ICT The Future is Now : January 2008 Anniversary Issue

The monthly publication on ICT and Education

digitalLEARNING Volume IV Issue 1 January 2008 ISSN 0973-4139

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ICT The Future is Now

inside

A message from Shri Arjun Singh Minister, HRD

7 Tracks 40 Countries Opportunities for Digital India

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Contents Volume IV Issue I, January 2008

101 10

S C Khuntia Ministry of HRD N Ravishanker Ministry of Commn & IT

74, 123, 148

Impact

Jaemes Shanley, mimio K S Muralidhar, 24×7guru

Shantanu Prakash, Educomp ... more

Case Studies

79 - 96

Technology Solutions And Services From

Keshab Majumdar Minister, School Education, Tripura T M Vijay Bhaskar Secretary, Education, Karnataka

Sunil Patil, UBICS

Amit Gupta, S Chand

Initiatives of Ministry of HRD 2007

Centre Vs State

22 - 27

Anshul Sonak, Intel

28 - 52

146 Digital Learning@Work

N K Sinha Ministry of HRD

Photo Feature 78 Embracing Technology

11 - 14 16

Leaders’ Speak

Shri Arjun Singh Minister, HRD

ICT Vision of Government

61 - 69

Corporate Diary

Commentary

10

School Track

...more

everonn Core Projects & Technologies Tenable Texas Instrument SMART Technologies Cambridge University Press Globus Infocom ... more

54

62 106 138 76 Articles

Fact Sheet

124

53 Funding Share of States SSA 60 Secondary Education 110 Open Education Resources

World

The Foyer African Knowledge Exchange, Nairobi

Mark Your Calander

138

126 ICT4E Projects 133 Funds - ICT in Schools 134 ICT in Education Policy: Global Status News

58 98 122 144 149

129

India Corporate Asia

Empowering Disabled Communities in Asia Vincent Quah, Microsoft PPP: Improving Social Infrastructure and Quality in Education Interview: Dr Shabnam Sinha, IL&FS ETS ...more

Higher Education

100 Dr Sukhdeo Thorat, UGC

...more

Open Source Open Boundaries

109 Open Source in Education, Freeman Murray Source - CII Shiksha Way 112 Open Narinder Bhatia 106 Open and Distance Learning Dr Rajasekharan Pillai, IGNOU

The Development Agenda

114 Dr R Sreedher, CEMCA -120 Dileep Ranjekar, APF

All the articles are available online at www.digitalLearning.in

...more

digital LEARNING Volume IV, issue 1 | January 2008

President M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta Programme Co-ordinator Jayalakshmi Chittoor Sr. Sub Editor Manjushree Reddy Research Associates Rachita Jha Marketing Siddharth Verma +91-9811561645 (India) email: siddharth@csdms.in Subscription & Circulation Lipika Dutta (+91-9871481708) Manoj Kumar (+91-9210816901) Sr Graphic Designer Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Graphic Designers Om Prakash Thakur Chandrakesh Bihari Lal (James) Web Zia Salahuddin Santosh Kumar Singh Amit Pal Editorial and Marketing Correspondence digital Learning G-4 Sector 39 NOIDA 201301, India Phone +91 120 2502181-85 Fax +91 120 2500060 Email info@digitalLearning.in Group Directors Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar Printed by Vinayak Print Media, Noida Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P.) India Email: vinayakprintmedia@gmail.com 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 & marketed in collaboration with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. (www.elets.in)

Centre for Science, Development and Š Media Studies 2008 (www.csdms.in)

Editorial Digital Learning Turns Three!

Two years and countless cups of chai ago, we were faced with a dilemma. The first eINDIA conference cum exhibition had left us with a veritable barrage of pubic opinion. Almost each of our 500 participants had something important to say, regarding the state of affairs in ICT, the obstacles and challenges, as well as accounts of what had worked for them in the past.

Faced with such an array of information on almost all aspects of ICT for development, we felt the need for a medium through which all the knowledge shared could be compiled and presented, in order for us to fulfil our twin agenda of sharing knowledge and strategic networking. Thus, was born, digital Learning, the very magazine you hold in your hands right now. From our first issue, which was incidentally, only 38-pages thick, to our current 150-page Second Anniversary Issue, we have grown over the years, much in the same way as the entire field of ICT & Education has.

Digital Learning has been with you from the earliest appearance of the potential of ICT on the horizon, to the current inroads made by this technology in revolutionising educational content and delivery. And one can see today, from from the highest levels of policy and decision makers, right down to the practitioners, the teachers, and the end consumer, the learner, all are excited by the presence of ICT in education. And along with excitement, innovation and research followed quickly and further progress has been made in terms of understanding the application and available resources to enhance learning.

Not all of it has been smooth sailing. Many issues have cropped up in terms of the kind of infrastructure required (school environment) to the kind of software and hardware to be used (open source or branded products) or interventions that actually work in the field, and even the standards and quality that should be ensured, to ease the use of ICT in education. We have all felt the existence of the digital divide and the need for transparent and open standards. We have also seen the attraction technology holds for the young in our own homes and families. Needless to say, a child that grows up in the midst of technology will grow up unafraid of technology and very much in command of the same technology.

The past two years have seen digital Learning grow in terms of size, team, logistics, coverage, knowledge, etc. However, the most important facet of our growth, and makes all of us proud is the fact that we have been able to constantly reinvent ourselves and reach new heights. By virtue of this, we are convinced that there is much that can be done and needs to be done in the future to come. We hope all our readers and contributors will continue to support us in this journey.

We have pulled out all (full) stops in our effort to compile this issue with a complete sectorial view and hope you find value in it.

Hope you enjoy this Second Anniversary Issue!

Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

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Lets Take The Responsibility To Support Everyone's RIGHT TO EDUCATION Some of the themes in our forthcoming editions of

digitalLEARNING ICTs Infrastructure in Schools Open and Distance Learning ICTs For Special Needs ICTs for Leadership and Capacity Building Monitoring and Evaluation Public Private Partnership Vocational Education e-Content Enterprise e-Learning Instruction Design

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You will hear voices from Government, Academia, Industry, and All Stakeholders of ICTs and Education from and around eINDIA2008

Research And Innovation

For Advertising Enquiry, Contact: Siddharth Verma + 91-9811561645 siddharth@csdms.in For Editorial Enquiry, Contact: Manjushree Reddy + 91-9999662910 manjushree@csdms.in

ry a t n me

c om

ICTs The Only Way to Move Forward

Shri Arjun Singh

Minister Human Resource Development Government of India

Indians from all communities want to send their children for education now, which is great, since such desire seems to be picking up ground at the recent times. The HRD Minister, Shri Arjun Singh is working on generating more wills and interests for education, more resources and, given the enormity of the task, finding ways to work along with several other segments and partners to not only maintain the integrity of Indian institutions and universities, but be able to match the enormous challenges with a plan to create our own world class education system.

We don’t have enough colleges, especially those at the higher end of the spectrum. We also need to upgrade our secondary and primary schools, upgrade the entire education system. The HRD Minister also feels, there are several challenges all around, in the education sector. But the solution lies in advancing with the new age technologies.

‘And Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is the only way with which we can move forward in achieving our educational plans and goals’, the Minister hopes.

10

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

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N K Sinha Joint Secretary

Bureau of Distance Learning and Scholorships Government of India

Standardisation of content is our challenge. It has to be in the Wiki kind of approach. Leave it on the web in a tentative format, and let all the experts do the value addition till it is stabilised.

The community of intellectuals should take up the responsibility

How do you see deploying new technologies for ensuring quality distance education?

ICT is an empowering tool and everyone should use it. In the current scenario most of the institutes have their own website, some are bringing up their e-Content on the website as well. We are looking forward to bringing in more participation of people on the ICT path of knowledge exchange.

What are the Government initiatives and how do they contribute to the e-Readiness of the system?

The government strategy and approach for ICT in education are based on the four components: first, generate e-Content, second, provide affordable connectivity, third is access to the resources, and digital literacy, which is a key enabling factor in success of any ICT initiative.

Each of the above will have sub-classification, for example, e-Content will have components of pedagogy, designing, standardisation, validation, peer groups certification, testing, etc.

The cost of connectivity is a very important issue to be addressed. If it becomes too costly, no one will be 12

ICT Is A Small Investment

Intellectual Capital Needs Actual Investing motivated to log on to the available resources. Then there are concerns of standardisations, certification and testing of available content to create quality benchmarks.

All these issues are important and need to be tackled.

How do you strategise to address all these issues and challenges?

We have to go through state governments, organisations, NGOs, and schools. Self help groups can increase digital literacy. The e-Learning modules can be developed and easily followed by any learner with basic navigation skills. This concept needs to be spread across the country and one of the strategies is to bring in more awareness on digital literacy.

What are the key highlights and vision of the Higher Education Policy, distance education, in particular?

ICT will not only enable distance education, it will also enable the overall education structure of school and higher education including the distance education, and so we refer our initiative as ‘ICT for Education’ in India. The way you acquire knowledge is immaterial, whether by conventional or distance means. In our future strategy, we have been talking about the convergence between the two.

Online education is coming in a big way into the country. Don’t you think we need proper guidelines for this mode of learning?

There cannot be a regulator on Internet.

There are many sites and let the people decide what they want to use for eLearning. We as a government institution are putting our content free of cost for every learner through Sakshat. The content provided by the government

agency has to be benchmarked and has to be quality assured. Hence a peer group as a committee will decide the quality of the content, through vigorous standards.

Standardisation of content is our challenge. It has to be in the Wiki kind of approach. Leave it on the web in a tentative format, and let all the experts do the value addition till it is stabilised.

The community of intellectuals should own up the responsibility.

What is your vision for ‘Sakshat’?

The Sakshat portal will host all the content that will get generated and disseminated. This would be the one place to connect any village in any school or college, to an expert in a field and add to Sakshat content. They can send us their knowledge or innovations and we will validate and standardise the content and disseminate to all. Localised knowledge can hence be funneled to a central database and the teachers can also benefit from the information exchange and from other initiatives.

We don’t need IT-savvy teachers; what we are looking towards is sharing and building knowledge from the remotest of areas. Teachers should be empowered to share their innovations, research and experiences on a knowledge platform.

What are the 11th Plan development objectives, in relation to technologymediated education, and the budget outlay to meet the plan requirements?

INR 5,000 crore has been outlaid for 11th plan for ICT-enabled education.

This is a small investment; the actual investment is the intellectual capital getting invested. The entire country should get together, join the bandwagon and contribute intellectually, only then things will improve.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Internet In All Secondary Schools By 2012 manpower are in demand abroad. The new National Curriculum Framework for School Education, introduced in 2005, seeks to make learning enjoyable with focus on conceptual clarity and development of analytical ability.

Subhash C Khuntia Joint Secretary Bureau of School Education Ministry of HRD Government of India

All schools need to be transparent and accountable. As a first step, Central Board of Secondary Education is in the process of developing guidelines for disclosure of relevant information by every school affiliated with it for the benefit of parents and the public at large. The schools will be encouraged to maintain their web-sites with certain core information.

How do you rate the present situation of school education in India? Do you think India is moving in the right direction when it comes to working with the government of a developing nation in building more efficient education systems?

The present education scenario is a mixed one with some very high quality educational institutions co-existing with others where the quality is not acceptable. However, Indian education system has certain inherent strengths because of which Indian skilled Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

What are your plans for government schools in the current academic year?

The plan is for all-round improvement of the school system. Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the objective is to universalise elementary education (upto class VIII) with focus on quality improvement so as to improve the learning outcome of students. A similar country-wide programme to universalise access to secondary education and to improve quality is envisaged.

What are the challenges in universalisation of secondary education in the country? And how do you go about dealing with them?

Only 40% of children of age 15-18 are presently attending secondary schools (class 9-12). To participate in the knowledge economy of the 21st century, this must go up significantly. Our target is to enhance the gross enrolment ratio for classes 9-10 from 52% to 75% in 5 years, so that the ultimate goal of ensuring 10 years of school education for every child can be met in 10 years’ time. The challenges are many and can be broadly categorised under issues involving access, equity and quality.

There is need to provide access to quality secondary education for all sections of the population. Disparities based on gender, socio-economic condition, ruralurban location and disability need to be eliminated so that education can become truly inclusive.

What is your thought behind the schools (government and aided schools) reform to publish all their records, the attendance reports, progress, and other management and teaching learning information

online? What are the measures the government has taken in this direction?

All schools need to be transparent and accountable. As a first step, Central Board of Secondary Education developing guidelines for disclosure of relevant information by every school affiliated with it for the benefit of parents and the public at large. The schools will be encouraged to maintain their web-sites with certain core information. This will be extended to other schools progressively.

How do you plan to address the problem of non-performing government schools with ICTs explored further?

This problem has to be addressed using a multi-pronged strategy comprising sound policies for provision of necessary infrastructure, deployment of teachers and their motivation, and not the least improvement of the level of school governance through community participation. Use of ICT can greatly improve the effectiveness of these schools by making high quality material available to the students and by making the learning enjoyable. We plan to have desktops with broadband/Internet connectivity in all secondary and higher secondary schools in the country by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan.

There are many who are pessimistic about the state of the country’s education system? What would you like to say them?

I am optimistic about the future of our country in the field of education. Despite the prevailing level of poverty and illiteracy, the upward mobility visible in the society as a direct result of education is unprecedented. This new found confidence among the young is a very positive sign. The quality and reach of education will definitely respond to this newly created demand. Use of ICT will hasten this process to a great extent.

13

More ICT = Better Results? of traffic management, you are actually trying to send across more material in a given time.

Can you outline some of the projects you are active in?

One co-related activity that we are handling is a project known as the Digital Library of India. We have embarked on a project of digitising a million books and have developed a lot of partners in the process. Through them, we are trying to host the books on the web for free downloading.

N. Ravi Shanker

Jt. Secretary & Group Coordinator E-Infrastructure/E-Learning Group Department of Information Technology, Ministry of C&IT Government of India

ICT in schools would be such that, were there are a number of facilities lacking, if you are able to deploy ICT, you may be able to perhaps, permeate better into the minds of the students with the use of ICT. Can you broadly define your areas of operation in the emerging e-Learning trends?

The e-Learning component of Department of Information Technology focuses mainly on development of tools and technology which will enable eLearning to be expanded or proliferated.

In the technology aspect, what we are trying to do is develop authoring tools, by which we are trying to see how the learning process can be condensed through the medium. The second aspect deals with the optimisation of the transmission process. Like with any kind 14

We also have an activity called Technology-in-Content, through which the quality of services that we are rendering can be improved, enhanced and innovated. Technology partners such as IITs and our own institutions such as C-DAC are also associated with this activity. This is basically a test-bed activity to ensure that any product that is launched in the public domain has a high reliability factor.

Are there any success stories or products and projects that you have supported?

For example, DIT had supported a project called Brihaspati – an open source learning and content management tool at IIT Kanpur. One can download this tool from the website of IIT Kanpur.

They even provide a 2-day training.

Another area that has been identified is of the need for a Quality Framework for e-Learning issues, done at C-DAC, Hyderabad.

One of the interesting developments in digital learning is the difficulty that a buyer faces in the market in terms of which product is good for him/her, in the absence of benchmarks.

In the future the users of these digital learning tools will eventually include

government institutions. How would any of them be able to differentiate between good and bad?

Whether it is a government school or a private school, the syllabi of ICSE or CBSE are well defined. The syllabi does not change with the institution in which you study. The pedagogical approaches may vary from institution to institution, depending on their infrastructural strengths. Yes, ICT has been used in a number of private institutions and it has come to stay in quite a number of government schools as well. The ultimate test is the quality of students from these institutions. I would think that generalisations cannot be made that where there is more ICT, the student results are also better. ICT in schools would be such that, were there are a number of facilities lacking, if you are able to deploy ICT, you may be able to perhaps, permeate better into the minds of the students with the use of ICT. The second aspect is when we come to the realm of higher education, we are looking at the process of ‘any timeanywhere’ learning, which is where the digital processes of e-Learning would help. It is this particular facet that many private entrepreneurs have been able to market with synergy.

Ground reality is the lack of adequate teachers in very many institutions across the country. And because of the lack of teachers, there is lack of access to good quality lectures. So having virtual classroom network can supplement the higher education institutions, and can bring one solution to the whole problem.

Virtualization again has to be a twoway medium for carrying educational content. We need to have a high degree of reliability and for such standards, certain tools have to be developed before it is actually deployed in a field situation.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

@ nt e nm r e k v go wor

School Education & Literacy Funding The total allocation for education has risen to Rs. 32,352 crore in 2007-08, an increase by 34% over the previous year. An education cess (@ 2% on major Central taxes) was introduced to raise resources for providing universal elementary education. (A non-lapsable fund called Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh

was set up to receive the proceeds of the education cess to finance elementary education, including Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the national cooked mid-day meal programme). An additional education cess @ 1% on major Central taxes has been introduced in 2007-08 for funding secondary and higher education.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Several steps were taken in the 10th Plan 16

Initiatives of Ministry of HRD In 2007

Towards Quality, Equity and Excellence to expand access to primary education, especially the expansion in the SSA and MDM scheme. As a result, the number of out-of-school children declined from 32 to 7 million indicating that SSA brought an additional 25 million children into the education system during the 10th Plan period. The Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) for elementary schools (Class I-VIII) increased from 82.4% in 2001-02 to 93.5% in 2004-05.

In the last three years, 1,40,000 schools

opened, 1.3 crore children additionally enrolled and 5.76 lakh new teachers appointed.

The Cabinet decided to change the existing funding pattern of SSA programme during XIth Plan from 50:50. The funding pattern between the Central Government and States/UTs shall be in the ratio of 65:35 for the first two years of the XIth Plan, 60:40 for the third year, 55:45 for the fourth year and

50:50 thereafter. For 8 North Eastern States it will be 90:10.

Mid-day Meal MDM expanded to the upper primary stage to 3,479 Educational Backward Blocks in the current year and to all blocks across the country from the year 2008-09. With this an additional 2.3 crore children will stand to benefit from the programme. Mid-Day Meal (MDM) scheme is a centrally sponsored programme to support universalisation of primary education and to improve the nutritional status of children at primary stage. At present, MDM covers 12 crore primary school children.

The scheme has since been revised to provide cooked Mid-day Meal with enhanced nutritional content of 450 calories and 12 gms. of protein.

Education Index The Ministry of Human Resource Development, through the National University of Educational Planning & Administration, has developed an Education Development Index (EDI) to track progress of the States towards Universal Elementary Education (UEE), for Primary and Upper Primary levels as well as for a composite look at Elementary Education. The EDI as an exercise that will encourage the States to improve their performance. The EDI will also be calculated for all the districts. It is expected that this exercise will help more effective targeting of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) to the most needy districts.

Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya Scheme Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

– 101 under total literacy campaigns, 171 under post literacy programme and 325 under continuing education programme.

About 120.39 million persons have been covered under literacy programmes as on 31.3.2006. About 60% of the beneficiaries are women while 22% and 12% belong to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes respectively.

Scheme, under which 1,000 new schools have been approved in the year 2006, besides the 1,180 approved earlier, provides residential education to girls predominantly belonging to the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities.

Reforms In Secondary Education The Central Government is committed to make secondary education of good quality available, accessible and affordable to all children. A major initiative to expand secondary education is being taken in the 11th Five Year Plan. A scheme named “Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan” with the main objective to provide universal access by 2015 and universal retention by 2020, is proposed to be launched.

Vocationalisation of Secondary Education The Government initiated a scheme to provide one time financial assistance of Rs. 12.3 crore for establishment of 65 new polytechnics in the country and also by providing financial assistance for upgradation of infrastructural facilities in 177 existing polytechnics. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has permitted double shifts in those diploma level institutions where adequate infrastructure, faculty and other facilities are available. AICTE has also relaxed the norms for land requirement for establishment of diploma level institutes by fifty percent.

Nios Online (Ni-on) Project National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) initiated Online Admissions under its NIOS Online (Ni-On) Project Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

from this year onwards. This unique facility, available for the first time in any Open Learning System in India, will facilitate the learners in directly accessing NIOS. It will lead to a rapid increase in the numbers of learner enrolment with NIOS and thereby assist the Government’s effort of Universalisation of Secondary Education.

National Curriculum Framework National Curriculum Framework (NCF), 2005 prepared by National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) has suggested a shift from content-based testing to problem solving and competency based testing with emphasis on short answer type questions and well designed multiple choice questions. NCERT also held discussions with State Examination Boards in four regional meetings held at Shillong, Ajmer, Bhopal and Bhubaneswar on 17-18 July 2007, 31 July-1 August 2007, 05-06 August 2007 and 2223 August 2007 respectively.

Central Board of Secondary Education and School Boards of Haryana, Kerala and Goa have made a beginning in implementing some of the recommendations.

Minority Education Recommendations contained in the report of the Justice Sachar Committee in regard to education are already under implementation inter alia improve access of the Muslim minorities to all levels of education, strengthen the scheme of introduction of modern subjects in Madarsas, and also provide incentives to States for setting up colleges in Muslim Concentration Districts which are now in Gross Enrolment Ratio for higher education or have a low density of higher educational institutions vis-a-vis population.

Schemes such as the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Introduction of Modern Subjects in Madarsas already have the support of the State Governments.

A Committee headed by Shri M.A.A. Fatmi, Union Minister of State in the Ministry of HRD has given its recommendations for giving a boost to Minority Education in the light of the Sachar Committee Report.

National Literacy In the field of adult education and literacy, out of 600 districts in the country 597 have since been covered under various programmes 17

These recommendations are under implementation.

Conference Of The State Education Ministers A Conference of the State Education Ministers was held on 10th and 11th April, 2007. The Conference urged that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) continue to be implemented with the vigour and commitment and with fullest attention to issues of equity, improvement of learning outcomes, focused programmes for improving language and mathematics skills and tracking student, as well as teacher attendance. In the field of Higher Education, the Conference recommended that the, Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) of higher education be raised from the present 10% to at least 15%.

Higher Education Moily Committee Access to education is of utmost importance for improvement of disadvantaged sections. The central educational institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act has, therefore, been enacted and has been notified in Januay 2007, in pursuance of the 93rd Amendment to the Constitution of India, to provide statutory reservations to SCs, STs and OBCs in Central Educational Institutions. With regard to OBC reservations, the Oversight Committee (Moily Committee) recommended an investment of INR 17,270.22 crores over a period of five years for the Central Educational Institutions, to increase their intake capacity by 54%, in a phased manner over a period of three years, ensuring that OBC reservations would not lead to any reduction in the seats as were available to the general category students. The issue is, however, sub-judice.

Sakshat ‘Sakshat,’ a free one-stop portal for education has been launched by His Excellency, the President of India in October 2006, to address education and learning needs of students, scholars, teachers and lifelong learners.

18

HRD’S Major Initiatives In North East In 2007 The North Eastern Region (NER) comprising of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura are all special category States and the national planning and resource allocations impart a special emphasis on the economic and social development of NE States. The development plans in the North East are centrally financed on the basis of 90% grant and 10% loan.

The NE states have been provided grants under the Non Lapsable Central Pool of Resources (NLCPR) to improve their infrastructure facilities. The Empowered Committee administering the NLCPR has since its inception in 1998-99, approved proposals worth INR 816.66 crore for the development of educational infrastructure in the NER, out of which, funds amounting to INR 655.84 crore have been released (as on 30.11.2007). During 2006-07 and 2007-08, an amount of INR 159.99 crore and INR 51.87 crore has been released for various educational projects.

• Setting up of an Indian Institute of Management (IIM) in NER • It has been decided to set up an IIM at Shillong. The State Govt. will provide land measuring 120 acres or more free of cost for IIM, Shillong. The academic session will commence from the academic year 2007-08.

• Rajiv Gandhi University, Arunachal Pradesh, and Tripura University, Agartala, Tripura have been converted into Central Universities in 2007.

• Established a Central University in Sikkim in 2007.

• National Institute of Technology (NIT), Agartala:

The NIT, Agartala (the erstwhile Tripura Engineering College (TEC), Agartala) would be integrated with other National Institutes of Technology (NITs) in terms of academic and administrative practices from the academic session 2006-2007.

• Upgradation of Manipur Institute of Technology (MIT) into a National Institute of Technology (NIT): The Central Government has approved, in principle, the up gradation of the Manipur Institute of Technology (MIT) to that of National Institute of Technology (NIT). A Central Team after inspection from 19-21 September 2007 have submitted a favorable report to Hon’ble HRM in November 2007, which is under process.

• Setting up of Engineering and Management faculties in the North Eastern States: During the year 2004-05, a total sum of INR 52.00 crores was released to five Central Universities located in the State of Meghalaya, Nagaland, Mizoram and Assam and three State universities in Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh and Tripura (which have been converted into Central Universities later in the years 2006 and 2007) for setting up of Engineering and Management faculties in the North Eastern States. The courses have been started in all such Universities except Mizoram. The Mizoram University could start Management Programme only in July 2007.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

its report in December, 2006. The report recommended establishment of a Workers Technical University for inter-alia training the students from workers family and those belonging to economically poor sections of the society particularly form rural areas to make them more relevant to the needs of today’s technology intensive and knowledge driven industrial society.

Promotion Of Languages A three-day National Seminar on ‘1857: Renaissance and Indian Languages’ was organised by Central Institute of Hindi, Distance Learning Access to education through the Open and Distance Learning system is expanding rapidly. The Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) now has a cumulative enrollment of about 15 lakh.

Initiatives for Higher Education The Prime Minister in his Independence day speech announced the setting up of 6,000 new high quality schoolsone in every block of the country; 370 colleges in various districts, 1,600 new Industrial Training Institutes (ITIs) and Polytechnics; 10,000 new vocational schools and 5,000 new Skill Development Centres. The Government plans to seek active help of the private sector in its initiatives. The Government also plans to set up 30 new Central Universities; 5 new Institutes of Science Education & Research (IISERs); 8 new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs); 7 new Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 20 new Indian Institutes of Information Technology (IIITs).

Central University For Sikkim, One Iim In Shillong Prof. Mahendra P. Lama becomes first Vice Chancellor of Sikkim University.

The Central Government notified on 2.7.07 the coming into force of the Sikkim University Act, 2006 . Now all States in the North East have one Central University each. One new Institute of Management has recently being opened in Shillong.

National Institutes of Technology National Institutes of Technology Act, Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Education In 11th Five Year Plan

The XI Plan attempts to bring about a massive transformation in this area through many new initiatives. While strengthening the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, a new scheme for universalising secondary education is being proposed. In addition, 6000 model schools in all Blocks, 30 new Central Universities, 370 new colleges in educationally backward districts, a Skill Development Mission to cater to 1 crore students per year and a huge expansion in the number of Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of Management, Indian Institutes of Information Technology, Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research are proposed in the XI Plan.

07 becomes operational on 15th August, 2007. Erstwhile Regional Engineering Colleges/Government Engineering Colleges have been converted into National Institutes of Technology (NITs) with changes in their governance structure. There are 20 NITs at present.

Indira Gandhi National Tribal University Parliament passed the Bill for to establish Indira Gandhi National Tribal University, a teaching and affiliating university at Amarkantak in the State of Madhya Pradesh, to facilitate and promote avenues of higher education and research facilities for the tribal population of India.

Workers Technical University The Committee constituted by this Ministry under the Chairmanship of Dr. G. Sanjeeva Reddy has since submitted

Hyderabad Centre from 16-18th March, 2007 to commemorate the 150th Anniversary of India’s First Struggle of Independence.

Monitorable Targets To monitor the progress of education in India, five targets have been proposed at the national level. These monitorable targets are: (i) Reduction in the drop out rates of children from elementary school from 52.2% in 2003-04 to 20% by 201112, that is by the end of the Eleventh Plan, (ii) Developing minimum standards of educational attainment in elementary schools (iii) Increasing the literacy rate for persons of age 7 years or more to 85% by 2011-12, (iv) Lowering the gender gap in literacy to 10 percentage points by 2011-12, and (v) Increasing the percentage of each cohort going to higher education from the present 10% to 15% by 2011-12.

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e r t n ce vs e t sta

Towards Universalisation of Education Interviews: Keshab Majumdar

Minister, School Education, Government of Tripura

T M Vijay Bhaskar

Secretary, Education, Government of Karnataka

R Parthasarathy

State Project Director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Government of Pondicherry

N K Bhagawati

Deputy Director, Secondary Schools, Government of Assam

Deepak Chauhan

MIS Officer, Government of Gujarat

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January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

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While the all India teacher student ratio is 40:1, that too is probably for the SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan), in our state it is 30:1. Our goal is to bring it down further to 20:1.

Keshab Majumdar, Minister, School Education, Government of Tripura

0% illiterates by 2010!

What is the current strategy adopted to make ICT an integral part of the educational system in Tripura?

We are introducing computer learning from class I and computer education from class VI. We have started education through satellite with EDUSAT in August this year at 50 stations in Tripura. The teachers and students at all these 50 stations are getting distance education from Agartala through EDUSAT. We have also introduced it in our technical education institute that is sponsored by the Central government and also in the engineering college for technical education. We have started an ICT College from Women too.

Tripura Board of Secondary Education includes computer as subject from Class VI to XII. In the First phase, 8 schools have already been covered and 50 more schools will be covered soon.

What are the challenges you come across in the state education sector?

Challenge is the illiteracy! Our goal is ‘education for all’ and to bring illiteracy to zero % by 2010.

Is their any state-specific strategy coming up in future in terms of integrating ICTs? From this year we are starting it from class I which will be taken up to the university level with the view that our students can get technology education.

How are the Public Private Partnerships going on in the states?

The contribution of private sector in 22

education is not there. More than 95% institutions in both, lower and higher level, are government run, from primary to university level. Only one private university, ICFAI has been started in our state, besides Bhariya Vidya Bhawan started an Engineering College and started imparting education in Information Technology.

What targets are there in your agenda for school education in the state?

In school education, we are targeting to bring down the dropout rate to zero percent by 2010. From class I to V, the dropout rate in the state is 7.6 and in upper primary level it is 17.6. But in secondary education it is 67%. Our goal is to bring down the drop out to zero % by 2010 in primary education and by 2020 in the secondary education.

What are the educational programmes running in the state? How successful is the SSA programme in the state?

We are running the SSA programme very successfully in our state. The dropout rate is decreasing and the literacy rate is increasing in the state.

The number of students in primary education is more than 8 lakhs. At the primary level another literacy programme is on for the age group of 3 to 6 years. Another programme of informal education for 15 to 50 age group, and one formal education for 6 plus years are also in action.

How dependent you are on the Central government for educational

planning and programmes in the state? How do you see the CentreState relationship in the education sector?

Education is not only the State’s subject now, since the constitutional amendments of 1975. More attention needs to be given to states like Tripura and the other North Eastern states. The Central assistance should be 90:10 to states like ours in stead of 50:50.

In a state like ours where 67% of the people are below poverty line, how can we provide education with only the Central Government assistance! Considering the economic status of the North Eastern states, some more measures need to be taken by the Central Government.

How improved is a teacher-training facility in Tripura with which imparting ICT enabled education comes easier?

While the all India teacher student ratio is 40:1, that too is probably for the SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan), in our state it is 30:1. Our goal is to bring it down further to 20:1. At the primary level we have four teacher training institutions in our state and we have one at the secondary stage.

We have also engaged IGNOU for providing distance education for training our teacher, under which 3,000 teachers are provided training per year. We are trying to provide training to 4,000 teachers per year. We have 34,000 teachers in our state out of whom 50% are trained.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

T M Vijay Bhaskar

Secretary (Primary & Secondary Education) Government of Karnataka

There is no need for a separate ICT in School Education policy, because ICT is only one of the features of a desirable school. Hence it should be part of the larger requirement of a policy for good effective schools that provide quality education to all children in the schoolgoing age group

Infrastructure Is A Greater Priority Than ICT Can you discuss the vision and the major thrust of current education policy in your state, in terms of use and integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs)?

What is the current strategy adopted in this direction?

The role of ICT is to help in achieving universal school education with quality for all children. It is being used for both attracting students to school and thereby improving enrolment rates as well as for providing computer aided education and computer proficiency skills to students. This will enable them to make use of opportunities presented

by ICT for further learning as well as in the employment market. Right now our focus is on providing computers through ICT in schools scheme in all our Govt high schools and higher secondary schools.

We wish to make computer education available to all rural and urban children irrespective of caste, class and gender.

The challenge is greater in regard to use of ICT in primary schools in view of the large number of such schools.

Obviously there has to be a phased introduction of ICT in primary schools.

The use of EDUSAT based video lessons has been evaluated and found to be effective in raising learning levels in higher primary sections. This holds out great promise because of lower cost Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

compared to providing computer labs.

Similarly radio is being used for many years to make classroom teaching more enjoyable.

are training /have trained the teachers in all the high schools covered by them.

Training is given during vacations to the teachers.

Any remarkable change or development seen in the elementary/ primary/secondary level of education?

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan has built upon the gains made under Operation Blackboard, DPEP to bring about visible changes in primary schools everywhere. Karnataka State Government has also extended mid-day meal scheme, free uniforms and free textbooks to all children irrespective of caste, class or gender in all Govt schools from Class 1 to Class 10. Funds are also being drawn from RIDF to improve infrastructure in high schools. The new plan scheme of providing bicycles to all children belonging to BPL families who join Class 8 in Government and aided schools has also enabled greater enrolment.

In addition Microsoft has set up Microsoft Academies and Intel is also helping to train many teachers. IBM, America India Foundation and many other NGOs and IT companies are also helping in providing computers in schools.

How improved is a teacher-training facility in the state to impart ICT enabled education?

Teachers cannot be replaced by ICT enabled education. They have to be trained to use ICT to good effect. The agencies which have been entrusted with delivery of ICT education services

What are the major hurdles and challenges faced in this direction so far? Do you think an ICT in School Education policy would help in this line? What are the areas for policy level interventions do you think required in the developing country context like that of India?

Priority in school education is to provide basic amenities and infrastructure. Toilets, desks, libraries, laboratories, sports equipment, playgrounds, compound walls, etc are greater priorities than ICT. There is no need for a separate ICT in School Education policy because ICT is only one of the features of a desirable school. Hence it should be part of the larger requirement of a policy for good effective schools that provide quality education to all children in the school going age group.

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Though complete online courses of school curriculum are not available, implementing the engaged learning and integrating of technologies in curriculum transaction will definitely contribute in raising the achievement level of students. The classroom with computers and computer assisted instructions were the developments at the initial stage. Now that computers are used as tools for learner centered practice, the interactive methodology tailored to cater individual will definitely scroll up learning opportunity and there by facilitate higher order thinking and cognitive ability.

P ParthaSarathy State Project Director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

Government of Pondicherry

Parity In Gender, Region, A Thing Of Past!

How would ICT impact education in your state?

In school education system, the critical component of learning is always the curriculum. However effective the design and development of curriculum, the delivery system will definitely contribute in transforming the curriculum in to learning skill.

students. The teachers are trained to use the interactive content as an effective supplement to classroom teaching.

Now it is proposed to exploit the latest facilities like high speed Internet (broadband) to make each classroom arena, where all relevant information is available at the touch of the screen/keyboard.

In Puducherry (formerly known as Pondicherry), the integration of technology in teaching is being done in phased manner, as there is an attitudinal change with stakeholders of educational system which has paved the way for quick implementation.

The government of Pondicherry is very keen on providing IT literacy, particularly among the rural and urban poor students studying in government school. For this, infrastructure facilities like computers, software were rolled out in schools and students were given training in operating the computers.

In the second phase, precisely in 2004, SSA (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan) unit launched its novel programme of Computer Aided Learning in all Middle and High schools. The schools were supplied with digital content in local language, pertaining to class I to VIII. The curricular content of that is child centric, interactive and playful, with assessment tools. These subject materials are competency based and are used as reinforcement material by the

How would you envision the SSA project replicated in other states or other educational contexts?

The designing and implementation of the existing model of computer aided learning in Puducherry is a partial replica of the model available in other parts of the world. The model could be replicable if other states take it in the same spirit.

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What role does the Public Private Partnership plays in the context of the State's school education system, especially in the SSA project?

The State has established promising partnerships with like minded institutions; mainly NGO’s who are contributing to improve the quality of education in Government schools. The curricular digital content supplied to the schools are provided free of cost

by Azim Premji Foundation, a not-forprofit organisation, based in Bangalore.

The foundation is also supporting the state in building the state level key resource persons, for

teacher training. Besides the INTEL’s “Project based learning” and IBM Kid’s smart programme are the examples of states association with PPP ventures.

What does the State’s reaction to the current funding pattern for SSA project? How prepared is the state to take the project forward with little dependency on the Union government?

The current funding pattern is slowly shifting the responsibility to the States shoulders and in due course it will be 50 -50. In my opinion, most of the state are not prepared to proceed forward with the project at same tempo in absence of central funding.

Which one is a most pressing challenge in your state?

Mindset of the teachers are main challenges encountered in achieving the target, especially in introducing the ICT in schools.

What are the new programmes being planned? Where do you see the state is going in terms of quality education?

Definitely a drastic improvement in the quality in Elementary education especially in all Govt schools will be implicit. Moreover, parity in gender, region and social will remain as a thing of past.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

N K Bhagawati

Deputy Director of Secondary Schools Government of Assam

As regards content, there should have a clear-cut training plan on contents and as regards corruption, the main clientèle groups should be involved in all management affairs under strong vigilance experts

In Agenda

Universalising Secondary Education How would ICT impact education in your state?

The State of Assam is still lagging far behind the rest of the Country. Not to speak of innovative in the e-Learning arena solutions and best practices, we could not even start the basics of e-Learning in our school education.

Our school education is still in an infant stage in the use of e-Learning in teaching and learning processes.

So, we have to adopt some specific policies to cater to the academic need, in this area.

How would you envision th SSA project replicated in other states or other educational contexts?

Mass enrolment of non-starters/ dropouts alone cannot be termed as an achievement of an educational project; rather the quality output should be the main target of any educational project.

The sustainability of good results for such projects needs to be planned before designing any activity taken up for implementation. There should be some mechanism for neutral evaluation and for identification of successes or sustainability issues, where in the organisation(s) identified for sustaining the benefits in future should have been involved. The question of replicability will come based on identification of achievements, in terms of quality, which should be judged from the situation that prevailed before the project started.

What are the key areas where ICT can upgrade human resource development? What are the key 26

skill requirements for Educators: Pedagogical/Technical?

ICT can definitely upgrade the human resources for overall development of the Country. As I mentioned already, the State of Assam is still lagging far behind in this respect and hence the key skill requirements are both pedagogical and technical.

Because, a large chunk of teachers, teacher educators and the educational administrators are yet to know the basics of computers itself, not speaking of innovative e-Learning solutions. In this case too, mere supply of some systems will not achieve anything unless the teachers, teacher educators and the educational administrators are motivated and trained adequately.

What is the State’s reaction to the current funding pattern for SSA project? How prepared is the State to take the project forward with little dependency on the Union Government?

Our State is happy with the decision of Central Government for continuation of the 90:10 pattern of funding for the project; but there should be a proper planning for its sustainability in the long run. The current level of expenditure now incurred by the State Government in the elementary education sector, which is being incurred in addition to the project share, should be treated as State’s share in the future, in order to sustain the benefits of SSA, without which the mainstreaming of the successes of the said project will not be possible for an economically backward State like Assam.

Which one is a most pressing challenge in your state?

The teacher absenteeism and poor quality of teaching can easily be removed by developing a well-defined mechanism for regular inspection and supervision, a mechanism for networking, for reporting and generating awareness among the people. So far as infrastructure and funds are concerned; 50:50 responsibilities should be shared by the State and Centre, even after any project period is over. As regards content, there should a clear-cut training plan on contents and as regards corruption, the main clientèle groups should be involved in all management affairs under strong vigilance experts. The challenges now faced in achieving the targets includes shortage of manpower, inadequacy in allocation of funds, lack of inter and intra-departmental co-ordination, continuation of age-old regulations, lack of proper social mobilisation, lack of system for regular flow of information, inadequate mechanism for supervision and inspection and so on.

What are the new programmes being planned? Where do you see the state is going in terms of quality education?

The State Government is now planning for Universalisation of Quality Secondary Education which is necessary in view of the large-scale output of SSA. It will again depend on the funding pattern between the State and the Central Government. Besides, there are plans to cover all the Secondary & Higher Secondary Schools under the ICT Scheme in the in future.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Any innovative activity needs some time for the end users to conceive and accept. Similarly, the main challenge was the acceptance of the innovative activity. A strong dedicated team at State and down the line are the strong points for successful implementation of innovative programmes.

Deepak chauhan

MIS Officer Government of Gujarat

Maximum Coverage Of CAL In emerging trends of e-Learning where do you place the school education system in your state? What are the innovative learning solutions, best practices or policies specific to the state, that make it a glorified or a successful teaching/ learning system?

The School Education System at elementary level in Gujarat is at half way in context with the emerging trend of e-Learning. In Gujarat, the Computer Aided Learning(CAL) was started in 2003-04 with 517 schools as an innovative activity which was expanded in 5,371 schools. The idea is to make the students able to learn themselves the difficult topics of the syllabus with the help of Multimedia based Education Contents. Use of Technology as a tool and not as a subject at elementary level is an innovative and best practice for a successful learning system.

Do you think what you have been able to do in the SSA project or in this state’s education sector is replicable in other states or in other educational contexts? How do you see this happening?

Most of the states are implementing the same project but of course, the structure which Gujarat has created, may be replicable in other states. In Gujarat, the computer labs established have a minimum of 6 computers, so that every child can have Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

the access of computer twice in week minimum. Also the bigger schools have 10 computers.

What role does the Public Private Partnership plays in the context of the state’s school education system, especially in relation to the SSA project? How will the public- private partnership be built: self- propelled or centrally guided?

In the initial phase of CAL, Gujarat has tied up with Azim Premji Foundation for multimedia based content on Hardspots. Also SSA Gujarat is closely working with INTEL for teacher training in computer literacy. The Public Private Partnership (PPP) plays a vital role in school educational system. In Gujarat, the PPP is self-propelled.

What are the key areas where ICT can upgrade human resource development? What are the key skill requirements for Educators: Pedagogical/ Technical?

ICT can upgrade Human Resource Development in many areas, like decision making systems, analysis of data, presentation of the difficult topics etc. Both technical, as well as pedagogical skills are required for educators.

What does the State’s reaction to the current funding pattern for

SSA project. How prepared is the State to take the project forward with little dependency on the Union government?

The funding pattern of centrally sponsored schemes should be 75:25 as it was at the beginning of the scheme.

However, Gujarat can sustain the schemes with the existing pattern also.

Which one is the biggest challenge in your state-Teacher absenteeism, Poor quality teaching, Infrastructure, Content, Funds, Corruption, or anything else? What are the challenges you face in achieving the targets that you have set for Educational Development of your state?

Any innovative activity needs some time for the end users to receive and accept.

Similarly, the main challenge was the acceptance of the innovative activity.

A strong dedicated team at State and down the line are the strong points for successful implementation of innovative programmes.

What are the new programmes being planned? In 5 years from now, where do you see the State is going in learns of quality education? What is there in your personal agenda?

Maximum coverage of the Computer Aided Learning is the agenda. In 5 years from now, Gujarat will be on top in terms of quality education.

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e t a r o yer p r fl o c h g hi Interviews: Sunil Patil, UBICS Shameema Praveen, Edutech Shantanu Prakash, Educomp

Leaders’ Speak

Navyug Manhot, Edista Learning Jaemes Shanley, mimio Manish Amte, Cambridge University Press India

Amit Gupta, S Chand & Company

Anshul Sonak, Intel Capt K J S Brar, Designmate Girish Prabhu, GurujiWorld Sonjib Mukharjee, Metalearn Sunita Joshi, JIL IT Ashish Dham, Globus C V Chandrashekhar, Tenable Learning Solutions

Rajiv Johar, Almoe Digital Solutions K S Muralidhar, LearnSmart India A M Sheshagiri, Oracle India Monica Malhotra Kandhari, MBD Alchemie 28

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Distance Learning Solutions

Bringing Cost Effectivity

Sunil patil

Headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, UBICS brings the expertise resulting from a successful history in IT professional services. With strong presence in the U.S., Asia, Europe, the Middle East and Africa, UBICS provides cutting-edge technological products, co-managed IT Services, infrastructure management, and strategic IT solutions, from design to development under the onsite and/or offshore model.

President - Global Operations UBICS

www.ubics.com Stepping outside your role as a CEO or as a lead person in the company, speaking strictly as a user, why do you like your initiative in education?

When using it, what strikes you as the cool feature(s)?

Today the world is a local place and if I need an expertise from the other side of the globe, I can get it right at my fingertips. I believe that online education solutions addresses this more effectively than anything else. Also, the first beneficial aspect that comes up is cost-saving with respect to time/travel costs. I can

learn at my own pace and in the comforts of my own place and in much more detail.

Would you like to describe your partners, the who, why, and how factors of your company or the educational undertakings?

In India, we have universities with more than 400-500 colleges under their umbrella. In case there is a special visiting faculty, the students who are in immediate proximity can derive the benefits of the lecture. But with the distance learning software, you can accommodate each and every student, irrespective of his/her geographic locations, by A right solution always needs broadcasting the lecture live over right backing and being part of the Internet and also by archiving USD 5 billion UB Group makes it the same simultaneously so that more exciting for us it can be made available in the future.

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Whether and how nervous are you with the e-Education ventures of yours when you see it more competitively?

We are not nervous about what we are offering as we have studied the market and have found that the other solutions in the market consume heavy bandwidths when features such as desktop sharing or application sharing are used. Our patented technology executes the said task with matchless ease and makes the entire offering a very cost-effective and bandwidth friendly solution. A right solution always needs right backing and being part of USD 5 billion UB Group makes it more exciting for us.

What are the core issues that hinder the widespread use of your educational services?

There are no such very core issues, in fact, we see it as an opportunity in this region where bandwidth is a major constraint.

What are the other areas/ ventures of your company, or planning for in future? Would you like to share some of your future strategies for the Indian education sector?

Other than the enterprise distance education solution, we also provide solutions for Software-based Video Conferencing, On-Demand Video Creation with Content Synchronisations, Webcasting with Web-assets Synchronisation, Live Events Video Transmission over the Internet.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Awareness! Teacher Training!

Bottlenecks Are Many Our alliance with leading publishers and technology companies in education, training and information allows us to provide a wide-ranging suite of solutions and services to customers across verticals. Some of our best-in-breed learning technology partners include Blackboard (LMS), elluminate (online collaboration tool), Questionmark (the online assessment management system), Lectora (content authoring tool), Tegrity (class capture and delivery system), Robotel (SmartClass language labs), etc.

shameema parveen Knowledge Officer Edutech

How about the Indian market for a product or service like that of yours, who needs it, who will have it, and where is it going?

The current state of education infrastructure in India lends itself well to the use of technology and therefore presents a huge opportunity. There is a huge demand-supply gap for technologies that make a difference in the learning process.

Keeping this opportunity in mind, Edutech has evolved a modular eEducation framework by establishing partnerships with the world’s leading technology and content providers and providing pre-consulting, integration and support services to help institutions rapidly create the required infrastructure to deliver learning and ensure that the envisaged learning outcomes are met.

Stepping outside your role as a lead person in the company, speaking Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

strictly as a user, why do you like your initiative in education? When using it, what strikes you as the cool feature(s)?

Technology in learning is transforming, or has the power to transform the classroom, to make it learner-centric. That is something that I find fascinating and I wish that I could have experienced the power of that transformation when I was studying. Learner-centred or outcome-oriented education has the capacity to create active, independent and solution-driven learners that are required by the knowledge economy today.

Learning is happening today through teachers, through the Internet, from other students and peers, through collaborative learning inside and outside the classroom and technology is an integral part of this new learning process.

www.edutech.com

Would you like to describe your partners, the who, why, and how factors of your company or the educational undertakings?

Edutech’s partnership with global industry leaders across verticals facilitates our tapping into a wealth of information from across the world. Our alliance with leading publishers and technology companies in education, training and information allows us to provide a wide-ranging suite of solutions and services to customers across verticals. Some of our best-in-breed learning technology partners include Blackboard (course management system), elluminate (online collaboration tool), Questionmark (the online assessment management system), Lectora (content authoring tool), Tegrity (class capture and delivery system), Robotel (SmartClass language labs), etc. Our service capabilities ably support these technologies and ensure that they produce results.

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C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak How is your company doing in different markets? What kind of adoption rates have you noticed for it in both domestic and global markets?

Edutech has been in the learning industry for over 16 years. Our global operations span India, the Middle East, US, Malaysia and Singapore.

Edutech has worked extensively with schools, universities and business enterprises in the UAE providing technology based learning resources and implementing online educational infrastructure.

While India has some way to go to meet global standards of education, it is indeed heartening to see that many Indian educational institutions are stepping up their technology adoption and improving the standards of education that they offer to their students. The Government of India is also actively ushering in new policies and programmes to encourage technology implementation and adoption across the education sector in the country right from elementary to higher education and beyond.

In other markets, we are beginning to see the integration of academic and

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administrative technologies to provide a seamless educational experience for learners as well as faculty.

How far have your past experiences helped you in overseeing the development and direction of applications in the present e-Educational ventures?

With over 16 years of working in the learning industry and a presence across the Middle East, India, US and Malaysia, Edutech has gained firsthand knowledge of how the learning industry works. Our 300+ customers include not only K-12 schools, colleges and universities but only companies, government departments, research bodies, libraries and the military.

The online assessments that Edutech has conducted for students of Andhra University is an example of the utilisation of our expertise and the experience in the learning industry to bring the latest educational technologies and best practice to education. Edutech has partnered with Andhra university for a 3-year assessment project where Edutech has already conducted 1,50,000 online assessments over 2006 and

2007. This year, we will be conducting another 1,50,000 assessments for Andhra University. Through this project Edutech contributed to Andhra University’s objective of evaluating and improving students’ ability to communicate in English and thus be more job-ready for the IT/ ITeS industry.

What are the core issues that hinder the widespread use of your educational services?

Awareness is one of the key issues that hinder the widespread use of technology in learning. Because of this, many institutions approach technologybased learning with a great degree of skepticism.

Another factor that inhibits the use of technology is that faculty/teachers are not taught /mentored in the use of technology in teaching. Lack of adequate infrastructure has also created bottlenecks as far as adopting technologies are concerned. We also need to create a forum where success stories and best practices are shared so that the stakeholders are convinced about the benefits of technology-based learning.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

We Will Reach 10 Million Students By 2009 Stepping outside your role as a CEO or as a lead person in the company, speaking strictly as an user, why do you like your initiative in education?

At Educomp, our focus area has been how to make learning easy and interesting for children. Our products are therefore carefully designed to address those pain areas which have made process of learning dull and difficult. With Smart Class system, rich multimedia content was made available in class which not only made subjects/topics interesting but easily understandable to all students. Similarly our online Math self help portal mathguru.com was developed keeping in mind the need for students to have a 24x7 tutor who would help them solve any math problem.

How is your company doing in different markets and places? What kind of adoption rates have you noticed for it in both domestic and global markets?

Over the last few years, Educomp has growing at over 100% each year been with increased penetration and faster adoption for our products and services.

From a humble start of setting up a learning lab in a school over 13 years back, Educomp today works with over 7,000 schools and 4 million learners worldwide. We are India’s largest professional development company, having trained over 7.5 lakh teachers to date. We are also the largest player in Private-Public Partnership in ICT implementation in government schools under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Our online tutoring initiatives mathguru. com and now Learninghour.com are registering fast growth among students.

Children in both private and Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Educomp today works with over 7000 schools and 4 million learners worldwide. We are India’s largest professional development company, having trained over 7.5 lakh teachers to date. We are also the largest player in Private-Public Partnership in ICT implementation in government schools under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

shantanu prakash CEO Educomp Solutions

government schools in India are benefiting from Educomp developed rich multimedia curriculum content available in over 10 languages. We are the first education company to invest in pioneering ventures such as Savvica which will enable large scale education communities on a global scale.

Would you like to share some of your future strategies for Indian education sector?

There are two specific aspects which Educomp will be focusing on over the next few years in the domestic market.

• School to workplace programmes making students employable as soon as they are out of schools.

Educomp today works with about 4 million students across the country, many of them from areas where getting a job in India’s new knowledge economy is a highly aspirational proposition.

• One on One Computing: Educomp through strategic alliance with partners will focus

www.educomp.com on next generation computing in the classroom namely one on one computing when large school bags will be replaced with a computing device.

As the overseas market expansion plans, Educomp started executing its global strategy by acquiring Ask and Learn, the leading education company in Singapore with a market share of over 60%. Simultaneously Educomp is also looking at acquiring other companies in the region in countries such as Vietnam, China, Malaysia, Thailand, etc., thus becoming the dominant player in this space.

Like in SE Asia, Educomp is leveraging its competency in digital content solutions in US as well. The content development for the US, which is done out of Educomp’s global development center in Bangalore is in process of developing high quality digital content aligned to US learning standards.

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C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

EdistaLearning

From Best Practices to Next Practices People need to understand that the need of the hour is industry specific, practitioner structured, rigorous yet flexible training, focusing on building competency for enabling, measuring, and sustaining excellence in Software Engineering and Quality Management

navyug manhot CEO QAI

Can you share your business overview on the Indian market?

EdistaLearning aims to provide a complete learning-to-assessment, web-based solution, on Software Engineering‚ Process and Quality to software professionals and organizations across the world. Currently‚ EdistaLearning offers 45 online courses in the domains of Software Engineering and Quality Management covering areas such as Software Engineering Process Approach‚ Software Project Management‚ Software Quality Management‚ Software Configuration Management‚ Software Testing‚ Software Estimation and many more. It also offers a course on Software Project Management as a qualifying PMI PDU activity and learners earn 35 PDUs on completion of this course. EdistaLearning curriculum can be accessed through EdistaLearning’s Learning Management System (LMS).

Stepping outside your role as a CEO and speaking strictly as an user, what 34

www.qaiindia.com do you like about your own initiative in education?

The fact that the world’s leading software process Improvement firm, QAI, with its 500 man-years of cumulative domain expertise and 23 years of worldwide consulting and training experience offers its strong backing to EdistaLearning, making it a very credible product. There are no other providers making concepts of Software Engineering and Quality Management available in an online mode.

EdistaLearning was also listed as a ‘Top Specialised Learning Process Provider’ in the 2007 TrainingOutsourcing.com’s 'Top 20 Companies in the Training Outsourcing Industry' survey.

How is your company doing in different markets? What adoption rates have you witnessed in both domestic and global markets?

The response has been extraordinary, we have received inquiries from all over the world, places like US, China, Ghana, Middle East, Pakistan, Philippines, Africa, Sri Lanka for our courses.

How have you studied the Indian market for the education and learning community? What are the critical factors in this area?

The Indian e-Learning market today estimates to around USD 122 million growing at a whoping CAGR of around 70%, while the global eLearning Market is growing at approximately 50%.

In my opinion, the IT and the BPO sectors would consume huge market share of the e-Learning industry in the near future. Additionally, there are several organisations offering eLearning on C, C++, Oracle and other technologies. However, the most urgent and dominant imperative continues to be the availability of industry-ready youngsters.

Some of your future ‘strategies’ for Indian education sector are?

Certification has found its way into almost every industry, especially the software engineering domain for a reason: It helps advance the profession.

QAI ‘s other initiative, entitled ‘Edista Certifications”, dove tails into the curriculum provided by Edista Learning where. Assessments and certifications are embedded into learning paths of individuals.

Moreover, QAI is building an offline educational initiative called Edista Software Testing Institute which will specialise in providing training, education, assessments and certifications to professionals in the software testing domain. In phase two the Edista Suite of ventures look at the creation of an ecosystem through setting up an action team of key stakeholders from across academia, industry, consulting fraternity, and all the important stakeholders of the software ecosystem.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Interactive Technology Reaching New Markets

Its Matter Of Who We Partner With Please give a general overview of what you are doing globally. What is the current global market size of your product in the educational sector and what market share mimio has? mimio is present in 47 countries. The largest market we have is in the USA, and have particular success in Australia, New Zealand, Korea, Japan, Turkey, Hungary, Russia, and in the major European countries.

The market share also varies from country to country. In the USA, we have a market share of about 10%. We are a relatively newcomer in the interactive Whiteboard segment until 2004. Our focus was on the market for capturing Whiteboard notes, primarily is the white board digitiser. 2004 onwards, we started focusing more on classroom interactive Whiteboard.

How do you see the Indian market for your product? What hinders you in penetrating the education market with mimio Whiteboard?

There exists two bottoms - one is awareness and the other is cost.

Interactive Whiteboard related to available budget for education are expensive, which is a very big part of the reason and a significant component of our success.

Fundamentally, we can enable more classrooms equipped with interactive Whiteboard technology virtually than any other product. This has been a key to our success in any part of the world, from the USA to New Zealand, where mimio is the largest interactive Whiteboard solution. Because it can be integrated into the classrooms simply as attaching a Whiteboard that already exist and you have the whole functionality of the classroom interactive Whiteboard without the Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

We can enable more classrooms equipped with interactive Whiteboard technology virtually than any other product. This has been a key to our success in any part of the world, from the USA to New Zealand, where mimio is the largest interactive Whiteboard solution

Jaemes Shanley Director, Marketing

mimio

www.mimio.com shipping cost, without the installation cost and at a much lower absolute cost. This is a huge factor that we are looking for every market. As we are relatively newcomer, the challenge for us is to create awareness. The key is the partnership, its the matter of who we partner with in India, is going to make a difference. In every country we have been successful and the credit goes to our local partners.

the computations are infinite in India.

There are so many languages, so much difference. We provide some content of the course material, but we can not provide them all as an original material source. We can provide tools that will allow the teacher to utilise any kind of digitally made material, like animations and video, still images, graphics, etc.

We can make the teacher to use any online material.

What operational training is required for using this tool and what materials should a teacher come prepared in a classrooms equipped with mimio?

In every school system we have different educational standards.

From our perspective, an interactive Whiteboard should provide the tool that allows a teacher to interactively present and teach to the standard of the locality.

One of the things that goes on is the competitive war between Whiteboard companies claiming we have hundreds of lesson plans. To tell the truth, thats a war that no one can win, because

In many schools these smart interactive boards are sitting idle not being used, because either the teachers are being transferred to other schools or are retired and the new teacher is not adequately trained. Training is essential which again is needed to be continuous as technology is constantly evolving.

We provide video CD enabler to set up the system, ongoing, unlimited, and no cost basis online training to any teacher who has Internet connection. We link up with them from anywhere in the world.

We also have trainers who are actually educators, who will do the next phase of training.

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C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

There Is Need, But Is There Purchasing Power?

Manish amte

In India we work very closely with Hitachi to promote their StarBoards as a complete solution for interactive learning and teaching solutions.

Cambridge University Press has a JV with Hitachi Software called Cambridge-Hitachi, who publish interactive Whiteboard curriculum software for primary and secondary school

Marketing Manager - Journals Cambridge University Press India Pvt. Ltd.

Would you also like to provide a business overview on this in Indian market?

We are in the business of providing e-Learning content especially ELT (English Language Teaching) content and digital classroom solutions. All these products/solutions are required by all young and adult learners and anyone who is in any kind of learning, teaching, training and presentations.

When using your content, what strikes one as the cool feature(s)?

Cambridge University Press India and its division Foundation e-Learning provides world class content in all media – print, off-online and online with interactive multimedia features to all levels of learners, teachers and researchers. Extremely user friendly and intuitive world class content for everyone are the cool features!

Would you like to describe about 36

www.cambridgeindia.org your partners, the who, why, and how factors of your company or the educational undertakings?

In India we work very closely with Hitachi to promote their StarBoards as a complete solution for interactive learning and teaching solutions. World over Cambridge University Press has a JV with Hitachi Software called as Cambridge-Hitachi who publish interactive whiteboard curriculum software for primary and secondary school. The synergy : Cambridge provides the content and Hitachi the technology.

How is your company doing in the different markets and places? What kind of adoption rates have you noticed for it in both domestic and global markets?

We are one of the leading providers of print and digital content and training tools to education segment in India and we also have select corporate clients

in Insurance, Architect , Real Estate, Software and PSU sector. We are concentrating on the Indian market as of now but we have customers in other SAARC countries as well.

Any surprises or interesting story on who and where the company’s activities have been adopted?

One of India’s leading architect and interior designer is using our interactive technologies for his own use in his office. One prominent English Daily is using our ELT (English Language Teaching ) material for their journalists and editors! Top IT companies and Technical Universities in India are also using our ELT material.

How have you studied the Indian market for the education and learning community? Have you done any sort of need analysis for this group? What are the critical factors in this area, and what are the ways to look forward?

There is need for almost everything you can think off in the education and learning community. The only analysis we need to do is to find out if there is any purchasing power behind that need.

How far your past experiences helped you for overseeing the development and direction of applications in the present e-Educational ventures?

Would you like to share at least one specific experience in this line?

Since inception we are in the educational domain providing educational content in print media to schools, higher academics, research institutions and corporate. So we have the experience, expertise, know how and relationships with the end users.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Loose Copy Rights Patents Major Deterrents Tell us about the business of publishing - what specific issues within the e-Education sector can your product or services address?

We are complementing K-12 education and bringing the latest instructional design and pedagogical inputs to the classroom. These issues are presently not being handled in teacher training.

We are bringing the teacher and student in the classroom to the 21st century education. We will be bringing services in the knowledge sector, not only for academic purposes but for using assessment as a tool for identifying areas which need special attention or enrichment supplements. Our core products are learning modules in English, Hindi and Urdu with multimedia components for better understanding and retention. We have also partnered with global leaders to bring to India products for learning literacy and language skills in English and for learning mathematical concepts and computational skills. For the last seven decades the success of S Chand is the proof of the acceptance of the content by the country.

How have you been able to position your education products in the market?

Acceptance of our products over three generations in the country is our greatest certificate of excellence. With a national presence, S Chand has no competition in publishing in India.

However, we do have competition from small shops and companies who have no content.

Today, every move you make, every investment you make, is tracked; are there people who jump into the Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Our vision is ready accessibility of quality content across the length and breadth of the country and the creation of a ‘Knowledge Enterprise’

amit gupta CEO S Chand & Company

www.schandgroup.com

bandwagon? How do you feel the force of competition?

Healthy competition stimulates growth and ensures striving for excellence, avoids complacency. e-Learning is an exciting, growing field, a large number of challengers are there. But I am sanguine that the strengths of S Chand will ensure our leadership in this new arena as in the field of publishing.

engineering, bio-informatics, software engineering, etc and bringing industryrelevant education are some of the other options we are working on.

Government’s focus on education being a core sector and investments in the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan is finally driving the market. Because of the sheer size of our country, economies of scale cannot be achieved without technology.

What is your game-plan for next five years? Do you have a dream or vision that guides the course of your life?

Strategic partnership with hardware OEMs for requisite synergy exploring newer means of delivery like podcast, webcast, mobile, etc.

What other options are there for S Chand’s revenue generation in the domain of ICTs and education?

Getting into mainstream education with international partners and offering blended learning programmes in

How about using the open source platform in the publishing industry?

Loose copy rights and patents are major deterrents. Investments in content development cannot be justified until there is a safer business model.

Our vision is ready accessibility of quality content across the length and breadth of the country and the creation of a ‘Knowledge Enterprise’.

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C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

By Investing In Education We Invest In Future The Intel Education Initiative is a sustained commitment to prepare all students, everywhere, with the skills required to thrive in the knowledge economy Anshul Sonak

South Asia Education Manager, Corporate Affairs Intel Let's talk about Intel in Education and India; the story so far...?

Intel has been dedicated to education improvement around the world; since it was founded in 1968. At Intel, under our World Ahead Programme, we strive to be a trusted partner to educators and governments worldwide and are committed to improving education today. The Intel Education Initiative is a sustained commitment to prepare all students, everywhere, with the skills required to thrive in the knowledge economy. We currently invest over USD100 million per year in over 50 countries, including India, to promote education efforts.

We believe that today’s students must develop 21st century skills, including knowledge of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration. Mathematics, science and engineering, which are the building blocks for technical innovation, must also be mastered.

38

www.intel.com/education/in Could you outline the programmes you have undertaken in India?

Some of the exciting programmes that we are undertaking in India are – Intel Teach Program The Intel Teach Program (www.intel.com/education/teach) is a free professional development programme that helps classroom teachers effectively integrate technology to enhance student learning.

It is the most successful professional development programme of its kind with 4 million teachers in over 40 countries since 1999. In India, the programme has impacted over 7,75,000 teachers across 15 states governments , 2 Union territories, 40 teacher education universities and Central government education entities like Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan.

Intel Learn Program The Intel Learn Program (www.intel. com/education/learn) is a community-

based programme designed to help learners (8-16 years) develop 21st century skills (technological literacy, critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration). The programme is currently offered in Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Mexico, Russia and Turkey. In India, the programme was launched in 2004 and to date, has reached more than 43,671 learners in 515 centres and has touched 14 states in collaboration with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti.

Intel Science Competition Initiative for Research & Innovation in Science (IRIS) is the merger of ‘Intel Science Talent Discovery Fair’ (ISTDF) and ‘Steer the Big Idea’ from CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and DST (Department of Science & Technology, Govt of India). The mission of IRIS is to promote and nurture science and scientific research amongst young Indian innovators, recognise and reward outstanding projects and provide a platform for the young innovators to interact with Indian industry as well as get recognised at International events. In 2007, IRIS impacted over 40,000 students and 4500 teachers through 78 workshops across 24 states governments, 2 Union territories, Central government relationships like NVS, KVS and other schools.

We currently invest over USD100 million per year in over 50 countries, including India, to promote education efforts to empower students and teachers January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak Intel Higher Education Programme The Intel Higher Education Programme (www.intel.com/education/highered) focuses on advancing innovation in key areas of technology and developing a pipeline of diverse world-class technical talent for Intel and the broader industry. In India, Higher Education programme covers more than 300 Engineering Colleges focusing on developing industry expertise in cutting edge technology areas like Multicore, VLSI and supports research engagements and innovation and entrepreneurship development programmes across the academia.

Would you like to describe your partners, the who, why, and how factors of your company for educational undertakings?

Intel works closely with multiple stakeholders and partners for success of various education programmes. Intel collaborates with technology, industry partners to develop and promote education solutions architecture to enable complete solutions of hardware, software, connectivity and digital curriculum content.

In India for its Education programme, the Intel Teach Programme has comprehensive partnerships with various states and UT governments, school bodies like NVS and KVS, teacher education universities, apex education bodies like NCTE, NGOs like AIF and key multilaterals like WEF, UNESCO. We believe that public private partnership is absolutely critical for education improvement and judicious technology integration in our classroom as right systems, processes and policies can be set at government level for technology infrastructure accessibility, curriculum and content, human resources developments, etc.

Please tell us about your e-Education ventures?

We have a few interesting offerings that stand apart significantly Thinking with Technology course for Teachers: This course is designed to Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

We aim to accelerate our collaboration with various SSA departments across country, train their teachers and provide them skills, resources and software to use in schools... the goal is for each teacher to leave the course prepared to effectively implement a technology-rich Unit Portfolio that engages students in effective use of technology to achieve standards encourage teachers develop strategies and project ideas for using online thinking tools to inculcate higher–order thinking skills in their students.

Thinking tools take advantage of technology to allow students to convey and exchange ideas, actively construct knowledge, examine priorities, debate differences, make correlations, reach consensus, organize ideas solve problems, and create representations of what they have learned.

Essentials Online Course for Teachers: A blend of in-person and online training that give teachers the ability to form communities to advance the integration of technology and 21st century learning skills. This online version of the flagship offering enables successful and tested teaching and learning outcomes, while allowing the flexibility of online delivery. In 2007, a pilot of this programme was carried out across private schools, schools in Gujarat and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) skoool Learning and Teaching Technology Programme.

The skoool Learning and Teaching Technology Programme provides secondary level teachers and students access to science and mathematics and resources and tools set for engaging, multimedia environment to help

improve learning. skoool provides free online science and mathematics resources for secondary-level students.

What are the core issues that hinder the widespread use of your educational services?

We along with the government need to ensure that irrespective of age, school background and domicile, everyone has an opportunity and access to education.

Also, today there is a need to develop professional skills as well as basic IT operating skills among students to equip them for better opportunities ahead. Therefore, the educational system should be so arranged that students become accustomed to IT as a tool to be used in the learning process.

While new governments have proactively pledged to increase spending on education and are working tirelessly to bring in structural reforms; we still have to go a long way by focusing on improving access infrastructure and quality at all levels of education.

Which educational initiatives are you focusing on in immediate future?

We aim to accelerate our collaboration with various SSA departments across country, train their teachers and provide them skills, resources and software to use in schools. As announced by Dr. Barrett during his visit to India in 2006, we are also donating 10,000 PCs to state government schools across the country.

We would focus on Essentials Online Course (mentioned above) which has been piloted in India. The goal is for each teacher to leave the course prepared to effectively implement a technology-rich Unit Portfolio that engages students in effective use of technology to achieve standards.

Besides this we will continue accelerating our existing programmes across the country. We have various programmes for community education like for special children, etc. We are planning more partnerships in India to scale that in near future. Teacher Education with NCTE support and student education also remains a big focus for the next few years.

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C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

There is Little Attempt

To Maximise Return On Investment The Indian market continues to struggle with their quest for ‘free content’; despite the Smart School report, like an ostrich buries its head in the sand when in danger

Capt. K J S BRar CEO Designmate

How would you place your products or services in the Indian scenario?

The smart school movement has realised that there is “No quality ‘free content’ available world wide”. The Indian market continues to struggle with their quest for ‘free content’; despite the Smart School report, like an ostrich buries its head in the sand when in danger. There is scope for quality content in our tender system, but the spade work necessary is a deterrent.

Most efforts till now were hardware centric; with little attempt to maximize return on investment. The feeling is that with the hardware in place, quality teaching will follow. Hardware by itself is suitable for computer literacy, which is different from improving the quality of education.

Our product “EUREKA.in” is a 3D multi-lingual (all regional and foreign), multi-media content at its best for any market, rural or urban, Indian or Global.

It is for Science and Maths, for age group 6 to 18 years, adaptable to any syllabus. Since its launch in July 2004, 40

www.designmate.com “EUREKA.in” has won three national awards and one World Summit Award as the best e-Learning content in the world, for 2007. Also, within three years, this product has turned 1,000 Indian (urban and rural) and foreign schools from “mundane” to “Smart Schools.”

Big marketing companies/agencies in India and abroad, are thirsting for marketing rights for “EUREKA.in”.

They surely know what potential our software has.

Eureka is the only fully animated 3D teaching software. Our product induces the same level of a student’s involvement in a lesson he has to learn, as his involvement in a video game he enjoys, untiringly.

What kind of adoption rates have you noticed for it in both domestic and global markets?

Designmate has captured 90% of the private school market in India. We have ventured overseas and to the

neighbouring countries. The response is encouraging, but it is too early to comment.

What are the critical factors in the Indian market for the education and learning community?

The Indian education and learning community needs content. By its very nature, education is tradition bound.

The teachers are digital migrants, where as the students are digital natives. The practicing teachers are closer to the students and the potentials of ICT. Those from the academia, who are now into administration, are between the devil and the deep sea. Their awareness of the potentials of and the direction in which the ICT field is moving, is way behind real time. They need help to change mental gears.

The market for e-Learning tools has warmed up only to about 20% in urban areas. It is totally negligible in rural and remote areas. The products need to be self-sufficient in circumventing the inadequacies of infrastructure.

Any e-Educational venture that does not bridge the gap between digital-haves and digital-have nots, is a sham. It's easy to shout slogans in the corporate multi towers about e-Education, without addressing the poorest of the poor child, in remote rural solitary hamlets.

What are the core issues that hinder the widespread use of your educational services?

Lack of vision, inadequate infrastructure and “path-through-a-cobweb” governmental procedures, are a deterrance to widespread use of these services. They hinder and delay quality e-Educational services to rural areas, which is 80% of Global e-Learning market.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Understanding Learning Curve Of Average Indian IT Infrastructure and people’s access to available infrastructure till the last mile is the most important item, that needs to be addressed to take e-Learning and web based training to the next level of scale

girish prabhu CEO GurujiWorld Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Whre would you place India on the global eLearning map?

India is still to reach the levels of computer literacy and usage that can take it to the top in the e-Readiness index. e-Learning tools like Guruji - Computer Based Training (CBT), are required and useful to bridge the digital divide and increase IT Literacy and computer usage in urban as well as rural India. India has a potential of more than INR1,00,000 crores in e-Learning Industry, and this is growing day-by-day as the need for usage of IT as a medium of training is increasing. India is still at a nascent stage in the e-Learning spread and usage.

Any surprises or interesting story on who and where the company’s activities have been adopted?

One of the segments that we saw a surprising success for our products was the ‘Home segment’. Our products have been received really well by elderly people, housewives and people who are 42

www.gurujiworld.com new to use of computers. This segment, though was not our target as per the plan has now emerged a segment worth focusing on.

initiatives provide for government employees to be proficient in IT and that gives us an opportunity to address this pressing need. The critical factors are how well our products address the local needs and how easily they can be customised to fit into customer requirements.

Guruji is a ‘Made in India’ product and is developed keeping in mind the learning curve of an average Indian, the most striking feature of which is its simplicity to use and 100% user engagement due to use of optimal integration of audio and hands-on interactive components.

Online Content Delivery over the web, IP TV, m-Learning are some of the key areas that we are looking forward to venture in full swing.

How have you studied the Indian market for the education and learning community? What are the critical factors in this area, and what are the ways to look forward?

The education and training market can be divided into government segment, institutional segment, training segment and education segment. As a single entity, government has been the biggest spender. Various eGovernance

Any past experience that helped you for overseeing the development and direction of applications in the present e-Educational ventures?

When I was trying to learn Microsoft Office on my own, I had to juggle a lot with the tools on what is useful and what is not, no one was available to guide, this made me oversee the need of a tool which is simple and user friendly and teaches all that what is required for any age group audience.

Online Content Delivery over the web, IP TV, m-Learning are some of the key areas that we are looking forward to venture in full swing

What, according to you, hinders the widespread use of your educational services?

IT infrastructure and people’s access to available infrastructure till the last mile is the most important item, that needs to be addressed to take e-Learning and web based training to the next level of scale.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Need Further

Policy And Framework For Engagement How about the Indian market for a product or service like that of yours, who needs it, who will have it? Would you also like to provide a sort of business overview on this in Indian market?

Our products are a good fit in the emerging digital delivery of learning sector across companies and institutions. It’s growing at more than 30% CAGR and will hit at least USD 50 mn by 2008-2009. It is still maturing and early entrants will be greatly benefited.

Would you like to describe about your partners, the who, why, and how factors of your company or the educational undertakings?

We are a group of professionals dedicated to making learning deliveries easier. We are constantly building better access, availability and affordability of digital learning for everyone. The team is one of the best and as people we enjoy every moment of being together.

Most important is to know the value of focus. We recently rolled out a programme in Sweden where restructuring the whole assessment system happened faster than we thought, since the partners knew well in advance what they needed and we could focus on the matter at hand

sonjib mukharjee CEO Metalearn

www.metalearnindia.com

Indian expertise comes back to India from overseas in a different avatar.

and the large numbers that are waiting out there.

How is your company doing in the different markets and places? What kind of adoption rates have you noticed for it in both domestic and global markets?

Our business is strong in both domestic and overseas markets. The Indian market is growing the fastest since 2006. In 2008, Indian adoption rates will be the highest in the world.

How have you studied the Indian market for the education and learning community? What are the critical factors in this area, and what are the ways to look forward?

Empirical studies and primary research are available from different government departments and public institutions on the demand supply and appropriate technology. Our analysis shows that there is lack of policy and framework for engagement. Internet is a critical factor and it is not yet supporting a wider roll out.

How far have your past experiences helped you for overseeing the development and direction of applications in the present eEducational ventures? Would you like to share at least one specific experience in this line?

Our exposure to European initiatives in education showed us the value of focus.

We recently rolled out a programme in Sweden where restructuring the whole assessment system happened faster than we thought, since the partners knew well in advance what they needed and we could focus on the matter at hand.

Any surprises or interesting story on who and where the company’s activities have been adopted?

An US education major used our product and our experience to build an application that is now coming back to India to do a large amount of business.

It is quite common these days that the

Whether and how nervous are you with the e-Education ventures of yours when you see it more competitively?

More than competition, what we are contending with is the ICT framework in education or lack of it, the diverse syllabi, the lack of infrastructure

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Would you like to share some of your future strategies for Indian education sector?

We are pushing a lot of partnerships/ consortium models.

We feel this will work well for all stakeholders.

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C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

There Is Reluctance To Invest In Content Purchasing Power Sunita Joshi

Director JIL Information Technology

Though we have come a long way, the traditionalists' mindsets still continues to linger on. Unlike hardware, there is a reluctance to invest in software and content.

Availability of basic IT skills and infrastructure is relatively inadequate

www.jalindia.co.in Tell us a bit about your products and services.

Bhartiyavidya, is a Computer aided Teaching Solution with a vision of enhancing the quality of classroom teaching.

Campus Connect is an essential Institutional resource planning solution for seats of higher learning for any institution looking at integrating all functions of operations and cost.

Biz Connect is ERP software for SME segment which is growing at a breathtaking pace and needs such solutions for optimisation and control.

The other interesting solution for the education segment is our Online Testing solution.

Would you like to describe about your partners, the who, why, and how factors of your company or the educational undertakings?

As an organisation we benefit from our groups’ rich domain knowledge of Education, by way of 17 educational institutions catering to 20,000 students across all levels of the education 44

spectrum from primary education to university level. Our sister institutions JIITU-Noida (U.P), JUIT-Waknaghat (H.P) and JIET-Guna (M.P) are moving ahead with a vision to become the Centre of Excellence in the field of IT and related emerging areas of education, training and research comparable to the best in the world for producing professionals who shall be leaders in innovation, entrepreneurship, creativity and management.

Any surprises or interesting story on who and where the company’s activities have been adopted?

For institutions of higher education, we have developed and implemented an Institutional Resource Planning package called ‘Campus Connect’ on the lines of any modern day ERP, which small and big enterprises are adopting to sustain and improve efficiency in today’s competitive environment. After successful four year performance in our institutions, we decided to share our expertise with other institutes. These led to premier institutions like Thapar Institute of Engineering & Technology and Bengal Engineering & Science

University expressing their faith in us and are in the process of implementing the solution. In fact, we have been witnessing a great demand from the University fraternity for such a solution.

Vidya Vahini is a classic example of a partnership between the Government and the Private sector in the field of “IT in School Education”. The acceptance level of our product Bhartiyavidya was high and it was appreciated by the teaching fraternity of the Government Schools. As per the feedback that was collected, we found that the usage in the rural area was very high.

What are the core issues that hinder the widespread use of your educational services?

Though we have come a long way, the traditionalist’s mindsets still continues to linger on. Unlike hardware, there is a reluctance to invest in software and content. Availability of basic IT skills and infrastructure is relatively inadequate. The bodies and institutions controlling the major chunk of the sector have been tentative in decision making. There is a lack of clarity on framework of content and delivery mechanism related to content objectives.

What are the other areas/ventures of your company you are into, or planning for in future? Would you like to share some of your future ‘strategies’ for Indian education sector?

The broad strategy would revolve around providing comprehensive yet simple solutions encompassing various sub areas of the sector. There will be an earnest attempt to reach out to every individual across the globe with educational needs.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Interactive Classrooms

The Pinnacle Of Quality Education Please provide your business overview for the Indian Market.

Globus Infocom has three verticals that drives its business- Educational Technology Group ( ETG ), System Integration Project Group ( SIPG ), and Product Sales Group ( PSG ). ETG is responsible for all education business.

This group that has shown tremendous growth in the last two years. It brings in about 30% of our revenue.

The primary goal of Globus Infocom through its ETG is to improve student academic development through the use of ICT in schools and higher education institutes. Our initiatives are designed to assist students in crossing the digital divide by ensuring that every student is technologically literate, to encourage integration of technology with teacher training and localised curriculum development to establish research based instructional methods.

Today, the world is adopting the latest ICT based interactive learning and teaching method that helps everyone to reach the pinnacle of quality education.

Globus Infocom presents Interactive Class Room that makes the environment more cohesive and conducive to teach and learn. We have the infrastructure for providing ICT based integrated software development and local manufacturing of necessary hardware at our two factories, at Dehradun, in Uttrakhand.

Why do you like your initiative in education? What strikes you as the cool feature(s)?

The Interactive Class Room gives the freedom to teach and learn from anywhere in the class room. The teacher explains using an Interactive Whiteboard and the students interacts through a Class Pad. Ready made content is interactively taught and live experiments, diagram, maps, Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Today, the world is adopting the latest ICT based Interactive learning and teaching method that helps everyone to reach the pinnacle of quality education.

Globus Infocom presents Interactive Class Room that make the environment more cohesive and conducive to teach and learn Ashish Dham CEO Globus Infocom Limited

www.globusinfocom.com 3D objects are discussed through a document camera. In this process, through the interactivity of the students and teacher, instant content is developed digitally. Imagine, over time the entire digital syllabus gets developed, class wise, teacher wise and subject wise which is available to one and all.

undertake turnkey, district, city and state wise education services contracts, to upload Global Model Class Room portal shortly, to establish Centres of Excellence in institutes, and Teacher Development Suite – ICT based comprehensive training module that sharpens their ICT based skills, and Course Management System.

How do you motivate the education community for such Interactive Classrooms?

We pioneered the concept of Interactive Class Rooms two years back by conducting Road Shows in major cities. In these road shows we actually exhibited live Interactive Class Rooms to teachers, students, administrators both from private and Government sectors. It has resulted in awareness among education fraternity and many have adopted such interactive teaching and learning methodology. Our services in the education sector has prompted us so far to actively participate in Public Private initiatives, to integrate ICT in education by providing simple and workable Interactive Class Rooms, to

Please share some of your future strategies for Indian education sector?

We are looking for tie ups with national and international players to offer the latest and the best to our country.

We are just about to finalise various ventures to be front-runners in the international arena. Under the Corporate Social Responsibility initiative, we donate application based solution for schools/institutions for students with special needs.

Globus Infocom is evaluating international acquisitions that are needed to take a vertical rise and be a front runner in the global education industry.

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C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

e-Learning Can Be Postponed But Not Avoided Spending on e-Learning is an investment - not expenditure. Over a period of time, users spend almost twice the amount of money on conventional learning than on e-Learning CV Chandrashekhar Founder & CEO Tenable Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

What has been your reaction to, or your experience with the Indian Market?

India is just warming up to the potential of e-Learning. At present, majority of the business being done by Indian e-Learning companies is in the “outsourcing” mode, primarily from countries like USA or Canada. Tenable has started with Content and Design services, but very soon will be launching an educational portal, where we will not only host courses developed internally, but also host third party courses and educational products.

In January 2008, we are going to launch the first ever 100% online course by any university in India for an Instructional Design course. This is in partnership with Philadelphia University, MA, which is one of the premier universities offering full time masters degree in Instructional Technology. We are also 46

www.tenableindia.com setting up one Centre of Excellence in e-Learning along with them. We are developing a new LMS which has unique features – having both language flexibility and database flexibility.

What kind of adoption rates have you noticed for it in both domestic and global markets?

We began our operations in April 2007, and are satisfied with the rapid progress we are making. Brand building takes time, but we have been successful in getting entries into some major markets.

In India – the adoption rate is as low as 10%. When one speaks of global markets – its mainly US, UK, Canada and Australia – where the adoption rate is 60-70 %.

How have you studied the Indian market for the education and learning community? What are the critical factors in this area?

In our view, the maximum demand will be generated from individual users, students, professionals, learners and instructors. That is why we will be following a retail business model.

Corporate and K-12 are also big segments, but here the e-Learning companies will have to invest in building custom courses entirely at their risk. Corporates and educational institutions are still not budgeting for big ticket e-Learning solutions. It’s a mental block among various users of conventional learning and training that e-Learning is costly. Spending on e-Learning is an investment – not expenditure. Over a period of time, users spend almost twice the amount of money on conventional learning than on e-Learning. But we are optimistic that e-Learning as a concept and service can be postponed, but cannot be avoided. The economics of cost and time along with other benefits will make e-Learning prevail ultimately.

What are the other areas of your company currently planning for?

We are planning to move into blended learning model by mid 2008 and are planning to target the accounting certification markets like CA, ICWA, CPA (US) and CMA (US). We will be working with a couple of educational institutions to make them totally e-Enabled.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Lesser Consideration For Cost Than Value How about the Indian market for a product or service like that of yours, who needs it, who will have it, and where it is going?

Whilst the market may perceive Promethean as a leading technology company, our real focus is education, and delivering transformational change in whole class learning. What’s really ‘cool’ about our products, is the incredible reaction of teachers and students, and the way our ‘teaching tools’ can dramatically enhance the work of the teaching community.

How is your company doing in the different markets and places? What kind of adoption rates have you noticed for it in both domestic and global markets?

Promethean’s international growth is outstanding. In many countries we are working directly with Ministries of Education, to discuss and advice on how to transform education systems in line with delivering against strategic, national development objectives.

In all countries, we are building excellent relationships with local and national education communities, and seeing dramatic increases in demand.

This is driven by a clear customer understanding of the differences between various technologies, limitations inherent in many, and the importance of training and resources.

Any surprises or interesting story on who and where the company’s activities have been adopted?

There have been several cases which motivated us highly when it comes to Promethean Boards. Many a time, the teachers wanted to buy the unit right after the demonstration itself. The teachers with a limited exposure to Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

ALMOE has been selling Promethean Boards since the last six months in India. At the moment 100% percent demos are converted into sale! This is giving us more confidence in this market and all our plans, be it logistics, marketing or support are based on that scale Rajiv Johar General Manager Almoe Digital Solutions Pvt Ltd

computers found Promethean to be the most comfortable board to work with, while even comparing with other boards that they have been seeing. One thing usually highlighted by the teachers is that it doesn’t take extensive training to use a Promethean Board.

ALMOE has been selling Promethean Boards since the last six months in India. At the moment 100% percent demos are converted into sale! This gives us more confidence in this market and all our plans, be it logistics, marketing or support. The existing customer base spreads to all four corners of the country.

How have you studied the Indian market for the education and learning community? Have you done any sort of need analysis for this group? What are the critical factors in this area, and what are the ways to look forward?

Cost is becoming less of a consideration

www.almoe.com than value and the ability to deliver against expectations. Companies such as Promethean, who have a comprehensive market proposition (of excellent technology, training and resources) are being increasingly sought out in preference to low cost, low ’educational value’ suppliers.

Whether and how nervous you are with the e-Education ventures of yours when you see it more competitively?

There are essentially two categories of eEducational ventures in relation to Promethean and our market proposition; Competitive and Complementary. For the latter, Promethean are actively seeking to partner with companies where together, we can offer even greater ‘educational value’ to teachers and students. For the former, we are seeing that the market itself extremely mature and able to make effective judgments in selecting preferred solutions such as Promethean’s.

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C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

e-Guru Says

Assess And Progress

K S Muralidhar

NCERT has recently suggested that schools have no business to pass or fail a student, they need just to assess them. We believe the whole education system has become obsolete; replace it with one that is based on thorough skill assessment

CEO LearnSmart India

www.24×7guru.com What is the vision behind lunching the online teacher ‘24x7 guru’?

24X7guru aims to delink the memorising factor, which is a major reason for increasing stress levels in kids, and consequently in their parents. The kids mug the information to retrieve it during a three hours examination. If the retrieval button works, they succeed, and if it doesn’t, they fail. How can we pass and fail a kid on the basis of a three hours test?

So Bodhtree and Unified Council jointly lunched 24X7guru.com, the online diagnostic and self-assessment tool, which assists students to study efficiently and evaluate their own progress in real time. The aim is to make the students from class 3 to class 10 secure better grades with this self assessment tool in subjects like Mathematics and Science.

portal is to facilitate assessment of skills like reasoning, analytical, application, logical, etc.

Its purely an assessment process, for which no supplementary education material like CDs or DVDs are provided, rather the efforts made by the schools, teachers, and parents are being complemented. The basic idea of the

Our market surveys have found that a person earning INR10000 per month is spending INR 2000 per kid per month apart from school expenses. The whole 24x7 package costs just INR1200 for 5 subjects for whole year.

48

Currently, we are following nationally recognised syllabi like CBSE and NCERT. However, we are planning to cover all the major Boards followed in India including all State Boards.

How and what kind of need analysis surveys did you undertake for this project?

24x7guru is a well planned initiative based on sufficient market analysis.

The venture is backed with one of our educational assessment companiesUnified Council that conducts Nationallevel Science talent examinations every year. This is the only company that has got ISO Certification on assessment platform.

Examinations follow a pattern which is different from your assessments, do you think of voicing for a change in the examination pattern?

NCERT has recently suggested that schools have no business to pass or fail a student, they need just to assess them. We believe the whole education system has become obsolete; replace it with one that is based on thorough skill assessment. Students who perform well in their primary or secondary examinations have been observed to perform badly when they appear the senior secondary examination. It doesn’t work in subjects like Science and Math. We deal with these subjects, both of which does not require a subjective pattern in order to assess the understanding and skill level of a student instead of mugging.

What are the other initiatives that 24x7guru is taking up to promote primary and secondary education?

We have lunched ‘Destination NASA Knowledge Challenge competition 2008’ for school kids of class 6 to 10. It is a nationwide knowledge assessment programme that will discover meritorious students based on 24x7guru’s assessment application.

At present we provide content for the entire Active Learning, a quiz based educational service provided by TATA Sky, covering Mathematics, General Knowledge and Science for children in the age group of 7-11 years and reaching 1.25 million homes. We have also entered into partnership with Tata Indicom, Aditya Birla group, HCL, and YOU Telecom with over 2 million customers, etc. Reliance web world is also interested to provide 8 hours of free broadband access to 24x7guru subscribers.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Future Belongs To Shared Services

A M Sheshagiri General Manager Education Oracle India

Universities and Higher education institutes in India are increasingly being challenged with increased competition for students, faculty and funding, complying with Government regulations and managing the expectations of stakeholders.

To address these requirements, Oracle offers the PeopleSoft Enterprise Campus Solutions, a comprehensive suite of software specifically designed for the changing needs of higher education institutions. Oracle’s PeopleSoft Campus Solutions is being used at over 800 campuses in more than 20 countries, and in India, VIT, Manipal University and IGNOU are already running the solution for addressing their challenges

How do you see the advantages of sharing infrastructure among institutes and universities?

In India, it makes sense because universities don’t have sufficient funds.

Setting up of a collaborated system, instead of separate one, will minimize the cost of operation and help in achieving economies of scale. Many universities are doing it but only at the departmental levels. They need to take it up to the university level. We believe that the future belongs to the shared services.

What kind of solutions do you bring in this line, for the education sector?

Oracle has a complete solution at par with the international standards that includes from admissions to examinations and from financial to student management to procurement.

We provide tools for reposting the content and renter it to students; if a student decides to take a course, our learning management systems- ‘People soft’ and ‘Oracle e-Business suite’ will provide the content. At school level we have learning 360 that enables parents and teachers to interact, get updated on the day-to- day development of child’s 50

www.oracle.com education. Besides, the solutions also assist the higher education institutes to take care of their back offices, student and learning management.

Do you see any force of competition in this field? How do you face that?

The competition in this field is mainly from the locally based small vendors, who have easy access to institutions.

The functionality of our products and services make them great success that universities and institutions want to have. Besides, we have a huge Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system that is the biggest area of growth.

What are the core issues that hinders the widespread use of your educational services?

The biggest single problem that we face today is the delayed funding for IT automation. Only 7 percent of the Universities in India do have some kind of integrated system. Also, the market has not yet matured. Its now only in the 11th five-year plan that you have funds for the IT systems.

What in your opinion should be the thrust areas to leverage the education

sector in the country?

Benchmarking of institutions is important to bring a positive impact in the education sector in the coming years. Collaborating of institutions with the foreign universities is the other thing that can impact the education scenario in India. Putting up e-Learning in rural India, like IT kiosks has a huge potential, but government needs to come into the scene to make it happen.

We on our part can provide the best tools. With the 11th five-year plan allocating a big part for education, setting up of universities and colleges for higher education like IITs and IIMs is going to make a big difference.

How is your company doing in different markets and places? What kind of adoption rates have you noticed for it in both domestic and global markets?

People soft today runs in 1100 universities globally including the Princeton and Harvard. We are thrusting on India, Australia, China and Pakistan. In India the private institutions will still take time to adopt such products as universities are not paying much attention to IT automations.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | Leaders’ Speak

Online Academy

Top Educationists Just A Click Away MBD has a quality and name to keep. Every time we are bringing out a product, we think a lot about the quality.

Content, which is the bread and butter of e-Learning, is everybody’s problem and MBD will not have any problem as long as content is Monica Malhotra concerned Kandhari Director MBD Alchemie

How and what leads to the launch of MBD Alchemie? What is the idea behind it?

We launched MBD Alchemie to provide web based quality education at a low cost to cater to the needs of large section of society which is deprived of education. MBD Alchemie is an online academy that collaborates testing and teaching, that trains and evaluates at the same time. We started research on it two and a half years ago and started with CBSE X and XII classes.

Multimedia content of total curriculum is being provided to the students, some short term courses are also being provided, of three months to two years duration. It also includes chapter wise test, evaluations and answers, sample and mock tests for students. Just like the MBD text books, Alchemie covers different boards including State Boards like Delhi, Karnataka, etc.

To introduce its unique concepts, it provides a 15 day free trial which is available on the portal.

How interactive is the portal for facilitating online education?

We focus more on personalised 52

www.mbdalchemie.com coaching, which includes self-learning materials and self assessment tools, online problem solving facility, etc.

Online mentoring is there to help in resolution of problems, clarifications of queries, etc. There is animation with voiceover to give the feel of actual classroom.

How have you studied the market for the purpose and how did you prepare for starting the venture?

We have 4,000 authors associated with MBD already. We selected authors who have good teaching background, expertise and who are aware of the innovative teaching concepts. The instructional design of the course underwent a lot of research and then its elements were developed. There are expert in house course and module coordinators and content editors.

We are empowered by the Learning Management Systems and also fully complaint with leading international standards and is built on a flexible architecture. It is SCORM compliant and can run on any technology and system, can be used even with the open source system.

Would you like to share more on the publishing industry in India?

Publishing has become more structured in India and is taking very giant leaps.

With the size of the market and the increased focus of government on education, everybody is targeting India.

The country is growing at the rate of 20 percent in online education. We conducted a research that showed 15 to 20 percent growth in the publishing sector and e-Learning in India had a INR 1200 crore market a year ago.

Also, the adoption of CBSE pattern across the states makes it easy for publishers focusing for the pan India presence. So getting into this sector today, specially in the web based publishing is quite favourable.

Does the legacy of MBD put any performance pressure on you?

MBD has the legacy of 30 years of providing education in India in different languages.,We are providing our services in many vernacular languages, including Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Urdu and Hindi. We customise our own books for different Boards of studies.

That’s a positive pressure, if at all, we feel. Because MBD has a quality and name to keep, and that pressure is required. Every time we are bringing out a product, we think a lot about the quality. Content, which is the bread and butter of e-Learning, is everybody’s problem and MBD will not have any problem as long as content is concerned.

We started it with an initial investment of INR 20cr. Today, we are providing the educational service in just INR 150 per month per subject. The road map that we have drawn for MBD Alchemie is to become the largest education content provider in the e-Learning space.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Funding Share of States Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) *(INR In lakhs)

States/UTs (other than NER)

Outlay approved during 2007-08

65% Central Share

35% State Share

124607.30 333929.73 78478.28 1662.82 37970.21 35706.60 12198.37 32151.79 132192.00 69746.00 15956.39 179824.44 89523.47 108844.48 18488.50 159999.35 70271.11 344219.38 25283.55 143876.18 929.19 1953.69 794.39 258.26 5234.32 235.17 893.50 2025228.46

80994.75 217054.32 51010.88 1080.83 24680.64 23209.29 7928.94 20898.66 85924.80 45334.90 10371.65 116885.89 58190.26 70748.91 12017.53 103999.58 45676.22 223742.60 16434.31 93519.52 603.97 1269.90 516.35 167.87 3402.31 152.86 580.78 1316398.50

43612.56 116875.41 27467.40 581.99 13289.57 12497.31 4269.43 11253.13 46267.20 24411.10 5584.74 62938.55 31333.21 38095.57 6470.98 55999.77 24594.89 120476.78 8849.24 50356.66 325.22 683.79 278.04 90.39 1832.01 82.31 312.73 708829.96

Outlay approved during 2007-08 62138.49 6286.35 3684 9785.4 2605.72 1997.78 1580.42 3031.65 91109.81 1800.45 2118138.72

90% Central Share

10% State Share

55924.641 5657.715 3315.6 8806.86 2345.148 1798.002 1422.378 2728.485 81998.83 1800.45 1400197.78

6213.85 628.64 368.40 978.54 260.57 199.78 158.04 303.17 9110.98

Andhra Pradesh Bihar Chhatisgarh Goa Gujarat Haryana Himachal Pradesh J&K Jharkhand Karnataka Kerala Madhya Pradesh Maharashtra Orissa Punjab Rajasthan Tamil Nadu Uttar Pradesh Uttarakhand West Bengal Andaman & N. Islands Chandigarh Dadra & N. Haveli Daman & Diu Delhi Lakshadweep Pondicherry TOTAL Non NER States/UTs (NER States) Assam Arunachal Pradesh Manipur Meghalaya Mizoram Nagaland Sikkim Tripura Total NER National Component Grand Total

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

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er b y C

rs o t tu

Action Learning In Hard Spot Subjects

W

elcome to the world of education without boundaries.

Now, you can study the course of your choice offered by premier institutions and experts across the world, anytime, anywhere.

Online education promises to deliver interactive, responsive, convenient, empowering, and outcome oriented learning without compromising with the wisdom of the traditional teachinglearning system. The overwhelming penetration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in human life, has made a revolutionary impact on the current educational systems. There is tremendous pressure and need for educational system, which is independent from time and place, and has a global acceptance.

Online education is new but with unlimited potentials and possibilities.

Traditionally, teachers have used an objectivist pedagogy in teaching and learning. Today, online education programmes and activities focus on learning, support competency-based and learning on-demand, outcome-oriented and student-centered activities, and embrace global education.

The new roles such as facilitator, coach, partner, and motivator do not undermine teachers’ responsibilities and authority in the educational programme, but these new roles provide new opportunities for teachers to help and to work collaboratively with students in order to accomplish the task of learning. On the other hand students have taken over the role of a researcher who investigates and find information and knowledge from a variety of resources. This transformation 54

will help teachers to focus more on the quality of materials and activities, and instructional goals of learners, teachers, and the institution. The new responsibilities will enable the student to be active and self-directed learner.

The History During the early 1980’s, e-Training was just starting to become a potential creation. Companies and educational institutes were strictly hiring instructors to train their students. This was because computers were only beginning to grow, therefore making it difficult to come up with any other plan. As the computer industry started to expand, e-Training was becoming a reality.

The first type of online education was in the mid 1990’s. This was when the Internet was a great success, and multimedia was being taken to another level. As the 1990’s quickly ended, the millennium marked an entirely new period for technology. e-Learning was finally on the map as online education courses were now very popular at colleges and businesses. Online video access, and fast web site servers made it possible for online education to succeed.

Today, online education has come a long way, instructors are now being hired to

teach online, which usually consists of being filmed for lesson videos.

Major Players Education is second largest industry with an estimated transaction of USD 2.5 trillion annually at the international arena. The US is the biggest beneficiary as it earns about USD12 billion a year from education.

The significant trend that has catched up online education today is online tutoring – a mode that caters to the teachers as well as the student fraternity to avail learning resources. Online tutorials range from providing tutorials on Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English to providing useful tools and information to learners. The tutorials offer interesting and interactive lessons in various subjects for students and provides preparation for various qualifying courses like TOEFL. Some of the prestigious institution like IIM, IGNOU, Annamalai university, BITS Pilani, NIIT imperia, Symbiosis, Arena, etc. offer scores of online courses. On the international canvas Universitas 21 Global, University of Phoenix Online and American InterContinental University Online are the popular names in online education genre.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

The Distance Eduacation Council (DEC), Government of India has already given the go ahead to IITs and IIMs to offer their programmes online. Having secured the DEC’s nod and given the requirement of at least a million teachers in the country, many big players have emerged to capitalise the current situation. Interesting to take note of is that IIM Ahmedabad is considering to give alumni status to students who have done its online programme from NIIT imperia. NIIT offers this interactive mode of education via high-performance desktops, web cams, audio system and microphones at each workstation connected directly to faculty institutes for each student. Software biggies like Microsoft and IBM are already doing good business in this mode of education. Microsoft is providing Classroom Training: Microsoft Certified Partners for Learning Solutions In addition Microsoft Official Distance Learning (MODL) is an exciting new learning platform that blends online classroom training, live discussion, real-world scenarios, and self-directed study. Hundreds of Universities and institutions have already stepped into the arena offering hundreds of courses online all over the globe.

Cyber Tutoring Cyber tutoring in the last few year has witnessed an exponential growth. The size of the instructor led tutoring market is estimated at over INR 5000 crore in India.

Lets take a look at some of the major market players in the innovative and interactive field of cyber tutoring.

TutorVista http://www.tutorvista.com TutorVista is a leading online tutoring and test preparation company that provides world-class tutoring and high-quality content to students around the world. Founded by K Ganesh, TutorVista is a premier online destination for affordable education in any subject. Students can access their services from their home or school for comprehensive and thorough lessons and Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

question bank and can access to a live tutor around the clock. TutorVista helps students in school and in competitive examinations. It has also launched its services in UK and is hoping to have 5,000 British students on its roll in a year and is already in the US with 2,000 students using its services. TutorVista has recently partnered with Vocabulary. com and Edurite Technologies is now a part of the company. It has also

years ago by Harsh Rajan and Nirmala Sankaran, in partnership with the Millennium Mathematics Project at Cambridge University, UK. HeyMath uses innovative, interactive lessons, laced with animation, graphics and quizzes to make maths fun for students who often find the subject rather boring and unattractive. HeyMath heavily focuses on Maths and aim to establish a web-based platform that enables

The significant trend that has catched up online education today is online tutoring – a mode that caters to the teachers as well as the student fraternity to avail learning resources.

Online tutorials range from providing tutorials on Math, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and English to providing useful tools and information to learners partnered with HarperCollins to provide off-shored tutoring facilities to British students.

Mathguru http://www.mathguru.com/ Mathguru is a unique online math-help program for school students studying in classes VI through XII of CBSE schools and following the NCERT curriculum.

Mathguru helps students learn how to solve every single math problem as per their curriculum, text books or syllabus step by step, anytime anywhere, as a real personal tutor. Mathguru has a repository of solutions that contains all problems from the NCERT Math books.

The Mathguru website is provided

by Educomp Solutions Ltd. (www. educomp.com), a 14-year old Education company headquartered in New Delhi, India and led by Shantanu Prakash.

Educomp serves over 2000 schools in India with its educational products and services.

HeyMath! http://www.heymath.com/

HeyMath is a Chennai-based online maths tutoring company. Started six

every student and teacher to learn from the best teacher in the world for every Math concept and to also be able to benchmark themselves against their peers globally. Provides lessons to over a number of schools all over the world, HeyMath charges each student about USD100 a year for its lessons. In India, it offers schools its lessons at INR 600 ($13) a year.

Extramarks.com http://extramarks.com/ Extramarks.com is a Noida based online educational support system that offers academic support to Indian students of classes VI to XII based on the NCERT syllabus in Maths, Science, Social Science, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, History, Civics, Geography, Business Studies, Economics and Accountancy. Extramarks.com also offers practice papers and information on careers and institutes in India and abroad, and allows students to ask and answer questions. The website provides a network of friends, teachers and parents who could help the students score extra marks in their final examinations and has created huge content in terms of class wise, subject wise and chapter wise question answer bank that is free to use. It also offers after school help to the students in real time.

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POWERMath http://www.powermath.org/

POWERMath has evolved into one of the leading Math tutoring service providers in the USA. It provides quality services to students and is in a joint venture with Career Launcher, one of south Asia’s leading education corporates. POWERMath, through its programmes on Grade level Math and SAT preparation provides a fun and challenging Math learning environment for students of all ages with varied aptitude levels in the subject. Its audio-visual teaching methods, available in both in-center and online learning variants and trained instructors. The objective is to develop mathematical, reasoning and analytical skills in students from a very early age.

transtutors.com http://www.transtutors.com/index.html transtutors. com is one other online tutoring companies,which is a unit of TransWeb Educational Services Pvt.

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Ltd. transtutors provides tutoring and quality education to students around the world with the help more than 100 highly skilled and qualified members.

Through its focused modules on Homework-help and preparation for examinations, it offers students across the globe to achieve stupendous success in their schools and colleges. transtutors. com has Indian tutors who are in demand worldwide along with access to the latest web-based technologies in online tutoring. The tutors are trained in the American and British accents, and are well versed with the curriculums in the US, UK and Australia and they undergo pre-service and in-service training programmes and certifications. transtutors.com provides its services in various subjects like Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology, Statistics, Computer, Science, Accounting, Financial Mathematics, Economics, English, Hindi and many more.

TransWebTutors http://www.transwebtutors.com/ TransWebTutors is one of the fastest growing online tutoring companies that

provides tutoring to students around the world. It provides homework help and preparations for class and also standardised examinations. The Exam preparation from K-12 through college in Math and Science is its key strength besides concentrating on building long term relationship between student and tutor. TransWebTutors are from different parts of the world and they undergo training and certification programme to understand the cultural knowledge, accent and course curriculum of different regions. The services include live one to one help through voice, text chat and virtual whiteboard, Skill assessment test and customization of course according to need, K- 12 and college level help and exam preparation in Math, Physics, Chemistry, and General Science.

Stepsedu.com http://www.stepsedu.com/index1.html Stepsedu.com is a comprehensive programme for X Standard Math and Science syllabi coverage through a concept-building and regular testing and feedback approach. STEPS was founded in 2001. Stepsedu.com offers practice chapter-wise tests on Maths and Science for CBSE classes IX and X for the Indian students.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

News INDIA ‘Smart School System’ in Puducherry The Government of Puducherry has decided to launch a programme on eLearning in schools. In this regard, the Government of Puducherry has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Wipro Foundation to implement the scheme.

The project titled, “Smart School System”, is aimed at enhancing computer-based teaching and learning.

The administration has identified around 80 schools in the Union Territory for the first phase of the implementation of the programme.

Satellite lectures for Engineering Students The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Bombay and Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are planning to provide live transmission of the lectures of IIT-B to the engineering colleges across the country with the help of exclusive satellite for education – EDUSAT. The facility will be available from January 2008. Colleges of neighbouring countries can also avail it.

For receiving signals, receivers will be installed at the colleges to receive the encrypted signals transmitted from IITB. This will be a two-way transmission and students at remote locations can interact with faculties also. Open courseware is already available from IITs and IISc. Banglore, this will be first time in India when live cases will be available. IGNOU will provide the virtual support to its students at selected centres through this facility.

Nearly, 100 colleges have already joined ISRO for the project. The receiver will be supplied by ISRO, 58

costing nearly INR 3.2 lakhs. It is expected that other engineering institutions will also join in shortly.

e-Learning for Alagappa University

The Alagappa University in Tamil Nadu, has planned to introduce e-Learning for students pursuing programmes through distance education. Since the cost of the project was high, it would initially be introduced for a few courses and later would be adopted in all 55 programmes of Directorate of Distance Education in a phased manner.

Under the programme, study materials of courses could be sent to the students through Internet.

The students can download these during the course, thereby saving time spent in sending study materials by post. Teams consisting prominent academicians would frequently inspect study centres in their respective areas to study their trustworthiness.

India launches new satellite enabled learning programme Former President A P J Abdul Kalam has launched the Total proficiency in satellite and ITC- enabled education programme, as part of Application of Science and Technology in Educational Reform (ASTER) and enhancing the teachinglearning process in the country.

The programme is a milestone heralding a new leap forward in the Atomic Energy Education Society (AEES) project ASTER as it is planning to train its entire faculty and employees across the country at the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) study centre in Kochi. Dr. Kalam highlighted the importance of acquiring scientific knowledge as a lifetime mission and the use of these modern technologies to reach out to remotest corners of the country for virtual learning and teaching.

Indian varsities to help set up education hub in Malaysia Five Indian universities will help set up an education hub in Malaysia’s Perak province.

The international university is being set up by Blair Education Services, a Malaysian firm in which the principal foreign equity holder is the Maan Sarovar Group of Companies. The company will collaborate with a consortium of five universities in Chennai, Hyderabad and Belgaum in India. The consortium comprises the Anna University and the M.G.R. Medical University in Tamil Nadu, the International Institute of Information Technology and University of Hyderabad in Hyderabad and KLE University in Belgaum, Karnataka. The new university will offer medical courses, including dentistry, pharmacy and nursing, information technology, biotechnology, nano technology, geoscience and management courses.

NKC recommends expansion of ODL In a letter to the Prime Minister, the National Knowledge Commission (NKC), recommended massive expansion of the Open and Distance Learning (ODL) system in order to attain a gross enrolment of 15% by 2015. A copy of the letter was also sent to the Vice-Chancellors of Open Universities.

More that 30 Vice-Chancellors, Pro Vice-Chancellors, Directors and representatives of open and conventional universities met to address concerns of the ODL system with the support of the NKC and the Distance Education Council (DEC).

Recommendation made included the need to improve the quality of distance education and tailor it to the needs of the society. Concerns were also raised about the quality of higher education provided by the ODL system, that it is not sufficiently recognised. In it’s 10point recommendation, NKC suggested creation of a national ICT infrastructure, setting up of a national education foundation to develop web-based common open resources, establishing January 2008 | www.digitalLearninG.in

a credit bank, effective transition to a course credit system and a national education testing service (NETS) for assessing ODL students, convergence with conventional universities, setting up a research foundation for research activity in ODL, increasing access for learners with special needs, creating a new standing committee for regulation of ODL and developing a system for quality assessment among others.

UNESCO honours IITBombay as knowledge heritage centre UNESCO designated Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) as a ‘knowledge heritage centre’ for its contribution in creating a knowledge society.

The designation has come as the premier technology institute is observing its year long golden jubilee celebrations.

IIT-Bombay was originally established with the cooperation and participation of Unesco, and over the past 50 years it has grown in stature as an institution of national importance and a leader in higher education, research and training.

Fostering human and institutional capacities to improve security through sustainable development is a core mission of UNESCO. Currently, the institute has nearly 2,100 undergraduate and 3,200 postgraduate students.

UGC facilitates access of journals at low rates The University Grants Commission (UGC) of India is planning to provide access to world class journals to over 200 private universities in the country through it Information and Library Network (Inflibnet).

UGC has chalked out a plan to facilitate research activities in private universities by opening access of around 23 world-class research journals through its inter-university centre - the Information and Library Network (Inflibnet). The Inflibnet is in talk with over 23 world-class research e-Journal publishers to provide services to the interested universities at a subsidised rate. The services include accessing contents of around 5,000 top research Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

UNESCO-SALIS e-Learning Portal on information literacy for South Asia The Indian Society for the Advancement of Library and Information Science (SALIS), in collaboration with UNESCO, launched the e-Learning Portal for Awareness Raising on Information Literacy.

The Portal aims to raise awareness, sensitise and enhance information literacy competency skills of common information users as well as information professionals and educators in the South Asian sub-region. Its objectives are fully in line with UNESCO’s mandate to bridge the digital divide and UNESCO’s vision of knowledge societies.

The Portal covers a number of self-learning modules. Indian library experts, in collaboration with lifelong learning experts, have developed the contents of the Portal modules using Moodle open source learning content management software.

journals and helping research scholars and academicians publish research papers in them. Some top ejournals include Blackwell, Oxford University Publication, Cambridge University Publication, American Chemical Society, Project Euclid, Institute of Physics Journal, UK, American Institute of Physics, among others.

As of now, Inflibnet provides e-Journal subscription to 149 universities, funded by UGC.

Academic, industry leaders join hands to set up Indo-UK education centre The India-UK Advanced Technology Centre (IU-ATC), a virtual research and innovation centre comprising 22 industry and academic partners, has been launched recently to drive collaborative research programmes and technology transfer between the two countries.

The IU-ATC will conduct research on current and next generation fixed and wireless communications, with the aim of becoming a global centre of excellence for next generation networks (NGN) and information and communication technologies (ICT) research. The IU-ATC, which has British Telecom (BT) as its prime

industry partner, will facilitate industry collaboration with academic research and government as part of an initial fiveyear research and development plan.

The Indian partners include - IITMadras, IIT-Bangalore, IIT-Delhi, IITMumbai, Infosys Technologies Ltd, BT India, Wipro Technologies and Sasken Communications.

Vet university goes online TANUVAS launched e-Learning programme, the first veterinary institution in India to launch such facility.

The objective was to create interactive multimedia elearning modules for the BVSc and AH courses as per the syllabi stipulated by the Veterinary Council of India.

The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR) has sanctioned INR 169 lakh under National Agricultural Innovation Project (NAIP) to Tamil Nadu VAS e-Learning programme at the Tamil Nadu Veterinary and Animal Sciences University (TANUVAS). The programme would create a repository of learning resources in veterinary and animal sciences and develop online and offline modules to reach out to even the less endowed institutions, faculty and students.

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Fact Sheet

Secondary Education In India Challenge of Quality: Pupil Teacher Ratio in Classes IX and X States having PTR less than all India average Percentage of schools by management (2004-05)

Challenge Of Participation: Gross Enrollment Ratio (Cross Country Comparison)

Challenge Of Participation: Gross Enrollment Ratio States having GER less than all India average Challenge of Access: No. of Secondary Schools (Classes IX-X) per 100 Sq. Km. States having schools less than all India average

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January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

School Track Leadership Matters O N Singh

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

Utapal Mallik

National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

Prof Ved Parkash

National University of Educational Plannning and Administration (NUEPA)

Meera Balchandran

Ramjas School, R K Puram, Delhi

V K Agarwal

Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS)

Adit Gupta

Model Institute of Educational Research, Jammu

Renu Laroiya

DAV Public School, Dayananda Vihar Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issu1 January 2008

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Every JNV To Be A Smart School By 2010

www.navodaya.nic.in/

O N Singh Commissioner

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti have collaborated with Intel for teacher training, with Oracle for using the portal think.com, CII-Siksha for using open source software.

With content software we have had software from Microsoft, Intel, Azim Premji Foundation and then CII Siksha programme have given us some software. We use Microsoft as operational software, and are moving ahead towards using open source software in parallel. For the first time, we have provided open source application software open office to all the schools in the current year.

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are leading examples in successful integration of ICTs in public sector schools. What is your vision for the JNVs in the digital age?

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) are on the forefront in the country on integration of ICT in teaching and learning. All the teachers are trained in application of skills of computers and Internet in preparation of lesson plans, interactive learning, sharing and dissemination of resources.

Following the state-wide launch of ICT@School programme by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), we have achieved in establishment of 33 smart schools, one each per state and UT as the model schools with all the necessary ICT infrastructure and applications for teachers and students. Our vision is now is to make every JNV a smart school by 2010. We are progressing towards developing smart classrooms in each school, ICT-enabled with an LCD projector, television, computer and Internet connection to effectively integrate ICT in teaching learning activity.

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ICT infrastructure is a key challenge in implementation of ICT in schools. What is the strategy devised by NVS for successful deployment of ICTs in JNVs? ICT infrastructure is a big challenge.

Because our schools are located in the rural areas with less than six to eight hours of power supply. NVS strategy for ICT deployment was twin-fold; firstly, we have planned for the physical infrastructure and secondly, we have planned for the ICT infrastructure. We have allocated one classroom for 40 computers as school building plan component.

The ICT Infrastructure like hardware, software, peripherals, etc are provided by the leading IT companies, our current computer - pupil ratio is 1:12. Internet facility is also available to minimum of 10 computers in a computer lab. Currently, 201 JNVs are provided with VSAT facility with a minimum speed of 256 kbps and the installation process is on for 100 more schools.

We have developed partnerships with leading software providers for software solutions for JNVs. We

How are ICT facilities in schools being shared for community benefits?

Computer-aided education is implemented in 541 JNVS and 502 JNVS are provided smart classrooms across various states in the country.

We have started another project with Intel Learn, community programme, under this the children from the neighborhood schools in rural areas are trained in the use of ICT and they also take up projects related to problems of the community. We keep our computer laboratories open during the summer holidays for the children from the neighborhood primary schools that lack access to computers, to come and learn ICT applications. We are also planning to keep our infrastructure open in the evening, but right now we are providing training to the local school students. Each Navodaya Vidyalayas adopts one school every year; so far we have trained 50,000 thousand school children under this initiative of ICT@school programme.

What are the initiatives undertaken by NVS for capacity building of teachers and principals?

The training of teachers and January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

H N S Rao Deputy Commissioner

we settle their concerns and issues immediately, with concerned officers online.

Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

principals in IT skills is very important for success of ICT programmes in schools. The training of teachers for computer uses is conducted with assistance from Microsoft, Intel and Oracle. With Microsoft we have signed a MoU under their programme of project Siksha or Partners in Learning. Under the programme they provide the necessary faculty and the necessary training material including the texts to be used by the teachers and we provide the necessary infrastructure. It is a comprehensive programme covering basics of computers and applications such as word, excel, power point, Internet browsing, e-mailing, etc. and how to use these technologies in the classrooms. We have the Intel Teach programme for the teacher professional development alongwith online teacher-training programme that we are piloting Intel.

NVS is piloting the Intel “Classmate PC” project in schools. Could you elaborate more on the Intel laptops pilot project? If its useful would you scale it up?

Intel has developed a low cost laptop “Classmate PC”. It’s a small laptop device with all the capabilities of a computer, and runs on a battery.

It does not have a hard disk but it uses the hard disk of the server and it is connected by a wireless to the whole community. For example, the Navodaya schools as is spread on a 30 acres campus, can now enable children to keep this laptop anywhere in the campus they are always connected with the main server in the vicinity of the particular campus, they can have every Internet facility available and send e-mails. What is interesting is that important lessons are installed on the “Classmate PC” the child can access those lessons on that. The children can chat with the teachers and discuss about their assignments with the teachers and Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issu1 January 2008

other students. This pilot has been launched in Faridabad, Intel provided 80 of them free of cost and with the other supporting staff, Internet connectivity and training.

How do you provide digital content to your schools?

The digital content is made available from Microsoft, Intel, and other partners. We have been using open source content and apart from that, the teachers themselves are developing content. We have trained them to the digital level, they make the lesson plans, e-Contents and e-Contents being developed by some school in physics, biology, mathematics etc. we share that.

As such we have not bought any content to supply to the teachers, our approach is to empower the teacher to make their teaching more interactive.

Have you thought of using interactive radio, video conferencing or using EDUSAT? We have EDUSAT connectivity, four of our training centers called the National leadership institutes, including headquarter office, has EDUSAT facility. We use it for video multicasting and also for sharing of information and between the head office and our network schools.

Currently about 200 schools are using this facility. The topics discussed are varied, ranging from career counseling, staff, safety and security to programmes and academic improvement. We get the feedback from 200 schools in 2 hours and

Would you like to share more on the monitoring, assessment and feedback of your programmes?

We have evolved a feedback programme for monitoring, under that we have a detailed questionnaire pattern at regional office level, with a officer designated specifically to take care of the ICT activity. Each region has about 60-70 schools and are divided into clusters of 10-12 schools. Each cluster of schools has an in-charge officer and is responsible for all activities. We are continuously updating our system and there is a need to build in more components to evaluate and monitor the success of our programmes.

What are the critical challenges that the government schools particularly come across?

Lack of electricity supply is a big challenge to solve. We have to provide dedicated generator sets as an alternate solution. We provide access to the Internet at 256 kbps, this is sufficient for 10 - 15 computers but our labs have 40 computers.

So the Internet connectivity is also a problem, as it depends on the available bandwidth.

What are the initiatives you are taking up in bringing ICTs into school curriculum?

CBSE does not have compulsory ICT in their curriculum. We have introduced ICT in our curriculum and have even developed and brought out our own in-house ICT textbooks for students and teachers. We have not yet thought of taking ICT subject to the lower classes, neither we have any plans for online examination.

The success of our ICT integration in our curriculum is reflected in the outstanding performance of students and teachers at the ICT excellence awards to schools, out of 26 awards NVS got 13 and this is a great motivation for our students and teachers of all JNVs to move towards excellence.

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The Curriculum At Crossroads that adopts the content.

Dr Utpal Mallik Head Department of Computer Education, NCERT, New Delhi, India What purpose do we want children to attain through a course of study?

What experiences are needed to attain them?

How to organise those experiences?

How do we know they have been attained?

These questions define curriculum; answers to them define a curriculum.

While computers and allied technologies make their way into a growing number of India’s schools, what constitutes their effective use in education is open to debate.

Intrusion into the school system by an external agent, be it an exotic technology, an alien practice, or both - banal or beneficial - usually comes with the argument that it is to bring about changes in the content, process and outcome of schooling. But the school curriculum is showing no sign of change, for better or for worse, the technology notwithstanding.

Meanwhile, a coalition of educators, industry and well-meaning others is worried about the lack of ‘quality content’ which seems to be limiting the use of ICT in schools. This calls for a close look at the scope of digital content in the school curriculum.

There are two commonplace assumptions on which the idea of digital content is presently based.

Remedial programmes on hard spots in the curriculum are based on the assumption that there are some universally perceived difficult areas in a course of study which can be made more understandable with the help of computer programmes. One can call them digital guidebooks!

The other assumption upon which various kinds of programmes with rich media elements are developed on all conceivable topics taught in the school is that these enrichment programmes are beneficial to all

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www.ncert.nic.in

learners. This one-jacket-fits-all variety usually makes everybody happy.

But this is tomorrow’s technology in yesterday’s classroom, which ultimately limits the scope of its innovative uses in the school. The new information technology has far greater prospect than as a delivery device for content. Despite its brashness, the technology entrenched in the existing teaching practice does not bring about change in the curriculum.

Exploring the World Wide Web has not been widely explored as a serious activity. Few schools contribute to this source of content or use the Web as a place to meet peer groups and experts to exchange ideas. There should be many more models that combine the global network and the local curricula than there presently are. We do not witness much of appropriate, effective and relevant uses of digital content and certainly not many innovations in the use of the technology in the school curriculum.

This takes us to the old curriculum questions asked above. Clearly, planning for technology integration into school curriculum is planning for a curriculum. If this is our goal, it is time we answered those four questions accordingly. The policy on digital content cannot be separated from the policy on the curriculum

Whether our purpose is to make children critical thinkers, problem solvers and adept at the twenty first century skills (as some people hope) or to attain more tangible educational outcome, the ICT-integrated curriculum still has to function within the constraints of the systemic reality. Curriculum designers are not inspired to plan for organising learning experiences enhanced by the technology. Teachers’ pre-service or in-service experience of using the technology in teaching is limited.

The public examination at the end of the day is not meant to evaluate the outcome of learning in a technology integrated classroom. Thus the resistance to curriculum change comes from the curriculum itself, which is designed and implemented for goals that are not the same as those of the technology mediated experience. Systemic reform would require broad, coordinated change across the many levels and facets of school education to bring the two goals closer.

The age-old dichotomy between the content and the process should not escape attention. It is the process that can be technology assisted, not just, if at all, the content. The processes of collecting and analysing information, communicating ideas, planning and organising activities and working with others are defined by the technology that is adopted to do those jobs. Computers are process tools. They can help students share ideas and undertake a range of activities that are similar to the processes in the workplace. There are indications that in the coming days there will be less demand on students to know more content and more demand on their ability to take part in processes. Practices that prepare young people for tomorrow’s workplace should be promoted, not those that end in themselves.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Facilitating Data Capture Professor Ved Prakash

Vice Chancellor National University of Educational Planning and Administration (NEUPA)

We have successfully created the database of more than 1.20 million elementary, primary and upper primary schools. Now the similar attempt will be made in the 152,000 secondary and senior secondary institutions in the country Tell us a bit about your activities in the field of technology induced teaching and learning?

We have created a database of all the elementary education institutions in the country, which is known as DISE- District Information System for Education. DISE advantage is to provide information and data about the number of schools, their infrastructure, etc. in no time. The same data would take about 5-to-7 years time, but today the time lag is four to six months.

effective method, but also helps cleaning the data quickly.

We have developed an electronic system for data capturing purposes, available at the grassroots level.

The information is collected from individual schools and is sent to the cluster resource centre, then to the block resource centre. From the block resource centre, it is sent to the district headquarter and finally it goes to the state level. The entire amount of information is checked and cross-checked at each level till finally a national-level database was prepared. The Information Management System implemented not only provides a highly cost-

We have successfully created the database of more than 1.20 million elementary, primary and upper primary schools. Now the similar attempt will be made in the 152,000 secondary and senior secondary institutions in the country. A similar kind of initiative for the post secondary institutions in the country is also undertaken, the number of which is a little over 19,000 that includes universities, institutes of national importance.

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issu1 January 2008

What steps are you taking to spread the use of DISE data?

We have decided to upscale it from elementary to secondary level. We have already completed the first phase of this exercise, which means we have developed the data formats.

We organise regional level seminars in which the district and state level authorities, school representatives are involved.

We have introduced an “eminent scholar lecture series� in universities

www.nuepa.org

in the country. Under this we invite scholars from different parts of the country to deliver lecture on various educational themes, and we have also planned to make these lecture available through EDUSAT so as to disseminate the gains.

How does the roles of the database and the university converge?

What are the other attempts made towards digital learning?

Our role in the University is related to developing the entire methodology; a capture format. We have trained the educational functionaries at district and state levels.

We have a documentation centre where there is a collection of 60,000 books that are digitised and accessible freely.

How do you feel technology should be integrated into education and educational planning?

Technology should be an integrated part of the educational planning as a module, but we have not done enough in that direction. In private schools, we see a lot of ICTs but in the public institutions you will not find it.

The purpose of education is to reduce such inequalities. While it can not eradicate inequalities, it can reduce extreme form of inequality. Despite investment, pubic institutions are not properly integrated with technology in higher education. We have done it with the help of UGC, but we need to do the same in the school education as well.

Things should be the other way round, as we have not developed the right kind of infrastructure.

Technology will facilitate the implementation of and achievement of the educational goals, but we also need to create certain common facilities at a common place. We need to create work culture and ethos with full back up support so that the people in this field of ICTs should get recognition and advantage.

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No Policy? ICT Cannot Be Stopped!

Prof Marmar Mukhopadhyaya Director ETMA

Coming from a very rural, rugged rural background, Prof. Marmar Mukhopadhaya is no stranger to grassroots. Having been involved in the highest level of policy making and planning, he regards his rural work as his actual laboratory You have been associated with numerous programmes at policy level, both within and outside the government.

What is your aspirations in terms of quality education in the country?

To me quality education is the birth right of every child born in this country. But the question is what do you mean by quality? We’re taking quality education with cognitive brilliance, with emotional maturity which has got social concern, and simultaneously a well-developed physical life both internally and externally. A knowledge society means a knowledge consuming, preserving, disseminating and creating society. Today, India is only consuming knowledge. To me a developed India would be one that is part of the knowledge creating mechanism.

The first important thing in quality education is to move from knowledgeable people to knowledge creating people and from solution seekers to solution creators. The education provided in our schools is fragile because it is not applicable in real life as the students simply mug.

Rather, the pedagogy should be one where students research, reinvent and create knowledge and the teacher plays a mentors role.

ICT has a lot of potential to help students and teachers. By 2020, we will have roughly 1,75,000 Secondary and Senior Secondary Schools in the country. Government policy will definitely reach out with ICT in education - with every school equipped with a computer lab and Internet connectivity. The private players will come to the market creating a lot of competition and forcing them to reduce their charges and also this will lead to quality education. I believe, by 2010, half of the schools in India will have some kind of ICT infrastructure and by 2020 schools will have an entirely different culture. The biggest problem that I believe is the lack of awareness about technology in policy makers.

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You emphasised on creativity. But at the end of the day students are to appear in the examinations adhered to the traditional pattern. What are your suggestions on the examination pattern?

Toady we are performing with the fragile learning. But we can still perform with sustainable learning. Look at the Central Board, National Open school, CBSE, NCERT, ICSE. The moment they go into short answer, objective questions, etc., they are creating this new alternative approach. Currently working on what we call, an item pool. They don’t have the discriminating index but once that stage is reached things should change.

Examination system is changing and the new generation learning will create a kind of sustainable learning.

Majority of good performers in the school system are not good at abstraction because they come from fragile learning and have performed well by mugging. And the curriculum instruction process has been influencing examination.

The Indian educational system is very traditional but the technology is moving at a very fast rate. When we talk of ICT in education, how do you see the convergence?

There are two streams of research- one is impact of technology on society and the other is impact of society on technology. Because of social convention, adoption of technology is very slow. It is the adults who resist technology and the students give it a push. We have a larger force to push for technology in the form of students.

Television, with Discovery and other channels is doing a lot in impacting the society to adopt technology. The Internet is changing the whole scenario.

Do you think that ICT policy in education will facilitate this process?

ICT can not be stopped whether there is a policy or not.

Presently there is a huge project of the government of India for ICT going on. Policy can give it a specific thrust to move it faster and to bind people. If you push it faster, commercial agencies will take benefit of it by charging higher prices.

Would you like to comment on ‘India is a developed country by 2020’?

It is a question of how you define it. As an economic and military power- yes! But development should have a human face and an assured quality of life for all. Its good that the government is spending a lot on education. But will it be translated into results? SSA is one such project, of which 50 % of the money is going in personal pockets. We need to develop the system’ capacity for spending. By the 12th Five Year Plan, the system capacity will change.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Leaders’ Speak From LCD projectors to interactive whiteboards and from computer aided to web 2.0 technology based learning, Information Communication Technologies (ICTs) have percolated deep into the school education system. Today technology driven education is being evolved at a breath taking pace and the positive effects of technology integrated pedagogy on education has been unanimously acknowledged by educators, academicians, parents and all the other stake holders. However, teacher training for equipping them with the latest technology to leverage the quality of education seemed to be there where thoughts and opinions seemed to be converged. Lets look out for the views, opinions and apprehensions of teachers and principals of various schools regarding incorporation of ICTs in the school education system of the country

Knowledge is expanding at a fast rate. The biggest challenge today in education is keeping ourselves updated

V K Aggarwal

Education Officer Kendriya Vidayalaya Sangathan (KVS)

Meera Balachandran Principal, Ramjas School R.K. Puram, New Delhi Meera Balachandran, Principal, Ramjas School, R.K. Puram believes that ICT in education is very useful. She is emphasising about the teacher training and takes measure to keep the teachers at her school updated with the ICTs and in many other fields. The school has the training facilities that aims to train teachers, students and to develop research-based projects including Maths lab and to improve speaking skills.

Balachandran says, the biggest challenge today in education is keeping one updated. “Because knowledge is expanding at a very fast rate. If the teachers and the students are not updated they will be left behind.” She strongly supports the idea of self learning, letting the students learn on their own where the teacher is just a facilitator. On the contrary, most teachers like to teach rather than leaving the children find the answers on their own, she added.

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issu1 January 2008

Ramjas school has come up with the novel concept of dynamics clubs: computer based clubs that the students run themselves. The clubs are exclusively managed by the students, who also maintain the website of the school. These clubs organise inter school competition every year that are crucial in the capacity building of the students.

Ramjas has been one of the preveliged schools that has been offered a complete set up by Intel with 15 computers.

‘For the primary school we are planning to keep15 laptops at the headmistress office.’ We roll it in the class. The children pick up the laptop, work within the class room and they don’t come out of the class.

The training programme is developed by the teachers only in collaboration with the students. We dont collaborate with any other external organisation in developing such programmes.

Kendriya Vidayalaya Sangathan (KVS) has over 1000 schools across the country and one each in Moscow, Kathmandu and in Tehran.

Elaborating on the use of ICT in School educat ion, V K Aggarwal says that ICT will supplement to formal education by ways of disseminating information, facilitating lifelong education, etc. But it should not be the hub of everything. There is a need to bring about a change in mind.

‘Why we think that we can not do anything without ICT? We should realise that ICT is a solution provider and not solution generator. They are not empowering the children to generate the solution. This is where we are lacking.’

At the initial level, the children should not be exposed to the ICT assisted education, atleast up till class 6. Aggarwal holds such an opinion because he believes that ICT integration in the early year of a child’s education kills the thinking skills of the kid for the simple reason that when a kid gets a readymade solution for everything he stops

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thinking. This is the time that they should be exposed to the natural

a unified particular solutions for all the problems.

ICT integration in the early year of a child’s education kills the thinking skills of the kid for the simple reason that when a kid gets a readymade solution for everything he stops thinking. This is the time that they should be exposed to the natural learning learning. ‘If we are exposing them to the ready made learning we are shunning their skills.’

The KVS officer again says initially KVS didn’t have computers and other ICTs upto class six. But when it was decided to introduce ICTs in class 3 onwards, it was found that there was a significant difference in the original thinking power in the children of class 5 who come from class 3 with ICT exposure and those without ICT exposure. He also added that when an application based problem was given to them which is not a part of their text, the children who were not exposed to computers were able to solve them quickly as compared to those who were exposed to ICT. Nonetheless, he advocated its use for making children learn dawning, MS Paint and other thing of that nature. One strong reason he put forth against early exposure of ICT to children is on the ground of socialisation. Children exposed to ICTs are engrossed with their computers so much that they hardly find time to play and attending social gatherings.

He added that children should come up to that level where they are able to filter it down and know what is relevant and what is not. But its unfortunate that its not been observed.

He emphasised on building a healthy, positive relationship with the child and have a firm belief that every child has the potential to learn. Putting forth the recent recommendations

by NCERT favouring constructivist approach for teaching, Aggarwal says, children should be allowed to do on their own and let them find out the thousand ways and means things can be done. There can be different meanings things have for different children rather than giving

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Sharing his concern on quality education, Aggarwal says, quality has got as many meanings and is as diverse as the diversity in India.

Most people speak of quality in terms of achievement in examination, that alone is not quality. Rather it consists of several criteria through which the so called test marks of the child can be increased. A child who secures 90% marks is no better than that who scores lesser, but has got better value education and knows how to support learning in terms of knowledge. Thus the parameters for quality in education should be the understanding of the child, whatever he is being taught. He appears of the opinion that an increase in budget for education sector is critically significant to reach out to those who are out of education. There is need to reach to the unfocused and deprived areas. He said quality will always carry the quantity with it. If you increase the quality, quantity will come along. But are we able to provide enough quantitative schools?

Still millions of children are unable to access education and are not enrolled to schools. Every year, primary schooling for a person earns about 30% of his productivity. We need to look for that quality.

But he believes that every hurdle can be overcome. Gupta pronounced teacher training to adequately equip them to cope up with the changing trends and innovations in the education field. He sounded positive regarding the increased budgetary allocation and said, its is in the right direction. But added, planning and management of the funds is of utmost importance and more efforts need to ensure whether the funds are going in the right direction.

Gupta accents upon achieving the ultimate goal of satisfying the customers. We need to ask this question if the students are satisfied with the current education practices and whether they are positively contributing in their learning and building capacities. Sharing his own experiences in school education he says, it has been observed that children using ICTs are more interested in education, more curious and inquisitive to learn.

Referring to a study in his own school he said, ICTs impacts positively in Science education, and the results are great.

By integrating ICTs in education we are not sidelining teachers, rather we are just bringing a way out to explain difficult concepts like a frogs dissection in the laboratory. The tools for learning have chaged, but the pedagogy remains the same. ICTs should be an integral part of every teacher training programme and in courses like B.Ed. Teacher Training

By integrating ICTs in education we are not sidelining teachers, rather we are just bringing a way out to explain difficult concepts like a frogs dissection in the laboratory. The tools for learning have chaged, but the pedagogy remains the same

Adit Gupta

Principal, Model Institute of Education and Research (MIER), Jammu Adit Gupta, the Principal, MIER - a 67 years old institute in Jammu feels that any new technology introduced in education will face many hurdles.

paper should be made compulsory in the course as this would save resources that are spent on teachers on job.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

We are using laptops, projectors, LCD, T V in classrooms that is connected with the central knowledge lab. We are in collaboration with Educomp for the last 3 years that provides us content and training for our staff.

Gupta added that universtatlisation of education can only be possible through ICTs.

school ICTs help teachers in ways like preparing teaching learning material; teachers make lessons on the computers. Computers make the whole process of teaching learning very effective. The most interesting part of it is that both teachers and students take keen interest and get involved in the education process.

We have just begun using Even the most interactive Whiteboard hyper active eBeam. We also use robotics student who in our school otherwise disturbs the whole class are converted into Renu Laroiya the most Principal, DAV Public School disciplined ones.

Dayanand Vihar There are other technology also Renu Laroiya thinks, ICTs in school that are used in our school, other education naturally is of great use. It than the computers. ‘We have just makes the teaching learning process begun using interactive Whiteboard very interesting and easy. In our - eBeam. Its really helpful and will

greatly enhance the teaching learning at the school. Students and teachers take great interest in the tool.’ But it will take some time before we could fully utilise the tool, as its quite new to us. We also use robotics at our school, which is again of great use.

Whenever a new technology is implemented, there is always an initial resistance on part of the teachers. To overcome this, I think teacher training plays a very important role in making them understand the benefits of using technology in education and how these tools can make the whole process of teaching learning more effective. Increased budgetary allocation by the government will also influence the process as it will boost up the morale of the teachers and the students as well.

digitalLEARNING recognised Springdales School, Pusa Road, Delhi as the Power school 2007

Be A Power School Be A Part Of School Track Share your innovative classrooms strategies, innovations of your school across the wider education community Send your stories to info@digitallearning.in Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issu1 January 2008

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Flashback 2007

Catch’em Young Dheeraj Mehrotra Head, TQM in Education City Montessori School & Degree College, Lucknow, INDIA Be it the last day of college or the first day to a nursery with the tiffin, the only content of the bag, the story of Computer can no longer be an adult one. It may sound far-fetched, but tests have revealed that it is more so a true explanation in reality. At times, a parent may find this taste of a child a smart one with expectation to conduct their day-to-day data entry operations and even locating particular information on the web by just clicking on the keypad using Google search as their available medium.

policies and practices for children’s use of the Internet.

One must at the same time initiate conversations with teachers, administrators, and parents, rather than set and implement rules that may be perceived as too rigid. One must take note that all stakeholders have a chance to contribute to the

content. Remember that overzealous watchdog policies may inhibit Internet opportunities for students, whose only access to the Internet is through school. A balanced approach to the Internet means, both at home and at school, there are set rules and limits on Internet use, and guidence to good Internet content.

Quality education is the need of the hour and with the result, at the same time the boards of education and learning must develop a plan to help schools, teachers and parents educate

They say that “Computers, software, CDs and Smart Toys should always be considered a supplement to the other, more concrete learning activities like completing puzzles, building with Lego and blocks, reading books, creating art projects and playing on the playground…”, is obvious by our observations and research, of the present day scenario.

The path or the drive is not new to the kids. No wonder, you tell a child to write an essay as homework, he/she is bound to download the content to present before you the next day, making you baffle to the interest of many others lying in the queue. The parents often think this as a menace out of the challenging work wisdom they possess in order to earn their daily living. Their frames are not yet over with more demands for the CD-Burner and Scanner for more computing and smart-study as they call it. The only option available to the poor parents of the IT age is to ponder over for solace and to accept novel ways to convince their future generations in regards to motivations and guided involvement. They ought to take a balanced approach to

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decision-making process. A computer and a great software can be fun and exciting learning tool, and can even provide practice of pre-academic and academic skills. At the same time it is also true that the computer software cannot teach a child concepts that he/ she is not developmentally ready for.

The Computer is a tool to accommodate all the probable queries of an individual with the aid of the software but at the same time the umbrella has to be there in order to have what is required rather than to have all with none relevant. One must pay as much attention to highlighting good content as to restricting banned

children about safe, responsible use of the Internet. For example, encourage schools and families to place computers in rooms that are shared (such as family rooms, dining rooms, offices or libraries), where children can use the Internet with others around them. And teach children never to share personal information (name, address, telephone, or credit card number) online. This may go a long way in making this a success.

The day-to-day activities at the school and the home education will provide a healthy liking for the computer and this is required to foster appropriate use of the Internet among preschoolers and other young children.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

It is also a debating fact that despite the increasing use of computers in elementary schools, there hasn’t been a decrease in the formal teaching of penmanship. The children use just as much paper as they did before computers became a classroom standard. Hence one has to keep in mind that writing with a pencil involves an equally important set of skills as typing on a keyboard.

Exposure to the Internet can help preschoolers and children in the early elementary grades master literacy and other cognitive skills and also can

regular classroom learning. If teacher training takes place outside of regular school hours, offer teachers incentives to participate when possible. If teacher training pulls teachers out of the classroom, parents should be made to know why it is important to support this professional development.

The usage of the Internet to communicate more effectively with parents and students goes a long way to generate interest for all. For instance, launch school district or school websites or publicize websites in newsletters and places where

Quality education is the need of the hour and with the result, at the same time the boards of education and learning must develop a plan to help schools, teachers and parents educate children about safe, responsible use of the Internet spur integration of these skills early in their development. Parents and school leaders who look for online opportunities for younger children can be guides to engaging, ageappropriate content.

The Internet can reinforce everyday learning opportunities and be a powerful tool for fostering interaction among adults and young children. It takes much to conduct the new tool of knowledge in this regard. The task of the teaching gentry must ponder in regard to computing of this sort, they must help teachers, parents, and children use the Internet more effectively for learning. For example, they ought to suggest educationrelated websites for parents and children to visit together - and give them learning activities to do once they get there. Offer educationrelated help for students online, like after-school tutoring. Provide teachers with professional development opportunities to help them model effective use of the Internet as a tool for students’ learning, including integrating Internet learning with Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issu1 January 2008

parents are likely to be. Update websites frequently with relevant, timely information. Post exemplary student work online, with teacher commentary explaining why this work meets academic standards.

Make websites interactive by soliciting comments or holding public forums about education issues online.

Encourage teachers, parents and students to communicate through email, make their email IDs and even communicate off-line with that reference only for generating pulses of craze and interest of being a netizen. And finally, engage the community.

This can be very easily done through holding computer and Internet training classes for parents or hosting convenient opportunities for parents, community leaders, librarians, teachers, and others to talk together about children’s use of the Internet. Schools may want to collaborate with libraries, community computing centers, local colleges and universities, and other places that offer alternative access to computers.

Educators and parents have been quite concerned over the years about possible negative effects of computer and Internet on children’s desire to interact with others. Unlike television, however, the more interactive, child-controlled nature of some computer software can be conductive to sharing, taking turns and playing games together.

Also the fact lies to the versatile saying that the familiarity and comfort with computers is certainly useful for daily survival, both in and out of school. The risk associated with this myth comes from placing too much emphasis on the computer as a “must” for children’s future welfare.

It’s better to regard computer use as simply one more experience or tool that can support the development of the good oldfashioned learning skills such as being able to read and write, think logically, and solve and analyze problems. It can also enhance the learning process by allowing children to have experiences not possible without a computer.

IT has paved as the irresistible mantra for survival, the capsules for quality culture, the tablet for Prosperity at large. Pressing it with the opinion of the masses is the fact that it is a reality in practice.

The boom of technology is bound to promote and enhance the image of quality in education and the society in a big way. Regardless of one’s career choice, one can benefit from a knowledge of computer hardware and software, and how these components function together. Even if one’s job does not require him to work directly with a computer, this knowledge may help him to envision new ways of using computers in the work, resulting in a more productive work environment. This can also lead to career advancement opportunities.

Kudos’ to Babbage, towards being the Father of Computers. Let there be power of computing building a better place to live in.

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Things That Will Impact ICT and Education Electricity Telephony Network Connectivity

Satyajit Joshi Manager - Business Development Kern Communications Pvt. Ltd

PAPERLESS Classroom TEACHERLESS Classroom Dependence on Technology for Quality Education

Learning 2.0 (Elearning + Web 2.0) ACT(Assess, Certify, Train) Learning 3.0 (Elearning 2.0 + SecondLife)

Navyug Mohnot CEO QAI

Broadband penetration Education budgets Online tutoring

Dheeraj Mehrotra Head, TQM in Education City Montessori School & College Lucknow, INDIA

The growth of mobile phone technology The price reduction of computers and in turn availabilty in schools Software support for vernacular basaed ICT education

Dr. K.Vivekanandan B.E., M.Tech., Ph.D., Professor and Head Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering and Information Technology Pondicherry Engineering College Pondicherry

Wide Spread of Internet in India Availability of broadband connectivity in the rural and semi urban parts of India Realtime knowledge sharing

Girish Prabhu CEO, Guruji World

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Shantanu Prakash CEO Educomp Solutions

Decreasing cost, increased appreciation of ICT Internet, Web2.0 and Online Collaboration Increased interest of corporate and government

CEO, Rasala Publications Group Editor-in Chief Netexpress and Bandwidth

User created content Social software and online tribes/ communities Learner expectations of technology

Shameema Parveen Knowledge Officer Edutech

ICT Policy

Sunita Joshi Director, JIL

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

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A bunch of boisterous, happy kids posing with their XO laptops outside the Khairat School

One of the students showing off her work on the XO notebook

The Linux server for the school, on the right is a fixed wireless phone that is used for connecting to the Internet

Kids showing off their work on the laptop

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First OLPC pilot started by Reliance Communications at Khairat School near Karjat in Maharashtra

Embracing Technology

Amit Gogna of Reliance helping the kids with their laptops

Sandeep Surve, the teacher of the Khairat School who is the man behind OLPC deployment

The Khairat school where the laptops have been deployed January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | C ase Study

Reaching Out With Technology Tell me, I’ll forget; Show me, I may not remember; Involveme, I will understand Everonn believes in the adage of W .B Yeats, ‘Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire’.

Across all levels of education there is a significant shift from the chalk and talk method to more inquiry based methods.

Everonn Systems India Ltd aims at making significant contribution to the student and teacher community by blending the traditional methods with technology-assisted tools to ignite the passion for quality learning.

Technology facilitated reach-out

Everonn, has revolutionised the domain of education by launching live and interactive ‘Virtual Learning Classroom Networks’ across India to deliver quality and affordable education. Everonn reaches out to the students via a VSAT enabled platform, permitting two-way audio and video interaction. This podium is effectively used to beam live sessions of classes conducted by Everonn faculty from the state-of-the-art studios of Everonn. Scores of students simultaneously participate in these highly interactive programmes. This collaborative learning enhances the quality of education.

www.everonn.com schools spread across 14 states.

Everonn @ Colleges : Learning for Earning

Everonn offers career counseling, career enhancement programmes, soft-skills training and aptitude development programmes over the virtual platform through “Everonn Learning Centres” at the colleges. It addresses the needs of IT, ITES and BFSI domains. Everonn’s ‘Learning for Earning’ segment enhances the degree of employability amongst college students.

Interactive lectures by eminent personalities (educationalists, IPS/IAS officers, scientists, and domain experts) are also enabled through this platform. These interactions help the students to broaden their vision and understand the industry trends and needs.

Dr. Kishore Kumar – MD St John’s International Schools addressing children on the occasion of ‘Children’s’ Day on ‘Expectations of parent and teachers beyond academics

Enriched content

Everonn develops and integrates content for Indian and global audience at schools, colleges and corporate segments.

The content development is based on proven instructional design strategies and addresses the complete needs of the audience.

Everonn @ Schools : Path to Progress

The content for schools is integrated with the formal academic syllabus and is enhanced by relevant and attentiongrabbing pictures, animations, video clippings and challenging quizzes. The sessions reinforce the concepts taught by the school teachers and also address the needs of the Board examinations. Everonn also offers non-curricular modules in language and mathematical skills to add value to the learning process.

Another Everonn product prepares the students to successfully compete in the IITJEE, AIEEE and similar entrance exams.

Everonn also has the expertise to implement IT education in schools under BOOT model. Currently present in over 3200 Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

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C orporate Diary | C ase Study

Distance Learning Centre @ IIM Bangalore “This program, designed for the specific needs of professionals from the software and IT industry in India isnow available simultaneously to students in Bangalore and Chennai & potentially to students in other cities;thanks to the seamless technology brought to the fore by Actis.”

Dr. Rajendra K. Bandi, IIMB

After 1947, the Government of India focused on creating a solid technology base simultaneously augmented with management talent and resources. Thus, Indian Institutes of Management (JIM)were born. With its highly accomplished faculty and a motivated student body, JIM Bangalore evolved into a premier centre for management education and research. Today, IIMB strives to achieve excellence through partnerships with industry and others world over.

The challenge- Bridging the communicationgap The Post Graduate Program in Software Enterprise Management (PGSEM) aims to produce business leaders with strong technical andmanagement knowledge and a global perspective in a way that transcends borders of the institute in Bangalore. Thus, a distance or “distributed” learning initiative was conceived for Bangalore and Chennai. However, the institute was clear that students in Chennai should have the same learning experience as those in Bangalore.

Today while distances are bridged faster than ever before, providing a seamless learning experience between two separate cities was a challenge. For instance, the limited IIMB faculty could not travel between two locations. Yet, teaching in a distributed classroom was not to be significantly different from traditional teaching. And technology was to be simple enough to not impose any constraint on teaching style, or classroom interactions.

Actis - An effective role •

Reality: As experts in audio-visual-environment control technologies,the Actis Pro.fessional Services Group was

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

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certain that a ‘zero-distance’interaction was required.

Classes would conference in real time.

Clarity: The lecture would need to be delivered to local and remote classrooms without acoustic echo or ambient noise. Clear visuals of faculty and students were important and so was the ability for remote stuilents to ask questions during a lecture.

Contact: ‘Eye contact’ between remote students and faculty was key.The ability to lecture freely and share computer presentations and documents with both locations in real-time were important as well Ease: It was also important for the system to be user friendly

The Solutions After understanding the needs, and rounds of consultations with key members at IIMB, Actis suggested setting up a videoconferencing facility.The institute built two classrooms in each location with the same layout and equipment: • Three LCD Displays installed in each class: Two displays in the front show the remote classroom, a third at the rear displays remote students for faculty.The Displays in the remote classroom show faculty.

• A MultimediaProjector powers the Motorised Screen, displaying presentations in colour and detail without dimming the lights.

• The Interactive Whiteboard allows the faculty to go beyond a computer presentation to explain his/her point.

The board captures the faculty’s writing and transfers it in real time to the remote classroom on another projection system.

• A high end Video Conferencing codec and high resolution 3-CCD cameras are used to transmit video. Satellite IP connectivity is provided by EDUSAT,ISRO. ISDN connectivity over PRI is used for redundancy. Computer presentations are transmitted using NetMeeting.

• An intuitive Camera Joystick Control provided in the central control room tracks faculty, allowing them complete freedom to move and interact with the class.

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C orporate Diary | C ase Study •

The Visualizer captures and transmits sharp images of documents, 3D objects and slides to both classrooms in real time.

Slim Gooseneck Microphones are installed on tables for students. A wireless lapel microphone is used by faculty.

A DSP audio processor with acoustic echo cancellation transmits clear audio to the remote classroom without unwanted noises.

The unique voice tracking system makes the camera instantly ‘look’ at the Sudent who is speaking, withtheir video transmitted to the remote classroom in realtime.

Monitor Speakers reinforce speech audio uniformly in the local classroom, besides program audio and the voice.

Connectivity receptacles are installed on faculty desks for laptop connectivity with the AV system.

A DVD Recorder records and plays back the lectures.

The lighting control system creates optimum room lighting presets for various activities.

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The Actis Advantage

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The touch panel seamlessly activates and controls the AV gear at just the touch of a finger.

What’s more, the technology is ‘hidden’ away in a central control room wherein LCD Monitors are used to preview and control content sent to the remote classroom.

“Actis has made it possible for us to conduct seamless classes across locations... the faculty andstudents experience a smooth interaction... from white board drawings to question-answer sessions,” states Dr. Bandi.

IIMB was successfully able to achieve the objectives that it had desired during conceptualisation. The regular online interaction between two remote classrooms has bridged the gap and students in remote classrooms can now enjoy the benefits of being a part of the prestigious IIM Bangalore institution. No wonder that IIMB plans to extend the program to other cities like Hyderabad in the near future.

systems) and environmental controls (lighting and HVAC), depending on your requirements. The aim is to improve the technical quality of the presentations,enhance the environment of the meeting place and simplify manipulation of complex equipment so that one can effectively increase the audiences’ receptiveness to the message.

Actis has clients in India, Australia, Germany,Greece, Israel, Philippines, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan,

Thailand and the United States of America.

Actis has its headquarters and production plant in Mumbai, India.

It has sales offices in Ahmedabad, Bangalore,Chennai, Hyderabad, Kochi, Kolkata, New Delhi & Pune and an allIndia distribution network for sales and support activities. Our client base now includes medium and large companies, multinational corporations, educational institutes and government departments (including defence).

Actis from the Greek word signifying a beam of light matches our mission to provide advanced communication solutions for spreading knowledge in an enhanced environment.

Actis focuses on the environment and technology for presentations; the two go together to form an integrated solution.

As providers of integrated solutions, Actis package together the most appropriate technologies for visual and oral communication (large screen displays, sound and conferencing 82

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

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C orporate Diary | C ase Study

Education Data Warehouse: Better Data is‌ Better Education

www.coreprojectstech.com

Data Driven Decisions: ‘Education intelligence’ Typically school districts have been the repository for detailed data about students and schools and the obligation has been to report aggregate data to their state education agency (SEA). The SEA then reports statistical summaries the federal level. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) has dramatically increased the amount of data needed to comply with federal mandates and the need for more sophisticated data systems is upon us all. At the heart of the new systems is the need for States to have access to record-level student demographic and assessment data to help drive decision making.

In order to realize these benefits, state education agencies need to engage efficient and effective systems for local education agencies to report state-required data as well as an automated, streamlined process for reporting federally required data. The system that satisfies this need is a data warehouse that is built on standards of interoperability. The data warehouse process assembles a separate database holding copies of data from a wide array of different sources. The data are extracted, cleansed, standardised and deposited into the data warehouse. This system makes data available to the decision making process for analysis and reporting. It is important that questions can be posed to the decision making process in real time and the data warehouse deliver immediate results. Education Intelligence is something educators and administrators apply every day. A data warehouse is a powerful tool for extending that intelligence.

What kind of data belongs in a school district data warehouse?

Data pertaining to student demographics, grades, student schedules, attendance and discipline; standardised test data including item analysis capability; state test results; teacher information and student extracurricular activities and programs are ideal candidates for a meaningful data warehouse. Student information that would lead to quick identification of all students in all grades that would benefit from Academic Intervention Services and to follow their progress while receiving services is a core benefit.

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Getting the Data: The Schools Interoperability Standard (SIF) Backbone Policymakers and educators need data warehouse systems capable of providing timely, valid and relevant data. Access to these data gives teachers the information they need to tailor instruction to help each student improve. It also gives administrators the resources and information to effectively and efficiently manage programmes, and evaluate which policy initiatives show the best evidence of increasing student achievement.

SIF is recognised an important methodology in addressing the challenges posed by disparate IT systems and is a critical step toward improving access to necessary information. SIF is an industry-supported open standard that allows schools, districts, and states to use compliant applications for managing a wide variety of data.

Data Warehouse Methodology Data Warehousing is open to an almost limitless range of definitions. Simply put, Data Warehouses store an aggregation of an education data. Each education system is unique and the organisation will influence the data warehouse, however there is a common thread of design and methodology that is dictated by common mandates, identification of pockets of need, and NCLB reporting.

The two major design methodologies of data warehousing are based on the work of Ralph Kimball and Bill Inmon. Both Kimball and Inmon view data warehousing as separate from OLTP (online transaction processing) and legacy applications.

Kimball views data warehousing as a constituency of data marts. Data marts are focused on delivering business objectives for parts of the organisation. And the data January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | C ase Study warehouse is a conformed dimension of the data marts.

Therefore, a unified view of the education system can be obtained from dimension modeling on a local level.

Portal Services

The eD3 Portal is a configurable interface that is the central entry point to all eD3 features and functions.

It serves as the launch point for ETL tools, report creation (CORE-ECSReports) and data analysis (COREECSDTool). It can contain the CORE-ECSDashboard, which is a customizable web page that showcases real-time data, such as attendance and performance, in various graph formats. The main interface can be designed to look similar to a district’s or state’s own website.

eD3 Delivers on Better Data Inmon suggests creating a data warehouse on a subject-by-subject area basis. Therefore the development of the data warehouse can start with data from data stores and other areas can be added to the data warehouse as their needs arise. Data flows from the data warehouse to separate data marts.

In general, for most purposes, it can be difficult to obtain a unified view of the overall system at both the local and administrative level using the Inmon model and CORE-ECS subscribes to a data warehouse model based on a collection of data marts integral to the warehouse.

The eD3 is a proven SIF-based data warehouse solution combined with a robust, data mining, and reporting capability. Multiple users can access databases without making permanent changes to the data.

Access to particular fields can be given to or restricted from groups of users. Together, these attributes provide outstanding support for an efficient and flexible district-wide or state-wide architecture.

Data Warehouse Vision: A partnership of opportunity.

The complex task of pulling together information from divergent sources to create a data warehouse has previously been a deterrent to many education agencies.

CORE-ECS has joined forces with Computer Power Solutions of Illinois (CPSI) to bring education agencies end-to-end data integration and warehousing tools based on SIF and

Any data warehouse solution must fully support SIF interoperability to be a viable and capable of presenting data on demand. data driven education intelligence. CORE-ECS has developed eD3 (ee-dee cube), a comprehensive data warehousing solution designed especially for state agencies and school districts. eD3 gives education agencies the informational power to accurately answer questions that were once a vague interpretation of data or intuition. eD3 is a comprehensive SIF-compliant data warehouse solution that centralizes education data to support the decision-making process. The superior SIF capability of CPSI coupled with the unparalleled CORE-ECS data querying and reporting tools make eD3 a proven, architecture for data driven decision making to support.

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The architecture provides many features that enable customers to respond to change rapidly. Its n-tier structure allows for development and modification of individual components, including the introduction of new technologies (or the replacement of outmoded ones) in each tier, with minimal impact on components provided by other tiers.

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Can e-Learning Work in India? www.tenableindia.com C.V. CHANDRASHEKHAR, Founder & CEO, Tenable Learning Solutions Pvt. Ltd

Before we answer the above question, a question that precedes the broader issue is whether we have done enough to promote eLearning in India. The answer is obviously no!

Let us examine the contribution of various stakeholders in this process!

Government The government needs to stimulate a learning culture, and e-Learning must become a policy issue. Government must recognise the e-Learning Industry as a separate forum and not treat it as part of the IT enabled services or a sub sector of the IT industry. A case in point is the Australian Government support for promoting e-Learning. The Government there has been successful in increasing the industry use of e-Learning in workplaces.

and any delay in implementing e-Learning is postponing the obvious; and the cost is enormous in terms of longer gestation period, logistic nightmares of having to arrange training at multiple locations, high obsolescence of content and information and lack of standardisation of training infrastructure. Corporates must start integrating e-Learning into their strategic plan, and by combining

e-Learning Companies and Technology Providers E-Learning companies have been heavily dependent on custom e-Learning courseware development which is still not very cost effective as per Indian standards and affordability, since the industry is still exploring automation opportunities and process oriented methodologies.

With the tremendous explosion in web usage as a knowledge sharing and delivering platform, e-Learning will become more a norm than an exception.

It is incumbent upon all of us to drive this process. Together we need to create

The Academia Schools and Universities taking the e-Learning route are still a very small fraction of the overall number. In addition, the transition from distance learning to e-Learning is moving at a snail’s pace. Universities are long over due in making significant improvement in the quality and employability of their courses offered. Through e-Learning, they have a chance to improve both the quality and quantity (wide audience).

The Industry Unlike the west, in India, even the large corporates and business houses have been slow to adapt to e-Learning.

Corporate sector must realise that eLearning is one of the best ways to train and retrain employees and workforce, 86

e-Learning with a knowledge management system, they can improve learn ability, and performance.

an e-Learning infrastructure that is sustainable and continues to transform learning, education and training! .

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ICT in Schools

Build-Own-Operate-Transfer Way www.educomp.com Public-Private-Partnership (PPP) provides an opportunity for private sector participation in financing, designing, construction, operation and maintenance of public sector Programmes and projects. Educomp Solutions Limited works very closely with various Governments, Ministry of IT, Ministry of HRD, and Govt. of India in the execution of educational programmes, teacher training and content development projects under the PPP model.

classes covering both theory and hands-on sessions. Printed guidelines, manuals and lesson-plans have also been provided to the trainees for ready references. More than 60,000 students of Class V-X are being covered through the project. It not only contains school curriculum but each student are taken through an eventful journey of self discovery, positive relationships, and creative expression through an innovative methodology including observation, retention and implementation.

ASSAM: Winds of Change- Charting a new course for Education in Assam

Educomp Solutions Ltd. has taken up the challenges in translating the dreams into reality by converting remote classrooms into an IT hub by traversing the hurdles which includes areas inhabited by ethnic tribes, militant and difficult groups. Our LABs are first in areas like remote forest in Kokrajhar [Assam-Bengal border] and in Char-reverine areas of Dhubri where in only communication is though country boats. It’s a challenge for us and we are committed in this eventful journey

North East India is a region with strong natural and human resources. However, it has remained backward in the field of communications and even after sixty years of Independence, the region has a poor economy and connectivity remains a problem. While various development schemes and tools have been devised over the years, the emergence of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) as a tool of development across different parts of the world opens up new possibilities.

AMTRON on behalf of Govt. of Assam has moved ahead to tap these opportunities for High and Higher Secondary Schools across the state in phase manner by harnessing the potential of Information Technology to aid educational transaction to improve its quality education.

ORISSA: Impact of BICEP [Biju Pattaniak Computer Aided Education Project]

Educomp Solutions Ltd. has been selected by Orissa Primary Education Programme Authority (OPEPA) as an implementing agency to set up the Computer Lab & to provide the

The Rajiv Gandhi Computer Literacy Programme-an innovative effort of Government of Assam in introducing computer literacy and computer aided learning in schools, was launched in the year 2003. RGCLP is a good beginning for disseminating education among rural children effectively and economically. The gap between people and information technology and education which exists due to lack of infrastructure facilities is now being bridged. A school in the most rural and remote area have been turn into an informationhub under this project.

Educomp Solutions Ltd. has been entrusted by the Government of Assam to implement the programme on Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) basis in 100 numbers of High Schools under Phase-IV across 10 districts in the state.

As a part of the programme a state-of-art ultra modern computer lab is being constructed in the 100 schools wherein IT Infrastructure have been installed in one of the classrooms of the school and two Computer Faculties have also been deployed in each school. An interactive training has also been provided to all the Computer Faculties for transacting the 88

Multimedia Based Content CDs in Science, Mathematics, Computer Literacy and English in Oriya and provide Training to 600 teachers covering 300 Schools across the state. (written based on contributions from Ibrahim Nafis, Lalatendu Mohanty, monika Talwar and Subrat Biswas) .

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Learning Interactions: A must for e-Learning Courses!

www.harbingerknowledge.com

Globally and in India, e-Learning occupies an increasing portion of the total learning delivered and also growing very rapidly. Even though e-Learning is growing and lot of organisations are using e-Learning to train their staff, there are serious concerns about a) Learner Disengagement b) Non—Completion of the courses c) Effectiveness of eLearning The root causes of all the concerns can be traced back to Learner boredom which is due to Lack of interactivity.

Therefore the solution is to address the need of interaction in an e-Learning courses. This not only enhances the need of interactions but will also enrich the whole Learning experience. There are different ways of increasing interactivity – most of the options tend towards programming interactions using the software tools available in the market. However this doesn’t address the need of fast growth, quick to

There is a solution!

The solution to the above is a Market leading tool which is well recognised in the e-Learning industry— Raptivity. There are no other tools which compares to the depth and breadth of Raptivity.

What is Raptivity?

Raptivity is an award-winning rapid interactivity builder which helps

With Raptivity, one can easily customise interactions from a pre-built library of 200+ Learning Interactions such as Presentation Aids, Brainteasers, Games, Videos, Virtual World experience and many more and output of each interaction ins a single Flash file market training courses. Also, the cost of creating such interactions is quite expensive.

This leads to the following questions: Are there be any tools which • Offers enough variety or choice to create interactions?

• Tools which are not expensive • Tools which don’t require any prior programming experience and at the same time are simple to use • Output of these tools is AICC / SCORM compliant and can easily be integrated with LMS Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

trainers, to create true learning outcomes with meaningful interactivity without the need of any programming knowledge. With Raptivity, one can easily customise interactions from a pre-built library of 200+ Learning Interactions such as Presentation Aids, Brainteasers, Games, Videos, Virtual World experience and many more and output of each interaction ins a single Flash file. The interactions, if required can also be made SCORM/ AICC compliant and tracked on any LMS.

Raptivity allows you to create interactive e-Learning content in short time and reduced cost. With interactive content, learning experiences become memorable and dropout levels go down. Content jazzed up with Raptivity becomes more absorbing and exudes a professional look.

What benefits does the user get Benefits for organisations: • Very High Return on Investment • Cost Saving (atleast 40%*) • Time Saving of (atleast 72%*) • Higher productivity • Flexibility in Interactivity creation Benefits for trainers: • Complete involvement of Learners • Interactions can be developed within minutes without the need of any programming knowledge • All the 200+ interactions in Raptivity can be customised with the same user experience so the learning curve is very short for the course creator.

Benefits for learners: • Highly Interactive courses —better than page turners • Visually appealing and inviting learning interface • Courses with higher participation levels *Based on Research conducted in 2007 89

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Display Technologies in the Classroom Ganesh S Business Development Manager, DLP Products, Texas Instruments India Ltd

Classroom design: The right way to integrate computers While most education experts agree that integrating computing technology into classrooms can yield compelling benefits, implementations have not always delivered on the promise of an enhanced teaching experience. That’s because, too often, previous classroomcomputing deployments have actually detracted from the education process by removing the central point of focus and shifting attention away from the teacher at the front of the classroom. With many PC-based lessons, children focus on their own PC and the teacher becomes a secondary figure in the lesson. Not surprisingly, many educators have recognized that computer projection is an essential requirement to successfully integrate computing into the curriculum.

International Data Corporation’s research on classroom integration confirms that projection systems dramatically impact student performance. IDC reports that 98 percent of educators believe ‘projectors improve student attention’. What’s more, 90 percent believe projectors improve the understanding of information and 80 percent feel it improves retention as well.

Classroom design should also reflect the fact that projector technology should create a 360-degree experience for teaching, learning, interacting, and sharing. The projector has multiple purposes depending on how it is used.

Location of the screen is a critical consideration.

Projection 101: Understanding Projector Technologies Most schools and systems today choose from two distinct projection imaging 90

technologies –DLP and LCD. Before we can truly understand the benefits of these alternatives, it’s important to understand how each technology works to deliver an image on the screen. Each system uses a light source, light path, color generation, imager, and a cooling fan.

Affordability: The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO)

When it comes to analysing the financial aspects of a purchasing decision for projectors, it’s essential to examine the total cost of ownership that involves not only the acquisition (purchase) price but also the cost of ongoing maintenance (and replacement of prematurely failed parts and hardware units).

The initial upfront purchase prices for DLP and LCD projectors (for hardware and installation) are roughly equivalent, approximately USD700 for each. The large difference is found in maintenance.

Since LCD projectors are open-image systems that use airflow to stay cool, they contain special dust filters that must be cleaned regularly (typically for every 100-200 hours of use) to stay within warranty and prevent potential downtime. That also means undesirable challenges.

By contrast, DLP projector components are sealed, so there is no dust filter

www.dlp.com to clean or replace. This creates a tremendous TCO advantage for DLP projectors.

Reliability: Colour decay and dusty conditions

For projectors, long-term color reliability is an issue that must be considered in purchase decisions. Color decay occurs when the projector loses its color integrity with use over time.

Intertek Group plc, an independent leader in product testing, inspection and certification, recently analyzed the reliability of DLP and LCD projectors.

It found that LCD projectors suffer color and contrast degradation over time, typically manifesting itself in as little as 300 hours. However, DLP projectors offer greater reliability, producing highquality images well beyond 4,000 hours of usage.

Reliability is also a concern in dusty environments. DLP projectors are immune to dust, as the optics is sealed and the chip is cooled from behind.

However LCD projectors have to be cooled by passing air across panels.

And dust gets into the optical path. Dust can reduce the contrast by 50 percent – which means an LCD projector’s 500:1 ratio drops to 250:1, making it unsuitable for a classroom environment.

Image quality: Ensuring quality for a long term

In a classroom setting, a clear, highquality image is a non-negotiable requirement. In many instances, teachers are displaying documents that students must read. Fuzzy images would only defeat the objectives of the lesson.

There are three factors that determine the quality of a projected image: Fill Factor, Contrast Ratio, Motion-Video Performance.

For more information, see www.dlp. com/reliability and www.dlp.com/dust.

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Online Journals

Access To 100 Universities In India http://journals.cambridge.org The Indian education system is the second largest in the world and is perhaps the most complex in terms of its spatial outreach and profile of students and teachers in terms of their linguistic, social, cultural and economic background. It consists of more than 300 universities and about 17,500 affiliated colleges where millions of students enroll for higher education.

Out of these 300 plus Universities close to 170 Universities are directly funded by UGC ( University Grants Commission). All these Universities have PG courses and most of them have Doctoral programmes as well.

Academic journals – where high end peer-reviewed research articles are published are must for the students and researchers of PG and Doctoral studies. Traditionally, Universities have been subscribing to these journals from International publishers in hard copy.

Normally the subscription prices of these international journals increase by 5 – 10 % every year , sometimes higher , and fluctuations in foreign currency increases the overall subscription prices of them straining the ever reducing library budgets of the Universities.

To overcome this problem and keeping in mind the improved awareness and infrastructure of Internet connectivity at the Universities UGC started the ambitious UGC-Infonet programme through its autonomous centre- Inflibnet Ahmedabad. In the year 2003 Inflibnet approached major international publishers and discussed the feasibility for providing online access to their journals in the field of Science Technology and Medicine (STM) to 50 Universities in the first phase.

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Cambridge University Press (CUP)- the oldest publisher and printer of the world which publishes more than 220 journals and 2000 books every year was one of the first publisher to sign a MOU with UGC for providing online access to its 78 STM journals to 50 Universities. The CUP journals are available online on its own platform called as Cambridge Journals Online (CJO).

As concept of accessing online journals was new at most of the Universities , CUP started a major user awareness programme in all these Universities by creating special

Cambridge University Press (CUP)- the oldest publisher and printer of the world which publishes more than 220 journals and 2000 books every year was one of the first publisher to sign a MOU with UGC for providing online access to its 78 STM journals to 50 Universities. The CUP journals are available online on its own platform called as Cambridge Journals Online (CJO)

posters, holding seminars for end users, email campaigns, etc. CUP also started a novel approach – quiz for the participating delegates. The results were immediately seen . There was a substantial increase in the usage of these online resources helping students and faculties alike in their studies and research.

Based on the encouraging response from the student as well as the faculty community, next year UGC signed up with CUP for 50 more Universities and for the Humanities and Social Science (HSS) journals as well.

So currently more than 100 Universities in India have online access to the entire range ( more than 220) of Cambridge University Press journals.

This facility has given a ‘level playing field’ to our students and faculty members as all these peer-revived journals are now available at the same time to all the students in remote corners of our country as they would be available to students of say Cambridge , Harvard or Oxford University. More ever the users have access to the back files of the information , mostly starting from the year 1997. The missing issue problem of print Journals is also resolved by the online availability of these journals 24/7. The Government saved huge amount of money in this endeavor and as University Press of Cambridge, CUP is able to fulfill its objective of dissemination of information , advancing learning , knowledge and research worldwide.

It’s a win-win situation for all the stake holders and CUP will continue to provide a range of online products to students and researchers of India at very affordable costs.

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Intel Leads By Empowering Lives www.intel.com/education/in “Technology gives us the opportunity to develop and we have to use it to the optimum” expressed Vidyashankar, Secretary -IT Department, Government of Karnataka. He was delighted at the number of awards bagged by the schools, teachers and students of rural areas of the state, for exhibiting commendable work in innovative use of technology in their respective fields.

NGOs and Universities were also felicitated at the event “Empowering Lives” held in Bangalore on December 10,2007.

As a global technology leader, Intel is committed not only to creating innovative technology, but also to helping people around the world effectively use it to better their lives.

Hence, through sustained publicprivate partnerships with educators and governments, Intel is delivering programs that improve the effective use of technology to enhance 21st century skills, and encourage excellence in mathematics, science, and engineering.

Intel Teach Programs are adapted to address the needs of each country and focus on building a local competency for professional development and technology innovation.

in Karnataka: across K -12 segment, Higher Education and Community Programs. In a first-of-its-kind initiative in the country, Intel announced the collaboration with Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA), Karnataka to launch an open source-based teacher training programme to train 10,000 teachers of primary schools. The Intel South Asia Corporate Social Responsibility Newsletter was also released during the occasion.

(Principal, Institute for Advanced Studies in Education), Dr. K. Yashodara (University of Mysore) were felicitated for successfully integrating Intel’s industry-relevant curriculum in their institutions.

Under Initiative for Research and Innovation in Science (IRIS), two young budding scientists were felicitated for their exemplary projects on ‘Blind Mind Busters’ and ‘Natural color for food and fabrics from Ixora flowers ‘.

M N Baig, Director DSERT briefed the gathering about launching ICT in higher secondary schools.

He congratulated Intel for its efforts and hoped that Intel grows with these schools.

During this event, 7 schools, 14 teachers and 14 students who had excelled in use of technology in regular classroom learning practices were honored at the state ‘Technology in Education’ contest, jointly conducted by DSERT and Intel.

Others who were felicitated during this event included National Association for Blind for successfully providing computer training to 180 visually

Vishakantiah and Kumar Naik, felicitating the teachers

Lalitha Bilgi, a teacher from Swayam, a progressive NGO (parent support group), was felicitated for effectively integrating Project Based Learning for teaching children with special needs.

The partnership between Intel Teach Program and Department of State Education Research and Training (DSERT), Karnataka has been flourishing since 2001. As a result, more than 19000 teachers have been trained to improve teaching and learning through effective integration of computer technology in classroom curricula.

“Intel has always contributed to the community. In addition, I believe, by enabling teachers and students in their growth, we can create a milestone in education. Intel’s job is to make technology available to them to leverage opportunities and create a sustained momentum.”

The event commemorated 60 years of India’s Independence and Intel’s commitment to the cause of education and its various interventions for improving the ICT in education in India.

During the event, Intel released a case study on its education interventions

impaired individuals, whereby 70% of these visually impaired students secured jobs in BPO/ ITES industry.

Prof Sadagopan (Director, IIIT, Bangalore) said, “IT today is India’s tomorrow. Children are the future of the nation and it is in the hands of the teacher to mould students and contribute to the development of the nation.”

From the University segment, Nandini Sindal (Visvesvaraya Technology University), Prof. S. Bhaskar

Intel ‘s Education Programs envision to enable each student in the country to emerge a technological innovator.

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Praveen Vishakantiah, (President, Intel India)

Center for the Economic Empowerment of the Intellectually Challenged (CEEICs) was also felicitated for their community development program by using computers to train and educate intellectually challenged individuals.

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Building A Unique Technology Company www.smarttech.com Nancy Knowlton Co-Founder and CEO, SMART Technologies Inc., Canada

Over twenty years ago, when Dave Martin and I created SMART Technologies Inc., we wanted to do something significant, something that would change how people undertook and completed their work. We didn’t exactly know how and we didn’t really know what, but we were determined to have an impact. We have never really accepted that things should be done a particular way if that way didn’t make sense to us in the context of our environment or fit with what we wanted to accomplish. We both feel that we have created a company that is revolutionizing the way that teachers teach and children learn. It is this higher mission that drives our people and our decisions today.

Someone’s going to do something We never let the fact that we were from Calgary (a city best known for oil and gas, cowboys and the 1988 Winter Olympics) or that we had never created and sold a product around the world stop us from dreaming big. We always thought that someone somewhere was going to do something important and that it might as well be us. This thought played in our minds over and over as we struggled through the earlier years when no one understood our product or bought into our vision. Even in the darkest days we talked about changing the way that children learned and business people worked.

Dave’s idea

It was in the course of trying to figure out how we would use liquid crystal display technology (something that is old hat today but that was very new at 94

the time) that Dave imagined a system that included a computer connected to an LCD projector (actually an LCD panel sitting on top of a standard overhead projector) and an interactive whiteboard. He imagined that people would be able to connect to and communicate with other people located anywhere in the world. Many of the enabling technologies that make the SMART Board interactive whiteboard so functional and versatile today didn’t exist those many years ago – but Dave had the foresight to imagine that they would some day exist. Today the enabling technologies that we combine with our products are not only more broadly available, but they also have the functionality and price points that make the overall solution appealing to large numbers of customers.

to simply do good things. We must be good. People have to believe that our company is here to serve a higher purpose beyond its obvious commercial mandate and that we support our customers at all levels. That perception comes from not just our words, but from our actions. Not every good thing that we do is made public – we do not seek press coverage for all of our programs and initiatives, for instance.

We believe that in many cases, goodness is its own reward.

Uniquely appreciated Nothing pleases us more than having people describe SMART as a unique technology company or a company that really understands and cares about education – both educators and students. People know that we are a forprofit company and that we have a large staff who directly depend on our decisions and actions every day for their

Committed to our customers The easy part for many of our customers is spending the money on our products.

While money is never plentiful, actually deploying the products in a productive and transformational way is the hard part. Effecting change in a pedagogically sound fashion takes commitment and assistance from us as well. We work hard to appreciate our customers’ challenges and aspirations concerning where our products can take their students’ learning experiences.

Reputation is everything For us, our personal and corporate reputations are everything. We have always believed that it is not enough

livelihood. But they also see that we take a longer term, more strategic view of out customer interactions and that we are not motivated by short-term gain.

The SMART brand We have carefully built the SMART brand through the years to represent a company that our customers can trust for leading edge innovation, outstanding quality, superior service and longterm, meaningful relationships. We listen, consider and act – always in a responsible fashion. Certainly unique and more.

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Empower, Enable With Edurite www.edurite.com EDURITE, a premier company in the field of ICT based Learning and Education content incorporates process of Cognitive Learning to provide the best possible teaching aids and learning solutions to schools and students alike.

EDURITE has been enabling technology led education in classrooms for seven years. These solutions help teachers explain concepts better, increase level of understanding of students and help children improve their performance. It employs principles of cognitive learning by using multi-media based animations, graphics and videos to explain concepts in a very interactive and intuitive manner. EDURITE caters to 600 private schools, 2000 government schools and over 1000000 home users. We are giving the 21st century stateof-the-art classroom in A, B and C class towns in India with Smart boards, multimedia content and teacher teaching aids.

EDURITE is the only Indian content creator to license content to the US, proving the credibility in the global market. It’s also the first to introduce CD ROMS with text books. Understanding the less penetration of Internet and computer in India, EDURITE also launched the first DVD based curriculum content. Microsoft, HP, LG and Frank Brothers Publishers have partnered with EDURITE as part of their education initiatives, recognising the superiority of EDURITE content.

DigitAlly, a multimedia resource library from Edurite

EDURITE’s flagship product, aptly named DigitALly, (which means Digital Ally) is a massive multimedia resource library for delivery of subjects in a collaborative way in the classrooms. This tool can be used by the teachers in the kindergarten to class 12 to enhance the teaching with animations, videos and diagrammes. Digitally was first launched in 2005. Features include enhanced searching capabilities, create lesson plans or even select a lesson plan to suit to the syllabi. It is a digital repository of digital media objects, where we have all the learning media objects. The in-built search engine can easily extract the desired learning objects to be integrated into the lesson plans from the vast repository of over 5000 illustrative animations, 20 hours of video and more than 8000 self explanatory diagrams. Teachers can also add to this repository any animation, video, graphic that they deem as appropriate for teaching for their students.

DigitALly covers CBSE, ICSE, IGCSE and state board syllabi from classes 1 to 12.

Presence in private schools

EDURITE has proved its necessity in various schools like Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Indus International School, Primus International School, Bangalore, MES Group of Schools, Poddar International School and many more. EDURITE animations helps in making the concept crystal clear & also it can draw the attention of the children.

Presence in rural schools

EDURITE’s Digital Equaliser Centres (DEC, technology enabled learning centres) has fulfilled this idea to a great extent. Content is created by inviting the best teachers to the studios, shooting them, hiring animators to add text and creating a complete package. Schools can load it on servers so students can learn from their best teachers. EDURITE has been involved as part of the Mahiti Sindhu Project (Computer Education Programme for the Government High School Children of Karnataka) and education programs for America India Foundation (AIF), chaired by Former US President Bill Clinton. AIF aims to bridge the digital divide between urban and rural India.

Edurite has helped establish over 76 Digital Equaliser Centres across India.

Mobile PC for easier content delivery

EDURITE has an ingenious method for implementing the e-Learning content for schools - Mobile PC. This indigenous self-sufficient Mobile PC developed

by EDURITE delivers computer aided learning content and IT content for rural schools. The Mobile PC, encapsulated in a box consists of a Projector, Table, Keyboard, Mouse and a UPS. The monitor has been substituted with a projector so that the image can be projected on the wall for the benefit of the entire classroom.

Edurite increases success level in education

Edurite Technologies has established five learning centres at Besagerahalli, Mysore and Bangalore. The results from the first two centres established have been astounding. In Besagerahalli, the 10th grade pass percentage went up by 55% in 2004 and the 12th grade pass percentage went up by 30%. The impact of these centres on the rural public has been substantial. In the Mysore centre, more than 500 villagers have been trained to use the computer in the last six months.

EDURITE’s vision is to be the largest player in Education business in India targeting all the 1.2 million schools in India.

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Interactive White boards in Schools www.globusinfocom.com based electronics offer maximum uptime rate and are the best in the industry.

Alex Daniel Director Globus Infocom

What is an Interactive Whiteboard?

An interactive Whiteboard is a large, touch-sensitive panel that connects to a digital projector and a computer, displaying the information on the computer screen. It resembles a traditional White board and is used similarly. The computer connected to the interactive White board can be controlled by touching the board directly or by using a special pen. Such actions (inputs) are transmitted to the computer instead of using a mouse or keyboard.

Possible educational uses Interactive White boards present educational resources in a highly interactive way and are suitable for whole class and small group settings.

They allow pupils to engage and interact with the technology to become active participants in learning. Pupils with special needs can particularly benefit from the presentation of multimedia content on a large screen as it can aid in both information processing and retention. Optimal use of an interactive White board involves both the teacher and students using it in a classroom situation. It can, for example, be used to: • Allows presentation of student work in a more interactive and collaborative model • Show video clips that explain difficult concepts (in any curricular area) • Demonstrate how an educational software program works, e.g., an art programme with students using their fingers and hands to draw rather than working with a mouse • Cater more effectively for visually impaired students and other students with special needs 96

• •

Display Internet resources in a teacher-directed manner Create handwritten drawings, notes and concept maps during class time, all of which can be saved for future reference

Technical Considerations To get an interactive whiteboard up and running, five separate components are involved: • Touch-sensitive whiteboard • Digital projector • Computer • Software • Connectivity (wired or wireless) between the computer, whiteboard and the projector

Types of Boards There are 3 different technologies used for this purpose.

Resistive membrane The advantage of whiteboards based on resistive technology is that one does not require special pens to write on the board, a finger can be used just as well.

One possible disadvantage is that as the surface of the board is soft it can be damaged by the use of ordinary markers, so the school needs to make users aware of this.

Electro-Magnetic pick-up These boards are made of rigid construction and can take usage abuse in a class. These boards withstand pricking with a sharp nib, nail or compass and last for a longer period.

Some boards have the entire electronics in a geometry size controller box placed behind the board and in case of a failure only the controller needs to be replaced. Controller

Infra-Red scanning These scanning devices are light and portable and can be used with different types of standard whiteboards.

Tracking of color and patterns is based upon using special encoded pens, each of which has a uniquely encoded reflective collar that the board uses to identify its color and position. At many times, the recognition or encoding may malfunction.

Purchasing Considerations Software is almost always included in the purchase price of the Whiteboard, but it is necessary to check if this software allows users to: • Draw or write on the board using different colored pens or even the students’ fingers • Print out or save the results to the computer • Use “layering”, “grouping” and other features which allow the user to create their own classroom resources, often with the help of an associated gallery.

• Preference in case of class room should be given to the surface of the board, which should be long lasting and able to with stand rigorous usage.

• Other relevant questions: • Is there local technical support in case there are hardware or software failures?

• What is the duration of the suppliers warranty?

• What is the track record of the supplier?

Interactive White boards create a range of learning opportunities for both students and teachers. Studies have found them to be highly motivating and learner-centered when integrated innovatively.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | News CBSETutor.com launched to provide free online tutoring to school students

Unified Learning, the India based online tutoring and assessment company has launched CBSETutor.com, an eLearning site that aims to make it easier for students of the CBSE curriculum to self-learn and test themselves interactively.

CBSETutor.com caters to students and parents from Classes Pre-Nursery to XII. The initiative offers poems, stories, nursery rhymes and learning games on the site. For middle and senior school students, the site offers notes, lessons, tests and assignments organised chapterwise. The website keeps records of all activities and allows students to view their progress as they proceed. Students can build their profiles and interact with other students who have common interests using Live Chat and Message features. They can also use the blog feature to practice creative writing. The website users can also ask and answer questions on science and mathematics.

In ‘the classroom’, the scores of students are compared with other students to show them relative performance.

Teachers can post their writing for each chapter and topic and let students access it. They can also exhibit their presentations and project reports for students to view.

Everonn buys Aban e-Learning unit

Everonn Systems India Ltd, a satellitebased education service provider, has acquired the e-Learning division of Aban Informatics (P) Ltd, a part of Chennai-based Aban group.

The e-Learning division of Aban 98

group consists of Classontheweb.com, an educational portal catering to all academic needs. Everonn will have access to over 30,000 students all over India. The acquisition will help the company cater to the needs of digital content to suit the syllabi of all educational boards within India and abroad. It will also provide content material for e-Tutoring and retail market through CD-based instructional materials, according to a press release issued by Everonn.

MBD Alchemie launches courses for CBSE Classes on CD

MBD Alchemie, the online educational academy in India, a venture of INR 200 crore MBD Group, launched MBD Alchemie CBSE crash courses and CBSE test series for the Class X & XII board examinations 2008 on CD’s. The CDs will be available through more than 10,000 leading booksellers spread across the length and breadth of the country.

The first CD offering from the company has an integrated web mentoring model, available to students for the first time in the CD category. The CD based market for CBSE test series is estimated to be around INR142 crore and MBD Alchemie is looking at tapping a sizeable part of this market.

The subjects dealt with in CBSE X are Maths and Science & Technology and for CBSE XII are Maths, Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

outcomes. The portal transforms learning experiences through its understanding of the art and science of Web-based teaching and learning. The Digital curriculum developed under this joint agreement will be delivered through Learning.com’s innovative digital learning environment that allows teachers and administrators to individualise instruction, customise assignments, and quickly access student process reports.

Tata Interactive Systems named on IITT Awards shortlist

A game, developed for ICICI Bank in India by the global learning provider, Tata Interactive Systems (TIS), has been shortlisted for an award in the ‘eLearning Project of the Year’ category at the forthcoming Institute of IT Training (IITT) Awards.

Using its game-based learning objects (GamBLs) model, TIS created a computer game which cast players – drawn from ICICI Bank’s Process Managers – as airport managers. The game, which involved optimising the airport’s revenue by managing the throughput of travellers, helped managers to learn the principles behind the bank’s DQM system.

Intel and World Ahead Alliance expand in education in India

Educomp Solutions forms joint venture with Learning. com

Educomp Solutions Ltd has announced that the Edumatics Corp. Inc, a whollyowned subsidiary of the company based in Ventura, California, U.S.A. has signed a joint development agreement with USbased company Learning.com, to provide educators with innovative, Web-delivered curriculum solutions that support student learning outcomes.

Learning.com partners with schools and districts to improve student-learning

Intel Technology India Pvt Ltd in collaboration with other Intel World Ahead Programme Alliance members January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

C orporate Diary | News and the Government of India announced a number of initiatives to help in transforming the education in the old city of Chandini Chowk, Delhi.

Intel India has unveiled three projects aimed to accelerate access to education to residents of Chandini Chowk. These projects are part of a global initiative under the Intel World Ahead Programme that provides people with faster access to Information and Communications Technology. The project will address both healthcare and education needs for 2,000 children in the school, through a web-based solution that provide schoolchildren and faculty with digitised health records and health camps with participatory, action-based health learning.

authored articles created with a tool Google has dubbed “knol” - the word denotes a unit of knowledge - that will make webpages with a distinctive livery to identify them as authoritative.

A knol on a particular topic is meant to be the first thing someone who searches for this topic for the first time will want to read.

TCYonline.com launches exam preparation service for students

TCS and Intel are hoping to create a model that can be implemented in schools across the country, that will help ensure government-aided schools are safe and healthy places for children.

Google’s Digital Library project takes off

Google has started a project to create an authoritative store of information about any and every topic. It has already started inviting people to write about the subject on which they are known to be an expert.

Google has promised that it would not act as editor for the project but will provide the tools and infrastructure for the pages. However, Google’s initiative has been seen as an attack on Wikipedia.

By indexing the Web, Google strives to make information more easily accessible. By getting respected authors to write about their specialism Google hopes to start putting some of that information in better order.

The system will centre around Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Banking and Finance spanning six months, an advanced diploma course in Java/J2EE programming spanning 10 months, and a certificate programme in ‘Tech BPO’ spanning two months will soon be offered to stu dents. Everonn Systems, a satellitebased education service provider, is associated with over 200 colleges across south India. The courses, aimed at bridging the gap between academia and industry, will be conducted with the aid of VSAT technology. Students of engineering, arts, commerce and science colleges are eligible for the courses. The programmes would also include a module on personality, communication and aptitude development and preparation for an interview.

Currently, Everonn is providing 15 courses through its virtual classrooms.

India based TCY (Top Careers & You) Learning Solutions, a global provider of end to end education services provider has launched a free online testing service through its education portal TCYonline.com.

Aptech selected best ICT training Programme

The new service would help users to better prepare for their exams and improve their reasoning, verbal and other skills. The company has introduced online tests and tutorials for CBSE and NTSE preparation; college test preparation for MBA, MCA, GMAT, GRE, LAW, SAT; and preemployment screening tests. Currently the service only focus on adoption and user experience.

Aptech Computer Education’s flagship programme ACCP (Aptech Certified Computer Professional) has been selected as the “Best ICT Training programme” in the “Best ICT Choice of Mongolia-2007” competition.

Everonn announces courses through VSAT in India

Chennai based Everonn Systems India, a knowledge management, education and training company, has announced three new courses.

A postgraduate certificate course in

Aptech’s Mongolia Training Centre was given this award. The competition was organised by the Information, Communication and Technology Authority of Mongolia and Midas Monita NGO, National IT Park, MFMC Co. Ltd. and Biz Online Co. Ltd. The winner was decided on the basis of on-line voting and letters of support from various companies. But the final decision was made by the expert committee.

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r e h on g i H ati c u ed

Making Inroads To The Future

Interviews: Dr Sukhdeo Thorat Chairman UGC

Dr Karpaga Kumaravel Dean, Head of ET Bharathidasan University

Dr Achyutananda Samanta Chancellor KIIT 100

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

50 Lakh More Students To Go College By 2012

www.ugc.ac.in

Dr Sukhdeo Thorat

Chairman University Grants Commission What are the quality assurance mechanisms established by University Grants Commission for higher education?

UGC is committed to maintain and improve the quality of higher education delivery in India. It has been working towards excellence through its various schemes and programmes in the past years. Financial support is the first step towards quality promotion in our universities. We have provided grants to more than 225 state universities apart from the central universities for maintaining the quality higher education Consortium for Educational Communication (CEC) is an inter-university Centre named as ‘Consortium for Educational Communication’ was set up in the year 1993. Its objective is • Dissemination of educational programmes through both the broadcast and non-broadcast modes.

• Production of educational programmes (especially video and audio) and related support material and setting up of appropriate facilities for this.

• Research related to optimising the effectiveness of the programmes.

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

The 11th plan has proposal for increasing the number of universities and colleges in India . The University Grants Commission (UGC) has prepared a road map to achieve 15 per cent enrolment in higher education by 2012, with special focus on backward areas and minority sections.

standards in the states. The second initiative taken by the Commission is to promote Centres of Excellence. The concept aims to promote institutions of quality potential for excellence.

We are planning for an additional 10 universities of excellence in the coming years. Provision for quality education to all, including students from poor and minorities will be the focus of higher education during the 11th Plan.

A dual grant scheme is planned for infrastructure upgradation and maintenance; also 56 Academic staff colleges for in-service faculty support the quality of teachers through regular courses and programmes. For preservice teachers the NET examination system ensures the quality of faculty coming into the universities. NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) assesses universities and colleges along quality guidelines and standards followed by an accreditation procedure.

Hence since inception of the commission, UGC has developed an elaborate mechanism of quality assurance and quality check for its institutions of higher education.

How do you see deploying new technologies for ensuring quality education?

The use of ICTs in teaching and learning systems in higher education is an on-going process and there are many initiatives taken by UGC in this direction. These include Consortium for Educational Communication (CECs), Educational Multi-media Research Centres (EMRCs) and online opportunities in distance education.

Their role is to transmit knowledge through distance education and to reach out to the regional and remotest of areas. They are also encouraged to produce and telecast programmes on their own. We have dedicated channels for CECs and they now have an increased telecast time for lectures and courses. CECs use ICTs in multiple ways for graduate and postgraduate courses. The digital content is based on curriculum and general interest which is a boon for students to learn anytime anywhere. Technology has reduced the constraints of time and space; it has reduced the distance of the source and delivery of knowledge.

Technology is now playing a key role in data and administration systems; technology-facilitated lectures are making classrooms more dynamic and interesting. Distance mode of education is now making teaching and learning more easy. Whole world of knowledge is now open through ICTs and specially through Internet.

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We are in the process of developing an e-Governance plan for connecting internally all the university and colleges for communications and it will have all the student and faculty information management systems.

taught at the universities. We have also planned for e-Books in the next phase of planning for INFLIBNET, where the students can download books free of cost. There has also been an agreement to develop data centres under the Infonet network.

Do you see the interconnected and distributed knowledge repositories through networks like UGCInfonet have impacts on educational research? How does Infonet contribute to governance in the higher education system?

UGC-Infonet programme is a successful initiative to establish stateof the art campus-wide network, co-ordinated by a nodal agency INFLIBNET centre that facilitates linkages between universities. The information and library network (INFLIBNET) has a consortium of eJournals. It is an important programme to provide a number of universities and colleges with more than 30 journals that the faculty and students can download free of cost. UGC-Infonet currently offers more than 4,600 journals in 20 disciplines with a combination of subscribed and free journals. All the journals are selected according to their curriculum-relevance to the subjects

How do you endorse partnerships with the corporate sector to promote ICTs in higher education? At what level(s) do you see their engagement in bringing in ICT revolution in the sector? What are the implications of such efforts so far?

We welcome partnerships and collaborations to achieve our objectives and goals of quality education. Our policy framework on e-Governance is also considering a framework of public-private partnerships (PPP) in detail.

What are the 11th plan development objectives of UGC, in relation to technology-mediated education?

The 11th Plan aims at policy initiatives for expansion to access to higher education. We are targeting an increase in the enrolment, decreasing the quality gap between the ‘A’ grade and ‘C’ grade colleges and increasing the number of universities and colleges under UGC

CENTRES OF EXCELLENCE: For promotion of excellence, the UGC supports the universities, colleges and departments with potential for excellence. Currently, nine universities, 100 colleges and 500 departments have been recognised as centres of excellence. In the 11th Plan, the UGC proposes to take several measures to improve the quality and excellence of the universities, colleges, faculty and students. For improving the quality, the UGC will help improve the physical infrastructure, including buildings, library, books and computers. The UGC will have many schemes for faculty improvement, like support for research, schemes for PhD of faculties, travel grants and so on. The UGC will make NAAC assessment mandatory for all universities so that the institutions take steps to improve their physical infrastructure and faculty.

grant. The aspect of ‘Inclusiveness’ is given more focus in the 11th plan to target the lower sections of society, girls, disabled, rural areas through financial support of scholarships and grants. We have schemes to help girls, poor, SC/ST students to get fellowships. We have recently started new fellowships for students in central universities. We are also working on revised framework of curriculum for higher education under the guidance of Prof Yash Pal. The systemic changes include more decentralised and democratic functioning of educational institutions in future.

The UGC is ready with its higher education policy to be implemented under the 11th Plan (2007-12) that has the target of bringing another 45-50 lakh students to college between 200708 and 2011-12.

The 11th plan has proposal for increasing the number of universities and colleges the University Grants Commission (UGC) has prepared a road map to achieve 15 per cent enrolment in higher education by 2012, with special focus on backward areas and minority sections.

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January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Need To Melt Steel Frame Of Teacher’ Resistance The Department of Educational Technology has been selected as the First Teacher Education Department in the entire South India for the award of the UGC’s Special Assistance Programme under Departmental Research Support

Dr R KARPAGA KUMARAVEL

Dean, Head, Dept. of Educational Technology Bharathidasan University Tamil Nadu What specific practices make the Department of Educational Technology of Bharathidasan University glorious?

The Department of Educational Technology, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu is a Teacher Education Department with national and international reputation as a leading centre for study and research with a focus on the integration and application of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) for enhancing the quality of teaching and learning of all subjects and at all levels. This Department has made significant contributions in popularising the applications of ICT among the schools, TTI’s/DIETs, Colleges of Education, Departments of Education, UGC Academic Staff Colleges and Other Educational Agencies, across the State and Nation. The Department has got International Reputation in terms of Commonwealth, UNESCO, British Council, and DFID Projects and Awards on areas like ‘Use of ICT in Education’, ‘Learning to Learn with ICT’ and ‘Reduction of Poverty and Gender Equity through ICT’. The Department of Educational Technology has been selected as the First Teacher Education Department in the entire South India for the award of the UGC’s Special Assistance Programme under Departmental Research Support. The identified thrust areas are Educational Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Communication and e-Content Development. Under this scheme, the Department would receive funds for a period of five years from 2007 to 2012 for Capacity Development of Teacher Educators in e-Content Development and creation of e-Content materials at various levels.

The Department invites Post Graduate students (M.Ed. students) and Ph.D. students to undertake studies in the field of ICT in education. A strong publications and dissemination programme helps evolve the Department into a clearing house on ICT in teacher education. Organising national and international conferences, seminars and brain storming sessions on specific areas of relevance is a regular feature of the Department’s activities.

What are the new programmes being planned in Educational Technology?

The targeted activities of our Department of Educational Technology under the aegis of SAP include capacity building programmes; production and dissemination of educational programmes; and providing a knowledge sharing forum for the scholars.

The Department plans to network with leading institutions in education and ICT to develop and deliver interventions in pre-service and in-service teacher education, equipping the teachers of the

www.bdu.ac.in

future with the skills and knowledge of ICT, its integration with other subjects and its other applications in enhancing the effectiveness of the teaching learning process.

Developing an online digital repository of e-Content Modules and Short Learning Objects have been planned to catalyse the use of ICT. Undertaking research studies to inform practices and policy perspectives in ICT in education has been and will continue to be one of the major activities of the Department.

What are the e-Readiness challenges in the higher education sector? e-Readiness is the capacity of stakeholders (Administrators, Teachers and Students) to generate e-Learning opportunities by facilitating computerbased technologies. The e-Readiness of the environment is the degree of conduciveness of the environment that an institution provides for the development and use of ICT. In the field of education, it is the teacher education system which is most resistant to change. Most of the teachers do not go beyond chalk and talk and tap the potentials of digital technology for teaching and learning. Through various orientation and refresher courses, we have changed the mindset of the teachers and made them positive minded towards ICT. 103

ICTs Cost Intensive But Save On Many Counts

www.kiit.org

It is one of the first institute in the country to provide a laptop to each student. Converged wireless network of KIIT make available a vast amount of intellectual resources at a student’s fingertips from anywhere within the campuses Dr Achyutananda Samanta Chancellor Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Bhubaneswar, Orissa

Would you please give a sort of overview of KIIT’s educational initiatives in terms of the courses it provide, the education model with the use of technology, etc.?

KIIT is one of the most vibrant campuses in the country and offers a wide spectrum of academic programmes from Kindergarten to Postgraduate level, a fact of Limca Book of Records.

The Academic programmes of KIIT University, offered from its six schools, are accredited by NBA of AICTE and NAAC of UGC, which are benchmarks of excellence. All the academic programmes are approved by Statutory Bodies of Government of India, besides UGC. The constituent Schools of KIIT University are Schools of Technology, Computer Application, Management, Rural Management, Biotechnology and KIIT National Law School. Within a short span of time, KIIT has become a preferred and sought after academic destination in India and abroad. At present, more than 8000 students belonging to 20 nationalities study here full time and another 50,000 aspire to be part of it every year for a secure future.

In emerging trends of e-Learning, where do you place KIIT? What are the innovative e-Learning solutions, best practices or policies specific to this deemed University that make it a successful learning destination?

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KIIT is an early adopter of contemporary technology in education delivery and today its campuses are at par with the best in the globe in terms of use of technology. It is one of the first institute in the country to provide a laptop to each student. Converged wireless network of KIIT make available a vast amount of intellectual resources at a student’s fingertips from anywhere within the campuses. ICICI has recently set up its e-Learning Centre in collaboration with KIIT. It is a testimony to the corporate confidence on KIIT’s capabilities in the field of e-Learning.

How can education prepare individuals and society to benefit from ICT that increasingly permeate all realms of life? How can ICT bring about a better balance between equity and excellence in education?

There are instances where KIIT graduates have ushered in a new outlook conducive to the use of ICTs in the organisations they have joined.

As the global village increasingly becomes dependent on knowledge and its fast dissemination, ICT is set to play a crucial role in all realms of life.

Education can simplify the technology and help society acquire the basic minimum skill set necessary for its use.

Do you think what you’ve been able to do in this University is replicable

in other institutes or in other educational contexts?

Absolutely. While setting up the ICT infrastructure is cost intensive, it subsequently results in savings on several counts; thus, more than making up for the initial investment. However, it is important to keep up with the new technology in the field from time to time.

What are the challenges you face in achieving the targets that you have set for KIIT? What has been your forte so far?

So far as ICT is concerned, new technology comes at a high price.

As KIIT is a purely self financing institution, this has been a challenge.

However, I am satisfied that we have been able to overcome all constraints effectively.

Our forte has been relentless pursuit of excellence and education with a human touch.

What are the new programmes being planned, specifically in the e-Learning arena? Where do you see the University five years hence?

A few more programmes to be offered exclusively in e-Learning mode are in the offing. We are working on a blueprint to make KIIT University an internationally respected educational destination in next five years.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

This is not just a hallway. Not to you. You see one connection in a network of learning.

Teachers and pupils succeeding together. Budgets and deadlines, investments and results.

Decisions that impact everyone’s tomorrow. You see opportunities beyond a school’s walls.

You are a leader. You are an educator.

More than the initial investment, you consider the total cost of your purchases: the need for staff training and support, the eventual upgrades and integration of technology, the practical concerns of durability and retrofitting.

SMART’s a leader in education, too. We believe that sound implementation of classroom technology has a profound effect on learning outcomes, and work with leaders like you to make the most of your technology investment.

For more information on SMART products in India, please call Intmark Distribution Chennai 44 42123475 www.smarttech.com © 2007 SMART Technologies Inc. All rights reserved. The SMART logo is a trademark or registered trademark of SMART Technologies Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries. Printed in Canada 06/2007. 1471 INT

Converging Open And Distance Learning And Conventional Systems www.ignou.ac.in How the existing colleges and the university departments can be provided with capabilities of ICT and web-based teaching-learning?

How the idling time of the physical facilities like classrooms, computer labs, etc can be more effectively and optimally utilised through a combination of face to face and distance education approaches?

How the capabilities and services of large number of qualified teachers in affiliated colleges can be additionally used for enhancing the quality of education delivery by giving them ICT capacity building?

How the ICT infrastructure of the technlogical institutions like UGC, IITs, etc can be availed in a clustering approach to enhance the capabilities of other institutions for quality education delivery?

Dr VN Rajasekharan Pillai

Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), New Delhi, India

W

e are planning to create a national ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) infrastructure for networking for open and distance learning (ODL). That is one priority area that we are looking in, in addition to opening a large number of open schools. When we say ODL institutions, its not only the state open Universities, but also the distance education of the conventional University system and even the private player in the ODL like several corporates.

Some of the corporate institutions including government institutions are looking for expertise in ODL and capacity building. We may look for the private public partnership for 106

The role of technology augmented conventional face to face education, open and distance learning, satellite education and online education in enhancing the quality of the teachninglearning process and in expanding the reach of education with social inclusivity is enormous...says Dr VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU. this. In association with the Distance Education Council, we will provide a leadership for creating this national ICT infrastructure. We have already proposed to the National Education Foundation to develop web based common Open Resources. Our own materials are being used by a number of Universities. But this has to be an accepted philosophy and accepted practice. Although as of now we are doing it from our own side, but materials of all other institution including the conventional universities have to be pooled and shared between all the institutions.

We have recently developed some concrete guidelines that consists of what are the norm, standards, etc. We advise institutions to follow these guidelines.

We have sent the new materials to all the institutions along with providing some financial support to work on it.

The other thing we are trying to do is the transition from one system to another, from conventional system to ODL. Not all but a part of the course can be delivered through distance education method, which can even be done by an open University. We are creating a mechanism to effect this transition to a course credit system.

Another major point is about standardisation of the quality parameters of the education, for which we are proposing to the government for a national open testing service for assessing ODL students. The standards January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

and norms of this will be set by the stakeholders in the corporate sector, people from the working area and from academia. This testing service will ensure evaluation and assessment of the students what is the level of his achievements, skills, knowledge, etc.

NASSCOM is also suggesting this testing service and the various models that have been implemented in the US. We are also trying to provide a National Qualification Framework, which will facilitate concept transfer from one system to another. Someone may be having a diploma in Polytechnic, another may be having a B.Sc., and the other may be having a 3 years experiences in a research institute.

By facilitating the academic and professional mobility from one sector to another a hallmark of the quality education system is created.

Similarly a student in a conventional institution study B.Sc. in Physics or Chemistry. He may be learning some percentage of the science or physics requirements of an Engineering graduate. Now if he wants to pursue an Engineering course after a B.Sc., why not that 30% which he has studied for B.Sc. would be detached and the rest 70% be taught. We have already started it. The National Qualification Framework, will facilitate this which would be more helpful in the Vocational Sector in particular.

We are also trying to provide a National Qualification Framework, which will facilitate concept transfer from one system to another

technology is used, student outcome, industry relevance and industry intake.

This application is not just to grade the institutions for A, B or C, it would be rater a SWOT (Strength, Weakness, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis of the institutions. The criteria would be physical infrastructure, quality of the faculty, teaching learning methods and also the examination process, student support system, placement, students and stakeholder satisfaction. The physical infrastructure would be decided by the type of courses. For example, for the ODL, effective delivery mechanism, the technology used, multimedia technology, whether satellite can be introduced, etc are the indicators.

Other criteria are about the qualified personnels, trained teachers, outcome of the examination, cost effectiveness, placement of the students, and other social factors.

More than 50% of teachers in the school eduction system are untrained; to train them through conventional means is an impossible task. So another area that we need to look is how ICTs can provide in-service teacher training. IGNOU is providing in-service B.Ed. Programme for teachers.

We are focusing on the vocational eduction which is important for teachers’ vertical mobility. The national productivity is directly related to the qualified personnel available in the workforce and we are looking how to provide vocational training to the teachers in collaboration with Media Lab Asia. We are also collaborating with NIOS but as a university we are more focused to the training of teachers.

This type of knowledge through this particular Polytechnic Diploma can be equivalent to 60% or 70% of the B.E degree provided by Mechanical Engineering provided by the engineering Colleges or the university system. So if this person comes to the mainstream of education he needs to cover only 30 or 40% of the engineering course. Thus the level of expertise achieved by the person will be quantised.

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We are also trying to provide an assessment and accreditation mechanism. As of now, Distance Education Council (DEC) and All India Council of Technology Education (AICTE) are looking at recognising courses. All that is important, but more important is how the students come out of these institutions after completing education. So we are looking at several criteria like institutional mechanism, teaching learning process, how

Distance education is not a correspondence education, rather is a technology assisted conventional system of education. The overall purpose is to increase the quality of education, with an attempt to guide the students for self learning methods. The overall purpose of distance education is to enhance the quality of education by providing this additional capabilities and also the quantity of education delivery will be enhanced which means the increased reach of education.

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n i e c r u o io n s t n a e op duc e

Open Source, Open Boundaries

Freeman Murray Software Developer

Narinder Bhatia CII-Shiksha

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Open Source in Education http://wheresfreeman.blogspot.

Freenan Murray The open source software movement has received much well deserved attention within the Indian development community, but the time may be right for the academic community to adopt the precepts of open source to provide innovative instructional materials to the country’s educators.

Scott McNealy, the founder and chairman of Sun Microsystems, recently said, “why are we open-sourcing browsers and spreadsheets and operating systems, when we ought to be opensourcing third-grade math textbooks?”

Towards this, he and Sun Co-founder Andy Bechtolsheim created Curriki (http://curriki.org).

Curriki’s goal is to make curricula and learning resources available to everyone. To do this, they have created a system educators can use to share the curriculum and learning resources they use in the classroom with other educators around the world. With their easy to use web based interface teachers around the world can search for educational content relevant to their own classes, and can upload class materials of their own.

While Curriki was started in the USA they recognise that many of its benefits will be enjoyed by educators in nations with smaller education budgets. In India they have entered into an agreement with the Azim Premji Foundation to provide their educational content in multiple languages available through the curriki website. Further, they are working with IndicTrans.in to translate the website into Hindi and other local languages to make its content accessible to a wider range of the Indian rural population.

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

[ fcmurray@gmail.com]

Former Princeton University professor Randy Wang and Dr. Urvashi Sahni established the Digital Studyhall (DSH http://dsh.cs.washington.edu/StudyHall/) project to create free high quality video learning materials which can be used to help teachers in the nations poorer schools educate their students. DSH creates video records of very good teachers conducting classes in the local language. Teachers in surrounding rural schools are shown how they can use the videos in the classroom, not as a replacement for the teacher but rather as a prompt, providing a continuous structure for the class which the local teacher can break up by pausing the video lecture and asking the same questions of their classes that the teacher in the video is asking of the original class.

DSH has operations in Lucknow, Pune, Bangalore and Kolkata. All the videos they produce are freely available.

Nagarjuna Reddy an open source evangelist in India and head of Homi Bhabha Centre’s Gnowledge Lab has been working with the European Commission funded SELF (Science, Education and Learning in Freedom) project to develop the SELF Platform (http://www.selfplatform.eu) a graphical web based multi-lingual platform for collaborative authoring of courses and lessons. It also helps to organize the content and distribute it to educational institutes around world.

The SELF Platform hopes to serve as a central access point for educational

materials and to facilitate community participation in a multilingual environment.

A number of other projects deserve some mention:.

•

•

•

ShowMeDo.com – a forum for people to share video screencast tutorials (primarily programming related) Wikiversity.org – a project from the Wikimedia Fundation to create a community for the creation and use of free learning materials and activities.

MIT Opencourseware (ocw.mit. edu) - Free Lecture Notes, Syllabus, Tutorials, Audio & Video from MIT professors.

Modern software development culture is strongly based on sharing. As a developer when I have a problem I look for answers on blogs and message boards and mailing lists. Likewise when I discover an elegant solution to a problem I am likely to contribute my findings back to the community through my blog or the relevant message forums.

In this way the development community supports itself to keep breaking through the hurdles that stand before it to innovate at a pace unparalleled throughout history. We should examine how we can take advantage of the technology available to us now and this culture of sharing to drive similar levels of innovation in how we prepare our children for life in a rapidly changing world.

Freeman Murray is a software developer, Internet entrepreneur and small time philanthropist living in India for the past 3 years with a keen interest in the future of education in an Internet connected world. You can read more about him on his blog (http://wheresfreeman.blogspot.com)

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Open Education Resources REPOSITORY

PROMOTER

DESCRIPTION

URL

Connexions

Rice University

Connexions is a rapidly growing collection of free scholarly http://cnx.rice.edu materials and a powerful set of free software tools to help authors publish and collaborate instructors rapidly build and share custom courses. The Content of Commons contains small “knowledge chunks” called modules that connect into courses. Thanks to a Creative Commons open license, anyone can take the materials, adapt them to meet their needs, and contribute them back to the Commons.

Content Bank

The Children’s Partnership

Contentbank aims to spur the development of online content http://www.contentbank.org and tools for and by low-income and other underserved Americans.

CORE

China Open Resource for Education

CORE- China Open Resource for Education- is a non-profit http://www.core.org.cn/en/ organisation. The mission is to promote closer interaction index.htm and open sharing of educational resources between Chinese and international universities, which CORE envisions as the future of world education.

DLorn

Stephen Downes

One-stop source for learning object syndication. They retrieve http://www.downes.ca/cgilearning object metadata from across the web and store it bin/dlorn/dlorn here.

Edna

Educational Network Australia

EdNA Online is a service that aims to support and promote http://www.edna.edu.au/edna/ the benefits of the Internet for learning, education and training go/pid/119 in Australia. It is organised around Australian curriculum, its tools are free to Australian educators.

EEVL is the Internet Guide to Engineering, Mathematics http://www.eevl.ac.uk/index. and Computing. EEVL’s mission is to provide access to htm quality networked engineering, mathematics and computing resources, and be the national focal point for online access to information in these subjects. It is an award-winning free service, created and run by a team of information specialists from a number of universities and institutions in the UK.

EEVL (Enhanced and Evaluated Virtual Library)

Fathom Archive

Fathom Knowledge Network

This archive, provided by Columbia University, offers access http://www.fathom.com to the complete range of free content developed for Fathom by its member institutions. You can find additional online resources from Columbia University at ci.columbia.edu or cero.columbia.edu and from the members of the Fathom consortium at their own websites.

Free-Ed

Free-Ed.net

The mission of Free-Ed.Net is to provide quality distance http://www.free-ed.net education at no cost to the user. Free education is a dream whose time has come. Never in history has so much information and so many learning resources been so widely available at such a low cost.

GFC Global Learning

GCG Global Learning

Offering free, beginning computer courses and other learning http://www.gcflearnfree.org opportunities world-wide in English and Spanish.

Gutenberg Project

Gutenberg Project

Project Gutenberg is the first and largest single collection of http://www.gutenberg.org/

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free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder invented eBooks in 1971.

JORUM (JISC)

Joint Information Systems Committee

JORUM is a free online repository service for teaching and support staff in UK Further and Higher Education Institutions, helping to build a community for the sharing, reuse and repurposing of learning and teaching materials.

http://www.jorum.ac.uk/

Knowledge Mgmt for Dev.

Bellanet

KM for Development (KM4Dev) is a community of international development practitioners who are interested in knowledge management and knowledge sharing issues and approaches.

http://www.km4dev.org/

LearnAlberta.ca

Alberta Education/ Government of Alberta

LearnAlberta.ca supports lifelong learning by providing quality online resources to the Kindergarten to Grade 12 (K-12) community in Alberta. LearnAlberta.ca provides a reliable and innovative repository of resources developed

by Alberta Education in consultation with stakeholders; it is available for users at any time on the Internet.

http://www.learnalberta. ca/login.aspx

LearningLanguages. net

Internet Scout Project and the University of Wisconsin College of Letters and Sciences, with funding from the Claire Giannini Hoffman Fund.

LearningLanguages.net is a portal that brings together the best online foreign language resources for English-speaking K-12 students and teachers. The project was created, and is maintained and enhanced, by a team of staff and students at the Internet Scout Project at the University of WisconsinMadison.

http://www. learninglanguages.net/

NLN Learning Materials

National Learning Network Since the NLN programme first began in 1999, the NLN / Becta Materials Team based at Becta has been responsible for commissioning and managing the development of over 800 hours of e-learning materials across a wide range of subjects, working in partnership with subject matter experts in FE colleges and commercial developers.

http://www.nln.ac.uk/ Materials/default.asp

NSDL

National Science Digital Library

The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) was created by the National Science Foundation to provide organized access to high quality resources and tools that support innovations in teaching and learning at all levels of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education.

http://nsdl.org/

The Open Content Alliance (OCA) represents the collaborative efforts of a group of cultural, technology, nonprofit, and governmental organizations from around the world that will help build a permanent archive of multilingual digitized text and multimedia content.

http://www. opencontentalliance.org/

Open Content Alliance (OCA)

Resource Discovery Network

Resource Discovery Network

The Resource Discovery Network is the UK’s free national gateway to Internet resources for the learning, teaching and research community. The service currently links to more than 100,000 resources via a series of subject-based information gateways (or hubs).

http://www.rdn.ac.uk/

The Commonwealth of Learning LOR

Commonwealth of e-Learning

An online database of learning content that provides software to Commonweath countries free of charge. Institutions or governments can establish a shared repository by accessing free open source software from COL’s LOR.

http://www.col.org/lor/

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

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Harnessing Open Source for Education, CII-Shiksha way www.shikshaindia.org

Narinder Bhatia

[ narinder.bhatia@ciionline.org], Shiksha India Trust, Confederation of Indian Industry, Gurgaon, India

Open Source has been the much talked about during the last few years and we have everyone talking about it in just about any ICT conference or seminar. As they say “Necessity is the mother of Invention”, so was CII-Shisha’s tryst with Open Source philosophy.

Around 2 years back (early part of January 2006), CII-Shiksha, in its bid to bring in more relevant and appropriate technology tools chanced upon Open Source. The concept was new to us and so every move was deemed crucial.

CII-Shiksha did a few experiments with introducing Moodle LMS to a select group of DAV ( Dayanand Anglo Vedic ) schools from Delhi and NCR. The response was excellent and very encouraging for us as here was something that teachers had been waiting for anxiously. A category of tools that could help them move beyond just using ready made CDs or

presentation tools and make available to them tools that they could map to their teaching-learning process and help achieve the set objectives with the desired outcome.

The initial sucess of introducing open source tools propelled CII-Shiksha to explore more and provide a full range of open source tools and technologies to the teachers, thus enabling them to control their teaching-learning, both content-wise and delivery wise CII-Shiksha with a clear cut focus on empowering teachers with variety of eTools has trained close to 2000 subject teachers across India in various open source tools. The open source toolkit of CII-Shiksha includes a combination of productivity and pedagogy based tools so that an appropriate relevance and usefulness could be brought in.

CII-Shiksha is helping teachers make a transition from a classroom teachers to being an e-Teacher by building the

Brief Statistics About Shiksha As Of November 2007 Partners Open Source tools Web based tools Teachers’ Training No.of teachers trained in open source Teachers’ Portal Students’ Portal

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2 1 0 2 100 0 --------

10 7 3 25 Over 1000 540 150

MOTTO OF CII-SHIKSHA

Shiksha’s motto is FIVE ALL’s: • Covering All - catering to all categories of academic institutions • Open to All -sharing of source code with interested partners for translation and modification • All States • All Languages • All Subjects necessary capabilities in the teachers.

Teachers, now have shown tremendous results on how they can make their teaching-learning more effective, if given the freedom to let out their creativity. The early description of content as just being a readymade CD is out of date. Now, the content refers to a teaching-learning resource.

CII-Shiskha is helping the teachers to utilise their subject knowledge and sound awareness about pedagogy principles and then blend it with their technology capabilities to deliver the teaching-learning as they want it.

During the past one year, CII-Shiksha has introduced many interventions to encourage and promote e-Teaching as the preferred methodology for teaching-Learning. The teachers are being trained in various web-tools to help them build up various online learning platforms for their students. A free online portal (using open source), www.eshikshaindia.in has been setup for teachers and students to provide a sharing and collaboration platform for teachers and provide free learning resources for students.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

e nt h T me p a o l e d v n de age

Building A Global Perspective Interviews: Dr R Sreedher

Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA)

Dileep Ranjekar

Azim Premji Foundation

Manas Chakrabarti

American India Foundation

Douglas Bell

Education Development Centre (EDC)

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Using Computers To Give Voice To Students www.aifoundation.org How is India unique in its issues and concerns for integrating ICTs (information and communication technologies) in education? How will it work for the Indian education system?

India has more IT professionals than any other country – I believe about 65% of global IT outsourcing is to India. India is also fairly unique in its linguistic and cultural diversity; this becomes a challenge in designing educational interventions, especially ICT interventions. However, our uniqueness here is sometimes overemphasised – countries like Ethiopia also have many, many languages. I think the third point of uniqueness is the huge disparity between schools where we, the so-called education experts, send our children and the schools that the majority of Indian children attend. So, all the wonderful ICT ideas go out of the window when they have to confront basic infrastructure issues.

ICT in education is still considered a nice-to-have. And rightly so, because we are stuck in “technocentric” thinking. The question is: can ICTs be used to solve some of the challenges of education? I believe the answer is yes. But it will require imagination.

It’s not going to be about dumping computers and multimedia CDs in schools.

What are the different programmes that the Foundation is implementing?

In terms of ICT, AIF implements the Digital Equalizer (DE) programme, which is now operational in over 1400, mostly rural, schools. Although DE is centered on digital technologies, the core principles are that of engaged, inquiry-based learning. We are not terribly excited about using computers to disseminate information, so the usual e-Learning content is not very prominent Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

in our approach. We are much more excited about using the true power of the computer to give voice to students, to help them collaborate and to construct deep conceptual understanding of the world around them.

What have been your forte so far?

What are the challenges you face in achieving the targets that you have set?

Our focus has been, and continues to be, teachers. We believe that meaningful education, whether ICT mediated or otherwise, can take place only with skillful and passionate teaching. This is precisely why, in DE, we work with our teachers once a week, every week, for three years. We don’t think it is possible to change teaching practices and attitudes through one-off training programmes.

In terms of challenges, I think the computer part of it is the easy, welldefined problem. The hard, ill-defined problem is how to transform the teaching-learning process in schools.

The moment you set up a computer lab, two expectations are immediately formed: “the students will get IT jobs” and “multimedia CDs will fix the learning achievement problem.”

The challenge is to change the nature of the discourse to address fundamental educational issues of learner agency, deep understanding and critical thinking.

What is your vision of the ‘future classroom’ in the Indian context? How do you think the success of ICT use be measured?

The “digital age” sounds too much like an advertising slogan, so I’m not going to worry about that too much. But I do see changes in terms of much greater integration of ICT in the teachinglearning process. As for measure of success, I would use a simple parameter:

Manas Chakrabarti

Head Digital Equalizer Programme, American India Foundation

Measuring success? The simple parameter is the quantity of digital content is created by the students themselves, not by the teachers or by the e-Learning companies the quantity of digital content that is created by students themselves, not by teachers or e-Learning companies.

What are the focus areas identified by your organisation on the use and integration of ICT in education in India, and where and how do you see the implications five years hence?

We will be working with students in government schools in grades 6 – 12.

Going forward, our focus areas are going to be marginalised communities such as dalits, tribals, and Muslims.

This will form the basis of selecting the geographies where we will work.

Girls will continue to be a focus group and we will ensure at least half of all DE students are girls. Also, we are beginning to work with children with disabilities – there can be huge benefits of ICT integration here.

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Its About Using Technology To Best Comfort www.azimpremjifoundation.org

Dileep Ranjekar

CEO Azim Premji Foundation

Azim Premji Foundation (APF) probably is the largest developer of academic digital learning material that is mapped on the curriculum of most states. The digital learning material is currently in use by over 18,000 schools across 14 states of India How is India unique in its issues and concerns for integrating ICTs in education as compared to other countries? How will it work for the Indian education system?

Owing to its prowess in IT services, India has a unique advantage of IT awareness as compared to many comparable countries. However, the current penetration of IT in education is at best 10% with Internet penetration of merely 4% (as compared to 25% in China and over 90% in US, Canada, France etc.). What is most important is despite several committee reports and recommendations there is no authentic national vision and end to end roll out plan on IT in education.

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What are the innovative e-Learning solutions, best practices or policies specific to the organisation that can make impact or some scalable solutions for the education community?

We strongly believe that e-Learning is not merely about the infrastructure or technology or the medium used.

It is a cultural change. It is about using technology to the best comfort, convenience and cost effective advantage of learning. The three most critical components of e-Learning solution are: quality of digital learning material (in terms of its relevance, design, uniqueness, interactivity and joyfulness), the ownership of the teacher (her awareness, knowledge and ownership) and the integration of e-Learning in the overall teaching learning process. Azim Premji Foundation probably is the largest developer of academic digital learning material that is mapped on the curriculum of most states. It is tested for its context by the states that are using it and is available in 18 different languages (including 4 tribal languages).

academic digital learning material that is interactive, child navigated, joyful and easy to replicate. We provide this material free of cost to Government schools and to any school that does not have admission barrier and is run on a notfor-profit basis.

What are the parameters you would judge and cover in the Indian education community/system while delivering e-Learning services?

Some parameters are: a) Sustain what is happening currently b) Supplement what is being done and also c) Challenge or in a way destabilise what is being done (such as rote, boring, threatening learning)

Azim Premji Foundation is focused on contributing to improving the quality of education in India in a systemic way and Technology based efforts to improve quality of education is part of that efforts. There are several other initiatives that are addressing key issues such as teachers, education administrators, examination system, addressing the under-served, etc.

Technology must serve the following purposes: a) A change of culture – openness, responsiveness and opening windows for new thinking, an atmosphere of innovation. b) An alternative paradigm in pedagogy – interactive, away from usual text, away from the chalk and talk, enjoyable learning, nonthreatening, self paced. c) An attempt to achieve equity – bridging the digital divide between rich-poor, urban-rural, same content for everyone. d) Bringing excitement and motivation – joy of working on the latest, pride of owning the technology, feeling of in-a-way being ahead of times

What have been your forte so far?

Our forte has been developing a large repository of relevant, local language,

Through a sound research design, it is possible to measure the influence of technology on the above.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Can’t We Create A Parallel Worldspace Using DD Direct?

What are the focus areas identified by CEMCA on the use and integration of (informations and communication technologies) ICTs in education in India, and where and how do you see the implications in the coming years?

Would you like to discuss some of the ongoing projects of CEMCA in the education sector?

Teacher Development, particularly in creation of SIM for ODL ( weak and new institutions). We have coined a new term SLIM3 (Self Learning Instructional Multimedia material). We recently had an opportunity of training 20 teachers from Haryana for Course writing for open and Distance Learning .

Quality control of multimedia offerings (assessment initiative)- CEMCA in association with NAAC and NASSCOM has embarked upon an ambitious project to assessss , standardise, certify and if possible rate the Educational Multimedia Materials. It is an fairly advanced stage.

We propose to come out with the zeroth version of norms and guidelines in about three months time. A core group is working on it. We are also forming a parallel core group in Malaysia. We would like to come out with an Asian standard. We have involved the Industry.

NIIT, HP labs, Azim Premji Foundation, ILF&S are some of industry partners who are helping us. Prof VS Prasad and Kiran Karnik has taken a lot of interest in the project. Prof Rajasekharan PIllai, VC, IGNOU, and Prof MC Pant, Chairman National Institute for Open Schooling are also offering their cooperation.

The CEMCA’s advisory council recently asked us to go on a fast track. NK Sinha, Jt Secretary, Ministry of HRD, and India’s nominee on the CEMCA’s advisory council has also stressed the importance of certification. We welcome Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

www.cemca.org

views from the stake holders of ICT on the subject. They can go through our website www.cemca.org for further details. For interested few we may even send them passwords for intranet viewing of the deliberations. We are pondering over whether to certify the product, or the process or the institution.

Prof Prasad is of the view that the process is important and Kiran Karnik wants us to go slow on ratings but to concentrate on certification. We would like to take everyone in confidence and I personally feel that it is a mere of waste of time in parallel actions in this regard.

What should we be concerned about while talking of learning gains and outcomes from the use of media in education?

• Quality of media being used • That reasonable access is ensured before taking of gains. (In many schools/centres about learners flock around one computer) • Integration of media with other learning opportunities. I am also of the view that no one media can do miracles. We need media friendly faculty and academic media professionals. Wherever these two are separate conflicts result. Training on educational media is very weak in India. First of all there are no trainers worth mentioning. Even if they are there, they are scattered. A good trainer is not necessarily a creative media professional. The work of CEC/ UGC or IGNOU, CIET//NCERT, IIT’s are all done in isolation. There is no cooperation, coordination or collaboration. There is a lot of repetitiveness. For example, the materials produced by CEC/UGC and IGNOU. There are a lot of repetition. IIT’s do have good material in Physics, Chemistry and

Dr R Sreedher

Director Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (CEMCA), New Delhi, India

CEMCA in association with NAAC and NASSCOM has embarked upon an ambitious project to assessss, standardise, certify and if possible rate the Educational Multimedia Materials

Mathematics. Why not we make use of them instead of attempting to reinvent the wheel. For Science even dubbing of educational media materials from other countries will work. No one seems to think of this kind of networking and partnership.

What kind of tool do we use to distinguish between learning from the content of a lesson to learning from its format of delivery? How do we distinguish the impact of the content from the way in which the lesson is delivered?

It is not always easy to separate the two and sometimes not necessary. Because unless both these factors pull together, learning may not happen. For example, however interesting the content if delivery formats are dull, some impact is lost. Likewise, no matter how jazzed up the delivery format is, unless there is properly structured content, no retention will happen-even if the exciting formats engage momentary attention.

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How would you categorise CEMCA’s role in open and distance learning?

Would you like to elaborate on how do you extend ODL through satellite radio, and the constraints you come across through the process?

We are a technical support agency-not a funding agency. Our main job is to add value to our partner interventions by building capacities. These partners are in formal and non-formal and lifelong learner settings. We focus on TOT, skill building and enhancement and quality control. Sometimes our constraints arise because of the partners are not able to take it forward as robustly as we hope for a variety of reasons from policy to funding limitations. Presently we are not into Satellite Radio. But we keep our eyes and ears open for any new initiative using satellites, digital technologies.

One of our new projects is titled ‘Easy now’. This project aims at getting nine different deliverables through one electronic source. The nine deliverables may change dynamically. We are also interested in partnering with institutions in taking mobile technology for education. I normally say that we have not even tapped fully the 19th century technologies. It is true for Radio. While we open many radio stations, there are not people who can make best use of the sound medium. The contents and formats remain conventional.

India has an oral tradition. It is a pity that we have not cashed this tradition for the radio. We have not tapped the DTH audio fully. Can’t we create a parallel Worldspace using the DD Direct! We do have enough software to feed 40 different music channels with Prasar Bharati. We do have spare DTH audio frequencies. Infrastructure is available. Contents are available. But persons with ideas, commitment and the freedom to implement is lacking.

I have spoken to Secretaries of I & B, CEO of Prasar Bharati and also the engineers in private conversations to do some thing. Prasar Bharati’s DTH can give good competition to World Space because the money that you spend for buying a worldspace radio is the same for installing DD direct. You get TV 118

and Radio for the same amount. For the past two years, Prasar Bharatis/ DD Direct is having 18 Test channels. They have not yet decided on it. But look at Gyan Darshan, Eklavya ( IITs channel), Vyas (UGCs channel). There is no one to watch. No DTH operator takes except Gyan Darshan 1. Even though Gyan Darshan, Vyas, and Eklavya carry DD logo, DD wants carriage fees for carrying on DTH even though they have a spare capacity of 18 channels.

Will virtual and distance education replace traditional teaching and training practices? If yes, what are the implications for stakeholder groups including learners, instructors, support staff, and administration?

Do you think establishing an National Virtual Educational Plan would be an important step in open and distance learning? How can your organisation help the country in developing such Plan?

No, it will never be either or.

Convergence in all ways is already happening. All traditional learning systems already incorporate several technology enabled value additions.

Likewise, qality ODL systems and products will ensure a high quality of end products. Yes, a National Virtual Educational Plan is a very important step for ODL as it will facilitate norms, standards and ensure wider access. We can help by organising brain storming with our various stakeholders many of who are already our partners and help in creating a transparent, collaborative and do-able plan of action.

How does CEMCA holds to capacity building in ICTs mediated teaching and learning, encouraging more for self enhanced learning?

We are deeply committed to this very important activity. We think capacity building is central to successful integration of ICTs. How are the technology choices made when we talk about open and distance learning and by whom? What are the conditions under which ICTs are deployed? And, why did ICTs not seem to succeed? Was it due to the nature of the educational experience,

the social context in the country or inherent limitations of the ICTs to deliver results?

Some of the earlier choices were technology driven rather than user need focused. Many technologies were introduced because it was technically possible to do so. These were mainly government driven and more importantly funded experiments.

Most often user access and sustainability conditions did not make it possible to implement these. So we have a series of successful pilots, with no apparent implementers. Sometime this leads to a erroneous conclusion that the technology was not good enough when the reality is that it was never given a good enough chance to succeed.

But things are changing now. More stakeholders including private and industry are being brought in, a mission mode is adapted. All round today, we have a better understanding of the conditions of use and therefore a better chance to succeed. I am optimistic.

Recently, I was invited to a brain storming session at IGNOU for starting a new course. IGNOU has a very good system of creating quality courseware and the technology choices are determined by the experts based on the need analysis and the profile of the learners.

How would you describe CEMCA’s mission? What is your vision of the ‘future classroom’ in Indian context in the digital age?

To be a regional centre of excellence in capacity building for technology enabled learning in the ODL context is the mission of CEMCA. Do you think a wider and extensive review/ research need to be considered essential to understand concepts, examine experiences, and highlight policy as well as implementation strategies in the use of ICTs for education in the country?

Undoubtedly. This is an urgent and pressing need for a nation wide consolidation of experiences.

The views expressed are of the authors’ and need not necesarily of the organisation to which he belongs.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Maintaining Quality And Equity By Inexpensive Technology www.edc.org

Douglas Bell

Education Advisor Education Development Centre (EDC) Bangalore, India

We are present in every primary school in the entire state of Karnataka with Interactive Radio Instruction. In India EDC is concentrating its efforts in the states like Chattisgarh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh. We are now looking to work in Bihar as well Please share some of the initiatives EDC has implemented in the primary education sector in India?

We are very good at reaching to the disadvantaged population, particularly in the government schools and specially to the girls. We try to reach to different class levels and lower castes, trying to bring equity between them in the classrooms. We work within the government school system using the existing Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme to help implement our programme, conduct teacher training and also using ICTs as a way to reach more people and scale up specifically interactive radio instruction and addresses math science and English in the lower primary from class I to V. 120

Would you like to throw more light on Interactive Radio Instruction?

What is the idea behind it. Why did you choose radio as the medium for instruction and not other more commonly used communication channels, such as web, television or any of the currently existing moods of delivery?

IRI is an activity based instruction that guides the teachers and the students in the classroom. It provides basically in-service training to the teachers and on how to conduct good activity based learning.

We are present in every primary school in the entire state of Karnataka with IRI. Whether or not every school turns on the radio is questionable, but millions and millions of children in primary schools across the state are participating in the programme. We are able to scale up and able to keep quality intact by using this rather inexpensive technology called interactive radio instruction.

Funding is the key! Any kind of funding can lead to more activities, more capacity building and better implementation. Funds ensure a good instructional design practices We have other models like the video based instruction thats also uses a very good interactive pedagogy as well as group teaching learning software,

which is one computer classroom software. This is also an efficient use of resource, because it only requires one computer and address a large group of students, about 20 – 25 playing teams of science and maths on the computer. This uses peer to peer learning and requires intense teacher facilitation.

How do you generate qualitative content that maps to the needs of the learner and how is the scope defined?

We have subject matter experts and we always collaborate and involve teachers in the process on generation of content. We always do need assessment to figure what content will be effective and we work with the state government to determine the limits of content.

Do you see funding as a major support and solution in such ICT4E interventions! What could be different in this particular context?

Funding is the key! Any kind of funding can lead to more activities, more capacity building and better implementation. Funds ensure a good instructional design practices. Proper monitoring and evaluation can be used to scale up the ICT for education interventions.

What is the biggest challenge facing us in the 21st century in the education sector?

To continue to reach out to large population of teachers and students is the biggest challenge.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

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News Asia Corporate partnership for ICT education in Philippines Smart Communications, Cisco and Trends.Net, Inc. have entered into a partnership for ICT education which is helping to reach out to the student population of the Philippines.

After three successful runs, the customised course named Internetworking Fundamentals has benefited engineering teachers and other instructors are scheduled for training. The training, which was open to teachers from partner schools of Smart Wireless Engineering Education Programme (SWEEP) partner schools, was offered on three consecutive trainings. By familiarising teachers with devices, techniques and methods used in an actual work setting, the course is designed to help them go beyond the textbook and into what happens in the real world. Topics include Data Communications on the engineering level, data networks, switching methods, routing protocols and wide area technologies. The training course was initiated by Smart, the country’s premier wireless services provider, and launched under SWEEP. A first of its kind industry-academe partnership, SWEEP seeks to improve the level of technology and engineering education in the country.

Pakistan launches ICT-based literacy kit The National Commission for Human Development (NCHD) of Pakistan in collaboration with UNESCO launched an information and communication technologybased literacy kit. The literacy kit is aimed at inducting information and communication technology for promoting literacy to equip individuals with skill and knowledge required to cope with global changes.

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This process was initiated to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and has entered in its 5th year of successful operations. The ICT-based literacy kit will provide opportunities to the learners to improve their literacy skills by using those tools. It will also provide an interactive learning environment to the adult literacy learners for better and sustained learning because the kit can be used for basic education and skill training activities;

ADB assistance to improve education in Sri Lanka The Government of Sri Lanka has entered into an agreement with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to improve quality relevance effectiveness, and equity of access to secondary and tertiary education under the Education for Knowledge Society Project.

These two projects worth over USD 130 million will accelerate the development of Small and Medium Enterprises. The total investment for the Education for Knowledge Society Project is USD 105.3 million and it comprises of USD 65 million loan and USD 15 million grant from the ADB and USD 25.3 million from the Government of Sri Lanka. These funds will be utilised for upgrading 150 provincially administered secondary schools in the poorest administrative divisions under the Isuru schools programme enabling them to offer advanced level science streams. Facilities for teaching in key subjects such as Information and Communication Technology (ICT), English and Technical subjects will be improved. Computers and Internet facilities for 2125 schools and 15000 scholarships for poor students will also be provided.

Azerbaijan to establish e-Schools The Azerbaijan Education Ministry works over establishment of electronic schools in the country. It is planned to establish some 10 electronic schools

in Azerbaijan by the beginning of next academic year.

Presently, implementation of the project is being researched. The Azerbaijani Government considers ICT should be developed in all fields, including education. In the coming years the Government intends to allot a lot of funds for this purpose. Implementation of 5-year programme on computerisation of general schools in Azerbaijan will be completed this year. Previously, the computer-student ratio in the country was 1 per 1,000. It is now estimated to be 30 per 1,000.

Mobile teachers bridge education gap in remote villages of Philippines

In Philippines, mobile teachers are providing basic education to out-ofschool youth and adults, who still want to learn. Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, the President of Philippines has asked the Department of Education (DepEd) to beef up its “mobile teachers” programme by hiring more teachers to serve under its Alternative Learning System (ALS).

The government has increased the budget for learning from P76-million in 2006 to P230-million in 2007, so that the Bureau of Alternative Learning System (BALS) can hire 300 more mobile teachers.

These mobile teachers go from house to house to determine the number of nonreaders in every household and select the learning modules that suit the clients’ learning needs.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearninG.in

These Impacted ICT And Education Technology & Infrastructure Developments Rural Connectivity e-Learning e-Readiness, sound educational policies.

Satyajit Joshi Manager - Business Development Kern Communications Pvt. Ltd

Mobile Mania IT Literacy

Dheeraj Mehrotra Head, TQM in Education, City Montessori School & College Lucknow, INDIA

Interactive Learner oriented Education anytime, anywhere

Dr. K.Vivekanandan Professor and Head Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering and Information Technology, Pondicherry Engineering College, Pondicherry

Open Source Web 2.0 tools

Narinder Bhatia Shiksha India Trust, Confederation of Indian Industry, India

Virtual classroom m-Learning

e-Learning

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Sonjib Mukharjee CEO, Metalearn

Navyug Mohnot CEO, QAI

Integration Training Blogging Collaboration Professional Development Video Conference

Rabia Garib CEO, Rasala Publications Group Editor-in Chief, Netexpress and Bandwidth, Pakistan

One on one computing Public private partnership

Shantanu Prakash CEO Educomp Solutions

Learner focused Community of learners Peer to peer learning

Shameema Parveen Knowledge Officer Edutech

e-Learning Digital learning e-Class online lessons Dr. Salil Gupta Content Writer and Reviewer

Technology Whiteboards K S Muralidhar CEO LearnSmart

123

or f s ICT ility ab Dis

Education Technology

Empowering Disabled Communities In Asia Vincent Quah

www.microsoft.com

[ vquah@microsoft.com], Director-Public Sector Programs, Microsoft Asia Pacific

In a perfect world, all children would be born alike, each with fully-functional physical faculties and equal ability as students, to learn, live and apply those skills and knowledge for life. But unfortunately, many of our children either are born physically handicapped, or develop a certain disability in their growing years, rendering them disadvantaged, in the learning process and all throughout their lives. The World Health Organisation estimates that ten percent of the world’s population has a disability, making them the world’s largest minority. Within this group, eighty percent of the disabled population will remain unemployed and unable to support themselves.

Technology literacy and disability But every child with a disability can, and should, be given an equal opportunity to attain a good education. While in the past, children with disabilities inevitably fall behind their peers for lack of a good education, things have changed today.

Technology has long leveled the playing field for smaller businesses, and given competitive advantage to others. And today, technology can help individuals to overcome their physical disabilities and unlock the possibilities in education, once denied to the disabled communities. Technology can help students with disabilities to achieve their fullest potential by enhancing their ability to participate in the same educational experience.

Microsoft, educational technology and disability As a corporate citizen, Microsoft believes that there is no reason that anyone, regardless of their physical, mental or environmental disabilities, should be left out of Asia’s technology education revolution. With this vision, 124

the company strives to build technology for everyone, including those who experience physical difficulties or disabilities; and for the past twenty years, Microsoft has focused on making computers easier to use for people with disabilities.

The popular Microsoft Windows Vista operating system for example, has a comprehensive range of built-in accessibility settings and programs that make it easier for computer users to see, hear, and use their computers.

They are particularly helpful to those with visual difficulties, hearing loss, pain in their hands or arms, or reasoning and cognitive issues. All this is a result of more than three years of research to better understand the needs of people who experience a wide range of physical challenges that can impact their computer use.

In the same way, the 2007 Microsoft Office system is made accessible to those with physical disabilities, enabling them to do everything that others are capable of in a computing environment.

Microsoft also works closely with members of its Microsoft Assistive Technology Vendor Program (MATvp) to forge a strong ecosystem providing support to the disabled communities. These companies develop assistive technology products that offer innovative technology solutions to help individuals with difficulties and impairments successfully use computers.

The Microsoft website is also filled with articles and resources including visual guides and tutorials to coach students with learning disability on how to better manage their physical handicaps and overcome their various challenges in learning.

Technology literacy in Asia As the regional economy continues to swell, increasing the need for a literate workforce, the impact that the disabled community can have on the region’s workforce and economy is clear. It is also apparent that technology literacy is essential to helping disabled individuals realise their full potential, and consequently contribute to the growth

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

of a strong economy. Microsoft believes that technology in education can be a powerful catalyst to promote learning; and that education changes lives, families, communities and ultimately

Role of technology leaders The Partners in Learning Grants Program (PiL) is one example of a successful partnership that provides government and education leaders

In September 2007, as part of PiL, Microsoft and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) unveiled Asia’s first Information Communications Technology (ICT) curriculum. Abbreviated CARE (CARE stands for Curriculum for Accessibility REach); the programme was first developed by the University of Tokyo for teachers of students with special needs. CARE provides the framework to make classrooms accessible and engage students with physical or mental disabilities by allowing those who are unable to write and others, who are unable to see, an opportunity to access technology and engage with the wider community. nations. Because of this, technology literacy should be a key priority to governments, educators and sociallyresponsible businesses throughout the region.

In addition to directly helping the disabled cope with their physical limitations, Microsoft believes that by training teachers to share technology with their students, a greater number of disabled individuals can be part of the technology revolution and ultimately have greater access and impact on our societies through increased communication alternatives and employment potential.

Partnerships in addressing the needs The challenge of addressing the issues faced by the disabled in education is a massive one, and is not the job of any one individual or company.

Microsoft works closely with partners to develop the right technology for those with disabilities. To that end, the Microsoft ecosystem aims to connect a global community that shares a common interest in using technology to enhance and extend learning. These partnerships are also invaluable in connecting Microsoft to the communities that would otherwise be left out of traditional education programs.

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

with the local resources to deliver information and communication technology (ICT) skills training and curriculum leadership to primary and secondary teachers, school leaders, and students within their countries.

Launched in the Asia Pacific in 2003, the programme was designed to enable partners to integrate technology into daily teaching, learning and research.

To date, PiL has trained 225,000 teachers and 2.8 million students across the region. Globally, the program will deliver IT literacy and skills development to more than 5 million teachers and 100 million students over the next 5 years.

In Singapore, Microsoft is working with the Centre for the Physically Disabled providing software as well as training opportunities to support those with physical disabilities gain technology skills that help them get employment so that they can live independently and support their families.

CARE-ing for the disabled

Just three months ago, in September 2007, as part of PiL, Microsoft and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) unveiled Asia’s first Information Communications Technology (ICT) curriculum. Abbreviated CARE (CARE

stands for Curriculum for Accessibility REach); the programme was first developed by the University of Tokyo for teachers of students with special needs. CARE provides the framework to make classrooms accessible and engage students with physical or mental disabilities by allowing those who are unable to write and others, who are unable to see, an opportunity to access technology and engage with the wider community.

Currently being trialled in Australia, the CARE curriculum encourages educators to experience how the technology is seen and felt by those with a disability. This is done by simulating the experiences of physically disabled persons as they use a mouse and perform tasks such as starting up and shutting down a computer without the use of their arms.

CARE is now being trialled in more than 10 countries and we have just completed training for about 30+ master trainers from more than 12 countries. We do need to provide a link or something for people to contact MS regarding CARE and documentation for localisation through the local PIL managers. Do we also need to highlight some examples of what is provided in the curriculum?

Disability has been, and will always be, a problem that Man faces, and the medical profession is charged with the crucial task of dealing with the complexities of treating, managing and learning to live with a handicap.

But Technology will continue to play a crucial role in enabling those with disabilities to overcome the challenges they face, and acquire the necessary skills and knowledge through education to live independently.

Today, with unprecedented explosion of knowledge and economic growth driven by information and communication technology, educated and technology literate individuals with a physical disabilities, can be attain independence in learning and working. And today, we have an awesome opportunity and responsibility to help students with disabilities to overcome the odds they face in learning, and achieve their fullest potential.

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Name

Area

Implementing Agency

Year of starting

Aarohi www.aarohi.org

Uttaranchal

Hiltron and Directorate Department of Govt. of Uttaranchal

2002

Akshaya www.akshaya.net

Entire Kerala

Kerala State IT Mission

2002

Alambana Vidya www.sifycorp.com/scripts/ alambana.asp

Chennai

Sify Alambana Trust

2004

AP Broadband Project apts.gov.in/AP_BB_ Project.htm

Andhra Pradesh

Aksh Broadband Ltd

2005

Aptech’s Vidya (computer literacy programme)

All India

Aptech Ltd.

1999

Child Info - through Pocket Viewer (PDA)

West Godavari district of Andhra Pradesh

NGOs (registered under NCLP), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, West Godavari, Eluru - District educational officer

1996

Coil-Net (Content Development and IT Localization Network): A Cultural Heritage Digital Library tdil.mit.gov.in/coilnet.htm

Rajasthan, Haryana, Delhi, Uttaranchal, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand and Bihar

Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts (IGNCA)

2005

College to Career Program

Gujarat

Computer Assisted Learning Centre (CALC) www.azimpremjifounda tion.org/html/CLC.htm

Bangalore, Karnataka

Azim Premji Foundation

2001

Computer on Wheels: Education Through Mobile Vans

Rural areas in all India

Vidya Pratishthan’s, Institute of Information Technology (VIIT)

2000

Content In School contentinschool.org

Across the Country

Digital Empowerment Foundation

2007

Digital talking library for the blind e-Classroom (Gyan Vinimay) www.chips.nic.in/content/ gyan.htm

Kerala city Raipur, Bilaspur in Chattisgarh

Rousathul Uloom Association National Institute of Technology, Raipur Institute of Technology, Guru Ghasidas University, Bilaspur

2007

126 Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

2007

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in 126

Name

Area

Implementing Agency

e-Shis4zhu www.opepa.in/CSUP DATE/Knowmore.asp

Entire Orissa

Orissa State Govt.

2005

Goa Schools Computer Project (GSCP): The Communication Initiative www.comminit.com

Goa

Goa Sudharop Community Development, a US-based nonprofit organisation.

2002

GramJyoti www.gramjyoti.in/index_ eng.htm

12 districts of Tamil Nadu

Ericsson India

2007

Gyan Rath

Vadodara, Palanpur, Surat and Gandhinagar districts of Gujarat

Gujarat Council of Educational Research and Training (GCERT)

2004

Gyandoot gyandoot.nic.in/

311 Gram Panchayats and over 600 villages have been covered by 20 Soochanalayas of Dhar district

Govt. of MP, NIC

2000

Habitat Learning Center (HLC) www.indiahabitat.org/hlc. html

Slums of Delhi

HLC

2002

Head Start

48 districts of Madhya Pradesh

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

2000

Hole-in-the-Wall: A Minimally Invasive Education www.hole-in-the-wall.com/

Ambedkar Nagar-Kalkaji (Delhi);Shivpuri(Madhya Pradesh), Madantusi(Uttar Pradesh)

GOVT. OF NATIONAL CAPITAL TERRITORY OF DELHI & National Indtitute of Information and Technology(NIIT Ltd.)

2000

India.gov.in: The National Portal of India

All India

Union Ministry of Communications and IT, CHIPS

2005

Indira Soochna Shakti (ISS), iss.nic.in/

246 village councils (Panchayat), headquarter villages of Chhattisgarh

Information & Communications Technologies for Development (ICTD): Making ICT work for people

All India

National Institute for Smart Governance (NISG)

Intel Computer Clubhouse

Govindpuri area of Delhi and Yelahanka area of Banglore, Karnataka

Katha Khazana for Delhi and CLT for Banglore, Department of Science and Technology (DST, Govt. of India), Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008 127

Year of starting

2001

2003-07

2001

127 January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Name

Area

Implementing Agency

Interactive e-Learning Portal: on Information Literacy Competency Development Skills

All India

UNESCO-SALIS

2007

Kerala Education Grid www.edugrid.ac.in

Kerala

Kerala Education Grid

2006

Mapping the Neighbourhood www.csdms.in/nm

Almora district, Uttaranchal

Centre for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS)

2002

Pratham (Learning to Read) www.pratham.org

Madhya Pradesh

Pratham India Education Initiative

2003

Pravara Village IT Project (PRAGATI)

Ahmednagar district, Maharastra

Convergent Communications

1999

Project Sharda (www.nict. co.in/psharda.html)

Delhi

NICT

2004

Project Shiksha: Empowering the Future www.microsoft.com/india/ education/pil/shiksha

West Bengal and 9 states across India.

West Bengal Department of Education

2004

Reflect for ICTs

Bolangir District, Orissa

Action Aid India

2003

Room to Read (Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan)

Madhya Pradesh

Mapidipudi Venkantarangaiya Foundation

2003

Rural Development Education System (RDES): ICT provides Vehicle in Rural Education

Prabal Village, Pune district of Maharashtra

Youth in remote areas

2003

Rural India on bus to IT

Pune, Maharashtra

World Bank, District Administration of Pune

2003

Sahaj Tathya Mitra: Common Service Centers www.sahaj.co.in

Darjeeling, Jalpaiguri, Cooch Bihar, Uttar Dinajpur and Dakhin Dinajpur, Malda, Murshidabad, Nadia and South 24 Parganas, Purba Midnapur, Bankura, Birbhum, Haowra and Hoogly.

Srei Infrastructure Finance Ltd. and West Bengal Government

2007

Sakshat: One Stop Educational Portal of India www.sakshat.ac.in

All India

Ministry of Human Resource Development(MHRD) Indian Institute of Science

2007

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008 128

Year of starting

128 January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Public Private Partnerships

www.ilfsets.com

Improving Social Infrastructure And Quality In Education T eam, IL&FSET S, Bombay, India

India along with other nations is a signatory to the resolutions made at Dakar and is committed to ‘Education for All’ Goals. According to estimates on the Internet the e-Learning segment in India would be one of the major determinants of providing access to quality education and training to all in an equitous manner.

IETS, works in the field of education and technology using appropriate delivery mechanisms including robust publicprivate partnership modalities to develop effectively, social infrastructure initiatives in education, technology and training

IL&FS Education and Technology Services Limited (IETS) was established in 1997 as the social infrastructure initiative of IL&FS, one of India’s leading infrastructure development and finance companies. IETS, works in the field of education and technology using appropriate delivery mechanisms including robust public-private partnership modalities to develop effectively, social infrastructure initiatives in education, technology and training.

IL&FS Education and Technology Services Limited (IETS) is dedicated to the ‘Education for All’ goals. IETS works towards providing educational infrastructure and educational technology across India. IETS partners various state governments of India and other national and international organisations to catalyse the outreach of education and is committed to the creation of sustainable social infrastructure.

A progressive group, IETS integrates the latest in technology with learning and training needs and offers holistic and comprehensive solutions in the fields of pre-primary, elementary, secondary and higher education, adult education, vocational training, entrepreneurial training, continued professional Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

development including ICT materials for community groups like Village Education Committee (VEC) members under SSA, IT training, communication skills, foundational soft skills training, and teacher training.

IETS understands that technology makes a perceptible difference in learning and the organization works extensively in the field of ICT.

School Transformation and Quality Improvement IETS in public-private partnership with Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation and Science and Technology Park will be upgrading and transforming 156 schools run by the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal

Corporation. The transformation project includes providing integrated solutions for enhancement of the quality of school education through effective up gradation of IT infrastructure. This includes setting up of web-enabled MIS systems that will increase efficacy of administrative functions and enhancement of classroom processes through the use of ICT tools.

The major input comprises of providing Marathi Computer Aided Learning (CAL) materials to supplement syllabi and competencies that pose as hard spots for students.

Interactive Learning with K-Yan Learning through use of technology has several benefits and to this end IETS has in collaboration with IIT 129

(Mumbai) created the K-Yan, a compact media centre that enables interactive learning. The K-Yan is being used by the Governments of Bengal and Tripura extensively to introduce ICT tools in education and to increase retention rates in rural schools. The K-Yan can be used to teach using multimedia lessons in English as well as regional languages like Urdu, Hindi, Marathi, Telegu, Tamil, and Kannada for classes K-X. The Common Services Centers ( CSC) Scheme is a part of The National eGovernance Plan (NeGP). The plan is to provide access to government services at the doorstep of citizens through setting up of 1,00,000 CSCs in rural areas and 10,000 CSCs in urban areas across the country with equitable geographical spread, on a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) basis. The objective of the CSC Scheme is to integrate the commercial goals of the private sector with the larger developmental goals of the states as well as the nation. The Common Services Centers are unarguably the largest IT-enabled distribution networks in the world. IL&FS has been appointed as the Programme Management Agency to assist the Department of IT, Government of India and the State 130

Governments to carry out the CSC project. The CSC centers also enable adult literacy programmes, eye care facilities, women empowerment through innovative employment schemes, and agri-procurement.

Content for School Education IETS has also created interactive multimedia lessons that are syllabus based and pertain to the ICSE, CBSE, State Board, and NCERT (2005) Curriculum Framework. The lessons take hard to comprehend topics and make learning a delight using puzzles, quizzes, and hands on learning methods.

The approach is highly interactive and learner centric.

Content for EDUSAT The Government of India has launched a dedicated education satellite—EDUSAT. Many states like Haryana have introduced EDUSAT transmissions to schools run by the government. IETS has, in partnership with the Haryana government created content for the primary level, that make syllabus based lessons come alive. The EDUSAT transmission modules are created by IETS along with NCERT, SCERT,

Haryana government school teachers and students. The transmission of the content was inaugurated by the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on 19 May 2007.

Lifelong Learning and Adult Education In partnership with UNESCO, IETS has designed and produced for Village Education Committee Members’ a Computer Aided Learning Training programme that will facilitate Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’s aim to Universalise Elementary Education through decentralising control of schools and encouraging community ownership of schools. Consisting of six modules the Village Education Committee Training Programme covers aspects of VEC orientation; developing sensitivity; school management and planning; financial literacy; personal effectiveness; effective communication. The CAL training modules produced by IETS & UNESCO supplement the existing instructor-led training programs for VECs run by SSA. UNESCO is now planning to upscale it across India in partnership with State Governments.

IETS has developed a multimedia e-Learning programme for the SelfJanuary 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

employed Women’s Association (SEWA). The programme teaches Gujarati alphabets to adult women through folk songs and through linkages to life

Computer on Wheels The ‘Empowering the Poor—ICT Programme for Rural Students’ was a

project undertaken by Vidya Pratishthan Institute of Technology, Baramati, the World Bank, and IETS. Computer education was reached to 51 schools located in 40 villages in Baramati through five buses fitted with computers.

The buses visited scheduled schools in the villages each week to teach computers to children. IETS fitted each

bus with 20 computers which ran on 12 volt batteries. Termed Hasat Khelat Sanganak the project taught IT skills to 12283 children of classes 5, 6, and 7 studying in rural schools in the year 2004-2006. IETS for the bus project created syllabus based work books, content in Marathi, and teacher training programmes.

IETS’ partners in Education Government of Karnataka

PCMC and Science and Technology Park

IETS has developed multimedia subject content for 1,000 schools under the Mahiti Sindhu Project. The project also involved training of teachers in the use of content developed.

Mahila Samakhya has a partnership with IETS to train teachers of the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidhyalaya and NPEGEL schools.

IETS is partnering the transformation and upgrading of 156 schools; the project involves improvement of physical infrastructure, up- gradation of IT and MIS; enhancement in quality of education and classroom teaching-learning; and capacity building of teachers and education functionaries.

Government of Haryana Apart from creating content for EDUSAT, IETS has conducted an ELT programme for teachers in Nuh, Haryana, a backward area of the state.

Government of Rajasthan A joint UNESCO-IETS English Language programme teaches English to underprivileged girls studying in residential Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya schools in Dausa, a backward district.

Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation IETS has trained 4,800 teachers in 563 schools of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation, so as to equip them to efficiently handle computer-aided teaching. IETS has conducted English training for 1,600 teachers of the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation School Board.

Directorate of School Education Tamil Nadu and Srinivasan Services Trust IETS is working with the two agencies to enhance the quality of education in government schools.

Government of Gujarat

The International Labour Organisation

IETS is training teachers and providing quality education to tribal children in 458 Ashramshalas run by the Commissioner of Tribal Welfare, Gujarat. In all 55,000 students and 2200 teachers will be trained in capacity building, English language skills, Maths, and Science.

The International Labour Organisation has contracted IETS to develop a Life Skills Module for use in Transitional Education Centres for child labourers. The programme has to be developed in English, Tamil, Hindi, and Marathi. The program will be implemented in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi.

Government of West Bengal IETS is working with the Department of IT, Government of West Bengal to enhance teaching and learning in classrooms through the use of ICT. The pilot initiative includes 65 schools in Bardhaman and Bankura where a large number of students enrolled are from less privileged backgrounds.

Government of Tripura IETS is working with the State Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to implement multimedia learning through the K-yan. The programme will cover 53 schools for girls in the state and train teachers in the use of ICT learning tools.

Delhi State Industrial Infrastructure Development Corporation IETS is refurbishing 205 Delhi Government schools. The project involves up gradation of physical infrastructure, IT systems, as well as quality of education.

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

Babasaheb Open University IETS is setting up English Language Labs.

World Bank IETS partnered Vidya Pratishthan Institute of Technology in a World Bank funded ‘Computer on Wheels Project.’

Self Employed Women’s Association IETS has created multimedia programmes that teach Gujarati alphabets and words to rural women.

UNESCO IETS is working in partnership with UNESCO to develop a Computer Aided Learning solution for the Village Education Committee (VEC) members on their roles and functions for Universalisation of Elementary Education (UEE) where content is being developed by IETS in English and Hindi.

131

Partnerships Increase Efficiency How do you see increased access, effectiveness, and efficiencies happening in higher and vocational education and tertiary care through Public Private Partnerships in technology mediated education in India? How successful is this arrangement in India?

Quality education using ICT can be implemented across sectors and levels through partnerships with the Private Sector, NGOs, International Organisations, and other institutions.

In the area of implementation of ICT in Education, the government sector is undertaking significant work in hardware provisions and connectivity.

Implementation of such large scale hardware provision and connectivity is possible through networking with relevant institutions and agencies who would bring to the table innovative ideas, professional expertise, and up scaling strengths.

include holistic solutions like providing multimedia content, training, capacity building, as well as designing and implementation of ICT based learning programmes; other modes of PPP have been successfully tried out.

What are the challenges you come across in the PPP way of providing educational services? What is the preparation needed for standard operating procedures for PPP in the ICT-induced education?

Since PPP in education in India is still in its infancy there are several challenges.

The government departments and other institutes of learning need success stories and up scaling of projects to be realised before they accept that PPP is a way to implementing quality education in India. At present, tendering is generally the acceptable mode of initiating and getting into what is called ‘PPP relationships’. However,

At present, tendering is generally the acceptable mode of initiating and getting into what is called ‘PPP relationships’. However, the Government and other national and international bodies need to adopt MOU and MOA modes in addition to the tendering process- basing the PPP relationship on trust and mutual respect While models for PPP in education like BOOT and BOO exist, the efficient way to a successful partnership between Government and the Private Sector is through the creation systems and processes that are mutually supportive and sensitive to the needs of the sector being catered to, especially the disadvantaged sections within this segment. This could be through fashioning of MOUs that are workable and individualised. The PPP’s entered into by IETS vary and even the BOOT model has been successfully used, especially in projects that were hardware centered. However, as the interventions of IETS go beyond hardware and 132

the Government and other national and international bodies need to adopt Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) modes in addition to the tendering process- basing the PPP relationship on trust and mutual respect. This of course, taking into account the fact that there should be a careful examination and identification of credible and sound institutions coming into the picture. This would provide the fillip needed to the adoption of PPP in the education sector in India.

What would you suggest in lines with strengthening PPP cells in

Dr Shabnam Sinha

Senior Education Advisor, IL&FS Education and Technology Services (IETS) Bombay, India the Ministry or departments of Education?

The RR Shah report on PPP in different sectors including education is an important base for PPP cells and the Ministry and departments of education to draw upon. In addition, internationally there are reports and case studies on PPP initiatives in education presented by organisations like the World Bank, Partnerships UK, UNESCO, and the Academy for Educational Development among others. In the Approach to the 11th Five Year Plan “Towards Faster and More Inclusive Growth,” the vision specifies that the private sector has a critical role to play in achieving of objectives and that PPP offers the possibilities of increasing total investments in key sectors and that PPP could increase efficiency.

It is also important that the GOI and Education Ministry interfaces with the concerned stake-holders in meaningful dialogue- with private sector players, PPP experts, academia and social workers and grassroots implementers of programmes. PPP initiatives being planned in corporate boardrooms will always fail to make the relevant impact in real life difficult situations in large scale roll out in the States of India, where the need is felt the most for such initiatives.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Fact Sheet

Funds Under ICT in Schools Schemes 2007-08 No. of Schools Sanctioned

Total Amount Approved (both Central and State Share (INR in lakh)

Funds Released During 2007-08 (INR in lakh)

Andhra Pradesh

5,000

10,000.00

3,750.00

Bihar

1,000

1,333.33

---

Chhatisgarh

200

1,340.00

---

Goa

432

576.00

571.50

Gujarat

1,150

1,533.,33

247.15

Haryana

500

3,350.00

1,250.00

Himachal Pradesh

---

---

---

Jammu & Kashmir

200

1,340.00

570.06

Name of State/U.T.

Jharkhand

1,074

1,432.00

1074.00

Karnataka

2,279

6,077.33

4,558.00

Kerela

1,016

1,354.66

--

Madhya Pradesh

320

2,144.00

807.50

Maharashtra

500

666.66

--

1,500

2,010.00

---

Orissa Punjab*

---

---

-400.00

2,500

3,333.33

Tamil Nadu

400

2,680.00

1,312.50

Uttaranchal

100

670.00

377.25

Uttar Pradesh

2,500

5,000.00

3,115.47

West Bengal

343

2,298.10

964.33

Arunachal Pradesh

35

234.50

--

Rajasthan

Assam

641

1,445.81

870.54

Manipur

65

435.50

--

Meghalaya

75

502.50

--

Mizoram*

---

---

---

Nagaland

284

1,902.80

1,299.46

Sikkim

2

13.40

--

Tripura

400

902.22

--

Delhi

53

355.10

--

Puducherry

169

225.33

---

A. &N. Island

---

---

--

Chandigarh

67

448.90

--

D. & N. H.

6

40.20

---

Daman & Diu

22

147.40

Lakshdweep

---

---

22,833

53,792.40

Total

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008

21,167.76

133

Fact Sheet

Global Status: ICT in Education Policy Country

Policy_status

Lead_organisation

Overview

Tanzania Africa

Policy Adopted

Ministry of Communications and Transport

To achieve the policy mission, the government would like to create an investment environment conducive to capacity building and encouraging multi-layered cooperation locally and globally.

Uganda Africa

Adopted

Ministry of Works, Housing and Communications

In order to advance ICT literacy and human resource capacity, the government intends to focus on the integration of ICT into all educational curricula; to develop and manage technical training within schools, business/ industry and international institutions by promoting private-public partnerships that encourage repatriation of international-based Ugandan ICT professionals; and to establish incentives for capacity development for all sectors of society.

Zimbabwe Africa

Adopted

Ministry for Science and Technology Development

The Government of Zimbabwe (GOZ) intends to increase bandwidth for enhanced speed and efficiency, while expanding access to rural communities. In addition, the GOZ wants to promote domestic production of ICT to meet international standards and local needs.

Nepal, South Asia

Adopted

The National Information Technology (IT) Development Council

The Government of Nepal is dedicated to successfully integrating information and communication technology (ICT) into a viable policy framework, to increasing access to ICT and employment opportunities for the general public, to transforming Nepal into a knowledgebased society and to creating ICT-based industry.

Malawi Africa

Adopted

The Government of the Republic of Malawi

• • •

To improve Malawi’s educational system and strengthen science and technology.

To promote human resource development and skilled labour.

To establish the nation’s research and development capacity.

Guyana Latin America

Approved

ICT Guyana Strategy

Integrating ICT into education and training schemes is seen as a priority, which will encourage skills retention and partnerships to facilitate effective management and strengthen capacity in the broader society.

Azerbaijan Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Adopted

The Ministry of Communication and Information Technologies of the Republic of Azerbaijan

Modernising education through training of national staff and providing minimum ICT literacy in the country.

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January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in 134

Country

Policy_status

Lead_organisation

Overview

Albania Eastern Europe and Central Asia

Adopted

Government of the Republic of Albania

Use of ICT for education, research whilst building human capacity within the rural and urban areas.

Building infrastructure for an open information society should make ICT accessible to all citizens

Rwanda Africa

Adopted

The National Information Technology Commission (NITC)

The Government Of Rwanda intends to focus on increasing the capacity of youth to access and benefit from ICT development. The GOR is committed to deploying ICTs throughout the educational systems within primary, secondary, college, university and technical institutions.

Kenya Africa

Adopted

Ministry of Information & Communications

Promote the development, sharing and integration of e-Learning resources to address the educational needs of primary, secondary and tertiary institutions, enhance the dissemination of eLearning initiatives.

Mongolia South East and East Asia

Adopted

Information and Communication Technology Authority (ICTA) of Mongolia

Concrete objectives include achieving an 80 percent national ICT literacy rate by 2012, on par with the international average; the participation of 70 percent of regional centres and 100 percent of provincial centres in distance-learning programmes by 2012; the development of model e-Schools with the goal of 50 percent of schools having e-School capability by 2012; and continued emphasis on research and development of e-Education initiatives.

Mozambique Africa

Adopted

The ICT Policy Commission

ICT will be utilised to provide more effective services in the educational sector. This will be accomplished by creating incentives and developing the teaching of informatics at various levels of the National System of Education; broadening the use of the Internet

Nigeria Africa

Adopted

Federal Ministry of Science and Technology, Nigerian Information and Communication Technology Agency (NICTA), and National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA)

The Federal Ministry of Education has made significant progress in the planning and implementation of the following ICT-driven educational programmes/projects: the National Virtual Library Project, Education Management Information System (EMIS) Programme, the National Open University of Nigeria and Distance Learning Programmes, Computer in Schools Initiative, Nigerian Universities Network, and the National Teachers Institute Teacher Training Programme through distance learning.

Lebanon ME

Adopted

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), The Office of the Minister of State for Administrative Reform (OSMAR)

• • • •

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008 135

Utilise ICT for Formal Education Improve Formal Education in ICT Improve Informal Education in ICT Develop ICT Skills in the Private and Public Sectors

•

135 January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Country

Policy_status

Lead_organisation

Lead_organisation

Namibia Africa

Adopted

Ministry of Basic Education, Sport and Culture; Ministry of Higher Education, Training and Employment Creation

Identification and/or development of appropriate ICT for education, maintenance and support of ICT, ICT literacy, ICT integration, and distribution and delivery of ICT have been identified as priority areas within ICT services. Digital content will be further evaluated; a digital library will be created; web access will be made available; every education consumer will be entitled to an e-mail account; maintenance and support will be provided to ensure that all ICT labs and other ICT resources; digital security will be established to protect users, information, infrastructure, and resources; all educational sites will be connected to increase communication; support, orientation and training will be provided for all staff involved in integrating technologies into the teaching/learning process; ICT will be used to improve educational management systems; and a detailed monitoring and evaluation plan will be created to measure, evaluate, and research the impact.

Thailand South East and East Asia

Adopted

Ministry of Information & Communication Technology

The e-Education policy will be achieved by creating a management system for IT policy and the administration of education; developing an information infrastructure specific to education that is equally accessible to all; promoting the development of human resources in support of IT; rapidly developing and providing relevant IT knowledge and content; and rendering educational information and knowledge more accessible.

Antigua & Barbuda Caribbean

Adopted

Ministry of Education, Culture and Technology

• • •

• • •

• • • •

•

Digital Learning | Vol 4 Issue 1 January 2008 136

Integrating ICT into school curricula Facilitating management and planning of ICT in education Attracting and retaining ICT teachers in the educational system by offering training opportunities, reduced workloads, and financial incentives; Recruiting teachers who are computer literate; Addressing students’ individual needs through the use of ICT; Encouraging students and teachers to use their creativity through the development of multimedia educational software; Preventing access to obscene or profane material on the Internet; Establishing the infrastructure necessary for the implementation of ICT in education; Nurturing private sector educational institution collaboration in implementing ICT; Linking educational institutions in a secure network that can be used for administration or communication; Assisting school leaders to undertake responsibility for ICT resources within their schools.

136 January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Country

Policy_status

Lead_organisation

Overview

Cambodia South East and East Asia

Adopted

Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport (MoEYS)

To develop an ICT infrastructure and provide hardware for all levels of educational institutes and centers for the purposes of education and training; to prioritise human resource development to meet the requirements of the ICT and education sectors; to use ICT as a teaching and learning tool to promote skills in research, communication, problem solving and innovative thinking; and to raise administrative efficiency through the use of ICT for educational management.

Malaysia South East and East Asia

Being implemented

Educational Technology Division, Ministry of Education

• •

• • •

Yemen ME

Qatar Middle East

Adopted

Adopted

Preparing appropriate ICT equipment and infrastructure for all schools; Introducing ICT curriculum and support for ICT integration into general teaching and learning; Upgrading the ICT skills and knowledge of both teachers and students; Increasing ICT use in educational management; and Upgrading ICT maintenance/management in educational institutions.

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research (MoHESR)

•

Supreme Council of Information and Communication Technology (ictQATAR)

The e-Education programme aims at installing and upgrading the infrastructure to connect all schools, universities and vocational centres to the broadband Internet; harnessing best practices on how to use ICT infrastructure, applications, classroom teaching practices, and e-Learning methodologies, etc.

• • • • • •

Transforming the educational system through e-learning e-Library Management Information Systems Promotion of office computing End-user computer skills training Data communication infrastructure Management and maintenance of ICT assets and information resources

The e-Education programme has already established a number of ICT initiatives that include the School Net initiative, in which the ICT infrastructure of schools, universities and vocational centres has been expanded; and the School Knowledge Net initiative, in which schools, universities, and vocational training centres have been interconnected and provided with connectivity to local and international knowledge resources such as libraries, cultural websites etc.

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r e oy

F e Th

African Knowledge Exchange (AKE) 03 - 04 December 2007, Nairobi, Kenya

Organised by Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) A UN ICT Task Force Dublin, Ireland

138

December 2007 | www.digitalLearning.in

Workshop On e-Learning African Knowledge Exchange (AKE)

education policies, programmes and projects. Keeping in view of the recent and rapid developments of ICT in Africa, GeSCI aims to co-ordinate the ICT and e-Learning progress and activities for achieving educational goals.

The Organiser

Astrid Dduborg The African Knowledge Exchange (AKE), a multi-country workshop, was organised by the Global e-Schools Communities Initiative (GeSCI) on 3rd - 4th December 2007, in Nairobi, Kenya.

Information and Communication Technologies (ICT)-supported education is currently a core component of the development plans of most African governments. ICTs are being integrated into many national educational systems in order to reach the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of “Education for All” (EFA).

GeSCI was established in 2004 with the mission to assist developing countries reduce poverty by improving education through the use of ICTs. To achieve this mission, GeSCI works directly with developing country governments in partner countries, and specifically their Ministries of Education and other stakeholders using a comprehensive, demand driven, contextualised, coordinated and multi-stakeholder approach. GeSCI’s work is based on real needs and demands of stakeholders.

Based on information collected through various methods, e.g. workshops, surveys, interviews and experiences in partner countries, 3 key gaps were identified in ICT in education initiatives and addressing these gaps have formed the core of GeSCI activities: • Designing and implementing ICT in Education policies and plans

•

•

Building capacities within Ministries of Education to effectively implement their ICT policies and plans; Utilising ICTs cost-effectively to achieve educational objectives.

GeSCI conducted a multi-country workshop on Teacher Professional Development (TPD) in Namibia in September 2006. The countries represented at the workshop were Ghana, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Senegal, South Africa, Tanzania and Uganda. Based on the recurring issues discussed during that workshop, the conclusion from the workshop was that GeSCI would include a work stream on ICTs in Teaching and Learning amongst its other work streams to respond to the needs of its partner countries while addressing the key gaps indicated above.

Workshop Objectives The strategic objective of the African Knowledge Exchange workshop was to explore the domain e-Learning for increasing access to education in the Sub-Saharan region. It aimed to understand the requirements, costeffectiveness and implementation

Towards this end, the Global e-Schools Communities Initiative (GeSCI), founded by UNICT Task Force and based out of Dublin, Ireland has introduced the Africa Knowledge Exchange (AKE) initiative to build dialogue and establish processes and mechanisms of knowledge exchange amongst participating countries and provide assistance in building competencies in adopting ICT in Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 12 December 2007

139

of learning network systems as an integrated approach to the overall plans and initiatives of the invited countries.

The broad objectives were: • Share information with invited countries on lessons learned from GeSCI’ work in Namibia • Share information, trends and developments in the field of eLearning and e-Learning centres (Elc) and outline the process of integrating e-Learning into National learning systems • Facilitate peer-to-peer exchange on e-Learning programmes amongst countries • Explore the establishment of Subsaharan African e-Learning working group • Introduce GeSCI’ Africa Regional Office in Nairobi to the invited countries

Workshop Proceedings DAY I Opening Remarks: Astrid Dufborg, Executive Director, GeSCI Astrid Dufbrorg gave the opening remarks with a brief introduction of GeSCI and its work areas across countries as a demand-driven organisation, GeSCI’ presence in three continents that brings varied perspectives to the work. She introduced the strong alliances that have been formed with African countries in building institutional and knowledge capacity of the government and administrators in implementing ICT in education in their respective countries.

The work in Ghana, Namibia, Rajasthan was highlighted with launching of the ICT in implementation plan in Namibia as a success story and development of tools integrating education for effective ICT in education policy. India (Rajasthan)’ initiative was introduced to the invited countries while also sharing the ICT in Education policy building process with Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in India.

Some suggestions are made for an 140

end to end concept of using ICT and e-Learning, identify appropriate technology, peer-to-peer learning, scalability of e-Learning, structures for knowledge building and sharing, develop multi-stakeholder partnerships, address thematic areas, and for pedagogy-focus.

Introduction to AKE Workshop: Khalid Bomba, Regional Director Africa, GeSCI Khalid Bomba highlighted the aims and objectives of the workshop, introducing AKE as a platform for invited countries to participate and contribute their issues and concerns. He highlighted GeSCIAfrica Knowledge Exchange initiative as a sustainable forum for moving towards a continued dialogue and partnership for knowledge sharing and knowledge building amongst the African countries.

Keynote : Kennedy Khara, Directorate of eGovernment, Govt of Kenya Kenya has made strides in integrating ICT in the governance systems. The country was also host to the Africa e-Learning initiative last year. The increasing progress of IT infrastructure is creating spin-effects in education sector. Representing the Directorate

Patty Swarts e-Government strategy in March 2004.

He voiced his concern over the delay in the implementation plan roll-outs, citing the dynamics of technology as a core challenge of the government to continuously update and revise plans.

Aprt from highlighting capacity building as the major challenge for the country in implementing ICT initiatives, Khara promoted building communities of practice on e-Learning inviting all regional players to address issues of digital divide in the rural areas.

‘Partnership is the right path towards e-Learning road map as new way of sharing knowledge’

- Kennedy Khara

of e-Government, Khara highlighted the success and achievements of his department in integrating technology applications in governance services.

He oriented the invited countries on the structure of institutional capacity developed by Kenya; each Government department has an ICT unit, for conducting and co-ordinating activities in ICT. Integrating e-Learning in education and heath has already begun followed by announcement of

Buzz Groups for Introduction Next, an interactive session where the participants explored ways to identify expectations and concerns, virtual collaborations and partnerships.

Various ways were explored to take ICT and education forward, the need for a common framework and to address capacity building at regional levels, along with the need to arrive at December 2007 | www.digitalLearning.in

The important issues highlighted by the participants were: • Development of e-Learning framework strategy • Development of an e-Learning readiness assessment model • Capacity building of users and implementors of e-Learning • Building of an institutional framework for e-Learning development and delivery • Increase of investments for eLearning initiatives • Development of a learner-based content linked to curriculum • Creation of a common understanding of e-Learning amongst various Sub-Saharan countries • Development and promotion of digital libraries • Infrastructure for establishment and outreach of e-Learning activities • Awareness and development of e-Culture for acceptance and popularisation of e-Learning • Co-ordination of e-Learning programmes across the country and sharing of knowledge amongst various • departments planning and executing the e-Learning programmes

an understanding on e-Learning and GeSCI. After lunch, a presentation on Creating the Environment for National e-Learning Development: Good Practice and Lessons Learned was made by Patty Swatts, GeSCI Education Specialist. The presentation focussed on orientation of the countries on the understanding of key concepts of e-Learning. She highlighted the need for the African nations to build a countrycentric perspective while planning for an e-Learning programme or policy.

The use of common terminologies such as scaling up, empowerment, people

Mary Hooker

centred approaches, participatory, consensus-building, collaboration, equity, capacity building and sustainability were discussed and contextual use and applications was suggested after critical examination by the nations.

She also emphasised on the need for the nations to move ahead from small pilots to successful, innovative, scalable and replicable and sustainable countrycentric application studies to obtain a critical analysis on the adoption and implementation of ICT and e-Learning.

There is a need for a nationwide scale pilots to obtain a holistic view of the technology benefits.

Patty mentioned about the benefits of e-Learning programme, that should be assessed by the countries and respective agencies by using a total cost of ownership methodology before adoption of any technology at the National scale. These include infrastructure, connectivity, security to deliver eLearning programme, etc. Total cost ownership tool developed by GeSCI can be adopted in this line, she suggested.

Followed by a presentation by Mary Hooker: GeSCI Education Specialist, titled e-Learning Initiatives and Trends: A Search for new meaning.

The presentation provided new insights and perspectives to approach of eLearning. Hooker highlighted the new advances in e-Learning technology along with new literacy for teaching and learning in the context of distance and flexible learning. Contrary to the technology-centric approach usually followed, she pointed those present towards a social constructivist paradigm.

Don’t reinvent the wheel-customise it. Most of the eLearning initiatives built by various countries can build a common understanding of concepts on technology and adoption process can be customised defined by the country technology setting and needs. e-Learning modules and programmes should consider the curriculum and education focus of the country and plan accordingly.

- Patty Swarts Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 12 December 2007

141

Denise Clarke

DAY II ICT in Education: Challenges and Issues Alex Twinomugisha: ICT Specialist, GeSCI With his presentation, Alex introduced to and oriented the participants on the major challenges when planning for an ICT in education policy or programme.

Informed choice of technology: Education departments don’t have core competencies in ICT, hence the MoE should align and collaborate with other departments of IT/ Telecom to work towards e-learning solutions in education institutions.

He highlighted the disconnect between the various departments assigned to execute the e-Learning activities and the lack of competencies within MoE in planning and executing ICT in education policy. Alex remaining involved in the building of the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) tool with GeSCI, highlighted the hidden costs associated with deployment and maintenance of technology for educational objectives.

He asserted assessment of life-cycle costs should be the planning approach before adoption of any technology, as usually hidden costs are not accounted for while deployment planning. The prime challenge the governments is to keep pace with the rapidly changing technology.

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Gallery Walk

Requirements for Effective e-Learning Initiatives: Denise Clarke, GeSCI country programme co-ordinator, Ghana Denise Clarke, GeSCI Country Programme Co-ordinator, Ghana, discussed the challenges of implementation of e-Learning initiatives in higher education in her presentation.

The major challenges highlighted were the low computer-faculty ratios in the university campus. The key strategy to be adopted by the countries would involve building the change management process as an capacity building approach of teachers and faculty to move towards e-culture.

Issues of leadership and peer and network learning were identified as critical in making e-Learning acceptable to bring out the attitudinal change in students and learners for adoption of the new technology.

Strategy for e-Learning should be

planned by the concerned departments and an in-built component of research and innovation should be designed as a pace-setting exercise. The strategy plans should outline the userneeds and plan the implementation focused on achieving the outcomes. The education should come before the technology.

Gallery Walk: National e-Learning policies and initiatives of the participating countries This was followed by a Gallery Walk through the national e-Learning policies and initiatives of the participating countries. The participants were asked to discuss and display their country policies, programmes by breaking out into different groups.

Namibia e-Learning Cenntre (eLC) Presentation: Theodore Whittaker, Executive Director CECS, Namibia Theodore Whittaker, Executive

Theodore Whittaker

December 2007 | www.digitalLearning.in

Director, CECS, Namibia, made a presentation on the Namibian eLearning Centre’s (eLC) successful initiative with assistance from a German development organisation InWEnt, alongwith Namibia Open Learning Network Trust (NoLNeT) for delivery of e-Learning programmes. The eLC programme has 60 stakeholders representing PPP of multi-stakeholders. The methodology involved prior research on the learner management systems, followed by constitution of four task force teams on the management and governance, business-finance plan, technical audit and policymaking components. Training for the stakeholders was conducted to guide them on e-learning development and implementation of programmes on content development and instructional design, e-Learning management and support of virtual learning communities alongwith with orientation on change management. The key success factors were an ICT in education policy guiding document for the programme, followed by constitution of a steering committee to follow up on the policy targets.

The major changes shared by Whittaker were building the top management buy-in and limited resources.

India is a leader in IT and policy, regulatory and Internet governance. The digital content development in India is again a leader in e-Learning across the world. India is today a leading skills training programmes. The experience sharing from India through the learning experiences from the maturity of the e-Learning market added to the capacity building objective of the workshop.

Digital Learning, the media initiative of Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) got the opportunity to be a part of this knowledge exchange programme.

The Indian experiences added to the experiences of the policy makers in African countries to understand e-Learning through a country perspective.

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 12 December 2007

List of Participants • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

January Timanywa, System Analyst, Tanzania Institute of Education, TANZANIA Cyprian Miyedu, Head of Section, Ministry of Education, TANZANIA Demissew Bekele Mulugeta, Head of ICT Department, (formerly Educational Media Agency - EMA) ETHIOPIA Helina Yifru, Digitization expert, Department of ICT, EMA, ETHIOPIA Eng. Kauxique Maganlal, Head of ICT department, Ministry of Education and Culture, ICT Department, MOZAMBIQUE Alfredo Jaze, IT in the Human Resources, Ministry of Education and Culture, MOZAMBIQUE Frederick Yeboah, Snr. Lecture, Ghana – India Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT (Advanced Information Technology Institute), GHANA Agnes Asamoah Duodu, Deputy Coordinator, ICT in Ministry of Education Science Education Programmes Unit and Sports, GHANA Kobina Albert Koomson Director Centre for Continuing Education University of Cape Coast, GHANA Mbaye Diouf, responsible of ICT Services, Ministry of Education, SENEGAL Mame Moumy Ndoye, Headmistress, Ameth fall Secondary/St.Louis Academy/MOE, SENEGAL Mmapula Kekana, ICT Department, Gauteng Department of Education, SOUTHAFRICA Johan van Wyk, Head of ICT Unit, Ministry of Education, NAMIBIA Theodore Whittaker, Executive Director CECS, NAMIBIA Ernest Najoli, Deputy Director, KDLC, KENYA Eva Ntalami, UNESCO, KENYA Andrew Gakiria, Senior Policy Analyst, e-Government Directorate, Office of the President, KENYA Esther Wachira, Senior Programme Officer, GeSCI, Africa Regional Office, KENYA Rachita Jha, Senior Researcher, Centre for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), INDIA Manjushree Reddy, Senior Researcher, Centre for Science Development and Media Studies, (CSDMS), INDIA Niamh Brannigan, Communications Coordinator, GeSCI, Head Office, IRELAND Denise Clarke, Country Programme Facilitator, GeSCI, GHANA Mary Hooker, Education Specialist, GeSCI, Head Office, IRELAND Dr. Patti Swarts, Education Specialist, GeSCI, Africa Regional Office, KENYA Alex Twinomugisha, ICT Specialist, GeSCI, Africa Regional Office, KENYA

143

News

UK launched e-Learning platform for schools

World

The UK government has launched a £1.9 million digital e-Learning scheme to develop next generation learning systems for UK schools.

UNESCO Announces ICT Guidelines UNESCO has said it will showcase its guidelines for teachers to enable them use information and communication technology (ICT) to improve education world wide.

Developed in co-operation with Cisco, Intel and Microsoft, as well as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), the guidelines or the ICT Competency Standards for Teachers have been designed to help educational policymakers and curriculum developers identify the skills needed by teachers to harness technology in the service of education.

The guidelines consist of three parts -- a policy framework explaining the rationale, structure and approach of the project; a competency standards modules structure which crosses the components of educational reform with various policy approaches to generate a matrix of skill sets for teachers and implementation guidelines providing a detailed syllabus of the specific skills to be acquired by teachers within each skill set or module.

US state of Indiana unveils teacher education project The government of Indiana has announced for an ambitious national programme to improve the quality of teachers and the education schools in the state.

The programme has been created by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation which will be funded by a USD10.1 million grant from the Lilly Endowment. Under the programme, an initial group of 80 new math and science teachers will earn master’s degrees in education at Ball State University; Purdue University; 144

Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis; and the University of Indianapolis.

Eventually, the programme would educate 400 Indiana teachers per year.

After testing the program in Indiana, the Wilson Fellowship Foundation will expand to other Midwestern states and then nationwide. The goal of the program is to both improve teachers in schools with poor performance and to change the ways that teachers are educated in general, said Arthur Levine, president of the foundation.

MyKnowledgeMap supports Moodle for community e-Learning The UK located web-based knowledge systems provider MyKnowledgeMap has integrated new modular ePortfolio Multi-Port into the Moodle course management system (CMS) in anticipation of its increased uptake by the educational sector.

Designed to help educators create quality online courses, open-source freeware Moodle CMS is used by universities, schools, companies and independent teachers. From a single-teacher site to a university with 200,000 students, Moodle is currently registered to nearly 36000 sites from over 200 countries.

Geographically dispersed tutors and learners can set, respond to and discuss assignments, and collect and assess evidence of their competences via a single online portal using Multi-Port.

Students access the programme in the workplace using a combination of elearning materials, residential delivery and online support. The programme draws upon the workplace to structure and inform the development of learning materials and integrates work-based learning and academic study through work-based projects and assignments.

Project Silver is being led by an association between Bridgeman Education, The Open University’s Knowledge Media Institute and Lexara, aiming to deliver next-generation Web 2.0 interactive learning technologies to schools and other industries. The goal is to set up systems in order that teachers and trainers can collect, organise, experiment and interact with multimedia assets. For example, a history teacher can assemble multimedia assets related to changing perspectives on the right to vote since the nineteenth century.

This will allow users to create different learning routes through the resources, understand interdependencies between historical events and create and test hypotheses regarding the long term impact of particular events or people.

Nigeria approves free primary education The State Governor of Enugu, in Nigeria, Sullivan Chime has approved commencement of free primary education in the state to eradicate illiteracy.

The Governor has also presented a budget proposal of N58billion to the State House of Assembly for the year 2008. Titled ‘Budget of Restoration,’ it was an increase of N19.6billion over this year’s budget.

The Governor said the tilt of capital expenditure over recurrent expenditure was in line with the best practices in contemporary budget trends. The money would be realised from Internally Generated Revenue, state share of the Federation Accounts Allocation and Value-Added Tax (VAT on recurrent expenditure, which showed an increase of 38.80per cent over the previous budget, because of the increasing wage bill on payment of salaries and allowances to both the old and newly recruited, as well as recalled staff.

January 2008 | www.digitalLearninG.in

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Suggested Changes In digitalLearning Emphasis on eLearning corporations and their contributions Invite articles from eLearning companies Ensure a balance between news-based and information-based articles

Satyajit Joshi Manager - Business Development Kern Communications Pvt. Ltd

Topics and issues related to Cultural Harmony through Technology/ World Peace and Prosperity through IT Implementation in Rural Areas in particular.

Dheeraj Mehrotra Head, TQM in Education, City Montessori School & College Kanpur ROad, Lucknow, INDIA

More importance may be given for impact of ICT in Inidan Education Magazine may also include a high level research papers The presence of magazine may be made known to all of the libraries of eucational instituion (specifically engineering institution) by sending marketing information.

Dr. K.Vivekanandan B.E., M.Tech., Ph.D., Professor and HEad Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering and Information Technology Pondicherry Engineering College

148

You guys are doing a great job!

Perhaps the inclusion of case studies?

CEO, Rasala Publications Group Editor-in Chief, Netexpress and Bandwidth, Pakistan

Distribution strategy for wider audience, international experiences and rural focus will be welcome inclusions in Digital Learning Magazine

Sonjib Mukharjee CEO Metalearn

No changes required, coverage and presentation is good Girish Prabhu CEO, Guruji World

The magazine can create an online community to connect teachers and students

Shantanu Prakash CEO Educomp Solutions

Practical applications of technology Case studies Creating an e-newsletter version

Shameema Parveen Knowledge Officer Edutech

Like to see more public opinion Efforts required in direction of bringing policy change

K S Muralidhar CEO LearnSmart

January 2008 | www.digitalLearning.in

Mark Your Calendar february International Research Conference 27 to 29 February 2008 Iloilo City Philippines http://www.wvsu.edu.ph

iLearning Forum Paris 2008 4 to 5 February 2008 Paris, France http://www.ilearningforum.eu

march

Blended Learning Conference 9 - 11 April, 2008 Sydney, NSW, Australia

http://www.e-case.org/e-Education2008/

Intl. Conference on Quality Enhancement in Educational Communication 29 to 30 March 2008 Tiruchirappalli Tamil Nadu, India http://bdu.ac.in

International Conference Of Educational Technology ICOET2008 3 to 5 March 2008 Muscat The Capital, Oman Website: http://www.icoet,.com

april Strategic Marketing for Higher Education Providers Conference & Workshop (Hong Kong Venue) 7 - 9 April, 2008 Causeway Bay, Hong Kong www.conferences.com.sg/conf-em.htm

www.ubd.edu.bn/news/conferences/webice08/ index.htm

www.liquidlearning.com.au

june

TCC 2008 Worldwide Online Conference 15 - 17 April, 2008 Online

everaging Learning for Regional Development: An International Forum 24 - 27 June, 2008 Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada

http://tcc.kcc.hawaii.edu

www.theconferenceplanner.ca/lifelearning/

2nd International Computer & Instructional Technologies Symposium 16 - 18 April, 2008 Izmir, Turkey

LIHE 08 - LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION 1 - 5 June, 2008 Aghia Marina, Island of Aegina, Greece

www.icits.org

The 2008 International Conference on e-Education 27 to 29 March 2008 Bangkok, Thailand

13th International Conference on Education 20 - 23 May, 2008 Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam, Brunei Darussalam

http://lihe.wordpress.com

Third International Conference on Interactive Mobile and Computer Aided Learning, IMCL2008 16 - 18 April, 2008 Amman, Jordan http://www.imcl-conference.org

SOLSTICE 2008 - eLearning and Learning Environments for the Future 5 June 2008 Ormskirk, Lancashire, United Kingdom www.edgehill.ac.uk/SOLSTICE/Conference2008

International Conference on Open and Distance Education ICODE’08 25 - 27 April, 2008 Rome Italy

Cooperative Learning in Japan and the World 6 - 8 June 2008 Nagoya, Japan

http://wahss.org/

http://iasce.net

may Sloan-C International Symposium on Emerging Technology Applications for Online Learning 7 - 9 May, 2008 Carefree, Arizona, United States www.emergingonlinelearningtechnology.org

5th Global Conference: The Idea of education 8 - 10 May, 2008 Budapest, Hungary

2-3-98: Open Source in Higher Education & MoodleMoot 19 - 20 June, 2008 Delhi, New York United States snydelwd.delhi.edu:8443/x/dYMd

Increasing Enrollment and Retention via Technology: Blending High Tech and High Touch 18 - 20 June, 2008 Cincinnati, Ohio, United States www.innovativeeducators.org

www.inter-disciplinary.net/ati/education/ioe/ioe5/cfp.

The International Conference on Technology, Communication and Education (i-TCE2008) 7 - 9 April, 2008 Kuwait

html

http://www.i-tce.org

TL2008 - Teaching and Learning 2008 26 - 28 May, 2008 Aveiro, Portugal

International Conference on Language Issues in English-medium Universities: A Global Concern 18 - 20 June, 2008 Hong Kong, China

www.iask-web.org/tl08/tl2008.html

www.hku.hk/clear/conference08

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