Tracking technologies in education : January 2006 Issue

Volume II Issue 1 January 2006

The monthly publication on ICT and Education

Tracking technologies in education

A publication of

knowledge for change

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The first monthly magazine on ICT4D

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Contents

Verbatim It is little short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not completely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry.

Albert Einstein

Volume II Issue 1, January 2006

For learning to take place with any kind of efficiency students must be motivated. To be motivated, they must become interested. And they become interested when they are actively working on projects, which they can relate to their values and goals in life.

Gus Tuberville President, William Penn College, Oskaloosa, Iowa, USA Computers can’t solve what is wrong with education.

Steve Jobs Founder, Apple Computer

Cover story/Overview

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Collaborating for learning in 2005

Shyamal Mehta

Rumi Mallick

Trend

Space technology in education Indian context

Perspective

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for small 11 e-Learning groups: The Diplo

Sound schooling Radio for distance education Sajan Venniyoor

Features

20 Bookshelf Place 21 Market BookBox 27 News 36 Statescan Rajasthan Education Initiative - A vision for education

Foundation’s experience Kishan S Rana

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Learning Lab: learning using mobile devices Learning Lab Team

Conference report

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World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), 2005, Tunisia

the web 45 On www.ict-in-class.net

46 Mark your calendar Digital Learning January 2006

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digital Learning invites authors a Nowthly mon

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

Please be sure to read and follow the Editorial Guidelines above.

Note that contributions may be edited for space and/or clarity.

Unsolicited manuscripts and artwork will not be returned.

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

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

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Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

Editorial Going beyond education! digital LEARNING Volume II, issue 1 January 2006 Editor Ravi Gupta Sr. Assistant Editor Rumi Mallick Designed by Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Editorial and marketing correspondence Digital Learning G-4 Sector 39 NOIDA 201301, India Phone +91 120 2502181-87 Fax +91 120 2500060 Email info@dl.csdms.in Group directors Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar Printed by Yashi Media Works Pvt Ltd New Delhi, India Digital Learning does not neccesarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors.

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

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

© Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies 2005

Digital Learning January 2006

Innovative uses of information and communications technologies have been applied in the field of education.

While many institutions around the world are at different stages of moving to a digitized economy, the strategies that have been adopted by them vary depending on what stage of development they initiated them in.

The current thinking stems from the global debate on the Information Society, which was held in Tunis at the end of the last year. Digital Learning expands the scope of education to go beyond formal schooling and literacy.

It has expanded the definition of learning.

There have been numerous learning communities that have generated interest among the practitioners. With over a hundred thousand discussion groups, various dimensions of ICT in education are being discussed. If one takes a few moments to search the Internet, one can come across a huge information overload. However, the stories of practical experiences are important to document and share.

We look forward to building this magazine as a platform for knowledge sharing, where experiences are systematically documented. We plan to cover a combination of grassroots or small experiments intermixed with macro perspectives from experts.

In order to look at the tools of communications, it is important to note that ‘Digital’ encompasses innovative use of digital media like TV, mobile technologies, radio and other ICTs in addressing the digital divide issues.

We are covering stories from around the world focussed on technologies and welcome your inputs and feedback on how to make this a valuable platform for success.

Our team is also planning the Digital Learning Asia 2006 conference (www.Dlasia.csdms.in), to be held on 25-28 April, 2006 in Bangkok, Thailand. We welcome you all to visit the website and learn about the conference and participate.

Wish you all a very happy and successful year 2006.

Ravi Gupta Editor Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

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Collaborating for learning in 2005

Overview

Rumi Mallick [RUMI@CSDMS.IN], Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies, India

I

t is approximately 100 years since John Dewey began arguing for the kind of change that would move schools away from authoritarian classrooms, to environments in which learning is achieved through experimentation, practice and exposure to the real world. Today, technologies are affecting teaching and learning in a big way.

Technology in Education or Educational Technology has been defined as the design, application evaluation and development of systems, methods, and materials to improve the process of human learning (Association for Educational Communications

and Technology, AECT definition).

In very simple terms, educational technology includes ‘all components of the information technology used in the delivery of educational materials.’ Since the last decade, several initiatives (both private and national governments) have experimented with diverse technologies in education. While training in and training through computing devices has been the most popular, the outreach of radio and television as education instruction technol1ogies has been truly outstanding especially with respect to remote rural areas. Other educational technologies like alternative (low-cost, low-energy)

technologies, wireless and mobile learning platforms are also gaining increasing attention. The use of educational technologies in particular and Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in general, has been able to change the instructive education process to a participative lifelong learning process, be it the cost heavy computer-enabled learning process or the cost-effective community radio based mass education process.

The changing role of educational technologies in the developing countries Most technology integration in schools in developing countries is premised on the realistic perception that technologies are becoming increasingly pervasive in the growing knowledge-based economy and inaction will lead to marginalization of these countries.

With globalisation and the global agenda to develop knowledge societies, the need to constantly upgrade the skills of human resources has become crucial.

Education and training has become the foundation of global competitiveness with technologyenabled education as the key to human resource development that can meet the challenges of such competition.

While developing countries have responded through national education strategies with a focus on integration of technologies mainly ICTs at all levels and for all purposes of education, most technology interventions in the education sector in many developing countries – especially the most poor, have been through small, uncoordinated pilot projects

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Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

initiated by non-governmental groups while most governments in these countries are struggling to cope with the challenges of infrastructure and implementation and education for all.

Recent advances in and applications of technologies, have also demonstrated how increasingly critical private sector involvement and investment is becoming in assuring that the promises of computer and communi-cations capabilities proliferate in the sphere of public education to fulfillment of national education and training missions.

Is it worth investing in technology for education?

While the non-governmental organizations in developing countries have experimented with diverse media and communication technologies with a focus on improving learning outcomes of students, most government responses have been in integrating technology training (mostly computers) in schools. In a drive to ‘prepare for the digital tomorrow’, a number of national governments are allocating funds to ‘create a digitally literate’ young generation who have the skills to “survive’ and contribute to the digital era.

In the past years the ‘online’ (Digital Divide Network, Bytesforall, to name a few) and the ‘offline’ community (the various groups led by the NonGovernmental practitioners) have been debating on several issues of technology especially ICTs in education. Although much literature exists that tell the story of successful ICT in education endeavours, there is lack of adequate research instruments, indicators and even qualitative

Digital Learning January 2006

evaluation methodologies that are sufficiently general and sensitive to capture the impact in a variety of situations.

Questions have been raised – “What are the outcomes of ICT in education? What are the lessons we have learnt from good models?

Are these models scalable? What does all of these cost? A recent study initiated by infodev (www.infodev.org) on monitoring and evaluation of ICT in education projects has raised these similar questions. The study indicates that “relatively little is actually known about the effectiveness of investments in ICTs in education, in promoting educational reform in general, and Education for All (EFA) goals in particular. Despite the billions of dollars of investments in ICTs in education. little hard evidence and consensus exist on the proper, cost-effective utilization of ICTs to meet a wide variety of some of the most pressing educational challenges facing the developing world. To be sure, some good work has been done. These lessons do not seem to

be informing policy related to education in a significant way.”

Seemingly, there is a glaring gap between ‘what has worked on ground’ and a relevant actionable knowledge base, which can help policy-makers in making more ‘informed’ rather than ‘assumed’ decisions. Such divergent scenarios have often resulted in imprecise policies that have allowed the introduction of computer-aided teaching and learning in schools without a follow-up with adequate teachers capacity building programmes and change management in the education system The message is clear. National policies on ICT in education is not enough, there needs to be adequate evaluation and monitoring mechanism that can assess the ICT related investing in progress in the developing countries. This can provide a more credible evidence-based future of ICT in education in development and result in more comprehensive policies in future.

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The scenario in India for ICT and education stems from several initiatives that have created enabling environment at the policy and strategy levels. With the advent of the dedicated educational satellite EDUSAT, the ecosystem is ready to absorb new technologies for achieving the educational goals. We review some key policy and programme interventions at the national level.

The Right to Information Act The Government of India on June 15, 2005, passed the much awaited

the National Informatics Centre (www.nic.gov.in) was made a central repository of information for citizens to access information through a user-friendly search engine.

Citizens can now get more information on the educational opportunities available to them, citizens can now request for information on funds received, budget allocations and funds spend by their local authorities for education and can judge by themselves the educational performance of their district/town/ city. The University Grants Commission (UGC) is responsible for monitoring the workings of institutions of higher education.

The UGC has notified all institutions of higher education to disclose various kinds of information (as elaborated in the ‘Returns of Information by Higher Education Institution’, formulated by the UGC).

The Right to Education Bill

Right to Information (RTI) Act which came into force on October 12, 2005 (120th day of its enactment on June 15, 2005). The Act extends to the whole of India except the State of Jammu and Kashmir. The new law replaces a weaker law enacted by the Lok Sobha (Lower House in Parliament) in 2002. As the globally renowned rights activist Aruna Roy and Magsaysay Award winner points out, “For a country proud of its status as the world’s largest democracy, this is one more step towards making its institutions and authorities accountable and answerable to the people they serve”. In view of making the law truly participatory, progressive and meaningful, the RTI portal (www.righttoinformation.gov.in) of 8

The Right to Education Bill gives effect the Article 21A of the 86th Constitution Amendment Act, affirming that every child between the age of 6 and 14 years has the right to free and compulsory education. This Act entails the state to ensure a school in every child’s neighbourhood conforming to the minimum standards defined in the Bill. The Bill entails, also free education in all government schools and private schools to provide free education to at least 25% of children from weaker sections. The Bill also makes it mandatory for the state/Union Territories governments to determine every year the requirement of schools, facilities, and their locations; establish additional schools as required; deploy teachers and create facilities for their training. The states are also required to develop

a mechanism to monitor enrolment, participation and attainment status of every child, and take corrective steps wherever required. The states also need to make information in this regard available in the public domain, including on an on-line basis.

However, although this Bill heralds a positive step toward Universal Primary Education, the Bill has been criticised on several grounds. Not only does it fail to acknowledge factors such as poverty that forces children out of schools, it also does not make any provision for children below 6 years and above 14 years. Anil Sadgopal, a former dean of Delhi University’s Department of Education, notes that this exclusion of some age groups contradicts the United Nations Convention on the Right of the Child, which describes a child as “every human being below 18 years”. “The government of India is a signatory to this convention. By excluding those under six, we are ignoring 170 million children,” he says.

Educationalist claims that exclusion of children below 6 year will mainly affect the poorest section of the society.

The National Curriculum Framework (NCF) Prepared by the National Council for Educational Research and Training (NCERT), the NCF emphasises the words learning without burden and child-centred education repeatedly. Its array of suggestions, includes cutting down on the number of textbooks, making assessment methods flexible, and promoting more inclusive learning. The pathbreaking suggestions of the new National Curriculum Framework has put the child firmly at the centre of its proposals. The NCF has been “sensitive” to the needs of children and understands that

Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

the ultimate goal of education is to “motivate”. The framework also has a section on Teacher Education for Curriculum Renewal, which, recognizes that, “Attempts at curricular reform have not been adequately supported by teacher education” and suggests strategies for organising teacher training programmes.

The NCF has devoted a chapter to School and Classroom Environment, mentioning that enough attention has not been paid to the importance to the physical environment for learning and heads of school and block functionaries needs to focus on ensuring that at least minimum infrastructural requirements are met. It also mentions that the ideal number of students in a class should be around 30.

The nation waits to witness how NCF recommendations will become a reality in the face of crumbling basic infrastructure and in most cases no infrastructure in schools.

The Sarva Shiksha Abhiayan (SSA) Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyan (Education for All), launched in 2001, is a flagship programme of

the national government. It aims that all children complete 5 years of primary schooling by 2007 and all children complete 8 years of elementary schooling by 2010.

The SSA program combines centrally set targets and norms for planning and costing with decentralized management, bottom up planning, community mobilization, and social audits.

SSA funds annual work plans submitted by states and districts to

meet the targets. SSA provides ample flexibility to design locally specific strategies, encouraging partnerships with nongovernmental organizations and requiring community oversight to ensure transparency and sustainability. In 2005, SSA approved the ICT@school initiatives, which involves the introduction of computer education in the primary level in several states.

Mission 2007: Every village a knowledge centre This national capacity building programme received support of Rs. 100 crores (USD 22.2 million) from the Government of India in its Union Budget 2005-06, which was presented by the Finance Minister (FM), P Chidambaram.

The FM said that the Government shared the goal of Mission 2007, which is to establish village knowledge centres in every Indian village by the 60th anniversary of India’s Independence Day. The Mission also received International recognition at the World Summit on Information Society (WSIS 2005) where the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an arm of United Nations formally accepted ‘Mission 2007’ as a flagship programme of its ‘Connect the World’ initiative. The UNDP and the Swiss Development Agency (SDC) also joined the International support group for the programme along with International Development Research Centre (IDRC), Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development (DFID), the World Bank, UNESCO, WHO, FAO, GKP, amongst others, promising financial support and help in technology deployment.

The scenario in Asia in 2005 In its report on Report of the Sixth Meeting of the Working Group on Education for All (EFA), held in Paris in July, UNESCO declared had 2005 as particularly crucial for the future of ‘Education for All’. The G8 leaders, meeting in Gleneagles, UK in July, made commitments to increase development aid, world leaders assessed progress towards the Millennium Development Goals in September, Education Ministers will discuss EFA in a Round Table at the UNESCO General Conference in October, and the EFA High-Level Group focused on new resources and renewed efforts for EFA in November. The Working Group discussed the implications of these international events, with relation to the six Dakar goals. The group indicated that a Joint Action Plan would be developed that will define, with greater clarity, the roles and responsibilities of the international community in the pursuit of education sector plans. The working group will also extend more resources to education from the committed funding of the donor countries.

At the WSIS, Tunis, UNESCO with its mandate to promote the free exchange of ideas and knowledge advocated ‘open’ access to knowledge and ‘open’ information and knowledge sharing in Higher education. See the section on WSIS report for more details on this.

Digital Learning January 2006

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The scenario in Asia in 2005 Asia saw a series of activities in ICT in education especially mainly led by the UNESCO or the respective governments in the south-east Asian countries. While some countries refined their national technology in education strategies, some countries embarked to formulating polices for better integration of ICTs in all levels of education, basic, secondary and Higher education. Some countries entered into partnerships with corporate to be provided with training, hardware and software and curriculum content. In follow-up to the well-received SchoolNet projects, UNESCO has planned to partner with Intel Corporation to collaborate on the development of a model curriculum or syllabus to improve the use of information and communications technology (ICT) in classrooms worldwide. Some glimpses of what happened in some Asian countries.

Bhutan, the Government of India funded for 300 computers to 100 rural primary and lower secondary schools in Bhutan for basic computer training for their students and teachers from 2006. Over 95 percent of the beneficiary schools had no computers before.

Some of the lower secondary schools had one or two computers but these were not accessible to students.

Bangladesh, the Government of Bangladesh signed a Memorandum of Understanding (Mou) with Microsoft’s Partners in Learning programme, to train 10,000 teachers and 200,000 students with a working knowledge of ICTs over three years.

Sri Lanka, Education Ministry launched a five year ICT programme for both senior and junior school students and is developing an extensive plan for IT development in the school system. The focus is on government and aided schools.

Mongolia, launched the national “E-Mongolia Programme”. An outcome of this programme – Mongolia’s first “Education Channel” is aired on television, and is expected to cover all 21 aimags and 680 schools.

The Philippines, Department of Education (DepEd) and the Foundation for Information Technology Education and Development (Fit-Ed), proposed a national policy framework outlining how ICT will be used in basic education. The programme envisages to cover basic education, teachers training, vocational education and primary ICT capacity for jobs. A public private partnership between USAID and CISCO systems was also initiated.

Vietnam, a programme launched to raise levels of ICT in education and e-government so as to be competitive with other members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN). The goal is that by 2010, at 10

least 50 per cent of high school students, 30 per cent of residents, and the majority of state enterprise employed staff and teachers, doctors, and students will make use of ICT and the Internet.

The Republic of Korea, developed an open source platform and introduced this platform through a project entitled the “New Education Information System”, to 10,000 schools across the country. Based on a Korean version of Linux, called Buyeo, the platform and has already been installed and tested in 190 schools in the capital city Seoul.

Thailand, also responded to the open source movement, where the Thai Sofware Industry Promotion Agency (SIPA) is trying to increase the usage of open source software in government departments, NGOs and universities across Thailand.

The government plans to integrate ICT in education through computers and Internet access in schools, in partnership with Microsoft to create IT-skilled workforce. 69,000 web service developers will be train through Microsoft’s Thailand.Net project.

Pakistan, established its Open Source Resource Center (OSRC) and has launched a series of LAMP training (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) for lecturers and lab administrators in public and private sector higher education institution, in four major cities – Islamabad, Peshawar, Lahore and Karachi. This is a project of the Pakistan Software Export Board with funding support from the Government of Pakistan.

China, has innovated to overcome challenges facing a developing country - increasing supply of services in education, tapping private and foreign investment in education, integrating teaching and research, broadening the curriculum, creating world class institutions comparable to the best in the West. ❏ Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

e-Learning for small groups: The DiploFoundation’s experience

Trend

Kishan S Rana [KISHANRANA@GMAIL.COM], Former Indian Ambassador, Author, Professor Emeritus, Foreign Service Institute, New Delhi Diplo’s flagship course is an one year Post Graduate Diploma or Masters of Art course in contemporary diplomacy and use of ICT. Diplo’s experience in this blended learning programme has shown that the process create a sense of community among learners enabling them to learn better

T

he DiploFoundation is a small non-profit organization created by the Governments of Malta and Switzerland, co-located in Malta and Geneva. It’s mission: ‘to assist all countries, particularly those with limited resources, to participate meaningfully in international relations. Diplo promotes a multistakeholder approach, involving participation of international organizations, civil society and other actors in international affairs. Diplo’s activities include education and training programs, research, and the development of information and communication technologies for diplomatic activities.’ (www.diplomacy.edu) Diplo’s flagship course is its one year Post Graduate Diploma or Masters of Art course in contemporary diplomacy and use of ICT. Diplo is accredited by the University of Malta, with EU-wide recognition. Limited to about 25 Digital Learning January 2006

participants, the course draws young men and women from around the world: working diplomats, students of international affairs, those working in international organizations, NGOs and others. Diplo offers scholarships to participants from developing and transition countries, on the basis of funding from Swiss Aid, and support from entities such as the EU, the Commonwealth and other donors.

In addition, Diplo runs an expanding number of short courses (usually of 10-week duration), and a series of programs covering Internet governance, plus diplomacy-related topics, aimed at single countries, special groups, as also general participants.

A common feature is that these courses are either entirely run through the Internet, or are offered as blended programs to participants from Europe, with a strong distance learning component.

Teaching methodology The Internet-teaching methodology used has evolved through experience, and consists of textbased learning, with very limited use of multimedia. A significant proportion of Diplo course users are based in Africa, Asia, Oceania, places where broadband is still an unrealized promise, and the dial-up connection, sometimes accessed by participants relying upon Internet cafes is the simple reality. The underlying technical system and the support infrastructure have evolved over these years, through singularly dedicated work by Diplo’s visionary Director, Jovan Kurbalija, and his dozen-strong team, based in Malta, Geneva and Belgrade.

I joined the teaching faculty of Diplo seven years back; that story is one of chance and serendipity, best reserved for personal conversation! Let me, in this paper, first examine the relevance of e11

learning for situations where intensive teacherstudent dialogue is imperative, then narrate the way we use elearning at Diplo and describing another challenge of e-learning — the concept of the pure ‘selflearning’ course, which some may regard as the holy grail of distance learning, and others may see as an unattainable goal.

Chemistry among participants is the key to this entire process, when learning is no longer a top-down process of dissemination of basic knowledge by the faculty to students, but rather mutual dialogue and shared learning

Why e-Learning?

In some circumstances, e-learning is more efficient and economical than traditional learning, or ‘tlearning’. Foreign ministry mid-career training (when most personnels are on assignment abroad ) and other ‘continuing education’ programs, for example, find a natural fit with the Internet.

This method also proves less expensive for training locally the locally-engaged staff working in embassies abroad.

Another characteristic of diplomatic work is that much of it involves craft skills. When the course participants are people with many years of experience, the ‘training’ is actually a mutual learning process among the class, where the faculty function as discussion catalysts and facilitators, and even have much to learn from the course participants.

The Diplo method Diplo has evolved its methods over several years; described below is the current technique, in a process that changes continually. How does our faculty-led teaching work, with 12

a class size of 15 to 25 drawn from 10 or more countries, distributed around the world?

A typical module consists of eight lectures and two assignments, besides a final exam. Under universitymonitored standards, such a module typically counts for four units of postgraduate training. Diplo uses sophisticated text-based methods because many of its ‘class participants’, as Diplo prefers to describe those enrolled in its programs — do not have access to broadband or multimedia modes.

After reading the lecture posted on the class web-page (usually of 3,000 to 4000 words), the participants highlights some words or part of a sentence from the lecture text and adds his or her comment on it and the faculty add his observations. The lecture thus gets thoroughly reviewed by the class. One can also view all the comments in their totality (without opening each text-box), through a ‘discussion tree’. The participants can also engage in a open-ended dialogue, or asynchronous (i.e., not in real time) exchanges, among the class and its instructor through a ‘lecture blog’. A part of the participant’s final evaluation is based on the number and quality of comment. All the comments are public, visible to the entire class, but an option for private teacherparticipant comment through e-mails is also available.

Real-time online debate on points arising from a particular lecture is incorporated in the e-learning

process as the third major activity for each lecture.

Thus each generation of course members and lecturers create a new layer of meaning and examples, enriching the initial text.

Unlike comments made in a traditional class, all the ecomments are accessible anytime, anywhere, and produce a permanent record as well.

A ‘resources’ button on the home page of the e-learning lecture site, takes one to a collection texts of relevant documents as well as links to other relevant web sites.

Finally, at the end of a 7-day cycle, the teacher ‘closes the loop’ by summarizing the key issues that the class discussed, and suggests some themes that participants may wish to pursue on their own.

The DiploFoundation’s experience shows that the process create a sense of community within this far-flung class which is further augmented with group work among class members, such as assignments and simulated negotiations. Such chemistry among the participants is the key to this entire process, more so when learning is no longer a top-down process of dissemination of basic knowledge by the faculty to students, but rather mutual dialogue and shared learning.

E-learning has to be supported by a technical team that continually monitors the systems. A course director provides an extra pair of eyes for observing class interactions, acting as the participant’s ally to resolve technical and other issues.

The self-learning format In some ways self-learning represents the ‘last mile’ of distance learning, where the essence of a single lecture is Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

distilled to some 9 or 10 ‘frames’ or slides that a participant can scroll through, at his or her convenience, with built-in questions and pop-up quizzes that test the learning accomplished. At the extreme end of self-learning, there may be no faculty participation at all, though it is quite easy to build in some faculty supervision, depending on the circumstance.

I came upon this method through the Canadian Foreign Service Institute, Ottawa, who asked me in 2004 to convert a textbook I had written two years earlier into such a self-learning course of 6 lectures.

We found that a course of 6 lectures could involve around 150 hours of work in developing the formatted script, and an additional 700 to 800 hours to convert that into a full multimedia product, making the process fairly laborintensive. That particular course took one year’s work.

How does e-Learning measure up?

One may legitimately ask, is it really possible to overcome distance, replicating the instant, natural communication of the traditional format? Can online learning match the rapport that a good teacher establishes with

students and face-to-face evaluation? Surely no videoconference or online chat room can reproduce the way a good guru assesses at a glance the class’s absorption of the ideas taught.

At first sight, such e-learning programs miss out on the rich interactivity described above. But in practice, once a self-paced program is designed, it is easy to add on faculty intervention, either in the form of exercises whose results go to a faculty member or via periodic group exercises or simulations that break the apparent isolation of the self-taught format.

There is only one caveat: the faculty add-on is possible only with server- based programs, not those distributed on CD-Roms.

As for the faculty-led e-learning programs, like those offered by Diplo, a surprising conclusion is that in some ways the new format is superior to the old one. Unlike traditional classrooms where the tutor is able to reply to only a few queries within a stipulated period of time, e-learning classrooms supports a sustained facultyparticipant engagement as evident form the intensive scrutiny that each lecture undergoes.

A huge advantage is that lecture comments remain available for

subsequent reference or reflection.

Moreover, teachers invest on average 12 to 15 hours per lecture, much more than a traditional teacher takes to prepare and deliver the face-to-face lecture.

Most of our participants also find that they end up spending more than the average of six to eight hours of class work that our courses promise. This may be partly due to the keen involvement that such courses arouse among all.

Some e-learning systems also opt for more asynchronous activities, including group exercises such as class assignments and use video links or other multimedia facilities, depending on whether a diplomatic service can provide broadband connectivity to all its missions abroad.

What about a downside? One can visualize a few potential problems with e-learning. First, if the class fails to establish internal rapport, the entire process becomes very mechanical. Second, it is possible that if many individuals from a single organization take part, and if in addition the faculty is also drawn from the same organization, there could be some inhibition among the class in setting out their honest views, especially in written format. Third, if the e-learning class is told that their class performance will be used for major internal evaluations, such as promotions, one can easily encounter breakdown or reluctant participation. The moral: treat the new medium with caution, and do not overload it with an excess of frills or expectations; treat the first experiences as experimental, learn as you go along!

In sum, the e-learning format is a fascinating addition to the repertoire of professional education. It is a work-in-progress, with each course that is run, offering new insights for better application of the format. ❏

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Learning Lab: learning using mobile devices

Trend

Learning Lab Team [OFFICE@CKS.IN], CKS Consulting Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore

The learning lab initiatives has experimented with mobile technologies to create an engaging learning environment for students. The experiments has indicated that mobile devices is a scalable technology assisted learning alternative to address the gaps in mainstreaming teaching

T

hough over 4 million Indian youth at any given time are working or being educated in the IT sector, it contrasts to the nearly 50% out-ofschool dropouts from primary education. The Learning Lab is an innovative project on Mobile ICT led learning and delivery of educational content. The paper examines the key challenges faced in the delivery of education and the role that ICTs especially mobile ICTs can play to ameliorate the problems.

The challenges in education Children in India have almost 100% access to primary school education. Enrolment figures have also risen steadily over the past decade due to expansion of schools and provision of mid-day meals. However, these positive statistics are in sharp contrast to indicators of low scholastic achievement; numerous studies have revealed student’s inability to 14

secure even a basic competence in literacy, oral expression, numeracy and problem solving, even years after attending school.

A number of factors are responsible for this low academic achievement in developing countries like India.

Most government schools lack basic amenities like electricity, drinking water and toilets, proper furniture, playgrounds or adequate lighting and ventilation in classrooms. This makes introduction of relatively advanced teaching aids such as ICTs in such a setting quite unrealistic.

Retaining students is an uphill task due to high teacher absenteeism, lack of adequate number of staff and low teacher motivation. There is also a lack of adequate training for teachers. Educational surveys have revealed that teaching activities are often limited to reading from textbooks, keeping children busy with written exercises, making them read aloud

or memorise passages leading to students’ poor performance.

Mobile device based learning - the Learning Lab initiative The Learning Lab initiative seeks to evolve a set of guiding principles for the implementation and use of Mobile ICTs, keeping in mind the educational challenges unique to the subcontinent. Our longstanding expertise in the ICT domain has also been valuable in our efforts to envision a range of possible use cases, applications and services for mobile devices, which are described below:

Student-teacher centric learning scenarios Studies show that the use of handhelds in the classroom enables learners to transition from an occasional, supplemental use of technology associated with computer labs, to a frequent and Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

spontaneous use of devices to enhance learning. For instance, graphing calculators and ‘probe ware’ have been found to be especially valuable in field settings when students wish to collect data and visualise it in real time. On the other hand, the desktop functions as a data aggregator and is most useful when students need to analyse data in detail.

Teachers may also choose to use the mobile-2-desktop synching function to compare and visually represent the findings of the class as a whole. Over time the desktop may come to function as a repository of knowledge for use by school and community members.

One can imagine several other educational activities using handhelds to enhance learning anytime and anywhere. For instance, students with a camera enabled mobile phone can annotate their everyday biology assignments with pictures of local flora and fauna. Else they may choose to make field notes and share short messages amongst peers using SMS. Handhelds can also come to function as a ubiquitous educational resource, if graphing tools, language dictionaries, logarithmic tables, historical and geographical factoids are bundled along with the device. These functionalities are exciting as they can create opportunity spaces for self-directed learning among students.

Research has shown that Mobile Devices can foster participatory approach to learning. For example, the use of GPS in a mobile form for mapping can enable students to interpret their neighbourhood and community resources in a new way. Creating such personally meaningful maps may also enhance their conceptual understanding of topics such as social science and geography.

Digital Learning January 2006

Infrastructure-centric learning scenarios The inclusion of the mobile device can prove to be most effective only when it leverages pre-existing technological and community based resources. Moreover, it is important to understand that the Learning Lab project is unique in that it does not adopt a technologically deterministic approach, rather it strives to let user needs and contextual factors shape the choice of technology.

Community-centric scenarios Handhelds have the potential of improving administrative processes and allow parents or other stakeholders to be involved in their child’s education in a more proactive manner. Mobile Devices could be used by supervisory authorities to record data pertaining to individual school performance during field visits.

Aggregating this data on a desktop resource can automate and ease the laborious process of evaluating school performance and aid policy making and educational planning.

Field research: strategies and activities Field research for the Learning Lab Initiative is currently in progress in Bangalore city in India. Our research methodology comprises of the following components:

on openness to experimentation with technology, availability of basic instructional facilities and amenities such as electricity and water.

Selecting field recruits The next stage involved selecting field recruits in these schools from a group of boys and girls between 13-15 year. As a part of selection, groups of students were administered a lateral thinking questionnaire, which aimed at bringing out their modes of expressivities. Apart from this assignment specific recruitment tools were also employed.

Implementing educational assignments The selected students were involved in a set of activity-based learning assignments, curricular as well as non-curricular, designed in consultation with an educator and other external evaluators. Through these activities, students were encouraged to move out of the classroom and bring into play new ways of exploring and understanding their environment, and visualising this new knowledge. The student recruits were provided device instructional support for the use of an array of

Students proudly display their drawing assignments

Identification of field locations Initial stage of the field research involved identifying appropriate local government schools in urban and peri-urban areas based 15

Many of the drawings made by children were interpreted as being aspirational in nature. Following this, selected boys and girls were Assignment I: curricular given tasks that differed in their learning outside the degree of complexity and extent of classroom technology usage. Individual task assigned included using paper and Students were divided into groups, pen to draw the way given a camera enabled mobile from home to school phone and asked to randomly and using GPS to do the select a problem statement out of a same. Students were set of four based on math and then asked to sync this science. Students were able to GPS data onto a digital iteratively refine their photo map of Bangalore with a capturing skills upon receiving desktop computer and feedback from their peers or by textually annotate looking at the image in the phone. landmarks on the digital map.

Finally, students collated their Several other assignments were group project given to the students that involved onto a desktop the use of digital computer and camera. The shared findings ‘affective’ maps These exercises with peers. that synthesized (with mobile device) photographs and Students were able to make a individual GPS helped students number of tracks overlaid on creative digital maps were develope a highlly associations uploaded onto an personalised and between the internal website. assignment and individualistic their These exercises environment. understanding of the helped students For example, develop a highly spaces around them students personalised and captured the individualistic images of understanding of ‘roads, signboards, a celebrity spaces around them. poster’ as examples of Future directions communication devices. mobile devices ranging from GPS devices to rich media capable mobile phones.

Assignment II: exploring locative media The second assignment consisted of a series of non-curricular activities. In order to gain insight into students’ attitudes and approaches to visual expression, they were asked to draw in response to a variety of questions such as, ‘What are the places you would show me in Bangalore?

Which is you favourite festival?

Present your idea of ‘personal space’ through a drawing’ 16

Our engagement with research subjects was documented orally, through still photographs and video. An analysis of these various kinds of data revealed that children were keenly interested and perceived definite value in the research tasks they engaged with.

Researchers also noted that students demonstrated a progressive level of comfort with devices. They were able to navigate device interfaces and comprehend concepts such as GPS

successfully. In light of this we hope that students will be able to use advanced features with an increased degree of confidence and intuition.

Due to the model of iterative engagement, students were given a

chance to work on small experiments before progressing to more complicated tasks. During this course of interaction, students took greater initiative in planning and structuring activities and were able to devise creative strategies for the completion of projects.

Their ability to collaborate productively and communicate within a group was also enhanced.

These observations lead us to hope that students will continue to use such ‘self directed’ and ‘participatory’ approaches for learning even in the later stages of research.

However, the key outcome of the research was that students were able to make connections between textbook based information and the world around them in new ways.

These positive feelings are echoed in the words of a student who said “I wish all my classes were as exciting, and then I would never be caught dozing in class…”

In the next phases of research we seek to test the feasibility of distributing educational lessons over the mobile phone. We will also seek to better understand the notion of play and gaming practices in order to develop new edutainment applications for handhelds. ❏

Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

Space technology in education Indian context

Trend

Sh yamal Mehta [SVMEHTA30@REDIFFMAIL.COM], EDUSAT (GAP-3), Space Applications Centre, ISRO, Ahmedabad Shyamal

ISRO’s Tele Education satellite EDUSAT providing networks capable of facilitating live lectures, web based learning, interactive training, virtual laboratory, database excess for reference material/library... may be able to revolutionalize education delivery process in India

S

atellite communications technology offers unique capability of being able to simultaneously reach out to very large numbers spread over large distances even in the most remote corners of the country. The Indian Space Programme has always aimed to be second to none in the applications of space technology to deal with the problems of development in our society. ISRO has continuously pursued the utilization of space technology for education and development.

This article highlights the projects undertaken and lessons learnt in the use of satellite communication to meet the challenge of education and development.

Efforts initiated by ISRO Over a period of last 30 years, ISRO has initiated several projects/ programmes to cater to the country’s need for education, training, and general awareness Digital Learning January 2006

among the rural poor. These efforts are discussed below.

Satellite Instruction Television Experiment (SITE) The SITE project carried out in 1975-76 provided instructions in the fields of family planning, agriculture, national integration, school education and teacher training. The ground hardware consisted of Direct Reception Systems (DRS), for community viewing of the TV programmes.

They were installed in six States of the country in “clusters” of about 400 each for a total of over 2400 DRSs. The instructional programmes (some prepared by ISRO) were broadcast for 4 hours every day covering science education programmes production, various school programmes and teachers training programme (by the ministry of Education). The programme re-trained over 50000 teachers was in two 2-week sessions.

Kheda Communication Project (KCP) from 1975 to 1989 SITE demonstrated that the centralization, inherent in the technology of direct broadcasting, was a limitation, hence the idea of “limited rebroadcast” was conceived, giving birth to the KCP. This involved setting up of a low power TV transmitter in Pij village, Kheda district, Gujarat and linking it to a studio and earth station complex, so that it could relay local programmes (originated from the studio) or the “central satellite” programmes received at the earth station. This network used for local village problem solving received the IPDCUNESCO prize for Rural Communication in 1985.

INSAT system The Indian national satellite (INSAT) System has been the major catalyst in the rapid 17

Jhabua Development Communication Project (JDCP)

expansion of terrestrial television coverage in India. INSAT is being used to provide Education TV (ETV) Services for primary school children in six states. University Grants Commission (UGC) is using this for its countrywide classroom programme on higher education (college sector). INSAT is being used by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) for distance education progammes and Doordarshan for Science Channel progranmmes

Training and Development Communication Channel (TDCC) ISRO experimented with TDCC, which supports one-way video-two way teleconferencing interactive networks for education and training to introduce interactivity in teaching instructions. Today TDCC is used exclusively for distance education and Interactive Training Programmes (ITPs) by states like Karnataka, Orissa, M.P etc. and by Open universities, national organisations/institutions, IGNOU, Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) and Centre for Management Education (CME) of all India Management Association and national banks for providing training and education.

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Jhabua Development Communication Project (JDCP) was carried out in India in the Jhabua District of M.P aimed at providing communication support to the development activities in the district and also in providing interactive training to the field officials and the people in general.

Gramsat Programme (GP) In Gramsat Programme (GP) TDCC networks were upgraded and all activities related to satellite based development communication, education, training, healthcares were grouped into a GP thereby connecting each village, providing computer connectivity, data broadcasting, and TV broadcasting facilities for applications like eGovernance, NRIS, teleconferencing, and rural education/ education broadcasting etc.

Disaster management, telemedicine, and recently Village Resource Centre were added to the Gramsat networks.

Gramsat networks are operational in Gujarat, Karnataka, M.P. Orissa and Rajasthan (pilot), Andaman Nicobar, Goa, H.P., Orissa, Chhattisgarh.

country have continuously endeavoured to use the latest technology to support the process of education, the demands have been increasing, with the challenge of the day being to stay updated with the changing trends. To help meet this challenge, ISRO has taken up the ‘Tele-Education’ by launching EDUSAT, a satellite totally dedicated to the nation’s need for education. It has a C-band national beam, a Ku-band national beam, and five Ku-band regional beams facilitating imparting of education in regional languages.

EDUSAT will strengthen education efforts by augmenting curriculum based teaching, providing effective teachers’ training, and community participation. Networks based on EDUSAT consist of either receive only (one way communication) terminals or interactive (two way communication) terminals or both in national as well as in regional networks. The networks are capable of facilitating live lectures/ power point presentations with student interaction, web based learning, interactive training, virtual laboratory, video conferencing, data/video broadcast, database access for reference material/library/recorded lectures etc., on line examination and admissions, distribution of administrative information, etc.

The Network is IP based and does not need expensive studio facility.

India’s first broadband network on EDUSAT for schools - ViCTERS (Virtual Class Technology on EDUSAT for Rural Schools) being inauguarated in Kerala by the Hon’l President of India, A P J Abdul Kalam

EDUSAT for education While the education institutions of the

Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

Equipment required at the teaching end or hub as shown in the figure, consist of two cameras, two PCs, proper lighting, and DVD player (if needed) in addition to the indoor and outdoor units of the hub hardware. The equipment needed at the interactive classroom end, consist of webcam, PC, LCD projector, speakers, microphone, UPS in addition to the satellite terminal. The classroom consisting of receive only terminal requires a PC, projector, speakers, UPS in addition to the satellite terminal.

communication). These universities are using this network regularly to impart curriculum based teaching to their students using one way video and two way audio allowing them to interact with the teacher via satellite from the classroom with the help of live lectures, web based learning, power point presentations etc.

User interest

unique nature of application. The teaching end is located at the main office of BPA at Ahmedabad and the classrooms are spread over the state of Gujarat. The network functions in two distinct modes: data broadcast and audio broadcast. At the beginning of a class session, relevant data is broadcast using EDUSAT to all the classrooms which print out these data in Braille format using Braille printer. Theses are distributed to the students. The teacher then commences his lecture to the students who already have the Braille print out of the lecture in their hands. These two put together makes the learning for the blind students a much more effective and faster. The EDUSAT based networks of many state governments, universities and other institutions are in various stages of implementation.

In the semi operational phase, like in pilot phase, it is ISRO’s responsibility to manage the Inauguration of EDUSAT Network Programme at Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belgaun, Karnataka network in collaboration with the users.

So far over 100 proposals from various user agencies expressing their desire to In the operational phase, overall use the management, day to day operation, network have and network upgradation etc. will been received.

These be the responsibility of a selected proposals nodal agency and the role of ISRO cover full will be in the advisory capacity. spectrum of education including: primary Acknowledgements EDUSAT utilisation is divided into education, secondary and high three distinct phases: Pilot phase, school education, degree college The author wishes to thank Mr. Semi operational phase, and education, professional/technical B.S. Bhatia, Director, DECU/ISRO Operational phase. education, distance education, for his help in providing material Networks for education training, agriculture education, as for this paper and Dr. K.S. prior EDUSAT well as healthcare related learning, Dasgupta, Group Director, training and general awareness ADCTG/SAC/ISRO for Prior to the availability of programmes by NGOs. encouragement. ❏ EDUSAT, as a part of Pilot Phase, networks for education were At present, using EDUSAT, EDUSAT Network operational at the Blinds People’s Association implemented at three universities : networks for many user agencies (BPA), Ahmedabad, Gujarat Visvesvaraya Technological like IGNOU, CEC/UGC, CIET/ University (VTU), Belgaum, NCERT, AICTE, Blind People’s Karnataka, Yashvant Rao Chavan Association (BPA) or Blind Open University (YCMOU), school, Karnataka school Nashik, Maharashtra, and Rajiv network, VTU, YCMOU, Goa Gandhi Technical University University, Amrita VRC, Kerala/ (RGTU), Bhopal, M.P. using Tamil Nadu are operational for a INSAT. Each university was given total of about 1200 terminals or its own teaching end and 50 classrooms. interactive terminals (two way communication) and 50 receive Here, BPA network deserves a only terminals (one way special mention because of its Digital Learning January 2006

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Bookshelf Monitoring and Evaluation of ICT in Education Projects : A Handbook for Developing Countries

The challenges facing education systems in most of the developing world are formidable. Evidently, in recent years ICTs are being regarded as the solution to most of these challenges. ICTs are being used widely to aid education in many developing countries.

However in view of the resource constraints in most of these developing countries, there may be potential great risks associated with ICT use in education in developing countries. Relatively little is actually known about the effectiveness of investments in ICTs in education in promoting educational reform in general.

Daniel A. Wagner, Bob Day, Tina James, Robert B. Kozma, Jonathan Miller & Tim Unwin Publication: infoDev, 2005 A Handbook for Developing Countries – is intended as an introduction and guide for busy policymakers and practitioners grappling with how to understand and assess the ICT-related investments underway in the education sector. The handbook comprehensively covers a domain of interests to help decision makers to develop a stronger knowledge base through Monitoring and Evaluation to make better investment and innovation decisions in ICT in education.

This book is also available online at http://www.infodev.org/files/ 2942_file_M_E_ICT_Education_ draft_WSIS_optimized.pdf

20

Little hard evidence and consensus exist on the proper, costeffective utilization of ICTs to meet a wide variety of some of the most pressing educational challenges.

The power of ICTs as enablers of change (for good, as well as for bad) is undeniable but if policy advice related to ICT use in education is to be credible, it needs to be backed up by a rich database of lessons learned, impact evaluations and cost data.

The Monitoring and Evaluation of ICTs in Education handbook is specifically designed to meet the needs of developing countries and to answer some pertinent questions of implementation fidelity of an intervention.

The handbook would help decision maker to understand the outcomes of intervention in terms student learning and new skills learnt, teachers outcomes with respect to development of technology skills and new pedagogical approaches and other outcomes in terms of increased innovativeness in school

and increased access of the community to adult education and literacy (chapter two).

The decision maker would also be able to identify ‘Core Indicators for Monitoring and Evaluation Studies for ICT in Education’ (chapter three) that relates to specific components of the ICT intervention and their implementation, and include both input variables (such as classroom ICT resources, teacher training, and classroom pedagogy), as well as output variables (such as student learning of school subject, learning of ICT skills, and “21st century” skills. The chapter on ‘Developing a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan for ICT in Education’ would help policy-makers in understanding ways to assess results at the end as related to the original objectives set for the project through appropriate, realistic and measurable indicators. Policymakers would also understand the need of ‘Capacity Building and Management in ICT for Education’ (chapter five) to develop the appropriate skills to deliver these programs effectively.

The chapter on ‘Pro-Equity Approaches to Monitoring and Evaluation: Gender, Marginalized Groups and Special Needs Populations’ guides decisionmakers to be inclusive in their approaches. Chapter seven discusses the ‘Dos and Don’ts in Monitoring and Evaluation’ that identifies what decision-makers should do to enhance the impact and effectiveness of ICT4E programs and the concomitant things that one should not do.

In short, the book is an one stop guide for policy makers and practitioners on how to evaluate ICT and Education Initiatives. ❏ Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

BookBox: Integrating education and entertainment

S

o how do you tell a Brazilian story in Hindi? How do you use storytelling to teach a child to read or learn a language?

How do you make reading educational as well as entertaining for kids?

BookBox does just that!

BookBox is a web-based jukebox of digital books in 18 languages from around the world. BookBox synchronizes the text, audio, and visual media to create an educational and entertaining reading experience for children

Based on what is known as Same Language Subtitling (SLS), BookBox is a essentially a web-based jukebox of digital books in 18 languages from around the world. SLS essentially involves same language (audio) subtitling of the audio-visual program. In Book box SLS has been integrated into a book/story.

BookBox synchronizes the text, audio, and visual media to create an educational and entertaining reading experience for children.

Children can relate the phonetic sounds with the visual subtitles to accelerate reading skill development.

Sophisticated eye-tracking research has proved that when SLS is integrated into a “book”, reading happens automatically and subconsciously thus making stories not just interesting but also educational.

BookBox aims to not only enhance children’s basic literacy, but also facilitate their proficiency in foreign languages.

BookBox was a result of experimentation with SLS-an experiment that began and resulted in a project that taught early literates and illiterates to read while watching popular Hindi film songs in India.

The above may sound very simple Digital Learning January 2006

Market Place

simple, intuitively obvious, and scalable in its potential to help hundreds of millions of people read — not just in India, but globally”.

Now a decade later Dr Kothari explains, “The idea of SLS tends to divide people into two camps – those who think it’s too simple to achieve anything, and those who understand that its simplicity and ability to integrate into popular culture can fundamentally alter the approach to the massive problem of low literacy”.

What exactly is SLS?

(or too complicated!) but for Dr Brij Kothari SLS has been a tool to address mass illiteracy in India. In 1996, he hit upon the idea to use SLS while watching a Spanish film to improve his Spanish. In his own words –“I was watching a Spanish film with friends to improve my Spanish. The Spanish movie had English subtitles, and I remember commenting that I wished it came with Spanish subtitles, if only to help us grasp the Spanish dialogue better. I then thought, ‘And if they just put Hindi subtitles on Bollywood songs in Hindi, India would become literate.’ That idea became an obsession. It was so

In a research paper on the same subject titled ‘Reading Out of the “Idiot Box”: Same-Language Subtitling on Television in India’ written by Brij Kothari, Avinash Pandey and Amita R. Chudgar, SLS is explained as ‘the idea of subtitling motion media in the same language as the audio. The audio track is reproduced verbatim and in a synchronized manner’. The paper further clarifies ‘SLS needs to be distinguished from Same Language Transliteration (SLT). An example of SLS is video in Hindi, subtitled word for word in Hindi (which uses the Devanagari script). The same media, subtitled in the Hindi language using the Roman script, is not SLS but SLT. However, both SLS and SLT may be useful for scriptacy as long as the script is meaningful for the viewing neo-semi-scriptates (literates)…SLS has been primarily directed: to promote scriptacy skill improvement 21

in the first language among early scriptates’.

Those in India who call recall ‘Rangoli’ the program featuring Hindi firm song sequences (aired on Sunday mornings in the National channel, Doordarshan), SLS features as Hindi subtitles (in Devanagari script) to Hindi songs. Starting this experiment with Chitrahar another Hindi song based program, a simple addition of SLS gave weekly reading practice to almost 80-100 million early-literates in India using TV.

So does SLS really help?

Studies have evidences that SLS raises the literacy skills of all early literates on a mass scale, through lifelong practice, increases the frequency of literacy practices among: early literates, not in school (children and adults), and emergent literates in schools or literacy centers. SLS also motivates nonliterates toward literacy, through entertainment and popular culture, makes reading an automatic and reflex phenomenon in everyday life, creates a reading culture and an environment for reading.

Dr Kothari assures that SLS is cost effective offers a financially sustainable model for lifelong literacy skill improvement.

Why BookBox? Because children love stories!

Because SLS makes reading inescapable!

BookBox builds on the children’s inherent interest in stories. With SLS that subtitles stories word to word, children develop reading skill through this text-sound correspondence. BookBox also distinguishes itself by the cultural diversity of its story content by collecting stories from all around the world or engaging local authors to create or adapt stories based on their individual cultures and traditions. In BookBox the visual remain the same while the narrator tells the story in different languages. Thus a Brazilian folk story can be told in Hindi or Japanese and vise-versa!

Thus while enhancing the entertainment value of storytelling through multimedia, Book box also provide automatic reading practices for children. The stories are simple and they teach a moral. Available in DVDs, BookBox stories are titled in English as ‘the first Christmas, Four friends, Boo in the shoo, Turtle’s Flute, Elephant Goes To City, The First Well.

BookBox got special mention in the category of best e-content in e-learning in Manthan awards (www. manthan awards.com) in 2005.❏

You can view the full article ‘Reading Out of the “Idiot Box”: Same-Language Subtitling on Television in India’ written by Brij Kothari, Avinash Pandey and Amita R. Chudgar at http:// mitpress. mit.edu/catalog/item/default. asp? ttype=6&tid=15565

BookBox CDs can be purchased at www.bookbox.com 22

Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

The Asian conference on e-Government

The Asian conference on ICT and Education

April 25 - 28, 2006 Rama Gardens Hotels and Resorts Bangkok,Thailand

Organisers

Co-organiser

Media partners

Supporting partners

Institutional partner

Technical Sessions •

e-Government Country Plans

•

Policy and Technology Framework in e-Government

•

Funding and Financing Mechanisms in e-Government projects

April 25 - 28, 2006 Introduction

•

Content Management, Data Standardisation and GUI

•

Public-Private Partnerships and Service Level Agreement

•

Emerging trends in Mobile Government

•

Government Process Re-engineering and Change Management

Asian countries are witnessing a dramatic change in their

•

Project Monitoring, Evaluation and Auditing Mechanisms

economy. So is the scene of e-Governance! Some countries are

•

e-Democracy through e-Government

already topping the international charts of e-Governance, some

•

e-Security and Cyber Laws for efficient Governance

have just begun their journey, while there are a few others

•

ICTs and Rural e-Governance

who are yet to step into the e-Governance arena. The scope for these countries to learn from their advanced Asian

Exhibition

neighbours is immense and opportunities are unbound.

egov Asia 2006 will have an elaborate exhibition of latest e-

The present need is to create a common ground of equitable

Government products, solutions suites, services, initiatives and

learning which facilitates a process of overall development of

case studies from all across Asia and beyond. Professional service

the region.

providers, IT vendors, consulting firms, government agencies

The Event egov Asia 2006 - the international conference on e-Government,

and national/international development organisations involved in the e-Government domain are encouraged to participate in the exhibition.

aims to provide a knowledge-sharing platform and a forum for policymakers, practitioners, industry sleaders and

Call for Papers

academicians of Asia-Pacific nations to carry forward the

Abstract Submission:

February 28 , 2006

e-Government vision of the region and consolidate them into

Abstract Acceptance:

March 05 , 2006

actionable programme, through collaborative learning and

Full Paper Submission:

March 30, 2006

partnerships.

Keynote Sessions Eminent experts and senior government officers from various parts of Asia and outside Asia will discuss the e-Government developments in their respective countries. The discussion will include but not limit to the following topics: •

e-Government trends in Asia

•

e-Government strategies of Asian countries

•

Leadership reflections in e-Government

www.egovasia.net

Important Contacts Registration:

registration@egovasia.net

Papers:

papers@egovasia.net

For Sponsorship:

sponsorship@egovasia.net

For Exhibition:

exhibition@egovasia.net

For General Information:

info@egovasia.net

Submit abstract online at www.egovasia.net/abstractonline.asp

Keynote sessions Eminent experts from the education system and senior government officials from various part of Asia and outside will discuss debate the current policies and trends in ICT in education in their respective countries. This discussion will include the following broad themes

National ICT and Education strategies

ICT in Education trends in Asian countries

Best Practices in ICT in Education in Asia

Sessions The conference will focus on the following board thematic sessions-

April 25 - 28, 2006 Education and training are the foundation of global competitiveness. There is increasing evidence that education and skill levels of human resource are significant determinants of success or failure of human resource-led strategy of a knowledge society in a globalised world. In recent years, several countries in East and Southeast Asia have embarked on creation of globally competetive human resource through national education strategies with a focus on integrating ICT in education at all levels. However countries are still in different stages of this integration, coping with challenges of infrastructure and implementation.

The conference Digital Learning Asia aims to take stock of the progress of the South and East Asian countries in utilising Information and Communication Technologies to enhance the quality and reach of education with a focus on building a human capital that responds to the needs of a globalised world. The conference will provide a platform for policymakers, practitioners, industry leaders and academicians to showcase best practices, share experience, knowledge and perspective and learn from exploring solutions to meet challenges of integrating technologies in all level of education as well as introducing technology education at all level. The conference will provide a forum for showcasing and learning from best practices, explore solutions to meet challenges and discuss issues and strategies for best utilising the potential of ICT in education.

Public private partnership in ICT in education

Technologies for education and training

Education of informatics and communication technologies

Online teaching and learning

Distance education/learning e-learning in classrooms

Call for Papers Abstract Submission:

February 28 , 2006

Instructional design and elearning content

Abstract Acceptance:

March 05 , 2006

Full Paper Submission:

March 30, 2006

Monitoring and evaluation of ICT in education

Important Contacts

Quality standards in e-content

Future trends in e-learning

We welcome new themes/session ideas.

Exhibition Digital Learning Asia 2006 will have an exhibition of latest e-solutions, services, initiatives and case studies from across Asia and beyond. Professional service providers, IT vendors, consulting firms, government agencies and national/international development organisations involved in the ICT in Education domain are encouraged to participate in the exhibition.

Registration:

registration@DLasia.csdms.in

Papers:

papers@DLasia.csdms.in

Sponsorship:

sponsorship@DLasia.csdms.in

Exhibition:

exhibition@DLasia.csdms.in

General Information:

info@DLasia.csdms.in

Submit abstract online at www.DLasia.csdms.in/abstractonline.asp

www.DLasia.csdms.in

Organizers’ profile Organisers

The Centre for Good Governance

Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) is a leading Asian nongovernmental institution engaged in advocacy, research and community building in e-government, ICT for Development and knowledge management issues through capacity building and media initiatives. www.csdms.in.

GIS Development Pvt. Ltd. GIS Development strives to promote and propagate the usage of geospatial technologies in various areas of development for the community at large. It remains dedicated to foster the growing network of those interested in geo-informatics worldwide and Asia in particular. www.GISdevelopment.net.

Co-Organisers Danish Technological Institute (DTI), Denmark The Danish Technological Institute (DTI) is one of the oldest technological institutes in the world. DTI has successfully carried out a projects like BEEP (Best e-Europe Practices), PRISMA (Providing innovative service models and assessment). www.danishtechnology.dk.

Supporting partners SEAMEO The Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) was established on 30 November 1965 as a chartered international organization whose purpose is to promote cooperation in education, science and culture in the Southeast Asian region. The vision is to have a dynamic, self reliant, strategic, policy-driven and internationally recognized regional organization for strengthening regional understanding and cooperation in education, science and culture for a better quality of life. www.seameo.org

The Centre for Good Governance (CGG) was established by the Government of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) in October, 2001 to help it achieve the State’s goal of transforming governance.

CGG undertakes action research, provides professional advice to, and conducts change management programmes for government departments and agencies to help them implement their reform agenda successfully. CGG works closely with policy-makers like Ministers, senior officials, management experts, institutions and other stakeholders, especially citizens towards ushering in a caring government centered on the people. http://www.cgg.gov.in

The University of Malaya, Faculty of Economics and Administration UNIVERSITI MALAYA, the first University of the country, was established on 8 October 1949 as a national institution to serve the higher education needs of the Federation of Malaya and Singapore.

The University of Malaya grew out of a tradition of service to the society - to help lay the foundations of a new nation by producing a generation of skilled and educated men. The University motto, “Ilmu Punca Kemajuan” (Knowledge is the Key to Success) reflects the philosophy of the University in its constant endeavour to seek knowledge in all fields to produce successful graduates and a successful nation. http://www.um.edu.my/

UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA MARA College was officially renamed Institut Teknologi MARA (ITM) on 14 Oktober 1967. Its establishment came as a response to a crucial need in the country of Malaysia for trained manpower in the professional and semiprofessional levels. In August 1999, the then Prime Minister of Malaysia, Dato Seri Dr. Mahathir Mohamad announced the change of name of ITM to Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM).

With this acknowledgement from the government, a major restructuring exercise was carried out in order to consolidate the University’s resources for optimum productivity. http://www.uitm.edu.my

egov Asia 2006 & DL Asia 2006 Secretariat Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) G - 4, Sector-39, NOIDA - 201 301, India Tel: +91-120-2502180 to 87, Fax: +91-120-2500060 URL: www.egovasia.net, www.DLasia.csdms.in E-mail: info@egovasia,net, info@DLasia.csdms.in

e-Library

News The demand for news from the society makes sure that development becomes more organised. Magazines and journals become essential for communication of knowledge. Perhaps this forces yet another magazine and news column to take birth. New technology and rapidly changing faces of information and communication are at the heart of the demands. When large groups of people undergo such massive change, it is important to look at one’s treasures of wisdom - in order to redefine the future. Digital Learning brings you news on how the ICT and education world progressed this month.

INDIA

addition to the above NIIT would also provide computer training to 50,000 people at a reduced cost.

This mission has been launched through the education centres of NIIT in nearly 30 countries.

Cyber-tuition to promote education in Southern India The services of eminent professors in any field worldwide are available now on the portal cybertuitions.com, launched by Devki Infonet Systems to promote e-Learning. Anyone can take tuition from his office or home.

http://www.business-standard.com

‘Internet to Masses’ coming up in Indian state

Since the entire service is available through the Internet, one need not buy or install any software for using the services of cyber tuitions.

All academic and craft subjects can be taught and learnt through this site. Registered users can log in and attend the classes conducted on different topics by a panel of teachers. The students can choose the teacher of their choice, as there will be many virtual classrooms on the same subject.

An interactive whiteboard is a touch-sensitive screen that works in conjunction with a computer and a projector. Its collaborative tools like Smart pen tray and whiteboarding software are powerful yet easy to use. Among educational institutions, the Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes of Technology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi Public School and INS Dronacharya, Kochi, have installed Smart’s whiteboards for imparting lessons in an interactive mode.

http://www.newindpress.com

http://www.newindpress.com

Indian classrooms with smart whiteboards

PC kiosk chain from NIIT in rural India

Smart Technologies Inc., the Canadian-based global market leader in interactive whiteboards and collaborative tools, has launched the new version of the easy-to-use interactive whiteboard (Smart Board 600 series) for Indian educational institutions and business enterprises.

NIIT Limited on the occasion of the World Computer Literacy Day (WCLD) 2005 is planning to set up computer literacy kiosks in 20 locations spread over the rural areas of India and to train 20,000 village children free of cost.

Digital Learning January 2006

Online education

There are already 40 such kiosks existing across the country and in

Akshaya, the e-Learning and enterprise initiative of the Kerala State Government in India, will roll out ‘Internet to Masses,’ a new venture, in Malappuram district.

The new venture aims to provide comprehensive training to an estimated one lakh people on the Internet. Selected candidates will be given training through the Akshaya e-Kendras in the district.

At present, 400 Akshaya eKendras in the district have broadband Internet connectivity.

The Akshaya project was launched in Malappuram in November 2002.

Malappuram has the largest concentration of non-residents in the State taking extensive use of Internet. http://www.thehindubusinessline. com

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Indian President says bring e-Books, not school bags While giving away the Computer Literacy Excellence Awards for Schools-2004, President of India A P J Abdul Kalam has suggested to replace the heavy school bags carried by students through a cost effective hand held computer which can be loaded with text books as e-Books, note books Source: www.globalclassroom.org as e-Notebooks and eWorkbooks and become a self learning tool for children.

He said, school teachers and parents should take special interest to educate the students through e-Learning. Department of Information and Technology should also take initiatives to improve the computer education in schools by developing affordable e-Notebooks in the range of Rs 5000-12,000. http://www.ciol.com

Government schools in southern India go hi-tech The Government schools in three districts in southern India, Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam, are at last going for hi-tech education, with the Government making computer education one of the compulsory subjects in its schools.

Two important missions—1,000 Schools Computer Education (1KSCE) and Computer-Aided Learning (CAL)—have been introduced in schools. The computer education programme will start in a majority of the schools in these districts from January next year. The District Primary Education Programme (DPEP) units, in association with the Andhra Pradesh Technology Service (APTS), Hyderabad, and Azim Premji’s Wipro Company, have taken up this project. http://www.newindpress.com

Web education for faculty members soon in India Web based education would be shortly introduced for faculty 28

members of private engineering colleges in India opting for higher studies in computer science and information technology.

Chennai Anna University ViceChancellor D Viswanathan says, the course to be started in this University in the southern Indian state Tamil Nadu would facilitate faculty members to pursue higher education (ME) in the forth coming year. The course duration would be three years. http://www.newindpress.com

Educational institutes in India need to help in rural development President of India A P J Abdul Kalam has called upon educational

institutions in the country, especially those in rural areas, to participate in rural development by replicating the Providing Urban Amenities in Rural Areas (PURA) model.

The President set a mission for the academic and scientific community to set up 100 PURAs by January 2007. In the PURA model, an academic institution is at the centre that provides electronic and knowledge connectivity to a cluster of villages, thereby leading to economic connectivity.

The number of such PURA clusters required was 7,000.

Science and technology focus is required for making the Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP) sustainable and remunerative to the 700 million people of the country living in 6,00,000 villages. http://www.business-standard.com

Microsoft Tech Centre launches trainee programme Microsoft Global Technical Support Centre has announced its trainee programme for 2006 for fresh engineering graduates.

The trainee programme is meant for the graduates to gain product knowledge and build expertise on Microsoft tools and technologies. The programme is part of global Microsoft Academy for College Hires (MACH) programme. The centre website will accept applications in January from graduates, who have completed their Bachelors in 2005 with a minimum of 70 per cent aggregate in all semesters.

The selected applicants will undergo a mix of classroom training and mentoring at the facility in Bangalore for 11 months and have the option of joining the centre full time as Microsoft Support Engineers after the interview. http://www.hindustantimes.com Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

INTERNATIONAL

format, and gain access to the latest, most powerful solutions. http://www.itweb.co.za

Australians deserting IT education

Sony reader for e-Book lovers

Even though a large number of overseas IT students are getting permanent residence in Australia, fewer local students are choosing to enroll for computer courses.

The number of Australian students enrolling for IT courses has hit a 15-year low, according to a study published in the Monash University Centre for Population and Urban Research’s People and Places Magazine. An increasingly large number of Indian students enroll for Australian IT and computer courses and apply for permanent residence after the completion of the mandatory twoyear period. http://www.newkerala.com

Now, an e-Reference library on tech books

Sony has launched a handheld device designed for electronic books, named the Sony Reader, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

It has a screen made from electronic paper that makes text look almost as sharp as it is on a printed page. The Reader is about the size of a paperback, 14mm thick at its widest and weighs little more than 250g. The slim device is the size of a paperback book.

e-School initiative to spread ICT in education in Africa

Unlike an online bookstore, this eReference library allows users to search across all books in the library simultaneously, pinpoint the exact chapter, sentence and example needed, download chapters to view offline in PDF Digital Learning January 2006

Nepad defines an e-School as an institution connected to the Internet with a minimum set of ICT tools and teaching capabilities necessary to influence ICT skills and improve the provision of education and the objective is to harness ICTs to extend education throughout Africa. Students not only learn how to use computers but also begin to use them as an aid to learning. http://www.eastandard.net

http://news.bbc.co.uk

South African LR Learning Solutions, a business unit of Learning Resources, has partnered with US-based, publisher-owned joint venture, Safari Books Online, to offer a comprehensive eReference library of technical books aimed at programming and IT professionals.

initiative, Kenya Chapter is launched at Isiolo Girls’ Secondary School a few time ago.

The New Partnership for African Development (Nepad) e-School

Teachers get recognition for using ICTs Innovative Teachers Leadership Award, the annual award constituted under Microsoft’s educational programme, Project Shiksha, has been given to 15 Indian teachers this year.

The award seeks to honour school teachers, selected by eminent educationists, for using information technology innovatively in their teaching techniques. The winners selected will attend a three-day regional seminar to be held this month in Seoul, South Korea, where teachers from 23 countries will gather. http://www.financialexpress.com

Educomp Smart-Class to appear in all Indian Languages Educomp Solutions Ltd, a technology enabled education solution provider, is planning to expand its ‘Smart– Class’ project, an educational infrastructure project with digitalised content, being offered in 10 local languages now, to almost all the other Indian languages too.

The company, digital content provider for K12 (Kindergarten to class 12), is also planning to venture into the US market. It expects 225 schools on an average to have 10 classrooms running Smart–Class.

Presently, the company is reaching over 1-lakh students in various states in India. Within the next two-three years it aims to reach over five lakh students in India. http://www.newindpress.com

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Microsoft to train up 210,000 students, teachers in Bangladesh Microsoft will train up 200,000 students and 10,000 teachers across Bangladesh in next three years to equip them with working knowledge of Information Technology (IT), world’s fastestgrowing sector encompassing all spheres of life and business.

A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed between the government and the company of Bill Gates to this effect. Under this programme, Microsoft is providing technology access and skill-based training to primary and secondary school students in developing countries and un-deserved communities around the world. http://www.financialexpress-bd. com

NZ schools struggle for ICT funding Prepared for the Education Ministry, a schools survey in New Zealand found that about 10 per

cent of primary and secondary schools spent more than 21 per cent of their Government funds on information and communications technology, including computers, software, cabling, Internet and maintenance.

According to the announcement made by Education Minister Steve Maharey, schools would receive about $50 million to finance ICT this year, on top of the $22 million operations grant. Schools needed more help to fund ICT as the amount of money being spent on ICT in schools is incredible.

http://news.bbc.co.uk

Sri Lanka launches National ICT in Education drive

http://www.stuff.co.nz

Microsoft puts British Library online About 100,000 books in the British Library are going to be scanned and put online by software giant Microsoft.

The books, which are out of copyright, will be digitised from 2006 and put online as part of Microsoft’s book search service

Online education picking up While setting up of institutions for providing education is gradually becoming a burden on countries, online education is seen as a prompt answer doing away with teaching in classrooms.

Scores of online agencies have come up during the last half-decade offering ample scope for students to get degrees and diplomas sitting at home. They include Universitas 21 Global, University of Phoenix Online and American InterContinental University Online. Online courses are more preferred by people, who are hard-pressed with work and yet eager to study. Nearly 50 per cent of our students are working professionals.

The response is encouraging from students from India and Middle East.

Nearly 50 per cent of the Indian students are sponsored by their respective companies. The canvas of education has grown manifold making it the second largest industry with an estimated transaction of $ 2.5 trillion annually at the international arena. The US is the biggest beneficiary as it earns about $12 billion a year from education. UK and Australia are also major players in this segment.

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next year. A separate global digital library plan by Google is also under way.

The Sri Lankan Ministry of Education has announced a “National ICT Education Drive”, which is to be a key element of the Education Reforms process aimed at producing a global citizen with local values who can meet the challenges of the new knowledgebased society.

The National ICT Education Drive consists of three major components like ICT Education for Schools, ICT Education for Universities and ICT Education for All. http://www.education.gov.lk

Now e-Tutors cutting the coaching cost Expensive private tuitions being a deterrent, the low-cost option of eTutoring is fast becoming a trend.

India’s advantage is the large pool of talented teachers, who are willing to provide private tuitions to students in English-speaking countries like the United States and the United Kingdom.

Reports indicate that close to three million students are expected to study online attracted by the lowcost and flexi-timing features.

Nasscom says that the first eTutoring businesses started less

Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

than three years ago and there are many Indian teachers coaching US students in mathematics, science or English for a fraction of the cost that private tutors in the US charge. http://economictimes.indiatimes. com

India among 30 countries at risk to meet literacy targets According to UNESCO’s Education For All (EFA) global monitoring report 2006, of the 771 million adult illiterates in the world without basic literacy skills, South and West Asia together fare the worst, with the lowest adult literacy rate of 58.6%.

National Virtual Academy aims at taking frontier technology to villages Under the ‘National Alliance for Mission 2007: Every Village a Knowledge Centre’, the Chennai-based M S Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) has an ambitious aim of selecting one million fellows of the Jamsetji Tata National Virtual Academy for Rural Prosperity (NVA) by August 15, 2007.

In the initial step, the foundation had selected 143 fellows. Subsequently, a second batch of 155 fellows has been selected. The foundation had roped in nearly 30 organisations, including ITC International Business Division, which runs e-Choupals in rural areas, for nomination of fellows for NVA. As per the guidelines of NVA, the fellows have to be nominated by grassroots organisations working in rural areas all over the country, and would be selected on the basis of their leadership qualities, communication skills and their wish to serve the community. http://www.business-standard.com

Indonesia, Nigeria and Vietnam, would be offered B.Sc (Honours) Computing and its Practice degree, in the first phase. The students would be examined and certified directly by the Open University’s Examination and Assessment Board.

The number of illiterate people in India is more than 5 million, according to the report. Nepal and Pakistan also have similarly high rates. The report puts India among the 30 countries unable to achieve adult literacy targets by 2015, due to the slow pace of progress. The other countries at risk of not achieving the goal are Pakistan and Nepal, several countries of Africa and Latin America. http://www.financialexpress.com

NIIT in pact with UK University to offer degree courses in six countries IT training company NIIT announced it has entered into an alliance with Open University of the United Kingdom to offer degree programmes to its students in six countries.

NIIT students in six countries, Bangladesh, Botswana, Ghana,

Digital Learning January 2006

http://www.thehindubusinessline.com

more than $40 million to openeducation initiatives such as MIT OpenCourseWare, which publishes materials from virtually all MIT courses, and Creative Commons, which offers copyright systems support for accessing creative work and scholarly materials online. http://www.infoworld.com

Open-content opening new doors to education The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the Development Gateway Foundation announced a new open-content initiative together with Utah State University and the African Virtual University. The group launched a new portal that provides access to a wide range of open-content educational courses and other materials offered for free by institutions such as the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, and the Chinese Open Resources for Education.

The Development Gateway will coordinate and host the portal on its Web site, http://www. developmentgateway.org. To date, the foundation has contributed

TechnoFuture for children in Abuja President Olusegun Obasanjo has launched in Abuja an Information Technology Initiative (ICT) tailored for children from age four till they attain adulthood, aptly named TechnoFuture.

Technofuture is an initiative of New Partnership for African Development (NEPAD) –Nigeria in Collaboration with TechnoFuture Nigeria Limited, a subsidiary of Technokids of Canada. TechnoFuture is essentially a well targeted human capacity building tool that teaches a unique combination of technology and business skills or life skills to individuals of all ages, starting from the age of four. http://www.vanguardngr.com

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Sound schooling – Radio for distance education

Perspective

Sajan Venniyoor [VENNIYOOR@REDIFFMAIL.COM], Prasar Bharti, India

Despite rapid developments in communication technologies in the last few decades, radio broadcasting remains the cheapest mode of mass communication in India that can benefit rural and deprived communities with low literacy rate and little excess to education

A

t a recent conference on Digital Learning in Delhi [18-19 October 2005], the participants sat bemused as Dr. Sugata Mitra of NIIT gave a very engaging account of his ‘Hole in the Wall’ project. Dr. Mitra explained how Delhi slum children with no education and no knowledge of English quickly picked up different computer functions, when given unsupervised access to a computer and the internet through a kiosk.

This project in ‘minimally invasive education’ was later extended to rural India, prompting a rather disbelieving audience to ask how the Hole in the Wall computers could function in remote and rural India, with erratic electricity supply, negligible telecom penetration and next to no maintenance.

Dr. Mitra gamely reeled off a catalogue of solar-powered UPS, self-rebooting, maintenance-free 32

PCs, VSATs and other marvels of digital technology that could presumably keep computers running forever in the boondocks, but it sounded more like a Heath Robinson whimsy than a recipe for ICT in education.

Not surprisingly, the recommendations that emerged from the discussions emphasized “the need to think of ICT in education beyond computer aided learning and incorporate other technologies like community radio and other media. These mediums would not only be cost effective but also have a greater outreach potential.” [Digital Learning, Vol 1 Issue1, Nov-Dec 2005] Classrooms and radio have always gone together, and radio has been used to teach everything from mathematics in Thailand (Galda, 1984) to civics education in Botswana (Byram, Kaute & Matenge, 1980). The first School Broadcast project in India was

commissioned as early as 1937.

Over the years, various educational radio projects have been carried out in the country, with mixed results.

Educational programmes on AIR All the Primary channels of All India Radio (AIR) broadcast educational programmes on a regular basis on fixed time slots.

AIR’s educational programmes are aimed at students as well as teachers of primary, middle, secondary and senior secondary schools, and are generally produced in collaboration with national educational agencies like NCERT (National Council for Educational Research & Training) and CIET (Central Institute of Educational Technology).

The Language Learning programme, popularly known as the ‘Radio Pilot project’, was started in 1979-80 jointly by AIR Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

non-conventional education, addressing local educational, developmental and socio-cultural needs. The stations broadcast in English, Hindi and the language or dialect of the region, for 4 to 12 hours daily.

During the current phase of private FM expansion in India, which is expected to cover 91 cities, it is reported that the government plans to offer 87 FM channels to be used exclusively for education. Of these, 36 would be used by IGNOU, while the other channels would be open to private players.

Campus radio stations Campus Radio in Anna University

and the Department of Education (Rajasthan). Its aim was to teach Hindi to school children as their first language in 500 primary schools of Jaipur and Ajmer districts, on an experimental basis.

The broadcasts were found to be useful in improving the children’s vocabulary, and a similar project was initiated in the Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh.

Apart from AIR’s in-house educational programmes, the Indira Gandhi Open University (IGNOU) also broadcasts its educational programmes from AIR studios.

IGNOU-AIR Interactive Radio Counseling (IRC) was launched in May 1998 for students of Open / Conventional Universities. AIR Bhopal and IGNOU ran this as an experimental programme for a year, to provide academic counseling in various subjects and to instantly respond to students’ queries; but with its success, it was extended to other AIR stations.

Presently, Interactive Radio Counseling is being provided every Sunday for one hour from 186 radio stations of All India Radio.

Digital Learning January 2006

In December 2002, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting Gyan Vani released its ‘Community Radio Guidelines’. Though nominally IGNOU’s own Gyan-Vani ‘community’ radio, the policy (Educational FM restricts the radio radio channel) licenses under was launched During the current this scheme to was in November ‘well-established 2001 to extend phase of private FM educational mass media institutions’. The expansion in India, support for licensing process education, suited which is expected to proved so to local needs. cumbersome that Gyan Vani cover 91 cities, it is India’s first channels are campus-based reported that the operating at community radio present in 17 government plans to station was cities, and are launched only by scheduled to offer 87 FM channels 2004 (Anna expand to a total University’s 90.4 to be used of 40 cities by Anna FM).

2007. Gyan Vani exclusively for Against stations operate optimistic as media education projections of cooperatives, 1000 campus with programmes stations coming up in a year, only contributed by different 75 odd educational institutions educational institutions, NGOs and have applied for a campus radio institutions like IGNOU, NCERT, licenses so far, and of these, 15 UGC, IIT, etc. stations have become operational.

Each Gyan Vani station has a range of about 60 KM radius, covering an entire city or town and its surrounding area. Gyan Vani is meant for both conventional and

Most of the campus licenses have gone to universities, engineering colleges and mass communications institutions, along with a 33

sprinkling of well-heeled schools.

Transmitting over a range of 5-10 kilometres, their FM radio stations are expected to serve the community beyond the campus walls, and to produce programmes ‘on issues relating to education, health, environment, agriculture, rural and community development’, according to the government’s Community Radio Guidelines (www.mib.nic.in).

Needless to say, the campus stations that try to live up to this confused mandate – and many of them do – sound very much like the public service broadcaster on which they seem to be closely modelled.

Satellite radio for education EDUSAT, according to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), is the first exclusive satellite for serving the educational sector. It supports radio broadcasting, along with audiovideo on C-band and Ku-band, and is built around the concept of digital interactive classrooms and a multimedia system.

wide beams are being harnessed by agencies like IGNOU, NCERT and the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), to reach hundreds of Receive Only Terminals (ROTs) and Satellite Interactive Terminals (SITs) located in schools and colleges, many in remote areas.

Content generation is the responsibility of user agencies, but it is a matter of concern that, over a year after the satellite was launched, much of its capacity is lying idle.

Satellite access for radio broadcasting is also available on other platforms like WorldSpace, which offers a ‘development channel’ to agencies like Equal Access for networking community FM channels (as in Nepal), or for directly broadcasting development and educational programmes for community listening on WorldSpace receivers.

Community radio initiatives in India In the absence of true community radio in India, a number of NGOs are using innovative methods for non-formal education through audio. School Audio through cable has been in operation in Budhikote village, Karnataka, since January 2002. The School Audio project is a spin-off of the ‘Namma Dhwani’ cable audio service being run in Budhikote by VOICES, a development communication NGO. Twice a week, educational programmes are ‘cable-cast’ to the local government school.

The promise of radio

In the Kutch region of Gujarat, the Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan (KMVS), an independent organization of rural women, focuses on adolescent girls’ education, basic functional literacy within sangathan members and development of context specific educational curricula on different issues for literates and neoliterates.

U.K. Open University’s notable success with educational radio has demonstrated how invaluable radio can be for weak students, who benefit from the medium as a supplementary learning tool. But the use of radio for distance education in India, as mentioned earlier, has had mixed results.

AIR’s educational broadcasts are

In 1999, KMVS launched a weekly radio programme ‘Kunjal Panchchi KutchJi’ for expansion of literacy as well as to build an information network. The 30minute serial is broadcast in the local Kutchi dialect, over All India Radio’s local stations in this region of vast distances and poor communications.

The satellite has multiple regional beams covering different parts of India, which theoretically enables programmes to be broadcast in relevant local languages - India has 18 official languages and over 1500 dialects. “India will require 10,000 new schools each year Kutch Mahila Vikas Sangathan women listening to the radio programme ‘Kunjal Panchchi KutchJi’ and meeting the teaching needs on such a scale [by conventional methods] will be impossible,” Madhavan Nair, chairman of ISRO told New Scientist at the launch of the satellite.

EDUSAT can provide connectivity to schools, colleges and higher levels of education and also support non-formal education including developmental communication. The nation34

Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

Court of India (in 1993) has declared education of children up to 14 years to be a fundamental right, but school attendance is related to the perceived importance of education by parents, and also to socioeconomic factors.

School students participating in the school audio program in Karnataka

constantly hampered by the lack of radio sets in classrooms, the difficulty of coordinating school broadcasts with class-room timings and more significantly, by the lack of good broadcasters who have a passion for education and conversely, of teachers who are also good broadcasters.

instance, offer some very effective approaches to non-formal education over radio. Recently, AIR agreed to a proposal from Sesame Workshop India to provide airtime on national and regional radio channels for locally produced versions of the universally popular ‘Sesame Street’. The programmes would be aimed at pre-schoolers, and would also provide under-served children with access to educational media, especially in rural areas.

If and when communities are permitted to set up their own low power radio stations .... then we could witness a revolution in education far beyond anything dreamt of by the purveyors of digital technology in a digitally divided country

All the same, it has been amply proved that radio – rightly used can improve educational quality and relevance, lower educational costs and improve access to education, particularly for disadvantaged groups. It is most effective when supported by trained facilitators, group learning, group discussion, feedback and the use of multimedia approaches.

There is no single ideal format for educational radio. Innovative programming like those developed

by Sesame Workshop in Africa, for Digital Learning January 2006

India spends just 3.4% of its GNP on education. Over 35% of the population is illiterate, and the drop out rate in schools is staggeringly high, with 40% of all school-going children dropping out during the primary stage itself. The percentage of dropouts goes up to 67% by Class X. The Supreme

Despite rapid developments in communication technologies in the last few decades, radio broadcasting remains the cheapest mode of mass communication in India, catering equally to the needs of the rich and the poor, rural and the urban masses and reaching the remotest parts of the country. In a country where the literacy rate is 65%, and fewer than 50% of homes are electrified, the humble transistor radio plays a vital role in the country’s socioeconomic and cultural development.

Rural and deprived communities, with low literacy rates and little access to formal education, stand to benefit the most from distance learning through community radio.

If and when such communities are permitted to set up their own low power radio stations – and 4000 such community radio stations are possible in India, according to government estimates – then we could witness a revolution in education far beyond anything dreamt of by the purveyors of digital technology in a digitally divided country.

Using radio for education and community development is part of the 75-year-old Reithian ambition for radio broadcasting. Children and youth can be easily and cheaply trained, and the goals of universal primary and secondary education for all can be reached more easily with broadcast support. Among the poor and marginalized people of the country, radio could even create a new class of people - educated but illiterate.❏ 35

Rajasthan Education Initiative - A vision for education

W

hat could have just another meeting between the chief minister of a state in India and the global leaders in World Economic Forum Annual Meeting, 2005, in Davos, turned out to be one of the most comprehensive education initiative in the country with ICT, that promises to improve the1 lives of thousands of school children in one of the poorest and lowest literacy states in India. The

www.fallsbrookcentre.ca

Rajasthan Education Initiative (REI) has broken records in operationalising the Chief Minister’s pledge in Davos and the state government’s vision into action, in less than a year’s time.

Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, the Education Minister Ghanshyam Tiwari and the team of state administrators led

by C K Mathew, Principal Secretary, School and Sanskrit Education of Rajasthan. With eight MoU signed so far between the state government and the global business leaders, this initiative, launched officially in November 2005 in Delhi is promising to achieve more than just raising the level overall education in Rajasthan.

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Inspired by the philosophy, approach and results of the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI), Rajasthan state government ventured on engaging global and local partners from the private sector, foundations and NGOs in innovative multi-stakeholder partnerships to support education in the State of Rajasthan.

Supported by the World Economic Forum, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) and in partnerships with biggest name in the IT sector: IBM, Microsoft, Wipro, and Cisco, the state Government embarked on improving schools in Rajasthan.

The World Economic Forum, facilitated this public-private partnership. The programme aims to reform teaching and learning through state curriculum and learning assessment renewal, supported by innovative facilities, new equipments and resources and the deployment of news ways of learning through ICT.

Truly collaborative vision This programme aimed at collaboration and participation at all levels from conceptualisation to the implementation of the programme. Two planning meetings, one held in August and other in October last year exemplified the true participation that is the essence of the initiative.

These meetings aimed at stakeholder participation, and collaborative planning and

I n d i a Statescan visioning for the programme.

The first planning meeting held in August refined the objectives of the programme along with signing four MoUs. The REI signed MoU with Microsoft under ‘Partners in Learning’ programme, where Microsoft set up a state-of-the-art lab to train 8000 teachers in the next five years. The second MoU was signed with Azim Premji Foundation for ‘Learning Guarantee Programme’ in two districts, involving assessment of the current educational level and improving the competencies. The other two MoUs signed were with Hole-in-the-wall Education Ltd (HIWEL) and Educate Girls Globally (EGG).

The second planning meeting held in October in Jaipur formalised four more MoUs along with identifying areas of concern in the initiatives that needed consideration. Presided by C K Mathew, (Principal secretary), Satyadeep Rajan (Word Economic Forum), Abhay Kumar Poddar (Confederation of Indian Industries) and Paul Callan (Global e-schools Initiative), the meeting deliberated on the various components of the programme, along with taking firm commitments of collaboration/ contribution from the organisations present and produce the Vision Document for REI. MoUs were signed with Intel for training of subject teachers in over 3600 schools. MoUs were also signed with CISCO for development of skills of teachers through existing computer facilities in the district, with America India Foundation for professional Development of teachers through computer

Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

technology and with Bodh Shiksha Samiti, for capacity building of slum children in Jaipur city.

The partners in vision The REI now has four key partners: Government of Rajasthan, World Economic Forum, Confederation of Indian Industry and the Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) – an initiative of the UN ICT task force. The REI plans to continue mobilising resources within India and from the international community as well as engage the World Economic Forum’s regional and global communities in the project’s activities. Although most of the resources (funds) are already in place, private participation will enhance the quality and professionalism.

However as Vasundhara Raje points out ‘It wasn’t about money but the expertise the companies had: from mid-day meals and training to teachers to making students computer-literate’ that encouraged the Rajasthan Government to engage these diverse organisation. Non-profit organisations contributing to the REI include the Azim Premji Foundation, Akshaya Patra, American India Foundation, Aga Khan Foundation, Bodh Shiksha Samiti and Educate Girls Globally, which have all begun work in various districts across Rajasthan.

The government of Rajasthan had announced its first IT policy in 2000. With the expected growth of Information Technology enabled Services (ITeS), the government of Rajasthan is in the process of drafting the IT and ITeS policy 2005-2008. This policy would focus on modernising and upgrading the skills of the ordinary citizens among others.

The policy focuses on IT for the masses by augmenting computer literacy and education campaign in rural areas, subsidising computer education for the girl child and training teachers. The REI concurs to the state vision for education to develop skill of the young generation in the globalised society.

The vision: strategies The REI will work on a twopronged effort aimed at balancing the goal of achieving “Education For All” (EFA) with that of providing improved opportunities to gainful employment in India’s fast growing knowledge-based industries. One, technology based education will leverage the power of ICT to improve the learning skills and competencies of students; and two, to create an enabling environment aimed at social responsibility programmes for holistic development of the child.

Unlike Jordan Education Initiative, which focused on only technology interventions, REI has both ICT as well not ICT-initiatives in the programme.

The REI’s efforts will concentrate on girls, rural children, urban

Digital Learning January 2006

The ICT based programmes Project Grace, District Computer Education Centres, School Computer education programme CALP, Computerisation of department and EDUSAT and Teacher training Technology Academies.

The non-ICT based programmes Learning Skills development, Adoption of schools Scholarships for indigent children, Mid-Day meals programme and Children with special needs underprivileged children, and children with special needs. It will be implemented over three years after which the Government of Rajasthan has committed to expand the project under its ongoing ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ or Education For All programme, which is scheduled to complete by 2012.

Monitoring and evaluation of the educational outcomes will be conducted by an external independent agency.

REI launch at Delhi The REI was officially launched on November 29, at the World Economic Forum’s India Economic Summit 2005.

The Hon Chief Minister of Rajasthan, Vasundhara Raje; C K Mathews; Principal Secretary schools education, N. Srinivasan; Director-General, Confederation of Indian Industries (CII) Stephen Nolan; Executive Director, Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI), India, Rangnath Salgame; President, India and SAARC, Cisco Systems, India. Mohandas Pai; Director and Chief Financial Officer, Infosys Technologies, India, among others attended the launch. ❏ Rumi Mallick [RUMI@CSDMS.IN] 37

Education- a priority theme at the UN Summit atTunis The World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) phase II, organised by the International Telecommunication Union, took place in Tunis (Tunisia) from 16 to 18 November 2005. Leaders from over 70 countries and delegates of governments, businesses and NGOs attended this conference.

The WSIS focused on discussing issues of promoting development

through constructing the information society through estrategies, e-commerce, e-governance, e-health, education, literacy, cultural diversity, gender equality, sustainable development and environmental protection.

has been a spurt of ICT enhanced lesson plans and processes that make technologies more useful for educational purposes but can also build human capacity to use technology for better access to knowledge. Education and ICTs were recognised as a fundamental basis for preparing for a knowledge society. Various civil society groups organised themselves into a Civil Society Plenary

The two key principles for education are knowledge sharing and open access.

(CSP) at every official meeting of the WSIS process, and advocated their agenda through Civil Society Content and Themes Group and the Civil Society Bureau.

In support of open courseware, the Task Force pointed out that such approach ‘can generate huge savings in the long run and help developing countries to bridge the “digital divide” in education’.

Identifying the priorities for action

WSIS, MDGs and education Among other issues, the Tunis Summit showcased several initiatives and deliberated on the potential and ways in which ICTs can help to enhance outreach and quality in education; in augmenting basic literacy as well as to build human capacities. There 38

Recognising the criticality of education and capacity building in constructing the knowledge society, a Task force on Education, Academia and Research, set up under the Civil Society Group, identified the education priorities for knowledge sharing.

To further these principles, the Task Force identified four major priority issues in education and research: • Teachers’ Education with ICT; • Open Courseware; • Media and ICT Education; and • A New Status for Research

However these open courseware, should be ‘submitted to serious accreditation and quality assurance processes’.

The Task Force also suggested the adoption of ‘free software and an exemption of Intellectual Property Rights in matters of education, documentation and archiving in non-profit context’.

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The Task Force highlighted the need for media and ICT education for youth, with both a critical and a capacity-building approach to help the youth to learn to ‘inform and be informed, via the networks, in a learn-to-learn lifelong process’.

The task force pointed out that one needed to be ‘ICT literate and information literate’ and “media and ICT education” literacy is ‘a pillar of democracy and one of the elementary rights of every citizen’.

The Task Force recommended that this specific education should be introduced wherever possible within national curricula as well as in tertiary, non-formal and lifelong education.

The Task Force pointed out that research on ICT should focus beyond technological innovation and market development to users and the social and cultural implications of the Information Society. However, ‘sociallyoriented research should not develop apart from, or just in addition to, but in close connection with industrial research from the earliest stages.’

The Task Force also reminded that the scientific community should work in close connection with civil society, the industry and political institutions.

Digital Learning January 2006

The Task Force also tabled some concrete strategies for international consideration and implementation • Lowering the cost of access to Internet and ICTs for education • Against exploitative targeting of children and youth through ICTs. • An ‘open cognition platform’ for fostering education for general interest The Task Force called upon the private sector to increase their investment in regional IP backbones and access points. The Task Force also recommended the Governments and international organisations to create an enabling environment for the provision of ICT infrastructure, particularly for rural and marginalised

communities, especially for the education sector. The education Task Force for long has been advocating for a “open cognition platform” for fostering education, as a UN recommendation to be adopted by all countries.

developing countries) that provide the primary teaching materials for courses taught at educational nonprofit institutions; An international rationale for Media and ICT education To train media and information literate people, in national curricula. Such document must provide a modular curriculum, with evaluation criteria and procedures and adequate teaching materials and resources, in local language; An education exemption to IP rights for access to repositories of content In the non-profit contexts of education and research, like schools, museums, libraries,

archives, etc., along the lines of the directive currently enacted at the European Union;

The Task Force made the following recommendations:

An international researchers’ charter To promote the status of teacherresearchers and ensure their independence and low-cost access to repositories of knowledge.

An Open courseware validation body To help create a coherent body of standards and formats, for coaccreditation and exchange across currently existing websites (and extension to mirror sites in

The message was clear. Access to knowledge is crucial for building human capacity. Access to knowledge creates well-informed and competent citizens who can participate and strengthen the knowledge society.

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WSA awards

Making existing excellence visible

The availability of knowledge and information to all is crucial for bridging the digital divide and the quality of this knowledge and information available goes a long way in building a knowledge society. The World Summit Award (WSA) is a global initiative to select and promote the world’s best in e-Content and Creativity.

On the November 16, at WSIS Tunis, in the grand WSA gala festival, the producers and designers of the 40 e-learning content products received awards from the Heads of State or Governments.

In this section, we provide you an overview of the WSA awards and the winners of e-learning content for 2005.

The WSA: the mission The aim of the WSA was to raise public awareness and give deserved public recognition to the highest quality e-Content, produced all over the world. In WSA 2005, 168 countries from all over the world participated to showcase their e-content, highlighting the variety and cultural diversity of their content.

The WSA associate partner network consists of over 120 professional organisations engaged in the development of multimedia on the national and international level. WSA is supported by numerous governments, heads of state and international organisations, including UNIDO, UNESCO and the UN ICT Task Force.

Selecting the best The pre-selection for the Global Contest is made by a panel of national experts (WSA Expert Panel 2005), who are responsible for selecting 8 nominees from their country.

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Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

In WSA 2003, a total of 803 national winners from136 countries were evaluated to select the 40 global winners.

All the national winners are evaluated by the grand jury, which selects the winners of WSA 05 through an independent inter-subjective judgment.

Projects, which highlights the benefits of ICT4D of communities and help to bridge the growing content gap between developed and developing countries, were given importance in the evalution process.

In WSA 05, a total of 750 national winners (selected from approximately over 20,000 candidates) from 168 countries were evaluated to select the 40 global winners.

The best e-content in e-learning “If digital content of sufficient quality can be produced, Africans have the potential to make a great step forward in bridging the present deficiency in the educational field,” says Titilayo Akinsanmi from Nigeria, a 26 year old multimedia specialist who works for SchoolNet Africa, an e-Learning platform aiming at offering children on the ‘black continent’ a better education’

ISCED levels 2 and 3). This has been developed by Radu Jugureanu of Siveco (www. siveco.ro), Romania and is available as DVD, CD-ROM. e-Blocks E-Blocks (www.eblocks.net) available as DVD and CD-ROM is an innovative, research-based method for teaching English as a second language. This has been developed by Groupo Positivo/ Positivo informatica, Brazil.

Digital Literacy Program (PAD) PAD provides a unique userfriendly learning experience that gradually integrates students of all ages into the >digitallogic< without losing contact with their social, cultural or business background. Developed by E-Marketing (www.competir. com), South Africa, this is available in DVD and CD-ROM. Nature Park Kopacki Rit Nature Park Kopacki Rit provides a virtual nature experience by presenting the park’s treasures with a variety of multimedia features.

This has been developed by Green Studio Ltd. (www.greenstudio. org), Croatia and can be accessed through broadband online.

Stage work

Learning and education can be more effective and fun if ‘e’ is added to the process. However the future of e-learning depends, to a large extent, on the quality of e-content available.

The winners Advanced e-Learning objects Advanced e-Learning objects is a comprehensive collection of various lessons to be used at school (appropriate for ages 10-18,

Digital Learning January 2006

Stagework is a website that allows users behind the scenes of the UK’s leading theatre productions, delivering an array of unique original content following the creative process from idea to performance. This has been developed by the National Theatre (www.national theatre.org.uk), UK and can be accessed online.

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Events @ WSIS Several organisations that focus on education and capacity building at different levels, hosted workshops and meeting in the WSIS Tunis. In this section we give you a glimpse of some of the prominent roundtable discussions and workshops in ICT in education and capacity building and the main actors in this domain.

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knowledge gaps. The meeting addressed all issues relevant to the role of higher education in the construction of knowledge societies and the crucial challenges that the systems face in efficiently playing this role.

Drawing on the thematic consultations of the months before the Summit and the ‘UNESCO World Report 2005: Towards Knowledge Societies’, the Round Table on “Shaping the Future

One very significant event was the UNESCO organised parallel panel on Open CourseWare Movement.

Titled ‘Widening access to knowledge through open sharing: the growing OpenCourseWare Movement’ and organised along with United Nations University, MIT OpenCourseWare, WSIS

through Knowledge” was a political and strategies event, highlighting key ideas and principles which UNESCO seeks to promote to help increase people’s access to and use of information and knowledge for human development. The Round Table on the ‘Role of UNESCO in the Construction of Knowledge Societies through the UNITWIN/ UNESCO Chairs Programme’ reviewed national, regional and world experiences in implementing UNESCO networks in ICT and considered how this UNESCO mechanism can help to bridge existing information and

Education, Academia and Research Thematic Caucus, and UNU online learning/media studio, the event reemphasised the need of Open Educational Resources’ (OER) open sharing of educational content, enabled by tools (such as the World Wide Web) and defined by standards (such as Creative Commons). This panel discussion was a result of several other high level meetings in 2005 organised in Paris (France), Gabon (Africa), Tokyo (Japan) and other places.

While discussing the merits of OER, speaker appreciated the open courseware movement in China (CORE) and Africa.

For those interested in knowing more, an interesting discourse on opencourseware is available at the virtual university section. http://www.unesco.org/iiep/ virtualuniversity/forumsfiche. php?queryforumspages_id=13 The UN IT Task force supported GeSCI (Global e-Schools Initiatives) organised workshops and round table focusing on the GeSCI’s framework for identifying and selecting technology options for Schools and other GeSCI’s partnership initiatives in countries around the world. The high-level roundtable discussion organised by GeSCI brought together critical players from end-to-end ICT in education

strategies underway in India and Namibia. Representing Rajasthan, CK Mathews outlined the key components of the Rajasthan Education Initiative, India, which has been recently launched in public-private partnership mode, where GeSCI is a key partner.

A similarly ambitious, partnership initiative was transforming education is Namibia. The meeting believed that although both India and Namibia face similar educational challenges, being on the same side of the divide, both the countries still had valuable lessons to learn and to share.

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The workshop on ‘Calculating Costs’ demonstrated different technology tools that can be used to calculate ‘Total Cost of Ownership’ (TCO) associated with various technologies, with generous cost data from India, Namibia and Jordan. TCO framework will simplify the complex decision-making process by education planning officials and school principals when purchasing ICTs. In another workshop titled ‘Facing the Challenges’, participants discussed the dilemma of the developing countries coping with limited resources. The presentation from the workshop panelists with representation from SchoolNet

Africa, Digital Empowerment Foundation, India; and GeSCI, confirmed that ICTs must serve, rather than drive, the implementation of educational strategies.

The integration of ICT into teaching, learning, research, information dissemination and management activities has been a priority issue in African higher education for many years. The conference on ‘African Research and Education Networking Infrastructure’ focused on networked learning, research and community outreach of the African Higher education. The present

Digital Learning January 2006

conference was preceded by several initiatives and meetings to establish the role of AAU as the ICT coordinator at the continental level. This conference was organised by the Association of African Universities (AAU) and supported by by, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa and the World Bank Institute. An important feature of the event was a roundtable with development partners to plan the future, develop firm commitments of partnership and support and build synergy for a shared future. The results of the conference would guide the AAU in developing a coherent and strategically focused ICT program.

Resources for Education and other institutions around the world.

The Development Gateway Foundation launched, in partnership with William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, a new Web initiative at the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), that will connect anyone with Internet access and the desire to learn, to a world of free, highquality open educational materials.

training programs that have reached more than 2 million teachers.

The Development Gateway Foundation’s “Open Educational Resources” portal features free course materials and other educational content offered by the MIT, the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, Chinese Open

The new OER portal can be found at http://topics.development gateway.org/openeducation Among the corporate solution providers, Intel organised a workshop titled ‘Transforming education through ICT’ where the participants comprising of senior government policy makers and Intel representatives discussed the role the governments to introduce systematic educational reforms towards ICT skill building and Intel’s contribution to those reforms. Intel presenters gave specific examples of leadership and effective programs, including

The GKP is the leading international multi-stakeholder network that builds partnerships to promote knowledge sharing, innovations in the use and appropriation of ICT4D, and facilitates mobilisation of investments in ICT for development at local, national, and global levels. Primarily supported

by Swiss Agency for Development Cooperation (SDC), GKP partners range for grassroot organisations to international agencies involved in 43

the various thematic activities of ICT4D.

tools and services for lifelong learning in Malaysia.

In WSIS Tunis, the GKP organised a pavilion, that served as a interaction-networking-exhibition area for the partner organisation and provided a forum to its the GKP partners to share their knowledge and experience in specific themes of ICT4D.

The panel discussion on ‘Connectivity and Content are not enough - Innovative capacity building initiatives in the GKP Education Community’, deliberated on the criticality of technology-enabled learning environment to develop the potential of children and youth.

This workshop saw participation from all the lead partners of the education cluster of GKP.

The GKP partners of the education cluster group organised several workshops that covered innovative solutions to education through ICTs. Omer Dengo Foundation of Costa Rica leads the education cluster group of GKP, organsied several

workshops to showcase their elearning and capacity building initiatives in Latin America. These workshops highlighted innovative capacity building initiates, on-line learning environments, and capacity building for active citizenship and others activates in ICT in education. Other active partners in education were Foundation Chasquinet, Science and Arts Foundation, Education Development Center and CSDMS. MIMOS, Malaysia organised a case study presentation on the Malaysian Grid for Learning (MyGfL) which is a One-StopCenter for online learning content, 44

The Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) organised two workshops titled ‘Innovative ICTs in Education’ and ‘Capacity

building for documenting ICT4D case stories’. The workshops saw case studies from Asia, Latin America and Caribbean and African initiatives. Panelists from Omer Dengo Foundation, SchoolNetAfrica, UNESCO and CSDMS discussed three models of ICT in schools that includes a case study of innovative ICT off-thecurriculum education in development block in a district in India, ICT enabled project-based curriculum education in Costa Rica and ICT curriculum education in Africa and UNESCO’s engagement in funding and monitories ICT integration and innovations in education.

Although the scales of the projects discussed varied from a development block in a district to a country programme, to a continentwide programme, the challenges faced in sustaining the programmes had a common thread.

Issues common to initiatives were upgrading from a successful pilot phase to a nation-wide programme with necessary government financial support and a supporting government policy for ICT in education.

The second workshop was on ‘Capacity building of grassroots practitioners and NGOs for documenting ICT4D projects’. The workshop was aimed at capacity building of the practitioner in

using ICT tools to document their stories. The panelists from CSDMS; IICD, Netherlands; Media ICT Network for Development (MIND), Africa; MIMOS, Malaysia; along with participants from Pakistan, Ghana, Uganda, South Africa, Canada identified the challenges and issues of documentation and deliberated on the most effective ICT tools that can be used for outreach.

The WSIS 2005, came to an end on 19 November 2005 passing documents that chalks out the road ahead for development.❏ Rumi Mallick [RUMI@CSDMS.IN] Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

www.ict-in-class.net

On the web

Jean-Luc Barras [JEAN-LUC.BARRAS@EDUCA.CH], Swiss Institute for Media in Education and Culture (educa.ch) The integration of ICT into learning and teaching on the primary and secondary school level is a relatively new and complex field. It entails a new form of teaching and learning based on a greater individual implication of the learner and brings about a change in the role of the teacher within the class environment. Teachers in both developed and developing countries are exploring optimal solutions and, thus, can always benefit from relevant resources and an exchange of experiences.

The Swiss Institute for Media in Education and Culture (educa.ch), involved in the promotion and coordination of the integration of ICT in the Swiss education system, in partnership with the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC) developed a thematic website titled ‘ict-in-class’. The website aims at providing an entry point for teachers with no previous or little experience in the integration of ICT in class. The website intends to achieve this through the creation of a concise but comprehensive overview of the basic aspects to support teachers

more directly in their efforts to integrate ICT in their primary and secondary school classes.

The partnership, educa-ict4d, aims to further, and encourage the dynamic and participative integration of information and communication technologies (ICT) in class. The educa-ict4d

partnership is based on the vision of the SDC to strengthen the integration of ICT in school education and, the desire of educa.ch to share its extensive experiences in the integration of ICT in education in primary and secondary schools in Switzerland.

The current website structure was based on the “production-access-

use” model for the integration of ICT-based learning and teaching material in education. This model was developed by educa.ch in its activities in Switzerland and describes the process by which ICT-based teaching and learning material traverses the education system beginning with the idea and ending with the evaluation of its use in class. This core structure named “ICTbased Teaching/ Learning” is complemented with information pertaining to the wider context of educational development and ICT4D as well as information on ICT in Swiss education. Here, educa-ict4d aims to provide some context for international partnerships, which are popular activities between educational institutions and can also help to further the integration of ICT in education. The website is available in German, French and English.

The website is a work in progress.

It will be completed over the next months according to a previously developed concept.

Nevertheless, in the meantime, educa-ict4d would welcome viewer’s feedback, ideas and suggestions. ❏

The website will contain: • Articles on the topic and methodology of the integration of ICT in teaching and learning • Articles on ICT in education and educational development • Information on activities and actors in Switzerland • Possibility to exchange on specific issues and read up on pervious discussions • Online database with links to documents, activities and institutions in the domain of the integration of ICT in class.

Digital Learning January 2006

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Mark your calendar february Open Road 2006 Conference: Challenges and Possibilities 6-7 February, 2006 Melbourne, Australia http://www.openroad.net.au

Conference on Knowledge Management in Higher Education: A Gateway to Excellence and Innovation in Africa 22-24 February 2006 Pietermaritzburg South Africa

Role of the Media in the Development of Education in Africa 20-22 March 2006 Nigeria http://www.ijnet.org/FE_Article/news article. asp?UILang=1&CId=303352& CIdLang=1

april

http://www.ukzn.ac.za/km/conf.htm

Digital Inequality and New Spaces of Informal Education for Young People 9-11 February, 2006 Bielefeld, Germany

e-Learning 2006 11 - 14 February 2006 Georgia USA

Strengthening the Business Fabric with Dynamic ICT IDC's Asia/ Pacific CIO Summit 2006 15-17 March, 2006 Bangkok Thailand

http://144.162.197.250/eLearning2006.htm

http://www.idc.com.sg

www.dlasia.csdms.in

for all by 2010, five years ahead of the UN deadline stated in the Millennium Development Goals.

technology has not yet been utilised in the context of education. The GeSCI initiative therefore seeks to build partnerships between the ICT, media, and entertainment industries in order to find ways to put existing technology to educational uses.

http://www.kib-bielefeld.de

GeSCI in India Bangalore, has been chosen as the India headquarters for the United Nations (UN) “Global e-school and Communities Initiative” (GeSCI), a special campaign to promote the use of technology in education.

Under the GeSCI programme, diverse educational and community development projects and best practices will be developed in Bangalore for the benefit of all countries. Working with the Indian Information Technology (IT) and Education ministries, GeSCI will facilitate policy support, technical assistance and global resources for the initiative.

GeSCI is expected to assist India to achieve the goal of primary education

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march

Education and Economic Development in Africa 25-26 April 2006 Montréal, Canada Contact: Lucien Bradet

The Global eSchools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) was established by the UN ICT Task Force in 2003, but it is not a UN body as such. GeSCI aims to be a member of a consortium of interested parties involved in ICT in education projects, including national governments, donor countries, the private sector, local communities and international organisations.

The role of ICT in education is limited by the absence of content development and means of taking advantage of the wide range of devices available. For example, while it is technically possible to combine satellite technology with memory and audio devices to create libraries containing relevant educational materials for rural areas in developing countries, such

Digital Learning Asia 2006 25-28 April 2006 Bangkok Thailand

GeSCI aims to encourage and support e-school initiatives under the leadership of local education and IT ministries, and to enable countries to plan and connect to global partners who can provide expertise or financial support.

Currently conducting activities in Bolivia, Ghana, Namibia, and India, the GeSCI initiative has drawn attention to the fact that ICT in schools has impacts that go beyond the classroom, yielding enormous benefits to local communities in the form of employment, adult education, health, business services, communication, and e-Government.

Digital Learning Vol 2 Issue 1

Asian Telecentre Forum

25-28 April 2006 Rama Gardens Hotel and Resort Bangkok, Thailand

Telecentres are increasingly being looked at as an important interface for bringing social and economic development in rural communities worldwide. They are known to the world as information centres, knowledge centres, info-kiosks, community services centres, etc. aiming to bridge the access and knowledge divides between the haves and the have-nots.

The increased interest in telecentres in many developing countries, at a stage when the world is moving towards becoming a knowledge society, provides an opportunity for different stakeholders to exchange knowledge and learn from success stories. In Asia, several models of telecentres exist and have been tried and tested. They vary in their scope and reach, and there are many success stories to share. Yet, the community is neither cohesive nor built as a network of practitioners. They are also important tools for testing alternatives and solutions in the new and emerging markets zone for software and information and communications technologies (ICTs).

A two-day conference and workshop programme has been conceptualised to bring the Asian practitioners in a platform for learning and sharing the experiences, and to address critical issues of content, collaboration, sustainability and up-scaling. Further, issues relating to monitoring projects that have been steered by external financial support, be it from the international development agencies, or from governments in Asia, require close assessment.

We invite stakeholders from various sectors, viz., NGOs, Governments, Private sector, Donors, and Development agencies, Academic researchers etc. to participate in this workshop. Please provide a brief outline (abstract of not more than 500 words) of your work and perspectives that you wish to share. You will have an opportunity to showcase your work, share your experiences in presentation sessions and/or share case stories. The format of the workshop will be participatory, and will be facilitated.

Last date for submission of abstracts:

For more details log on to www.asiantelecentreforum.net Conference Secretariat Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies G-4, Sector 39, Noida U.P. 201 301, India Tel: +91-120-2502180 to 87; Fax: +91-120-2500060

February 28, 2006

Confirmation of acceptance of participation:

March 05, 2006

Last date for receiving full presentations:

March 30, 2006

For more details: Contact: Anuradha Dhar, anuradha@csdms.in

Organisers

Media partners

ov knowledge for change

w w w. i 4 d . c s d m s . i n

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

have dreams Though, I never talk About them.

have needs Though, I have not The means.

have learnt To give, without Ever demanding.

s asking for An education, asking Too much. am but a child!