Upgrading Skills through Professional Courses: February 2011

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Asia’s First Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education

INDIA VOLUME 7 | ISSUE 02 | february 2011 | ISSN 0973-4139 | `75 www.digitalLEARNING.in

Upgrading Skills through Professional Courses Focus on management courses for working professionals to meet the enhanced demand for qualified workforce in the global economic scenario

Prof Prem Vrat

Alauddin Ahmed

Amod Kumar

Nanda Kumar (IAS)

Professor of Eminence, Management Development Institute

Adviser of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh

Project Director-MNH, IntraHealth

State Project Director Maharashtra

Signalling a new era in teaching the hearing impaired

SHWETA WALISHETTAR B. D. Tatti Deaf & Dumb School | Lakshmeshwar, Karnataka

LEARNING FOR A LIFETIME

The self-sustaining digital literacy model encompasses: Illustrating difficult concepts with videos and presentations using Microsoft Office PowerPoint and Windows Movie Maker Developing analytical skills with calculations and spreadsheets on Microsoft Office Excel Nurturing a spirit of enquiry by learning more with online research and scanning materials

Now an inspiring teacher at the B. D. Tatti Deaf & Dumb School, Shweta was severely crippled at the age of 6 months. Growing up, she realised how lack of access and facilities hinder learning for the specially-abled and resolved to help address their needs. Even as she used sign language to teach, Shweta felt it was necessary to further simplify computer education. Microsoftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Project Shiksha teacher training program presented this opportunity. The trainers at the Microsoft Shiksha IT Academy in Dharwad helped her develop a unique sign language to bring the world of computers alive. Using her background in computers and newly acquired skills, Shweta now teaches Computer Education to students from 8 to 15 years. Online browsing, doing research and creating their own learning materials help students develop practical skills. Recently, they developed a campaign to create awareness about the needs of deaf and mute children! The result - skills that go beyond textbooks to create a better life for all.

ENABLING INDIA This story is one of the many steps on the road to enabling India. Partnering with 12 state governments, Project Shiksha has helped train over 5,12,000 teachers in IT skills, who have impacted over 25 million students so far. To know more about Microsoftâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initiatives, visit www.microsoft.com/india/msindia

Contents

digitalLEARNING Volume 7 > issue 02 > february 2011 issn 0973-4139

rni no. upeng/2008/25311

Prof Prem Vrat

Professor of Eminence¸ Management Development Institute¸ Gurgaon

story 08 cover Upgrading Skills through Professional Courses Focus on management courses for working professionals to meet the enhanced demand for qualified workforce in the global economic scenario

higher education

16 Prof Prem Vrat

Professor of Eminence¸ Management Development Institute¸ Gurgaon and Founder-Director of IIT Roorkee & former Vice Chancellor, U P Technical University

corporate diary

30 Ninad Vengurlekar

Vice President - New Media in Education @ IL&FS

40 Ashish Rajpal Co-founder of XSEED

tech focus

Arsenal of Education Produces New Age Weapon, m-Learning

shool track

Alauddin Ahmed

Adviser of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh

feature

44 Takers Take it Online research paper

Instrument to Enhance Setting the Trend 48 Virtual Computer Networking Course 22 Maharashtra in Inclusive Education

event report

24 Connect and 38 Innovate, Build Asia

Making Education Accessible

interview

34 Alauddin Ahmed

Adviser of Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh

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REGULAR FEATURES

06 National News 14 Corporate News 33 International News

Ashish Rajpal Co-founder of XSEED

Visit www.digitallearning.in for news, interviews, resources and articles on ICT in education in India

editorial

Redefining trends in education

Advisory Board Prof. Asha Kanwar, Vice President, Commonwealth of Learning Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen, CEO, Global eSchools & Communities Initiative (GeSCI) Shri Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Department School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India Prof. V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira GandhiI National Open University (IGNOU) President: Dr. M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Ravi Gupta Managing Editor: Shubhendu Parth VP - Strategy: Pravin Prashant Editorial Team: Dr. Prachi Shirur, Dr. Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Divya Chawla, Sheena Joseph, Pratap Vikram Singh Sales & Marketing Team: Debabrata Ray, Arpan Dasgupta, Bharat Kumar Jaiswal, Anuj Agarwal, Fahimul Haque (Mobile: +91-9873277808), Rakesh Ranjan (sales@elets.in) Subscription & Circulation: Gunjan Singh Mobile: +91-9718289123 (subscription@elets.in) Graphic Design Team: Bishwajeet Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Thakur, Shyam Kishore Web Development Team: Zia Salahuddin, Amit Pal, Sandhya Giri, Anil Kumar IT Team: Mukesh Sharma Events: Vicky Kalra

The current trend in education has seen a leaning towards upgrading and updating knowledge and ideas to face increasingly demanding job requirements. Technology enabled centres have helped in taking forward university level education to working professionals as well. Many working professionals are pursuing one-year executive MBA courses in correspondence with a variety of top universities understanding the growing demands of the market today. We, in this issue, have highlighted some of those modern trends and technologies that would enable the workforce to enhance their business and managerial skills. Simultaneously, the education technology world is seeing incredible opportunities in the K12 and higher education sector. Technology enabled learning has now drawn nearly 200 players in the online tutoring space in India. Further, huge potentials are also foreseen in the online test preparation sector. Besides, numerous institutions are taking up new age teaching techniques through the implementation of m-Learning in their courses. m-Learning, as the name suggests, is about learning from mobiles and it takes place at any place devoid of the absence of the traditional pen and paper style. Although it has gained a steady momentum outside India, but our nation is no longer behind them. Various institutions across India have gradually taken up this upgraded technology and showing enough progress in education. With mobile penetration spreading to innumerable geographical areas, it only needs to be seen how m-Learning is going to be used to transform education and reach in India. On the policy front, the government of India has unequivocally emphasised on measures to drastically improve the Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) in higher education and promoting innovations in the sector. As a corollary, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) has given a go ahead to corporate agencies to set up engineering and management institutes. This is a welcome move and would help meet the higher education needs of the growing youth population and thereby increase the GER. Some related trends have also been the setting up of an independent statutory council for distance teaching and learning that has been recommended by the MHRD. The steps seem relevant in wake of the mushrooming number of higher education institutes and resultant takers for the same. The regulation will help create and maintain certain quality standards in the sector. With the growing concerns and involvement of the government in the Higher education sector, we are proud to bring together a comprehensive platform for deliberating on key issues in the sector. The digitalLEARNING Higher Education Summit will witness participation from key education stakeholders and leaders to provide realistic recommendations for implementing various best practices drawn from the participating higher education institutions. We look forward to seeing you there!

Editorial & Marketing Correspondence digitalLearning - G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA 201301, India, Phone: +91 120 2502181-85, Fax: +91 120 2500060 Email: info@digitalLearning.in digitalLEARNING is published by Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. in technical collaboration with Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS). Owner, Publisher, Printer - Ravi Gupta, Printed at Vinayak Print Media D-320, Sector 10, Noida, U.P. and published from 710, Vasto Mahagun Manor, F-30, Sector - 50, Noida, UP Editor: Ravi Gupta

Dr. Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@digitallearning.in

digital LEARNING FEBRUARY 2011

news > national Next decade IT growth to be led by Gujarat says NASSCOM According to National Association of Software and Services Companies (NASSCOM), Gujarat is set to drive the IT growth in the next decade with its improved IT infrastructure and education. According to Som Mittal, President of the IT industry body, while currently six cities including Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai, Hyderabad, Bangalore and Pune form 90 per cent of total IT industry, newer cities like Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Mysore and Chandigarh will drive it in the next decade. It was at Vibrant Gujarat IT Summit organised by Gujarat Informatics Limited, Department of Science and Technology, Government of Gujarat along with NASSCOM and Industrial Extension Bureau that Mittal described that he believes that 40 per cent of IT services work happening from outside of these six cities, including Ahmedabad. Suggesting steps to grow further as an IT hub in the next decade, Mittal said that Gujarat can help small companies emerging out of the state to grow as well as attract large companies from outside.

Nano satellite by SRM students to check GHG A group of 54 engineering students from Chennai has designed a 10-kg nano satellite to monitor greenhouse gases (GHG) that the Indian space agency is planning to launch in April. The students from the SRM University have been working on the project ‘SRMSAT’ since 2008. The satellite is being developed under the guidance of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) at a cost of Rs.1Crore. With climate change becoming a cause of serious concern globally, the satellite will monitor GHG - mainly carbon dioxide - in the atmosphere. A grating spectrometer is employed for monitoring earth-based sources and sinks of anthropogenic and natural sources of GHG. “The satellite is scheduled for launch in April this year with ISRO’s Megatropics G satellite. We have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the national space agency for the project,” M. Loganathan, former ISRO scientist who is heading the team, said here.

Centre plans to launch a 24x7 television channel for school education, adult literacy

IThe proposed TV channel seeks to target school students of 5-18 years apart from open education students and “neo adult literates”, an HRD Ministry official said. The NCERT, which will be the nodal agency for this channel, on Monday made a presentation in this regard at a meeting of Central and state regulatory institutions in school education. The meeting was chaired by Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal. Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU)

and the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) will collaborate with NCERT in the unlinking of the channel. The channel is expected to be instrumental in the process of teachers’ training, which has acquired greater urgency with the Right to Education (RTE) Act coming into effect last year. The norms outlined by RTE require massive recruitment of teachers at school level and regular training for them During the meeting, Sibal suggested that an institution framework consisting of the NCERT and State Councils of Educational Research and Training be set up, a ministry official said. “This framework, could include the CBSE, COBSE and NCTE as invitees, and would be a mechanism for coordination, for continuous flow of information and for dialogue, the focus being on improving quality of education throughout the country,” the official quoted the minister as saying.

Mukherjee opinionates on global finance at IIM-C international finances conference “The flexibility shown by the Indian economy during the world-wide recession reflects its development on the economic management of the country and the growing competitiveness of our enterprise,” said Union Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee at the inaugural session of the Second International Finance Conference organized by the Indian Institute of Management-Calcutta (IIMC) in Kolkata on Monday. The overall GDP growth of 8.9 per cent in the first half

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of 2010-11 takes India back on a high growth path that the economy was negotiating on in the years prior to the crisis. However, concern on inflation remains, he also added. Mentioning that India’s growth momentum, to some extent, is affected by the developments in the western world, he said that a faster recovery in the west will benefit all. He said that government has accorded high importance to financial inclusion as it is a key determinant of sustainable and inclusive growth.

knowledge for change

cover story

Upgrading Skills through Professional Courses The increase in the number of job opportunities in the current global economy has witnessed an enhanced demand for skilled and qualified workforce. Management courses for working professionals are being currently offered, specifically to cater to the requirements of budding entrepreneurs and employed professionals who want to create an edge for themselves on the career front. Combined with virtual learning environments, these courses are reaching out to its burgeoning target audience. By Sheena Joseph

xecutive education programmes are rapidly gaining momentum with increasing competition in the job market and are in a constant need to be updated in a swiftly transforming world. Working professionals of today need to be well informed about changing global practices and be equipped to face and handle new challenges. Worldwide affairs have always

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been full of activity. However, of late, the tide has changed towards increasing pressure on working professionals to be updated about global regulations, geopolitics and the world economy. In order to cope with the changing information requirements and gain more productivity through knowledge acquisition, the workforce is promoted to constantly renew their understanding

and skills. This is one of the predominant requisites for qualified professionals operating in dynamic fields like global affairs.

B-Schools Setting the Trend Realising the importance of continuous learning and skill building for the workforce, leading B-Schools in India are offering tailor-made management

programmes designed to suit the requirements of working executives. Working professionals, in a busy job environment, would not always have time to attend regular classroom learning structures. Nowadays, fortunately, there are a numerous courses being created and offered for both personal and professional development. These may include competitive intelligence newsfeeds, independent tailor-made reports, peer forums and management development programmes. Management Development Institute (MDI) has been providing several such executive education programmes in India. Prof V K Gupta, director of MDI elaborates that their educational programmes attempt to help executives in broadening their understanding and improving their skills to pre-

pare them to face the challenges at higher positions. MDI conducts more than 100 management development programmes every year. These programmes are of varying duration and the structure focuses on the current areas of interest to executives at the senior, middle or junior management levels. While the programmes provide inputs to fill knowledge gaps, the emphasis is also on broadening the horizons of participants through case studies, business games, role-plays and exercises. “Interaction with experienced faculty and fellow participants provide new insights and help crystallise concepts to enhance the thinking process for better quality decisionmaking”, he says. MDI also fosters alliances with other business schools, industry and individual experts to of-

fer joint programmes to address the diverse needs in executive education. The institute focuses on ethics and valuebased management.

Part Time MBA for Working Professionals

India today has become the centre for outstanding management education, with numerous management institutions providing world-class infrastructure and unmatched teaching technology. Large numbers of students are choosing MBA programmes to sharpen their industry skills and thereby, seize the best opportunities in the employment circuit both within India and abroad. Key industries are also queuing up to hire exceptional talents having competent and updated skills. Full time MBA programme emerges

digital LEARNING

FEBRUARY 2011

\\ cover story

“The executive educational programmes attempt to help executives in broadening their understanding and improving their skills to prepare them to face the challenges at higher positions” Prof V K Gupta

Director, Management Development Institute (MDI)

Realising the importance of continuous learning and skill building for the workforce, leading B-Schools in India are offering tailor made management programmes designed to suit the requirements of working executives as the greatest solution for students wanting to gain a unique edge to their careers. On the other hand, professionals who have already entered the career path do not necessarily have that option. In such cases, options for executive MBA programmes are available which can easily augment one’s management skills and provide value addition to their future prospects. However, though several executive MBA programmes have a pre-requisite of having at least 3 to 5 years of jobexperience. Scores of management institutions in India have come out with part time management programmes with classes taking place during evening hours or on weekends to suit the requirements of working professionals. Assortment of qualification-based courses available are intended to assist working professionals in advancing their performance by using university level education in the workplace. The executive management courses are delivered on a part-time basis, sup-

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plemented with monthly on-campus workshops, thereby enabling the student to get a distinguished qualification from a renowned university whilst in full-time employment. “Several major corporates encourage, promote and sponsor executive development programs for their employees – batch after batch, since they clearly see the payoff

in enhancing skill sets”, emphasises Shraman Jha, head at NIIT Imperia

Technology Devices for Programmes Several technologies have helped in creating a wider reach for engineering and management courses among the target audience. Highlighting the importance of private education providers partnering with leading higher education institutes in providing education for working professionals, Jha says “reach and convenience of delivery are critical in making the repository of learning at top institutes available to a wider audience.” This is where private education providers fill a vital and critical need, and bring about scale, accessibility and rigour to the academic process. Elaborating on the technology used by NIIT Imperia, Jha says, “The synchronous learning technology deployed by NIIT Imperia is used to deliver interactive, faculty led academic sessions to large number of student batches who are geographically scattered. It allows for real time intraclass interaction, quizzes and multiple formats for class participation.” The synchronous learning environment proves to be advantageous to the workforce, as it brings to them a quality and standard of education that would otherwise not be available to them at all. It neutralises the negative effects of location, travel schedules and office timings. The provision of online professional

“Several major corporates encourage, promote and sponsor executive development programmes for their employees – batch after batch, since they clearly see the payoff in enhancing skill sets” Shraman Jha

Head, NIIT Imperia

courses for the workforce becomes very vital in the present time. Education is no longer a one- stop, pre employment requirement. Continuously skill upgradation is required in these changing times. Various forms of modern education – delivered live, or otherwise – through the use of technology aid this process. As Anish Srikrishna, chief marketing officer at Pearson Education India, adds, “Employer’s demands on professionals passing out of management and engineering schools are rapidly changing. In a world where information is available easily, skill sets beyond just theoretical knowledge are sought. In this context, educators have to prepare students to better understand and deal with technology. In this, international education providers can collaborate significantly with higher education institutes in India.”

pressive business results. The executive Programme has been specially designed to help students gain awareness and ability to work in international companies and environment. The programme covers aspects related to international business environment, challenges in international marketing and sales, international operations, international logistics and supply chain. IMT, Ghaziabad, has been providing distance management education with the aim of providing specialised

Assortment of qualificationbased courses is available which are intended to assist working professionals in advancing their performance by using university level education in the workplace

Sneak Peek at Institutes Offering Management Development Programmes Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), the world’s largest Open University, in 2009, launched executive MBA programmes for working professionals, in collaboration with NIIT. Through this alliance, IGNOU and NIIT have provided quality MBA programmes especially created and tailored for working professionals to furnish them with modern industry management skills and train them for job expansion opportunities. With the changing patterns in international business environment and business analytics, the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIMC) introduced new courses for working professionals including ‘Executive Programme in Business Analytics’ and ‘Executive Programme in International Business’. IIMC over the past years has introduced several programmes based on its front line teaching, research and consulting. Business Analytics is about sophisticated, quantitative & statistical analysis and predictive modeling used towards building competitive strategies around datadriven insights that in turn generate im-

education in a flexible academic package which is appropriately suited for working professionals. All programmes consist of personal contact programmes synergised with specially prepared study materials. The IMT CDL Study Centre caters to numerous student managers from different industries like IT, ITES, KPO`s, BPO`s, banks, insurance, manufacturing and other large/SME organisations. XLRI Jamshedpur, along with Reliance World, in an attempt to provide a platform for working professionals to un-

“Employer’s demands on professionals are rapidly changing. In a world where information is available easily, skill sets beyond just theoretical knowledge are sought” Anish Srikrishna

Chief marketing officer, Pearson Education India

dertake management programmes from institutes of repute have come together to offer postgraduate certificate programmes for graduates with minimum 2 years of work experience. Certificate programmes are included in the field of business management, human resource management, aales and marketing management. All programmes are delivered by XLRI faculty on Reliance World’s virtual classroom platforms across India, thereby enabling professionals to enroll at the nearest virtual classroom centre and attend lectures. The Symbiosis Institute of Business Management recently roped in the EMBA programme. It not only helps students in interacting with highly qualified faculty, but also in getting cutting edge management experience, enabling problem solving at workplace and in gaining international exposure. The programme is said to serve the training needs of companies, that is, in acquiring new skill capabilities in individuals serving the organisation, which otherwise could have been difficult for companies. A comprehensive management course allows companies to have reliable training options, rather than planning for numerous and sporadic training courses for employees. \\

digital LEARNING

FEBRUARY 2011

advertorial

TRS: delivering innovative technology Solutions

stablished in 1999, TRS Forms and Services Pvt. Ltd stands today as the pioneer in delivering leading edge technology solutions in the educational sector, enhancing customer competitiveness by balancing year-long expertise with innovation. Over the years of expansion and growth that TRS has been through, it has crossed countless milestones and paved many record breaking examples for itself. In the last 20 years, TRS has been the leader of most of the technology solutions in examination process which are in use all over India today. The first company to introduce barcode system for dummy numbering and 2D barcodes as the ultimate security feature for universities way back in early 90s, it also holds patent in designing and developing FireEye scanner that could for the first time combine numbering, scanning and data capture in a single pass. As an integrated solution specialist, the company has a strong resident IP with a completely indigenously developed multifarious product portfolio consisting of products ranging from creation of OMR, ICR, OCR used image processing systems to provision of exclusive biometric security feature enabled systems for university certificates in the form of 2D Barcodes. Providing end to end solutions for any objective exam type or providing complete range of services from subjective examinations data processing up to result preparation, TRS specialises in all. Proving its expertise with innovative and advanced technological development, TRS recently announced the introduction of two of their highly advanced solutions for the first time in India that would address vital issues of subjective exam valuation and difficulties in the assessment process extensively prevalent in the education sector.

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TRS recently announced the introduction of two of their highly advanced solutions for the first time in India that would address vital issues of subjective exam valuation and difficulties in the assessment process extensively prevalent in the education sector These solutions have been developed post extensive research and keeping in mind the systems followed in the education sector in India. In institutions abroad, the process of imparting education and procurement of degree/ certificate differs from that of India. Indian educational system requires the adaptation of advanced technology available in the market for easing out certain drawbacks present otherwise. Talking about the solution that caters to the issues of answer sheet valuation, Mr. N, Subramanian, Founder, TRS Forms and Services Pvt. Ltd. said that every year the volume of students appearing for exams is swelling and 20 per cent of them ask for re-evaluation. TRS’ ‘e-Valuator’ is cost effective and helps in easing this process. It saves time for the institutions in completing their process of evaluation and re-valuation with declaring results faster. This is web-based online evaluation software in which scanning, indexing and evaluation modules are integrated together that helps to correct subjective-type answer sheets with acute precision. TRS implemented e-Numbering system in Bangalore University for the examination process. In Bangalore University, TRS has done e-Numbering system for around 20 lakhs answer sheets. This helps in establishing great level of

confidentiality and transparency in the process, including answer book digitization, which helps in automatic archiving of the booklets, option of sending a copy of the answer booklet to the students through email for high-level transparency and automatic suppression of student identity for high-level of confidentiality. Talking of the subsequent solution, Mr. R. Ramkumar, Strategic Partner, TRS Forms & Services Pvt. Ltd. said that ‘e -Assess’ is an innovative and interactive solution for test creation and assessment. It is a useful tool for online testing for both objective and subjective with a user-friendly and unique platform to the individuals and institutions for creating, publishing and evaluating examinations, both online and offline using state-of-the-art advanced interactive software. Daily, weekly assignments and projects can be sent out to students and the later post logging in through a unique user id can take the test and submit the answers online. Security features available to detect and prevent any unethical means of taking the test. Collection, Display and Management of test results are all integrated here. There are immense issues waiting to be addressed. Solutions have been developed as well. The change will be for the betterment of the system and for the future of our country. \\

news > CORPORATE

Microsoft Shares Cloud Technology with Top Australian Research Organisations Microsoft Corp has announced new partnerships with three of Australia’s top research organizations as part of the company’s Global Cloud Research Engagement Initiative launched earlier this year. Representatives from National ICT Australia (NICTA), The Australian National University (ANU), and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) attended a launch event today in Sydney to show their support for the program that will provide scientific researchers across the continent with access to advanced client plus cloud computing resources and technical support. Each grant will provide researchers supported by these organisations with three years of free access to Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud computing platform, as well as access to technical support and client tools being developed by Microsoft. This will enable researchers to easily access the power of the cloud from their desktops. The supported projects will explore an array of topics, including the analysis of online social networks, a cloud-based geophysical imaging platform, computational chemistry and other e-science applications.

Accenture & Godrej jointly wins AIMA’s 11th National Management Quiz Competition 2010

The independent two member team of Rohan Khanna from Accenture and Kumar Vaibhav from Godrej has won the Grand Finale of 11th National Management Quiz

(NMQ) Competition 2010 organised by All India Management Association (AIMA) recently at the IILM campus of Lodhi Road. The champion team received cash prize of INR 1 Lac, along with the winner’s trophy and gift hampers. The first runners-up team from Rourkela Steel Plant - Debajit Rabha and Ravi Banjare wrapped up cash prize of INR 75, 000 and the second runners-up team of Abhijit Bhattacharya and Tanmay Prusty from ITC Ltd. were awarded cash prize of Rs. 50,000 along with trophies and gift hampers.

Kidzee launches its Micro site with a customised design Kidzee, a noble endeavour of Zee Learn, has revolutionised the preschool segment of Indian education industry. Within almost a decade of its existence, Kidzee has nurtured more than 1,00,000 children throughout India. Being a pioneer and a leader in ECCE (Early Childhood Care & Education), it has set unparalleled standards in the CDE (Child Development & Education) space. With over 750 centres in more than 315 cities, Kidzee is the largest preschool chain in Asia. Kidzee operates through a dedicated network of business partners throughout India. It strives to set standard of excellence when it comes to customer service. Achieving customer and consumer delight is the prime objective which Kidzee is trying to reach through its continuous initiatives. There was a need to provide a consistent

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look and feel of all Kidzees across India in online space. Through its Partner Connect Program, Kidzee is proud to launch Kidzee Microsite for all its business partners. Along with the new Kidzee website, Kidzee is launching the Kidzee Micro-site in each of the four zones. This micro-site will enable each and every Kidzee to customize its information and details.

HP collaborated with MITA, University of Malta and MCAST

HP, the Malta Information Technology Agency (MITA), the University of Malta, and the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST) have collaborated with one another by signing a Memoranda of Understanding to come-up with two educational centres in Malta within 2011. The objective of this partnership is to facilitate students studying ICT with access to the latest information technologies and knowledge databases. University of Malta has been selected to join the ‘HP International Institute of Technology’ (HP IIT) programme. Within the framework of the HP IIT programme, the University will be provided with the newest HP technologies (both hardware and software) for the creation of a new research and education centre.

higher education

Prof Prem Vrat¸ Professor of Eminence¸ Management Development Institute, Gurgaon; also the FounderDirector of IIT Roorkee & former Vice Chancellor, U P Technical University, talks to Sheena Joseph about his vision for higher education in India.

Indian Youth Poised to Stir Global Market India’s demographic advantage has long been talked about, with 24 being the average age of India today. Can you elaborate on what will be the future scope for India in this regard? The mammoth youth population of India can be seen as a demographic dividend - provided we make good use of this opportunity. In the context of the aging population of the developed

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countries, where majority of the wok is mechanised, we can foresee a future where there will be a tremendous requirement of trained youth population in these developed countries. Manpower crunch will be crucial in the coming years and every country is gearing up to meet this requirement. We can cash on this opportunity by making available trained youth population from India. In this context, the Indian youth can make

their presence felt even in western countries. I call this the demographic dividend potential. If we convert our youth population into a skilled workforce, we can meet the workforce requirements all over the world. The large number of youth population will then be globally empowered and be gainfully employed. The demographic dividend would otherwise become a demographic liability.

There is a need to nurture and build Indian talent. Skills training forms only one aspect of the process. Several other aspects have also to be taken into consideration. These include inculcating knowledge and attitude. Theoretical knowledge without hands on experience will be incomplete. Positive attitude would mean having attributes like understanding, leadership and, team work. Nurturing talent involves holistic development of an individual’s personality which is groomed for the competitive world requirements. What are the internationally acclaimed and unique best practices that India is implementing in the field of skills training? Foreign educational models do not necessarily have to be blindly emulated since India also has several best practices that can be replicated. Perhaps a focus on excellence and quality standards have to be benchmarked. IITs in India have created a brand for itself. Their quality standards can be set as the yardstick for higher education institutes across India. Elements of a successful academic process and qualities for excellence would include visionary academic leadership, very committed and talented faculty, outstanding students, efficient academic processes, tremendous transparency in all processes, merit driven functioning and achieving global standards. Liberal funding and greater degree of autonomy in decision making has to be granted to educational institutes. The higher education sector is undergoing a massive overhaul with talks going on for replacing the existing regulatory authorities. How would it impact the education system in India? Several regulatory bodies do exist in higher education currently in India. Proper synchronisation of their efforts would add value and do good to the higher education sector. Multiple agencies can work together to bring out a coordinated outcome. The structure must be efficient and should not get bogged down by bureaucratic frameworks. Nur-

Liberal funding and greater degree of autonomy in decision making has to be granted to educational institutes

turing quality in education is important. There is also a concept called ‘Quality Paradox’. This is a situation where quality is made the custodian of a single regulatory body resulting in quality itself becoming a casualty. Therefore, be it a case of single or multiple regulatory authorities, there has to be a well thought out and coordinated effort to maintain and sustain quality in education. The Foreign Educational Institutions Bill 2010 allows foreign universities to set campuses in India. Will this serve as a panacea for the problems plaguing higher education or will it further add to problems in regulation? The bill has its own pros and cons. We have to see the context in which the bill has been introduced. There will be opportunities for foreign educational institutes to come to India and do business and perhaps create a sense of competition among their Indian counterparts to improve and compete with each other. When top grade universities from abroad come to India, they will benchmark best practices that will be utilised by Indian educational institutes to analyse and compare faculty competence, compensation, research, student performance, more focus on industrial interaction, and thereby enabling Indian institutes to wake up to the actual needs of the student community. India’s

capacity to attract best quality foreign institutes is a critical factor. Secondly, if these institutes come, obviously they will be able to provide much better compensation packages to their faculty. It will then raise the cost of education since Indian education institutes will also have to match up to their standards. If we do not compensate our faculty on similar lines, it will result in large scale faculty exodus. The idea of bringing foreign higher education institutes is to bring in competition, but simultaneously it is also necessary to nurture inhouse institutes. What role do you envisage for ICT in promoting quality in higher education? Technology has a very important role in education, since it is an engine for bringing about quality, efficiency, effectiveness and outreach. With the shortage of quality faculty, ICT enabled education is now a necessity. It can address the gap by taking classroom lectures to a wider audience across boundaries. Technology enabled classrooms is an element that can obviate faculty shortage in the country. National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) is an outstanding initiative for spreading higher education. As of now, our Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) is 12.4%, and we want to increase it drastically. We can do this by leveraging technology effectively. \\

digital LEARNING FEBRUARY 2011

tech focus

Arsenal of Education Produces New Age Weapon, m-Learning

After a dip-search in the ocean of technological development that has of late created a deluge in the educational sector, every shore of academics has been noticeably found to be swept away by the tide of m-Learning and its takeover on the modern day teaching techniques. By Jaydeep Saha

student, if caught using a mobile phone inside a classroom, can easily set the teacher’s blood pressure high and make parents take rounds of the principal’s room a couple of times. But what if the teacher himself asks the student to do his lessons on mobile phones while playing and award marks instead of canes? Although sounds weird, but a situation like this can soon be a reality with the onset of m-Learning. The chalk-and-talk learning

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process in no time can be a history with the implications of the latest technologies in the field of education. Your device can vary from simple mobiles to smart phones to PDAs to iPODS to mini notebooks to net books or whatever comes to one’s mind. Mobile learning involves connectivity for downloading, uploading and/or online working via wireless networks, mobile phone networks or both, and linking to institutional systems.

m-Learning is convenient in that it is accessible from virtually anywhere. mLearning, like other forms of e-Learning, is also collaborative; sharing is almost instantaneous among everyone using the same content, which leads to the reception of instant feedback and tips. m-Learning also brings strong portability by replacing books and notes with small RAMs, filled with tailored learning contents. In addition, it is simple to utilize mo-

\\ tech focus

the first instance of mobile learning goes back as far as 1901 when Linguaphone released a series of language lessons on wax cylinders

gram is generating over 300000 subscriptions per month within one year of launch. Visually impaired users, office goers, small town girls from traditional families, first generation learners are logging on to the phone because they have no access to formal institutional mechanism.”

bile learning for a more effective and entertaining experience. Arguably, the first instance of mobile learning goes back as far as 1901 when Linguaphone released a series of language lessons on wax cylinders. This was followed up in later years, as technology improved, to cover compact cassette tapes, Eight Track Tapes and CDs. In May 1991, Apple Classrooms of Tomorrow (ACOT), in partnership with Orange Grove Middle School of Tucson, Arizona, used mobile computers connected by wireless networks for the ‘Wireless Coyote’ project. Universities in Europe and Asia developed and evaluated mobile learning for students. In 2000, companies were upgraded with specialised equipment in three core areas of mobile learning--- authoring and publishing, delivery and tracking and content development. On the other hand, tutors commented that it was important to bring new technology into the classroom through m-Learning. Being a more light weight device compared to books and PCs, it is easy and user friendly. But m-Learning

Present Scenario

needs to be used appropriately, according to the groups of students involved. Mobile learning can be a useful addon tool for students with special needs. It can be used as a ‘hook’ to re-engage disaffected youth. But this idea may include many technical challenges such as connectivity and battery life, screen and key size, possibilities to meet required bandwidth for nonstop/fast streaming, number of file/asset formats supported by a specific device, content security or copyright issue from authoring group and multiple operating systems. Social and educational challenges include content security or pirating issues, frequent changes in device models/technologies/functionality.

Growth Since the mobile learning space is still evolving, there is no industry estimate on the size of the market, as it is too small. Ninad Vengurlekar, Vice President, IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd said, “The future of m-Learning is bright and shining. IL&FS Education’s English Seekho pro-

“IL&FS Education has now launched Sparsh - Sex Education on Mobile Phones to huge subscriber demand. Already 40,000 users have signed up in the first 10 days of launch. There is a revolution waiting to happen” Ninad Vengurlekar

Vice President, IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd

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m-Learning currently is more about filling information gaps than aid learning. This is because of the lack of affordable high speed smart phones for common man. Once they are in place, there would be little difference between m-Learning and e-Learning. In fact, m-Learning can be an easier and cheaper option than e-Learning because it costs fewer infrastructures, less money and it is more convenient. In today’s fast paced life, information needs to be to-the-point or precise. People want to know facts not the entire background and theory. m-Learning by design allows information to be put together in a short yet effective and user friendly formats. This aids learning without having the user spend too much time or money. Atul Deshpande, a telecom blogger says, “Entire ecosystem needs to be in place right from learning system provider, channel provider to users. Future of mLearning is quite bright in India where infrastructure is lacking like school and teachers. Mobiles do provide quite exciting opportunity in this scenario.”

m-Learning in India As per the current scenario, the telecom sector overall is in trouble financially. Right now, private players are more focussed towards rolling out network (3G/ BWA) and upgrading activities. Apart from that, due to Mobile Network Portability (MNP), there is issue with keeping quality of existing network. “So when we look at m-Learning for masses, Government will be the key player in promoting the technology for some more time. Telecom operators will then opt out for m-Learning to gain the advantage, but putting onus on private players only and to promote m-Learning at this stage isn’t advised” says Deshpande. “May be in 3-5

years, we could look for Public-Private partnership to promote m-Learning” adds he. While Sanjay Vyomkare of Texcelinfotech feels that Govt will take its own sweet time to implement, instead the Private Players should be encouraged and PPP model would help, this would be win-win situation. For m-Learning, apart from tools as mobile one basically needs content which are user need oriented. m-Learning can be useful not only to urbanites but also to farmers in remote villages for various issues like weather updates, education of schools, alerts, health updates etc. Nokia has already tried something similar to educate farmer in

India via ‘Nokia Life Tool’ (NLT) project. This NLT concept provides weather, crop prices and other advices to farmer about their queries.

Information Overload According to the Cellular Operators Association of India, the number of mobile users in India has topped 110 million. Also for its ease of accessibility and lesser cost of establishment, many feel that this can result in information overload. Sanjay Vomkarey of Texcelinfotech feels that information overload is bound to happen. While VP IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd says that

Entire ecosystem needs to be in place, right from learning system provider, channel provider to users. Future of m-Learning is quite bright in India, where infrastructure is lacking, but Mobiles do provide quite exciting opportunity in this scenario

information overload is everywhere, not just mobile phones. In fact, mobile phones allow one to select information at one’s own convenience. Users have the freedom to have access to the kind of information they want. The service differs from one telecom company to the other. There are various kinds of services available like english learning, astrology, weather updates, business tips, stock market etc. The world is moving at such a fast pace that no one has the time to stand back. In that case market leaders and experts feel that m-Learning has a great future, especially India, which in course of time, has emerged as a big market with almost 60 per cent young population. m-Learning can help in socioeconomic development. All information gaps that prevent the poor from enjoying a good life can be bridged through mobile phones, including the sectors of crop management, government schemes information, financial literacy, job alerts, dial a job, career info and health issues. \\

digital LEARNING

FEBRUARY 2011

school track

Maharashtra Setting the Trend in Inclusive Education The Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyaan (SSA) has marked varied trends in different states. We put our focus on Maharashtra and find out the diverse range of initiatives that have been implemented and are in the pipeline from Shri Nanda Kumar (IAS), the State Project Director of Maharashtra By Sheena Joseph

he Right to Education Act has brought about great changes in the education sector, and its implications have been felt by all States. Several related activities have being undertaken with full force in order to ensure universalisation of elementary education. The Maharashtra government has been making efforts for increasing the number of teachers in each school, since currently the number of students per teacher is quite high. “We are aiming for 25,000-30,000 extra teachers in schools”, says, Nanda Kumar, State Project Director of Maharashtra. Privately aided schools where the number of students is large, efforts are being made to improve the student -teacher ratio. Under the additional plans which the Centre has asked the Maharashtra government to submit, a proposal has been accepted where recruitment of 12000 new primary school teachers and 11000 head teachers have been sanctioned. The process of recruitment of these teachers is currently under way. “These efforts are being made at the ground level to ensure that there is adequate availability of school teachers in all schools.” adds Kumar.

Geographical Mapping for Universal Access to Education Under SSA, in Maharashtra, through-

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“To monitor the children under child tracking system and special training education, we have identified 40 NGO’s in Vidarbha region. Their task is to identify children who have not attended school for several years and provide informal education. ” Nanda Kumar (IAS)

State Project Director, Maharashtra out the last 8 years about 60000 additional classrooms have been constructed. Also, 8000 additional new primary schools and several more upper primary schools have been set up. Massive efforts are being made to guarantee infrastructure facilities for children and to retain children in schools. “After the advent of RTE Act, we have started the school mapping exercise all over the state. The aim is to geographically map all areas and to locate habitations where there are no schools, and take steps to ensure that each habitation has at least one school in one kilometer radius. We are using the Geographical

Information System (GIS) for this. The mapping system helps us keep a track of these geographical requirements.” Secondly, in order to monitor children’s attendance in schools, computer programmes have been developed as a part of the child tracking process. The initiative had been piloted in some districts of Maharashtra and is now being applied in every district. Household surveys have been initiated by in order to keep track of children. “We have 22 Municipal Corporations in the state. We are carrying out this survey in all Municipal Corporation and wards. The objective of this initia-

The training modules are excellent and the process involved in the creation of these has been intricate and elaborate. The recent Joint Review Mission has been very pleased with IT tive is to identify children who are not attending schools regularly and take corrective steps to bring them back to mainstream education.“ “We have formed the School Management Committees all over the state and massive training efforts for training of trainers and teachers have already begun. We can proudly say that we have very effective training modules which are truly revolutionary. In this we have actually set the trend and other states can also emulate and replicate our modules. The training modules are excellent and the process involved in the creation of these has been intricate and elaborate. The recent Joint Review Mission has been very pleased with this,”says Kumar.

The Trend Setter in Special Needs Education Maharashtra has been among the best performing states as far as education for children with special needs are concerned. Kumar highlights that under this initiative, about 4,10,000children have been identified, out of which 55000 children have already been covered under the special needs treatment and education in the previous year. The remaining number will be accommodated in this year. A sizeable number of mobile resource teachers have been

identified and trained and several therapeutic centres have been set up to cater to their requirements. The achievement of the State in this regard can easily be set as an example for other states to follow suit. In aspects related to education for girl children, it needs to be pointed out that Maharashtra’s sex ratio is lower than the national average. While the national average is 933 girls per 1000 males, Maharashtra’s average is 922 girls per 1000males. “In order to address these issues, we have been able to prepare separate team of 200 people who have been trained in different aspects of gender issues and these are highlighted to the public. Several NGOs have been roped in for this and continuous training is being imparted to them. State trainers have been sensitising parents and teacher and have helped tackle the issues without creating any rift in the society. Programmes for minority education are also among the priority areas in Maharashtra.”

Partnering with Civil Societies The State has roped in several civil society organisations to implement RTE and SSA and serve the needs of the under privileged. Jeevansaaya, the NGO spearheaded by social activist Medha Patkar, was operational for many

years, and several residential schools for poor children have been set up. Other NGOs have been running residential schools for children of migrant parents and construction workers. “To monitor the children under child tracking system and special training education, we have identified 40 NGO’s in Vidarbha region. Their task is to identify children who have not attended school for several years and provide informal education and special training in order to enable them to enroll in age appropriate classes and thereby come back to mainstream education. Similar initiatives have been taken in the Marathwada region. A comprehensive quality improvement programme has been started “which we call the ‘People of Mahrashtra’ initiative”, says Kumar. In this, teachers, parents, civil society representatives and like-minded people have joined in order to ensure the education that is provided to children maintains a certain degree of quality. “All academic inputs that have been received under this initiative have been incorporated in the RTE Act. We intend to set up a Steering Committee for Academic Authority, which will be a permanent body, so that people of Maharashtra will be involved in initiatives for monitoring quality on a continuous basis,” concludes Kumar. \\

digital LEARNING

FEBRUARY 2011

event report

Making Education Accessible The 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum witnessed dialogues and deliberation on the various good practices on making education accessible to everyone. We bring a snapshot of the conference attended by more than 600 delegates from over 70 countries. By Rajeshree Dutta Kumar

From left, A Kalyani, VC, Tamil Nadu State Open University, COL Vice President Prof Asha Kanwar, Pro-VC Prof PR Ramanujam,VC Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Sir John Daniel, President and CEO, COL, Burchell Whiteman, Chairman, COL Board of Governor,and Chief Guest Dr MS Swaminathan, inaugurating the PCF6 at Le Meridian Hotel in Kochi on November 25.

he 6th Pan Commonwealth Forum, jointly organised by the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), kicked off at Kochi on November 25, 2010. The event was attended by over 600 delegates from across 70 countries to share and their best practices and learning over the next four days on the conference. The conference theme was `Access & Success in Learning: Global Development Perspectives.â&#x20AC;&#x2122;

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Linking Education to Sustainable Development IGNOU Pro-Vice Chancellor and Programme Coordinator Prof P R Ramanujam welcomed the dignitaries. PCF6 was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Prof M S Swaminathan, renowned agricultural scientist, who in his keynote address stressed on sustainable development and the need to link education with achieving happiness. The highlight of his deliberation was that

there is a need to conserve the environment. He emphasised that sustainable development means comprehensive development at social, economical and ecological level. Burchell Whiteman, Chairman, COL Board of Governor, said that COL seeks to make a difference in the lives of millions of people across the commonwealth countries and tries to create greater impact through its various initiatives in the field of education. Sir John Daniel, President and CEO, COL elaborated on the themes of

PCF6. According to him, community development means participation of members of the society; social justice means providing a wider economic and social system to the people; skill development is training millions of people in the informal economic sector and formal education means engaging people with content of learning with the help of technology. Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, IGNOU Vice Chancellor said that the state of Kerala was an example of how tough goals could be achieved through proper planning and a dynamic vision. He gave an overview of his university by highlighting that the university will strive to optimally utilise the educational and training infrastructure in both the private and public sectors to ensure the national mission of increasing the Gross Enrollment Ratio. IGNOU, in the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Period (2007-2012), has embarked upon a large number of partnerships with and through Central and State Governments, and other governmental agencies. Almost all the Schools of Studies, Institutes and a few Regional Centres (RCs) of the University have effectively availed of these collaborations. Government departments have leveraged the nation-wide academic and infrastructural capabilities of IGNOU to conduct on-the-job training programmes and upgrade the qualifications of employees. In these partnerships, the projects are of the Ministries in the Central Government or State Governments. He also shared that grassroot level interactions and dissemination of the public-funded projects have also been facilitated by the ICT and satellite-enabled network of IGNOU, ably managed by its 61 Regional Centres and over 3,000 Study Centres

Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Social Justice The session on `Open and Distance Learning (ODL) and Social Justice examined in detail the role of ODL in strengthening the empowerment process among the marginalised sections

Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Anuwar Ali, President and Vice Chancellor, Open University, Malaysia with distinguished delegates

The millenium development goals (MDGs) notwithstanding, global pressures, like rising inflation and unemployment, omnipresent issues of disparity and the digital divide have made the need for equity even more colossal of the society and enhancing their power of negotiation in the stakeholder relationship. Prof K Elumalai of IGNOU’s School of Law facilitated the session. Dr Martha Nkechinyere Amadi, University of Lagos emphasised that ODL means more freedom of access, and thereby a wider range of opportunities for learning and qualification educating girls was a social development policy that works. Dr Yasmin,University of North Bengal observed that continuing communication between teachers and students was of utmost of greater significance in providing education. Dr Helen Lentell of the University of Leicester spoke on the theme on ‘Going the distance. What it takes to achieve access & success in Distance Learning.’

Community Development The session on Open Learning and Com-

munity Development was conducted in open environment to have a meaningful dialogue amongst the delegates. According to the Rapporteur Albert Amoah Saah, Kwame Nikrumah University, three groups of 41participants were created and discussed various models and methods of participation and strategic linkages between university and community linkages, and innovation through ICT in the ODL system.

Developing the Community: The Role of Universities and ODL Opening the PCF6 proceedings the Keynote speaker, Prof Emeritus Tan Sri Anuwar Ali, President and Vice Chancellor, Open University, Malaysia, stressed that the higher education should reach ensure continuity with basic education for the mass, generate knowledge to drive and transform the community, widen access and cre-

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FEBRUARY 2011

Centre for Ext

INDIRA GANDHI NATIO Maidan Garhi, New Delhi –

CERTIFICATE IN TELECENTRE/VILLAGE KNOWLEDGE CENTRE MANAGEMENT (CTVM)

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110068, India, www.ignou.ac.in

You will have the job to make a difference in your village! The Government of India is planning to set-up 250,000 telecentres (CSCs) at every village Panchayat in India by 2012. Apart from this, many NGOs, Social Enterprises are setting-up telecentres to bring change in rural villages. There is a need for 500,000 trained rural youths to manage these telecentres across India. The Telecentre.org Foundation and IGNOU have entered into a unique collaboration to design and deliver this Certificate Programme in Telecentre/ Village Knowledge Centre Management, a first of its kind certificate course in India and internationally. This Programme aims to build the capacity of rural youths to manage their telecentres effectively both in India and abroad.

duration 6 Months to 2 Years

FEE `4,000 (Four Thousand only)

ELIGIBILITY Those who have completed 10 + 2 class or Operators/ Managers of telecentres run by NGOs across the nation and the potential village level entrepreneurs

JOB PROSPECTS Common Services Centres of Government of India, Village Knowledge Centres, Village Resource Centres, e-Choupals, KVKs, Drishtee, TARAhaat, etc.

OBJECTIVES To train Telecentre Operators/ Managers to manage the their telecentres effectively To improve the skills and knowledge base of existing Telecentre Managers To create opportunities for the village community through the trained Telecentre Managers To help bring public and private sector services to villages To help generate self-employed opportunities as Village Knowledge Centre Managers

Application forms along with the prospectus can be obtained in person by paying `200 in cash or pay Rs. 250 through Demand Draft drwan in favour of IGNOU, payable at New Delhi, from: The Director, Centre For Extension Education (CEE), Maidan Garhi, New Delhi â&#x20AC;&#x201C; 110068, Tel: 011-29534104 The form can also be downloaded from the IGNOU website: www.ignou.ac.in Last date for submission of filled in forms is February 15, 2011.

\\ event report

A session on Formal Education at PCF6

ate equity. He also shared with the delegates that communities, in present day, need universities and higher education more than ever before. Universities not only advise governments in policymaking decisions but also help developing skills, create knowledge and train leaders. â&#x20AC;&#x153;The MDGs notwithstanding, global pressures, e.g. rising inflation and unemployment, omnipresent issues of disparity and the digital divide have made the need for equity even more colossal. In the long run, it will prove vital for every single member of

Former Union Minister and renowned writer Dr Shashi Tharoor delivering Asa Briggs Lecture at PCF6 in Kochi.

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the community to have the opportunity to seek education and gainful employment, just as it is important to ensure that the community has access to basic social needs like housing, health care and nutrition,â&#x20AC;? he added. After the opening session, delegates spread out to different rooms to have detailed discussions on subjects relating to four themes of the conference: Social Justice, Community Development, Skills Development, and Formal Education.

Role of Community Media The session that needs special mention is the PCF seminar sponsored by UNESCO and COL, presented in two parts. Chaired by Wijayananda Jayaweera, Director, Communication Development Division, UNESCO, the seminar deliberated on the issues pertaining to the critical role of community media in linking learning and development. Maria Protz of the Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication, Prof Pushpesh Pant of Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, Rafiqul Islam Khokan, Rupantar, Bangladesh and Lia Maka, Community Education and Training Centre, Secretariat, Pacific Community, among others, made

presentations on various pressing issues on media and development. There were concerns raised on the efficacy of the community media as a viable channel for widespread learning for development, growing domination of languages such as English in community media, thus running the risk of suppressing local languages and dialects that are essential in getting the messages across to local communities.

Gender and Education The other session which generated a great deal of discussion was on gender issues. While Sir John Daniel chaired the session, Dr Rekha Sharma Sen of IGNOU and Dr Sherllin (Australia) made valuable presentations on how gender issues were creating hurdles in spread of education. Dr Sherllin quoted studies to emphasise the role of new technology such as cell phones in empowerment of women. Dr Rekha Sharma Sen of IGNOU presented a paper based on her study of certain prevailing beliefs regarding approaches to study and learning styles.

Building Skills In another session, George Herd of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Af-

rica, dwelled upon the needs of a flexible Open and Distance Learning system. ODFL — Open and Distance Flexible Learning — should be the future. For example, in African countries, Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) is affected by low esteem, poor infrastructure, low government support, lack of support agencies, unqualified teachers and so on.” “Thus, ODFL should be the approach towards realising the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs),” he added. In a workshop titled ‘’From Print to ePub,’ Amy Monaghan of COL and other participants deliberated on how to convert a book (in PDF format) into ePub files manually, without using free online conversion tools, that will help correct technical problems that usually occur while using online tools. Prof Ram Takwale of I-CONSENT and former IGNOU Vice Chancellor stressed on quality school education for all in another session on ‘Open Education Resources (OERs) and Technology in Open Schooling.’

Asa Briggs Lecture Delivering the prestigious Asa Briggs lecture, in the honour of Baron Asa Briggs is a historian and former Chancellor of

Britain’s Open University, at the PanCommonwealth Forum on Open Learning – PCF 6, Dr Shashi Tharoor Former union minister and noted writer made a strong plea for girl education to attain all round development. He offered a two-word mantra: “Educate Girls.” He dwelled upon various issues relating to development in developing countries, particularly India, and quoted various studies and his own experiences to stress the importance of education. “Of all the many paradoxes with which India abounds, the saddest must be that we are a country where nearly half the population is illiterate but which has produced the world’s second largest pool of trained scientists and engineers,” said Dr Tharoor. He also emphasised that it is “not just financial resources, but a commitment on the part of our society as a whole” which should join hands in addressing the educational tasks that “lie ahead” of us. Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, IGNOU Vice Chancellor, Burchell Whiteman, Chairman, Commonwealth of Learning (COL) Board of Directors, and COL president Sir John Daniel also addressed the gathering comprising educationists from commonwealth countries. The IGNOU- VC shared that

IGNOU VC Prof Pillai with Dr MS Swaminathan at the event.

Social Justice • Access to Justice: Life, Liberty & Livelihood • Scaling up Quality: education for All • Eeducation & employment of Persons with Disabilities • Assistive and Affordable Technologies

Community Development • Community based Learning and outreach • Open education resources: models to Choose, Adopt and Adapt • Innovative Pathways to Knowledge Society

Skills Development • Skills Development for National Development • Global Development Discourses; North-South Dialogues • Regional Cooperation: who can benefit from whom?

Formal Education • Revamping Teacher Education • Open Schooling t Technologies for Scaling up ODL programmes • Quality Issues

IGNOU has faculty strength of over 1,000 with doctoral and postdoctoral qualifications and 50,000 part-time academic counselors. A large number of very eminent scientists and academicians are also serving the University as consultants, Emeritus Professors and Chair Professors. The campus houses the Edusat, the exclusive satellite for education for the country, provided by the Indian Space Research Organisation. There is lot of educational and training infrastructure as well as intellectual capabilities available outside the confines of the formal education system in the country. “A country aspiring to enhance its Gross Enrollment Ratio (GER) from 12 to 40 percent in the next five years needs to contextualise such processes and offer the best quality education to maximum students through its various Universities,” added Prof Pillai. \\ Photo Courtesy: IANS News

digital LEARNING

FEBRUARY 2011

corporate diary

Mobile Learning in Higher Education Why do you think mobile phones will impact the education sector in India? In India, mobile phones arrived close on the heels of internet. But their penetration has been nothing short of a miracle. With over 700 million phone users in India in the past one decade, close to 65 per cent of India is connected to this wonder machine. It is estimated that close to 70-80 per cent youth in the country may own a mobile phone making it most preferred communication option than any other media ever. The all pervasive nature of mobile phones makes it imperative for educationists to evaluate its merits and demerits as learning tools or aid.

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Historically, it has been proven that every media can be put to educational use. Radio, TV, Cinema, Internet and Computers are some of the traditional as well as new media that has created innovative educational programming for masses. Traditional media (Radio, TV and Cinema) has been more in the broadcasting realm, in the sense, the communication is from one-to-many. Communication is orderly, systematic and planned. There are limited feedback mechanisms and almost none other interactive features. The educational and learning opportunities in traditional media have therefore been limited. Computers and Internet changed all that. Computers introduced what we call today as interactivity. Communication became interactive and one to one â&#x20AC;&#x201C; like human communication. Internet added even more interactivity to this communication by making it one-to-many and many-to-many. Such communication channels offered huge opportunities for education and learning. As a result, while you rarely find radio, TV and cinema in classrooms; computers and internet are all pervasive in education across the world. Ninad Vengurlekar, Vice President - New Media in Education @ IL&FS Education and Technology Services Limited, talks about the potential of M-Learning in India.

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\\ corporate diary

English Seekho, a spoken English Program on Mobile Phones, provides the user 44 IVR based lessons, recaps, multiple choice questions, SMS summaries and speech recognition to facilitate learning on the go

What is the kind of impact that you envision through mobile learning? There can be huge impact, if we get learning out of the realm of traditional educational models. A traditional education model comprises of a classroom with a teacher, a blackboard and students. But this model has limited use in a country like India where 200 million youth have no access to formal educational institutions. Traditional education also comprises subjects, theories, exams and rankings. But the 200 million out-ofcollege youth are not equipped to garner knowledge in this fashion. Most of them are at work, far away from their homes, earning livelihood to support their families. What they need is Just-In-Time knowledge and learning solutions in the areas of job skills, government schemes, job search, health and hygiene, family planning, agricultural practices, career guidance, and so on. Can you highlight the initiatives taken by IL&FS in this field? English Seekho, a spoken English Pro-

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gram on Mobile Phones, launched by IL&FS Education in September 2009 on Tata Indicom provides the user 44 IVR based lessons, recaps, multiple choice questions, SMS summaries and speech recognition to facilitate learning on the go. In its first month of its launch, 50,000 subscribers signed up for the programme and since then over one million subscriptions have taken place. Currently the program is live on four operators with over 300,000 users subscribing every month. However, the challenge has been what we call as ‘mobile absenteeism’. Only 15-20 per cent of the subscribers, who subscribe for the program, actually learn; rest are all just subscribers but do not use the service. Any further step taken to meet and rectify this deficit in people? Which age group is basically your customer? Now we plan to send voice mails to these users every day, so that we do not have to depend on their constraints to learn. Our users range from college going girls from small villages, job seeking youth, senior managers in leading companies, spoken English tutors, to even the visually impaired. And a majority of them do not have access to formal learning channels. We have recently launched Sparsh – sex education on mobile phones, Mobile Swasthya – Health education on mobile phones, Margadarshak – Government Schemes information on Mobile Phones, Lakshya – Career Guidance on mobile phones, and so on. How can mobile learning be of help to traditional teaching styles? My belief is that mobile learning can also be used for traditional classroom

models. Mobile learning in classrooms can offer lectures on the phone, testing and assessment, SMS summaries of concepts and alerts. In classrooms, mobile learning can act as supplementary educational aid for students and professors. A smartphone today costs between Rs.4-5000 and is easily affordable to students in high paying professional courses. With the advent of 3G, a smartphone can act as a mini computer and can deliver live tutoring to students along with power-point and PDF assessments. Learning can happen on the go. What are the areas which people actually should explore before using the mobile learning medium? My personal experience shows that just because people use mobiles may not mean that they can use mobile devices as learning tools. We should always keep in mind certain questions and points that are actually useful in the process. A lot of questions, which are worth meditating on before we design mobile learning interventions in the future, remain in terms of successful implementation of M-learning in classrooms and outside classrooms. These include: • What is the rationale for implementing mobile learning technologies? • Will brevity of expression trump depth of knowledge? • What course content is suitable for transmission to mobile computing/ communication devices? • Will the quality of communication and interaction be enhanced or diminished by adopting mobile learning pedagogy? • Do mobile devices allow students to interact with peers and instructors at the same level and quality as if they were participating using a PC? • Will the quality of the instructional content be improved, enhanced, or downgraded by transferring to a mobile-compatible format? • What types of resistance to change will faculty and students experience? • How will the instructor’s role change? \\

news > international

Rates of Indian students to Australia essentially declining- Envoy The flow of Indian students to Australia for higher studies has substantially reduced, said the Australian envoy adding an anticipation of the stringent migration policies to be the reason over incidences of attacks on Indian students there. “There is a large reduction in the number of Indian students, but I caution you from linking it to attacks. This reduction was because of change in the immigration policies,” said Australian High Commissioner Peter Varghese. “Unlike the earlier generations, the Indian students over the last few years are going for private vocational courses that help them in attaining PR (permanent residence status). Like there were cookery and hair dressing courses, but we have changed the rules and these no longer lead to PR,” he added. On the drop in the number of Indian students, Varghese said the year on year decrease would be around 80 per cent. He said that the Australian government had also shut down many inferior institutes. “Institutes that were not offering quality education to foreign students were also closed on the directions of the government. This number is around 20 to 30. Some of them were closed down due to financial constraints,” said Varghese at a meet-the-press at Press Club here. “Some attacks could have racial elements and we obviously condemn them, but it would be a mistake to conclude that every incident was racial. These issues have now calmed down very significantly compared to a year ago,” stated Varghese.

ICT agreement between Uganda and Egypt Eight letters of intent were signed between the Egyptian ministry of information and communication technology (ICT) has and the ICT ministry Uganda to build a smart technology village and establish a cyber security facility. Dr Tarek Kamil, the Egyptian minister of ICT at the meeting with the local ICT industry leaders last week mentioned that a strong partnership is being sought for Africa. Among the areas of support and cooperation will be training 3,000 graduates on practical skills, using ICT for documentation of culture and national heritage, establishing business process outsourcing facilities, upgrading training institutions and establishing computer emergency response teams. Country churns out around 1,000 graduates from its universities annually; however, Uganda’s

business process outsourcing industry is yet to kick off on a massive scale. This number could be absorbed in the sector because of its sheer ability to employ large numbers. While Uganda has steadily enhanced its ICT skills base through education, it is yet to get to the stage of focusing on innovation and exports of the sector products to earn large revenues.

Malaysians now to benefit from Indian scholarships

The Indian government has offered 20 scholarships to Malaysians wanting to pursue courses in Ayurveda, Siddha, homeopathy and Unani in India for the academic year 2011-12 and onwards. The decision follows the visit to Malaysia of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh last October. The high commission has invited applications from Malaysia nationals who wish to pursue traditional system of medicine courses. Eleven scholarships will be offered for the Bachelor of Ayurveda, Medicine and Surgery (BAMS), five for the Bachelor of Siddha Medicine and Sciences (BSMS), two for the Bachelor of Unani Medicine and Surgery (BUMS) and two for the Bachelor of Homeopathy Medicine and Surgery (BHMS), the high commission announced on Tuesday. The scholarships will be offered for studies in selected colleges.

Chinese students aspiring for online American courses With the advancement of education in various spheres, the implementing technologies of educational courses have also moved to the next level, especially for students who cannot afford to travel overseas but have the urge to pursue. According to the reports of an international daily, Chinese students can now go online for free courses from top American varsities on the Chinese website 163. com. The open courses range from social science to business management and most of the students are white-collar workers and college students. “The online courses are excellent, professors are humorous, topics are interesting and the delivery is fun,” said office worker Guo Lei, who got in the habit of watching the online courses during her lunch hour. She is among many fans in China now, some setting up “free course groups” on social networking sites to share resources and discuss specific courses every day. The popularity of online learning also is leading to a boom for another industry, online script translation. A typical 45 to 70-minute course would take 70 hours of work, according to a group working together voluntarily to translate the lectures into Chinese subtitles.

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Photo by: Jaydeep Saha

Interview

Prof Dr Alauddin Ahmed, Adviser (Educational, Social Development and Political Affiars) to Hon’ble Prime Minister of Bangladesh, in a tête-àtête with Dr. Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Pravin Prashant and Jaydeep Saha, speaks on ICT, progress of women, culturally and academically, and developmental initiatives that have been repackaged making the whole nation competent in almost all spheres.

Technology Developments@ Bangladesh What are the effort taken towards the expansion of ICT in education? Altogether 501 local bodies in the form of Panchayats are working for the development of local education policies, in which unions with small Union Information Centres (UIC) are the main sources and forces for the government of Bangladesh. These UICs teach people the basic

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norms and techniques of technology and importance of Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Besides, we also have 22 Upzilas (sub-divisions) working for the betterment of ICT. Here we are planning to have a hub of ICT, with the help of Korean Overseas International Corporation Agencies (KOICA) and Axis Bank, Korea and Japan Inter-

national Cooperation Agency (JICA). But certain geographical and financial problems are still persistent, including absence of electricity in remote rural areas, many char (isle) lanes where connectivity through only boats is possible, coastal areas which are prone to cyclones and drought-prone Northern areas mainly attacked with starvation.

The Indian government has determined to introduce ICT primarily to students of classes from 9th to 12th. What is your policy of inclusion of ICT in school and university education? We have a different educational policy altogether. The primary education that we cater encompass till standard eight, followed by four years of higher or secondary education. We have decided to upgrade our educational policy with the blend of ICT where we have already spoken to the Korean Education and Research Information Service (KERIS) about it. KERIS has been developing ICT substantially the not only in Korea but also in Morocco and other countries at primary education level. For ICT, now we also have a programme of Access 2 Information (A2I). Prime Minister’s private secretary Mr. Nazrul Islam Khan is in charge of this with the UNDP Bangladesh. We want to improvise the sector of Madrasah education as students who pass out of these schools get no jobs for the improper uplift they are brought up in. The students after that are reportedly involved in criminal activities. In 2004, out of the 64 districts, 63 were attacked sequentially with bomb blasts and they have been able to attack major places like, District Magistrate’s court, session judge’s court and public library. Although I do not blame these people directly but feel if this particular forte is upgraded then Bangladesh would be worth admiring. Under my guidance, new educational policy has been adopted after it was passed by the parliament in December 2010, 40 years after independence. We still have stiff opposition against this policy, including religious extremists. So we want to upgrade these institutions with basic subjects like history, geography and mathematics as the primary topics. Not only do we want to apply this in these schools but also in all types of schools, including English medium, where the national anthem isn’t taught to the children. The institutions after this application should be uniformed mass oriented and science and technology based hubs.

Besides, we are also focussing on developing the university level studies by the advent of science and technologybased studies. We have already set up 12 varsities and also focus on implementing this idea in other universities, where besides a normal degree; a student should have the basic knowledge of science and technology that is ruling the market in today’s world. Therefore, our focus is mainly on information technology where every college should have a separate department for ICT that would help bring the students in the forefront and not only make them competent enough to meet the present demands of the industry but also lead the country en route success. What is the University system and structure in Bangladesh? At present, we have 33 public universities in the country, including the new ones mentioned earlier, and by the end of this year the number would increase to 50, including one Arabic University. Only the Madrasah Universities and all the schools under this category would be controlled by the Islamic University in Kustia. All the universities are autonomous and self governed and over 2000 colleges are there that offer two-year degree courses, BME or Carl Michael, but they cannot offer degrees. Therefore, they should be under some university. So now all the colleges are taken under the National University of Bangladesh, Dhaka and all Madrassa education, which was earlier, controlled by boards, by the Islamic University, Kustia. Is there any second language being taught in Madrassas apart from Bangla which is a primary language? How are you going to implement your Millennium Development Goals? What kind of outcome are you expecting? Now English has been made a compulsory language in the primary six subjects taught as the condition of English speaking power have relatively deteriorated. So it is made compulsory till Aliya Madrasah (equivalent to M.A). We

The PM has promised that in 2021 Bangladesh will be a moderate income country and during the last twoyears, our growth rate has crossed more than 6 per cent from the stagnant 4-5 per cent. This year it has been 6.5 per cent. It’s a steady progress of the economy have a non-formal education system and a separate ministry of primary and non-formal education. But now we have placed the papers in the National Assembly about implementation of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and the child mortality rate has even come down after carrying out this policy. We have even been awarded by the UN for this achievement. Next in the pipeline, we would also be getting another award for cent per cent school enrolment but it’s followed by a big problem indeed. From class one to five, the dropout rate is almost 50 per cent. As per my opinion may be they do not find this system worthy enough or interesting and the thoughts of the parents are also similar because they think that if these children work then they would earn money for the family. Therefore, to avert this type of thoughts, we have revised the courses with the help of JICA and made

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unions, Upzilas (sub-divisions), of all the members, one-third are women. This is another gender parity we have brought.

education enjoyable for children, in addition to provide meals to all at schools to arrest these dropouts. We also have pledged under MDG goal that by 2014,

With the new education policy, what is the investment that you see in the recent 3-5 years? We need ten-crore Bangladeshi Taka in the coming decade. We will try to make it in six-years of time. In 2014, we will go for election. We are arranging for it and are capable of doing that. The setback is that as there is very less Research and Development (R&D) activity in Bangladesh, besides a shortage of technical persons. Therefore, every high school will have a technical institute. It will be part of the curriculum and compulsory. The religious things will be totally untouched. We will make them potential human workforce. We are basically an agrarian country. That is why we cannot have a fine and smooth cooperation between industry and academics, as it is unor-

Almost 50 per cent of the population is literate and when we were in the govt from 1996-2001, we had increased it to 64 per cent as our Total Literacy Movement (TLM) worked wonders for us, but with the change of govt everything changed and the literacy rate has come down again as they stopped our practise the country will be totally free from illiteracy. The third goal under MDG is gender equity. In fact the enrolment rates report that the admission of girls is even more than boys in every sector, including Madrasah organisations. In future, we would also have onethird of the electorates (100 members) directly elected by the ladies. That means, from the present 45-member strength we have in reserve for ladies, it would go up to 100. In the local government, in the municipal corporation,

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ganised. But for example for software firms, they need engineers. So, to fulfil their needs they themselves are providing the basic edification. Now they are nourishing these skills in some public universities. Like in Japan, the R&D plays a vital role in economics and academics, we too hope for something similar in our nation. How has R&D helped in creating/ increasing jobs in Bangladesh? We have very little R&D activity; it is

not yet evaluated properly. But unemployment is there in Bangladesh. But we have got answer to this. We have created national employment scheme. Now we are not directly offering jobs, but offering funds to qualified youths, entrepreneurs. They can engage in agriculture, fisheries, small businesses, and small cottage industries. We are drawing attention of the youth. Over thousands have been employed using this. As of now three â&#x20AC;&#x201C; four districts have been covered, but gradually all 64 districts will be covered. We are also coming up with many vocational and technical institutes. We have upgraded the college of Textile Technology to a full-fledged university and Marine Colleges to Marine University so that we can inspire the aspirants of the world. Polytechnic institutes, technical colleges, specialised, for example fashion designing, graphics designing are also coming up. The PM has promised that in 2021 Bangladesh will be a moderate income country. During the last two-years, our growth rate has crossed more than 6 per cent from the stagnant 4-5 per cent. This year it has been 6.5 per cent. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a steady progress of the economy. Once the growth rate is good and the social distribution is equitable then the purchasing power of people will increase. Per capita income was 500; it has crossed 750 and is expected to cross $1000. Although this is a vague amount but we are trying to reach there. If we had a political stability, we could have a better overall economic stability. What are your plans for implementing Right to education? What kinds of resources are being provided to reinforce the education policies? We have made primary education free and compulsory for all in Bangladesh. Up to class 8th, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s free and for girls it is free till the degree level. In cue to this, in January, this year we have distributed 23 crore books all over the country by the first week. The distribution of onelakh laptops in various institutes and Wi-Fi connections is also in process. \\

news feature

TutorVista Acquired by Pearson for `577 Crore By Sheena Joseph

s a part of a crucial business agreement of about `577 crore, Pearson, the leader in the worldwide publishing industry and the owner of the Financial Times newspaper has acquired Tutor Vista, the leading online tutoring company. With this, Pearson has gained control of over 76% stake in TutorVista. The deal has been touted as the biggest business deal in the history of India’s education segment. “This acquisition - which we believe is the largest transaction in education in India by any company - signals our excitement about the vitality of India’s education sector,” said Pearson’s chief executive Marjorie Scardino. The acquisition will further expand Pearson’s business in the education services in India and in global online tutoring. Pearson has rapid expansion plans in Asia and Latin America, as expressed by John Makinson, chairman of Pearson, “India, China and Brazil are the focus now. We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in these markets.” The transformation of Pearson from a purely paper based book publishing sector towards becoming a leading education technology provider has proved greatly advantageous and enabled them to gain markets in North America and expand rapidly. Tutor Vista was founded in 2005 by Krishnan Ganesh and is a leading online tutoring company in the world, providing affordable and high quality education to thousands of students globally. Pearson had earlier held approximately 17% stake in TutorVista. “TutorVista was started to provide affordable education services and content globally. Together with Pearson, the world’s leading education company, we can make this happen even faster and enable millions of students to achieve

“India, China and Brazil are the focus now. We are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in these markets.” John Makinson

Chairman, Pearson

their educational goals. TutorVista already has presence as the largest consumer online tutoring company and with the help of Pearson, we will now have an opportunity to take our high quality tutoring to schools and colleges directly,” said Krishnan Ganesh. The education sector in India is garnering renewed attention from foreign companies and huge investments are being attracted in education services, technology and infrastructure. Tutor Vista has more than 800 employees and a roster of 2000 tutors. Its main activities have included providing online tutoring services to about 10,000 students principally in North America. It uses Voice-Over-InternetProtocol and online whitebards to connect instructors in India with school and college students abroad. In the K12 segment, it provides a full suite of services including curriculum design, teacher training, technology solutions and school administration services to several schools in India. Additionally, it also provides test preparation and tutoring services to a network of 60

centres across southern India. TutorVista reaches out to the Indian market through Manipal K12 education, formerly known as Edurite Technologies. Founded in 2000, Edurite provides digital content for school curriculum to teachers, students, parents and administrators. Edurite has been leading the field of technology enabled education in India. It is currently functional in 60 centres in southern India and provides tutorial services in English language meant for higher education entrance examinations and additional tutorial services for students in the K12 sector. Edurite provides ICT enabled content to several schools across southern India and also manages administration of 19 schools. The acquisition would imply that TutorVista’s online tutoring services will be amalgamated into Pearson’s education and digital services, and will be sold to schools and higher education institutions globally. For Edurite, it implies that Pearson’s educational content would be promoted and used by schools managed by Edurite in India. \\

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event report

Innovate, Connect and Build Asia In spite of the progress of civil society in Asia, NGOs in the region have been facing significant organisational challenges regardless of their field of operation and core values for creating a better society. To share a direction and vision, the first Asia NGO Innovation Summit (ANIS) 2010 was co organised by The HOPE Institute and Intel Asia at Seoul, South Korea in September 2010. By Rajeshree Dutta Kumar

he 1st Asia NGO Innovation Summit (ANIS) 2010 was jointly organised by The HOPE Institute and Intel Asia, bringing NGO leaders together across the Asian region, strengthening the impact of NGO community in Asia in the first week of September, 2010. The Summit was built around the theme on connecting and building Asia through social innovation. The partners for the Summit were Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA), The Beautiful Store, The Beautiful Foundation, Civil Society Organisation Networks in Korea, Haja Center, and The UN Global Compact Korea Network. The three day Summit, through its capacity building focus, sought to strengthen the organisational dimensions of NGOs, captured the effective and sustainable endeavours of many voluntary groups and NGOs in Asia, while promoting cross-fertilisation of knowledge, experiences, and perspectives between different NGOs and actors.

Setting the Context The Summit was opened with a joint Welcome remark by Won Soon Park, Executive Director, The Hope Institute, Seoul, South Korea and by Anjan Ghosh, Regional Director, Corporate Affairs Group, Intel Asia- Pacific. While sharing the focus and objective

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the need for NGOs in Asia to learn and share ideas on how to build their capacity and constantly transform ourselves in an innovative way. The idea is explore and identify alternative ways of moving forward together. The inaugural session was concluded with the declaration of the congratulatory note sent by Ki-Moon Bahn, the Secretary General, United Nations commending the initiatives taken through the Summit.

NGOs moving towards Social Innovation Dr Won Soon Park, Executive Director, The Hope Institute, Seoul, South Korea

of the Summit, they emphasised that the NGOs have played a significant role in providing a space to solve big challenges of present times. They also highlighted that NGOs are also faced with internal challenges that may be an obstacle to achieving the social goals that they set out to accomplish. NGOs are struggling with financial difficulties, shortage of human resources, and they are constantly striving to play a catalyst role to build healthy governance and partnership among diverse stakeholders within the society. It is in this regard that we strongly recognise

The Day I started with the Keynote address by Sanjit Bunker Roy, Founder and Director, The Barefoot College, India, on Demystifying Professionalism. Recipient of many awards and honour, he shared the Barefoot approach of training rural semi-literate middle aged women to solar electrifying their own villages. The college, based in the village of Tilonia in Rajasthan, India, is the only college that follows the life and work style of Mahatma Gandhi, where living conditions are simple, and where there are no written contracts. So far they have been able to work in Afghanistan, Mali, Russia, Bhutan and Namibia. The second Keynote was delivered by Brenton Caffin, CEO, The Australian Centre for Social Innovation (TACSI), Australia on public policy, performance improvement and change management.

The Day I also focused on various approaches through which NGOs can involve community and citizen participation to bring societal change and efforts were made through breakout group discussion in evolving innovative ideas in addressing the various challenges of participation by communities. Dr Wonsoon Park also threw some light on the significance of citizens’ participation towards building a society founded on Social innovation. The second half of the day also witnessed case presentations by Howard Chan, Member, Community Museum Project, China and Shingo Hattori, Secretariat, Earth Day Money Association, Japan.

NGOs moving towards Sustainable Partnership and Governance The deliberation on Day II was directed on evolving innovative strategies to build collaborations across sectors and stakeholders. The focus was also on the innovative ways of mazimising the use of ICT to promote partnership between different sectors and stakeholders. Marianne Quebral, Executive Director, Venture for Fundraising, Philippines. She highlighted various models of fundraising, which is a core activity in the NGO sector. She shared with the delegates her success story on managing the largest non-profit direct mail campaign in the Philippines with over one million letters sent annually, raising more than 85 million pesos in less than four years. The session theme was adequately substantiated with case presentations by Hyunyi Hwang, Project Manager, The Beautiful Store, Seoul, South Korea on the Beautiful Store’s Learning and by D E Susapto, Coordinator of Employment Civil society, Bina Swadaya, Indonesia. The second half of the session focused on the financial sustainability and various ways on delivering solutions in case of financial crisis. The exercise was contexualised by Prof Francisco L Roman, Executive Director, RVR Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility, Philippines through his speech and presentation on Governance and Collaborative

The Summit delivered towards • strengthening the capacity of NGOs in Asia (Capacity Building) • enhancing the role of NGOs in positive social change and innovation in Asia (Social Innovation) • encouraging the role of ICT in NGO capacity building to achieve social goals (ICT) • strengthening the cooperative regional partnership across different sectors of private sector, third sector and public sector (Partnership)

Engagement. He shared two case studies – a success story and non success oneon the Philippines Mining Industry. The Case presentations for the session were delivered by Cheng Cheng Loo, Corporate Affairs Manager, Intel Malaysia on Intel Learn Programme Collaboration at Danawa, Malaysia highlighting the ICT for development drive undertaken by Intel in the region and by Christine Fang, Chief Executive, The Hong Kong Council of Social Service, China sharing the experience of her organisation, which is an umbrella organization of over 370 NGOs that are providing 90 per cent of the social welfare services in Hong Kong.

NGOs moving towards Networking and Information Exchange The Day III focused on the crucial role of ICTs and social media in the NGO sector and the challenges and opportunities they provide. The agenda setting speech was delivered by Steve Lawrence, Chief Executive, Australian Social Innovation Exchange, Australia. He emphasis on the great social role played by the social media and ICT in the development and implementation of non profit ventures to create social change, which is sustainable also. His deliberation was followed by case presentations. Puangchomphu Rammuang, Resource Mobilisation Manager, Thai Fund Foundation and Klaikong Vaidhayakarn, Deputy Director, Change Fusion. They jointly shared a case study in Thailand on innovative practices behind Mekong ICT Camp as part of social innovation initiative. The last case presentation was delivered by Shaun Robinson, Director, Online Operation and Social Media, Nethope, US on Haiti Earthquake:

Sanjit Bunker Roy, Founder and Director, The Barefoot College, India

A Social Media Powered Response. He emphasised on Social Media as a powerful tool and effective means to create awareness by aptly presenting a case study on the Haiti earthquake context. Coming from different parts of Asia and across and many different fields and contexts, the delegates shared their experiences and participated towards making the summit truly innovative. There were field trips and poster presentations where the groups got an opportunity to learn, unlearn and relearn various innovative strategies that could be replicated in their respective individual contexts and society. The Asia NGO Innovation Summit (ANIS) proved to be an important opportunity to share the experiences, ideas and effective answers that the NGOs in Asia have come up with in addressing the unmet social needs in their countries. The key output of this conference was to bring out and make available the innovative ideas that help NGO’s build their capacity towards social innovation. \\

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corporate diary

XSEED Sapling Growing at Slow yet Steady Process Ashish Rajpal, Co-founder of XSEED, speaks on the way XSEED is gradually taking over educational development with the highly integrated curriculum based on the guidelines of the National Curriculum Framework, 2005. The syllabus seamlessly integrates with schools following CBSE, ICSE, state boards or even international certifications such as IGCSE. Through the use of rubrics, student assessment in XSEED is kept objective. With the evaluation of tasks at every critical juncture, the assessment is also kept formative. The summative assessment at the end of the unit then feeds into the learning and developmental goals for the next unit or lesson. XSEED Assessment takes a wider view of the child’s capabilities and ensures that the unique talents and skills of every child get showcased.

First person account on the journey towards corporate world It was a personal journey for me, the journey of an idea. I grew up here in a middle-class family in Delhi. After MBA in XLRI, I joined Procter and Gamble in Mumbai and the worldwide marketing director in DANONE. I was still fashionable in the 80’s to do something different, wanted to join an NGO. But I was very disillusioned, partly because there was no quality model and partly because of corruption. I was interested to do here in self-sufficient way and education, in particular, sparked by the birth of my children, especially by birth of my daughter. I was fascinated that how my children would be different, quit my job and came back in 2002 with mission to improve the quality of my teaching. It was my core bug.

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The initial days in the world of teaching I think if am credited, it would be for assembling an uncommon team. In India, my core idea always has been how to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the class. We have never deviated from that. I came back here from Harvard earning a degree. It was my hypothesis that India has six million teachers and who wants to do a B.Ed? We were involved in three years training, but when we went back to school, we found that training was not effective as it’s a very poor tool to upgrade anybody. People are not going to teaching by choice, they somehow end up there. In our country, teacher training is a very poor tool to teach anything. Like training horses or dogs, no human learning can happen especially in short doses of train-

ing. We need a number of other things, like understanding of why that thing is happening and need daily tools of teaching. With those insights, I stepped in classroom and started teaching myself. As per my experience, it’s a very hard job. If the teacher is paid 8,000 to 10,000, it doesn’t mean that the job is easy. Giving teachers Gyan that do this or do that is easy, but important thing is that can you give a better mouse trap? Then our programme XSEED started. We built an entire library of 8,000 plans and how to teach every topic from nursery to class 8th minute by minute. Then we added teacher’s training and later leadership training. We have beta tested in three schools but we were shocked with just 20 to 30 % improvement in scores of children. We saw that bottom of the half class is doing much

better. Then we started in a wide manner. Now we have four hundred schools, the story is to take a lot of time in getting movement in eight years. The USP that sets us apart In India, three parts needed to come together, just like cooking a good food. In our country, we talk a lot about lesson plans, but teachers have no plans when they go into classroom. They only have a text book or a summary written in papers that is difficult for students to understand. One day, I went in the class and did a quick activity. I took a bowl of water and dropped a pen. It was floating. Then, I dropped a fifty paisa coin, it sank. Children asked what this was. Then I asked “if both are made of metal then why I that one is floating and another sank?” “Jadoo hai sir”, slowly they said. Then, I said, this property is called surface tension. That is why we have dew drops. This is science not jadoo. It was an amazing experience. My USP is that of bringing all aspects of academics, teacher training and technology and thereby, integrating in a research manner and focusing on the result. We learnt a lot about curriculum development from the American educational organisations, a lot of them are non-profits. Since the 80’s when the National Science Foundation and other such organisations funded a lot of efforts, several innovations happened. Changes in education to keep up with globalisation in economic sector Aspirations of parents have changed in globalisation. Since mid 90’s, the poorest guy in India wants to spend on education as he believes in the obsession. The obsession is all about getting educated as when I visited a remote village in Andhra Pradesh, the labourers I talked to over there almost everyone has a relative in America doing well. Now that perspective has taken a strong and solid place in these people’s mind. For a poor person it is godly. That aspiration has changed. When we go to

We built an entire library of 8,000 plans and how to teach every topic from nursery to class 8th minute by minute. Then we added teacher’s training and later leadership training small towns, people are really spending because people see value in education. If we look at Andhra Pradesh, things have changed like this. From their eyes, this is investment they are making…in terms of creativity, ability to collaborate and do innovative thing and alternate career options. It has opened a lot of avenues for them and things are not stagnant in the pool of engineering and medical. Views on changes in school curriculum made by CBSE CBSE is talking about assessment. It’s a good step. The only issue is that schools still don’t know about its implementation. The intention of CBSE is very good; unfortunately, the mind set is the same. I think it is a much needed step. Its a fundamental idea but it will take a much needed time to actually get implemented for the set mindset that we have is rigid. Long term impact of XSEED services Obviously, the results have been fruitful as our whole programme was on results. Initially we had applied in on class four and five students and the average students showed progress in their scores by 20 to 30 per cent and the bottom part of the class to even higher results. Now we are doing a test in control study where we find significant difference in XSEED and non-XSEED schools. There are schools which are not using our programme, but we are offering them in confidential basis for free. Now we want to test it in almost every school for the next two three years before we publish a study around. Followed by it we want to have an independent outside agency. I

had also talked to Stanford Research Institute about this and unless big-shots approve us, we cannot reach our goal. Areas where your technology is being used We have started Pre Schools, and we will be expanding those and at will be served as a model of XSEED programmes. We have a three year blue print. We want to reach a million children; we are working in XSEED system. I think if you reach million children it would be a critical mass. That is difficult to ignore this mass. Today, XSEED is working on paper and pencil but we are working to take in new technology. Moreover on making people speak better English and teach English to them who actually aspire it from the core of their heart. Where is India in the whole process of education and where do you see is the vacuum? In India, there is a vacuum of leadership and crisis of leadership in education entrepreneurship. In a funny way NIIT came in late 80’s and early 90’s. It was seen as a wave. My message for the young people to come with passion and mission first, the money will follow and business model would follow with constructive products. If we see Google and Microsoft, they had thought in this way. Those sense of craziness about your work to invent something otherwise its trading. Our country needs innovations and that comes from leadership and courage to be creative. Your dream I am living it and will certainly take education to the next level with our innovations. \\

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February 2011

policy matter

Amod Kumar, an Indian Administrative Services officer of the 1995 batch, belongs to UP Cadre. He has held several positions at UP government, including Special Secretary, Basic Education & Director Mid-day-Meal, Special Secretary, Revenue, Special Secretary, I.T. (Information Technology). On a few years leave, currently, he is working on the capacity of Project Director, Maternal and Newborn Health Project -Manthan Project-IntraHealth. Pratap Vikram Singh finds out details of the project. Can you throw light on the ICT systems deployed for monitoring of mid-day meal scheme in UP, while your association with the state Mid-Day Meal Authority? During my association with the mid-day meal authority, we developed a system to monitor the mid day meal scheme with the help of cloud telephony. For its monitoring in all the 1.5 lakh schools in the state of Uttar Pradesh, the department gives IVRS calls to all the teachers through which the teachers are asked for the number of students who took meals on that particular day. Almost1800 calls are made parallely. By evening the dept gets data for all the schools. Initially, the teachers are informed that the call is being made on behalf of the mid-day meal authority. It asks the teacher to punch in the number of students who were served the meal that day. If the teacher punches in zero, he is given four reasons and told to punch in the appropriate number. The reasons are: 1.Cook was absent; 2. Non availability of raw material for cooking; 3. Transportation problems; and 4. Other reason. The responses are simultaneously recorded on the website of the mid-day meal authority.

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Monitoring Mid-day Meal Scheme through Cloud Telephony

The BSAs can go to website, choose respective blocks/district and check the daily meal reports. All this is done in Hindi language. Now, the Union Ministry of Human Resource Development is deliberating on scaling up the monitoring project across all states and UTs. Could you please elaborate on the work being done in the health sector in the state of Uttar Pradesh by IntraHealth? Manthan Project is a $4 million initiative funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. It aims to improve the health of mothers and newborns in northern India. Among other Indian states, Uttar Pradesh has the highest percentage of maternal and neonatal deaths in India. With a duration of four-years, this project will work with the Uttar Pradesh state government to identify proven, effective mother and neonatal health (MNH) interventions, advocate at district, state, and national levels to promote the adoption and scale-up of these interventions, and expand health care services to more mothers and newborns. We see ICT as a vital tool for efficient delivery of health care services. Although leveraging ICT is still at a con-

ceptual stage, we would be using ICT in three – four ways. • To reach to the ultimate client – through SMS, education on remedies and behavioral change. • Direct IVRS calls giving reminders about the precautions and timely intake of medicines • To educate and remind the Asha workers (the health care workers in the state) through the use of multimedia-smart phones, which is now available at a much cheaper price. We can store a video on educating the workers and aiding them in better counseling. • Better monitoring through generation of management information systems (MIS) reports. Through ICT, we can gather, de-duplicate and analyse the data in a better fashion, with an ultimate objective of use of data in Planning. Fortunately, because of RSBY, we have the base line data. Since the work involves research, advocacy and aiding government in planning and decision making, we have not sketched figures for assessing project outcomes. The outcome could be gauged in the degree of receptiveness in the government and the subsequent efficiency and equity created at the grassroots level. \\

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Takers Take it Online With the advent of Online Examinations, the nexgen procedures have been found to be more secured, uninhibited by the data loss possibility, resulting in unbiased evaluations By Jaydeep Saha

en-years back an exam without pen, pencil and paper would have been absolutely beyond belief. But for the Facebook generation, who wake up by checking their mails, Google for verifying the time and go bed by Tweeting â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;good nightâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;, the old system of pen and paper is definitely not going to work. However, today, by virtue of online examination, the old system has become almost obsolete. Thanks to our outstanding advancement in IT and software, online examinations have made the entire examination process not only hassle-free but also accessible to all. In an online examination system a student answers all exam queries through his computer and later submits them to the organisation taking the online examination. These answers

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are then evaluated by examination software which already has the answers to the questions fed into its system. The answers are checked and scored instantly thus saving a lot of time which is usually spent by the professors in reading and checking the answers one after the other. Globalisation has opened the gates of success for millions across the world. People today are not just competing with strong challengers from the same state, but with the best people from across the world through the use of new online examination system. Moreover, several other features make online exams well-accepted by the student fraternity. The first and foremost issue with the students is always the time factor to which e-exams come as a

relief where answering is just a matter of click. Other factors are that no physical presence is needed for taking the test as starting and completion time are both recorded by the server and cannot be manipulated. Online exams are flexible, involve auto-grading, no wastage of time during evaluation, instant availability of results and are totally secured (beware of hackers though!).

How do Online Exams work? Online exams are basically software based. Just the way in an exam department, various people are given different tasks and duties like enrolling students, managing the questions papers, checking answer scripts etc. Examination software also have various working units or

components called modules. There can be various modules such as the student details modules, authorization module, subject and question management system, examination paper management, examination evaluation module and finally the result generation module. This online exam system is ideal for multiple choice questions and other derivative questions. For every question asked, the student needs to select the right answer provided from the given choices. Once the questions are answered and then submitted to the examination system, the software will score the student after analysing his answers with the ones already fed into its system. After the evaluation is performed, the result of the examination is also generated by the system based on its scoring method. The generated result comprising the students score, time taken for the exam to be completed and the number of students passing through the examination is then sent to the student within minutes of the examination.

Online examination in India For a country like India, e-examination is a great way to cover spread and reach to the masses. In addition e-examination brings in quality and efficiency to the process of conducting exams. In the near future we are going to see many exams converting into an online format, the initial ones would be the competitive objective type followed by others. It is important that students get used to some practice of manoeuvring mouse, keyboard controls to focus more on solving the questions at hand than worrying about the technology side of things. If a student is exposed to few online mock exams which can simulate a real exam scenario, he or she can become efficient in no time. Technology is increasingly becoming apart of the learning process and, in a natural progression, has entered the testing and evaluation area as well. Increase in computer usage has accelerated the process and made it possible for e-examinations to be carried out not only in Tier 1 cities but in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities as well.

A student from India can today take examinations in the US, thus competing with other global competitors from across the entire world through the new web based exam systems Advantages of Online Examination software/system • Proctors can register to administer the online exam right from their computer • Online exam classes can be created in minutes and proctored immediately • Class progress can be monitored during the exam • Access exam results instantly • Upon completion of the exam, examinees are notified whether they have passed the exam • Once the entire class is finished, exam results are accessible instantly • Certificates are mailed to Instructors/Proctors within 24-48 business hours of grading the class

Advantages for Examinees • Examinees may take a practice exam on-line • Examinees can review selected questions before completing • Examinees know immediately if they pass the exam

One can come up with the question that India, being a developing country, with not many computer savvy people, especially in the villages, isn’t it unfair on the part of rural students? To this Neel Vertikar, Vice President, GurujiWorld Technologies Pvt. Ltd. says, “One of the ways to reduce the impact would be localisation of the interface and making it more user friendly than the traditional mode. For example, in GurujiWorld we have devised an online exam engine called Guruji Online Examination System (GOES). We have instructionally optimized the system keeping in mind the anxiety and pressure students undergo during exam, thus, enabling students to focus on answering questions than on unimportant activities like figuring out software interface, locating un-attempted questions, time reminders etc,” adds Vertikar. Aparna Natarajan of Edutech.com says that it is not entirely true that rural candidates are at a disadvantage when it comes to online competitive exams. Our experience in conducting online

English language examinations for college students in Andhra Pradesh has proved that even students from semiurban and rural backgrounds are comfortable giving computer based tests, once they are given basic training. Besides, with computer infrastructure now spreading to smaller towns and villages and computers becoming more accessible to people, the familiarity and usage with the device will only grow. “But, to ensure that rural students are not left behind, many competitive exams are now considering blended delivery option. A gradual transition is the best way to make the online examination process more inclusive” adds she. Many exams in India have become online in the past few years. BITSAT, IGNOU, Manipal Admission Test, IIJNM, MAT, CAT, GRE and many other exams have gone online. These are generally conducted on PC (Personal Computers). For some the student just needs an internet connection and he or she can sit at home and take the exam whereas

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“One of the ways to reduce impact would be localisation of the interface and making it more user friendly than the traditional mode” Neel Vertikar

Vice President, GurujiWorld Technologies Pvt. Ltd

Its about online degrees here

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External Online Degrees and Education Resourcest • • • • • • •

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for some exams one needs to be in a centre where there are 100s of Computers connected to the main server. “I find this system of online exam very good. It saves a lot of time unlike the OMR sheets where we had to darken the right answers for at least four to five seconds to completely fill the given space otherwise our exams would go wrong. However, there is a disadvantage as the rough work is generally done in paper and thus it decreases concentration each time we change the interface”, says CAT taker Dipak Prasad Ram.

How should one prepare for Online Examination Online and offline tests are similar in

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many ways and most of the principles that apply to traditional tests hold good for online tests as well. There are some differences, but it is not difficult to master the process of taking a computer based exam. Most assessment providers have ensured that onscreen navigations are intuitive with ‘easy to follow’ instructions. However, if students are taking the computer based tests for the first time, they should keep certain things in mind. “Master the login process to access the test. This will either be explained to them by the invigilators before the test or will be available on the computer screen as instructions”, says Aparna Natarajan of Edutech.com, adding in any case, the process will be made as simple as possi-

ble for students to navigate and one just needs to follow the instructions. “Also one has to get familiar with the test in advance and the best way to prepare for any test is practice, practice, practice. The same goes for online tests as well. Take a mock online test if available” says Natarajan. At the time of the online test, all the instructions should be read carefully. Above all, one should be relaxed and confident while taking the test and should not panic or feel afraid if a snag hits. Most online tests are invigilated or proctored and there will always be someone to help if one needs anything clarified.

Implementation of e-exam in universities and distant learning courses The current format of examinations across various courses in science, engineering and arts require paper based assessments for descriptive inputs. This may not be entirely feasible in an e-examination format. However, from the learning perspective, it is important that the students are periodically assigned formative assessments to evaluate learning outcomes. These outcomes can be used as a decision support for the teachers and students to address the developmental needs individually as well as collectively to ensure better results. This can only be possible if the administrative effort involved in administering tests is minimal and the comparative reports are available ondemand. The obvious choice is to consider blended delivery for formative and summative assessments in universities. With technology, universities now have the option to progressively move towards automation. Many universities are now considering the automation of the authoring, scheduling and reporting system. The delivery of assessments can be blended using online or OMR for objective type of question and paper based for descriptive type of answers. Such investments can dramatically reduce administrative effort and will ensure better faculty utilisation and learning outcomes. \\

Research paper

Virtual Instrument to Enhance Computer Networking Course Today’s test environment is more challenging than ever as pressure on increasing quality and meeting time-to-market continue to increase. Therefore, a sound foundation in computer networking is critical for success in many kinds of computerbased work and universities must produce graduates with solid foundation in computers and their applications. One way to achieve this is through interactive learning and teaching through the use of software packages like LabVIEW (Virtual Instruments) and Java/Visual Basic (Object Oriented Programming). This will also allow the student to have greater interaction with the subject matter and improve his/her skills in the use of number of applied engineering software packages. By Nikunja K Swain and Raghu Korrapati

he students’ over reliance upon formulas and routine use of technique in problem solving too often lead to poor performance in advanced courses and a high attrition rate in the engineering, technology, and science programmes. The students’ lack of comprehension of mathematical concepts results in wastage of time during laboratory experiments, misinterpretations of lab data and underachievement in standardised science and engineering tests that stress the fundamentals. This problem can be effectively addressed by improving the student’s conceptual understanding and comprehension of the topics covered in introductory science and technology courses. One way to achieve this is through interactive learning and teaching and upgrading the existing laboratories with modern equipment.

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This will require increased funding and resources. But in recent years there is a decrease in resource allocation making it increasingly difficult to modernise the laboratories to provide adequate levels of laboratory and course work and universities are under pressure to look for alternative cost effective methods. One way to achieve this is through interactive learning and teaching through the use of software packages like LabVIEW (Virtual Instruments) and Java/Visual Basic (Object Oriented Programming). LabVIEW and Java/Visual Basic are currently used in a number of engineering schools and industries for simulation and analysis. By introducing virtual instrumentation (LabVIEW) and object oriented programming (Java/ Visual Basic) to the existing laboratory facilities and course(s) the students can be well trained with the latest design

techniques and computer aided instrumentation, design and process control used throughout industry. This will also allow the students greater interaction with the subject matter and improve his/her skills in the use of number of applied engineering software packages. LabVIEW is based on graphical programming and easy to use. It is an interactive problem-solving environment, where the students can analyse, visualise, and document real-world science and engineering problems. LabVIEW programmes are called Virtual Instruments (VI), and is different from textbased programming languages(such as Fortran, C++, Java and Visual Basic) in that LabVIEW uses a graphical programming languages, known as the G programming language, to create programmes relying on graphics symbols to describe programming actions. Lab-

VIEW also provides an extensive library of virtual instruments and functions to help in programming. It also contains application specific libraries for data acquisition, GPIB and serial instrument control, data analysis, and file input/ output with conventional programme debugging tools that can be used to set breakpoints, single-step through the programme, and animate the execution so that the flow of data can be observed. LabVIEW has the potential of revolutionising engineering education. It is a graphical programming environment and is based on the concept of data flow programming. Data flow programming concept is different from the sequential nature of traditional programming languages, and it cuts down the design and development time of an application. It is widely accepted by industry, academia, and research laboratories around the world as a standard for data acquisition and instrument control software. Since LabVIEW is based on graphical programming, users can build VIs using software objects. With proper hardware these virtual instruments can be used for remote data acquisition, analysis, design and distributed control. The built-in library of LabVIEW has number of VIs that can be used to design and develop any system. LabVIEW can be used to address the needs of various courses in engineering, technology and science curriculum. At South Carolina State University (SCSU), the PC and VI based system concept is used to design and develop a laboratory called Computer Based Virtual Engineering Laboratory (CBVEL). The CBVEL consists of IBM compatible computers with appropriate software and hardware from National Instruments (NI), Simulation software such as C++, Visual Basic, Java, PSPICE, etc., and is connected to School of Engineering Technology and Sciences (SETS) network and existing equipment. Virtual Instrument (VI) and Object Oriented Programming modules for different courses and research areas are currently developed and used to teach various courses. Examples of some of these VIs are Circuit Analysis, Electronics, Com-

The built-in library of LabVIEW has number of VIs that can be used to design and develop any system. LabVIEW can be used to address the needs of various courses in engineering, technology and science curriculum munications, Digital Signal processing, Networking, and Digital Filters. Virtual laboratory or Virtual Instruments (VI) is software driven and does not require dedicated facility. It does not require instruments and there is no need for laboratory technicians. Problems of varying degree and complexity can be easily modeled and simulated using virtual instruments/laboratory concept. Also, Virtual laboratory is cost effective and flexible. It is suitable for addressing student and faculty needs at a distance and as a result, more and more institutions are adding virtual laboratories to their curriculum.

Number System Conversion VI The students of Information Technology (IT) deal with different computer application areas and frequently encounter binary, octal, and hexadecimal numbers. At times they have to convert a number in one system into another which requires not just the understanding of the principles behind number system conversions nut also, interactive modules to practice different conversions. A number of principles exist behind number system conversion and the interactive module using LabVIEW.

Outcomes of Using VI The LabVIEW VI and Visual Basic modules, used by the authors under different situations, are user friendly and performed satisfactorily under various input conditions. It helped the students to understand items relating to IP Addressing in more detail. It also introduced the students to programme

development using Visual Basic and Virtual Instruments. Therefore, it is believed that this introduction to Visual Basic and Virtual Instrument will help the students to design modules for other courses. These modules can be used in conjunction with other teaching aids to enhance student learning of Networking and the Internet. The use of technology has been instrumental for student and faculty success. It has helped the faculty in instruction and has helped in studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; understanding of concepts. The use of face-book, twitter and others has helped in peer based learning and social networks. It has enhanced the quality of engineers and revitalised education as whole and engineering education in particular. Academia needs inputs from industry for effective design of curriculum and laboratory. Academia also needs help from industry for student internships and student placement. Industrial Advisory Councils (IAC) are becoming part and parcel of every academic and accreditation bodies are making it a requirement to have IAC inputs in formulating programme objectives and outcomes. Note: This work was funded in part by a grant from Bellcore. \\

Authors Nikunja K. Swain South Carolina State University

Raghu Korrapati Walden University

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