative sizing and positioning’ and ‘13.1: Do not use the same link phrase more than once when the links point to different URLs.’ on the home pages

Cambridge University is the only university whose home page reached the Conformance Level “AAA”. Oxford University is the only university whose home page reached the Conformance Level “AA”. There are three universities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and Stanford University, whose home pages reached the Conformance Level “A” Web Accessibility of the World’s Top Ten Universities’ Home Page

1 and 2 checkpoints were satisfied. Oxford University is also the only university in the second group. The third group is the home page that reached the Conformance Level “A”: all Priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied. There are three universities in the third group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and Stanford University. The fourth group is the home page that did not reached the Conformance criteria. There are five universities in the fourth group, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Imperial College London and Princeton University.

Common obstacles to web accessibility Based on the levels of conformance of WCAG 1.0: Priority 1 (A), 2 (AA), and 3 (AAA), the top three mistakes that 38

all image-type buttons in forms’. The home page of Imperial College London has different points of mistakes regarding the frames: ‘6.2: each FRAME must reference an HTML file and 12.1: give each frame a title’. The most common mistake for Conformance Level “AA” includes two checkpoints that are ‘3.4: use relative sizing and positioning’ and ‘9.3: make sure that event handlers do not require use of a mouse’ on the home pages of six universities. The error 3.4: occurred on home pages of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley and Imperial College London. The error 9.3: occurred on home pages of Yale University, Stanford University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, University of California,

of five universities. The mistake of 13.1 occurred on home pages of five universities: Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and Imperial College London. The mistake of ‘12.4: explicitly associate form controls and their labels with the LABEL element used relative sizing and positioning’ occurred on home pages of five universities: Yale University, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University. The third common mistake for Conformance Level “AA” include two checkpoints that were ‘3.2: Use a public text identifier in a DOCTYPE statement’ and ‘3.5: Nest headings properly’. The most common mistake for Conformance Level “AAA” are ‘10.5: Separate adjacent links with more than February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

white space’ on the home pages of eight universities. The error 10.5: occurred on home pages of Oxford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Imperial College London and Princeton University. The second common mistake for Conformance Level “AAA” was ‘10.4: include default, place-holding characters in edit boxes and text areas’ on the home pages of six universities. The error 10.4: occurred on home pages of Oxford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology and University of California, Berkeley. The third common mistake for Conformance Level “AAA” is ‘5.5: provide a summary for tables’ on the home pages of five universities. The error 5.5: occurred on home pages of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology and Imperial College London.

which included students with disabilities. Thus, the standard for elearning must consider web accessibility issues. This experimental study assumed that the visitors to all universities web sites are primarily the students including the students with disabilities. It also assumes that the home page of universities should be the representative of the universities’ web sites. The results from this study validates that the World’s Top Ten Universities’ Home Pages analysed by Bobby show that the universities from U.K., the Cambridge University easily earned Conformance “AAA”, Oxford University earned Conformance “AA”. Cambridge University is the only university in 2006 that is ranked at the top in the world by peer review score of 100% (O’Leary, 2006). The other three universities from U.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and Stanford University earned Conformance “A” from the validation. For future studies, the researcher would like to recommend that the evaluation might gather better result quality by combination of the

automatic testing of source codes such as Bobby and conducting usability testing by students with disabilities. The combination of testing approach may bring about a clearer understanding of how people with disabilities interact with the web pages, using assistive technologies. The results of this study indicate that any websites that satisfied check points of Priority 1, 2, and 3 might not be very meaningful or significant. The websites have to become more accessible for anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Suggested resources For up-to-date information on web accessibility - Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) at http:// www.w3.org/WAI/. For universities’ web developers interested in employ techniques of design accessible web content can learn from the Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites by Henry & Popolizio (2006). The Quick Tips on a vinyl business-card-sized reference card, in large print, and in Braille are available at no charge, up to 500 cards.

Poonsri Vate-U-Lan is an Assistant Programme Director of Ph.D. in eLearning Methodology, a Full-time Instructor since 2006 in College of Internet Distance Education, Assumption University of Thailand. She has also worked in the Communications and Information Technology Group laboratory within the Faculty of Applied Health Science at Brock University, Ontario, Canada.

In this new 21st century, large number of college’s universities and business organisation around the world are to adopting e-learning for all learners

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 1.0 1.

Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content

Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully

11. Use W3C technologies and guidelines

Don’t rely on colour alone

Ensure user control of timesensitive content changes

12. Provide context and orientation information

Use mark-up and style sheets and do so properly

Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces

13. Provide clear navigation mechanisms

Design for device-independence

14. Ensure that documents are clear and simple

Clarify natural language usage

Create tables that transform gracefully

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

10. Use interim solutions

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M-Learn

Language Learning made easy Rani Wemel, [RANI@LTTCOM.COM], LTT Global Communications, Malaysia Research showed that most people have mobile phones in Malaysia no matter where they are and thus able to reach out to people in the remote area. There are more than one and a half billion mobile phones in operation around the world, and a large percentage of them are in the hands of students and working adults. LTT Global Communications as educators embrace the potential of mobile technology and explores the possibilities to bring educational content direct to end-users anywhere anytime thus teaching innovatively and powerfully for learners of any age with speed, power and effectiveness. SMS-ME-ENGLISH is one such innovation explored making English learning EASY, FUN, FAST and PRACTICAL! As initiators and pioneers of mobile learning both locally in Malaysia and globally, LTT Global Communication’s business objective is to make learning easily available and affordable to all. LTT Global Communications is a company under the Technopreneur Development Flagship of the Multimedia Development Corporation, an initiative by the government of Malaysia in Cyberjaya. It represents a few companies in the Asia Pacific Region for contents on the mobile platform. Co-founded by Wemel Cumavoo and Rani Wemel, the company bears the joint vision of bringing mobile learning to all using mobile devices such as a Palm Pilot or mobile phone, to support learning and performance on the job. LTT Global Communications started with the roll out of SMS-MEENGLISH ver1.0, an innovative programme and an affordable way to learn a language easily. SMS-ME40

ENGLISH is packaged every weekday and send out via SMS. It is designed in Dwi Bahasa (dual language) to help one master the English language, Bahasa Malaysia or BOTH

languages! SMS-ME-ENGLISH was officially launched in August 2004 by Dato’ S.Veerasingam, Deputy Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs in Malaysia. This launch witnessed the signing ceremony between LTT Global Communications and Maybank, Bumiputra-Commerce Bank , RHB Bank and Bank Islam appointment as the collection agent for SMS-ME-ENGLISH programme via Internet banking.

Some success stories A strategic partnership with Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI) of MIGHT METEOR Advance Manufacturing Sdn Bhd (MMAM), in collaboration with the Economic Planning Unit (EPU), Prime Minister’s Department in providing technology enhanced learning experience for unemployed and fresh graduates. Customised English programme sent to their mobiles in line with their coursework they are attending at Advanced Manufacturing Institute.

LTT Global is among the ‘Preferred Learning Partners’ of Blue Hyppo (TMNet Internet Service Provider - a subsidiary of Telekom Malaysia). Soh Chin Yit a subscriber to its service through TMNet, scored A1 in his English 119, SPM 2005 (equivalent to ‘O’Levels). Also in the photo (Right) Wimel Cumavoo, the co-founder of LTT Global Communications

SMS-ME-ENGLISH today is further Shared experiences with BECTA, ICT Research Network (British enhanced with (24/7)Educational, web assisted Communications and Technology Agency),learning. about using SMS as a learning All participants are to be platform. awarded a Certificate of Completion February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

BASIC is for people who only speak Bahasa Malaysia and is designed in dwi bahasa to bring them into speaking English with ease. Example of lesson sent to mobile: COME disebut (kam). maksud: datang, mari. contoh:1.Come to my house. 2.Come and sit with me. INTERMEDIATE is in dwi bahasa as well but is for those who are not so confident yet about their English language, this phase helps them better understand the meaning to enable them to speak with confidence. Example of lesson sent to mobile: COMPLEX disebut (kom-pleks). maksud: bangunan, rumit. contoh:1.Abu went to the office complex. 2.Ida has a complex decision to make. ADVANCE level is all in English for all English speaking people at all levels to empower their language further. Example of lesson sent to mobile: CAJOLE: kah-JOEL means: to coax or persuade, eg.: She is not very excited about the trip, but I will be able to cajoel her into coming.

issued by the Institute of Professional Development of the Open University Malaysia in collaboration with LTT Global Communications Sdn Bhd after successfully completing the 1 year programme as per the study guide. Today, Pos Malaysia Online and TM Net, a Telekom Malaysia subsidiary also have come aboard to provide the programme to their customer base. The partnership is consistent with the efforts of LTT Global to bring mobile learning to all. The mobile lifestyle learning suite that the company provides is a complete suite designed to make mobile learning solution really easy. A complete

M-Update

learning suite is provided having full capacity from registration for courses from payment to receiving lessons all at the finger tips anywhere, anytime. The companyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mobile contents range from â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;LIVEâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; games to those tailored content development covering four main areas of education, lifestyle, family and professional. It has leading courseware for all handheld devices, like hand-phone, Palm, Pocket PC/ PDA made available on SMS/ MMS/ WAP/ GPRS(2G-3G) platform. It has a mobile edutainment and infotainment service for users to experience interactive entertainment and games from their handheld device. The

Now, Learn Language on Mobile

C-DAC based in Pune and Enable M, a Mumbai-based Mobile Technology company in India has jointly developed a technology for learning Indian languages through artificial intelligence, on mobile phones. The technology named as LILA (Learn Indian Language through Artificial Intelligence), is a result of the joint efforts of both the premier organizations engaged in developing indigenous solutions in hi-tech areas. LILA provides the facility to read and listen to the sound of Devanagiri alphabet, just as it is used in Hindi. It also has the ability to understand how words are formed and pronounced in Hindi as well as a vocabulary for commonly used words and lookup Hindi-English dictionary. The Hindi sentence structure patterns are exposed with a relative English version. To make it user friendly, there are exercises and practice sessions available for the users. The narrative sections of lesson include integrated video clips. Further, even the translation of Hindi sentences can be seen on the screen. Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

infotainment content enables businesses to market themselves while offering entertainment to their customers. The mobile content for palm/ PDA/ pocket pc platform includes leading courseware in marketing, business, sales, job search, etc. used by Fortune 500 companies. The company works with the leading provider of mobile authoring, publishing, delivery and tracking solutions. The need for mobile content in the form of learning, reference, testing and job aides to support a growing remote and field workforce which is met using the content development and publishing system (LMA) integrated with the mobile delivery and tracking system (MDTS). Organisations will have the tools and knowledge needed to launch and track mobile initiatives faster and more cost effectively than one would have ever imagined. The mobile software and hosted ASP solutions of the company give the power to design, create, edit, deploy and track content delivered to cell phones, smart phones, Palm OS devices, Pocket PC devices and any other Internet enabled device. It repurposes existing marketing materials or develops new materials for the mobile initiatives. Today LTT Global has several channels made available to clients. LTT Global also works with the Women and Family Development Society Selangor and Wilayah Perseketuan Kuala Lumpur to enhance the English Language proficiency to upgrade the standard of living of women in Malaysia. Rani Wemel is part of the senior management team and works closely with customers and partners. She holds a Masters Degree in Business Administration from La Jolla University, USA and a Bachelor of Laws degree from University of London, U.K. She started her career as an audit clerk after her law degree became a Law Lecturer in 1997 went on to be a Financial Controller and since 2000 ventured into the business world.

Project Based Learning

Science Across theWorld Project-based learning (PBL) via the integration of technology in science teaching is one of the contextual learning approaches that has gained much popularity and increased attention in the recent years. Project-based activities become the precursor for the advancement of Science and Technology Education (STE) in developing countries. Research findings indicate that the use of technology allows students to present their projects in an interesting and comprehensive manner. Science projects are usually triggered from simple questions or problems in various contexts. With a close guidance by the mentors, students’ project work could provide the motivating and effective contexts for the acquisition of research skills, scientific understanding, problem solving and critical/creative thinking skills. Technology, in a variety of sophisticated forms, in turn challenges the student to create many tasks in line with each individual’s knowledge and proficiency. The easy access to numerous sources of information from the virtual library allows breadth in the projects concerned, besides offering many possibilities for innovative designs. The availability of the Internet and the global advanced networking has enabled sophisticated e-learning systems to flourish at a tremendously fast pace. People can access multiple sources of information in cyberspace from the many e-learning platforms, which have mushroomed over the past few decades. “Science Across the World” (henceforth being referred to as SAW) is an exemplary international web-based programme, which promotes project-based learning; initiated in 1990 by the Association for Science Education (ASE) of the United Kingdom (UK) under the sponsorship of British Petroleum (BP). Since the year 2000, the SAW programme was developed and managed by the ASE in partnership with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), one of the world’s leading pharmaceutical and healthcare companies committed to improving the quality of human life. SAW invites the participation of teachers and students all over the world. Together with ASE and others, GSK aims to stimulate interest and confidence in science among young people, as well as to promote awareness and discussion of scientific issues that affect mankind around the world (SAW, 2000). Being an international flagship programme, SAW is a global alliance for five regional initiatives i.e. Science Across Africa, Science Across America, Science Across Asia Pacific, Science Across Europe and Science Across Latin America. A regional coordinator is appointed to coordinate the project in each region. RECSAM is privileged to be entrusted to coordinate this project in the Asia Pacific region since 1991. “Science Across Asia Pacific” (SAAP) was initiated in 1991 in consultation with ASE and funded by BP Malaysia, the company currently named Boustead Petroleum Marketing Sdn.Bhd.

Project S c h o o l The SAW international programme aims to introduce into science education an increased awareness of the different perspectives, ways of life and national traditions of students in various countries. It raises the awareness of the ways in which science and technology interact with society, industry and the environment. The programme with its suggested topics can be viewed and downloaded from the official website http://www.scienceacross.org. SAW also provides the opportunity for schoolteachers and students in different countries to develop communication skills among themselves; collaborating over a range of exciting and important 42

School Tra ck three main processes of learning, i.e. (a) Individual student’s exploratory work where the student carries out investigations to explore science locally; (b) Compilation of the individual student’s or group’s findings into one class opinion; and (c) Exchanging the class opinion, information and experiences with students and/or classes from all over the world. In other words, students will share insights globally. The development of the project curriculum is in tandem with current trends in science and technology education while the implementation of the activities are based on two approaches to learning, namely (1) Contextual learning incorporating value-based Science, Technology, Environment, Society (STES) and

projects. The programme provides a virtual platform to host a forum where students get to exchange opinions and findings with their peers in other countries by filling the information exchange form, which is stored in the SAW database, or via e-mails. The SAW programme focuses on project work upholding the following

Al-Mashoor Boys’ Secondary Religious School [SMKA Al-Mashoor(L)] project students February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

the SEAMEO region. To date (as of 21 December 2006), the number of schools and teachers participating in the programme in the region is estimated to be as follows, i.e. Brunei Darussalam (15 schools and 36 teachers), Cambodia (8 schools and 14 teachers), Indonesia (43 schools and 64 teachers), Laos (6 Tun Syed Sheh Shahabudin Science Secondary

“This is the best time to introduce project-based learning to reach out to as many students as possible. I wish to tap their potential in doing Maths/Science projects using the e-learning platform provided by SAW…and I believe that all students can do projects, irrespective of their diverse socio-cultural background or academic achievements...” Tan Khan Aun, Tun Syed Sheh Shahabudin Science Secondary School, Penang, 2006

scientific investigations; as well as (2) Interdisciplinary and cross-curricular studies incorporating the use of the ICT platform for communication to explore issues related to Science/ Mathematics/Social Science, Health/ Environmental Education and Sustainable Development. With the launching of two new topics into the SAW programme, “Talking about Genetics Around the World” and “Climate Change” in the year 2006, many relevant science teaching and learning activities very much in line with addressing the current global issues and concerns have been incorporated. For instance, an educational website on “Climate Change” (http:// kmi4schools.e2bn.net/mtn_satw/) which is hyperlinked to the main SAW official website (http:// www.scienceacross.org), has been developed to promote interactive teaching and learning. In fact, the SAW programme is gaining an increased interest and participation in Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

schools and 8 teachers), Malaysia (137 schools and 251 teachers), Myanmar (12 schools and 14 teachers), Philippines (41 schools and 84 teachers), Singapore (33 schools and 68 teachers), Thailand (172 schools and 305 teachers) and Vietnam (15 schools and 15 teachers). In Malaysia, a study was conducted by the RECSAM regular course participants in the year 2004 (Bernadas, et al., 2004) using action Research paradigm to explore whether project-based learning with ICT integration would foster a positive attitude among students towards science using the SAW web-based learning curriculum on the topic of “Renewable Energy”. The general concern among the researchers and the science teachers was the

indifferent attitude towards science manifested due to the change of the language of instruction of Science from the national language to English. It had been identified as the research problem to be addressed. The results had paved a step towards the gradual transition and acceptance of the use of English for science teaching in the nation. Furthermore, this web-based activity with a necessity to use English for information exchange actually aids both the teachers as well as the students’ mastery of science learning besides allowing enjoyment and involvement in meaningful contextual projects. The school administrators and science teachers as well as the researchers, upon reflection, came to a conclusion that further action research cycles can be carried out to affirm that project-based contextual active learning can improve teaching and learning as well as foster friendship globally via ICT web platforms. The future of increasing globalised, technology-rich societies with knowledgeable citizens would rely fully on ICT for information, business and other transactions. The use of elearning systems to promote ICT and project-based learning will alleviate the digital divide among children of various nations. Educators should be at the forefront in web-based ICT advancement in order to be able to introduce the necessary learning opportunities for students to realise their highest potential and become the leaders and workforce of tomorrow.

CONTRIBUTED BY Ng Khar Thoe [nkt@recsam.edu.my] Specialist, Research and Development Division cum SAW Regional Coordinator for Asia Pacific region, SEAMEO RECSAM, Penang, Malaysia Tan Khan Aun [khanaun@streamyx.com], Mathematics Excellent/Master Teacher, Tun Syed Sheh Shahabudin Science Secondary School, Bukit Mertajam, Penang Linda Toh [lindatoh2001@yahoo.com], Science Excellent/Master Teacher, Al-Mashoor Boys’ Secondary Religious School, Penang

Info-centre The Department of Information Technology (DIT ), Ministry of Communication and Information technology ( MCIT ), Government of India has instituted an award scheme for excellence in computer literacy and information technology in schools at stage and national level to create IT awareness among schools and to encourage computer literacy among students in early stage of schooling. The Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information, Government of India has initiated the process for fourth computer literacy excellence awards 2005. As a part of this day they have requested Directorate Of Information Technology Government of Goa to invite applications for the awards, short list and recommend the best schools in various categories as per the guidelines given by them. All recognised schools in India, government and private teaching computers and information’s technology in their schools are eligible to compete for the award. The qualifying criteria will be based on the performance of the school and the distribution of marks is ICT Infrastructure 20 marks; ICT usage practices 30 marks; Curricula and content development 13 marks; Innovation in pedagogy 10 marks; award and recognition; achieved by the school 5 marks; teacher training, classroom transaction and students learning 22 marks. Winners of computer literacy excellence awards for the year 2002, 2003 and year 2004 will not be eligible 44

Award scheme for excellence in computer literacy for further participation for a period of 3 consecutive years since receiving the award.

The evaluation of the nominations for state level excellence awards will be carried out by the respective states / UTs on a scale of 1 to 100 as per the marks distribution given in proforma itself. The evaluation for national

level awards will be carried out by DIT by normalisation of the evaluation forwarded by the state/UTs. The criteria for giving marks are given in the proforma to be filled up by the schools. The applicants are to be made by the participating schools in prescribed proforma and submitted to the secretary IT/Commissioner IT in their respective states / UTs by the last date. These will then be evaluated at State level /UT level and only one writing nomination will be forwarded to the department of IT, Ministry of communication and IT for selection of national level winners. The state awards will be given to one school each under category A as well as category B in each state/ UT on the recommendation of secretary IT of

respective states / UTs. Each school will be given a trophy and cash award of INR 1.50 lakhs. The national awards will be given to top three schools to private/ government aided schools with first prize of INR 7lakhs; second prize of INR 5lakhs and third prize of INR 3 lakhs. So also government, municipal schools / Kendriya and Navoday Vidyalays will be awarded a first prize of INR 7 lakhs, second prize of INR 5 lakhs and third prize of INR lakhs. One best school from amongst all the state/UT/ National award winners from the combined list of category A and B school will be selected as the All India Winner of the computer literacy excellence Awards for school 2005. The school will be given a trophy and a cash award of INR 10 lakhs. The awards will be formally presented to the award winning schools at an “Award presentation function” organised by the department of Information technology.

Important dates Last Date for submission of proforma by schools to the Secretary (IT), State / UT Government: 15 February, 2007 Forwarding of names of winning schools to DIT by State/UT Govt. (separately for Category A & B): 28 February, 2007 Application form is available at http://mit.gov.in/einfraelearning/ einfra/cleas2005/visitors.asp The details are also available on the website www.mit.gov.in. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Learning Curves Principal is new CBSE tele-counsellor

Schools of the future

Ideal Indian School principal Abdul Wadood Khan has been appointed tele-counsellor for Qatar by the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), New Delhi.

Cedar Primary, Dunman Secondary and Crescent Girls’ are among 20 schools in the running in Singapore to be selected as schools of the future, where students use tablets instead of textbooks, work in virtual laboratories instead of classrooms and are automatically assessed instead of sitting for pen-and-paper tests.

The first phase of the counselling is meant to deal with any help and guidance that the students of classes X and XII or their parents may need before the commencement of CBSE examinations in March. Khan can be contacted for any CBSE related issues on telephone numbers 4684849, 4685337, or 4684929 or through e-mail idealsch@qatar.net.qa

The schools submitted their plans on how information and communication technologies (ICT) can be integrated into the curriculum, pedagogies and assessment of students. They also offered ideas on how physical learning environments can be redesigned. Among those invited are Lead ICT schools - those that are ready to achieve a higher level of ICT use - and schools that are conducting Teach Less Learn More (TLLM) curriculum innovations, as they are already using new pedagogical models and experimenting with the use of ICT in teaching and learning.

The Ministry of Education (MOE) invited 78 primary and secondary schools to participate in the first phase of the FutureSchools@ Singapore project, which was initiated in October. Fifteen schools will be selected and developed over a number of phases up to 2015.

USE YOUR SPACE This is your space, your space to watch, your space to use and your space to change too. We invite you to be a part of our ‘School Track’ section, which you can do by contributing your experience with ICTs as a schoolteacher, principal and administrator, or as someone in the school education process working in any capacity. We welcome your stories, research papers, opinion pieces, resources or any other such relevant information, news, and a new idea for this space that can help elevating the spirit of education in schools with integration of ICTs. We look forward to you using this space, by sending your words to info@digitalLEARNING.in

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

Courtesy: Guardian Unlimited (http://education.guardian.co.uk)

Survey shows kids still lack in Maths Performance of students in Mathematics at primary level remains a major area of concern across India, according to a recent survey. The survey conducted by an NGO, Pratham, in which students were tested on arithmetic, writing, reading and comprehension, showed that about 60 per cent of students at Class I and II could recognise numbers or do more mathematics. At class III to V, only 65 per cent of the students could do subtraction. The annual status of Education Report (Rural) 2006, which compiled the findings of the survey conducted across the country in 549 districts, said the performance of students was improving by only by four to five per cent in the subject over the previous year’s dismal figures. 45

On the web

Malaysian Smart Portals Expanding Malaysian Study Opportunities Study Malaysia Online/ KakakTua.com/ Malaysian Students Network Community

alaysia, located in South East Asia, is a testimony to the world of what it is able to offer academically. Malaysia has grown tremendously in all spheres of life and especially in education sector, it has become a more developed country over last two decades. Considering the pace of the information that would be required by the learning and teaching community in Malaysia, a number of conducive and interactive learning environments in the look of smart, comprehensive elearning portals have been actively catering the needs of both the learning and teaching community. Which college is the best? Am I doing the right course? Which university is tops for engineering programmes?” Lingering questions like these are enough to cause sleepless nights and loss of appetite. With over 650 private higher educational institutions in Malaysia, choosing one to go to is never an easy task. Study Malaysia Online sited at http:// www.StudyMalaysia.com is a comprehensive and informative educational website that complements well to the efforts carried out by the Malaysian government to promote study opportunities in Malaysia. It provides comprehensive information on various higher educational institutions (private colleges, private universities, public universities and polytechnics), the courses they offer, education financing, updated news on education, significant individuals in the education industry as well as other valuable information on study opportunities for local and foreign students. Students can obtain the very latest and up-to-date information about the

various private schools, colleges, universities, public universities, polytechnics and professional bodies in Malaysia, as well as check out the courses/programmes offered by these schools/higher institutions of learning. Other pertinent sections in the website are profiles of Malaysian institutions, Student’s Hotspots which include Event Calendar, Career Guide, On Focus, News, Scholarship, Students’ Views and Study Forum.

At the core of the site is the Learning Centre, where students can practise thousands and thousands of revision questions and even submit essays for marking by our online teachers. The customised navigation system allows students to revise according to topics, focusing on specific weak areas and levels or practise simulated examination papers. It has developed an intelligent assessment system, which not only gives immediate

StudyMalaysia.com is the site strictly dedicated to Malaysian approved educational institutions, which promotes the Malaysian Brand to the world education market. My StudyMalaysia gives one access to a more personalised education with additional features to make this site your valuable resource for educational information.

feedback to the student, just like a classroom environment, but also allows students to track their performance on every subject. This helps students to focus on the subjects or topics, which need more improvement, thus revising more effectively. Parents and teachers can also use this tool to monitor their child/student’s improvement in each subject.

KakakTua.com is an e-learning web portal developed to help students revise for their exams in a fun and effective manner via the Internet. The aim is to help students find an enjoyable method of learning and at the same time achieve top study grades.

The Malaysian Students Network Community / Jalinan Komuniti Pelajar Malaysia (http://www.student. com.my/) also keeps the goal to provide an interactive and integrated Smart Portal: one-stop center for Malaysian students. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

News WORLD UNESCO launches teachertraining programme in Africa

UNESCO has launched a high-priority ‘Initiative on Teacher Training’ in sub-Saharan Africa. This initiative will assist the continent’s 46 sub-Saharan countries in restructuring national teacher policies and teacher education. The main of the training programme is to improve the quality of teaching across the continent. In this initiative, 17 countries are participating, including Angola, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Chad, Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Ghana, Guinea, Madagascar, Niger, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia. TTISSA will link and create synergies from the other core Initiatives, the Literacy Initiative for Empowerment (LIFE) and the Global Initiative on Education and HIV and AIDS (EDUCAIDS).

British Council launches training programme in UAE schools British Council has launched the project, which is aimed to introduce effective use of ICT in schools in UAE. British Council is to bring together teachers and GGC & UK policymakers to introduce ICT. The British Council has completed its first teacher-training programme for Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 2 February 2007

UAE national schools for vision impaired. British Council launched this training programme with the support of Ministries of Education. British Council has collaborated with UK education consultants to provide training on ICT tools for education, including e-languages and Global Gateway. The British Council is also working on the ICT in Schools project in co-operation with all the Education Zones in the UAE. The ICT training workshop is aimed to increase the skills of teachers in the use of ICT in the classroom and to develop the level of confidence in the use of online tools for international collaboration in education.

Australia makes easy e-learning for people The Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources (DITR) of Australia is making e-Learning more impressive for staff members of Australia. DITR is planning to implement elearning this year for 300 staff in its ebusiness division. The system will include office, management and IT employees. DITR has asked the government for the supply, implementation and maintenance of an online training and education system, as well as an online reference library and help material. The e-learning system would be accessible at work and from home, and deliver reports on its usage.

e-Education Development gets a boost Azure Technologies and the Department of Technical Education signed a contract agreement worth $2.4 million, marking a new milestone in e-education development in Brunei. The agreement was inked for the supply, reengineering, analysis, design, delivery, installation, integration, testing, deployment; training, commissioning and maintenance of software and

hardware for the implementation of an integrated Web-based technical and vocational education student information system for the Department of Technical Education at the Ministry of Education.

National Development Plans boosts ICT in Irish schools

Schools of Ireland will receive a technology boost under the National Development Plan 2007-2013. The new investment is designed to develop an e-learning culture in schools. The Ministry of Education will follow this plan by implementing ICT skills into schools. The Government is planning to invest EUR25 million to buy hardware for teaching new and revised technology subjects. Under that plan approximately 500 schools will receive funding, which would be used to provide hardware such as PCs, laptops, printers, digital scanners and data projectors. The National Centre for Technology in Education (NCTE) has joined with the Union of Students in Ireland and the Combined Higher Education Software Trust in signing an agreement with Microsoft to offer specially-priced software to every primary, second and third level student in the country. The Software4Students programme will make discounts on all Microsoft software available to 917,000 students.

Patent Office to re-examine Blackboard learning patent The United States patent office has ordered a re-examination of an “elearning” patent owned by Blackboard Inc. The Software Freedom Law Center (SFLC) had asked for the review on behalf of three open source software projects Sakai, Moodle and Atutor. 47

The Patent Office said that prior art cited by the SFLC raised questions about the patent. It was reported earlier that Blackboard had taken legal action against Desire2Learn Inc. This firm has also asked the patent office to re-examine Blackboard’s patent. The re-examination will take two years.

the 2007-08 financial year are run by universities or institutes of technology and polytechnics. The projects include development of a Biomolecular Interaction Centre in Canterbury, implementation of elearning guidelines across the tertiary sector, and establishment of a National Energy Research Institute. The new funding comes on top of the $30 million previously allocated to 34 projects through the TEC’s Innovation and Development Fund (IDF) over the past three years.

New software will help children design their own games and aid learning

e-Academy for companies from MyKnowledgeMap MyKnowledgeMap (MKM), United Kingdom’s leading supplier of infrastructure systems for national skill academies has introduced a version of its e-Academy system enabling companies to manage staff skills and development needs ranging from day-to-day productivity to discovering and achieving relevant qualifications. Company Academy supports the management of Internal courses. Designed to run over an Intranet, or provided as a hosted solution, it can be provided as an empty infrastructure, ready for an organisation to populate with its own material. Alternatively, it is available with various content packs and can be fully branded to complement the user organisation’s house style.

9.7 million dollar invested in tertiary education The New Zealand government is investing $9.7 million in 11 projects fostering innovation in tertiary education. The new projects offered funding in 48

and build 3D, interactive fantasybased computer games, which will involve developing characters, writing dialogue, plot-structuring and visual design, as well as dealing with technical programming issues and testing/evaluating the games.

Cisco targets emerging communication markets Cisco announced that it will present two Cisco TelePresence systems each to the governments of five nations in the emerging markets as a means to improve communications and collaboration within and among those countries by harnessing the ultra-high quality, two-way video and audio capabilities of the TelePresence solution. The participating countries are Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates. Cisco expects to have the TelePresence systems in all five countries within six months. Cisco estimates that its total contribution will be approximately $6 million. This will include the TelePresence systems, their planning, design and installation and a year’s worth of support services costs.

Pioneering software that enables children to design their own computer games could significantly improve the teaching of literacy, design and ICT skills in schools. A new project at Heriot-Watt University in United Kingdom aims to produce “Adventure Author” – innovative game-creation software specifically targeted at enhancing children’s education. The objective is to show that computer games, as well as being fun, offer a great way of motivating pupils to learn. They can develop their creativity, and in many cases, generate better results than conventional teaching methods. The 27-month research project “Supporting Creativity in Computer Game Authoring” is due to run until September 2008. Adventure Author will allow 10-14 year olds to design

Study finds open source key to European ICT competitiveness A new study on the economic impact of Free/Libre Open Source Software (FLOSS) on the European information and communication technologies (ICT) sector has found that it could increase Europe’s competitiveness. ’Given Europe’s historically lower ability to create new software businesses compared to the US, due to restricted venture capital and risk tolerance, the high share of European FLOSS developers provides a unique opportunity to create new software businesses and reach towards the Lisbon goals of making Europe the most competitive knowledge economy by 2010,’ states the report, which was requested by the European Commission’s Enterprise DG. February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

may

Mark Your Calendar february e-Learning 2007 17 – 20 February, 2007 New Mexico, USA

Education and Employment Alliance Global Summit 6-8 March, 2007 Hyderabad, India http://www.eeaonline.org/summit.asp

http://www.itcnetwork.org/elearning2007.htm

Iadis International Conference Web Based Communities 2007 18-20 February, 2007 Salamanca Spain

International Conference on Information and Communication Technology 7 - 9 March, 2007 Dhaka Bangladesh

http://www.webcommunities-conf.org/

http://www.buet.ac.bd/iict/icict2007/

Innovations in Testing Technology: From Promise to Practice 23 February, 2007 Richmond Canada

International Conference and workshop on e-Learning strategies: Edutainment 2007 12 - 17 March, 2007 Bangkok and Surin Island Thailand

http://www.tasainstitute.com/symposium/

StudyWorld 2007 11 - 12 May, 2007 Berlin, Germany http://www.studyworld2007.com

SOLSTICE 2007 - Researching eLearning for Innovation and Development 11 May, 2007 Lancashire England, United Kingdom http://www.edgehill.ac.uk/SOLSTICE/ conference2007

12th International Conference on Education - ICE2007 21 - 24 May, 2007 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam http://www.ubd.edu.bn/news/conferences/12ice07/ index.htm

http://www.elearning.dusit.ac.th/

Training 2007 Conference & Expo 26 – 28 February, 2007 Orlando Florida http://www.trainingconference.com/learninggroup/ training/index.jsp

march WEBIST 2007 - 3rd International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies 3 - 6 March, 2007 Barcelona Spain http://www.webist.org

TxDLA: Discover the Treasures of Distance Learning 27 - 29 March, 2007 Galveston, Texas United States http://www.txdla.org/conference/2007/index. html

april 2nd International Conference on Engineering Education & Training, ICEET-2 9 - 11 April, 2007 Kuwait City, Kuwait http://www.iceet.org

iptvworldforum 07 5-7 March, 2007 Olympia, London www.iptv-forum.com

1st Asia Pacific Regional Mobile Learning Conference On Wireless & Mobile Technologies In Education And Edutainment 5 - 8 March, 2007 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia http://www.lttcom.com

The First International Conference on Information and Communication Technology & Accessibility 12 - 14 April, 2007 Hammamet, Tunisia http://www.esstt.rnu.tn/utic/tica2007

LOOK OUT FOR digital LEARNING POWER SCHOOL AWARD 2007 www.digitalLEARNING.in

Interactive Mobile and Computer aided Learning 18 - 20 April, 2007 Amman, Jordan http://www.imcl-conference.org

February 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

2007

Join the Debates in ICT and Education 31July - 02 August, 2007 Pragati Maidan, New Delhi

Organisers

knowledge for change