CORPORATE COMMITMENT TO SOCIETY : September 2010

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INDIA VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 9 | SEPTEMBER 2010 | ISSN 0973-4139 | RS. 75 www.digitalLEARNING.in

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VOLUME 6 ISSUE 9 SEPTEMBER 2010

digitalLEARNING

ISSN 0973-4139

Contents

COVER STORY

THE RESPONSIBLE CORPORATE

RNI NO. UPENG/2008/25311

Lt Gen (Retd) Bhopinder Singh, Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

RESEARCH PAPER

EU-INDIA COOPERATION IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

eINDIA 2010 EVENT REPORT

INAUGURATION

REGULAR FEATURES NEWS

VALEDICTORY

PLENARY SESSION

ICT IN SCHOOL EDUCATION AND POLICY MATTERS

TRACKING INNOVATIONS IN HIGHER EDUCATION

ROADMAP FOR BUILDING GLOBALLY COMPETITIVE WORKFORCE

eINDIA AWARDS 2010

News National

News International

News Corporate Dr S S Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling

digitalLEARNING INDIA 2010

Visit to the digitalLEARNING portal for news, interviews, resources and articles from the ICT in education domain in India www.digitallearning.in

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EDITORIAL

Corporate Ownership for Society This issue of digitalLEARNING brings forth to its readers a brief outlook of the initiatives that corporates involve themselves in, through the concept of ‘Corporate Social Responsibility’. It brings together views of some eminent private players on their ownership, with respect to welfare of the society, with special emphasis on the education initiatives. The cover story highlights some perspectives on Corporate Social Responsibility formulated for the community at large, with special focus on the education of the disadvantaged group. For corporates, it is an investment which is more than just a ‘charity’ activity. Furthermore, with the 6th successful and fruitful eINDIA 2010 conference, that took place at Hyderabad from 4-6th August 2010, this issue of digitalLEARNING brings to you a recapitulation of the event. The Vocational Education Track was the brand new addition to the digitalLEARNING forum taking into account the urgency of creating skilled workforce for the growing Indian economy. digitalLEARNING forum caters to diverse sections of education society such as school education, higher education, government policies, private initiatives, and other non governmental organisations, in the context of ICT. The digitalLEARNING INDIA Track supplied its beneficiaries, who include top government officials, ‘investment gurus’, academicians, school and college administrators, corporate leaders, with live and latest deliberations in the field of ICT and education. The event report highlights the issues discussed by expert dignitaries, at eINDIA 2010 conference; on the changes in the field of education has witnessed in India, describing the past, analyzing the present and sharing with us about their expectations of the future. With more than 4000 delegates, 375 speakers, 45 sessions and 5 seminal tracks, the eINDIA mega event has been spreading its wings ever since its inception. Adding to the glory was the eINDIA Awards which achieved a new milestone in the history of ICT4D community by eliciting more than 444 nominations and an overwhelming1,21,577 votes in the online voting process. The achievement is a live testimony of the popularity and support it enjoys from you. I extend my sincere thanks to our stakeholders, participants, readers and authors in making the event a grand success. Together we look towards building an inclusive, and technology driven world.

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. Prachi Shirur, Dr. Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Divya Chawla, Sheena Joseph, Yukti Pahwa, Sangita Ghosh De, Pratap Vikram Singh, Gayatri Maheshwary Sales & Marketing Team: Fahimul Haque (Mobile: +91-9873277808), Debabrata Ray, Arpan Dasgupta, Bharat Kumar Jaiswal, Anuj Agarwal, Priya Saxena, Vishal Kumar (sales@elets.in) Subscription & Circulation: Manoj Kumar, Gunjan Singh (subscription@elets.in) Graphic Design Team: Bishwajeet Kumar Singh, Om Prakash Thakur, Shyam Kishore Web Development Team: Zia Salahuddin, Amit Pal, Sandhya Giri, Anil Kumar IT Team: Mukesh Sharma | Events: Vicky Kalra 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

SEPTEMBER 2010

COVER STORY

The Responsible Corporate CSR is not only about benefiting the company one owns but also benefiting the employees and the community, one is a part of.

Any sector has mainly three leagues – government, public and private. Private sector comprises of the entrepreneurs or the business companies or ‘the corporate’. Corporate houses are usually the privately owned companies that are registered as commercial trading units, that work for monetary profits or self benefiting motives. However, it is of relevance for society to note and appreciate the initiatives that the corporate world takes as part of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), for welfare of the society as whole. Almost all the big Indian business houses are involved in CSR activities. CSR is not only about benefiting the company one owns but also benefiting the employees and the community, one is a part of. This is justified by what Samuel J. Palmisano IBM Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, IBM says, “IBMers have always believed that when people think about how the world should work, they are inevitably driven to challenge the status quo, and to change it. And the resulting benefits flow not just to them and their organizations, but to their communities and global society” India, a developing nation, is today seen as a growing power in terms of business opportunities it provides to the world. Growing business or commercial activities along with social, ethical and environmental responsibility helps in long term sustainability, competence of high order and success of the company, as well as the society. This also indicates that that corporate houses, at large, are a composite part of society and have a role in sustaining a balanced ecosystem, favouring social equity and advantage. In fact, CSR programmes are meant to hasten the process of societal development. According to Shantanu Prakash, MD & CEO, Educomp Solutions Ltd, “Today, business ethics and professional expertise are teaming up to contribute

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to social welfare adding to the effort of government & PPP initiatives. This coadjuvant mechanism is providing for a faster roll-out of development and therefore prosperity around the globe, which would otherwise take much longer.” And he is right. Indian has a culture of rich traditions that emphasises on co-operativeness amongst members of family, society, community, regions, states and finally nation. Entrepreneurs of India work on the same principles. They work towards growth of their own organisation, fulfilling aspirations of the stakeholders and actively participating with community for economic growth and development. Says Sushmita Chakravarti, Associate Director, CSC India: “CSR is a business imperative for CSC. It is not just about charity work, or just philanthropy, or just p the environment. It encompasses all areas of our business–

our clients, employees, communities, environment, and governance. We believe that sustainability is good business. We used to report on financial assets. Now we need to report on our triple bottom line–our financial assets, our services which roll relationships, and our people.” VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES FOR RUNNING CSR CSR initiatives were introduced in India by the mid 1990s and the first voluntary code of corporate governance was a part of the former, an initiative known as the ‘Desirable Corporate Governance: A Code’, by India’s biggest business association – the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Ministry of Corporate Affairs then led to a National Foundation for Corporate Governance (NFCG) in a j g with joint understanding CII, the Institute of

Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) and the Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI). The aim of this foundation is to support good corporate governance practices and raise its standards, leading to stability and growth of corporate governance in India. According to recently reported attempts, Corporate Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid mentioned that Indian government is looking at how to make maximum companies adopt corporate social responsibility. It was reported that there are voluntary guidelines on CSR and corporate governance on government’s website available for discussion. Additionally, as a rule, companies who have been earning over INR 100 crore maybe asked to contribute upto two percent of the profit to the company. An eLearning module on Corporate Governance is also under construction, which is to be floated by the Ministry of Corporate Affairs. All the activities under CSR units are taken up as voluntary actions over and above companies’ obligations to the law and society. Also, companies are provided with guidance for CSR initiative through ‘Voluntary Guidelines’ for CSR. These guidelines suggest that a CSR p y should be developed p byy each policy commercial house which should be in line with the business principles. It should involve participation of its employees, be approved by the authorities and involve stakeholder participation. Ethical conduct and processes along with accountability and transparency are encouraged to be inherent with the CSR activity. Companies ensure judicious use of

resources–avoiding pollution, encouraging recycling, using resources optimally, supporting cleaner and productive ways of processing the daily chores–through their CSR programmes. CSR supports productive activities (both for social and economic growth of the communities). They work for the welfare of the society, especially for the so-called disadvantaged group, in areas such as education, livelihood, healthcare, and so on. It should not be just considered as a charitable activity but an effort for welfare of the whole community. For instance, in CSC, Sushmita Chakravarti says, “In India, CSC manages our CR activities though a committee called Binergy. Binergy is a thirty-plus member team of CSC employees (one member per five hundred employees), who are democratically elected each year in a formal electoral process. Employees interested in being part of Binergy, create a manifesto, present their vision on CR to the CSC employees in India and are elected to lead the CR efforts. While Binergy leads and manages the CR efforts, volunteers – also CSC employees – on an ongoing projectto-project basis, work towards meeting the CR objectives. The overall Binergy team is headed by an executive with each g a senior-level mentor.” location having For implementation of the CSR activities the corporate houses identify the area of work,

plan projects that they want to indulge in, set objectives to be in a particular time frame, stipulate a time limit for completion of the project, decide upon mechanisms for monitoring the initiative and rectify according to feedback collected. Evaluation and timely feedback would help rectify any challenges involved in

“

Employees interested in being part of Binergy, create a manifesto, present their vision on CR to the CSC employees in India and are elected to lead the CR efforts. -Sushmita Chakravarti, Associate Director, CSC in India

”

execution of the CSR initiative. The company sets aside a fixed monetary amount for the initiative. Companies should encourage and partner with other companies and NGOs for execution of the projects. There should be dissemination of the details of the initiatives for public to know and understand at large. WHY CSR? CSR is synonymously known by many names including Corporate Responsibility, Sustainable Responsible Business (SRB) and Corporate Social Performance. It is a

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IBM REINVENTING ROGRAMME “The IBM Reinventing Education (RE) program globally, is driven with the motivation to improve and enhance the quality of schooling in partnership with the local governments in various countries. Launched in 1994, this program is now available in 25 cities throughout the United States as well as in Australia, Italy, Ireland, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Vietnam, Mexico, Brazil, China and India. The RE program in India was initiated in 2006 with the primary focus on the continuous and ongoing professional development of teachers, integrating ICT and classroom transformation. The Reinventing Education programme in India is specially designed to align with the National goals for education reform in India as enshrined in the National Curriculum Framework 2005. NCF 2005 stresses on the primacy of children’s experiences, their active involvement in the process of learning and application to the child’s environment. RE program is being implemented in partnership with the Andhra Pradesh Residential Educational Institute Society (APREIS) and Corporation of Chennai (CoC). One of the findings indicate that both in AP and in Chennai, the students are able to articulate what they have done. They are now able to talk rather fearlessly in front of the teachers and are able to explain ideas that they have worked through in the RE programme. In APREIS schools where the children have limited interaction with the outside world, the program is also improving the social skills of the students. It has helped in improving the children’s communication skills and confidence levels by enabling them to interact with each other as well as the teachers.”

Mamtha Sharma, Manager CC&CA, IBM India

form of self-regulation mechanism echanism siness that is meshed in the business ws. model a company follows. ate In this manner corporate hey houses ensure that they monitor and support the cal legal standards, ethical necessities of country and s, while international regulations, ess. Corporate carrying out their business. SR) is indicative Social Responsibility (CSR) of the values and beliefss around which nvolves not only a company revolves. It involves e investors and working in line with the o communities, the customers but also est groups and regulators, special interest ects companies’ society as a whole. It directs eholders. Social accountability to its stakeholders. responsibility implies ownership and s. D Crowther accountability for actions. defines social accounting iin thi this sense as “an approach to reporting a firm’s activities which stresses the need for the identification of socially relevant behavior, the determination of those to whom the company is accountable for its social performance and the development of appropriate measures and reporting techniques.” A CSR is based on concept of managing and executing operations in order to maximise social, economic and environmental benefits while minimising the losses in any of the described areas It is a process whereby ownership is taken by the company for impact of its functioning on its employees, stakeholders, clients, community and environment. It is a process through which public interest and opinion is incorporated into corporate decision making process. PRACTICE, PROFIT AND RETURN OF INVESTMENT (ROI) WITH CSR CSR practices are often debatable. Some believe that CSR is a viable way of allowing commercial society to benefit themselves through multiple channels, in form of immediate, short term and long term benefits. While some opine that CSR is a disturbance or interference with the economic role of business and is often a mask or a superficial cover. However, the practice of CSR mostly forms backbone of the societal profits. They are instrumental in providing for many social reforms, especially in areas where money is a constraint, even for government, such as education of disadvantaged group; capacity building; creating infrastructure, employment opportunities and providing for livelihood. There are many Indian companies that cater to education, health, skill

development, empowerment of weaker sections, environment and rural development as a part of CSR. These include Microsoft, Infosys, Wipro, Tata Consultancy Services, Birla, ITC Welcome Group, Bharti Enterprises, NIIT, CSC, CMC, APTECH, Indian Oil Corporation etc. The criterion on which a company chooses an area of work as

“

ROI is all about the overall improvement and development in society feeds the chain of investment in the company and vice-versa. -Shantanu Prakash, MD & CEO , Educomp Solutions Ltd

”

part of CSR depends on companies’ personal discretion. Shantanu Prakash adds, “Being in the education sector, Educomp is in the unique position, wherein our core offerings fall in the social domain. Therefore CSR flows naturally in our case. Our products and services have the potential to impact society and social development at large.” For instance, Project Shiksha worth INR 100 crore was launched by Microsoft for providing computer education in the country. For this purpose it aimed at training 80,000 school teachers who would further impart computer literacy to children. The effort is seen more as an investment and not restricted to words such as charity, as Microsoft also mentioned its keenness of investing INR 1900 crores in India over a period of three years. In field of education similarly,

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

“…Educomp undertook to provide Computer training to the inmates of Hazaribagh Jail. This activity was started in collaboration with the Jail authorities with an aim to make the inmates computer literate… A full fledge computer lab was set up in the premises with facility of 10 computer & its accessories… The content was specially designed to address the needs of freshers in terms of computer education…The enthusiasm among the inmates about computer education was extremely rewarding for our team. This endeavor has allowed a large number of them to learn about usage of computers in day-to-day life which will give them a sound technological base when they return to mainstream society,” shared Shantanu Prakash. In line with a study that was undertaken in June 2009 by an industry body, CSR initiatives of around 300 companies were analysed and it was found that the CSR work is spread across 20 states and UT. Maharashtra was leading the game, with Gujarat and Delhi following the lead. According to Sushmita Chakravarti, the ROI is received in form of making a better society: “The way our CR functions, it provides our employees - across our seven locations and across the hierarchy - a platform to give back to society. A big part of CSC’s employee base in India is under thirty years of age. With this energetic team of employees, our CR ideology is not merely to give back to society by means of charity, but also by means of giving our time and effort in making a better society. This works for our advantage as we have more engaged employees.”

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CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES WITH CSR Companies executing CSR activities also deal with challenges that include1. Laws and Regulations – Different form of government rules, marked by different regions and political will. 2. Lack of requisite infrastructure and technology. 3. Financial constraints due to lack of cost effective resrouces. 4. Social and cultural barriers. Opportunities that CSR activities present are usually presented in form of community development approach. For instance, Shell Foundation’s work in South Africa, in Flower Valley, where an Early Learning Centre was created to educate and induce skills in children and adults of the community. CSR initiatives are also involved in providing for monetary donations and aid to the local community and oragnisations. CSR activities promote what is knon as ‘Creating Shared Value’, thereby making corporate success and social welfare as independent processes. For instance, in companies like CSC, the CSR activities have been reportedly chosen under the broad categories of community development, education, healthcare, environment and supporting people affected by natural calamities. The main criterion for chosing a project is based on the location. As put by Sushmita Chakravarti, “The projects should be in close vicinity to our people, since they run these projects.” For any business to sustain it needs a skilled and educated workforce, resources and effective laws, while for any society to thrive well economically

and socially they need to be supportive of business houses, especially in order to create income. Sushmita Chakravarti, shares briefly about one of the successful projects by CSC “One of CSC’s successful projects has been the adoption of backward villages (Sagarpaisa, Nayagaon, Lalpura, Chenchupally). This ongoing program has helped improve the quality of life in these villages by providing financial aid, and more importantly volunteers to help develop the villages. One of the initiatives include constructing and maintaining primary schools in these villages, training an educated physically challenged member of the village to teach, compensating the teacher, providing for books, stationery and uniforms for the students, organizing summer camps for extra curricular activities and regularly visiting the village school to mentor the children, tracking school education activities, and even tracking the career of the children passing out of the schools.” One of the implications of the above has been achievement of “100% literacy for the children of Nayagaon and Sagarpaisa villages.” DISSEMINATING THE KNOWLEDGE Most of the companies share the meaningful measures they take with population at large through what are known as the ‘Triple Bottom Line’ reports, that vary in the style of presentation. These reports provide details of the activities devised and implemented and their impact over three dimensions of ‘people, planet and profit’. On this criterion the social, ecological and economic implications of the activities company has undertaken, with respect to human capital/ resources, natural resources and cost of capital utilised. Sushmita Chakravarti says, “People, planet and profit is the other way that it is referred to in CR. This is how we do business in the 21st century. This is what the Gen Yers care about. This is what our customers care about. A growing number of investors perceive sustainability as a catalyst for enlightened and disciplined management.” Despite some of the best efforts from companies that have been working for welfare community at large, CSR in India is still at very early stage and has to be explored and understood by many. There is a need to change its concept from a charity proposition to a ‘must’. \\

digitalLEARNING Presents

SCHOOL EDUCATION CONCLAVE (Delhi, Dehradun, Chandigarh, Patna)

promoting excellence in school education In order to provide a platform for senior leadership and management teams of various schools to discuss, debate and learn the best ways for achieving institutional and academic excellence, digital LEARNING magazine is organising a multi-city event series to be held in New Delhi, Chandigarh, Dehradun and Patna.

Event Objectives:

Discussion Topics:

l Share best practices in academic and institutional excellence. l Showcase success stories for mutual learning and inspiration. l Discuss strategies for helping institutions to better equip for future. l Encourage collaboration and partnership among institutions. l Provide exposure to latest education tools, technologies and solutions. l Explore investment opportunities and funding sources.

l Best practices for academic excellence in schools l Pedagogy and teaching methodology for modern day education l Technology tools and solutions for enhanced teaching and learning l Quality management systems for education institutions l Regulatory framework and government initiatives for improving school system

Delegate Profile l School Principals

l Teachers

l School Directors

l Policy Makers

l Academic Heads

l Academicians

Date: 9th October, 2010 City: Dehradun Venue: Hotel Madhuban

Date: 11th December, 2010 City: Chandigarh Venue: PHD House

MARK YOUR CALENDAR Date: 13th November, 2010 City: Delhi Venue: The Claridges

Date: 29th January, 2011 City: Patna

For sponsorship/exhibition enqueries: Fahim Haque, Mob: 9873277808, Email : fahim@elets.in

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EVENT REPORT

The sixth edition of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest ICT expo and conference, was held from 4-6 August 2010 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre (HICC). The event was hosted by the Government of Andhra Pradesh and organised by Elets Technomedia and CSDMS, along with the Department of IT (GoI), Ministry of Panchayati Raj (GoI), Ministry of Labour & Employment (GoI), UIDAI, Directorate General of Employment & Training, NeGP, and IGNOU. The three-day event was attended by over 5,000 stakeholders from across the development and government sector, including elected members of state Assemblies and the Parliament, senior level bureaucrats, policy makers, academia, NGOs and industry associations.

Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University

R Reghunathan, Former Chief Secretary, Delhi & Advisor, NKC

Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Department of School Education, India

C R Biswal, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Andhra Pradesh

The chief guest Dr K Rosaiah, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, lighting the lamp at the inauguration of eINDIA2010. Standing L-R: K Ratna Prabha, PS, IT , GoAP; Dr Asraf Abdel Wahab, Deputy Minister, Ministry of Administrative Development, Egypt; Lt. Gen. (Retd) Bhopinder Singh, Lt Governor, Andaman & Nicobar; R Chandrashekhar, Secretary, DIT, GoI; Komathireddy Venkat Reddy, Minister, IT & Communications, GoAP

D Sridhar Babu, Minister, Higher Education, Andhra Pradesh and J Krishna Rao, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies, Legal Metrology & Consumer Affairs, Andhra Pradesh talking to the exhibitors

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Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University

Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University

(L-R) D Sridhar Babu, Minister, Higher Education, AP & Nadendla Manohar, Dy Speaker, AP Legislative Assembly

(L-R) Dr M P Narayanan & J Krishna Rao, Minister for Food, Civil Supplies, Legal Metrology & Consumer Affairs, AP

A Raja, Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, Government of India

Agatha Sangma, Minister of State for Rural Development, Government of India Agatha Sangma, Minister of State for Rural Development, Government of India along with Dr M P Narayanan, President, CSDMS (centre) and Dr Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Elets Technomedia (left) launching the special issue of eGov magazine.

nibh ero cor si. Guerciduipis dolobore ent

Odissi dance performance by members of Smitalay

eINDIA Award winners along with Dr M P Narayanan, President, CSDMS and Dr Ravi Gupta, Editor-in-Chief, Elets Technomedia digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

NEWS

NATIONAL

IIT BOMBAY AND US UNIVERSITY PARTNER NER FOR EXCHANGE PROGRAMME Brown University from the an United States and Indian Institute of Technologyy g (IIT) Bombay are planning o to sign an agreement to e start a student exchange er programme in October 2010. Representatives of tly the university are currently in India to explore the possibility of tie-ups with educational institutions.

ALL MEDICAL COLLEGES TO HAVE SINGLE ENTRANCE EXAM

42 NEW FACULTY MEMBERS JOIN DTU

It was recently conveyed to the Supreme Court on Friday, that the Medical Council of India (MCI) has taken a decision to introduce one common entrance test for all medical courses in India has been accepted by the Union Ministry and would be introduced from the next year, that is, 2011.

There has been a recent recruitment of about 42 new faculty members at Delhi Technological University (DTU) as lecturers with the commencement of the new academic session. Out of these almost 23 faculty members are PhD degree holders.

CCE ASSESSMENT IN OTHER SCHOOLS WITH NEW CBSE PROGRAMME

NIIT LAUNCHES GNIIT FOR ENGINEERS IN DELHI NIIT, leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT trainer, today, launched the ‘industry endorsed’ multiple track GNIIT for Engineers in Delhi. G. Raghavan, President-Global Individual Learning Solutions, NIIT, announced the launch of the program. GNIIT for Engineers is aimed at enhancing employability of engineering graduates by bridging the skill gap.

8 VARSITIES BY ICFAI WITH INR 400 CRORE Known for its chain of B Schools, the ICFAI Group, is planning to set up eight universities in as many states in the next two years with an investment of INR 400 crore. It has received the necessary approvals from the governments of Chattisgarh, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Assam, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab, said SK Sharma, director, planning and coordination, ICFAI.

iDISCOVERI RAISING $10M Supporting schools develop their curriculum, Lighthouse Funds may be leading the race for iDiscoveri. The leading contender for investing into education services firm iDiscoveri Education Pvt Ltd is the private equity firm Lighthouse Funds. iDiscoveri helps schools develop curriculum through its programme called X-SEED and is also involved in corporate training. iDiscoveri also provides outdoor programmes for children through a separate company called Youreka and also runs some pre-schools. Investment Light house carries in India is channeled through its $125-million India 2020 Fund. Emails sent to Lighthouse Funds and iDiscoveri remained unanswered at the time of posting this article. BMR Advisors is running the fundraising process. iDiscoveri has been founded by former worldwide marketing director of Group Danone Ashish Rajpal. The X-seed initiative has expanded to more than 400 schools. It involves services like student curriculum, assessment, teacher education and instructional leadership.

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A new programme me ht has been brought into action by the Central Board of Secondary Education o (CBSE) to er asses whether the schools have been successful in implementing the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE). According to the circular issued by CBSE across India, the school principals have been asked to act as ‘peer assessors’ and act as monitors responsible for capacity building and learning by gathering experiences from all the schools.

IN LAST FIVE YEARS, PRESCHOOL FEE HAS INCREASED BY 120 PERCENT Through a survey, it has been discovered that between 2005 to 2010, the branded pre-schools across the country have managed to hike the fee structure to 120 percent. The average fees for the kindergarten segment have gone up from INR 1,500 to over 3,500 per month, the survey by the Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (ASSOCHAM) described.

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Talenticon Spiral looks interesting, but is it costly? • Trial Package is FREE and available in different packages. • No Capital Investment. • Return of Investment for You: • 50-60% savings on paper • 25-30% savings in faculty efforts • 30-40% savings in student time • 20-30% Increase in overall infrastructure usage optimization • 60-70% increase in parent satisfaction • Reduce Electricity Bills and Save Energy If your institution uses Talenticon-Spiral, what cost do you avoid? • Recurring monthly costs of approximately 40,000/month (including the consolidated man hours for all teachers, support staff and paper cost). • Other intangible attributes. • Server Cost for Software and infrastructure maintenance. Quantify results and savings: • Report generation by consolidating feedbacks, suggestions and mapping to the planned action. Time Saver (students, teacher and parents time) • Operational ability (Quick reports and ease of management for teachers and school management). Road Map: • Making Spiral available on Nokia mobile phones within 6 months. • Athletics Cafeteria/Catering Human Resources Yearbook Designer Transportation Library Accounting Dormitory Guidance Purchasing/Inventory School Store Special Education Mid-Day Meal • School Interoperability framework. \\

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

PLENARY SESSIONS

digitalLEARNING INDIA 2010 Report on Plenary Sessions www.eINDIA.net.in

YUKTI PAHWA

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SESSION Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, the Track Chair for digitalLEARNING, chaired plenary session one. He told that “scaling up is a challenge for country like India” and catering to diverse large numbers. He spoke about national level programmes – programmes PLENARY SESSION I to connect various higher Envisioning eLEARNING on Global education institutions, NME (L-R) Dr KP Hewagamage, Asif Saleh, James Vergese and Platform and Vision 2020: Policies, ICT (National Mission of R Reghunathan Strategies and Relevance for Achieving Education through ICT) and Excellence programme on technology The aim of this session was to enabled education. Prof VS Ramamurthy Chair, Shri R Regunathan, Chairman, elaborate, discuss and debate on the mentioned that at higher education State Fee Regulatory Committee, Former plans for betterment of education system level the matter is not about access but Chief Secretary, Government of Delhi and till 2020, through the utilisation of ICT. quality assurance and there is a reason Advisor, National Knowledge Commission, The Panelists for the digitalLEARNING to emphasise for excellence. Irina Ghose Government of India; Asif Saleh, India 2010 Track, Plenary Session gave a presentation and expanded upon Policy Specialist, Access to Information I consisted of the Chair, Prof VN “Providing IT Literacy as a basic right to Programme, PMO’s Bangladesh; Dr Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, all by 2020.” Terry Wason, spoke about KP Hewagamage, Sr Lecturer, UCSC; Indira Gandhi National Open University SMART Technologies and the large scale James Vergese, Secretary, Department of (IGNOU); Prof VS Ramamurthy, Director, steps required for implementation of Education, Government of India. National Institute of Advanced Studies, ICT, which included standardisation and Government of India; Irina Ghose, Director integration. HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SESSION – Education, Microsoft; and Terry Wason, Shri R Regunathan, deliberated on need Country Manager – SMART Technologies. PLENARY SESSION II of flexible learning and the new trends of Access, Equity and Excellence in globalisation, increased competitiveness, Education: Opportunities innovation and research, branding and for Public Private accreditation and use of technology. Partnership Dr KP Hewagamage emphasised The aim of the session that it would be extremely beneficial was to invite policy for the society at large there is better makers and practioners communication between public and to elaborate on the ways private sectors. in which private players Asif Saleh discussed the areas in which can use ICT to enable attention should be given in context of ICT dissemination of education; in education including teaching learning providing for equity, access process, professional development of and excellence to present teachers and providing ICT literacy to and future generations of students. James Vergese said that an children. identified area of challenge in field of ICT The Panelists for the in education is excellence. He spoke digitalLEARNING India on constructivist approach to teaching 2010 Track, Plenary learning process, which is prevalent in (L-R) Terry Wason, Prof VS Ramamurthy, Prof VN Rajesekharan Session II consisted of the Kerela education system. \\ Pillai and Irina Ghose The day one of the mega event eINDIA 2010, the largest ICT conference of the country took place on August 4, 2010 at Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad. The day began with a gala inauguration ceremony and marked opening of a three day tech-exhibition which was open to one and all. The latter half of the day saw the beginning of three day track – ‘digitalLEARNING INDIA 2010’ with Plenary Sessions I and II.

www.digitalLEARNING.in

NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

PROJECT-BASED LEARNING AND TELE-COLLABORATION IN CHINESE SCHOOLS BY UNESCO UNESCO organised a workshop at Bangkok - ICT in Education Programme - under the Facilitating ICT-Pedagogy Integration Project, took place in Guangzhou, China from July 27-30, 2010, in collaboration with South China Normal University and the Educational Information Centre of Guang dong Province. The Korean Funds-In-Trust funded this ‘Capacity-Building Workshop on Project-Based Learning and Tele-collaboration’ and introduced teachers to the Facilitating ICT-Pedagogy Integration Project, and expanded their horizons on the use of ICT-enhanced project-based learning and tele-collaboration.

BOOSTING SUPPORT TO STATES, OBAMA SIGNS A BILL US President Barack Obama, recently, signed a 26-billion-dollar bill in order to extend support to states, to prevent teacher layoffs and make their Medicaid payments. This happened within hours after the House of Representatives passed it. The House, with a count of 247 to 161, in afternoon gave a green light to the bill ght that has been designed to ease the tight n tax state budget, in between a decline in 930s. For revenues and worst recession since 1930s. 1 to 39 to the same purpose, the Senate voted 61 approve the measure.

K12 INC. AND GREENFIELD PUBLIC SCHOOLS PARTNER TO OPEN VIRTUAL ACADEMY, HERNDON One of the America’s largest providers of proprietary curriculum and online school programmes for students in schools, K12 Inc. has announced on August 18, 2010, a new partnership with Greenfield Public Schools to launch Massachusetts’ first full-time, statewide online public school. Within this scheme upto 500 students in grades from Kindergarten to standard eight across the Commonwealth, for the coming school year, will be catered to by the Massachusetts Virtual Academy at Greenfield.

TEACHERS FROM DEPRIVED SCHOOLS RECEIVE TRAINING BY DREAMOVAL, ZAIN GHANA A laudable educational initiative has been introduced by Zain Ghana, as it drives to improve the general standard of education in the country particularly in the area of information technology. A child project by DreamOval, one of the leading providers of internet and Mobile software solutions creates a platform for the training of teachers mainly drawn from deprived schools in the Greater Accra region with an objective of improving teacher quality and, ultimately academic education.

ESYLLABI FOR TEACHERS, SAYS THE NEW DEAL, KENYA Now new laptops can be bought by teachers that already contain current syllabus and training material, as a part of Public Private Partnership initiative which aims at integrating e-learning in the education system. A deal has been struck between Safaricom, Equity bank, Microsoft, Intel, Kenya Literature Bureau (KLB) and Kenya Institute of Education (KIE) and the Teachers Service Commission targeting about 240,000 teachers.

CISCO NETWORKING ACADEMY PROGRAMME NOW IN CAMBODIA

CISCO - the dealer in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate - will be expanding the reach of their Cisco (News - Alert) Networking Academy programme to Cambodia with its launch at the University of Management and Economics. According to Cisco, the Cisco Networking Academy is a global education program that teaches students how to design, build, troubleshoot, and secure computer networks for increased access to career and economic opportunities in communities around the world.

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

SCHOOL EDUCATION INDIA 2010 REPORT

ICT in School Education and Policy Matters www.eINDIA.net.in

YUKTI PAHWA

eINDIA 2010 hosted the School Education INDIA 2010, where eminent dignitaries witnessed deliberation on Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan, strategising and implementation of policies on usage of ICT, challenges in developing eLearning and role of ICT in advancing inclusive education. The track also included discussion rounds on different education models, pedagogy and andragogy in ICT mediated classrooms, as a part of Principals’ Conclave.

SESSION I ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY IN RASHITRAIYA MADHYAMIK SHIKSHA ABHIYAN (RMSA) PROGRAMME: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES. The aim of the session was to carry out deliberations focusing on the provisions and hindrance in implementation of the said initiative and role of ICT in its facilitation. The Panelists for Session I consisted of

Chair: • Dr D Samba Siva Rao, Secretary, School Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh· Co-Chair: • Shri Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India; • Dr SS Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling, Government of India; • Dr Subir Roy, Technical Adviser, School education Department, Government of West Bengal; • Amit Gupta, CEO, S Chand Hartcourt (India) Pvt Ltd.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THE SESSION Dr D Samba Siva began the session with a welcome address, with a note on the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. Then he elaborated upon the RMSA initiative of the government, for secondary and senior secondary education/ high school. He elaborated that in about 7000 schools ICT

www.digitalLEARNING.in

(L-R) Dr SS Jena, Dr D Samba Siva Rao, Shri SC Khuntia, Dr Subir Roy and Amit Gupta

In about 7000 schools ICT implementation has been done, out of the 18000 high schools in the Andhra Pradesh. Teachers are given training for updating them with the ICT element.

implementation has been done, out of the 18000 high schools in the state. Teachers are given training for updating them with the ICT element. He finished by insisting upon improving the quality of service

provided, so that RMSA can be worked upon with the best. Dr SS Jena gave a presentation on ICT in open schooling in context of RMSA. Open schooling is seeing a paradigm

There is an effort to equip high school children to cope with the future and it is a must to leverage ICT for teaching-learning.

shift from one time schooling to life long education, fixed to flexible timing, instructional based learning to learner based instruction, and so on. He spoke about the challenges in the field, course delivery system, augmentation of learning resources, PPP and ICT based resource support for open schooling. Dr Subir Roy talked about ICT implementation at schools and use of computers only, for ICT literacy. He told about RMSA in West Bengal with 10,000 secondary schools , grant of INR 5 lac per school, challenges being faced, and concluded by talking about effective elearning systems (to comprise of interactivity and simulation). Amit Gupta then spoke about large Indian market space, requirement of a policy to let the private players interact at large with the education system. RMSA needs to bring not a few but all schools together under the benefit umbrella. He concluded by requesting government representative Shri SC Khuntia, to consider giving an “actual shape to PPP models” allowing more private participation and benefit to maximum number of schools. Shri SC Khuntia then addressed the gathering, beginning by speaking about

RMSA, as a logical extension to SSA. Universalisation of education through secondary education is a highlighting factor for RMSA. He emphasised on need to increase access, equity and quality – the three pillars for RMSA. He spoke about new ways of learning, that are ICT enabled and initiatives being taken by government for the same. For instance, in KVS and NVS are mostly ICT enabled now, under the ICT enabled school scheme. There is an effort to equip high school children to cope with future and it is a must to make teaching-learning can be enhanced using ICT as leverage. He spoke about capacity building of teachers and importance of PPP as being envisaged under RMSA. Government has been recently working on Draft National Curriculum for Teachers and there ICT is being included in every pre-training course and also the in-service training programmes. He also described about providing online libraries, e-comprehensive evaluation and assessment, easy monitoring for the parents regarding the school progress of children and scholarships for the children with use of ICT. Near the end of his address, he explained that besides scholastic activities many other educational activities, along

(L-R) C Neelap, Seetha Kiran, Prof BP Khandelwal, K Sadagopan and Terry Wason

Shri S C Khuntia

with curriculum reforms and classroom transactions will also be facilitated by ICT, under umbrella of RMSA. SESSION II MOVING TOWARDS DIGITALLY EQUIPPED SCHOOLS: PRIORITIES AND CHALLENGES The aim of the session was to have secretaries and principals of schools to discuss the ways to deliberate on how interactive classroom teaching learning modules can be developed and implemented. The Panelists included –

Chair: • K Sadagopan, Deputy Commissioner, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS)· Co-Chair: • Prof BP Khandelwal, Former Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education; • Seetha Kiran, Principal and Regional Director, DAV Institutions, South Zone; • C Neelap, Education Officer, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan, Regional Office, Hyderabad· Terry Wason, Country Manager India, SMART Technologies.

In the beginning of the session, Seetha Kiran gave a presentation on digital schools or the smart schools. She appreciated CBSE for bringing in CCE into curriculum. She insisted that 21st Century demands that students have to be “innovative thinkers and then we have to make them learn, helping them to construct knowledge” and it is a must for teachers to have ICT in classrooms. And

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

dissemination of knowledge in schools. The panel consisted of –

(L-R) Dr R Shreedher, Kadu Baddanage Buddhika Sampat Darshana, Kalinga Athulathmudali, Ahmadzulkarnin Ramli, Zeena Abdul Gafoor, Prof Vasudha Kamat, Vandana Arimardan, Khor Kok Yeow

we can not afford to say that we do not have ICT enabled schools. Terry Wason, next spoke highlighting the role of in-service professional development and to strengthen teachers skills. He also explained that social networking sites should be considered as learning sites such as teacher tube, a part of YouTube based site, where teachers share their learnings. C Neelap put forth two questions – whether you should create technology or perpetually be acceptable of people who create technology for school. He described that it is important to include ICT in teaching so that we can compete with global standards. He insisted that the preachers must provide guaranteed quality knowledge and smiling learning which makes every student effective user of technology. K Sadagopan mentioned that eLearning is better known as “extended or revolving or everywhere learning.” He explained that future will be better than. The traditional methods are being challenged today and ICT implementation, especially in past ten years, has proved its worth with increased graduation rate, more meaning connection between staff and students and stronger relationships of academic institutions with business. He told that quality content

acquired for effective teaching-learning and finally said, “we need to bring learning to people instead of people to learn.” Prof BP Khandelwal, to begin with, spoke about life long learning. Technology has arrived, has made learning more vibrant and things are being turned into more interactive and attractive in classroom. He made an important point that teachers and their value must never be negated. He mentioned about importance of values that lie in education and International Commission Report for Education adopted by all UNESCO member countries where emphasis is on ‘learning the treasure within’. He put forth that with technology there should be implementation and supplementation, especially with respect to capacity building. SESSION III DIGITAL STORYTELLING: ICT MEDIATED LEARNING AND PRACTICES (SPECIAL SESSION SPONSORED BY COMMONWEALTH OF EDUCATIONAL MEDIA CENTRE FOR ASIA) The aim of the session was to share stories related to using radio media for

CIET has two audio studios and two video studio from where daily networking, conferencing and interactive programmes are broadcasted.

www.digitalLEARNING.in

Chair: • Dr R Shreedher, Director, Commonwealth of Educational Media Centre for Asia; Moderator: • Prof Vasudha Kamat, Joint Director, CIET, National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT); • Vandana Arimardan, CIET, NCERT; • Khor Kok Yeow, Wawason Open University, Penang, Malaysia; • Ahmadzulkarnin Ramli, Open University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; • Kalinga Athulathmudali, Tech Lanka, Colombo, Sri Lanka; • Kadu Baddanage Buddhika Sampat Darshana, Tel Radio, Colombo, Sri Lanka; • Zeena Abdul Gafoor, Repulic of Maldives.

HIGHLIGHTS R Shreedher introduced some international delegates to speak on the digital stories for enhancement in school education. Prof Vasudha Kamat moderated the session. Vandana Arimardan talked about work of CIET, where they have two audio studios and two video studio from where daily networking, conferencing and interactive programmes are broadcasted. She described that they broadcast programmes from Gyan Vani and Gyan Darshan. They have 12 channels and thousands of audio clips of historical importance. Then she elaborated about the launch of ‘I-Radio’, which is a form of web-casting. For the broadcast towers are required while I-Radio operates with help of a cost effective set up and from there send signals from internet (use of MTNL Broadband), globally. They work for the education of children with effective use of technology. Prof Kamat added to above that they also convert text books into to digital books that are available to visually challenged students. Khor Kok Yeow talked about ‘Life Size’ webcast method at WOU. He explained about the biggest challenge in usual webcast is the cost, which is very expensive. He talked about challenges available at WOU – the bandwidth, audio and video and Internet – for implementation of I-Radio in Malaysia. Finally, about the I-Radio implementation he told, “It was a big success when received positive feedback and comment from different RO and public internet users, knowing that the audio/video is clear and without lag.”

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(L-R) Peter Cahill (presenting), Simmi Kher, Pameila Khanna, James Shanely, Vineet Koka and Praveen K Pavuluri

Ahmadzulkarnin Ramli presented a case study – ‘Digital Story Telling (DST): The Case of Open University Malaysia (OUM). At OUM, DST has been seen as a facilitator of learning both by itself and in combination with other instructional elements. He concluded by saying, “In order to stimulate DST development for education purposes at acceptable cost and timeline; investing to have an in-house Learning Materials Development Centre (CiDT) is the right decision for OUM.” Buddhika gave a presentation on ‘Telradio’, a form of internet radio service. He briefly explained the meaning of digital story telling as an “art of telling stories with a variety of digital multimedia and DST workshops that have been conducted in Sri Lanka. He spoke about applications of the same in the area of health care, education, disaster management and community. The challenges faced by his institution mainly comprised of script writing, content dissemination and low number of DST produced after the workshops. Kalinga Athulathmudali spoke about how I-Radio helps in breaking geographical boundaries in elearning. He explained the concept of ‘Tech Katha’, and explained that how iRadio is a highly interactive, on demand way of breaking language barriers, sharing knowledge and building communities with self-support. Zeena Abdul Gafoor gave a presentation on I-Radio in Maldives. They started this programme in Maldives about six months ago. She described the workshops hosted through I-radio with parents, teachers and students, to disseminate knowledge to all. To sustain and maintain I-Radio there is an Education Development Centre, where

www.digitalLEARNING.in

there is a station and a studio; and with help of professional experts broadcasting of relevant programmes is done but a major challenge is presence of only a few producers. SESSION IV ROLE OF ELEARNING TO ENHANCE SUBJECT KNOWLEDGE OF STUDENTS The aim of the session was to explore how multi-media instruments can help in encouraging children to learn in productive way, through deliberations amongst the implementers of learning. The panelists included-

HIGHLIGHTS Pameila Khanna began by giving an introduction of the topic and elaborating on the use of ICT in enhancing subject knowledge of students. Simmi Kher introduced Tony Blair Faith Foundation that connects schools across globe with video conferencing. She then gave presentation on Web2.0. She spoke from perspective of being teacher and how motivation can help teachers to use ICT effectively for classroom teaching. She gave a few other connotations of ICT – information connecting technology, information collaboration technology, and information cultural change technology. Then Vineet Koka spoke about the how elearning can help students efficiently grasp knowledge. For them he demonstrated example of how a lesson can be planned with help of technology, which is easy to be memorised and understood by students, on blood clotting. He explained how technology they provide can produce uniformity in teaching, cover absence of a teacher, help students in practicing on their own, is simple to use and requires minimum hardware. James Shanely spoke about use of interactive whiteboards. He introduced

Chair: • Pameila Khanna, Principal, CHIREC Public School; • Simmi Kher, India Coordinator, Tony Blair Foundation; • Vineet koka, Vice President, Marketing & Ops, Designmate (I) Pvt Ltd·J a m e s Shanely, Director Sales, Mimio; • Peter Cahill, Education Media and Publishing Group International (an affiliate of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt), VP Business Development and Strategy, Ireland; • Praveen K Pavuluri, Vice President, Prapan Solutions Pvt Ltd. Peter Cahill

iRadio is a highly interactive, on demand way of breaking language barriers, sharing knowledge and building communities with self-support.

(L-R) Shri K Anwar Sadath, S Selvaraj, Amit Khanna, Satish Jha, Ranjit Singh and John Reder

Mimio’s new suite of interactive whiteboards. He laid emphasis on delivering quality and effectiveness through content loaded within the interactive white boards. Praveen K Pavuluri talked about integrating technology in primary education. He spoke about the addon technology education services, his company provides to schools and state governments, especially after school, to disadvantaged children. He talked about empowering schools with technology and using multimedia for helping students and teachers to build their respective capacities. Peter Cahill, talked about how before use for teachers it’s a must to understand any elearning technology which has to be used. The motive of his company is to empower teachers to create better learners. He spoke about quality of teacher in classroom, appreciating different activities that teachers indulge in schools, understand the needs of teachers, understand student needs and considering increasing level of engagements of students. After each session, there was a question-answer round, after which all the speakers were thanked with a token of appreciation. SESSION V STRATEGISING AND IMPLEMENTATION OF POLICIES ON USAGE OF ICT IN LEVERAGING LEARNING The aim of the session was to invite stakeholders from government to discuss effective use of ICT tools in School Education.

The Panelists included -

Chair: • K Anwar Sadath, Director, IT@ Schools Project, General Education Department, Government of Kerela; • Dr Sushmita Mitra, Director, SSS, NIOSS Selvaraj, Assistant Commissioner, KVS, Andhra PradeshAmit Khanna, Business Development Director, N Computing; • Satish Jha, CEO, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC); • Ranjit Singh, CEO, Genee Solutions India Pvt Ltd; • John Reder, Education Market Development Manager, DLP Products, Texas Instruments.

The session began with address by K Anwar Sadath. He spoke about the ICT implementation in school

education in Kerela. He highlighted points on policy framework, infrastructure readiness (equipped computer labs with broadband), capacity building (extensive teacher training programmes) and content development and management (inlcuding multi-faceted approach in schools including tools such as - Print, TV, Satellite & Web Media). Dr Sushmita Mitra talked about how ICT has changed learning into a 24/7 process. She elaborated that technologies available today and traditional pedagogy are bound to have some tensions as they are different in terms of activities done, type of learning (collaborative vs instructional), creativity, integration of theory and practice, and evaluation. She concluded by saying, “Strategy plan ought to stress on complete integration with existing structures, processes and critical issues for a change for future.” S Selvaraj presented a comparison of education at Kendriya Vidhyalayas before the advent of ICT and in present situation. He described the ICT facilities available at schools and how teachers use the same effectively to teach the class. He later discussed the research papers and articles available on ICT use in schools. Ranjit Singh to begin with gave introduction on his company – Genee Solutions. He later elaborated how they provide educational solutions to support teachers in making classroom learning more fruitful. He explained, with help of demonstration of the equipments they manufacture, that “Technology has so much more flexibility, impact and opportunities for student inclusion.”

(L-R) Dr Sushmita Mitra, Shri K Anwar Sadath, S Selvaraj, Amit Khanna, Satish Jha, Ranjit Singh and John Reder

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

(L-R) CVenkata Giri, Prof Arun C Mehta and Dr Santosh Babu

Satish Jha talked about One Laptop Per Child, describing state of the present time education system for children, the barriers present (including infrastructure, teaching and content) and the most effective ways in which the challenges can be met using transformational OLPC.

John Reder made a presentation on ‘3D for Education’, the digital display devices. He elaborated on the 3D revolution, necessity to acquire good 3D, 3D pilot programmes and results of the same. The devices developed by Texas Instruments are supportive in manner of high value content they provide, he added.

all these students is to be borne by the state government and they have been given right to attain free of cost admission in schools (be it government or private). Since, the drop out rate of the students from disadvantaged communities has also gone down. Dr Santosh Babu gave a presentation elaborating on how it is possible to provide world class educational facilities to all the people – in both urban and rural India. He talked about the three classes of poor – rich poor, middle class poor and poor poor and how percolation of resources are required to the most bottom layer of the poor. He talked about importance of state collector and how dissemination of resources can be effective if collector is careful at his end. He also talked about self help groups, child friendly village and dissemination of knowledge.

SESSION VI ROUND TABLE DISCUSSION: SCHOOL LEADERS CONCLAVE Right to Education and Role of ICT The objective of the session was to gather recommendations from experts and principals regarding the role of ICT in execution of RTE act. The panelists consisted of -

Principal D Usha Reddy putting forth her opinion after the discussion on her table during Session VI

Chair: • Dr Mohd Ilyas Rizvi, IFS, Chairman and Managing Director, Andhra Pradesh State, Minorities Finance Corporation; • Prof Arun C Mehta, Head Department of Educational Management Information System (EMIS), NEUPA; • C Venkata Giri, Teacher, Kendriya Vidhayalaya Sanghathan; • Dr Santosh Babu, Managing Director, Elcot.

Amit Khanna gave a presentation on ‘proven strategy to reduce ICT acquisition and maintenance cost in education’. He then described about the way in which N Computing devices help in creating affordable, multiple, operational desktops with help of only a few master computers. Additionally, this helps in saving electricity, reduced e-waste and hardware waste, and bringing computing to 1.8 million students in India.

HIGHLIGHTS Dr Mohd Ilyas Rizvi talked about Andhra Pradesh government initiatives. He mentioned that the government, even before the RTE act came to be implemented, had takena call to provide free education to all students from SC/ST/ OBC and minority groups, from class two to the higher education courses (including the professional courses). The fees of

www.digitalLEARNING.in

Chair for Session VI: Dr Mohd Ilyas Rizvi addressing the gathering

Arun C Mehta mostly discussed the features of the RTE act. He explained that ICT provisions are to be given to schools. But ICT details and way of implementation is not available to all, yet. He also mentioned about the provision to have a redressal mechanism/ monitoring mechanism but it will take time to develop it. Again it is the responsibility of state govt to develop child helpline/ online feedbakc mechanism where children and parents are enabled to register any violation of the RTE act with government, so that action can be taken by government. Finally, he spoke about importance of having professional/ qualified teachers in schools.

C Venkata Giri talked about his teaching experience at school, in sector of ICT, for over 15 years. He emphasised that unless a teacher is there to teach, the ICT tools or any tools are of no use. He insisted upon supporting teachers to gain the relevant skills to make classroom teaching relevant. For a better future of education, teachers should be prepared to use ICT. Following the above presentations was a round table discussion between principals across various tables. The discussions consisted of points such as government’s role in providing 100% free education to all students, requirement of funds for facilitating education of 25% of the seats that are to be reserved in private schools, and so on. SESSION VII BREAKING BARRIER TOWARDS ACCESS AND SUCCESS: TECHNOLOGY AS ENABLER IN INCLUSIVE EDUCATION The aim of the session was to invite the educationists to discuss how technology can support seamless education across various disparities. The panelists included -

Chair: • Usha D Reddy, Principal Meridian School • Md Afzal Hossain Sarwar, Content Development Associate, Access to Information Project, PMO, Bangladesh; • Hariharun M, CEO, Hicommands Tech India Ltd; • Krishna Khanna, Chairman, i2K; • S Venkatesh, Tech Architect, Edurite.

HIGHLIGHTS Usha D Reddy began the session by introducing the title and deliberating on the same. She spoke about the importance of using technology in a balanced manner – neither over doing it or underplaying its role. She described that it is essential for teachers to be familiar with the technology and use the resources that are available with them. Cooperation from private sector is of equal importance. She finally spoke about importance censorship of digital content and bridging the gap between the economically diverse groups. Md. Afzal Hossain Sarwar, spoke about ICT implementation with respect to teacher training, classroom teachinglearning, supplementary materials, and self-learning materials. He talked about different kinds of digital content and reflected on the ‘Bottom-up’ approach

(L-R) S Venkatesh, Hariharun M, Md Afzal Hossain Sarwar, Dr Usha D Reddy and Krishan Khanna

It is essential for teachers to be familiar with the technology and use the resources that are available with them.

in teaching, in Bangladesh. He further elaborated upon empowerment of teachers, use of multimedia and need of active leadership for combining the efforts of technologies and human efforts; along with Business Process Re-engineering. S Venkatesh talked about Manipal Education and TutorVista. He talked about the credentials of the same, elaborating the methodology (containing canned teaching, mapping the learning process, using semantic technology and assessing

Md Afzal Hossain Sarwar

the impact). He described a view of next generation classrooms, that would be solar powered, 3G connectivity, and projection technologies. Krishan Khanna began by describing thirty one demos of technology platform that i2K provides. He talked about the future education which will see artificial intelligence, 24/7 learning, one to one mentoring, change from teacher centric system to student centric learning system. He told that every human being has a different style of learning- so teachers will have to learn to work with diverse personalities. He finally spoke about the interactive, one to one mentoring, artificial intelligence platform they provide supports 11 Indian languages and is low cost . Hariharun M spoke about the platform Hicommands company provides in education sector. He explained how ICT implementation is usually confined to use of computers and projectors in the classrooms. He explained that his company specialises in emerging pedagogy and they train teachers to be comfortable with use of technology. They support interactive reinforcement, help teachers customise course to suit students and be part of learning process. With this the two day track on school education came to its closure. \\

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY (A CENTRAL UNIVERSITY UNDER HRD ESTABLISHED BY AN ACT. OF PARLIAMENT)

years

Maidan Garhi, New Delhi - 110068 INDIA I www.ignou.ac.in INDIRA GANDHI NATIONAL OPEN UNIVERSITY (IGNOU) SPECIAL SESSION AT digitalLEARNING Skill Development & Vocational Training Track

digitalLEARNING Higher Education Track

Chair: Dr Darlie O Koshy, Director General, Institute of Apparel Management & Apparel Training & Design Centre ( AEPC)

Chair: Dr Darlie O Koshy, Director General, Institute of Apparel Management & Apparel Training & Design Centre ( AEPC) Panelists: Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttrakhand Open University Prof Srivathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chairman, Karnataka State Open University; Amy Thomas, Learning Specialist, Ecole Solutions; Satish Kaushal, Executive Director, Ernst & Young Pvt Ltd

Panelists: Dr S S Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS); TVLN Rao, Deputy Director, Advance Training Institute for Electronic and Process; Instrumentation, Ministry of Labour and Employment, GoI; Vivek Agarwal, CEO, Liqvid Skills and Vocational Literacy: Technology Enhanced Employment In today's world, knowledge of technology is interwoven with employment needs. There is a need for the employee to cater to these needs. In such a scenario, IGNOU which is an international open university, was invited to elaborate on how technology can help in enhancing employment skills. The session brought out certain basic facts about India in the skill development framework. Dr Jena pointed out that out of the population aged between 15-29 years, only 2% have formal vocational training, 8% have non-formal vocational training, and 93% of workforce are in the unorganised sector. New entrants to the workforce every year is 12.8 million. India has the youngest population in the world with median age of 24 in the year 2000, while that in Europe was 38, 41 in Japan, and 30 in China. The National Policy on Education provides for vocational stream in the higher secondary stage. About 5% of total student strength in higher secondary stage are in vocational stream, while the target under National Policy is 25%. The National Skill Development Mission has an outlay of $4 billion. The aim is to increase VET capacity from 3.1 million to 15 million through Public Private Partnerships. According to Rao, skill and knowledge are the driving forces for economic growth and social development. The economy become more productive, innovate and competitive through skilled human potential. Countries with higher and better levels of skills adjust more effectively to the challenges and opportunities of globalisation. Darlie Koshy stated that it is essential to merge vocational skills training with mainstream education. The education and training arms of AEPC signed a MoU with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to expand the range of vocational education for apparel industry. The initiative has sought to improve the skill base for both the domestic and export manufacturing sectors of textile and apparel industries.

Open University & Distance Education: Flexible Education Practices According to Dr V K Pathak, ICT is considered as a powerful tool to promote social and economic development . Diverse set of technological tools and resources can be used to communicate, and to create, disseminate, store, and manage information. ICT covers any product that will store, retrieve, manipulate, transmit or receive information electronically in a digital form. The advances in information and communication technology provide great opportunities to enhance teaching and learning in higher education by both on-campus and distance education. Even disabled students who are denied access to traditional institutions, and all those who require updating of their knowledge and life-long education can now be benefited by the modern facilities of communication. The potential of open and distance learning are many. In efforts to meet the new and changing demands for education and training, open and distance learning may be seen as an approach that is at least complementary and under certain circumstances an appropriate substitute for the face-to-face methods that still dominate most educational systems. While its benefits can be evaluated by technical, social and economic criteria, distance learning methods also have their own pedagogical merit, leading to different ways of conceiving knowledge generation and acquisition. To the learner, open and distance learning means more freedom of access, and thereby a wider range of opportunities for learning and qualification. The barriers that may be overcome by distance learning include not only geographical distance, but also other confining circumstances, such as personal constraints, cultural and social barriers and lack of educational infrastructure. Distance education is thought to be an effective way of educating people of all sections in society.

HIGHER EDUCATION TRACK

Tracking Innovations in Higher Education www.eINDIA.net.in

SHEENA JOSEPH

The Higher Education Track brought together education leaders, academicians, and practitioners to discuss contemporary issues in higher education and to put together valuable information for addressing key challenges in this field. India has the finest of educationists and academicians who are experts not only in dissemeination of knowledge and practice but also in bringing about creative changes in the system to evolve a knowledge economy that is the best in the world. The Higher Educationb Track sought to deliberate on pertinant issues in policy and practice that will enable India to usher into an era of inclusive and innovative higher education. SYSTEMIC ENHANCEMENT OF LEARNING & TEACHING IN INNOVATION, RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT: POLICY AND PRACTICES Chair: • C R Biswal, Principal Secretary, Higher Education Department, Government of Andhra Pradesh Panelists: • Prof Srivathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU • Dr V Balasubramanyam, Domain Consultant-Medical, elearning & Professor, Dept of Anatomy, St John’sMedical College; • Dr Srinivas Pentyala, Director of Translational Research, Stony Brook Medical Center, Stony Brook, New York; • Dr Indraneel Ghose, Science & Technology Analyst, Delegation of European Union to India; • Dr D N Reddy, Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru Technical University; • MarcAlexis Remond, Director, Government, Education and Healthcare Solutions for Polycom Asia Pacific. The session highlighted that technology has become vital in order to make higher education more responsive to student needs. According to a recent survey, nearly two-thirds (63%) of survey

www.digitalLEARNING.in

(L-R) Dr Srinivas Pentyala, Prof Srivathsan and CR Biswal

Education technology will become a core differentiator in attracting students and corporate partners. The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning [NPTEL] has come a long way in opening up education to the masses.

respondents from both the public and private sectors say that technological innovation will have a major influence on teaching methodologies over the next five years. In fact, technology will become a core differentiator in attracting students and corporate partners. The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning [NPTEL] has come a long way in opening up education to the masses through the use of technology.

125 video courses are available on YouTube and 130 courses on the web. Global developments in OCW, OKI, OER, Wikibooks, OCW-2, Open Access Publishing, Curriki, etc. have facilitated the process of spreading higher education through open source. Cloud Computing and FOSS suites are also available to reduce cost. Some of the challenges, like the shortage of quality faculty, need to be addressed

through greater encouragement to education research and effective utilization of funds allocated to higher education.

several educational institutions either already have foreign locations or plan to open them in the next three years. Distance education is also becoming increasingly global, with universities in the US and overseas leveraging advanced technologies to put education within reach of many more individuals around the world. In the era of the knowledge worker and the power of human capital, two key dimensions of knowledge economy were highlighted- that of existing stock of knowledge and, secondly, competence in the economy. While the role of the faculty is still to impart knowledge, there are many additional facets & responsibilities for the faculty of today. With increasingly sophisticated technology, there are numerous mediums available for imparting knowledge and education. There has to be a transition to suit the requirements of verbal to visual to virtual generation of students.

EDUCATION LEADER’S CONCLAVE: IMPERATIVES FOR GROWTH IN THE KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY

GOVERNANCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: ROLE OF TECHNOLOGY AND FUTURE TRENDS

Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU

Chair: • Prof V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor IGNOU Panelists: • Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University; • Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University; • Dr R P Singh, Vice Chancellor, Sharda University; • Prof Rajeev Sangal, Director, IIIT, Hyderabad; • Brig(Dr) R S Grewal, Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University; • Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chairman, Karnataka State Open University.

The session highlighted that the higher education system in India is increasingly responding to globalisation. Overseas presence of educational institutes will be the norm in the coming years. Today,

Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University

The higher education system in India is increasingly responding to globalisation. Overseas presence of educational institutes will be the norm in the coming years.

Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University

Chair: • Prof A K Bakshi, Director, Institute of Life Long Learning, University of Delhi Panelists: • Dr R P Singh, Vice Chancellor, Sharda University; • Prof Z H Khan, Director, FTKCentre for Information Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia; • Dr M Roberts Masillamani, Dean Computing Sciences, Hindustan Insutute of Technology; • Dr A P Wadegaonkar, General Manager Maharashtra Knowledge Commission Ltd; • Dev Ramnane,, Director, Sales and Account Management, Excelsoft Technolgies Pvt. Ltd.

The session put forth some of the emerging technologies that will impact teaching and learning in the future. These include network enabled class rooms and virtual learning environments. In the next 3 years collaborative web, mobile computing, e-books and cloud computing would play a larger role in facilitating education processes. Technology has been of late shaping the future of higher education. Online blended learning approach has paved the way for anytime, anywhere learning. The focus is to suit the learners’ requirements and introduce flexibility into learning processes. Individualized degree programs have been created which is learner centric and customer driven. Web 2.0 tools can be used to achieve several educational goals. Blogs can be used to support the development of reflective reporting and reflective thinking and also help improve peer feedback.

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

Discussion forums would facilitate enquiry based learning and enable sharing of wider range of learning resources. Wikis help support collaborative education and development of new resources. With the gradual change in the education system through technology, the role of the teacher is now shifting towards that of becoming a key facilitator of learning.

Chair: • Dr Darlie O Koshy, Director General, Institute of Apparel Management & Apparel Training & Design Centre ( AEPC) Panelists: • Prof V K Pathak, Vice Chancellor, Uttrakhand Open University; • Prof Srivathsan, Pro Vice Chancellor, IGNOU; • Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chariman, Karnataka State Open University; • Amy Thomas, Learning Specilalist, Ecole Solutions; • Satish Kaushal, Executive Director, Ernst & Young Pvt Ltd.

ASSESSMENT, ACCREDITATION & QUALITY STANDARDS IN HIGHER EDUCATION: TECHNOLOGY LEADING THE WAY

Moderator: • Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chariman, Karnataka State Open University Panelists: • Dr Elizabeth Sherly, Director, Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management- Kerala; • Dr Rajagopal, Regional Director, IGNOU; • Biju Zachariah, Executive Vice President, Sales, MeritTrac.

According to Prof Rangappa, technological innovation is now changing the very way that universities teach and students learn. Technology has had—and will continue to have—a significant impact on higher education. The session highlighted several issues in higher education. The current Gross Enrollment Ratio in the higher education in India is 12% in the 18-23 age group, as compared to a global average of 24% and 30% in developed countries. There is a need to improve the quality of education in colleges. There has been a growing

Dr M Roberts Masillamani, Dean Computing Sciences, Hindustan Institute of Technology

awareness that universities have been reduced to admissions and examination control centres, and that increased attention has to be given towards quality research. Quality and accreditation in higher education are important parameters to ensure good standards in teaching and learning. It identifies the producer and consumer and hence grants confidence to both. Accreditation grants recognition by the consumer and also the product itself. The quality of education is the basic need of the society. There are number of effective teaching & learning methodologies in practice. Technology is the most effective way to increase the student’s knowledge. Nowadays ICT plays emminent role in the process of integrating technology into the educational activities. OPEN UNIVERSITY & DISTANCE EDUCATION: FLEXIBLE EDUCATION PRACTICES (SPECIAL IGNOU SESSION) The advances in information and communication technology provide great opportunities to enhance teaching and learning in higher education by both oncampus and distance education. Even

disabled students who are denied access to traditional institutions, and all those who require updating of their knowledge and life-long education can now be benefited by the modern facilities of communication. They also provide increased access to information sources and facilitate communication among researchers and teachers and the building of networks of institutions and scholars. The potential of open and distance learning are many. In efforts to meet the

Dr A P Wadegaonkar, Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation

With the gradual change in the education system through technology, the role of the teacher is now shifting towards that of becoming a key facilitator of learning. Dr R P Singh, Vice Chancellor, Sharda University

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new and changing demands for education and training, open and distance learning may be seen as an approach that is at least complementary and under certain circumstances an appropriate substitute for the face-to-face methods that still dominate most educational systems. Through the open universities and distance learning initiatives, mechanisms are in place to upgrade skills at regular intervals and develop new competencies. People’s needs of lifelong learning are constantly expanding. While its benefits can be evaluated by technical, social and economic criteria, distance learning methods also have their own pedagogical merit, leading to different ways of conceiving knowledge generation and acquisition. To the learner, open and distance learning means more freedom of access, and thereby a wider range of opportunities for learning and qualification. The barriers that may be overcome by distance learning include not only geographical distance, but also other confining circumstances, such as personal constraints, cultural and social barriers and lack of educational infrastructure. Distance education is thought to be an effective way of educating people of all sections in society. STRENGTHENING CAPACITIES OF EDUCATORS: THE ICT WAY

Chair: • Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University Panelists: • Uma Maheswari P, Assistant Professor, Dept of Media Sciences, Anna University; • Amit Gupta, CEO, S Chand Harcourt; • S Rajeev, VP Strategic Alliances Everonn Education Ltd; • Amit Ranade, Manager Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation.

Integration of technology in education would also mean training and capacity building of teachers in the same field. Technology in education is not new, but modern computer technologies, such as the Internet, allow new types of teaching and learning experiences to flourish. Many new technologies are interactive, making it easier to create environments in which students can learn by doing, receive feedback, and continually refine their understanding and build new knowledge. Access to the Internet gives unprecedented opportunities in terms of the availability of research material and

www.digitalLEARNING.in

Dr Elizabeth Sherly, Director, IIITM-K

Dr Rajagopal, Regional Director, IGNOU

information in general. This availability of research material and information happens to both inspire and threaten teachers. Often the perception is that educators are not willing to adapt to new technologies as they feel threatened from the spurt of information. However, this perception needs to be changed through adequate training and bringing about greater familiarity with education technology for educators. A very critical role has to be played by teacher education institutions in providing the necessary leadership in adapting pre-service and in-service teacher education to deal with the current demands of society and economy. New pedagogies and tools for learning have to be adapted with the aim of enhancing the teaching-learning process. Moreover, teacher education institutions must also

give guidance in determining how the new technologies can best be used in the context of the culture, needs, and economic conditions of their country.

Prof K S Rangappa, Vice Chancellor & Chairman, Karnataka State Open University

MAINTAINING QUALITY STANDARDS IN ENGINEERING AND MANAGEMENT EDUCATION: KEY REQUIREMENTS

Chair: • Dr Rajeshree Dutta Kumar, Senior Programme Officer, digitalLEARNING Panelists: • Padmaja Naraharisetty, Principal Mentor CIHL, IIIT- Hyderabad; • Peter Mozelius, IT-Pedagogue, Stockholm University; • Prof Shweta Bhardwaj, Professor, IBS; • Dr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab Technical University.

Engineering colleges have mushroomed in India over the past few years. The session focused on the need to ensure quality standards and for maintenance of a monitoring mechanism for engineering colleges across India. The All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has been a prominent player in this field, having set several parameters for technical education institutes. These parameters are in essence, the minimum requirements for any educational institute to be recognised. However, these guidelines have often been misrepresented by new educational institutes to suit requirements and set shop. There is a need for greater accountability among colleges to ensure that qualified, trained and industry ready students are churned out of these institutes. \\

SKILL DEVELOPMENT & VOCATIONAL TRAINING TRACK

Roadmap for Building Globally Competitive Workforce www.eINDIA.net.in

SHEENA JOSEPH

The increasing demand from the industry for skilled manpower has accentuated the need to address the gap between the demand and supply of trained labour force. The sessions in the Skill Development & Vocational Training Track sought to deliberate on crucial issues relating to the sector. With the rising demand for formal skills and vocational training and education, a strong need has been felt by stakeholders to have a platform for deliberating certain pressing issues pertaining to skills and vocational training. The industries, not only from the region, but also from across the globe, have to address the challenges, along with the policy makers, thought leaders and the community. In this background, the Skill Development & Vocational Training track focused on few thematics, namely - skills and information literacy, PM’s National Skills Mission, skills development and training, certification and quality assurance across education sector, role of training centres in providing youth employability and best practices in vocational education system. IMPORTANCE OF INDUSTRYUNIVERSITY SYNERGY IN SKILL DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMMES (INSTITUTE OF ELECTRONIC GOVERNANCE SPECIAL SESSION) Chair: • Amarnath Reddy, CEO, Institute for Electronic Governance Panelists: • Matli Chandra Shekhar, Director, Institute for Electronic Governance; • K V Vishnu Raju, Chairman, Sri Vishnu Education Society; • Dr Raghava Cherabuddi, Chairman, CVR College of Engineering; • Ajay Kapoor, Country Manager, Oracle Academy; • Orungati Naresh Kumar, Symbiosis Technologies; • Shalini S, Head-Learning and Development, Tata Consultancy Services; • Ch Srinagesh, Campus Connect, Infosys Technologies Ltd, Hyderabad Development Centre; • L Balasubramania, President, Skills Business Solutions, NIIT Ltd.

Amarnath Reddy (standing) and the panelists at the IEG Special Session on skill development

India remains the only country to provide the world with the largest youth population. Hence, strengthening skills and vocation sector becomes crucial. Building synergy between industry and academia has to be accorded high priority.

The session on vocational education and skills development began with the Jawahar Knowledge Centre (JKC) Programme for Skill Development and Training. The aim of the session was to understand why it is important to create and sustain an industrial interface with the Universities for skill development and vocational training programmes. The lacunae in formal education is filled in by developing skill capacities in the range

of non formal streams. Capacity building supply is linked to employment by the industrial demand. Four lakh students graduate out from the colleges and universities of the state of Andhra Pradesh. However, research studies have shown that low level of awareness of skills required for industries have resulted in not more than 10% of general graduates and 25% of engineering graduates being considered

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

SKILLS AND VOCATIONAL LITERACY: TECHNOLOGY ENHANCED EMPLOYMENT (IGNOU SPECIAL SESSION)

Chair: • Dr Darlie O Koshy, Director General, Institute of Apparel Management & Apparel Training & Design Centre ( AEPC) Panelists: • Dr S S Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS); • TVLN Rao, Deputy Director, Advance Training Institute for Electronic and Process Instrumentation, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt of India; • Vivek Agarwal, CEO, Liqvid

Dr S S Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling speaks at the session

employable or are employed. There has been a strong realisation among the stakeholders towards the need for an effective synergy between industry, government and academia. To help realise this objective, the Andhra Pradesh government incorporated the Institute for Electronic Governance (IEG) to train young engineers to become knowledge workers. It was highlighted that although the number of engineering colleges have been on the rise, the employability of students and quality of the faculty has often been a point of debate. Quality infrastructure in engineering colleges and faculty competence needs to be checked to ensure skilled engineers. Communication skills and other soft skills including IT prowess are very important for those youth entering the job market. Institutes for training in foreign languages, as well as institutes to train students in English, are fundamentally important since many of the clients are from foreign countries, and students need to be skilled in language skills.

The session brought out certain basic facts about India in the skill development framework. Dr Jena pointed out that out of the population aged between 15-29 years, only 2% have formal vocational training, 8% have non-formal vocational training, and 93% of workforce are in the unorganised sector. New entrants to the workforce every year is 12.8 million. India has the youngest population in the world, with median age of 24, in the year 2000. The National Policy on Education provides for vocational stream in the higher secondary stage. About 5% of total student strength in higher secondary stage are in vocational stream, while the target under National Policy is 25%. According to TVLN Rao, skill and knowledge are the driving forces for economic growth and social development. The economy becomes more productive, innovate and competitive through skilled human potential. Darlie Koshy emphasised that it is essential to merge vocational skills training with mainstream education. The education and training arms of AEPC signed a MoU with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to expand the range of vocational education for apparel industry. The initiative has sought to improve skill base for both the domestic and export

The Jawahar Knowledge Center (JKC) has been an innovative endeavour to upgrade student skills to industry grade and in promoting the interaction between academia and industry.

www.digitalLEARNING.in

manufacturing sectors of textile and apparel industries. NATIONAL SKILLS MISSION: DIVERSE PERSPECTIVES AND THE ROLE OF INDUSTRY

Chair: • B S Raghupathy, Joint Director, Employment and Training, Karnataka Panelists: • Asfaq Ahmad, Deputy Director, Advance Training Institute; • Yuvraj Galade, Vice President, National Skill Development Corporation; • Sourav Banerjee, Senior Specialist, Education and Skill Development, USAID; • Jasvider Singh, CEO, Words Worth

The session brought out several focal points, including the need for renewed emphasis on skills development for a growing economy like India, especially by involving the private sector. The main challenge has been to fill the gap between the demand of the industry and supply of trained manpower. The National Skills Mission has set up a target of training 5 crore people by 2022. Involving the private sector would enhance the skill building capabilities, since training provided by them will be relevant and specific to market requirements.

(L-R) B S Raghupathy, Yuvraj Galade, Sourav Banerjee, Asfaq Ahmad and Jasvider Singh

NSDC has been given the mandate to facilitate the process of skilling 500 million people in India by 2022, mainly by fostering private sector initiatives in skill development programmes. This will be done through significant industry involvement for upgradation of skills to international standards NSDC will enhance, support and coordinate private sector initiatives for skill development through appropriate PublicPrivate Partnership models and strive for significant operational and financial involvement from the private sector. \\

Presents

HEALTHCARE LEADERS’ FORUM November 26, 2010 The Claridges, New Delhi

..a pulsating platform for connecting with CXOs of healthcare industry For advertising opportunities: Arpan Dasgupta, E: arpan@elets.in, M: 9818644022

www.ehealthonline.org/healthcareleadersforum

CALL FOR ENTRIES

India eGOV 2.0 AWARDS | 2010

FOR MORE DETAILS AND ENTRY FORM LOG ON TO www.eGovonline.net/eGov2.0

INNOVATIONS IN USAGE OF SOCIAL MEDIA FOR GOVERNANCE & SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT PROJECT AND PROGRAMMES BY GOVERNMENT & PRIVATE SECTOR INITIATIVES BY CITIZENS, CITIZEN GROUPS, NGOS & POLITICAL PARTIES

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ICT ENABLED SCHOOL

AWARDS

eINDIA AWARDS 2010

The eINDIA Awards is the premier accolade to innovative endeavors made in assimilating technology in developmental concerns. The initiative aims at identifying and felicitating unique and innovative initiatives in the ICT for development space, as also the projects that can be easily replicated in a sustainable manner. While eINDIA Awards had a formal two-tier Jury process, it also had a parallel online mechanism for the Citizen’s Choice Award in all 26 sub-categories under eGovernance, Education, Healthcare, Agriculture, Municipal IT and Telecentre. The online voting process allowed citizens to vote and recognise projects that have impacted their lives the most. As part of the formal evaluation process a panel of 25 distinguished international Jury members had to first assess the nominations on certain pre-defined criterion, with each project being evaluated by a minimum of three Jury members. The average weighted score was then used to select the Top 5 from each category. The list was then used by the In Person Jury, which met in Delhi on July 22, 2010 to decide on the winners in each of the segment.

“...I believe that apart from showcasing and presenting ICT for development projects and initiating discussions around them, it is equally important to recognise the successful endeavours in this field. eINDIA Awards would encourage others to follow in the footsteps of their visionary counterparts.” Agatha Sangma, Minister of State for Rural Development, Government of India at the inauguration of eINDIA2010 Awards ceremony

THE AWARD JURY  Ashish Sanyal Sr Director, DIT, Government of India

 Michael Riggs FAO, Italy

 P Vigneswara Ilavarasan Assistant Professor, IIT-Delhi

 Shakila T Shamsu Joint Adviser, Planning Commission

 Hardik Bhatt CIO, City of Chicago

 Rajen Varada Resource Person, UN Solution Exchange

 Dr R Sreedher Director, CEMCA

 Rufina Fernandes Chief Executive, NASSCOM Foundation

 Dr Ashok Kumar DDG & Director, CBHI, Government of India  Dr Basheer Ahmad Shadrach Executive Director, Telecentre.org Foundation  Dr V Balaji Global Leader, ICRISAT  Dr Gopi N. Ghosh Assistant Representative & Resource Person, FAO  Dr. B S Bedi Adviser-Health Informatics, C-DAC  Dr Ananya Raihan Secretary General, B’desh Telecentre Network

 Anir Chowdhury Policy Advisor to PMO, UNDP, Bangladesh

 Michael Gurstein Sr Journalist, The Journal of Community Informatics Centre for Community Informatics Research, Canada  Lekha Kumar Commissioner, Income Tax, Government of India

 Dr S S Jena Chairman, NIOS  Sri B S Raghupathy Joint Director, DET, Bangalore  Brig (Dr) R S Grewal Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University  Sourav Banerjee Senior Education Specialist, USAID  Prof Arun Nigavekar Former Chairman, UGC  Prof Vasudha Kamat Joint Director, CIET, NCERT

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 Dr R Siva Kumar CEO, NSDI & Head-NRDMS, Government of India  Dr Akhilesh Gupta Adviser, DST, Government of India  Sunil Kapoor Zonal Director, Fortis Healthcare Limited  Ndaula Sulah Executive Director, Ugabytes, Uganda

SEPTEMBER 2010

AWARDS

ICT ENABLED SCHOOL

eINDIA2010

Leadership Award Lt Gen (Retd) Bhopinder Singh, Lt Governor of Andaman and Nicobar Islands

Lt Gen Bhopinder Singh was accorded the prestigious eINDIA2010 Leadership Award for bringing ICT to remote and difficult terrains like Andaman and Nicobar Islands and connecting distant communities through effective use of IT. While sharing his views, he said that the Andaman and Nicobar Islands require IT in myriad ways. There are several challenges which have to be addressed in these areas, and for that eGovernance is of crucial importance. “eINDIA has been a great learning experience in terms of getting exposure into the field of IT, and I will take back this learning for furthering the ICT cause in Andaman and Nicobar Islands”, he added.

ICT ENABLED SCHOOL

DESTINATION Success IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Indian High School, Dubai OBJECTIVES

 Enable teachers to teach in an efficient and effective way  Create paperless office, quick and fast communication, virtual classrooms, video lessons, online assessments, and extended learning

www.digitalLEARNING.in

estination Success is a holistic educational solution with digital content, print and digital activities, lesson plans, interactivities to evaluate student learning, professional development services, Agatha Sangma, Minister of State for Rural IT executive for technical Development,Govt of India, conferring the maintenance and teacher award to Amit Gupta (third from left),CEO, S Chand Harcourt support. This is one of the largest eLearning implementations in the region covering more than 7000 students, 220 classrooms with Interactive Boards, complete connectivity in school, Wi-Fi campus, more than 100 hours of IT training for over 600 teachers, and digital interactive content deployed in the school in association with S. Chand Harcourt.

CITIZEN CHOICE #1

OUTCOME  Students have shown a marked ease and proficiency with technology  Enhances critical thinking and problem solving skills

ICT ENABLED SCHOOL

JURY AWARD

AWARDS

MKCL Digital School Programme

OUTCOME  The program has been successfully implemented in 397 schools with 2, 75000 students got benefited with innovative learning experience

Digital School is a prog r a m that empowers school children to capture various learning experiences in a technology enabled and teacher facilitated environment Representatives from Maharashtra Knowledge by means of different Corporation receiving the award activities and interactivities complementing school curricula. The target group includes school children, reaching out to 14 districts of Maharashtra and number of schools where the program has been implemented is 397 schools. The project ensures the deployment of eLearning platform inside school for school children to offer co-curricular and extracurricular multimedia based interactive learning content.

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Maharashtra Knowledge Corporation OBJECTIVES

 Empower school children to capture various technology enabled learning experiences  Give an opportunity of personalised, self paced, collaborative learning experience to school children

ICT ENABLED UNIVERSITY

LEARNING Management System &

CITIZEN

Computer Based Tutorials

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Punjab Technical University OBJECTIVES

 Enable Students to learn online, anywhere any time  Enhance learning capability by providing gist of subject with animation and illustrations  Enable students to learn on their own pace

CHOICE #1

MS is a facility so as to supplement the Distance Education Programme of Punjab Technical University. This is meant to impart an opportunity of learning to the students at his own pace where Agatha Sangma conferrring the award to he has a dedicated online Punjab Technical University mentor, a large group of fellow students, various online resources and a wide exposure to enjoy applications of computerisation and communication system. In LMS, learner is provided with a login and user id. The key idea is that an LMS in a learning context supports the teaching and learning process, rather than replacing it.

digital LEARNING

OUTCOME  The concept is a very effective as learners can easily understand the concepts with the help of pictures, graphics and animations

SEPTEMBER 2010

ICT ENABLED UNIVERSITY SCHOOL

AWARDS

N-LIST for Scholarly Content IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre OBJECTIVES

 Provide access of electronic resources to government /governmentaided colleges  Enable crosssubscription to e-resources  Fill-in the serious gap of providing access of e-resources to colleges

JURY

AWARD

he Project is being jointly executed by the UGC- INFONET Digital Library Consortium, INFLIBNET Centre and the INDEST-AICTE Consortium. In the project IIT Delhi provides for crosssubscription to e- resourc- Agatha Sangma presenting the award to es subscribed by the two Dr Jagdish Arora (right) Director, Information and Consortia, i.e. subscription Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre, Ahmedabad to INDEST-AICTE resources for universities and UGCINFONET resources for technical institutions; and access to selected e-resources to colleges. The authorised users from colleges can now access e- resources and download articles required by them directly from the publisher’s website once they are duly authenticated as authorised users through servers deployed at the INFLIBNET Centre.

OUTCOME  Provides access to more than 2,100 journals  Currently, 684 eligible colleges are already accessing e-resources  More than 25,000 faculty members and students in 684 registered colleges have been given User ID and Password to access e-resources

ICT ENABLED BUSINESS SCHOOL

CITIZEN CHOICE #1

OUTCOME  Automated library with slim++ software with which students can check and put requisition of book on line  Examination system is automated

ACADEMIC Institute

Management System

he project was started with an aim to evaluate the teaching-learning process, wherein the primary stakeholders are the teachers and students, and for the management and administration of the institute, wherein the primary stakeholders Representatives of MIT School of Management, are the administrators and Pune, receiving the award staff members. The Learning Management System (LMS) part of the project brings in “Blended Learning” paradigm into the curriculum. Using the Institute Management System (IMS), the administrative staff, increases the efficiency of the workflow and makes it more responsive towards the other stakeholders of the system. The program is an attempt in creation of a single platform for all the tasks related to any stakeholder in an institute under one centralised system.

www.digitalLEARNING.in

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

MIT School of Management, Pune OBJECTIVES

 Make learning more effective, more inclusive, more flexible, more interesting and personalized  Aid the teaching faculty to cater to a large group of students more effectively

Thank You sponsors, exhibitors & participants in making INDIA 2010

A GRAND SUCCESS eINDIA SPONSORS TECHNOLOGY PARTNER

GOLD SPONSOR

BROADBAND WIRELESS PARTNERS

REGISTRATION DESK SPONSOR

DELEGATE KIT SPONSOR

LANYARD SPONSOR

TRADE PARTNER

ASSOCIATE SPONSORS

RURAL BROADBAND PARTNER

NETWORK PARTNER

VIDEO CONFERENCING PARTNER

SOUVENIR SPONSOR

PROGRAMME SCHEDULE SPONSOR

empowering education... enabling careers

digitalLEARNING SPONSORS HP

RailTel

SAP

PLATINUM SPONSOR

GOLD SPONSORS

LEARNING PARTNER

ASSOCIATE SPONSORS

Everonn Education Limited Education beyond boundaries

Ecole

ASSOCIATE SPONSORS

SCHOOL EDUCATION PARTNERS

HIGHER EDUCATION PARTNER

digitalLEARNING EXHIBITORS Sri Chaitanya Techno Schools

Transforming Ideas

Everonn Education Limited Education beyond boundaries empowering education... enabling careers

SKILL DEVELOPMENT ICT ENABLED SCHOOL

AWARDS

JAWAHAR Knowledge Center Initiative IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Institute For Electronic Governance OBJECTIVES

 Socially challenged sections of the society have equal opportunities for employment in the IT & ITES sectors  Bridge the gap between industry and academia and thus improve the rate of employment

CITIZEN

CHOICE #1

he Institute for Electronic Governance (IEG) is a state level non-profit society established by Government of Andhra Pradesh, to offer solutions in the discourse of quality human resources by bringing synergy among K Ratnaprabha (second from right), Principal the institutions of the Secretary, Dept of IT, Govt of Andhra Pradesh government, industry and receiving the award for ‘Jawahar Knowledge Center Initiative’ academia. IEG has started its training programe by establishing Jawahar Knowledge Centers, in order to bridge the gap between industry and academia and thus improve the rate of employment. At present IEG is training nearly 100,000 students. IEG has also started a separate program called Special Training Program (STP) to ensure that all the socially challenged sections of the society have equal opportunities for employment.

OUTCOME  The program helps in bridging the gap between industry and academia  Helped in taking major companies for campus placements to the colleges in the tier II and III towns

SKILL DEVELOPMENT

JURY AWARD

OUTCOME  947 people have found IT based jobs and 35 people have obtained non-IT based jobs  About 19596 farmers have accessed information related to agriculture

COMPUTERJI Jode Duniya se

ga Khan Rural Support Programme (India) [(AKRSP (I) ] has partnered with Microsoft for an information technology project. “Computerji Jode Duniya se”. This initiative of AKRSP (India) focuses on enhancing liveli- Representatives from Aga Khan Rural Support hoods in remote rural areas Programme receiving the award of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh & Bihar by using information technology as a tool. The AKRSP (I) is active in six districts of Gujarat and three districts of Madhya Pradesh. In 2007, AKRSP(I) initiated its work in Samastipur & Muzaffarpur districts of Bihar. The Computerji project was initiated to address all gaps in IT training and skill development. Computerji centres are located in areas with tribal and marginalized population.

www.digitalLEARNING.in

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Aga Khan Rural Support Programme India OBJECTIVES

 Impart training on computer skills at a very nominal rate  Introduce community to the use of computers for livelihood enhancement activities  Address all gaps in IT training and skill development

OPEN &ICT DISTANCE ENABLED LEARNING SCHOOL

CITIZEN CHOICE #1

PTU

Distance Education Programme

OUTCOME  There are more than 1,50,000 students acquiring qualifications in different courses  There are more than 1600 learning centres all across India

unjab Technical University, (PTU) started its Distance Education Programme (DEP) in 2001. In DEP, PTU offers undergraduate and post graduate Diploma and Degree programmes in the field of IT and management, hotel management, airDr Rajneesh Arora, Vice Chancellor, Punjab lines and tourism, paramedi- Technical University with the PTU Associates cal and allied technologies, fashion, interior, jewellery and textile designing, fire, safety and hazards management, mass communication and journalism and multi-media technologies. In PTUDEP, there is a unique model of PPP. The administrative, conduct & secrecy powers rest with the University wherein the University designs courses, syllabi & curriculum, prepares learning material, establishes learning centers, conducts & evaluates examinations, provide certification and maintain quality.

POCKET Education IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Universiti Sains Malaysia OBJECTIVES

 Provide education though Mobile devices  Develop course content to suit SMS requirements  Incorporate pacing by constructing the text message according to the sequence of topics in the learning materials

AWARDS

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Punjab Technical University Distance Education Programme OBJECTIVES

 Provide affordable, flexible and relevant technical education  Reach out to a strong network of 32 regional centers & 1600+ Learning centers providing services to over 1,50,000 students

OPEN & DISTANCE LEARNING

JURY

AWARD

he Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) through the School of Distance Education (SDE) boasts of state-of-the-art telecommunication capabilities and innovative educational approach to enhance the educational Dr Issham Ismail from the School of Distance Eduarchitecture and learning cation, Universiti Sains Malaysia, with the award environment in Malaysia. The dawning of the age of the Internet saw SDE produce a homegrown learning management system in 2003 with full migration to Moodle in 2005. In the 2007-08 acedemic session, SDE piloted the use of the hand phone in distance teaching via the use of SMS in a second year Physics optics course with the code JIF212. The chosen topic of ‘dispersion’ was redesigned in a SMS fashion such that the students could receive short messages based on the topic.

digital LEARNING

OUTCOME  The mobile learning initiative was evaluated via a questionnaire and the evaluation showed that the students highly accepted the SMS learning  The messages received were easy to understand and are easy to remember

SEPTEMBER 2010

ICT ICT ENABLED ENABLED SCHOOL ENGINEERING COLLEGE

AWARDS

IMPLEMENTATION of FOSS tools like

CITIZEN

DSpace and Moodle

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Vidya Academy of Science and Technology OBJECTIVES

 To make processes such as examination and assessment in college digitized, effective and efficient.

CHOICE #1

S p a c e (online repository) and Moodle (online digital learning portal) was implemented in the college by the in-house IT team. The project was implemented using FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) Kaushik M from Vidya Academy receiving and was started with the the award intention of sharing the resources online. Teaching notes, slides (PPTs), lab manuals, assignments etc can be shared in DSpace. Assignments and online examinations are given using Moodle so that the students have an option of submitting their answers online. The tools automate the valuation process and the results can be declared immediately after the examination. The target group are students and teachers who would use these tools for effective teaching - learning processes.

OUTCOME  Both DSpace & Moodle are successfully implemented and operational.

PRIVATE SECTOR

CITIZEN CHOICE #1

OUTCOME  Educomp trained teachers in ICT and also helped to create an entire value chain where students could in turn be trained  It has helped the employees of the Company to become partners in developing rural India through government schools

TEACHING Learning Paradigm through ICT Intervention

ducomp has ushered a whole new teachinglearning paradigm in schools across India by developing quality courseware and multimedia in regional languages, and providing quality training to H N S Rao (right) from Educomp Solutions Ltd. teachers, developing train- receiving the award from K Ratnaprabha, Principal ing modules to contain 21st Secretary, Dept of IT, Govt of Andhra Pradesh century learning skills, project based learning, on making lesson plans and unit plans, and continuous evaluation. It has introduced local language empowering MagiKeys Software to enable ‘Online’ or ‘Offline’ learning in different languages. Special local language multimedia training aids and courseware have also been developed to enable speedy and intuitive adoption by both students and teachers.

www.digitalLEARNING.in

IMPLEMENTING AGENCY

Educomp Solutions Ltd, Haryana OBJECTIVES

 Bridge the digital divide by improving education delivery in predominantly rural Government schools through ICT  Reach out to even those schools for whom technology would have remained but a dream and to make their aspiration a reality

ADVERTORIAL

‘Education 2.0’ - The Connected Learning Era

The education sector is witnessing tumultuous changes. One aspect is the humungous growth in the number of institutions. The 11th Plan Initiatives quoted in the Union Budget for India 2010 envisage 10 more NITs, 20 new IIITs, 2 new SPAs, 5 new IISERs, 7 new IIMs, 8 new IITs and 16 new central universities. These government-led initiatives are but the tip of the iceberg, with private institutions mushrooming by the day. Increasing competition among institutions is a natural fall out of such explosive growth in numbers. Furthermore, the Foreign Educational Institution Bill 2010 has opened the doors for universities abroad to set up shop in

India. This move is expected to increase the course options available to students, and also impel domestic universities to do their best to retain their position of prominence. Another dimension is the ushering in of much-needed reforms in education. The draft rules of the Right to Education Act, have thrown up challenges in widening the reach of good quality education. Given the large scale changes in the ecosystem, schools and colleges face some very complex challenges, including: • Creating a differentiated learning experience which is critical to attract students, • Increasing the reach of their offering

•

Running efficient, corporate-like operations in a safe physical and digital environment, and • Maximizing return on their technology investments. How can education institutes meet such diverse challenges? Technology may hold the answers. DIFFERENTIATION THROUGH NEXT GEN LEARNING Today’s environment is characterized by the availability of affordable and hi speed internet access, applications for collaboration and ubiquitous video technology. These new technologies can benefit educational institutes in many

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

ways. Using media-rich, video-enabled content can help students experience a more engaging, accelerated learning process. Armed with technology tools, educational institutions will be able to meaningfully connect with their stakeholders - students, parents, educators and companies. By leveraging hi-speed network technology, institutions can also build physical and virtual networks to help students, faculty, staff, and the broader community to connect with one another. These connections will enable the sharing of key information, more effective communication and

CASE IN POINT With its Raj-era buildings and long history, Presidency College, Kolkata, is one of the most hallowed centres for higher education in the country. The old world campus has, however, been quick to embrace new-age technology with the college rolling out a campus wide wireless network and an IPTV (Internet Protocol) foundation layer. This has set the stage for implementations of e-classroom and e-learning solutions that will enable new forms of learning. For example, students could possibly attend key lectures and seminars from anywhere in the campus – be it their classrooms or even a sunny lawn. Important lectures could also be shared with viewers anywhere in the world - real time or archived. The bed-rock of these functionalities is a secure, scalable, and redundant Campus Area Network built on Cisco equipment that also includes a network foundation solution for IPTV broadcast servers.

www.digitalLEARNING.in

collaboration using video, voice and chat – as the occasion demands. Students and teachers will be able to use these networks to also connect, in real-time, with individuals from different schools, colleges and communities across the globe. Network technology will also enable institutions to offer virtual and distance learning to students across the globe, this extending their reach and revenue potential. ENHANCED PRODUCTIVITY Educational institutions face the need to do more with less and increase efficiencies. Productivity of students and teachers can be enhanced through wireless internet and mobile technologies that help them stay connected, irrespective of whether they are on campus. STAYING CONNECTED EVERYWHERE ON CAMPUS With rising power shortages and prices, institutions also need to keep an eye on their energy consumption – saving costs and in the process stretching their rupee outlay. Technology can step in here too, with innovative solutions that manage energy consumption, thus helping institutions utilize energy intelligently. COHESIVE MANAGEMENT OF RESOURCES While on the theme of maximizing investments, an area that is often in prime focus is investment in servers and data centers. Since this is a new area, institutions would benefit by tapping knowledge resources of private companies with expertise in virtualization. SAFE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT THROUGH PHYSICAL AND IT SECURITY Today, in addition to physical safety threats, educational institutions also have to be wary of threats to their IT infrastructure. However, technology itself provides innovative solutions to ensure physical safety, more efficiently and in a robust manner. Technology enabled safety and security solutions are critical in helping educational institutions protect networks and campus assets and to create environments where students feel safe and secure. Institutions will feel reassured about the security of the physical campus environment and that of the IT network through Cisco’s suite of video surveillance, access control,

QUALITY TUTORING FROM A DISTANCE Under the ambit of its Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programme, Cisco extended funding, technology infrastructure, and mentoring by people to a group of young people at Chhindwara, who had come together to set up a distance learning project, under the banner of “Lakshaya Network”. Lakshya Network’s central tutorial hub is operational at the vantage point of the district headquarters of the Chhindwara district. From this center, experienced teachers connect with remote learning centers across the district using Cisco TelePresence infrastructure to deliver their daily lessons in Grade X Math and Commerce. Lakshya Network today connects students from across the Chhindwara district. Thus, for the first time, students have access to high quality tutoring right in their village - without having to travel half way across the district for it.

and network security solutions. Keeping pace with cyber threats can be a daunting task for educational institutions. They can keep up to date with the latest in security technologies by accessing resource centres such as the Cisco Cyberspace Action for Education (CAFE) that promote Internet security awareness in the education community. All these opportunities to tap technology are out there for Indian universities to seize – be they private or government owned. And seize it, they must. After all, it is a changing, connected world – one where globalization, technology and demography are creating an endless demand for new forms of learning. \\

PROFILE

Aveco Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Aveco Technologies Pvt. Ltd., Hyderabad is a trusted name in the AV market in India with over 17 years of experience in distribution. With a network of over 500 dealers pan India, it has established itself as a leading AV distribution house in India. AVECO represent Sanyo range of multimedia projectors, LCD/plasma TV, and security & surveillance products and DGS&D rate contract holders of Sanyo multimedia projectors. Aligning itself to cater to the booming educational market in India, Aveco launched AVECO eGuru range for interactive white boards and wireless tablets these come in different sizes from 67” to 105” diagonal and it is also for the first time that a dual pen model is being launched in the market. Further , tying up with Korea Based Pen and Free Co., Ltd AVECO launches its range of portable interactive white board products in India. The range consists of uBoard & eBoard, portable interactive white board systems that transforms any flat surface into an INTERACTIVE whiteboard instantly and DUO which offers the tablet PC functionalities on your PC. Contact Details: Name: P Vinodh Designation: GM – Sales & Marketing Address: 4th Floor, Surya Towers 104, Sardar Patel Road Secunderabad, India-500003 Tel: +9140 27811032 Fax: +9140 27840279 Email: info@avecoindia.com Wibsite: www.avecoindia.com

IIT BOMBAY SELECTED ANNUAL HP LABS INNOVATION RESEARCH PROGRAMME HP announced that the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (IIT Bombay) has been selected to participate in the prestigious HP Labs Innovation Research Program (IRP). The program is designed to provide colleges, universities and research institutes around the world with opportunities to conduct breakthrough collaborative research with HP. Associate Professor Soumen Chakrabarti, from IIT Bombay will collaborate with HP Labs on a research initiative focused on ‘Semantic Linkage between the Web, Intranet and Wikipedia: Discovery and Exploitation in Search and Aggregation’. The work is being conducted in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Bombay. The project explores how connections between diverse sets of information can be made using semantic (meaning-based) relationships. Search systems today are isolated in data silos. A blog may review a tablet PC, providing valuable user input on wireless signal strength and battery life but, there may be no explicit link to manufacturer or vendor pages. Chakrabarti and his team are exploring means to annotate unstructured text and Web sources with semantic links to semi-structured databases of types, entities and attributes, such as Wikipedia and product catalogs. “Put simply, our project will - for example - enable search engines to build a scatter plot of battery life against retail price or weight, automatically aggregated over millions of pages related tablet PCs. The project will also address accompanying challenges of scale; for example, the index will span billions of pages, each with hundreds of links to structured catalogs that may have tens of millions of entities and types. Processing queries over these novel indices also present significant challenges in the areas of machine learning and information retrieval,” said Professor Chakrabarti.”Our goal with the HP Labs Innovation Research Program is to inspire the brightest minds from around the world to conduct high-impact scientific research, addressing the most important challenges and opportunities facing society in the next decade,” said Sudhir Dixit, Director, HP Labs, India. “IIT Bombay has demonstrated outstanding achievement and we look forward to collaborating with it on this dynamic area of research.”

digital LEARNING

SEPTEMBER 2010

NEWS

CORPORATE

KAPIL SIBAL AND INTEL GIVE AWAY EXCELLENCE IN EDUCATION AWARDS The Union Human Resource Development Minister, Kapil Sibal and the Intel Managing Director (South Asia) R Sivakumar presented the ‘Excellence in Education’ awards to Kendriya Vidhyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and Navodaya Vidhyalaya Samiti (NVS) from across the country for integration of technology in educational practices in the teaching and learning process. Jointly organised by the Intel, KVS and NVS, the contest ‘Best Integration of Technology in Education’aimed at strengthening ICT capabilities.

COST EFFECTIVE VIRTUAL LABS BY DELL FOR HIGHER EDUCATION In an announcement, Dell launched its Virtual Lab solution, which has been designed to help higher education organisations to deal with time, space and budget challenges while providing students the freedom to access lab-based software anytime, anywhere and from any device. Initially the solution will debut in the United States.

IGNOU AND EVERONN COLLABORATE TO LAUNCH SHORT TERM HOSPITALITY PROGRAMME

MOU SIGNED BETWEEN NIT ROURKELA AND VEDANTA ALUMINIUM LTD For research purposes, the National Institute of Technology - Rourkela (NITR) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Vedanta Aluminium Limited (VAL), recently. The aim of the MoU is to develop technologies that aid in recovering iron oxide from waste that has been generated from the alumina industry. The memorandum was signed by NITR Director Sunil Kumar Sarangi and Chief Operating Officer of Vedanta Aluminium Ltd.

MICROSOFT, JEI PARTNER TO LAUNCH FIRST INNOVATIVE EDUCATION FORUM IN JORDAN Under the aegis of Dr Khaled Al Karaky, the Minister of Education, Microsoft Jordan has launched the 1st annual local Innovative Education Forum (IEF) in partnership with the Ministry of Education and the Jordan Education Initiative (JEI) to celebrate the impressive work of local educators helping students realise their full potential through the Virtual Classroom Tour (VCT).

EDUCOMP SOLUTIONS PICKS UP STRATEGIC STAKE IN LEADING ENGINEERING TEST PREP COMPANY Educomp Solutions Ltd, India’s largest integrated education company, today announced that it has picked up a strategic stake in leading engineering test prep player Vidya Mandir Classes Pvt Ltd (VMC) for close to INR 34 crores. Educomp is already tapping the $1.7 billion test preparation segment at multiple points with an in-school VSAT based model, after school tuition based model and online presence. Post this alliance, there are immediate synergies with Educomp’s engineering test prep Leap program (already present in 12 cities via VSAT model), 251 centres for vocational and test prep business and 43 high schools.

600 SCHOOLS IN BIHAR TO GET COMPUTER ACCESS THROUGH NCOMPUTING In an announcement made by NComputing it was mentioned that it was selected to provide desktop computer access to 600 government schools as part a computer literacy initiative launched by the Bihar government. The aim of this initiative is to build 600 computer labs throughout the State to make computer access and learning available to school children for the first time.

HCL CAREER DEVELOPMENT CENTRE ANNOUNCES ‘YUVA PRATIBHA SCHOLARSHIP EXAM’ (YPSE) 2010

Indira Gandhi National Open University and Everonn Skill Development Limited (ESDL) have launched 20 short-term programmes in hospitality. The courses are aimed at upgrading skill sets in the hospitality industry to meet the global standards.

www.digitalLEARNING.in

HCL Career Development Centre (CDC), the IT traning and skill development arm of HCL Infosystems, India’s premier hardware, services and ICT system Integration company today announced the commencement of the nationwide search of youthful minds through the Yuva Pratibha Scholarship Exam (YPSE) 2010 scheduled for August 22, 2010. The All India YPSE 2010 has been designed to get young individuals to sit for this examination where the participants on merit basis are selected to receive 100% scholarships from HCL CDC. The expected participation from across the nation is over 60,000 students. Basis the performance of the students in YPSE and personal counselling session, students will be offered scholarships for the training programs at HCL CDC.

RESEARCH PAPER

EU-India Cooperation in Science and Technology DR. PHILIPPE DE TAXIS DU POËT

One of the new feature of EU-India S&T relations is the launch of coordinated calls for proposals where the two sides have committed themselves to co-funding. Three Coordinated Calls for Proposals have been launched so far.

Solutions to growing societal challenges in Europe and in India such as climate change, increasingly scarce energy and other resources, raw materials, demography, security, health and combating diseases and supplying high-quality, affordable food and water depends on research and innovation. Science and technology play an important part in the EU-India Strategic Partnership. Both the EU and India underline the importance of a strong science and knowledge base as a major prerequisite for competitiveness, and the strong role of international S&T collaboration. Formal collaboration in Science and Technology with India started with the signature of the European Community-India Science and Technology Cooperation Agreement on 23 November 2001. EU RESEARCH FRAMEWORK PROGRAMME The Delegation of the European Union to India contributes in particular through the EU 7th Research Framework Programme (FP7) to build S&T cooperation between the EU and India, based on the principles of symmetry, reciprocity, mutual benefit and, where appropriate, the coinvestment of resources in joint actions. FP7 builds on the success of an already strong and growing Indian participation in EU Research Framework Programme. Between 2002 and 2006, more than 90 projects were funded within the Sixth Framework Programme (FP6) that involved Indian researchers. These projects, which cover most domains of research funded by the EU, received more than 250 million in funding, with the Indian partners receiving more than 11 million. In addition, India is a valuable partner for the EU in major international projects such as the International

Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project. Already in FP7 (20072013), some 180 Indian research organisations have been short listed for funding in over 110 projects. The cost of these projects is over 317 million with the Indian partners receiving over 25 million. EU-INDIA COORDINATED CALLS FOR PROPOSALS One of the new feature of EU-India S&T relations is in particular the launch of coordinated calls for proposals where the two sides have committed themselves to co-funding. Three Coordinated Calls for Proposals have been launched so far. The first such call, launched with the Department of Science and Technology, with co-funding of 5 million from each side, on computation materials science, attracted 25 proposals, of which six have been funded. The Second Coordinated Call, launched with the Department of Biotechnology, with co-funding of 3 million each on food, health and well being, again attracted 25 proposals, of which two have been funded. The third Coordinated Call for Proposals, , launched with the Department of Science and Technology, with co-funding of 5 million from each side, on solar energy systems, attracted 23 proposals, of which three will be funded. Topics for future coordinated calls for proposals are being discussed at the moment. INDIA – EU AND ITS MEMBER STATES WORKING TOGETHER TOWARDS A STRONGER PARTNERSHIP IN RESEARCH AND INNOVATION The recently launched “India Pilot Initiative” aims at coordinated action between the Member States and the EU to benefit and build upon existing synergies,

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thus increasing the effectiveness of existing initiatives they have with India in S&T. The India Pilot Initiative will pull together existing Member States and EU instruments, resources and expertise to implement joint and coordinated activities with and vis-à-vis India. The India Pilot Initiative is intended to establish the basis for a common longer term Member States/EU-India research and innovation agenda. This is well in line with the Lisbon Treaty and the European External Action Service to bring together people and activities from the European Union institutions and the Member States to work together in the same team. We are making efforts to have a more united Europe vis-à-vis India for more and better cooperation in research & innovation. GLOBALISATION OF RESEARCH AND INNOVATION In a changing world characterised by the accelerating globalisation of research and innovation and the emergence of new scientific and technological powers, such as India, the European Research and Innovation Area is more than ever a cornerstone for a European knowledge society. Such a society is one where research, education and innovation are fully mobilised to fulfil the economic, social and environmental ambitions of the EU and the expectations of its citizens. In recent years the response to globalisation has moved to the heart of the EU policy agenda through focussing on three priority areas at both EU and national level: \\ More research and innovation: Europe needs the right conditions for research and innovation to flourish – such as attractive careers for researchers, a modern IPR system and interoperable standards. \\ A more dynamic business environment: SME and entrepreneurship has been put high on the reform agenda. The task now is to fully unlock their growth and jobs potential. \\ Greater employability and investment in people: Both globalisation and technological change risk increased inequality, opening up the gap between the skilled and the unskilled. The best solution is to help each individual to adapt, by improving the quality and availability of education and training for all ages. It is clearer than ever that the EU can only achieve its objectives at home by being active and united on the global stage. The backbone for the European response to globalisation

www.digitalLEARNING.in

Europe (the EU and its Member States) and India need to work together more effectively and intensively than in the past, and build a strategy for global prosperity based on knowledge cooperation.

is its further deepening to create the wealth that can give practical meaning to core European values of social inclusion and of European and international solidarity. The scale of global challenges that the EU and India are confronted with makes it unlikely that any one of us – in isolation – will be sufficient. Europe (the EU and its Member States) and India need to work together even more effectively and more intensively than in the past, and build a strategy for global prosperity based on knowledge cooperation. COOPERATION BETWEEN CLUSTERS Globalisation of research and innovation and global competition are putting a new emphasis on the role of clusters and further their development. Clusters increasingly see the need to link with other clusters on the international level building on complementarities in order to improve their global reach and competitiveness. In Europe, regional clusters seen as key drivers for competitiveness, innovation and regional development are being promoted through both EU Member States nationallevel measures and EU-level support instruments, notably the 7th EU Research Framework Programme, the Cohesion Policy Funds and the Competitiveness and Innovation Programme. In India, the promotion of clusters formation and global standards of competitiveness have gained significance and momentum with organization like the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry), the MSME (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises) Ministry, the Ministry of S&T and other research & innovation organisations taking initiatives in this direction. The aim is to stimulate and facilitate global outreach of European and Indian clusters through (i) increasing mutual awareness on cluster policies, development methods and management practices; (ii) fostering cooperation between research and innovation clusters in Europe and in India; and (iii) facilitating in Europe and in India access to and contact with the appropriate stakeholders

and understanding of their respective research, innovation and industrial environments. We will organise the first EU-India cluster event before the end of this year in Delhi. NETWORK OF EUROPEAN RESEARCHERS WORKING IN AND COMMUTING TO INDIA The second new activity in preparation concerns what is perhaps the most important dimension in any international cooperation in science and technology, which are the people. Researchers are traditionally among the most mobile segments of the population. A community of researchers active in another country does not represent per se a net loss of intellectual input and potential. On the contrary, many members of these so-called “scientific diasporas” remain highly beneficial for their home country, in particular when they communicate and network with scientists at home. A recent online survey of European researchers in India, including “commuters” between Europe and India has shown a great deal of enthusiasm among European researchers working in and commuting to India about the idea of launching a network of European researchers in India. European researchers abroad contribute to the vigour, growth and success of European research – as individuals, as organisations and institutes, as commercial companies and as communicators of science and innovation. They are a good illustration of the European research and innovation area at work for setting the pace for global Europe. This is why the European Union persistently advocates the benefits of “brain circulation”, both within Europe and at a global level. \\

DR. PHILIPPE DE TAXIS DU POËT1

First Counsellor - Head of Science & Technology, Delegation of the European Union to India

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