Education for All : July 2010

Asia’s First Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education

INDIA VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 7 | JULY 2010 | ISSN 0973-4139 | RS. 75 www.digitalLEARNING.in

EDUCATION for ALL TIME TO MAKE IT HAPPEN

+ INTERVIEW SC Khuntia

SCHOOLS @ HYDERABAD TECHNOLOGY LEAP FOR NIOS

VOLUME 6 ISSUE 7 JULY 2010

digitalLEARNING

ISSN 0973-4139

RNI NO. UPENG/2008/25311

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Contents 8

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COVER STORY

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RIGHT TO EDUCATION AND ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY

SUDHIR ANDREWS, DEAN, ECOLE HOTELIERE LAVASA 49

CORPORATE DAIRY LEADER’S SPEAK

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SHRI SC KHUNTIA, JOINT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HRD, GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

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SMT. CHANDANA KHAN, PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, SCHOOL EDUCATION, SSA WING, GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

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CHRIS STEVENS, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT INTERNATIONAL

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GAURAV MITTAL CEO, DMC INTERNATIONAL

EVENT REPORT

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BRINGING BEST PRACTICES, DRIVING KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

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INDO-EURPOEAN CONFERENCE ON QULAITY ASSURANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

CASE STUDY

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ICT IN EDUCATION @ NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF OPEN LEARNING

SCHOOL TRACK

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PRAMOD SHARMA, DIRECTOR, GENESIS GLOBAL SCHOOL

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TECH @ HYDERABAD SCHOOLS

HIGHER EDUCATION

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RESEARCH PAPER

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LEARNING WITH VIDEO GAMES

REGULAR FEATURES

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NEWS NATIONAL

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NEWS INTERNATIONAL

DR PK BARHAI, VICE CHANCELLOR, BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, MESRA

Corrigendum The profile of Agile in page 70 in June 2010 issue had wrongly included ‘SLCM cloud’ as part of the services portfolio of the company, instead of listing the same for Thotmatrix in page 16. Besides, we also missed out on the contact person’s name in the profile of Thotmatrix. For any business enquiries for Thotmatrix readers may contact Anand Ramprasad, Marketing Manager at 022-42156181/82. The error is regretted.

—Editor

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EDITORIAL

Technology@School Education digitalLEARNING Magazine presents in this issue insights on topics related to school education sector in India, with a special focus on ‘Tech-City’ of Hyderabad. It highlights recent developmental issues related to education in the context of ICT, from perspectives of top level government bureaucrats. It brings out a detailed examination of the law on Right to Education (RTE) and the role that ICT may play while it is being rolled-out.

Technology has always been playing an important role in education, and can be effectively used to promote inclusive and student centric learning. With education becoming a right for all, it is time that the immense potential of low cost technologies be exploited to help make the education system more responsive to the learning needs of the huge student population, school drop outs, and differently abled children. The possibilities are huge and it is for us to explore and experiment with the available opportunities.

For the purpose of comprehending how ICT can be of possible help in execution and sustaining this national level drive, principals across 25 schools in the technology hub of India, Hyderabad were approached and interviewed. The highlighted issues that were brought out through these discussions entailed factors of equity, quality and access, with reference to use of ICT for RTE implementation.

The data collected was not only an eye opener, in terms of the factors that principals emphasised upon with respect to RTE, but also described the lacunae and the boon of integrating ICT in course and curriculum, availing open source e-content and online examinations. The issue, additionally, entails information on the digitalLEARNING eINDIA 2010 Track. The details entail tentative agenda for the parallel sub-tracks that would be rolled-out at eINDIA 2010 including higher education, school education and vocational training and skill development, respectively.

Dr. RAVI GUPTA Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@digitalLEARNING.in

President: Dr. M P Narayanan | Editor-in-Chief: Dr. Ravi Gupta | Managing Editor: Shubhendu Parth | VP - Strategy: Pravin Prashant Product Manager: Dipanjan Banerjee (Mob: +91-9968251626) Email: dipanjan@elets.in Editorial Team: Dr. Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Shipra Sharma, Divya Chawla, Sheena Joseph, Yukti Pahwa, Sangita Ghosh De, Subir Dey, Pratap Vikram Singh, Gayatri Maheshwary Sales & Marketing Team: Fahimul Haque (Mobile: +91-9873277808), Debabrata Ray, Anaam Sharma, Arpan Dasgupta, Bharat Kumar Jaiswal, Anuj Agarwal, Priya Saxena, Vishal Kumar (sales@elets.in) Subscription & Circulation: Astha Mittra (Mobile: +91-9810077258, subscription@elets.in), Manoj Kumar, Gunjan Singh 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, Devendra Singh | Events: Vicky Kalra 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

digital LEARNING

JULY 2010

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LEADER’S SPEAK

Few Government Thoughts for education www.education.nic.in

SHRI SC KHUNTIA JOINT SECRETARY, MINISTRY OF HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT, GOVERNMENT OF INDA

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www.digitalLEARNING.in

Shrii SC Kh Sh Khuntia, Khuntia nt a JJoint i Se Secretary, Secretary r tar Mi Ministry i t y off Huma Human R Resrouce s o c D Development v l pm nt in n c nv r a i n wi conversation with hR Rajeshree j s r Dut Duttaa Kum Kumarr aandd Yu Yukti Pahw Pahwa, on n go government government’s e nme t s perspective e s etv ttowards wards d R Ri Right ght tto Ed Education du a i n ((RTE) (RTE), TE)), Ra R Rashtriya h riy Ma M Madhyamik dh hyy miik Shik Shiksha h ksha Ab Abhi Abhiyan, iyan, rrole l off ICT CT iin n l v ragi g oopportunities leveraging po t n t e iin education du a i n ssector sector, c etc etc. tc

What are the challenges and opportunities in the current education scenario?

India is a country with a large young population. Therefore, there is immense opportunity to develop human resources and education would be a potent tool for the same. While education develops the personality and empowers, it also has a direct role in skill development for an emerging economy. The changing nature of society and economy are challenges which can be converted into opportunities by our country. There is a large literacy gap that needs to be bridged, and the Right to Education Act providing for education upto the elementary level for every child in the country will enable this to happen.

The second set of problems is the mismatch between demand and supply of skills. Further, the demand for skill is not static as the nature of skill requirement keeps on changing along with the technological progress. Therefore, there is a need to impart 21st century skills. The skill gap not only exists in India but also in developed countries where demographic transition has resulted in shortage of people in the working age. So there is a great opportunity for Indian youth to be trained in the skills that are required both in and outside the country.

With RTE into motion, what are the challenges being faced for its implementation? Please tell us about its relevance.

The Right to Education Act was notified to take effect from 1st April 2010.

The mandate now is to ensure that every child in the age of 6 to 14 is in school. The challenge is not only to enroll the child but to retain the child in school by imparting quality education, so that education becomes purposeful for the children, their parents and the community at large.

Secondly, education needs to be childcentric and joyful if we need to improve retention in the school. Fortunately, we have been able to cover almost the entire country with neighbourhood schools at the primary and upper primary level within a distance of one kilometer and three kilometers respectively. The

challenge now is to ensure retention and achievement of learning outcome through quality interventions. Then only the real purpose of the right to education legislation can be satisfied.

How do you see ICT’s role amidst above?

ICT has a key role to play in improving access, in ensuring quality and in enhancing quality. Use of ICT in the teaching learning process will bring about conceptual clarity to students. Teacher’s continuous professional development can also get a big boost through use of ICT and internet connectivity. This will help in maintaining teaching quality in remote places. This of course does not

“There is a large literacy gap that needs to be bridged, and the Right to Education Act providing for education upto the elementary level for every child in the country will enable this to happen.”

mean that teachers can be dispensed with. But teachers will be able to use quality material during teaching and would supplement the same with their own interventions and interaction with the students.

Yours views on Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan.

Once the children complete the elementary stage of education, they would like to progress to the secondary stage if they and their parents are convinced

that it would equip them to have a life of higher quality. Since, Right to Education Act is already in force, it is expected that there would be much larger number of children who would be completing the elementary stage.

This would result in a surging demand for secondary education.

Therefore, the critical factor is to ensure that all children complete their elementary education and are given opportunity to continue secondary education. RMSA provides a framework to enable this by providing a school within 5 kilometers of every habitation and also ensures that all schools satisfy the norms and standards prescribed. There is a special emphasis on removal of disparity arising out of gender, geographical location, disability or socio economic backwardness. There is a strong emphasis on simultaneous improvement in both access and quality while ensuring equity.

Your views on relevance of ICT in school programmes? Why do we need these different flagship programmes?

Use of ICT in school education is capable of providing a paradigm change in the educational process. It is a powerful tool to achieve the educational objectives more effectively. Therefore, a specialized scheme “ICT @ schools” has been launched with the twin objectives of developing ICT competency and (ii) imparting ICT enabled education. All secondary and higher secondary schools in the country would be enabled to have optimal ICT infrastructure and connectivity to ensure that all the secondary and higher secondary students achieve a minimum level of competency in use of ICT. The scheme would also ensure that all subject teachers use ICT as an effective tool in imparting education in respective subjects to the students. At the present stage of development, a programme of this kind is meant to provide an impetus for all schools to leverage technology for its qualitative growth. Usage of ICT should become an integral part of the educational process and transaction in all schools. \\ digital LEARNING

JULY 2010

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LEADER’S SPEAK

Hyderabad Government on K-12 Initiatives www.aponline.gov.in

CHANDANA KHAN PRINCIPAL SECRETARY, SCHOOL EDUCATION SARVA SHIKSHA ABHIYAN WING GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH

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Yukti Pahw Yu Pahwa in n conversation on e s t o w with t Smt mt Ch Chandana nd na Kh Khan n the h Principal r n i al S Secretary c e a y tto Government ov r m n is the h Offi Official cial i l head h a off the he Department.

Depa tm n She Sh is i responsible e p n i l for f r careful c r fu observance obs b rv n e off the h B Business usin ss R Ru Rules le andd S Secretariat c e a i t IIns Instructions r c i n iin n the hhe T Transaction a sa i n off Bu i e s iin the Business h D Department.

Department p r men

Kindly share with us the nature of initiatives you look after as the Principal Secretary of Education?

I have taken over as Principal Secretary of Primary Education very recently. Since primary education is a very critical link to secondary education and also at the same time a very fertile ground on which every sectoral initiative can sprout, I am trying to see with continuous effort that Government initiatives convergence can be achieved.

What is your opinion about the budget allocations for the elementary and secondary education? According to you, what are the opportunities and challenges it presents in front of the government?

For both Sarva Sikshya Abhiyan (Rajiv Vidya Mission) in the State and Saakshara Bharat (Adult Education) Programme launched by Government of India last year, there is adequate Central fund given for primary education. While these are opportunities, the challenge is to ensure quality of education through proper planning and reach the goal of enrollment retention and quality education at the primary, upper primary level and also to facilitate non-literates to be literates.

RTE act has come into being, starting April 1, 2010. What are the steps being taken by government for its smooth implementation and overcoming the challenges in its way?

Right to Education Act is a very important Act. Successful implementation of the same can bridge to barrier between India and other developed Nations.

Rajiv Vidya Mission is the implementing instrument for this program. Some of the barriers exist in Andhra Pradesh to reach the different segments in the tribal areas, focus groups like SC, ST, Minorities and most importantly girl children, as there

is an existing gap in gender terms.

What is your opinion about eliminating the board examination system and introducing a grade oriented system for evaluation of students at the secondary and senior secondary level?

I am supporting the initiatives that introducing concern grade oriented system for evaluation of the students at the Secondary and senior secondary level.

What do you view about the PPP for bringing about improvements in the sector of school education? Has your department indulged in any such partnerships?

It can be appreciated that though education is a core area where Government cannot abdicate responsibility, at the same time Public, Private partnership in the sector of School Education can strengthen Government initiatives . Agencies like UNICEF are already helping in this Endeavour. There are number of NGOs which are also working in the field of Education and are capable of handling several issues of community mobilization for the cause and also in convincing the parents.

What is the role that you see Information and Communication Technology playing for improving school education system?

Information and communication Technology can play wonders in improving School Education system, as frequent and continuous monitoring is required in the field of School infrastructure, presence

of teachers and monitoring the quality of Education being rendered. Already Rajiv Vidya Mission has prepared G.Maps (Geo-Physical Map) for every District showing location of Schools and other related amenities, so that at a glance the infrastructure position in every District can be seen for further intervention.

Can you tell us about any of your initiatives for integration of ICT in school education? Any future initiatives that you would like to share with our readers?

The G.Map project as mentioned, is a good example of introduction of I.C.T in Primary Education. We want to proceed further to cover other aspects.

Please share your thoughts about platforms such as digitalLEARNING magazine and events such as eINDIA 2010, that work for promotion of ICT integration in the education sector. eINDIA2010 is a very welcome event that works for promotion of I.C.T. integration in Education sector. It is a very broad platform which will offer opportunities for further learning and exposure to the functionaries in the field of Education. \\ digital LEARNING

JULY 2010

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NEWS

NATIONAL

MANIPAL EDUCATION COLLABORATES WITH NSE Manipal Education, a pioneering and leading academic and education services provider, has entered into a collaboration with National Stock Exchange (NSE), a global leader in stocks and derivatives trading to launch training programs in capital markets across the country, starting 12th June 2010.

The programs being launched will promote awareness, develop skills and spread knowledge among those who wish to improve their understanding of the markets or build a career in the field.

These various programs being launched will be imparted by Manipal Education, with content and methodology provided by NSE.

INDIAN GOVT TO SET UP 16 UNIVERSITIES, 6 IITS AND 19,000 SCHOOLS ACROSS INDIA Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, recently mentioned that the Government of India plans to set up 16 more Central Universities and six new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) across the country. The other additional priorities include establishment of over 19,000 primary and upper primary schools in the field of education.

SOUTH ASIA SCIENCE OLYMPIAD BY IGNOU AND UNESCO IGNOU and the South Asia Regional Office of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), New Delhi, are organising a Science Olympiad for Science students

currently enrolled in 11th Standard/Class or equivalent in other SAARC countries.

Recently an announcement was made

that students of Indian higher secondary and CBSE in 11th grade or equivalent in South Asian countries are now eligible to win IGNOU-UNESCO accredited merit certificates and prizes. These counrties include Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

IGNOU and the South Asia Regional Office of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), New Delhi, are organising a Science Olympiad for Science students currently enrolled in 11th Standard/Class or equivalent in other SAARC countries .

NIIT, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT trainer, in association with Fourier Systems, a worldwide leader in science education, on June 15, 2010 demonstrated Mobile Science Lab for schoolsan innovative learning solution which integrates Science Lab with classrooms. World Chess Champion and NIIT MindChampion Viswanathan Anand unveiled this revolutionary solution while highlighting the importance of 24X7 experiential learning. www.digitalLEARNING.in

An agreement was signed between Everonn Education worth INR 47 crore with the director, secondary education, the Government of Haryana for implementing

Comprehensive Computer Education Project (CCEP) in 213 schools in 20 districts across the state. The project is to be carried out for five years under Build Own and Operate (BOO) and Build Own Operate and Transfer (BOOT) models.

CENTUM RAISES FUNDS FROM MAYFIELD INDIA

NIIT BRINGS MOBILE SCIENCE LABS INTO CLASSROOMS

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EVERONN PARTNERS WITH HARYANA FOR COMPUTER EDUCATION

A Bharti Group company working in the Higher Education space, Centum Learning, has raised INR 40 crore investment from Mayfield India Fund. The Chairman, Centum Learning, Rakesh Bharti Mittal mentioned that Centum Learning is geared up to unlock the immense growth potential within India, in domains of education, training and development. Reportedly, Mayfield’s Managing Director Vikram Godse would be joining Centum’s Board of Directors.

More than 130 learning centres have been set up by Centum Learning over a course of time across 90 Indian cities.

It has now launched Centum U-Institute of Management and Creative Studies which offers various undergraduate and postgraduate programmes.

DELHI UNIVERSITY LAUNCHES TV CHANNEL Conceptualised around five months back, the internet-based Delhi University Television Network (DUTN), is to take help of students and staff, especially of the mass communication department, to bring all the latest happenings and news of the university to the students, without depending on other forms of media.

INDIA’S LARGEST ICT EVENT 4—6 AUGUST, 2010

HYDERABAD INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE HYDERABAD, INDIA

Venue eINDIA 2010 HICC Hyderabad

HOST STATE PARTNER

ORGANISERS

COUNTRY PARTNER

CO-ORGANISERS

SPONSORS AND EXHIBITORS

www.eINDIA.net.in

INTRODUCTION digital LEARNING India 2010, one of the seminal conference tracks under eINDIA 2010 annual ICT event, is a vivacious platform attracting the most contemporary and cutting-edge thought leaders in technology for education.

Following footsteps of its earlier editions, the event is once again geared up to provide the suppliers, buyers, consumers and other stakeholders of the education sector to share and showcase innovations in technology usage and adoption across schools, colleges, universities and institutions of higher learning and professional training.

The three sub tracks of the conference, namely - School Education, Higher Education and Skill Development & Vocational Training aims to bring together policy makers, thought leaders, educationists, practising teachers, technocrats, entrepreneurs and funding agencies in education sector through their esteemed contribution and engagement over three days of active conferencing and professional networking.

TRACKS K-12 The K-12 track is a national level platform deliberating on the current issues of school education and bringing together all the stakeholders such as corporate leaders, top level government bureaucrats, the policy and decision makers, school governors like directors and principals, leaders from national and international school education agencies such as National Institute of Open Schooling and top officials from UN development agencies such as GeSCI (Global e Schools and Communities Initiative. The track opens a forum of tabling the problems, holding discussions, presenting case studies, analysing the current scenario, recording the ways of implementing various successful teaching – learning modules, providing suggestions for improved policy implementations across nation and raising future issues of concern in school education sector with respect to ICT integration and implementation.

This year, the focus is on Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyaan, Strategising & Implementation of Policies on Usage of ICT in Leveraging Learning, Merging ICT in Learning and Training

“Conferences like eINDIA 2010 have the potential to create awareness about the stupendous possibilities that e-governance harbours within itself for overall improvement to the life and especially in the context of governmental activities.”

SUBHASH C KHUNTIA Joint Secretary, Ministry of HRD, Government of India Co-chair, Programme Advisory Board, eINDIA 2010

KEY SE CRE FROM S TARIES T & CENT ATE R GOVER AL NMENT

200+ SCHOOLS

1IV8ER0SIT+IES /

UN GES COLLE

through Open Schooling, Challenges in developing e-Learning: Applying Conceptual Design in practice, ICT mediated pedagogy in classrooms and Role of ICT in advancing Inclusive education.

Higher Education Higher Education Track aims at shaping strategies to deal with the rising challenges and opportunities currently facing the higher education sector in India, including role of private universities, issues of assessment and accreditation, maintenance of quality standards, integrating technology into university curriculum and administration, collaboration with foreign universities, role of open and distance learning and widening the accessibility and reach of higher education for students in India.

The track will focus on systemic enhancement of learning and teaching, innovation, research and development, education governance in universities, collaborations with world class higher education players and quality standards. The track will witness a range of activities, from high power keynote addresses to interactive round table discussions, thereby providing participants with the essential knowledge take-away. The track will also be looking at some of the developments that have revolutionised the application of IT in learning and administrative facilities for higher education institutes across India.

Skill Development & Vocational Training With the global demand of having a formal structure in Key Participants skills and vocational training and  Vice-Chancellors, education in place, a strong need Principals, Directors, has been felt by the stakeholders Deans and Registrars to have a platform where certain  School Principals and pressing issues pertaining to skills Administrators, Teachers and vocational training could be and Trainers deliberated upon. Additionally, in  Policy-makers & the context of Vision 2020 and the Regulators years to come, India remains the  Senior Officials only country to provide the world from state and central with the largest youth population. education departments Hence, strengthening the skills  People from and vocation sector becomes International crucial. The industries across globe Development have to address the challenges Cooperation Agencies along with the policy makers  Representatives of with the consultation of various International Education stakeholders. In this background, Missions the track focuses on few thematic  CEOs, Technology - skills and information literacy, and Service Providers PM’s national skills mission, skills development and training, certification and quality assurance, role of training centres in providing youth employability, best practices in vocational education system, assessment methodologies of future skills demand and how to connect skills to markets requirements.

SPECIAL SESSIONS Principals’ Conclave One of the major highlights of the K-12 track is Principal’s Conclave. This year we are expecting around 100 principals pan India. The Principals will debate mull over the current issues related to digitisation/ICT, pedagogy (study of knowledge dissemination) and teaching learning process in school education.

The discussions will relate to issues such as Right to Education Act implementation and role of ICT; e-learning; online tests/ examinations; online assessments; utilisation of e-content in schools; abolition of Board examinations and introduction of grading systems; issues of ICT application for providing equity, access and quality to children across nation.

Vice Chancellor’s Conclave The Vice Chancellor’s Conclave will have discussions on emerging issues in ICT integration and higher education. The Conclave brings together Vice Chancellors from across higher education institutions in India to consider current approaches to fostering and harnessing innovation, creativity and technology in India, and to develop an agenda - for their teams, the sector and their own institutions and to make the most of such opportunities in the future.

The conclave is an attempt to deliberate on issues to formulate new policies and create a roadmap to help the country

attain a globally-recognised stature of excellence in terms of innovation and higher education. The goal is to enable higher education leaders to share best practices for supporting the academic mission and meeting the increasing demands on their IT organisations. The session will bring together higher education leaders for a series of debates that will explore future scenarios of the sector.

IGNOU Workshop: Strengthening capacities of educators: The ICT way The IGNOU workshop, facilitated by Indira Gandhi National Open University, will capture various strategies and processes involved in diversifying the reach of education. The workshop explores innovations in the education sector, challenges, opportunities in the field of community colleges, and employability & skill building of the youth in India. The session will also mull over the innovative and diverse ways of adapting technology to cater to the needs of the student community.

“I congratulate the CSDMS and Elets team for organising an event that would go a long way in helping the country achieve the MDG objectives of education and health… IGNOU is happy to partner with eINDIA 2010.”

PROF VN RAJASEKHARAN PILLAI VC, IGNOU

KEY SPEAKERS Sam Pitroda Advisor to the Prime Minister Government of India

D Purandeswari Minister of State Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India

Dr N Jadhav Member, Planning Commission Government of India

Smt Vibha Puri Das Secretary, Department of Higher Education Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India

Dr V S Ramamurthy Chairman Board of Governors, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi

Shri Subash C Khuntia Joint Secretary Ministry of Human Resource Development Government of India

Shri Sharda Prasad Joint Secretary & Director General Directorate General Employment & Training, Ministry of Labour & Employment Government of India

Shri N Ravi Shankar Joint Secretary e-Learning Group Ministry of Communications & Information Technology Department of Information Technology

Smt Chandana Khan Principal Secretary, School Education SSA Wing Government of Andhra Pradesh

Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai Vice Chancellor Indira Gandhi National Open University

Dr Latha Pillai Pro Vice Chancellor IGNOU

Dr S S Jena Chairman National Institute of Open Schooling Government of India

Shri Avinash Dikshit Commissioner Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan Government of India

Dr R Sreedher Director, CEMCA Common Wealth of Learning

Dr. M. D. Tiwari President Association of Indian Universities

... AND MORE

www.eINDIA.net.in

INDIA’S LARGEST ICT EVENT 4—6 AUGUST, 2010

HYDERABAD INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE HYDERABAD, INDIA

DELEGATE REGISTRATION

Registration fee includes taxes as applicable

Pre Registration Fee

Spot Registration Fee

Indian Delegates

INR 10,000

INR 15,000

Foreign Delegates

USD 225

USD 375

eINDIA 2010 IS POWERED BY

CONTACT DEL REGISTEGATE ENQURATION Priya S IRIES a

xena +9 199 registra 99349399 tion@e INDIA.n et.in

AM PROGRRIES ENQUI tta Kumar

e Du Rajeshre s.in e@csdm rajeshre 6 506 39 +91-9810

/ ORSHIP SPONS IES: IR U Q N EN IO IT IB EXH @elets.in ue, fahim Haq Fahimul 3277808 +91-987

eINDIA 2 Secretar010 iat G-4

, Se Noida - 2 ctor - 39, 0 Ph: +91-12 1301, UP, India 0 Fax: +91- -2502180-85 Email: info 120-2500060 @eINDIA .net.in

www.eINDIA.net.in

TECHNOgraphy eINDIA2010 Photography Competition

Showcasing the ICT Experience to the World In celebrating the true spirit of eINDIA2010, we invite amateurs and photographers to participate in the eINDIA2010 Photo Competition.

We are looking for unique and innovative ideas captured on camera, depicting out of the box use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for education, governance, health and developmental concerns.

Show us how simple gizmos to the latest gadgets have enhanced the value and productivity of mundane activities and percolated its usage to villages and small towns and metros.

Show the world how ICT has positively rendered to your life’s creative experiences, and that of others.

CLICK and Send your entries now...

Theme Harnessing ICT Potential for Development Selection Criterion Entries have to be unique and portray innovation in the usage of ICTs. We encourage entries to feature the use of ICTs at the grassroots.

Eligibility Participation open to all above the age of 18. eINDIA2010 Photo Exhibition Outstanding photographs will be displayed at the eINDIA2010 Photo Gallery Exhibition at eINDIA2010 Conference to be held between 4-6 August, 2010 at Hyderabad International Convention Center, Andhra Pradesh, India

Photo gallery will also be available on the website www.eINDIA.net.in

•

Don’t miss out on this exclusive opportunity to be a part of eINDIA2010, India’s largest ICT Event Last date for entry: 20th July, 2010

• •

Please Note No images supplied in hard-copy will • be accepted, only high resolution digital files will be accepted.

Acceptable entries will be from either • digital cameras or electronic scans supplied on CD.

•

•

All photographs need to be sent in high resolution JPEG format, 300 DPI. Entries will not be returned.

Any combination of black and white, color or digital prints may be submitted. Only photographic processes will be accepted.

All work submitted must be original, and completed in the last three years.

A maximum of 5 entries per person will be accepted.

All entries must be correctly labelled with your name, contact details and the location at which the each image was taken. Provide details in the following format: Name..................................................................................................................

Address.................................................. State..................................................

Country.................................................. Post Code..........................................

Tel........................................................... Fax.....................................................

Email ..................................................................................................................

Photograph Description....................................................................................... …........................................................................................................................ …........................................................................................................................

Send your entries to awards@eINDIA.net.in or eINDIA Secretariat elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd G-4, Sector 39, Noida - 201301 Uttar Pradesh, India Tel.: +91-120-2502180- 85 Fax: +91-120-2500060 For queries, contact Sheena Joseph Mob: +91-9971841718

Visit us at www.eINDIA.net.in

REPORT

Bringing Best Practices, Driving Knowledge Economy!

Conference Report on ‘The Role of Technology in 21st Century Education’ Venue: SKICC, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmirs digital LEARNING, the media partner for the event, shares a snapshot

Globalisation has provided a radically new dimension to the Education system across geographic boundaries governed by two main drivers of society: a) Continuous advances in information and communication technology; b) Speed and availability of knowledge and information in various formats.

Knowledge and learning have achieved a new level, so have the methodology to deliver and methodology to learn. Today knowledge is shared across the world on a click of mobile phone, on a click of mouse or on a television screen.

With the objective of bringing best practices and partnerships across the globe for the benefit of Indian education institutions, Global Knowledge Network Society in association with S. Chand Harcourt (India) Pvt Ltd and S Chand Group organised a conference on “The Role of Technology in 21st Century Education” at SKICC, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on April 24, 2010.

The conference was presided and inaugurated by Honourable Minister of Education and Public Enterprises, J&K Government, ShriPeerzada Mohammad Sayeed. The other distinguished guests of the conference were Shri Ashok Ganguly, Former Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, Desh Bandhu Gupta, Chairman, J&K State Board of School Education, Shagufta Parveen, Director, Department of School Education, J&K, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, Secretary, J&K State Board of School Education. The Conference was attended by 150 school principals from across Jammu & Kashmir.

After the welcome address by Navin Joshi, Vice President (publishing), S Chand Publishing, Amit Gupta, CEO & Director, S Chand Group, introduced the conference to the distinguished guests by highlighting the importance of blended teaching and learning approach. He urged 16

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the august delegates comprising of 150 school principals to provide their teachers and educators with flexible technology aided educational solution tailored to the unique needs of students. Shri Ashok Ganguly, in his keynote address shared that technology has penetrated across governance, businesses, social network, personal domains and educational space.

He stated that India is fast emerging as one of the major service providers to global business ventures, therefore there is a need to build a ‘Quality Quadrangle’ consisting of Knowledge, Skills, Attitude and Value. There is a strong need to redefine pedagogy and learning and delivery methods. He emphasised on remedial teaching equipped with right technology. He also insisted and urged the school leaders to share the best practices across and to draw a roadmap guided by the National Curriculum Framework 2005 providing right direction to students, structuring the classroom curriculum, harnessing the use of technology and engaging the stakeholders.

The Honourable Minister shared with the distinguished delegates that today’s economy is a knowledge driven economy.

The process of knowledge acquisition and creation has witnessed tremendous changes in the past two decades due to the growth of technology. Globalisation and advancement in technology are driving changes in the social, technological, economical, environmental and political landscapes at an unprecedented rate and magnitude. In order to drive the 21st century digital economy, teaching – learning activities need to address the learning requirements of the students.

Technology can be one of the catalysts for bringing about a change in learning environment, all students should be able to learn. He felt that training of teachers and empowering them to be able to use the tools and technology effectively in their teaching practices with organised multimedia content based on sound pedagogical approach will help in constructing new ideas based on their existing knowledge.

A workshop was conducted post lunch with discussions focusing on the use of technology in Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation. Amit Gupta concluded the conference by sharing a way ahead. \\

CASE STUDY

ICT in Education @ National Institute of Open Schooling www.nios.ac.in

Usage of ICT for facilitating learning definitely is a thrust area for enhancing the quality of courses offered by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS).

The focus in recent years has been a transition from print-based instruction system to the ICT supported instruction dissemination.

NIOS took a significant step of providing the facility of On-line Registration for admissions and on-demand examinations under the NIOS Online (Ni-On) Project.

NIOS ONLINE (NI-ON) PROJECT The Ni On Project, a unique initiative in the field of school education, which is conceptualised to enable NIOS to move in the direction of e-governance so that it could provide better educational services to its learners as a service provider and also improve efficiency, transparency, accountability and cost effectiveness with high quality. Such an e-governance initiative has not only helped to bring about a structural transformation of NIOS to a higher level of openness in education but also allows NIOS to play a lead role in the horizontal transfer of this technology to other State Open Schools and Open and Distance learning institutions of developing world. This Project was launched on 3rd July 2007 with the in-

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Salient features of Online Admission Admission process made simpler and faster Freedom to select Study Centers of choice through a computerized system on a First Come First Served Basis Admission open throughout the year Improved Learner Support Services and faster redressal of problems Easy payment of fee online through Credit Card or Bank Draft

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built mechanism for Online Admissions to NIOS, through online submission of application form available on the NIOS website. This gave learners the freedom to access education from anywhere in India, at any time without involving any outside agents.

From the year 2010-11, the NIOS has introduced 100% On-line admission to facilitate learners to register themselves with it.

For the detailed procedure for On-Line admission and other details, learners may log on to the NIOS website www. nios.ac.in Under Ni-On, a Learner Support Centre (LSC) is functional in NIOS to address the problems of online learners related to admissions, examinations etc.

The Ni-On Project of NIOS won the National Award for e-Governance 2008-09 instituted by the Department of Administrative Reforms and Public Grievances and Department of Information Technology, Government of India.

ON-DEMAND EXAMINATION SCHEME (ODES) To introduce greater flexibility in the system, the NIOS has introduced the OnDemand Examination System (ODES).

Under the system of ODE, a set of question papers having defined number of items is generated randomly by the computer out of the already developed question bank on the basis of question paper design and the blue print of the subject as and when demanded. All such generated Question Papers are different with the same difficulty level.

A number of items having comparable Block for Online Admission I Block II Block

difficulty level are developed for each activated/marked cells of the blue print.

These questions covered in the item bank test learning objectives under knowledge, understanding, application and skill competencies of a student.

For identification, all these items are given a code indicating the subject, the content area to which the item belongs, the objective being tested, the type of question, the marks allocated to the item and the serial number of the item.

In contrast to the conventional examination pattern in which a learner has no choice with regard to dates and timings of examination, this novel concept introduced by the National Institute of Open Schooling gives freedom to learners to appear in the examination in the subject(s) of their choice whenever they feel confident about taking an examination.

ODE is being conducted in the NIOS headquarters at NOIDA as well as all its regional centres. The results are made available on the NIOS website within a period of about one month.

Submission of examination fee can also be made on-line by the learners.

ON-LINE COURSE MATERIAL The entire NIOS course material is available on the NIOS website for the benefit of its learners. The syllabus, Tutor Marked Assignments as well as question papers of previous examinations held are also available on the website.

Interaction of learners with the NIOS has been facilitated through e-mail and ‘Ask Your Teacher’ provided on the website.

Dates for Online Admission 1 March 2010 to 31 August 2010 1 September To 28 Feb.2011

Examination in which students can appear First time in the next year April/May 2011 First time in Oct./ November 2011

Under this scheme, there are four streams of On-line admission catering to learners with different needs.

• Stream 1 : is open to all learners as per the laid down eligibility criteria for Secondary and Senior Secondary level.

• Stream 2 : is open from 20.05.2010 to 20.07.2010 for all those learners who had appeared but could not clear the Public Examination of Secondary/ Senior Secondary levels from selected examination Boards.

Learners will be eligible to appear in the October/ November 2010 Public Examinations of NIOS. • Stream 3 : open throughout the year for learners wanting to appear in On-Demand Examination System(ODES) of NIOS for Secondary Level.

• Stream 4 : open throughout the year for learners wanting to appear in On-Demand Examination System(ODES) OF NIOS for Senior Secondary Level.

OTHER AREAS OF IT APPLICATIONS Proper connectivity is established with the NIOS Regional Centres for better and effective communication services.

The student information system beginning from registration to certification has been computerised. So also are the

processes of registration, scanning of admission forms, pre-examination work, conduct of exam, secrecy work, spot evaluation result processing and result declaration.

LEARNER SUPPORT CENTRE (LSC) Under the NIOS on-line initiatives, a Learner Support Centre (LSC)is established to address the grievances of the learners, be it for admission, examination result, TMA, issue of Identity Cards, general counseling etc. The LSC functions on the pattern of a call centre with the on-line support of counselling engaged as the expert executives. The LSC functions with the support of toll free call at 1800 180 9393 by the caller.

Initially the learners connect to the IVRS and facilited by the voice recorder for any queries. In case the learner intends to have additional information, she/he is connected to the counselor known as executives. The learners can obtain the

information by sending an e-mail to lsc@ nios.ac.in. The reply is sent instantly by the on-line experts.

ON-LINE APPLICATIONS FOR ACCREDITATION The NIOS has introduced the eaccreditation process for choosing its partner institutions, popularly known as AIs and AVIs, by inviting online application. This milestone is achieved to obtain accurate information related to accreditation of institutions. The compiled information of the accredited institutions has been also placed on the website for information of enhanced accessibility of the learners. Even though most of the governance activities are supported by the ICT in the institute, lot more grounds are yet to be covered to ensure the learning activities are also predominantly supported by ICT. The institute is in the process of developing on-line based learning with well designed LMS. \\

IT RELATED SUBJECTS/COURSES OFFERED BY THE NIOS NIOS has been offering the following courses to support ICT based learning.

Data Entry Operation (Stand alone course with Secondary & Senior Secondary • level) Computer Science ( Stand alone course with Senior secondary level) • Certificate in Computer and Office Applications • Certificate in Hardware Assembly and Maintenance • Certificate in Basic Computing • Certificate in Advanced Web Designing • Certificate in Desk Top Publishing • Certificate in IT Essentials : PC Hardware and Software •

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COVER STORY

Right to Education and Role of Technology YUKTI PAHWA

The historic Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 was passed by Parliament in August 2009. The main aim of the act was to provide a legal framework that supports education of a descent quality for all the children in India, between the ages of 6-14 years. This framework was laid on the principals of equity, access and quality. The objective of the act was to enable children to get free and compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education.

The act was to provide for a stress free environment and anxiety free education with prohibition of corporal punishment. It was to acknowledge the duties and responsibilities that teachers are to follow, establishing a system of accountability and ensuring that students get maximum benefits from the teachinglearning process. The act turned into a law on April 1, 2010, marking a victory long deserved by Indian children. The law is not applicable in state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Some of the key features of the act explain that all Indian children are to receive free and compulsory education in age group of six to 14 years; even if a child above six years was not admitted in any school or for some reason wasn’t able to complete the elementary stage education, she/ he would be entitled to age appropriate education and will be admitted in class in accordance to her/ his age and will be given privileges of completing elementary education even after 14 years of age; no child will be denied admission due to unavailability of age proof; certification will be given to children after completion of elementary education; proper infrastructure in schools which otherwise have to be upgraded within three years or school loses its recognition; the law demands a fixed/ desirable teacher student ratio; private schools are to provide for 25%

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reservation for children from economically disadvantaged communities; quality of education and access need to improved; school teachers need to be qualified in order to teach or gain a degree within five years or lose their jobs; and the cost of educating children will be borne by state and central government. The proposed ratio is 45:55.

Information and Communication Technology may provide quality, equity and access to children in addition to supporting teaching-learning process in regions where teacher shortage or teacher-student ration is a matter of concern; multimedia is included for supporting best practices for imparting education; and implementation of costeffective ways for reaching all children

Anshul Sonak, South Asia Education Manager, Intel

in the country and making RTE a reality.

Principals from around twenty five schools were interviewed about their opinion about the implementation of information and communication technology. One a three degree scale (many, some and few), the observations made have been listed below in bold.

To begin with, majority of the heads of the schools described ICT as a power that can help each and every child access education. A country where basic nutrition is unavailable; basic amenities such as water, food and toilets are unavailable; where we have high mortality, where we can not avail electricity or facilities of telecommunications, it is fair to say that access to education is a major concern.

RTE in collaboration with schemes

RTE is a big bold step and making it a reality will require not just huge infrastructural support but also capacity building at all levels be in teachers, administrators or policy makers. I strongly believe that technology can play a big role here in making education more accessible, attractive, affordable and applicable to real life for all the children around the country. Scale of RTE implementation also throws governance challenges on our system and appropriate technology based governance models can help achieve the goals more effectively.

K Anvar Sadath, Executive Director, IT @ School Project Department of General Education, Government of Kerala

From our experience, Government of Kerala had integrated ICT in education sector in a holistic way by integrating capacity building, infrastructure upgradation, content, connectivity along with e-governance applications.

The dedicated programme -IT@School project covers all these aspects in a detailed and meticulous manner. When it comes to Right to Education, there has to be a universal emphasis on Content especially for the marginally and differentially abled to be at par with the regular stream with programmes such as ‘Insight’ programme of Govt of Kerala for visually challenged teachers and students. Various e-Governance programmes and School Management Systems are also being looked at with this perspective. Through an efficient School Management System, that has a unique numbering system for each child, we can track the activities of each child even in remote locations. The School Mapping process which is being rolled out would enable to locate the schools, the distance between each school, the distance between dwelling locations etc, using a district level mapping using base maps. The Project is also ensuring the availability of teachers’ subject wise and is also implementing the SPARK (Service and Payroll Administrative Repository for Kerala) programme within the General Education Department.

All these applications are done using free software, thereby enabling anyone to customize as per their requirement and to replicate the process in other states as well. Content sharing along with experience sharing would also be possible between different states through this common repository.

ICT helps in implementation of right to education by being universally accessible to every individual, irrespective of age and qualification to learn at one’s own pace.

Kasireddy Narayan Reddy, Director, Brilliant Grammar High School Dilsukhnagar

“

Dr Shanker Aiah, Director, White Feathers School

Dr. Sreelatha, Head Mistress, Brilliant Grammar High School, Narayanaguda

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Madhavi Chandra, Principal, Gitanjali Devshala

Usage of ICT itself provides a greater access to better education and Right to education can be implementation with the best productivity by better and faster accessibility areas and achieve the targets provided systematised application of ICT in RTE.

Online courses are a form of distance learning. The courses are portable and available where you are.

You don’t have to go somewhere to take the course; it comes to you.

You can access an online course at the time and place that is most convenient to you. You can move around, be transferred anywhere in the world or travel extensively and still access online classes.

such as Integrated Child Development Services and Mid-day meal services, access and delivery of education to children across India can be made possible though ICT.

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Right to Education bill stipulates that every child in our country should have access to basic education ICT can provide an audio visual medium to which all have access.

Not all children are enrolled in schools.

Many are high school dropouts. This could be due to poverty and illiteracy of the family.

Sometimes proximity to a school also could play a role. ICT makes convenient the study for students anywhere and at anytime. The quality of education too will not be compromised. It can help maintain uniformity and standard.

”

Adeeb Muneer, Headmistress, Sunrise High school

It can help make education become cost effective, flexible to reach children at any time and any place, help reduce drop-out rate, universal and cut across all the barriers.

Many Principals talked about equity as a benefit of using ICT for rolling out RTE. There is a lot of disparity in our society based on race, caste, creed, economic status, colour, gender, social status and so on. Unfortunately, same is visible in field of education also. Prejudices exist within school education system that are difficult to eliminate, which further makes it is difficult to bring all children at power with one another.

Discrimination on the bases of economic status of the family from which a child is being admitted and the caste (SC/ST/OBC, so-called disadvantaged group) is noticeably common across schools.

An attempt to deal with the issue is the 25% reservations in private schools for the children from backward social groups.

Although what attempts are being made within government schools is still questionable.

Will future witness 100% reservations at the government school, with government taking full liability of addressing educational needs of all children in country, is another question that comes into focus while addressing issue of equity.

Some principals also mentioned that the engagement of students in learning of essence of imparting education.

Creating interest amongst students is important so that they become useful and productive members of society, willingly.

RTE is important and will be easily implemented if children themselves show an understanding and willingness to learn.

D Usha Reddy, Principal, Meridian School

It would help the less privileged students from economically backward classes of the society and those living in rural areas where there is a scarcity of good schools to access education through distance learning.

Even in cities where 25% of students are to be from less privileged class, ICT could lessen the social and emotional barrier between the privileged and underprivileged students.

Deployment of education becomes easy amongst all students if they are ready to receive. ICT tools make the process of dissemination of education easy and help in creating awareness about RTE itself.

Implementing the Right to education will become much easier with the help of ICT. ICT will be able to reach each and every part of the society.

Uzma Ansari, Principal, Vision Academy Upper Primary School

ICT can play a major role, since children like to attend a school which makes their learning interesting and creative.

Venkata Suresh L- Principal, Intern ational School

We can bring about awareness among the students about the RTE through ICT. Fr. M.A.Alex SJ, Principal, St. Patrick’s High School

Since ICT involves no infrastructure or fee, it is easily accessible to all devoid of all discriminations.

At the same time in this method of teaching-lear ning process depends on students’ interest alone without any kind of barriers.

ICT is indeed supportive.

K Sujatha, Principal, JNR Patashala

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ICT facilitates wider range of communication to far –off and remote places also.

Education can reach to places where geographical and physical features, location of the place do not permit, crossing all barriers and boundaries. People can enjoy the fundamental right to education irrespective of caste, creed, religion and location.

It will help to tap the Natural talent – a resource existing in all parts of our country.

It will not take long to make India a truly digitalised.

Sree Ranjani, Principal, Narayana Concept School

ICT can play a partial role in making education motivating and attractive. It can also play a support role in maintaining data and digital documentation.

However, the human factor would and Lt Col BG Ray, should play the prime Principal, Orchids The International role.

School

“ICT CAN PLAY AN IMPORTANT ROLE IN IMPLEMENTATION OF RTE” It is expected that ICT would revolutionalise the Education sector. ICT would improve the quality of teaching in a big way. Self learning will be much easier through ICT medium. Distance Education will have immense possibilities. Teacher’s development and continuous improvement will be easier with the use of ICT .Educational administration and maintenance of Educational statistics will be more effective. The assessment and evaluation of students will be facilitated Examinations can be made more flexible because of ICT and on demand examinations will be possible. ICT will be a boon for the education of the disabled ICT will also greatly boost the access and equity aspects of education.

As knowledge accumulation and application begin to play a bigger role in economic development and as comparative advantage among nations becomes more and more a function of technical innovation and use of knowledge (rather than natural resources), the priority for building up an educated and skilled workforce escalates greatly.

Information and communication technologies, in particular, have the potential to multiply access to learning opportunities to those who most need them, including hard-to-reach populations, students with disability, and out-of-school youth. Such technologies can also play an important role in improving the quality of teaching, and thus learning, outcomes. To ensure their full participation in knowledge-driven development, countries need to build their human capital and adapt their entire education system to the new challenges of the ‘learning’ economy. Education plays a critical role in supporting knowledge-driven economic growth strategies in two complementary ways: (a) through the formation of a strong human capital base and (b) by contributing to the construction of an effective national innovation system.’ There is a short pronouncement of the importance of ‘Using information technologies to strengthen education outcomes.’ Most people will agree that information and communication technology (ICT) is now part and parcel of our lives in the 21st Century, barring some exceptions in very remote areas where the local communities are still isolated from events beyond the confines of their villages. But even for them, the march of ‘progress’ is pounding at their doorsteps, with or without their consent. So, can ICT help to solve these problems? I believe it can. The benefits of ICT in education are multifold, as can be seen below: • Expand educational opportunities by making education available anywhere, anytime and to everyone.

• Improve learning outcomes by making learning more interactive and getting learners more involved in the subject matter.

• Improve motivation to learn by improving relevance of content and making learning more fun.

• Enable education to be tailored to individual learning needs and abilities.

• Enable locally relevant teaching materials, in local languages, to be created and disseminated quickly and affordable manner.

• Facilitate technology-skill formation, team-work abilities and other ‘21st Century Skills’ among learners.

• Bring about pedagogical improvements and learner-centered teaching.

• Provide conditions that permit and promote lifelong learning.

• Increase the effectiveness and efficiency of education planning and delivery.

Jean Innis, Head Mistress, Rockwell International School

Some Principals laid emphasis on absence of teachers, poor teacher student ratio, employment of untrained teachers, lack of standardised teaching methods and lack of teacher reach to all children as a major challenge that RTE might face. ICT can help overcome problem of trained teacher shortage. ICT will enable a greater out-reach and can facilitate comparatively a more standardised way of imparting education, as is evident from the views expressed by the respondents.

Few of the principals, explained that technology provides us with a powerful tool to engage in learning process. It helps teachers to elaborate in an efficient manner and supports beneficial explanation of concepts to students. Especially in case of subjects such as mathematics and science. RTE is about ensuring that children in the given age group are taught the basics fundamentals of concepts across subjects and technology in such a scenario becomes a boon to teachers.

Besides the above factors, few Principals talked about ICT enabling the schools to create resource centres, easy assessment, providing education that will increase employable skills of children a reality and support the target of RTE in making children literate members of the society, certified for certain skills.

OPPORTUNITIES & CHALLENGES There are other opportunities and challenges that RTE execution presents to us. While the RTE does makes provision of education for all children without disparity, it also aims at creating equality and eradicating the issue of child labour in the country. It also provides us the opportunity to improve quality and standard of education.

However, the road to RTE is not without hurddles. The challenges include identifying the right beneficiaries, upgrading infrastructure at required levels, upgrading school to include ICT tools and equipments, tap on open and distance learning models for execution of the law, remove any discrimination, creating

ICT can play a major role in implementation of Right To Education as a lot of teaching can go on without the teacher being physically present there although for that to happen, a large populace will first have to be trained to be computer literate.

Ramandeep Kaur Samra, Principal, Hyderabad Public School, Ramanthapur

ICT is an important tool for the implementation of right to education. In the far off villages, where there is a single teacher trend; it’s useful in such places. Children can be taught through this technology & made capable of dealing day to day life.

Fatima Farooqui, Principal, Mount Mercy School

ICT will be able to provide quick, accurate and standardised content to its end users i.e., pupils and teachers if used correctly, The e-classroom concept will also help in monitoring and regulating teachers in remote areas, thus helping to provide quality education which will be standardised and with equitable distribution across the entire spectrum of our society.

Madhubala Kapoor, Principal, NASR School, Hyderabad

I believe Technology is a powerful learning tool and it also provides new ways to engage students in a new learning environment. Technology can be used both for Class Room Teaching as well as Assessment of students (like recently implemented by CBSE through CCE) Information and Communication Technology will help bring students and teachers close to each other through audio & video counseling.

It will also develop Learning Resource Centers in remote areas.

ICT will also make it possible for teachers of these remote areas to develop their professional qualifications.

Chhaya Khanna, Principal, Scholars Home Sr.Sec.School, Dehradun

standardised content, and last but not the least, sustaining the implementation of the law throughout the country. //

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IGNOU-UNESCO SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

LAST DATE FOR REGISTRATION IS JULY 25,2010

FOR HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS OF THE INDIAN 11TH STANDARD/CLASS OR EQUIVALENT IN ALL SAARC COUNTRIES.

Indira Gandhi National Open University(IGNOU),New Delhi and the South Asia Regional Office of the United Nations Educational ,Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO),New Delhi are cosponsoring a Science Olympiad for Science Students currently enrolled in India's 11th standard/class or Equivalent in south Asian countries - Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri-Lanka. All students who have scored a minimum of 70% average in Mathematics,Physics,Chemistry and Biology in the terminal examination of the 10th Standard/Class or Equivalent are eligible to participate .Physics,Chemistry and Biology in the terminal examination of 10th standard /class or equivalent are eligible to participate .Physics,Chemistry and Biology as single subject of science accepted. They should register for participation in this Olympiad along with a recent photograph on their application ,a certification for having obtained a minimum of 70% average in the science subjects of their 10th standard/class examination and a token fee of Indian Rs 50\-(fifty only) Registration can be done in a performa found in the website of IGNOU and UNESCO. School principals/authorities are requested to promote the participation of all bright students and forward the applications from their respective schools along with a demand draft/credit card authorization. Successful participants will receive certificates of merit ,medals,cash prizes and awards. Top 1000 participants will be given IGNOU-UNESCO accredited merit certificates. About 30-40 meritorious participants from all SAARC countries will be invited to IGNOU ,New Delhi to take the Second test and receive the awards in person in a special award ceremony.

INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY, MAIDAN GARHI, NEW DELHI-110068

UNESCO HOUSE B-5/29, SAFDARJUNG ENCLAVE, NEW DELHI-110029

For details and electronic registration please refer to the following websites: http://www.ignou.ac.in/click IGNOU UNESCO Science Olympiad or http://scienceolympiad.ignou.ac.in http://portal.unesco.org/geography/en/ev.php-URL_ID=6022&URL_DOTOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

MOBILE APPLICATION COMPETITION BY KHALIFA UNIVERSITY The fifth annual Mobile Application Contest (MAC) was hosted by Khalifa University of Science, Technology and Research (KUSTAR) at the Park Rotana Hotel, Abu Dhabi. Students from nine universities across the UAE and the region participated in this year’s competition and displayed 15 innovative projects in the Mobile phone applications field. The competition this year showcased a heightened level of technical development among participants.

US EDUCATION INITIATIVE RECEIVES FUNDS FROM INVESTMENT GURU Peter Lynch, the legendary investor, is donating US$20 million to train school principals in Boston, in order to make them equipped with the latest in a growing list of high net worth individuals to publicly champion philanthropy. Lynch, now vice chairman of Fidelity Management and Research Co.,and his wife, Carolyn, have long funded educational initiatives through the Lynch Foundation, their philanthropic organization. The Fellow principals will be selected from Boston’s 135 public schools, 16 charter schools and 135 parochial schools.

QUEENSLAND EDUCATION RECEIVES A MASSIVE INVESTMENT $9.5 billion education and training budget this year has been detailed-out by the Bligh Government. This is a massive investment that implies more kindergardens, sooner, and extra teachers and teacher’s aides

WINNERS OF REPUBLICAN ‘E-EDUCATION’ CONTEST DECLARED The Office of Information Systems of the Azerbaijani Ministry of Education recently, announced the winners of the republican contest ‘E-education’. The competition was conducted in two directions, ‘Internet Technologies in Education’ and ‘E-learning resources in the modern school.’ Winners were announced along the categories including Internet Resources in Education and Blogs of teachers. About 810 projects were presented at the contest. About 89 were chosen. Laptops and other special awards were given to the winners of each of the five nominations received.

ICT FACILITIES TO 2000 MORE UNIONS In order to build on the government’s vision to develop ‘Digital Bangladesh’ by 2021, ICT facilities will be provided to 2000 more unions in the country by this year, to reach such facilities to the rural people. Mohammad Nazrul Islam Khan, National Project Director of Access to Information (A2I) Programme under the Prime Minister’s Office mentioned that government also has plans to set up union information centres (UICs) in all 4484 unions by 2011 with a view of bringing the country’s total population under ICT facilities.

on the education frontline. Education and Training Minister Geoff Wilson mentioned the investment amounted to almost a quarter of the entire State Budget.

UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATIONS GO MOBILE The United Nations announced the release of United Nations e-book applications for the iPhone and the iPad, as well as e-books for Amazon’s Kindle, that will give users easy access to offline reading and reference on global issues.

The release coincides with the sixty-fifth anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter, which marked the birth of the United Nations.

SIIA RELEASES TRENDS REPORT ON K-12 AND POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION TECHNOLOGY An announcement was made by the Education Division of the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) regarding the release of its most recent report on the K-12 and postsecondary education technology markets – officially titled the SIIA Trends Report for Education Technology.

The report speaks of industry shifts and emerging trends as they relate to five main topics: K-12 learning management systems, post secondary learning management systems, online learning, state of the states, and mobile computing, authored by various members of the education industry.

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INTERVIEW

Futuristic Schooling System www.genesisglobalschool.com

Yukti Pahwa in conversation with Pramod Sharma, who brings with him an illustrious career in education spanning 37 years to the school. He was awarded the National Award for Teachers by the President of India.

He has served as Principal for over 2 decades across various institutions, including the T N Academy-Gangtok, Yadavindra Public School- Patiala and Mayo College-Ajmer.

PRAMOD SHARMA DIRECTOR GENESIS GLOBAL SCHOOL

Please tell us about the international collaborations your school has engaged in.

Genesis Global School is running in collaboration with Clifton College, U.K. and L’Ermitage International School of France in Paris. Principals of both these schools are on board of this school.There is a continuous exchange of teachers to understand the best practices across nations. Taking internationalism further, we have created a room for video conferencing, mostly famous with the corporates. In school education, this is being experimented with for the first time. I am in touch with few schools, who will be engaging in the project by replicating what we are doing and then we will together measure the success of the project by sharing presentations and information. So the process becomes multi-dimensional.

I am aiming to introduce ability to understand perceptions of others and self in various contexts amongst my students and eventually community.

Example understanding of an Indian child

of concept of pollution, where there are lots of industry, will be very different child who lives on an island, next to sea. So I want my children to understand that perceptions of the same problem could be different and we must appreciate it.

I feel understanding perceptions is one of the philosophical points that I want to stress on.

What is your understanding of role of ICT implementation, RTE and inclusion.

ICT is to play a major role for execution of RTE. RTE, nobody can deny its need, the only challenge is terms of implementation, which will smooth out over years. But its more important to get factors such as blackboards and teachers presence, in place.

At the moment, government has taken a softer route out by asking private school to bear part of the cost, along with the government. But the other aspects of the RTE that need emphasis should be checked. They say that 25% seats need to be reserved but what happens in government schools, shouldn’t 100% seats be reserved for the neighborhood children, because it is totally owned by government.

Your opinion about the opportunities and challenges that ICT use represents to education sector.

It does not hinder in anyway because it is important for faculty and students to be trained in ICT. We now have interactive

whiteboards in every single class. So students can take computer aided learning to next higher level.

We also have school management system which will be digitalised. Teachers from varying background but for them to gel as a team, understand and work for implementation of the philosophy of the school is the challenge that we see before us, at this point of time. For instance, we have computer science syllabus adopted from CIPP (Cambridge International Primary Programme) as a early programme and we are also affiliated to CBSE. So computer science as a subject has been taken up on these lines.

While choosing ICT enabled infrastructure, what helped you zero down on a vendor for your school infrastructure?

All the products look fascinating but for me the proof of a vendor is backing of a happy school where their products have been implemented.

Many products are there in the market, lots of things are promised and we also fall for the big names in the market, there are assumptions that it would be good. But such is not the case always.

We have gone to an unknown vendor from UK, which is providing services to a few school, not many. But we can not discredit the big names also. We also have some e-solutions from S.Chand, for a few subjects across fourth to eight standards. \\ digital LEARNING

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Tech @ Hyderabad Schools YUKTI PAHWA VISHAL KUMAR

Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh is one of the major hub cities of India for Indian information technology industry, ranging from pharmaceutics to biotechnology and entertainment industry of India. It is home to many prestigious educational institutions, both in higher education and school education. The education in Hyderabad is booming with utilisation of best practices in teaching-learning process.

This article is a outlook of Principals of various eminent schools in Hyderabad on issues of Information and Communication Technology integration in course and curriculum of the school, digitalisation of education content and online learning.

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Sunrise High School

Meridian School

ADEEB MUNEER

D USHA REDDY

HEADMISTRESS, SUNRISE HIGH SCHOOL

PRINCIPAL, MERIDIAN SCHOOL

Integrating ICT in Course and Curriculum ICT is now an important tool in the process of education.

Drastic and quick changes in the field of technology have made it vital for every school to keep up with the changing world. It eases imparting of education and provides enhanced flexibility and efficiency throughout the learning process.

Benefits and Limitations of Open Source eContent Benefits There is hands-on-information access to the teacher • as well as the student • It promotes interactive learning The relevant data is stored over long years and can be • regularly updated with ease • Improves communication between management and teachers • There is easy transverse learning • The child can keep up with the pace of an ever changing technology from an early age • Customized curriculum can be adapted in keeping with the child’s individual needs • The process of evaluation results in fewer errors • The process of examination is easy and environment friendly saving a lot of paper.

• Promotes distance learning • Provides improvements in designing lesson plans, schedules, etc.

Limitations • Could potentially result in a dependency, that limits the child’s intellect • The writing/art skills of the child become restricted • Investment, security and maintenance is a concern Infrastructure problems can interrupt the smooth flow • of the program.

Online Examinations Digitised school examinations will lessen the burden of the teacher and the management. The evaluation will be quicker and relatively more accurate. However, it will effect the writing and creative skills of the child significantly. \\

Integrating ICT in Course and Curriculum Integration provides classroom teaching with latest technology and helps the children to understand concepts not only theoretically but also in an experimental way by virtually simulating the concepts using latest software packages. A new generation of students can be created who will be knowledgeable digital citizens. After training teachers will have professional development. There will be rich curriculum content. There can be collaborative research. Both teachers and students will have access to quality information.

Benefits and Limitations of Open Source eContent The benefits of open source: Provides global exposure to students • Students can upload their ideas, creativity and • contribute to the open source Sometimes very simple solution to complex problems • can be found Information freely available and easily accessible • • Continuous feedback makes activity dynamic Limitations of open source: • Very vast; students can get lost in the ocean of web pages • Very insecure; can lead to virus and security threats With many versions of solutions available students • can get confused With content being continuously changing and being • upgraded students are expected to keep themselves abreast with the latest technology Infrastructure could be the biggest limitation.

• Online Examinations It would be of a good option as it would provide paperless environment, uniformity in pattern, fast communication and results. It would be less costly, transparent and secure.

However, on the other hand there are many drawbacks including huge investment, technical snags, a good system administrator is needed to continually monitor the network, technical glitches and time management has to be perfect. \\

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Mount Mercy School

Rockwell International School

PRINCIPAL, MOUNT MERCY SCHOOL

ICT for Education @ School Integrating ICT in school course and curriculum is the need of the hour. If we fail to do so we will lag behind. The benefits are many like teacher will save time in searching and downloading the required information and the same time can be utilised in organising the classes & helping the children.

Online Examinations Its good idea on making school examination digitalised.

It lessen the burden of the children as well as the teachers.

Its time saving & they learn time management. \\

JNR Patashala

K SUJATHA PRINCIPAL, JNR PATASHALA

ICT for Education @ School It is a good move as we will be saving a lot of paper & thus helping save the environment.

Digitised Content Usage Children are free to do their homework & projects at any time that is convenient to them. At the same time the teaching personnel also will have sufficient work & will get duly paid. Preparing the content for digital learning is more challenging & requires greater expertise.

Online Examinations It is a very good way of testing as the same standard would be maintained through out the country & at the same time there will be lesser malpractices involved. \\

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JEAN INNIS HEAD MISTRESS, ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

ICT integration in Course and Curriculum Modern technology offers many means of improving teaching and learning in the classroom. New technologies have the potential to support education across the curriculum and provide opportunities for effective communication between teachers and students in ways that have not been possible before no one is component in itself to provide good teaching however the presence of all components increases the possibility of excellent integration of ICT in learning and teaching opportunities.

ICT can present information to students and help them complete their learning tasks. Five factors that influence the likelihood that good ICT learning opportunities will develop in schools: ICT Resourcing, ITC leadership, ITC teaching, School leadership and general teaching. The integration of new technology into education varies from curriculum to curriculum, place to place and class to class, depending on the ways in which t is applied. It could positively increase a deeper understanding of principles and concepts and could be used to provide new authentic, interesting, motivating and successful educational activities.

Online Examinations Online testing is becoming more popular as a method of evaluating student performance, but this form of testing has its pros and cons. Connectivity can be a serious disadvantage of online testing. When a school conducts testing online it eliminates the need for some costly resources. This can result is a reduced need for faculty and staff. A great advantage of online testing is its accessibility to students with disabilities. Computers can be customised to cater to those with various physical disabilities in order to place them on a level playing field with other students, blind students can test using a Braille keyboard, and text may be enlarged for those who have difficulty seeing small print. Software can also be installed on a computer that allows students to hear questions or instructions through speakers if they are unable to see the screen. \\

Venus High School

NASR School

HIDAYAT AI KHAN

MADHUBALA KAPOOR

DIRECTOR, VENUS HIGH SCHOOL

PRINCIPAL, NASR SCHOOL, HYDERABAD

ICT integration in Course and Curriculum It is absolutely important to keep ourselves in pace with the modern techniques and trends. Students at any cost are to be updated with the latest in technology and obviously schools lay a foundation stone for that. It will not only enable the students to carry out extensive research in the lab for gathering updated and detailed information connected to their syllabus but also makes the teaching par excellence.

It also helps the teachers and students to go for research in the updated techniques and trends of the ever changing teaching and learning process so that the modern day needs are met with and also time, energy and money is saved .Computer literacy has become a pact and parcel of one’s life for instance job search, future preparation for the child, and helping the child with building blocks of overall knowledge. Its a positive approach indeed for making teaching learning extra interactive and interesting.

Open Source eContent Open resource digitised contact is very eye-catching source for teaching learning purpose. Especially in the field of language learning. This is highly recommendable. It makes the most difficult and boring subjects consisting of true some questions easy and interesting.

Open resource digitised contact is very eyecatching source for teaching learning purpose.

Especially in the field of language learning.

Online Examinations Making school examination digitised or having in schools online examinations can lesson the curse of copying or leakage of question paper. Man copying can be ousted as each student will be getting a different set of question where in he will be fixed his own potential and knowledge and understanding or capability of the particular subject.

Correct analysis and assessment of the students knowledge and understanding can be mapped going very little or no room to false calculations or interpretations. \\

Integrating ICT in course and curriculum It is vital to embrace the integration of ICT in school course and curriculum in this digital age. However this thrust must be implemented in a planned, phased and a coordinated manner. The core values of school education must be preserved, yet ICT must be integrated into the fundamentals. This will yield the right result eventually.

Benefits and Limitations of Open Source eContent The potential benefit of open source digitized content freely available is just that it is freely available. The limitations include lack of standardisation, poor control over end users, the potential for abuse in a very impressionable and fertile young mind and difficulty in accessing the right information.

Enthusiasm to digitise everything must be tempered by the part that certain vital aspects of testing may be overlooked. The abilities to write, draw diagrams and their ideas must not be neglected. However multiple choice questions as a part of routine evaluation for internal assessment can be digitalised.

Online Examinations Making school examinations digitalised or having online examination must be restricted to the high classes and possibly only to certain elements of the examination process as a whole. Enthusiasm to digitize everything must be tempered by the part that certain vital aspects of testing may be overlooked. The abilities to write, draw diagrams and their ideas must not be neglected. However multiple choice questions as a part of routine evaluation for internal assessment can be digitalised. In the primary school and infact till the 8th standard children must be encouraged to write on their own. Any effort to change the examinations process there will impede their ability to grow naturally. \\

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Gitanjali Devshala

Wisdom The Global Concept School

MADHAVI CHANDRA PRINCIPAL, GITANJALI DEVSHALA

ICT for Education @ School ICT plays a very important role in the 21st Century Classroom. Today’s children, being exposed to various forms of technology need this kind of stimulation in schools to encourage learning. It provides students a window of opportunities to develop self learning. Used with proper guidance ICT can be an invaluable tool.

Open source e-content being made freely available for the teaching learning process will make available to the student community a standardised quality content that will bridge the divide between learners in different institutions in different parts of the country.

Open Source eContent Open source e-content being made freely available for the teaching learning process will make available to the student community a standardised quality content that will bridge the divide between learners in different institutions in different parts of the country. As access will be available to both private & government schools all over.

On the flip side it could restrict the learning process. All teachers will have to be made technology savvy & training courses provided for teachers for the proper use of a teaching-learning tool like this. Its implementation would make a significant difference in learning outcome.

Online Examinations Even though online exams benefit schools the reduction of costs, improve quality of correction process & give immediate feedback, it would be difficult to implement in schools established in the primary levels. Each student will require his own computer & need to be proficient in using the computer. On the other hand it is an excellent way to test older children especially in high school, universities and colleges. \\

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SM BASHA PRINCIPAL, WISDOM THE GLOBAL CONCEPT SCHOOL

ICT@ School Education The communication revolution and technology has added value to the education system. Every student in corporate sector is more exposed to e learning & school curriculum is also providing much-needed avenue for global integration.

But only lacuna that still persists is more number of children melting under poverty lay way behind or for them ICT s an outer bound area.

At one point of time teacher is only a facilitator not a mentor in true sense.

Student should find his own ways and means of acquiring and enriching his horizons of knowledge.

Benefits of Open Source eContent At one point of time teacher is only a facilitator not a mentor in true sense. Student should find his own ways and means of acquiring and enriching his horizons of knowledge. The open source digitised content provides a good valuable &reliable source of knowledge. Knowledge is ocean, diving deep into the ocean of knowledge needs excellent diving skills, which can be obtained from this open source digitized content, which is outcome of many researches, experiments & theories etc.

Online examinations Making schools exams digitized or online exams in schools is no doubt a revolution. It saves time, paper, and energy. But due care has to be taken as the technology goes sophisticated, its misuse and improper use may put entire effort in jeopardy. Given the levels of poverty and illiteracy, this online system may become privilege for privileged. It needs govt. policy makings in this regard and providing the requisite infrastructure. Only the corporate sector can meet the demands of elated sections of the society. \\

Vision Academy Upper Primary School

White Feathers School

DR SHANKER AIAH UZMA ANSARI PRINCIPAL, VISION ACADEMY UPPER PRIMARY SCHOOL

Integrating ICT in Course and Curriculum Yes, ICT must be made compulsory in school course and curriculum as it is easy to access, is convenient for instructors and is at the receiver’s dispersal. There is increased motivation with faster feedbacks and quality check for continuous learning, wide participations; ways to make learning comprehensive and, easy learning mechanisms and improved writing skills. It also diversifies ways of comprehending concepts, cost effectiveness, inclusive of global approaches, introduce various methodologies of learning and reach more students in less time. The student learns continuously from their environment and day-to-day living of a digital world. E-content has flexibility, choice and helps in analysis and evaluation which are key factors of teaching and learning process. As it is a pedagogically correct and instructionally designed and can support learning objectives and outcome in a more scientific manner.

Benefits and Limitations of Open Source eContent The mobile phones, TV, computers, multimedia appliances in some way or the other touch their routine on daily basis. In such scenario, the school environment cannot be left isolated and a digital intervention is a must.

It is beneficial in handling the multisensory faculties of human brain and reach out to students in more than one way. Some drawbacks to name a few include the following: lack of training of the trainers; lack of access, quality and equity amongst the users; and requires ample time for experimentation and implementation.

Online Examinations The benefit of online test formats is that it is a great leveler by taking out the subjectivity in paper correction and assessing all on an equal scale. Online test preparation services give the students an opportunity to assess themselves. As more and more exams become objective based and online; it will also help them to stimulate the exam condition and gain valuable experience close to real test situation. \\

DIRECTOR, WHITE FEATHERS SCHOOL

Integrating ICT in Course and Curriculum Integrating information and Communication Technology (ICT) in school course and curriculum helps in adding the new syllabus for effective results and making the teaching methodology in more interesting way and it will be more productive than traditional teaching ways. ICT is an enhanced methodology to bring contemporary educational system into class room.

Benefits and Limitations of Open Source eContent Potential benefits are: • Explaining and understanding will be easier • Audio visual and graphic and animation content will be able to create interest in students • Teacher finds encouragement with involvement • Teacher can access to wide range of syllabus and content.

Limitations could be: • Adaptability to new system of ICT in the initial stages may face a resistance at the whole system • Training for the teachers to use the ICT is very much of concern • Availability of equipments for the implementation of ICT is big concern • Maintenance and up gradation of content regularly needs a responsible job from authorities.

Audio visual and graphic and animation content will be able to create interest in students.

Online Examinations It is a great idea but it must tried along with regular system and then check the drawback that would come. I think student must be very much aware of using the devise. If they do not know it well, then even though they know the answer, they will not be able to present effectively and evaluation methods must be well tried and tested. \\

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Brilliant Grammar High School

DR SREELATHA HEAD MISTRESS, BRILLIANT GRAMMAR HIGH SCHOOL, NARAYANAGUDA

ICT for Education @ School The world, today, is a global village and communication is the Key Element for Progress. Communication using the modern technologies is the main requirement. In order to make the youth of our country to be technology savvy, the foundations have to be at the foundation level.

Hence, students need to be aware of the information and communication technology right from their schooling days.

Benefits of digital Content Some of the Benefits are minimal vendor lock-in and proprietary systems; avoiding vendors branding traps; minimal capital expenditure and ongoing costs, no upfront royalty for license to use, no annual royalties for user seats etc. More control of overall IT strategy and reduced risk of obsolescence Online Examinations The online examination system is rendered attractive to both students and the faculty due to the decrease in the paper-work time involved and the added benefit of receiving immediate feedback. Online examinations bring about a

The online examination system is rendered attractive to both students and the faculty due to the decrease in the paper-work time involved and the added benefit of receiving immediate feedback. reduction in costs and improve efficiency and quality of the correction process. Due to an increase in the number of students and exams, many higher education institutions are considering a shift from paper based examinations to electronic computer based environment. \\

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Springdale De International School

RAGHU VULLAGANTI DIRECTOR, SPRINGDALE DE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

ICT for Education @ School Understanding why, when, where, and how ICT tools will contribute to learning objectives; choosing ICT tools and teaching methods that integrate ICT into the whole curriculum; choosing and recommending ICT tools and teaching methods appropriate to individual students’ learning objectives; emphasising the quality of what students produce and the contribution to individual learning goals and levels of attainment; planning a whole learning program that allows a range of ICT tools and teaching methods to be used, would allow the teachers and students to engage in fruitful learning.

The online examination system is rendered attractive to both students and the faculty due to the decrease in the paperwork tim Digitised Free Source Content Learning materials in electronic format are most useful when they are directly linked to the curriculum. Creating digital/electronic content is difficult, and expensive. Simply importing educational content must be avoided.

The other language use may suffer when ICTs are introduced in education and other language users are at risk of becoming further marginalised.

Online Examinations It will lead to saving of huge money which is spent on paper based examinations. It will also lead to earlier declaration of the results and its subsequent impact on easy promotion to the next level. But it may lead to malpractices as well. Online exams are mostly suitable for multiple choice question formats. For the other formats like descriptive questions, paper based exams are appropriate.

The disadvantage of online exams in schools is Students may lose their hold on good handwriting skills. \\

International School

Narayana Concept School

VENKATA SURESH L

SREE RANJANI

PRINCIPAL, INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

PRINCIPAL, NARAYANA CONCEPT SCHOOL

Integrating ICT in Course and Curriculum Schools and colleges should try to reduce the gap between their curriculum and industry.

We are not aware of the developments or technologies that may take place in future. We need to train the school children to face such eventualities which have not even emerged yet. Information and Communication Technology in school courses and curriculum help the child to understand at least the existing technologies and will assist the child to think creatively thereby adapting himself to face the future challenges.

Information and Communication Technology in school courses and curriculum help the child to understand at least the existing technologies and will assist the child to think creatively thereby adapting himself to face the future challenges.

ICT for Education @ School Modern world of competition demands updated knowledge of up coming technology. A student should be empowered with this technology from school level itself in order to be ahead of the other students of different schools & countries. Hence ICT should be a part of school curriculum.

Digitised eContent E-learning or digital learning gives clarity of ideas and concepts through practical experience. The student learns them more effectively by visual perception when compared to the regular black board/chalk and talk method. Digital contents get impregnated in the tender minds for ever. If a child is not motivated & guided properly about its usage, there is every chance for over exploitation of the technology, which can be a source of misuse & abuse.

Benefits and Limitations of Open Source eContent Benefit: A powerful and interactive tool for the teachers to explain 3D entities. Java applets are very helpful.

Limitation: Availability of relevant content (either too high or too low).

E-learning or digital learning gives clarity of ideas and concepts through practical experience. The student learns them more effectively by visual perception when compared to the regular black board/chalk and talk method. Digital contents get impregnated in the tender minds for ever.

Online Examinations We can partially digitise the school examinations as it generates the report immediately and it is easy to find out the strengths and weaknesses of the skills of the child (understanding, application etc.) We can’t completely digitise it since our testing systems are written based. \\

Online Examinations Digitalised and on-line examinations give faster results.

Instantly the student will be able to check his performance by seeing the marks secured. Scope of competition will be wider. Online exams should include both subjective and objective. \\

4-6 AUGUST, 2010 HYDERABAD INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE, HYDERABAD, INDIA

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Seventh Day Adventist High School

G.R.Grammar School

G SRIDHAR N. DANIEL KUMAR PRINCIPAL, SEVENTH DAY ADVENTIST HIGH SCHOOL

ICT for Education @ School In this fast moving world ICT is very much essential.

Information and Communication Technology could be included in the school curriculum; so that we can emphasis on quality education to fulfill the aspirations of the children and to deliver the quality and quantity of Education.

Integration of ICT in school curriculum thus will help the child to have more access to learn and to get acquainted with the new technique in learning process and offers new education possibilities that can help empower both teachers and students.

Integration of ICT in school curriculum thus will help the child to have more access to learn and to get acquainted with the new technique in learning process and offers new education possibilities that can help empower both teachers and students.

Digitised Content The digitised contents are very useful in teaching learning process. The child will have more access to extract more relevant information about the particular subject.

The content which find in the digitised is prepared by the most experience persons with their vast knowledge in the particular field. The digitised content provides latest day to day information to the child to hand.

Online Examinations Making school examination digitised on having in school online examination is very good thought but need to have enough of facilities and infrastructure in the school, most of the school do not have the trained teacher to train the children. \\

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PRINCIPAL, G R GRAMMAR SCHOOL, SECUNDERABAD

ICT for Education @ School In my opinion education is a continuous process. Technology based education should be under the guidance of a teacher. Traditional method of teaching combined with technology will be effective at upper primary or high school level, where understanding level of children is much higher. Information through technology and communication through technology should be properly channelised. Excessive use of technology makes the child dependent.

Qualities like understanding the concept by collecting concept related data from different sources and presenting it in a proper proforma under the

Qualities like understanding the concept by collecting concept related data from different sources and presenting it in a proper proforma under the proper guidance of a teacher helps the children in developing proper perspective in using the technology for better communication of information gathered. Information and communication through technology is the trend of present generation. proper guidance of a teacher helps the children in developing proper perspective in using the technology for better communication of information gathered.

Information and communication through technology is the trend of present generation. It is a positive and equally negative trend, highly volatile. This path should be tread very cautiously. Any deviations what so ever will have lasting impressions on future generation. In my view a very clear flat form with utmost care has to be laid for a proper use of technology in collecting or accumulating the information for better communication to be at par with the changing trends of the world. Education through deductive thinking is more effective. \\

NARAYANA e-Techno School

Orchids - The International School

NARASIMHA RAO NARAYANA e-TECHNO SCHOOL

ICT for Education @ School It is most important to introduce ICT in the schools.

Students have interest to learn their subjects through ICT because of the attractive modules like power point presentations, 2d modules, videos and live examples. In addition to normal teaching methods ICT play the best role in the school curriculum.

Students have interest to learn their subjects through ICT because of the attractive modules like power point presentations, 2d modules, videos and live examples. In addition to normal teaching methods ICT play the best role in the school curriculum.

Digitised eContent In so may cooperate school we have digital learning and some rural schools also introduced this teaching. In my view I have observed that students are very interested for digital learning and they want to spend more time for this studies. If it is completely digitalised then also it is benefit to the students with a specified observer and instructor.

Online Examinations Schools and colleges are conducting already online examination.

The benefits of this type of examinations are: 1. Students are stress free while writing the exam.

2. There is no chance to mass copying.

3. With digitised exams we expect fast results. \\

LT COL BG RAY PRINCIPAL, ORCHIDS - THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL

Integration of ICT in Course and Curriculum In fact, school curriculum and course provide the best platform for integration of information and communication technology primarily because learning at that stage demands barrier- free communication and concrete conceptualisation.

Limitations of Open Source eContent Benefits of open source digitised contents are limited and limitations are more that benefits. It is often the producers and the consumers. There is a need for perfect balance maintained between technologies, content, learning methodology and receptivity of the students.

Benefits of open source digitised contents are limited and limitations are more that benefits. It is often the producers and the consumers. There is a need for perfect balance maintained between technologies, content, learning methodology and receptivity of the students.

Online examinations Digitisation of examination at school level is not necessary and may lead to more adverse effect than any positive influence. \\

4-6 AUGUST, 2010 HYDERABAD INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE, HYDERABAD, INDIA

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Riverdale School

St. Patrick’s High School

PRINCIPAL, RIVERDALE SCHOOL

ICT@ School Education ICT in school course and curriculum will immensely benefit the students. The talents of a student can be brought to the fore front and the child can be groomed to become a specialist in particular field. This way a student can be benefited directly. The unavailability of teachers limit imparting right education. Lack of teaching labs also is a drawback. If strict vigilance is available then there is no harm in digitalising school exams otherwise there is always a chance of mis-management in conducting such examianations. \\

Brilliant Grammar High School

NARAYAN REDDY DIRECTOR, BRILLIANT GRAMMAR HIGH SCHOOL, DILSUKHNAGAR

ICT integration in Course and Curriculum Integration of ICT in school course and curriculum is vital and important to bring the world of knowledge opening upto the children around globe.

Benefits of Open Source eContent The benefits of open source digitalised content is that it helps the teacher to access the necessary matter at their doorsteps. Limitations are it curtails the human element and exposure to real or direct experiences.

Online Examinations It is very essential that it helps reducing lot of load of corrections and paper work. \\

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PRINCIPAL, ST. PATRICK’S HIGH SCHOOL

ICT for Education @ School ICT has become very important in every one’s life today. It has revolutionised the whole world. ICT should become part and parcel of today’s curriculum. By using ICT it becomes more interesting to teach and students learn better and faster. Only concern is it should be affordable to all sections of the society.

Online examinations. I think still the time has not come to introduce online examinations at the school level. \\

Hyderabad Public School

RAMANDEEP KAUR SAMRA PRINCIPAL, HYDERABAD PUBLIC SCHOOL

ICT integration in Course and Curriculum Integrating ICT in school course and curriculum will give more exposure to more content on a particular topic and deeper understanding of the concepts. It helps in visualiing the abstract concepts thus making it easier for students to comprehend.

Open Source Digitised Content Open source digitised content can be misused if not monitored.

Online Examinations Online examination can be introduced partially as primarily it will be objective type. \\

EXCELSOFT K12

INITIATIVE

Excelsoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd. having worked with reputed clients and partners in the education domain over the decade, has acquired a deep understanding of the value ICT can provide in enhancing teaching and learning. This knowledge has enabled us to create powerful solutions that deliver great learning experiences and make schools, effective ‘Centers of Learning’.

SARAS e-learning technology product suite provides a complete infrastructure for technology enabled learning as depicted below:

Product Strategy: ‘Activity Centre’ inherits the crossdisciplinary learning, learning by doing, creates higher order thinking and goes beyond the curriculum.

ICT enabled ‘Subject Learning Labs’ go beyond traditional classroom based learning. It touches and visualises concepts and fosters collaborative learning. It also guides and coaches students in finding, interpreting and building knowledge from multiple learning models.

‘New Age Classrooms’ use digital content to explain abstract concepts through structured lesson plans.

‘Project Based Learning’ empowers educators to move from a teaching role to that of a mentor or facilitator role who will be able to direct students to access the abundance of information available in a methodical and channelised way.

Empower administration through ‘School Education Resource Planning’ which will give anytime, anywhere access to all the stakeholders and be connected with student portfolios, various reports and dashboards.

‘Assessment Centre’ will help the student to prepare for board examination of CBSE, ICSE, IB/IGSE and various state boards.

The same can be extended to prepare students for CET, IIT-

JEE, AIEEE and similar entrance examinations.

‘Teacher Training Centre’ empowers teachers in areas like IT, content creation and management, technology based teaching & learning methodologies, soft skills, new education policy frameworks and educator role in today’s schooling system.

Excelsoft provides a comprehensive end-to-end solution to the customer on a Build Own Operate and Transfer model including the required Hardware, Software, Creative Learning Themes, Technology Platform, Digital Content mapped to various Curriculums, Dedicated Academic Person and Strong Support System on academics and technology.

Business Strategy: •

•

•

•

•

•

•

Setting up a chain of schools under the umbrella of ‘Excel Public Schools’ Building referral schools through strategic partnership with best known schools to showcase our solution capabilities Direct sales to setup a strong Academic Partner Model to work with schools Synergise with school solution providers for international markets Partner with world class complementing products and services providers to bring the best of the experiences into our solutions Address the CBSE Market initially and then expand to ICSE, IB/IGSE and a few state boards Plans to reach out across the country and international markets

People Strategy: •

An advisory board will facilitate the feedback and experience of customers on all the solutions.

The board will also help to finalise on the best pedagogical framework and methodologies of education delivery in a school • Continuous upgrades and new content development with a pool of select subject matter experts, best in the field • A curriculum design & development team will create new curriculum and learning designs and convert them into various media formats including 2D and 3D • Expert e-learning technology team to continuously enhance the solution with new modules to meet the demands of educational research and pedagogy • Ensures the best, strong support team to schools For details please visit: www.K12.excelindia.com

EVENT REPORT

Indo-European Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education YUKTI PAHWA /SHEENA JOSEPH

www.ieconqa.org

The Indo-European Conference on Quality Assurance in Higher Education, a two day affair took place at New Delhi, from May 6 -7, 2010. It was jointly organised by he University of Delhi, India-EU Study Centers Programme, and the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW) 13 – India project, as a followup to the ‘Joint Declaration on Education’ signed by the European Commission and the Government of India (Ministry of Human Resource Development) in 2008.

The conference saw presence of eminent delegates and deliberations between the top European and the Indian experts on the established European practices and the Indian initiatives on quality assurance in Higher Education.

Inaugral Session with Prof S Thorat, Chairman University of Delhi, Prof AK Bakshi, Dr. Sidsel Hansson, Prof D Pental and Guest of Honour, Danièle Smadja

During the inauguration Prof. A.K. Bakshi, Director, ILLL, University of Delhi, gave a welcome note and invited Prof.

Sukhdeo Thorat, Chairman, University Grants commission, as the session moderator; Prof. Deepak Pental, ViceChancellor, University of Delhi (DU); Dr. Sidsel Hansson, Project Coordinator, Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window 13; Ulrich Podewils, Team Leader, 42

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Session I panelists included Prof Arun Nigavekar,Prof SK Tandon, Prof Beena Shah and Prof. Giancarlo Spinelli

India-EU Study Centres Programme; and Guest of Honour, Danièle Smadja, Ambassador, Head of EU Delegation to India.

Prof S Thorat addressed the gathering and brought out pointers such as improvement in the budget allocation by the government from Xth to XIth Five Year Plan by 9-10%. He mentioned that 1462 institutions had been added with plans of adding more higher education institutions by end of XIth plan, explaining that it was historically a remarkable expansion. He expressed his happiness for introduction of semester system at DU and stated that motivation has to be there to encourage system with a base of caution. He mentioned that EU has been able to maintain quality amongst the local higher education institutions with higher allocation from GDP to higher education, therefore, European institutions should be studied. There was also a mention that National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC) has voluntary assessment which is not regulatory, yet. He expressed that the meet will benefit all from the deliberations that will be held during the conference.

Tracing the history of the cooperation

between India and Europe, Danièle Smadja spoke about the time at which two flagship programmes were introduced in India that is Erasmus Mundus and EU Study Centres Programme. She spoke about the student exchange programmes between the two countries and the need to provide solutions related to issues of higher education and societal changes. She further expressed that quality in education required a balance between innovation and traditional teaching-learning methods, along with improvements in administrative functioning of the institutions. She

Session II panelists included Prof Jan-Olov Hoog, Roy Ferguson, HA Ranganath, Hanne Smidt, Dr Surendra Prasad and Dr Seyed E Hasnain

mentioned that Indian higher education system is the largest in the world and also the most complex. Europeans, she explained, could bring something on table for India to bring about improved version of borderless delivery of higher education.

Later a keynote address was delivered

by Prof Sukhdeo Thorat, Chairman, UGC in which he discussed how collaborations can take place between Europe and India; issues of degree, credit transfers and other research processes; what

constitutes quality and what describes excellence; what all within a system is assessable; creativity; social governance; role of bodies such as All India Council for Technical Education, DU, UGC, NAAC; and finally he addressed the issue of why Indian universities are not listed in various rankings that are calculated every now and then, describing the methodologies used for the same as biased. This session was moderated by Ulrich Podewils.

The panel discussion on the first day of the conference started with a session on “Need for Quality Assurance in Higher Education: Opportunities and Challenges”.

The session was moderated by Prof S K Tandon, Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi. The speakers included Prof Arun Nigavekar, Former Chairman, UGC; Prof Beena Shah, Secretary General, Association of Indian Universities; Prof Giancarlo Spinelli, Head of International Relations, Politecnico di Milano, Italy and Former President, European Association of International Education In order to maintain quality standards in higher education, Prof Arun Nigavekar named two approaches that need to be followed. This included: Institutional Quality Assessment and Program Quality Assessment. The process would involve the use of instrument and methodology, self-study, peer review and accreditation.

Seamless education, in today’s world, will have to go with the same approach and process. This means that there will be both institutional and programme assessment and accreditation.

The second session on “Trends and Best Practices on Quality Assurance in Higher Education” was moderated by HA Ranganath, NAAC Director. Speakers in the session included Dr. Surendra Prasad, Director, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi; Prof Jan-Olov Höög, Karolinska Institute, Medical University , Stockholm; Dr Seyed E Hasnain, Vice Chancellor, University of Hyderabad;Hanne Smidt, Senior visor, European University Association; Roy Ferguson, Director (Quality), University College Dublin, Ireland.

Roy Ferguson elaborated on the framework for quality assurance followed in Irish Universities The key principles included: quality as strategy; quality review as a driver for change; quality as analysis and reflection; and quality as shared responsibility. The quality review process, in Irish Universities, consisted of four elements: a self-assessment report; peer review site visit; peer review group report; and follow-up i.e, implementing recommendations for improvement.

The second day of the conference began with the session on “Accreditation and its Relevance to Quality Assurance in Higher Education”. The session was moderator by Dr Narendra Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission, Government of India. The speakers included Dr S S Mantha, Chairman, AICTE; Dr Robert Dowling, University of Nottingham; Dr Dev Swarup, Joint Secretary, University Grants From left: D. Vasudevan, S. Regunathan, Ashank Commission and Dr Axel Aerden, Desai,Vikas Sahni, Dr. Ravi Gupta, and N.K. Sinha International Policy Advisor, NVAO. India-EU Study Centre’s Programme.

The session highlighted the ways The session highlighted how through which higher education institutes technology has played a major role in can come together in collaborative ways changing the current practices and for establishment of internal quality procedures for sharing information and assurance cell. The session also put the improving communications for reducing spotlight on crucial measures required the turn-around time for setting up

by QA agencies in order to promote effective quality control strategies. confidence and trust among the public.

Speakers in the session on “Road Map to Future: Quality Assurance in Higher Education” included Prof Deepak Pental, Vice Chancellor, Delhi University; Prof Shyam B Menon, Vice- Chancellor, Dr B R Ambedkar University; Prof Pankaj Mittal, Vice Chancellor, BPS Women University; and Dr Doris Hillger, University of Heidelberg, South Asia Institute. The session was moderated by Hanne Smidt, Senior Advisor, European University Association.

Dr Narendra Jadhav (left) at the conference For Dr Dorris Hillger, ‘Quality culture’ is essentially linked to functional autonomy According to Dev Swarup, the in higher education institutes, aimed at relevance of accreditation in the context enabling all stakeholders to collaborate of quality assurance is very essential. towards providing quality education. The Accreditation is one of the most powerful focus has to be on internal processes tools of quality in higher education. The of review of achievement against goals/ contributions made by UGC and NAAC mission With regard to a potential road in enhancing quality in higher education map, it was emphasised that mandatory cannot be undermined. He added that accreditation is required as a baseline there is a need to create self awareness for system assessment and creation of amongst institutions to have their own a higher education institute. Institutional mechanism by establishing Quality autonomy should be established within Assurance Cells and by having greater a common framework and internal QA participation of all its stakeholders. units have to be placed at the right The next session was on the “Role level. Competitive funding for excellence of Information, Communication and in research, teaching, and measures Technology in Quality Assurance in towards inclusion also have to be made Higher Education” which was moderator available.

by Ashank Desai, Director, Mastek The Valedictory Session brought the and PAN IIT. Speakers of the session conference to an effective conclusion included N K Sinha, Joint Secretary, with speakers who included: Hans Bureau of Technical Education, MHRD; Schoof, First Counselor, Delegation of the Dr Ravi Gupta, Chief Executive Officer, European Union; Prof Piotr Klodkowski, Digital Learning ; S Regunathan, Advisor, Ambassador, Embassy of Poland; National Knowledge Commission, Prof Deepak Pental, Vice-Chancellor, Government of India; Vikas Sahni, CEO, Delhi University; and Prof K Sreenivas, Softedge Systems Ltd, Ireland; and D Dean, International Relations, University Vasudevan, IT Expert & Web Specialist of Delhi. \\ digital LEARNING

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Employability in Industry is a Relative Term / SANGITA GHOSH DE

www.bitmesra.ac.in

products are developed. BIT also offers industry oriented courses with very close interactions with IT companies.

DR P K BARHAI VICE CHANCELLOR, BIRLA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, MESRA, HAS BEEN IN TEACHING PROFESSION SINCE 32 YEARS AND RESEARCH SINCE 36

What is your vision in imparting quality education in BIT Mesra?

Our aim is to prepare students with thorough background on basic principles of engineering, technology, science and management and train them not only to become globally employable but also to make them ready to take up any career in industry, research and development organisation or academic institutions.

What is the role of BIT Mesra in the field of higher and job specific education in India?

BIT is the first institute in India to introduce a Post-Graduate Program on Space Engineering & Rocketry as early as 1964 and also the first institute to have ‘Science & Technology Entrepreneurs’ Park, where fresh graduates can start nursery small scale industry units and move to their own units once the 44

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What are the major challenges that come across the way of in the field of technical education?

The main challenge is the quality that depends on students, teachers, adequate laboratories, infrastructure which requires huge financial resources.

For private Institutes, to meet these quality parameters and remain globally competitive is a big challenge. Besides, the regulatory bodies create obstacles through delays in approval of new programmes, departments etc. Even research supports by the Government are discriminatory between Public and the Private Institutes.

What could be the way of interaction between industry and institution in that matter?

Industries look forward to students with self-confidence, right attitude, motivation to learn, leadership potential, team spirit and good communication skills through creation of Industry-Institute Interaction Cell, organising of seminars/ workshops, conferences, involvement of experts from industries, deputation of teachers to industries for at least three months in a year and industry related projects in final semester.

How much can ICT help in it?

ICT can help in areas like virtual labs, teaching through multimedia and audio-video conferencing in shortage of competent faculty through visual presentation and in evaluation process.

Although, ICT may cut down costs in terms of salary to faculties, it is no alternative for physical infrastructure like equipments, buildings, computers and accessories, networking etc.

How do you see public-private partnership for enhancing job oriented and technical education?

Looking at the need of technical education in India, Government does not have enough resources to raise the Gross Enrolment Ratio from 10-11% to 25-30% in the near future. This is much less compared to 40-50% in developed countries.

PPP is a must for at least to attain this goal. Government should provide the land and money and the private parties should be responsible for the governance, academic coordination, approval from regulatory bodies etc.

Your comments on industry readiness of Indian Graduates.

Given the best institute and facilities, it is not possible to impart all the relevant knowledge in a vast course of a formal degree programme. Although there is a general notion that 80% of the graduates coming out from technical institutes in India are not employable and do not have industry readiness, it may be true only for some specific industries.

There is nothing like industry readiness unless some industry is looking for skilled labourers. Institutes should enrich students with integrity, team spirit and motivation.

Your vision for Higher Education in future.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio of higher education is less both in general Universities and in technical institutions in India, the academic value of Indian higher education is at par with the global standard.

What is lacking is the knowledgeoriented teaching and learning. Engineering courses must be integrated to the basic sciences which lead to new inventions and technologies. Right decisions will help us to keep a balance between quality and quantity in leading the world. \\

HIGHER EDUCATION

Hospitality Management in the Surge of Service Age www.lavasa.com

SUDHIR ANDREWS DEAN, ECOLE HOTELIERE LAVASA

Please tell us about the origins of the Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa institute in India?

The Institute is promoted by Lavasa Corporation, a subsidiary of Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), a leading infrastructure company of the country.

HCC procured 20,000 acres of land in the hills and hours drive from Pune to create a unique hill township – the first after independence. The development of Lavasa is reposed with Lavasa Corporation. One of the pillars of Lavasa is Education, bringing in the best brands of the world including Oxford and MIT. Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa is the first college in Lavasa with world class facilities.

Our vision is to be the premier hospitality management centre in Asia for the present and future hospitality leaders and entrepreneurs.

What, according to you, is the current status of Hospitality Management in India? What would be your advise for students considering this sector as a career option?

Hospitality management has tradi-

SHEENA JOSEPH

tionally included Hotels and Restaurant.

With the surge of the service age the term hospitality as included many other service sectors like retail, event management, airlines, conventions, theme parks, hospitality education, cruise lines, banks, etc. It is for this reason 40% students who graduate from hotel management schools join industries other than hotel and restaurant. The competencies of hotel management students have been found useful in other service oriented industries as mentioned earlier. The number one problem of the hotel industry is people in terms of availability, quality and attrition. This is only going to get worst as we march onto 5.8 million rooms by 2020. Jobs are a plenty and students with a flair for hospitality will get meaningful careers. It is time that students start looking at service sector as the mainstay of their generation and develop those skills that matter in the service age.

What is the USP of your institute?

Any specific plans for placement of students?

Ecole Hoteliere Lavasa is the only institute in India that is specifically designed to develop hospitality leaders and entrepreneurs. There is currently a shortage of management for hospitality.

We prepare students for assistant management positions to take on higher management positions faster, because our curriculum has strong business management content.

The second USP is our methodology of teaching. Most educational institutes in India use pedagogy where the onus of teaching lies with the teacher. We follow andragogy where the onus of acquiring knowledge lies with the students. The faculty act as learning facilitators and in fact are called that.

The third USP is our facilities that no one in India has. We have five live restaurants within the college supported by five-star kitchens; twenty multimedia classrooms, Wi-Fi campus;

four auditoriums; a cyber hotel; and an amphitheatre to seat 600 students.

Students will get their live training in 18 branded hotels being built in Lavasa, each a walking distance away.

Can you tell about the kind of accreditation that students can expect from the institute?

At the moment there is no education body that has a model to recognise our unique curriculum. We are waiting for the new changes in Education under the able stewardship of Mr. Kapil Sibal, Honorable Minister of Education. Our curriculum is that of a B.Sc. in Hospitality Management. We are also offering a Certificate duly recognised and signed by Ecole hoteliere de Lausanne. Students are permitted to transfer to Lausanne after two years to earn the Degree from Lausanne itself. Successful students are also eligible to enroll for their MBA in hospitality Management.

Please elaborate on any new collaborations that the institute will be venturing into.

We wish to bring in the MBA from Lausanne after two years. We also want to start several hospitality programmes for other service industries. We will be starting our Executive Development Programmes, led by international faculty specifically for the hospitality industry.

What is the kind of support that the institute expects from the Government for promotion of the hospitality sector as a key education destination?

The government has already done a lot for the tourism sector to make it the second largest in terms of growth in the world. What we need now is the Education Ministry to find a vehicle to recognise colleges of excellence like ours and give them independent degree status. Our present policies will only drag us into mediocrity. \\ digital LEARNING

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RESEARCH PAPER

Learning with Video Games RENÉ ST-PIERRE

Educational video games are inscribed in the historical continuity of a long tradition associated with the dissemination of pedagogical games. From the doll to the toy soldier, the puzzle to the role play, the presence of these artifacts indicates educational situations apparently far removed from the school context.

Often the conveyors of sociocultural stereotypes, these games and toys reflect evolving techniques and mentalities; they illustrate the growing impact of scholarly knowledge on recreational learning activities.

Concurrently with media education, there is a growing interest in the usage of video games as learning tools. Current research in the area is focused on usage in schools of titles marketed to the general public and of video games created specifically for the school context. As in the medieval époque when playing cards allowed analphabetic people to learn how to count, recognize symbols and develop cognitive skills, the usage of video games today allows the development of certain skills, such as hand-eye coordination (visio-haptic coordination), analysis and management of complex data, interpersonal communication, problemresolution and literacy.

CAN VIDEO GAMES BE USED FOR LEARNING? “We shape our tools, and afterwards our tools shape us,” wrote Marshall MacLuhan in 1964 about television. Today, young people subjected to the universe of the media, computer technology and video games are developing new cognitive and relational skills, and a growing number of teachers and researchers believe that video games facilitate the development of children’s abilities and so, in that sense, shape them as well. Prensky (2000) has summarized these new skills.

Description of cognitive or behavioural skills: • Accelerated and simultaneous information processing;

Video games can be used in the school environment to fulfill certain pedagogical functions, such as tutoring, exploration, entertainment, attitudinal change and the practice of certain personal and social competencies or skills

•

• •

• •

•

Ability to process and distinguish several types of information from various sources rapidly and simultaneously; Prevalence of image over text; Preference for searching for meaning via visual content and then spending time on text to refine, expand and explore understanding of the subject; Random and distant access instead of step-by-step and local; Ability to jump from one kernel of information to another by creating connections rather than following an information narrative or hierarchy; Familiarity with the concept of synchronous and asynchronous

• •

•

• • •

modes of access to scattered and distant resources; Activity and play rather than passivity and work; Tendency to prefer an active learning model (trial-and-error method) rather than learning in order to be able to act ; The game is valued and becomes relevant because it is played on the computer; Gratification and fantasy instead of patience and reality; Expectation of gratification based on effort; Computer universe as a metaphorical space of fantastic and entertaining discovery; digital LEARNING

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Technology as a motivational factor; The computer is a tool for play and discovery, and it is often via video games that young people become familiarised with new technologies.

Video games have demonstrated an interesting potential for the treatment of some cognitive and behavioural problems.

The TEEM project reports how teachers were taught how to use video games in the classroom setting. In the study, more than 700 parents and kids were questioned about the educational potential that could come from that usage. The report stresses that the classroom usage of certain video games for the general public, such as Sim City, Age of Empires, Rollercoaster Tycoon and Championship Manager, can help in the development of some personal and social skills.

• •

MOTIVATIONAL FACTORS OF VIDEO GAMES To develop a motivating educational video game environment, some qualitative criteria should be observed in order to adopt players’ or teachers’ points-of-view. An important study of 40 educational video games presented a series of players’ recommendations.

Nearly eighty percent of the respondents said they used an exploratory trial-anderror method. That method is defined as the absence of a planned action strategy and involves actions/ reactions depending on the circumstances, consequences and feedback of the interface or the system.

Learning about the way to play the game is acquired through accumulation, that is, observation and active participation in the game rather than reading the instructions and rules. The reasons justifying this approach are the lack of clear instructions and objectives and a desire to explore the object of the game freely. Players often begin their exploration with the trialand-error method and then possibly will look for a form of support, assistance or guidance by reading the instructions or hints appearing on the screen. Therefore, learning games must be presented in the form of an exploratory space for discovery with help functions that can be consulted in context as needed. The announcement of a purpose or objectives to be attained seems important for encouraging more commitment to this type of game.

CSIKSZENTMIHALYI’S FLOW CONCEPT Csikszentmihalyi’s flow concept is the basis of all criteria promoting involvement 48

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and motivation in video games. Flow is the physical and mental immersion people experience when they are involved in an activity so deeply that nothing around them seems to matter. In the flow state (being in the “zone”) the proposed problem and the skill to resolve it are in balance.

THE FLOW STATE Activity is structured so that • participants can increase or reduce the proposed challenge’s level of difficulty to be in synch with the requirements of the [project] and their current skill level; Activity is isolated from other external • and internal stimuli, at least on the perceptual level; Activity gives concrete feedback • to users in a way that shows them how to meet performance criteria successfully; Activity offers a range of challenges • or objectives and possibly several levels of difficulty for each, thus providing users with an increasingly complex understanding of a problem; Clear performance criteria that let • users know their progress toward an objective at all times.

Jones (1998) has identified linkages among the components of the flow state and its possible usages in educational video games, and Frété (2002) cites Crawford on the idea of learning needs as an essential motivational factor of games.

Flow state components and their usage in educational video games Task with clear objective: collection • of elements, artefacts or points, resolving a mystery or problem or completing a quest; Achievable task: usage of game • levels: distribution of the task into small sections leading to the success of the quest in several stages; Possibility of concentrating on the • task: use of immersive and engaging metaphor; Task with immediate feedback: • tools allowing users to act on the environment as if the content were real; Profound yet effortless involvement: • environment functionally, aesthetically and cognitively stable point-ofview that keeps users in a coherent universe; • Impression of control over actions: direct manipulation and immediate

feedback with mouse and keyboard; Sensation of immersion: feeling of • involvement in which nothing else seems to have importance.

Constraints on the implementation of video games in learning: Difficult for teachers to identify what • is pedagogically relevant (possible connections between game and curriculum); Difficult to promote educational • potential of video games in the teaching profession; Lack of time and resources needed • to become familiarized with the game environments and to develop pedagogical scenarios adapted to the curriculum; Difficult to concentrate exclusively • on the relevant elements of a game due to number of functions that can distract users.

CONCLUSION AND RESEARCH PERSPECTIVE Several research questions related to learning using video games are on hold.

These include investigation of the long term effects certain types of video games may have on cognitive, identity and social development for younger generations.

The study of adaptive learning systems is only in its early stages, opening the way for several types of experimentation, especially with clients who have cognitive deficits or learning disabilities. In parallel, the all digital paradigm has encouraged the emergence of social and cultural practices that emphasize visual and iconic thought as well as social connection. This has led to the birth of a new perception of space and fragmented time, and the actual sensation of presence even when at a distance. Finally, the emergence of social networks (Web 2.0) bears the seed of a collaborative intelligence that is wide spread and very dynamic. These knowledge aggregators, by virtue of the phenomenal quantity not only of information but also of individuals whom they connect, put a much finer point on the issues of cognitive overload and the disorientation that results from virtually infinite hypermedia navigation. \\

ABOUT AUTHOR

René Saint-Pierre, Montreal, Canada has been developing and applying a research/design methodology involving digital technologies for more than twenty years.

CORPORATE DIARY

Cutting Edge Digital Content for K-12 Segment www.hmhco.com

/ SHEENA JOSEPH

What has prompted you to enter the Indian market?

India is a place where huge importance is given to education and this can be translated into tremendous elearning potential. The interest in the Indian market is also a way in which our product can be applied in different educational settings. Understanding the international dimension is important, which can be done by studying the infrastructural and curriculum variations. Part of my moving to the international arena was really to see how digital education can expand into the international education space.

CHRIS STEVENS DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION, HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT INTERNATIONAL

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company publishes educational materials for pre-K-12 schools. Could you provide us with a background information of your company?

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt brings people together at home, school, work through powerful solutions that recognise how learning can be exciting for everyone.

I started my career as a teacher and after 14 years of teaching I was offered a position in a company called Riverdeep, which was one of the early e-learning developers.

Riverdeep merged with two of the largest textbook publishers in America, Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt. The current company is an amalgamation of three smaller companies. Houghton Mifflin and Harcourt are traditionally the textbook developers, with some elements of technology in it, while Riverdeep is the company which focuses on developing e-content.

How has the educational software been adapted to the needs of the private and government schools in India?

Currently we are looking at developing digital content, across all subjects, for a number of schools, which will be- in a sense- the trend setting schools. We are not focusing exclusively on private schools. Our intention is to make a move towards all sections in the market. We are acutely aware of the practical needs of the teacher in the classroom. We have a clear understanding of the national curriculum demands and have forged a relationship with CBSE. We have also worked very closely with teachers who have sizeable experience in teaching. We get continuous feedback from teachers and build our content accordingly.

Therefore our product development is in consonance with ICSE, CBSE boards and state boards. Our aim is not just to provide cutting edge solutions but also provide models that are scalable across the country.

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s education initiatives extend across the globe.

Would you like to highlight a few case studies done in this respect?

We have conducted quite a number of case studies, one of it being in USA.

We decided to use our digital content in a Summer School in Florida in St Louis district. Our product Destination Math and Destination Reading was used in the Summer School. Students who attend this School are those who have failed the state tests- meant to be given to students after the fourth or fifth grade.

Summer School for this district had not seen great success. When they started using our products, supplemented with interactive whiteboards and management system, they immediately witnessed a huge increase in the number of students who passed these tests, i.e, from 35% it rose to 66%.

We asked the school authorities to analyse the reason and the conclusion arrived at was that the digital product deployed at the school had been able to address a number of different issues relating to learning. This included raising the grasping potential of students and retaining their attention through visual representation. Therefore, the multi media programme emphasised on effective delivery of classroom teaching processes. Students had become an active part of the learning process.

How has the S Chand & Houghton Mifflin Harcourt alliance promoted technology integration in education Firstly, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has brought to its alliance with S Chand years of research into how technology directly enhances education. We are the world leaders in quality e-learning solutions.

Secondly, using S Chand’s longstanding distribution network and sound relationships with schools, S Chand Harcourt can offer its digital content to a wide variety of schools throughout the country. Thirdly, because we are educational publishers, we understand the value of teacher training. For us the “product” is not only the digital content we deliver into the school, but the relationship and the service that we establish with the teachers and administrators. \\ digital LEARNING

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CORPORATE DIARY

Supplementary e-Education www.dmceducation.com

Yukti Pahwa, digital LEARNING, in conversation with Gaurav Mittal, PGDM from IIM Lucknow and Bachelors in Engineering IIT-Roorkee, has over 12 years of experience in education and technology industry. Gaurav Mittal is the founder director of Quest Tutorial.

GAURAV MITTAL CEO DMC INTERNATIONAL

What are the possible reasons for DMC International to foray into education from being a real estate company ?

The company was working in area of real estate but after a while we felt that we did not have the specific capabilities for that sector and that it required another set of skills. For us, it was a good idea then to step back in a segment where we already have the required skills, that is academics. The promoters of company knew what are the requirements of building an education company and how their intellectual capital can be deployed, along with money.

We are now completely into education space now. We have declared tie up with AOC, for expanding their programme across country; and Quest Tutorials in space of IT coaching. While running this business, over a course of time we figured that it is difficult to sustain centres or open channels for single product and we also figured, that it is not easy for a company that has built a single product to build other products because the DNA of the company is build around one single product, where 50

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it has focused. We wanted to launch multiple products and the synergy we have is fantastic – that is how we got AOC, Trump and Gates, Quest tutorials, all separate entities – under one umbrella of DMC International and soon, we will roll out these products in the country.

We are looking at few more products, aggregation of products and thereafter distribution of the same across channels, across country.

Our uniqueness is that we are the only listed company and we are the only company with so many products under one umbrella, which makes the proposition of making channels sustainable and have entity proliferation of products across country, good.

Could you elaborate on the services being offered by you in the education sector?

We are focused or strongest at this point in time with the supplemental education for schools, such as TOEFL, IELTS, CA, etc. There are two segments to whom we are planning to provide programmes and courses - first to students who are at the undergraduate level and second is to offer course to students who are undergraduate and are looking for post graduation. We don’t provide with training that specific course provide for building a career but we give skills to land-up in places where they can avail the specialised courses to make a career. If you compare it to vocational training, it is also career oriented training but there courses train you to build specific skills for a particular career, whereas we train them to get into good colleges that will support them to make a good career. However, we are also looking at providing some vocational courses such

as accounting, CA coaching, learning English language and so on.

What is the growth potential for online test preparation market in India?

Online testing is necessary, it has to happen. There are intrinsic interests of companies in our segment who cannot let it happen. The moment testing goes online, the classroom simulation on offer in regular coaching centres loses value, allowing proliferation of lot of other players to offer their content through internet and students are pushed to go online. This is in contrast to the business objectives of regular coaching centres, so there is hue and cry from their end. However, online testing is required for security of test, cost effective and provide with immediate results. There would be glitches but that is how managing institutions will be able to develop online tests, single tests for students across subjects and move on to more important issues of making quicker, efficient evaluations. There is a gain in the momentum but we need more clarity at the policy level.

What are the advantages of coaching and use of ICT for teaching purposes?

Coaching is just a super structure which is used by the student, its a pure training regiment that gives you a routine, training, help from experts and experience to compete and compare yourself. Presently, we cannot provide teachers’ access to all, with shortage of teachers in the country. This should not hinder access to good quality education to students. We are taking about ICT being vehicle to provide good quality content to students who do not have access to anything. \\