Blackboards Turning White and Interactive : October 2007 Issue

The monthly publication on ICT and Education

digitalLEARNING Volume III Issue 10 October 2007

ISSN 0973-4139

Rs 75

Blackboards Turning White and Interactive

www.digitalLEARNING.in

Promethean ActiveBoard: Bringing A Little Magic to the Classroom PAGE 10

SMART Board: Transforming Teaching and Learning PAGE 14

StarBoard Hitachi: Bringing Revolution in Indian Schools Interview: Tarun Jain, Country Head, Hitachi Home Electronics Asia (S) Pvt Ltd PAGE 33 Leaders’ Speak

John McClure, Director (Marketing), Intel South Asia PAGE 25

Interview: Meena Bhatt, State Project Director, SSA, Gujarat PAGE 22

Contents

Verbatim

Volume III Issue IX, October 2007

That is what learning is. You suddenly understand something you’ve understood all your life, but in a new way.

- Doris Lessing Learning to teach is a bigger job than universities, schools, experience, or personal disposition alone can accomplish.

- Sharon Feiman-Nemser The kids in our classroom are infinitely more significant than the subject matter we teach.

- Meladee McCarty Aim for success, not perfection. Never give up your right to be wrong, because then you will lose the ability to learn new things and move forward with your life. Remember that fear always lurks behind perfectionism.

- David M. Burns

Cover Story

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Whiteboards Bringing Interactivity in Education

Special Report

22

A Watch on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Interview: Meena Bhatt, State Project Director, SSA, Government of Gujarat

ActiveBoard: 10 Promethean Bringing A Little Magic to The Classroom Margaret Allen

Corporate Diary

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Leaders’ Speak John McClure Director (Marketing), Intel South Asia

Product Gallery

Commentary

30 31

Teaching and 14 Transforming Learning Nancy Knowlton

Interactive 18 Globus @Classroom Turning 20 eBeam: Whiteboard to a Digital Workplace

Easy Does TeamBoard mimio Interactive Interview: Jaemes Shanley, Director of Sales & marketing for Sanford brands, mimio

Case Study

33

StarBoard Hitachi: The Revolution of Interactive Whiteboards in Indian Schools Interview: Tarun Jain, Country Head, Hitachi Home Electronics Asia (S) Pvt. Ltd.

Higher Education Media School 36 Digital Deploys Render Farm Technology, Cuts Compute Runtime by Days

School Track

39 Appejay School, Noida The Foyer

42 The Manthan Award 2007 Regulars

41 45

Bookshelf Mark Your Calendar

News

12 16 28 44

India Asia Corporate World

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

digital LEARNING Volume III, issue 10 | October 2007

President M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta Programme Co-ordinator Jayalakshmi Chittoor Sr. Sub Editor Manjushree Reddy Research Associates Rachita Jha Syed Ghufran Hashmi Marketing Siddharth Verma +91-9811561645 (India) email: siddharth@csdms.in Circulation Lipika Dutta (+91-9871481708) Designed by Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Om Prakash Thakur Web Zia Salahuddin Santosh Kumar Singh Editorial and Marketing Correspondence digital LEARNING G-4 Sector 39 NOIDA 201301, India Phone +91 120 2502181-85 Fax +91 120 2500060 Email info@digitalLEARNING.in Group Directors Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar Printed by Vinayak Print Media, Noida Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P.) India digital LEARNING does not neccesarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors. digital LEARNING is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred, directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided.

Editorial Interactive @ Classroom A universal truth for all schools is that engaging students in learning is a constant challenge. In India, the task becomes even more daunting due to the advanced accountability and student achievement requirements that Education for All mandates. India still has a big share in the world drop-out league, we still strive to bring in effective measures in teachers’ skill building and in inclusive and special needs in education. It’s no small wonder if we turned to technology as a solution for meeting such stringent accountability demands, if we engage the student community including those from K-12 segment and the students in the higher education and in special sector, the deaf or hard of hearing.

The need is for the learning tools that these students could connect with - something that drives them beyond their limits and stretches their educational experience, that provides more interesting, interactive, visually stimulating and technologically advanced lessons to them.

No wonder that the electronic whiteboard system has made a huge difference in how the teachers teach today and how motivated the students have become about learning. Using an electronic pen or pointer, a teacher or student can interact with the images there, highlight or write notes on the screen, and incorporate graphics, sound, and video, the same way a desktop computer can. This visually engaging and user-friendly group-teaching system has clearly captivated the attention of teachers and students alike. We have been impressed with the seamless integration of this teaching solution, the whiteboard with interactivity, into every aspect of classroom instruction.

The possibilities are still infinite.

The interactive-whiteboard industry is expected to reach sales of USD1 billion worldwide by 2008, according to Decision Tree Consulting, a London-based market-research company.

The company, which tracks whiteboard sales in 66 countries, predicts that one of every seven classrooms in the world will feature an interactive whiteboard by 2011.

In the United Kingdom, about 60 percent of classrooms have interactive whiteboards, which leaves a mark for inspiration back in our homeland. It’s a bit harder for interactive whiteboard companies to make significant headway in India, where education spending is much more localised than in many other countries. There’s a lot of opportunity though in the Indian market.

Market is growing rapidly, in part because technology prices are dropping.

Companies are also making their interactive whiteboards more attractive by developing libraries of ready-made lessons to pair with their products, organised by subject and age-group and even aligned with individual country standards.

But the need should not be felt only in the science or mathemeatics class; for science, the whiteboards may not be the priority; the social studies teacher may opt for smaller electronic tablets, similar to whiteboards but more portable. There should be rather the question on their ubiquitous application in schools, colleges, and other academic institutions. There is need to look at this technology and ask whether it should blanket the institution!

digital LEARNING is published & marketed in collaboration with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. (www.elets.in)

© Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies 2007 (www.csdms.in)

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Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

COVER STORY

Whiteboards Bringing Interactivity in Education

SMART Board, ActivBoard, eBeam, mimio, Webster,...these names may sound unfamiliar to some, but are phenomenal tools and some of the most widely used educational tools at this time. Gone are the days of traditional whiteboards or flipcharts. Interactive whiteboards are used in many schools as replacements for all such traditional tools. They provide ways to show students any thing which can be presented on a computer’s desktop, educational software, web sites, and others. Interactive whiteboards also allow teachers to record their instruction and post the material for review by students at a later time. In other words, IWBs offer very effective instructional strategy for students who benefit from repetition, who need to see the material presented again, for students who are absent from school, for struggling learners, and for review for examinations.

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nteractive whiteboards are used in classroom environments in the case of which the technology allows one to write or draw on the surface, print the image off, save it to computer, or distribute it over a network. One can also project a computer screen image onto the surface and then either control the application by touching the board directly or by using a special pen. The computer image can be annotated or drawn over and the annotations saved to disc or emailed to others.

How does it affect educationteaching and learning?

IWBs are highly motivating and learner-centred tools when integrated innovatively. They offer a powerful facility for integrating media elements into teaching to enhance content and support collaborative learning. Although already penetrated the school sector, the tool has still less presence in the higher education sector. All IWBs though do not offer all similar features, but their over all contribution to teaching learning revolves round the same set of objectives.

IWBs are used for purposes like• Offer the same features as a traditional whiteboard such as writing directly on the board, circling things, highlighting or labelling elements on the screen, and erasing errors but able to save or print out the results without further ado.

• View and navigate the Internet from the whiteboard. Surf and display websites that the entire room will be able to see in a teacher-directed manner.

• Students can approach the whiteboard and add their contribution to the discussion by writing directly on the whiteboard.

Groups can view and solve interactive problems together.

• Connect to video conferencing systems.

• Allow teacher and/or students to move around a screen without the use of a computer because the screen itself is sensitive.

• Offer an on-screen keyboard that floats over the software, allowing Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

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to enter text or data into almost any application.

Enable editing on screen and recording of changes or additions.

Provide an electronic flipchart of a number of pages, with all notes and diagrams saved as an HTML file for later use across an Intranet, allowing an archive to be easily maintained and displayed.

Allow notes to be stored and made available to students who missed the lecture.

Cater more effectively for visually impaired students and other students with special needs, using say drag and drop exercises with graphics instead of text to test learning.

Allow the tutor to monitor/see what each student has on their screen and choose which screen to display on the whiteboard in a networked environment.

And many more.

Types of interactive whiteboard technologies Resistive Membrane These whiteboards have a soft flexible surface similar to vinyl, comprising two pieces of resistive material with a small gap between them to create a touchsensitive membrane. They can be drawn on using fingers or a special stylus that can represent pens of different colours via software selection.

Electro-Magnetic These whiteboards are similar to

traditional whiteboards in that they have a hard surface and can be drawn on with normal pens. To work interactively they require special battery driven pens that emit a small magnetic field that is detected either by the frame of the whiteboard or by a grid of fine wires embedded beneath the surface of the board.

Laser Scanners These whiteboards have a hard writing surface with infra-red laser scanners mounted in the top corners of the board that detect pen movement. To work interactively they require special felt pens, each of which has a uniquely encoded reflective collar that the lasers use to identify its colour and position.

Advantages Because interactive whiteboards are so like conventional whiteboards, they can help teachers to use technology comfortably for presentations from the front of the room.

• They help in embedding the use of e-learning because they rapidly 7

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demonstrate the potential of alternative modes of delivery.

They make it easy for teachers easily integrating all kinds of content material in a lesson: a picture from the Internet, a graph from a spreadsheet and text from a Word file in addition to student and teacher annotations on these objects.

They allow teachers to easily and rapidly create customised learning objects from a range of existing content and adapt it to the needs of the class.

They allow learners to participate in group discussions by freeing them from note taking, and allow them to work collaboratively around a shared task area.

When fully integrated into a virtual learning environment and learning object repository there is potential for widespread sharing of resources.

The large scale of interactive whiteboard panels and the option to control them and write on them using fingers make them potentially useful assistive devices for a range of visual and physical impairments, whilst the synchronised software and the ability to work with all programmes on the PC has huge potential for blind students and tutors.

Additionally interactive whiteboards are useful with hearing impaired students.

Interactive whiteboards can be fixed or free-standing. Free-standing boards have the advantage of portability Interactive whiteboards work with both PCs and Macs, the only need is to check the right software. However, the tool has yet to address some issues attached to it, in order to make a widespread use of it in teaching and learning. One of the major issue being interactive whiteboards are more expensive than conventional whiteboards or projector/screen combinations.

Cost The higher the resolution and the faster the tracking speed, the more the board will cost. Prices usually range from INR 10,000 to INR 100,000, depending on the size and technology employed.

The lowest cost are dual membrane resistive boards which can be operated with a fingertip or special stylus. More expensive are the solid state impactresistant whiteboards that can only be operated with an electronic pen or a more expensive variant, offering control via a cordless infrared pen.

Most expensive are the laser scanner whiteboards, operated by markers with special, reflective collars.

Software is almost always included in the purchase price of the whiteboard, but it is necessary to ascertain what the software does, as different packages offer different functions. However, the special pens required by some boards add to the cost and so does the digital projector.

Whiteboard Shopping Questions •

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Do you prefer “resistive” technology, which means the whiteboard responds to hand pressure, rather than using a single pen or pointer that comes with the technology to interact with the board? Different whiteboards offer different methods of interaction.

How easy is it to incorporate a broad range of multimedia Internet resources and classroom content into lesson plans using the whiteboard?

Does the company offer whiteboard lesson activities and videoconferencing remote-control software?

Is the system compatible with the most current software available for Microsoft Windows, Macintosh, or Linux?

Does the company offer extensive technical support?

Is the product durable enough to sustain the normal wear and tear of the classroom?

What warranty does the company offer?

Major Brands SMART Board (www.smarttech.com) ACTIVBoard (www.prometheanworld.com) PolyVision (www.polyvision.com) mimio (www.mimio.com) eBeam (www.e-beam.com) Numonics (www.numonics.com) Interwrite (www.interwritelearning.com) StarBoard (www.starboard.hitachi-soft.com) Globus Interactive (www.globusinfocom.com) TeamBoard (www.teamboard.com)

In India SMART Boards Intmark Distribution No.12/27, 92nd Street, Ashok Nagar, Chennai - 600 083 Ph - 044 42123475 Hitachi Star Board Foundation e-Learning Pvt Ltd A division of Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd C-22,Brigade MM,KR Road,Jayanagar, Bangalore-560 070 Ph - 080 - 6559 3388 Globus Interactive Board Globus Infocom Ltd. A - 22, Sector 4 Noida – 201301 Ph- 0120-4051700-800 Promethean Almoe Digital Solutions (P) Ltd S-705, Manipal Centre 47, Dickenson Road Bangalore - 560042 Team Board Actis Technologies Pvt. Ltd. Plot A-5, Cross Road B, M.I.D.C., Andheri (East), Mumbai 400 093. mimio Plus Business Machines Ltd 21 Udyog Bhavan Sonawala Road, Goregaon (E) Mumbai, 400063 eBeam Visicom Systems Pvt Ltd 6 Rani Jhansi Road, New Delhi - 110055 Octbober 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

PROMETHEAN ACTIVEBOARD

Bringing A Little Magic To The Classroom Margaret Allen, Activprimary Business Development Manager, Promethean Technologies, UK Thanks to a new, integrated digital system, teachers can bring their classes to life and deliver inspirational and engaging lessons that add to their pupil’s experience.

Interactive Learning A new range of award-winning technologies to meet the needs of today’s classroom is now available from Promethean, the global leader and innovator in interactive learning. The user-friendly Activclassroom range enables teachers to prepare lessons in a digital format in order to capture student attention and accommodate different learning styles. But that’s not all - teachers can also create, customise and integrate text, images, quizzes, tests, web, video and audio content to enhance each lesson.

Developed for teachers by teachers, the lead product in the Activclassroom range is the Activboard+2 - the world’s most durable interactive whiteboard technology. An integrated system, Activboard+2 is quick and easy to install and comes complete with a batteryfree, wireless Activpen; a 64” or 78” whiteboard with its own height-adjustable stand, and a super short-throw projector. It also includes companion software: Activprimary, for primary schools and early years, and Activstudio for secondary teaching both of which are compatible with PCs and Macs.

Designed especially for 3 to 12 year old groups, the Activprimary software incorporates a brightly-coloured interface with large icons and resources to suit young learners’ needs and 10

curricula. This highly functional software brings lessons to life with features such as giant snakes and ladders, rolling dice, and coins to aid mathematics teaching.

The Activstudio programme features hundreds of teacher-designed tools across a whole range of subjects from maths to music - including protractors, on-screen measuring tools, flipcharts, images and shapes.

And the Activclassroom doesn’t stop there. It is also possible to link the Activboard+2 whiteboard to personal hand-held Activote response units, which are ideal for monitoring pupil progress during lessons. This technology provides instant feedback and analysis; allowing teachers to make easy onthe-spot assessments. The colourful, wireless, egg-shaped devices encourage pupils to click or ‘vote’ their response to a teacher’s question, providing all October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

kinds of information, from who is in the class to who understands what is being taught - all of which can be saved to a flipchart or spreadsheet for further analysis

Recently several students from Eagle Heights Academy in the USA explained what they like about the Activboard and how it has helped them:

Around the world with Promethean

‘The Activboard had made many people pay attention more and it makes it kind of exciting.’

Promethean is passionate about education and believes in building partnerships that enrich the learning environment. Its Activclassroom products are distributed through a global network of partners and now inspire 2.5 millions of learners in more than 70 countries across the world.

‘The Activboard makes learning fun, it makes me pay attention more. It’s interesting..’

‘When the teachers use Activboard it makes the lesson more alive. It’s real easy, it makes me get better grades because it helps me focus more.’

‘I like the games and maths and other stuff.. The Activboard helps us learn and we get to vote.’

In Asia, the first school in Cambodia to install Interactive Whiteboards is using Activprimary to engage and motivate its pupils. iCAN International School is truly international with pupils from many countries in each class. They are using Activprimary to teach a UK-based curriculum to a multi-cultural cohort.

In Malaysia, Alice Smith School have recently installed 20 Activboards and have decided to use Activprimary from Reception to Year 5. Their journey has only just begun with help, training and support from Promethean’s local its hi-tech teaching systems to all the country’s primary schools.

Steve Brazier, Director of Education for Promethean, comments, ‘Promethean has worked with countries across the globe helping to improve the quality of education provided and we recognise Mexico as an area where we can make a significant difference.’ distributor and directly from the UK. The Mexican Government has made an educational leap in learning for its country’s children with its aim to find a solution to enable every classroom of every school in Mexico to have access to the digital teaching and learning resources of Enciclomedia. In January 2004 Mexican education ministers began talks with Promethean to supply Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

Teachers using Enciclomedia with the Activboards reported immediate

benefits. Guadalupe Fri’as, a teacher at President John F. Kennedy School, Mexico, explains, ‘Daniel Kings Lora, a year six student, has never travelled to European cities yet he already knows each corner of the Roman Coliseum, the Museum of the Louvre in Paris and has taken a trip down the Nile to see the pyramids. In only five months, Daniel has been able to ‘virtually’ visit these places and learn historical events relating to those sites and listen to pieces of music peculiar to those times and places.

Promethean is committed to creating classroom technologies that empower teachers by allowing them to engage, educate, assess and motivate learners; and offers a comprehensive support and professional development service to enable optimum usage and return on investment. The recently launched Promethean Planet website (www.prometheanplanet.com/uk) is a free online community where teachers from all over the world come together to connect, share ideas and download useful teaching resources.

An experienced primary school teacher, Margaret has also trained PGCE students on the application of ICT. A passionate advocate of the central importance of engaging children in learning, Margaret has worked with major publishers and software houses, advising them on how their products can illuminate teaching and learning. She has become a sought-after author of articles about the positive effects of the use of whiteboard technology in the classroom, and how it can enrich learning. Last year she appeared on the BBC’s “Child of our Time” series, telling a story using Promethean’s Activprimary software.

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News INDIA India funds ICT training in Zambia Zambia and India have signed an agreement that will see India fund Zambian training centres to train researchers and the public in information and communication technology (ICT) skills.

India will provide US$300 million of computers and servers, as well as US$100,000 toward operating the centres. India’s international status was due to science and technology literacy, and that establishing the training centres would similarly empower Zambian researchers, science students and young people with science and technology skills.

Zambians are reluctant to take ICT courses in higher education, but that these skills are important for creating wealth. Besides researchers and science students, the centres will also provide free computer training to ordinary Zambians who could not otherwise afford it.

School Education Dept. plans to launch mobile library in Chennai The School Education Department of Chennai is planning to launch a mobile library for about 10 corporation schools in north Chennai to encourage reading habits among students.

School Education Minister Thangam Thennarasu announced that the mobile library will have about 3,000 children’s books and computer and educational compact discs to screen programmes for the youngsters. The state government is also planning to set up about 12,400 rural libraries within the next five years under the scheme 12

‘Anaithu Grama Anna Marumalarchi Thittam’ to benefit the rural population.

The state government is also setting up a INR 100 crore worth digital library in the city.The library has a collection of about 5.21 lakh books and it has acquired six additional facilities worth INR 55 lakh, including an e-resource centre networked with 24 computers, online public access catalogue and computerisation of library operations.

10,000 vocational schools needed to meet manpower deficit in India

the child sees in front of him a virtual market, where he transacts with virtual vendor to buy vegetables, or fruits against some amount of virtual money.

This simple exercise teaches him basic arithmetic like substraction, addition, etc.

The Media Lab Asia uses local language in an interactive video and relevant animation to make children more interactive within their surroundings.

IT practical tests on ‘open’ platform

Presently only 5.06% Indian youth have single skill inventory, posing a major challenge to the availability of skilled manpower. 10,000 new vocational schools are required to fulfill India’s skill deficit, said Champak Chatterjee, secretary, department of school education and literacy, ministry of Human Resources Development.

A proper system has to be in place to get skilled jobs fill up the middle level of the economy, the Secretary.

For this curriculum development and creating a policy and staff framework is necessary and efforts are needed to make vocational education drive industry. It is also necessary to meet skilled manpower requirement through cooperation with international institutes and organizations and to mobilise teachers’ training as an integrated part of the skill development process and maintain consistent quality standards.

In the largest such simultaneous deployment of ‘free-and-open’ software in India, over 15 lakh Kerala schoolchildren start taking their quarterly practical tests in Information Technology on personal computers using a special Linux version.

The IT@School project of the State Education Department has developed an operating system based on the Linux version Ubuntu. Called IT@School GNU Linux Version 3.0, it was distributed to 2,832 high schools - over a thousand of them government schools, the rest aided and unaided ones.

Media LabAsia brings education to the doorsteps of tribals Between September 7 and 22, children Media Lab Asia is bringing vocational training programme at the doorsteps of the tribals of Maharastra.

The Media Labs Asia in collaboration with Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai, and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) like Vigyan Ashram and Bhatke Vimukta Vikas Pratishthan to train over 100 children of de-notified nomadic tribes in Maharashtra. Media Labs Asia looks at the application of Information Communication and Technology for the upliftment of the backward sections of the country. At the click of a button,

of Classes 8, 9 and 10 will use some 30,000 PCs to do their quarterly practical examinations in IT. The project has created a whole ecosystem of computeraided tools for self-paced learning, online testing, instant evaluation, marks generation and so on. All this is done using royalty-free Open Source software.

IIT, Mumbai topper among 7 other Indian institutes IIT Mumbai secured the first position among the educational institutes in the Indian subcontinent in the Webometrics Ranking of world universities released

by Cybermetrics Lab, a unit of the October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; IIT, Kanpur; IIT, Madras; IIT, Delhi; National Informatics Centre, Karnataka and National Institute of Technology, Calicut (NIT-C) followed IIT Mumbai in the list. The survey was conducted by searching the Internet. The recognition would be a great boost for Indian higher educational institutes.

The students would be a part of this plan, and only a core team of TV professionals would be hired.

Doordarshan’s Gyan Darshan and Vyas - both 24-hour education networks are also in the airs, but have low viewerships. Zed TV, the only attempt made by the private players, in launching education television network, is no longer in the airs. Youth TV has revived hopes in television based education delivery.

Room To Read sets to open 1,600 libraries in India

KISS, Asia’s first largest tribal university in India

National Research Council, which is located in Spain.

The Kalinga Institute of Social Sciences (KISS), Orissa has been entered into the record books as the Asia’s largest residential tribal school. More than 5000 tribal children from several districts are taking formal and vocational education in the Institute.

John Wood, founder and CEO of the non-profit Room To Read libraries announced opening of 1,600 libraries by this year. The libraries will add to those already are operational in schools in India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and five other countries.

Wood is hoping Indian donors will step forward and planning to enlist the Young Presidents’ Organisation, a nongovernmental organisation comprising company presidents and CEOs, for his fund-raising efforts in Mumbai. To ensure that children get books and read in the school libraries that it funds, and also to help over worked teachers, the organisation employs facilitators and has begun publishing children’s books in Hindi. It will soon bring out titles in Telugu, Bengali and Marathi.

Room to Read also sets up computer labs for students, and in some countries runs schools as well. Currently it provides scholarships to 900 girls in India.

Amity to launch educational TV in India Amity University announced to launch a 24-hour education channel. The network would be called Youth TV .

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

The school offers free education from KG to post graduation along with all the facilities to tribal students. The Institute provides range of facilities from well stocked library to hostel and computer centre and vocational training centres to complete medical care. KISS was started with 100 children in 1993 and now it offers post graduate courses.

Indian Govt. plans to link educational e-Network with US institutes The collaboration between the Indian and Australian universities will boost the government’s planning to align countrywide online network of educational institutions with its American counterpart.

The online network will help to do research on Information Technology, life-sciences, biotechnology, material science and environmental science.

Under the government’s plan, linking the ERNET network under the ministry of Information Technology with America’s Internet-II will help Indian researchers as well as the researchers of Harvard, Massachusetts and Boston to set up their independent online centres in India. The tie-up would provide Indian institutions and universities with an opportunity to share a common platform with 209 institutions in the

US. ERNET has already established connectivity with the top research network of European Union, GEANT.

NIOS launches online payment system in India

The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) has currently introduced an online payment system to ensure better support services to learners. NIOS for this reason has signed an agreement with the ICICI Bank for installation of a payment gateway for making online payment through credit cards.

From now onwards, after the learners have completed and submitted their online admission forms, they have two options of making the payment of the admission fees–either through a demand draft or a credit card. Learners who wish to avail themselves of the services of NIOS and have access to a credit card can now make the payment online from anywhere in India. This is perhaps the first time that an educational institution at a school level has introduced online payment facility for the entire India.

NAC to be introduced in Kerala An agreement to introduce the NASSCOM Assessment of Competence (NAC) test has been signed between NASSCOM and Kerala state IT Mission. NAC is a test, which comprises of from range of skills required of an employee in the ITeS-BPO sector.

The test will cost a candidate INR 1,300 and will be conducted in the third week of December. The longterm goal of NASSCOM is to convert India’s ‘trainable workforce’ into an ‘employable workforce.’ The test will benefit the govt. also in various other ways.

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COMMENTARY

Transforming Teaching and Learning

www.smarttech.com

Nancy Knowlton, [NANCYK@SMARTTECH.COM] CEO, SMART Technologies Inc., Canada

It has often been said that if someone had fallen asleep 100 years ago and awoke today, the only thing that might be recognized is what takes place in a classroom.

While that may be true in some locales, a transformation is quietly taking place in hundreds of thousands of classrooms around the world. Over the last 15 years, schools all over the world have een introducing interactive whiteboards into classrooms with varying degrees of success. As with any new tool, educators experienced an early learning curve with regard to how best to implement it. For them, imagining how interactive whiteboards could be used was the ďŹ rst step in creating a compelling vision about transforming teaching and learning. Many of their early experiments with interactive whiteboards helped us identify what needs to be considered when creating a vision for this remarkable tool.

An Interactive Whiteboard in Every Classroom For teachers to commit to technology, it needs to be consistently available.

Permanently mounting the interactive whiteboard on the wall ensures that it is there, ready to go, for every class.

Adventuresome Teachers First When funds are limited and not every teacher can have all of the technology tools, put the products in the hands of teachers who like to experiment and explore. Not only will they delight in the opportunity, but their colleagues will be eager to have the same opportunity when they see the success of the technology adventurers.

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Macromedia® Flash® files into Notebook™ whiteboarding software.

Time for Sharing Teachers learn and grow when they can spend time with their colleagues, sharing ideas about what works and what does not. Coupled with appropriate amounts of professional development, this practice can ensure that a teacher’s technology use grows effectively.

Infrastructure Having a connection to the Internet in the classroom and digital content for each subject are often-cited elements that make for successful implementation.

Technology in Its Place Every Subject, Every Grade Not only mathematics and science classes can benefit from interactive whiteboards. Literally every subject at every grade level can benefit from a focal point for those parts of the lesson that involve whole-class teaching and learning.

For Teachers and Students Interactive whiteboards encourage a very participatory model of instruction.

In fact, many educators would argue

that students should use the interactive whiteboards more than the teacher, particularly in the lower grade levels.

Just-in-Time Training Ensuring that teachers learn at a comfortable pace can really make a difference. Spread professional development out over a reasonable period. Start with the simplest functions first, such as writing, saving and printing. Then move on to the more elaborate functions, such as importing

As important as technology can be in the teaching and learning process, it is not an end in itself. It is there to serve the needs of students and teachers, and aid the learning process.

A Comfortable Transition Like no other technology before it, interactive whiteboards have the power to transform teaching and learning.

While many teachers are comfortable with the sage-on-the-stage model, many more believe that a guide-on-the-side model leads to deeper understanding and true learning. Interactive whiteboards are providing teachers with a comfortable transition between these two teaching styles. Guiding pupils to take charge of their own learning through greater in-class participation is just the start. Opening the universe of learning to them and making them eager to reach out and grab it is our responsibility as members of a civil society. In taking this responsibility to heart, we all help to ensure that a well-educated, competitive workforce is prepared for the challenges of the 21st century.

Nancy Knowlton is the CEO of SMART Technologies Inc., the world’s leading supplier of interactive white-boards. Nancy’s husband and cofounder of SMART, David Martin, is the inventor of the interactive whiteboard category.Together they have built a company focused on delivering easyto-use, feature-rich collaboration tools, including the SMART Board interactive whiteboard.

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

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News ASIA Microsoft Corporation to help train 10,000 teachers in Sri Lanka

affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami of December, 2004. The Foundation has retrofitted buses as mobile libraries stocked with books selected by local authorities and available in Sinhala, Tamil, and English, as well as a laptop computer, multimedia projector, and educational DVDs.

setting up a campus in Ningbo. And this latest project will see the UK’s experience of educational technology being introduced to Chinese secondary school pupils.

UK and China sign e-Learning deal

The teachers from Minando schools of Philippines are waiting for the implementation of the Cyber Education Project (CEP) of the Department of Education to improve the quality of education, especially in remote areas.

An online educational initiative between the UK and China has been launched, with plans to provide e-Learning for 20 million Chinese students.

The Microsoft Corporation is to upgrade the Information Technology and computer related sector in Sri Lanka. Under this programme, Microsoft will train around 10, 000 school teachers.

Apart from providing training programme, Microsoft will also launch the e-Village programme of the Ministry of Education and assist the Teachers Computer Training Scholarship Programme to provide funds and technical assistance to establish a Software Development and Research Institute in Sri Lanka. The firm is already assisting Sri Lanka’s education sector through its partners in learning and unlimited potential grant Programmes for improvement of Information Technology Education, Content Development and Research activities for teacher training.

Asia Foundation launches Mobile Library in Sri-Lanka The San Francisco-based, Asia Foundation has launched Mobile library Sri Lanka with support from the AIG Disaster Relief Fund and Give2Asia.

The new mobile library is designed to serve an estimated eighty thousand families and children living in southern and eastern Sri Lanka. The mobile libraries will be stationed in the communities of Hambantota, Hikkaduwa, Kattankudy, and Thirukkovil, all of which were 16

The deal, which is a partnership between the UK group and the Chinese media company Sun Media, will provide online teaching materials to pupils in 20 major Chinese cities. The content, across a range of subjects, will be provided by the Chinese partners - with the first students using the materials in spring 2008. British Universities are already offering UK degree courses to Chinese students including the University of Nottingham

Mindanao school in Philippines awaiting cyber education

The school has already started to venture into ICT through the Project Alert without the help of CyberEducation. But CEP will really help in addressing the problem of the lack of education facilities in the country.

Schools are already launching the eLibrary project. Cyber education would be the best alternative to the perennial shortage of books and classrooms in the poverty-stricken region.

Human capital impact of CSR in China In a recent survey, 41% of American Chamber of Commerce in China member companies and 48% of the Chamber’s manufacturers indicate they are negatively affected by increased salary expenses. A major impediment to corporate effectiveness in China is retaining top talent in a market of scarcity. A significant reason for this obstacle to effectiveness is the systemic problems within the Chinese educational system.

Understanding the impact of labor scarcity on corporate effectiveness, IBM launched their Reinventing Education programme in China in March of 2004 with a USD700,000 grant. The significant impact of the programme is its impact on students and teachers outlined in an independent report released in 2006. At the time of the report, not only had over 700 teachers fully adopted the programme’s innovative instructional methods and an additional 500 teachers were in the training process, but staff at the 12 pilot schools also developed opportunities to train teachers in other schools, bringing the total number of teachers trained to 4,000 – more than three times the initial project goal. In addition, more than 13,000 teachers participated in various training and outreach activities for further replication and expansion. This programme addresses the long-term aspect of the same problem through working with local educational institutions to change the broader environment within which its future employees will be educated.

Whether it is contributing to the ecosystem of “learning organisations” or bridging the employee engagement gap, IBM’s reinventing education initiative addresses fundamental issues in the Chinese IT labor market. What is critical in the longterm, however, is these issues are addressed through improving the underlying education system that has created the talent shortage in the first place.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Globus Interactive @ Classroom

www.globusinfocom.com

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

Globus Infocom presents Interactive @ Classroom that makes the environment more cohesive and conducive to teach and learn. It excites, engages and motivates in the class.

The Interactive @ Classroom gives the freedom to teach and learn from anywhere in the classroom. The teacher explains using an Interactive Whiteboard and the student interacts through a Blue Tooth Class Pad. Ready made content is interactively taught and live experiments, diagram, maps, 3d objects are discussed through a document camera. In this process through the interactivity of the students and the teachers instant content is developed digitally. And over time the entire syllabus gets developed, class wise, teacher wise & subject wise which is available to one and all.

To give the Teacher more time to concentrate on next chapter while the class is completing an exercise, an Interactive panel gives her complete charge of the PC using a pen, right in front of her desk.

With Globus Interactive Boards, interacting and annotating over the current topics, PowerPoint slides, Web pages or any other computer application becomes easy. Other features of the

at Universities, Colleges, Schools, Technical/Engg. Institutes, Polytechnics.

Interactive Pad

Globus Interactive Boards are, it • creates exciting and engaging topics with the extensive Interactive image gallery and Topic resources.

• keeps students focused on topic at the front of the room - even have them come up to the Globus Interactive Board to solve problems interactively.

• Saves, prints and e-Mails all topics notes and files - A great tool for lesson review, participants who are absent or senior who wish to review what their colleagues are learning.

• Participates in the session where one can join with fellow staff to share topics and activities, learn new ideas, download new images and background templates.

• Creates a truly dynamic learning environment. When used with other Interactive Classroom products, one engages the participants with the topic and quickly assess their knowledge - connecting with every person.

Globus Interactive @ Classroom is truly the conduit to apply ICT in classroom

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The first Bluetooth wireless pad that enables one to teach anywhere in the classroom.

• Pass it to a student and let them contribute from their seat.

• 40 hours of use between recharging.

• Rechargeable pen interactive with the Interactive SchoolBoard.

• Participate in the session where one can join with fellow staff to share topics and activities, learn new ideas, download new images and background templates.

• Use with the Interactive SchoolBoard or project computer images on any surface to create an interactive whiteboard.

• 19 programmable softkeys.

The Globus Interactive Board is a durable electronic whiteboard where bluetooth wireless option is available.

The Interactive Board is available in 40”, 60” and 77.5” diagonal. The key features of the Interactive Board is, it is available in 77.5” diagonal size, has a durable, glare free surface, displays 1,000 lines per inch resolution, has programmable Softkeys, and Blue-tooth Wireless Technology available with it.

The Interactive Software is included and the product is Windows and Mac Compatible.

Globus Infocom has been committed to helping Educational Institutions improve their standards in learning and development.

Interactive Classroom of Globus Infocom is complete with hardware and software combination that is ready to use.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

eBEAM

Turning Whiteboard to a Digital Workplace

www.e-beam.com

eBeam Systems employ a revolutionary technology based on infrared and ultrasound to turn any standard whiteboard into a digital workspace.

The eBeam receivers are attached to any traditional whiteboard and connect to a PC or Macintosh computer. By inserting standard dry erase markers into electronic sleeves, pen strokes are recognised and data is transferred to the computer. Notes and drawings can be saved, printed, emailed, edited or shared in real-time over the Internet or Intranet with anyone, anywhere.

eBeam is the award-winning product of Luidia, the global provider of innovative ideacapturing systems for the education, distance learning, conferencing, audio/visual, and office products markets.

With the help of a data projector, the eBeam system can also convert a whiteboard into an interactive computer display using the eBeam pen as a wireless mouse. eBeam converts existing whiteboard into a digital whiteboard at a fraction of the cost of traditional electronic whiteboards or copyboards. Being the smallest Interactive whiteboard solutions on the market today, eBeam systems are extremely portable and set up in minutes. eBeam Capture software records every pen stroke mark on the board, so one doesn’t lose any of the important ideas. Easily and securely broadcasts whiteboard notes over the Internet in real-time to anyone who couldn’t make it to class. Records voice with lecture to make the lesson available online for absent students or remote teachers.

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eBeam Projection works with the digital projector and any standard whiteboard to create an interactive workspace where one can easily present, collaborate, and build lessons.

The system includes a two-button stylus that allows one-touch access to left and right-click functionality as well as showing and hiding the tool palette.

eBeam Interact software is a simple yet powerful set of tools that breaks the paradigm of clunky software. The customisable, circular tool palette delivers the functionality one needs for the application at hand. Collaborating with students or teachers anywhere in the world and sharing office documents, pictures or screen captures comes easy.

eBeam Integral combines awardwinning eBeam Technology with Alfher Porcewol’s porcelain-enameled steel surface to create a dual-purpose Interactive Whiteboard. The surface is low glare which provides a crisp projected image, but has a special coating to resist staining from dry erase markers. It’s also durable enough to resist scratches, dents, punctures, and even graffiti.

eBeam Interact and Capture software work seamlessly together to ensure all the valuable work on the board is recorded on the computer. Touch the interactive stylus to the board and Interact automatically opens or touch any of the marker sleeves to the board and Capture launches.

eBeam Technology uses infrared light and ultrasound, so it doesn’t require a fragile network of wires like other interactive boards. The integrated, compact receiver is protected against damage and theft by a metal shield. The interactive stylus included with the board provides both left and right-click functionality and onetouch access to special software features. The highly acclaimed eBeam Interact software provides the necessary tools to help engage the students and deliver dynamic presentations.

eBeam Complete is the combination of a fully featured interactive whiteboard and a next-generation digital copyboard.

The eBeam receiver is not only powerful but compact, which makes the entire system portable enough to carry in a laptop case.

The package of eBeam Projection, eBeam Whiteboard and eBeam Complete, allows one to choose whether one wants to turn the existing whiteboard into either a fully-featured interactive whiteboard or an onlinecapable copyboard.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

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SPECIAL REPORT

A watch on Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan

One in Every Two Students Drops Out by Class Eight in India

E

ven as the country observes International Literacy Day, a study has found that one out of every two students enrolled in schools drop out before reaching ninth standard.

According to the study carried out by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry, Government of India, one out of every four students does not go beyond class five. By class eight, the dropout rate gets worse at 50.8 per cent.

HRD Minister Arjun Singh also recently said that the government was striving to achieve universalisation of elementary education by 2010 and confessed that one out of five teachers at the primary level was not attending class.

The government is implementing the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (Education for All) programme for universalisation of elementary education by 2010, by augmenting availability of school infrastructure and improving the quality of education in elementary schools. But Ministry’s own survey conducted this year shows that 20% of teachers were not attending schools at the primary stage.

An independent survey was commissioned by the Government of India and conducted by Social and Research Institute, a unit of International Marketing Research Bureau (SRIIMRB) in July-August, 2005 with the aim of assessing the number of out-ofschool children across the country.

As per the findings of the survey, the number of out of school children in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh was 31.77 lakhs and 29.95 lakhs respectively.

This number has now reduced to 21.20 22

lakhs in Bihar and 7.86 lakhs in Uttar Pradesh as per State Reports as of March, 2007.

Context specific interventions for children who are “hard to reach” such as bridge courses, learning centres with flexible timings, seasonal hostels, home based education, mobile schools, have been taken up under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan Programme. The Government of India has undertaken 19 orientation and capacity building workshops with States/UTs with illustrative case studies of good practices, to encourage State/ Districts to do such context specific interventions.

The Madhya Pradesh state government

The Government of India has undertaken 19 orientation and capacity building workshops with States/ UTs with illustrative case studies of good practices, to encourage State/Districts to do context specific interventions for children who are hard to reach has achieved considerably success in this regard over last four years. There were 700,74 out-of-school children in the year 2003 in the state. Now their number has been reduced to 65,000 following concerted efforts made in the October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

state for enrolment of such children.

Besides, the dropout rate has also come down during the period. The dropout rate at primary level was 25.6 per cent in year 2003 which has come down to 17.6 per cent in the year 2007. At middle level the dropout rate has come down from 26.6 percent in 2003 to 16.3 percent in the year 2007.

The Gross Enrolment Ratio (GNR) was 101.7 percent at primary level in the year 2003, which has increased to 104.6 per cent in the year 2007. At middle level this ratio was 56.6 per cent, which has increased to 95.3 per cent in the year 2007.

Similarly, the Net Enrolment Ratio (NER), which was 82 per cent in 2003, has increased to 95.9 per cent at primary level and in case of middle level it has gone up from 66 per cent to 88.2 per cent during the period. A joint review mission sent by Government of India for review of implementation of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) early this year lauded the achievements in Madhya Pradesh. The review mission praised the efforts of state government for enrolment of out-ofschool children and to bring down the dropout rate.

The credit of these achievements has been given to “School Chalen Ham” drive, residential bridge course, non-residential bridge course, human

A blind man’s school vigil brings drop-out mark to zero In an unique attempt to control the cases of school drop-outs, a blind man who lost his eyesight at the age of 10 and had to stop studying, vigils for students and teachers of a Murshidabad school and has been able to reduce the school drop-out rate to zero.

Haradhan Ghosh, the self-styled inspector of Banti Primary School in Murshidabad, informs parents if their children are frequently late for school. He also complains to the local sub-inspector of schools if a teacher is not on time. If a student drops out, Haradhan is at his doorstep to persuade him back to class.

The 32-year-old lost his eyesight after a bout of small pox after which he was forced to drop out of school in Class IV. The incident prompted Haradhan to take vow that children will not stay out of primary school in Banti village.

His efforts have borne fruit. There has not been a single drop-out in this school for the past two years and teachers and students arrive on time. This is how Haradhan has been working silently for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan.

For some cases he raises money from villagers to help students to be in school.

The school’s nearly 200 students and five teachers are scared to come late. The school authorities want Haradhan to continue his vigil. He has also been allowed to stay inside the school building at night.

development centres and other innovative programmes.

Meanwhile, a new funding pattern for the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) was cleared by the Union Cabinet. The new pattern will be a compromise between the state governments’ demand and the union government and finance ministry’s proposal. The revised Centre-state funding pattern for the SSA would be 65:35 for the current and the next

financial year. For 2009-10, it would be 60:40 and in 2010-11 it would be 55:45. By the end of the present plan period (2011-2012), the equation would be 50:50. The 50:50 pattern would be continued thereafter.

The revision is with retrospective effect from the beginning of the financial year. In view of stiff resistance from the States to the funding scheme that envisaged a withdrawal of the Centre from SSA funding with every Five Year Plan, the Union Human Resource Development Ministry suggested a staggered reduction in the Central assistance in the XIth Plan period.

A further concession has been granted to the eight North-Eastern States.

Right through the Plan, they will have to cough up only 10 per cent of the expenditure in their respective States.

The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs gave its nod for extending the mid-day meal scheme to children in the upper primary stage in government and government-aided schools, besides the education guarantee scheme and alternative and innovative education centres in two phases.

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

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THE SSA STRUCTURE IN GUJARAT MAY BE REPLICABLE IN OTHER STATES Meena Bhatt, State Project Director, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Government of Gujarat system. In Gujarat, the PPP is being built self-propelled.

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

ICT can upgrade Human Resource Development in many areas, like Decision Making Systems, Analysis of data, Presentation of the difficult areas etc. Both technical as well as pedagogical skills are required for Educators.

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

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

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

In emerging trends of learning where do you place Gujarat school education system? What are the innovative learning solutions, best practices or policies specific to the state, that make it a glorified or a successful teaching/ learning system? Do you think what you have been able to do in this project or in this state’s education sector is replicable in other states or in other educational contexts?

In Gujarat, we have started Computer Aided Education (CAE) in 2003-04 with 517 schools as an innovative activity.

The idea is to make the students able to learn themselves the difficult topics of the syllabus with the help of Multimedia based Education Contents. Most of the states are implementing the same project but of course, the structure what 24

Gujarat has created may be replicable in other states. In Gujarat, the computer labs established are having minimum 6 computers. Also the bigger schools have10 computers.

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

In the initial phase of Computer-aided Learning (CAL), Gujarat has tied up with Azim Premji Foundation for the multimedia based contents on Hard spots. The Public Private Partnership plays a vital role in school education

What are the challenges you face in achieving the targets that you have set? What are the new programmes being planned?

Any innovative activity needs some time for the end users to accept and involvement. Similarly, the main challenge was the acceptance of the innovative activity. A strong dedicated team at the state and down level are the strong points for me.

In 5 years from now, where do you see Gujarat is going in terms of quality education? What is there in the agenda for the year 2012? How do you plan to take forward that vision?

In 5 years from now, Gujarat will be on top in terms of Quality education. In 2012 all the eligible children will be getting quality education at elementary level.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

CORPORATE DIARY | LEADERS’ SPEAK

We Look at New Technology Platforms to Support India’s Education Agenda www.intel.com

John McClure

Director (Marketing) Intel South Asia Could you tell us something about Intel’s education programmes and Programmes for teachers in India you are responsible for?

Intel’s education programme is an initiative to prepare students with the skills required to thrive in the knowledge economy. We believe all students, everywhere, deserve to have the tools they need to become the next generation of innovators.

Intel’s education initiatives are comprehensive and focus on improving the 21st century skills through various programmes like The Intel Teach Programme – This programme helps teachers understand how to effectively integrate technology into teaching and learning practices that can be used to enhance learning in the classrooms. The Intel teach Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

programme in India delivers a range of offerings, including both face to face and online instruction, designed to enable teachers to introduce, expand and support project based learning techniques in the classrooms with an aim of developing 21st century skills in children IRIS (Initiative for Research & Innovation in Science) – This national science fair (biggest science fair in India) is the merger of ‘Intel Science Talent Discovery Fair’ (ISTDF), and Department of Science & Technology (DST) and CII’s Steer the Big Idea.

IRIS intends to prepare students for success in the digital world. The objective of this programme is to build robust scientific temperament amongst the youth. Winners of IRIS go on to represent India at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF), world’s largest international science fair (for pre collegiate students) which aims to inspire and expand students’ knowledge and enthusiasm for science and math.

The Intel Higher Education Programme – This programme is a worldwide effort that brings cutting-edge technology expertise to universities through research grants, technology entrepreneurship forums, and mentoring by Intel technologists.

The program covers areas such as Faculty development, curriculum support as well as closer Industry Academia collaboration.

The Intel Learn Programme and Intel Computer Clubhouse Network are after school programmes that teach technology literacy and problem solving skills to underserved youth globally.

How does Intel address students?

What are the hindrances in the way of taking technology to classrooms more widely?

While the education system in India has undoubtedly undergone significant progress, a lot still needs to be done to enhance the learning of children in the rural areas where the basic infrastructure still lags. Even if we want to adopt technology on a much larger scale, we need to address these lapses.

Many young people around the world do not have access to schooling or a curriculum that imparts essential 21st-century skills. For this reason, Intel offers two major Community programmes: the Intel Learn Programme, which enables undeserved youth ages 8-6 to learn technology, critical thinking and collaborating skills using an engaging project based curriculum in an after school, community centered setting. The Intel Computer Clubhouse Network, an after-school, community-based learning programme enables youth in underserved areas to access technology and become self-confident, motivated learners.

To expand students’ knowledge and enthusiasm for science, mathematics, and engineering, Intel sponsors science competitions like IRIS (Initiative For Research And Innovation In Science) and Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), which promote inventions and innovations amongst school children by encouraging a spirit of discovery in education.

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CORPORATE DIARY | LEADERS’ SPEAK What are you personally most proud of with the launch and progress of the World Ahead program? How could you have done better with the programme?

The Intel World Ahead Programme is connecting the next billion people to 21st century opportunities by improving access to technology, high-speed Internet connectivity, effective teaching and learning, and relevant local content. We believe that by investing in technology and solutions for the next billion users, we are investing in the future. In doing so, we are connecting people with leading-edge technology innovations and are making an attempt

What are the current teacher education programmes you have in India?

The Intel Teach Programme is a worldwide initiative to help classroom teachers learn how best to use technology to improve teaching and learning. In India, the programme was launched in February 2000 and is prevalent in 15 states. A total of 7, 26,964 teachers have been trained under this programme, so far. We realise that teacher training is important since it fosters the professional development of our teachers, and has led them to improve the quality of teaching in schools.

We believe that by investing in technology and solutions for the next billion users, we are investing in the future to change the world, one billion people at a time. We are also collaborating with local and worldwide leaders on a comprehensive, long-term approach that positively impacts lives and creates sustainable development.

In India, as a part of this programme we have formed an alliance of 16 companies which will work towards expanding Intel’s efforts to provide people in India with the benefits of technology. Members of the alliance consist of Apollo, Comat Technologies, Digital Empowerment Foundation, Educomp Solutions Limited., eGovServices, Fortis Healthcare, Karishma Software Limited, Manipal University, Narayana Hrudayalaya, NIIT Limited, Sankara Nethralaya, SN Informatics Private Limited, SREI SAHAJ e-village Limited, Tata Consultancy Services, Vidya Pratishthan’s Institute of Information Technology (VIIT) and Zoom Developers Pvt. Limited.

Many of these companies have already played a key role in helping Intel develop and deploy technology and training solutions in the areas of e-Government, e-Health, rural empowerment and education.

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How are Intel’s education programmes different from those launched by other corporates?

Intel has been involved in education since the founding of the company.

However, Intel’s large-scale involvement began in 1989 and has increased dramatically during the past several years. Intel has invested over USD700 million worldwide in education efforts, and continues to deepen efforts through a sustained commitment of time and resources.

Our goal is to help students develop the higher-level thinking skills they need to realise their full potential. The Intel Innovation in Education initiative is a long term, sustained effort designed to: • Increase the effective and innovative use of technology in teaching and learning • Celebrate and promote success in teaching and learning science, mathematics, and engineering • Accelerate the advancement of university curricula and research in strategic technology areas • Improve technical fluency and problem solving skills among underserved youth through effective community-based education

•

Increase the numbers of young women and under-represented youth successfully pursuing careers in high technology

We believe students everywhere deserve to have the tools needed to become the next generation of innovators. Each year, we help teachers teach, students learn and universities around the world innovate-particularly in the areas of math, science and technology.

Unlike many other initiatives, Intel Education programme caters to the needs of all levels of students and teachers through its primary and secondary, higher education and community education programs. We strongly believe that capacity building and making it systemic and selfsustaining is important in the education system.

In K-12 education, what would you like to see that you are not seeing?

What are the hurdles and how, then, do you change the situation?

Currently, while Indian institutes of management and technology are world-class institutions; primary and secondary schools, particularly in rural areas, face severe challenges. While governments are pledging to increase spending on education and bring in structural reforms; we still have to go a long way by focusing on improving access and quality at all levels of education.

Would you like to share some of your future strategies for education sector, in India?

Our focus would be to continuously work with the government and academia to ensure that we not just bring in the latest innovations to help support educational transformation across the entire spectrum of education in the country but at the same time look at new technological solutions and platforms which can help support the country’s agenda in providing access for more and more students to quality education.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

With Every Right Comes a Responsibility Education is Everyone's Right and Spreading the Message of Education with ICTs is our Responsibility

Some of the forthcoming editions

digitalLEARNING Volume IV Issue 1 January 2008

Digital LEARNING celebrating its 2nd Anniversary in January 2008

November 2007 Learning with ICTs in K-12 Environment December 2007 e-Readiness of Higher Education February 2008 Innovation and Research in ICT and Education

We are happy to present you with a bumper edition!

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

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

CORPORATE DIARY | NEWS PARTNERSHIP Intel Announces World Ahead Alliance, UNESCO pact in India

Educomp acquires Canadian online teaching solutions company

Marking a new phase of Intel’s World Ahead Programme, an alliance of 16 companies has formed to expand Intel’s efforts to provide people in developing countries with the benefits of technology.

During a visit that coincides with the country’s observance of “Teachers Day,” Intel Corporation Chairman Craig Barrett announced the formation of the World Ahead Alliance in India. The memorandum of understanding calls for UNESCO and Intel to work jointly in areas that include teacher professional development, developing policies for the innovative use of technology in curriculum and promoting scientific research in higher education.

Sun Microsystems to facilitate e-Learning with Aunwesha Sun Microsystems India has entered into a technology alliance with Aunwesha Knowledge Technologies Pvt Ltd, a software product development company operating in the IT segment of e-Learning and knowledge management, to deliver an end-to-end e-Learning solution to the academic community.

Aunwesha’s software suite, LearnITy, including its various components such as Learning Management System (LMS), Online Assessment System (OAS), has been certified on both Solaris 10 for x64 (Intel and AMD) systems, Sun UltraSparc architectures as well as on the Sun Java Enterprise System. LearnITy is a pure ‘India Inc’ brand developed from scratch using open source and open standards. In order to make LearnITy more accessible, Aunwesha has drawn a very simple flexible licencing policy, which ensures low cost of ownership for the end customers.

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Educomp Solutions, the online, interactive and multimedia education content and solutions provider announced that it had acquired a 70.05 per cent stake in Canadian online teaching solutions company Savvica.

Educomp offers solutions in pre-school learning management, K-12 schools, school management and online as well as offline tutoring. Its specialised product range also includes e-Tutoring products such as Mentoraide, Mathguru. com and Roots to Wings.

To add online solutions to its kitty, Educomp had previously acquired AsknLearn, a Singapore based eLearning content provider. It also took a 76 per cent stake in ThreeBrix e-Services, the owner of learninghour. com, an online and offline learning solutions provider focused at Indian students. The acquisition of Savvica will add online community building capabilities to Educomp’s repository of content across its various initiatives.

Later this year, Educomp plans to launch a project to build online communities of instructors and learners based on geographical regions and subject matter, leveraging Savvica’s skills.

IBM signs MoU with Vasavi College of Engg IBM and Vasavi College of Engineering signed a Memorandum of Understanding

(MoU), which enables the Hyderabad based premier educational institution to conduct IBM India’s Accelerated Career Excellence (ACE) programme.

IBM India’s ACE programme is aimed to groom technical talent at workplace.

This unique programme provides the non-engineering employees of IBM India with an opportunity to upgrade their skills and qualification by doing a 4-year MS programme in Software Engineering. To facilitate this higher education programme, IBM signed a MoU with the University of Mysore in 2006 to develop a 4-year MS programme for its employees with BSc degree. The curriculum of this course has been designed and developed jointly by the University of Mysore and IBM.

Nokia ties up with SRM Univ of Chennai in India Mobile handset maker Nokia has tied up with SRM University to offer a fully sponsored specialised B.Tech degree programmes for its employees at its Sri Perumbudur factory. This initiative is expected to encourage employees with diplomas to acquire engineering degrees.

The course, a seven–semester creditbased programme, is open to Nokia’s shop floor employees selected on the basis of lateral entry eligibility criteria of the SRM University. Selected candidates can opt for a B.Tech degree in Mechatronics/Mechanical engineering or in Electronics and Communications Engineering. Two classrooms have already been set up within the Nokia premises for faculty from SRM University to conduct classes during weekdays.

Intel will provide content to 1800 schools in Tamil Nadu in India Intel Technology India has signed an MoU with the Tamil Nadu Government to provide Internet based content to more than 1,800 higher secondary schools for students learning and teachers training.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

CORPORATE DIARY | NEWS Intel will assist the government in rolling out an education content framework, which enables accessibility of education content to the students. The company will work with the government to expand the network to scale the deployment to connect several schools, government offices and health centres in the state. Intel will also donate 500 PCs to the government schools and assist in WiMax connectivity for 50 schools in towns with Wimax base station infrastructure. The company has already trained 18000 teachers across 1100 schools in 30 districts and will continue its teaching initiatives. Intel is also investing in tele-health centre project for affordable and accessibility of cardiac and ophthalmic care in Villupuram district to benefit over 2.85 lakh people.

PROJECTS CoreTechnologies plans to buy 3 companies for USD45mn The Core Projects and Technologies would acquire three companies in the education sector for US$ 45 million in the US and the UK. The company is buying US-based KC Management Group, UK-based Azzurri and Hamlet Computer Group.

The KC Management Group provides schools management systems, worths USD 30 million, while the UK-based Azzurri is an educational software provider, which worths USD 12 million and the Hamlet Computer Group, an assessment administration systems maker, worth USD 3 million. The company had raised nearly USD80 million through overseas convertible bonds in May and earmarked USD 60 million for acquisitions. Apart from these acquisitions, the company is also looking to close another acquisition by the end of 2007. In addition to serving the US and UK markets, the company is also planning to tap the public schools and colleges in India. The company is talking with several state governments for deploying its products in the staterun schools.

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

Intel to give ICT education to students of Bangladesh

Intel Corporation Chairman Dr Craig Barrett announced introduction of its Intel World Ahead Programme aiming at providing information and communication technology (ICT) education and its access to the general population across Bangladesh.

The World Ahead Programme, which Intel has been running worldwide for many years now, will be implemented jointly with Grameen Solution in collaboration with the government.

Barrett and Grameen Solution’s founder Prof Muhammad Yunus have been running education programmes in developing countries for a few decades, and in the last decade they have spent 1 billion US dollars. Intel and Grameen will jointly introduce several programmes to help the people access the vast resources of medical, educational, and commercial knowledge on the Internet. They will offer low cost PCs on easy monthly instalments and will launch a project to set up tele-centres across the country. Intel and Grameen have planned to make the Intel powered Classmate PCs available for students. Those PCs are affordable and full-featured student laptops - well suited for promoting project based learning in primary schools.

Intel is also developing plans to launch its education initiatives in Bangladesh, including Intel Teach, and Intel Learn programmes.

NIIT to expand to 250 locations in China NIIT is planning to set up around 85

new training centres in China in the next three years.

NIIT has already 165 locations in China, and it is taking the total to 250 in the country. Out of 165 centres, NIIT has 129 “NIIT Inside” units, which are located in the various universities and colleges in China. Under the “NIIT Inside” model, the company embeds its training programmes in the curriculum of universities and colleges. NIIT is also ramping up its corporate training in the US, where it has more than 500 professionals and serves 1500-plus customers, and in Europe. Currently, the company has 35000 courses in eLearning format.

Ericsson launches rural broadband project in India Ericsson has launched the Gramjyoti Rural Broadband Project, an initiative to introduce benefits of WCDMA/HSPA technology in rural India and connect communities to high-speed internet services for the first time.

The trial project was launched in early September and will showcase the benefits of mobile broadband applications across 18 villages and 15 towns close to Chennai, in the state of Tamil Nadu, India.

By creating a stable ecosystem based on leading WCDMA/HSPA technology, Ericsson will provide these communities with high-speed Internet so they can access a range of new services including e-Education, online local information, voice and video call services; and live TV and entertainment.

Communities and schools will be among the beneficiaries of the initiative. More than 3,000 high school students within these communities will now have high-speed Internet and can take eLearning courses, gaining access to new information and educational resources for the first time.

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PRODUCT GALLERY

Easy Does TeamBoard www.teamboard.com Combining state of the art infrared technology with award winning EVS projection and dry-erase surface, TeamBoard is one of the world’s largest touchscreen interactive whiteboard.

Created for true ease of use, TeamBoard ‘Whiteboard Mode’ captures whatever one draws the instant one touches the writing surface. Notes and drawings are captured to PC, saved in popular crossplatform formats (PDF, JPEG, etc.), and shared electronically, emailed, or printed.

The TeamBoard ActionBar and TeamBoard Draw touchscreen tools provide an easy-to-use interface designed to accommodate content preparation and lesson development.

TeamBoard Interactive Touchscreen Mode In ‘Interactive Mode’, TeamBoard Draw turns on the real power of computerbased presenting and training. Its latest software includes all the features one need, in a simplified format. The innovative TeamBoard AccessBar brings all the tools into one handy palette. Save favorite, frequently-used programmes into the AccessBar. Drive any of the

PC applications - like Microsoft Excel, AutoCad, a web browser, everything right at the board, with a simple touch of the finger.

the entire curriculum, Easiteach Studio and optional ‘plug-in’ content packs provide tools and content for specific subject and topic areas.

Freedom to teach

TeamBoard Draw

TeamBoard sets the teachers free to use any third-party software on their PC (Windows or Macintosh). Intuitive annotation tools work seamlessly with their software as they highlight, draw, capture, and export to universal file types (i.e. JPEG, PDF).

Whiteboard mode captures everything that is drawn on the TeamBoard, without using a data projector, directly into a digital file. This data can be printed, shared electronically, or saved for later use. A great tool for distance learning, one can freely download TeamBoard Draw to virtually any computer. Remote sites can easily share ideas and modify content.

RM Easiteach RM Easiteach features a variety of teaching tools including Resource Banks, Word Libraries, Multimedia Bank with 1000’s of graphics, video and flash animations, Spotlight feature focuses attention on image details, Handwriting Recognition, Calculator, Spreadsheet and Database tools, Animation tools - Objects move and appear on command, Speech Tool reads on-screen text out loud, Easiteach tools for drawings and shapes. RM Easiteach Studio software (for Windows only) combines with TeamBoard to make lessons more exciting and fun to share, and easy to reuse. Suitable for use across

• • • • • •

•

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TeamBoard is: An outstanding projection surface A guaranteed-to-clean, dry-erase whiteboard An intelligent whiteboard captures notes An interactive touchscreen works with any application Fingertip-driven Compatible, works with any third-party PC software TeamBoard Draw upgrades are free of charge

TeamBoard Draw - ‘Interactive Mode’ TeamBoard Draw, the industry’s smartest interface, provides outstanding functionality.

TeamBoard Draw is an extremely powerful interface that captures screens into a workbook where one can save, print, email, import images, rearrange pages, create new screens. One-touch features, such as pen colors, print and erase are always available on the TeamBoard ActionBar that is printed along the bottom of the TeamBoard.

TeamBoard Draw’s powerful annotation and drawing tools that enables one to capture ideas and communicate them instantly. TeamBoard Draw provides a permanent record of all notes, drawings, and lesson plans.

TeamBoard 8060 Designed to reach larger audiences, the TeamBoard 8060 is an 100”-diagonal (254cm), 80”w x 60”h full-screen display with a fixed aspect ratio.

This precisely-calibrated, interactive touchscreen is 60% larger than 60”w x 48”h boards. A slim center moulding offers a clean finish to the framing, creating a single-board effect and the design ensures simple installation.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

PRODUCT GALLERY

mimio Interactive

Stimulating Learning

www.mimio.com

mimio is an industry pioneer and a market leader in digitally enabling the interactive potential of any ordinary whiteboard. mimio headquartered in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA, currently sells and distributes products in over 45 countries around the world. mimio provides a perfect solution for presenting engaging interactive content by connecting directly to the PC/Mac.With mimio Interactive and a projector, mimio allows one to control the desktop applications and documents directly from the board.With mimio Capture, it enables one to digitally capture notes or drawings that can be saved, shared, and/or integrated into other materials.With mimio Interactive one can convert the existing whiteboard into a powerful interactive teaching tool, by controlling PowerPoint slides,Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, annotating, mark-up, and edit slides or screens directly at the board, browsing educational websites on the Internet, and helping in navigate interactive instructional CDs. Jaemes Shanley, Director of Sales & Marketing for Sanford Brands, mimio opens up more on mimio’s interactivity in education.

What is the product? mimio Interactive transforms existing standard “dumb” whiteboards into full functioning interactive whiteboards that enable innovative interactive curriculum delivery and can stimulate new enthusiasm for learning in students.

The system comprises a capture device that clips into easily attached and removed mounting brackets on the board. Once in place the device activates a projection surface area up to 2m x 2.4m for touch sensitive interaction with a mimio Mouse stylus pen, included with the system. The device interface to the computer is Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

The versatility and affordability of mimio technology enables significantly more teachers to have that experience.

a 5m USB cable but the system can be easily and affordably upgraded to a wireless connection with 10m range. Mimio Interactive is sold as a complete system ready to go “out of the box”.

How does it work? mimio technology uses high precision signal tracking technology to locate and track the stylus pen interaction on the board surface. Digital signal processing on the mimio capture device renders high resolution pen positioning at resolution greater than 4,800 lines on a 1.2m high board.

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What else can the product do?

The mimio Interactive + Capture product configuration add to the rich features of mimio Interactive, the ability to “digitize” a whiteboard surface up to 1.2m x 2.4m so that ordinary dry erase marker notes and diagrams can be captured digitally on the computer (no projector required) and subsequently printed, emailed to student, posted to class web pages (with teacher annotated notes or assignments) or simply copied into other applications. The rich tools of the mimio Studio software included in all mimio systems supports handwriting recognition that converts handwritten notes to text or permits direct entry of text into any application from handwritten input.

Why this product; What are the differences between tools, a brief

market analysis while comparing the product features and USP with the market competitors?

The salient user benefit of mimio Interactive and Ink Capture solutions compared to conventional Interactive or Digital/Copy board systems is the easy portability and dramatically lower cost.

The mimio technology is housed in the durable mimio Xi capture bar housing, not embedded in the board surface, thereby making it less susceptible to damage.

The compact product configuration and easy set up results in delivery and installation costs that are a small fraction of the cost to transport and install conventional board.

Teachers using mimio Interactive do

not have to sacrifice their traditional whiteboard techniques and can still use their whiteboards for dry-erase notetaking.

What result or significant changes the product can bring in the gamut of e-Learning?

A multitude of studies of the impact of Interactive Whiteboards on student learning in the classroom have shown a repeated pattern of increased student engagement and interest in curriculum delivered interactively with a consequential positive impact on retention. A typical response from a teacher who has used an interactive whiteboard to teach for any length of time is “I’d never again teach without one.” The versatility and affordability of mimio technology enables significantly more teachers to have that experience.

mimio in Distance Education mimio goes the distance with ‘Glance’.

Glance is a simple, quick desktop sharing tool for hosting live web demos, presentations and more. The user can connect instantly, right from the web site or customizable Glance web page. One can use nearly any PC, Mac or Linux computer, even from highly secure environments.

Everything one sees, the distance learner also sees, in full 24-bit color.

Unlike most web conferencing services, where viewers on slow networks can fall many minutes behind, Glance automatically keeps everyone in sync. It continually enhances and improves the Glance service.

The latest version is always available for free. Over 2600 companies worldwide depend on Glance today.

Glance is simple, and fast that avoids complicated, trouble-prone features in other web conferencing services. The distance learner connects instantly, sees live desktop screen inside a plain window as no menus, buttons or logos compete with the host’s message. No uploading of file is required as it presents anything, right from the host’s desktop. Glance includes the own web page and personal URL (name.glance.net or name.companyname.glance.net), where users can join the session. One can have up to 100 distance learners at a time. And they all connect for free.

Presenting with Glance while talking to the user by phone also works. Many of the customers use http://www.freeconference. com. Participants place standard long-distance calls. Toll-free numbers are also available. It again gives multi-monitor support, presents from the primary monitor, while working in private on secondary monitors.

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October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

CASE STUDY

The Revolution of Interactive Whiteboards in Indian School

www.starboard.hitachi-soft.com

O

ne of the oldest and prestigious Education Trust in Mumbai was looking at completely overhauling the teaching methodology by using latest ICT in the classrooms.

This school which is having branches all over Maharashtra and now in AP and other states follow different curriculum, like State Government Board ,CBSE, ICSE, CIE, and IB, at different schools.

They started by having six units of touch sensitive interactive whiteboards in the year 2005. But this experiment was not that successful because of the inherent problems with this membrane technology boards. The surface is very delicate to handle and more so because of the environment in which they are used in the Indian schools , they are more susceptible for damages. Also any accidental touch on the board would create annotations on the surface. The school also faced some problems in the after sales support. The school also wanted some world class interactive content which can be used on these interactive whiteboards.

Manish Amte General Manager, Foundation e-Learning Pvt Ltd Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

Revolution of IWB in Indian school-Training teachers

Foundation e-Learning, proposed a complete solution- FX-77 to the school, encompassing the sturdiest of the interactive whiteboards and one of the best curriculum software for interactive whiteboard Foundation e-Learning (http://www. cambridgeindia.org/fbelearning.asp) , the fully owned company of Cambridge University Press India and marketing partners of Hitachi StarBoards in South Asia approached this school and proposed a complete solution encompassing the sturdiest of the interactive whiteboards and one of the best curriculum software for interactive whiteboard. They suggested the school FX-77 (Ultrasound , Bluetooth) StarBoards of Hitachi and range of curriculum software from Cambridge-

Hitachi (a Joint Venture between Cambridge University Press and Hitachi). The school’s management involved all the concerned during the evaluation process – the teachers, the Principals of schools and the IT team.

They found StarBoards as the most sturdiest of the boards as there is no electronic mesh in the surface; so even if the surface gets damaged the board still works.

The StarBoard software is very intuitive and user friendly, which was immensely liked by the teachers. The teachers also appreciated the depth and features of Cambridge-Hitachi curriculum software. As the contents are from Cambridge University Press and the 33

technology from Hitachi, the quality of the end product was never in doubt. The school finally decided to award this project for StarBoards after critically evaluating all the major vendors of Interactive whiteboards in the market.

A Total Solution in Teaching and Learning

Features of FX-Series board • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Use a variety of pens, papers, backgrounds and effects Switch effortlessly from pen to mouse Customise the toolbar, from a wide selection of tools to meet the individual classroom needs Add notes, and highlight or add emphasis to the images Move and resize objects Scroll, so one never run out of space Convert hand-drawn shapes into geometrical objects Save time with drag-and-drop applications Convert free form to text using handwriting recognition software Hide-and-reveal questions Save favourites for tried-and-tested lessons Keyboard shortcut for lesson creation away from the board The cursor can be hovered over an icon to reveal the icon’s function ‘Spotlight’ or magnify a specific area Record the live sessions (audio-visual) to replay later

The company installed 58 units of FX-77 StarBoards in May 2006 and also supplied all the softwares of Cambridge-Hitachi. An extensive training was organised for their 300 teachers for a week with specialist trainers coming down from Cambridge (UK), Singapore and Tokyo. The teachers just loved it! The school management took a bold step in involving students as well in their day-to-day learning. This made the teacher’s job lot easier and brought in a revolutionary and refreshing change in the entire teaching and learning process. It was all interactive, interesting and fun to learn and teach now. The school was so delighted with all this that they placed another order of 80 units of FX-77 Starboards in February this year. In between 13 units of FX-77 were installed in their other schools.

As of now the company has installed 151 units of FX77 StarBoards in this group of Schools. The school management plans to install one interactive whiteboard in each classroom! The revolution has just started!!

Tarun Jain, Country Head, Hitachi Home Electronics Asia (S) Pvt Ltd

What are the different models of whiteboards available to keep classrooms engaged? How to use an interactive whiteboard in the classroom, across the curriculum, and how to use effectively?

There are several models fit for the type of classrooms. Front projection model (StarBoard FX Series) is almost the same appearance as whiteboard and it can be wall-mounted. The available sizes are 63”, 77” and 82”; and the 77” size is for normal classrooms where it can have 20-30 students. For larger rooms that can engage over 100 students, interactive panels (StarBoard T Series) are appropriate. This allows users to operate the PC by using a pen on the LCD display and the PC image is projected on a large screen as required.

We also have Bluetooth tablets (BT-1 and BT-2) and Voting systems (VerdICT) which are add-on products to our StarBoards, and when connected to each other completes a digital classroom solution.

How does an interactive whiteboard benefit learners, teachers and presenters? Why use it? What are the essential features of interactivity, and how can their use be promoted and then sustained?

The several benefits for learners, teachers and presenters are like(1) Annotation: Different from presentations using PowerPoint, Hitachi StarBoard allows users to annotate presentations.

Also, it is possible to insert blank background and use as a substitute of whiteboard.

Foundation e-Learning Pvt Ltd, a division of Cambridge University Press India Pvt Ltd, can be contacted at cup@cupind.com 34

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Software is very intuitive. However, to utilise the full capability such as movies/videos, animation, math tools and handwriting recognition, training will be helpful.

We have installed more than 160 StarBoards in schools in India and along with our partners Cambridge-Hitachi and Foundation e-Learning we have given extensive training to their teachers and students

We have installed more than 160 StarBoards in schools in India and along with our partners Cambridge-Hitachi (www.cambridge-hitachi.com) and Foundation e-Learning (http://www. cambridgeindia.org/fbelearning.asp) we have given extensive training to their teachers and students.

Which model of whiteboards best supports the growth in the effective use in the classroom?

As StarBoard Software works on all the available models (Front Projection: FX Series, Interactive Panel: T Series), it depends on how natural the installation is. Considering this, front projection is the best choice for classrooms because the appearance is almost the same as a whiteboard as mentioned.

(2) Using multiple pages: Normal whiteboards allow users to use only one page, and if they erase the whiteboard, the handwritten notes will be gone. On the other hand, StarBoard allows users to use multiple pages electronically and it is possible to move forward/back pages as desired.

(3) All notes are stored as electronic data, StarBoard Software allows teachers to review and reuse lessons afterwards. Teachers do not need to create lesson plans for the same subject and curriculum every year anymore. Also, teachers can email lesson plans to the learners who could not attend the lesson.

StarBoard Software supports PDF, HTML, Images (jpg, png) output.

(4) No chalk dust, No marker smell -This is beneficial from the health and safety angles.

effectively than just looking at static diagrams in textbooks.

Another example is Math tools like protractor or a ruler, is available in StarBoard Software. Teachers can move, resize, or rotate the tools and show values (angle/length) as desired.

How can the use of an interactive whiteboard enhance the nature of teaching and learning, in a more subject and language specific way?

Let me answer this with an example.

Science teachers can use movies and videos easily on StarBoard. This makes learners understand things more

Does the teacher need operational training of the tool? What type of materials should teachers be producing for themselves, given the varied designs of such tools with which they are working?

Training is not mandatory to use any interactive whiteboard, as StarBoard

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

What should one look for in commercial available whiteboard materials to maximise any benefits of its use?

Hitachi provides the pre-prepared contents that work on StarBoard Software. Teachers can download contents as desired and use them for their lessons. The URL is: http:// starboard.hitachi-software.co.uk/ ResourceCentre/en/ The use of the website is free of charge and StarBoard users can access anytime they want.

What are the softwares to use on whiteboards?

Other than StarBoard Software which is bundled with StarBoard products, curriculum specific contents are available from Cambridge-Hitachi (a joint venture company established

by Cambridge University Press and Hitachi). Cambridge-Hitachi provides wide-range of products on Maths, Science, English Literacy and ELT (English Language Teaching) for Primary, Secondary, Higher Education and lifelong learning. As mentioned earlier we provide training on all these softwares with our South Asia partner Foundation e-Learning.

What are the ways forward, in terms of technology, innovation and potential to enhance the teaching learning process?

Interactive whiteboards make teaching and learning more effective.

We think that this effectiveness will spread to assignment and assessment, and Hitachi would like to provide a total solution in conjunction with other parties such as Cambridge-Hitachi for all teachers and learners in the future.

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HIGHER EDUCATION

Digital Media School Deploys Render Farm Technology, Cuts Compute Runtime By Days

www.nyp.edu.sg

“Coupled with excellent support and the solution meeting our exact needs, we feel we made the right technology investment decision. Windows Compute Cluster Server offers great value for money.”

Nanyang Polytechnic School of Interactive and Digital Media (SIDM) in Singapore offers digital media courses to local and overseas students.

Students and researchers are required to render large amounts of animation and images. Previously, it could take users up to one full day to render files on their individual machines. Because of the processing power required, students and staff were limited in their ability to complete other work while waiting for render file results. SIDM opted to deploy a Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 environment in a render farm. This enables students and school researchers to render large amounts of high definition images and animation within hours, freeing up individual machines for further course work and research—and enhancing the productivity and efficiency of the School.

Ng Kian Bee, Deputy Director, Games & Digital Entertainment, School of Interactive and Digital Media, Nanyang Polytechnic

Situation Nanyang Polytechnic (NYP) was established in Singapore in 1992. It has approximately 15,000 students and 1,500 staff, and offers courses in seven schools. These include engineering, information technology, design, business management, health sciences, chemical and life sciences, and interactive and digital media.

The School of Interactive and Digital Media (SIDM) delivers three diploma 36

courses in digital media design, digital entertainment technology, and motion graphics and broadcast design. The School also offers a specialist diploma in games development. The 3-year diploma courses teach almost 1,000 students each year.

Students enrolled in the diploma courses

are required to render high-definition animations and images as part of their course work. File rendering involves generating an image from a 3D model using computer programs. Films traditionally have 24 frames per second (fps), and video 30-60 fps depending on the medium being used, but in both cases every image within a frame needs October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

to be rendered and then added to the previous frames to create the animation.

The School did not have an effective computer cluster to render computergenerated images (a render farm) solution for users who needed to create large volumes of animation and images.

Instead of leveraging the calculating power of a multi-computer cluster to render images, students used local individual machines to render their images. This meant that rendering multiple high definition animated images could take days, and often locked up all the processing power of the machine.

With tight course deadlines, such timeconsuming processes affected students’ abilities to produce long-sequence animation on time, and hence limited the creative content that went into their work.

Ng Kian Bee, Deputy Director, Games & Digital Entertainment of NYP’s SIDM, explains, “Cost containment was a key consideration for the School, as we are a not-for-profit institution. The School wanted a (render farm) solution that would be able to integrate seamlessly into our existing Windows network and operating system. We also needed a technology platform that could be easily maintained through available expertise and support, with tools on hand to allow us to upgrade and automate relevant processes.”

Solution As part of its decision making process, SIDM evaluated both a Red Hat Enterprise Linux solution and Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003.

The School chose Windows Compute Cluster Server for its competitive price and available technology support.

“We didn’t know that Microsoft offered a reduced version of Windows Server 2003 specifically for render farm use.

This was exactly the solution we were looking for. It is a cost-effective solution and integrates perfectly with our existing Microsoft environment,” says Ng. With support from Microsoft, the School used a trial version of Windows Compute Cluster Server for one month Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

before selecting the solution. “The month trial gave us enough time to evaluate Windows Compute Cluster Server and decide that the solution met our criteria. We were able to use it immediately without any problems,” says Ng. As a render farm solution, Windows Compute Cluster Server brings together the power of 64-bit x86 computers, the ease of use and security of Active Directory directory service, and the Windows operating system to provide a security-enhanced and affordable highperformance computing (HPC) solution.

Windows Compute Cluster Server includes a single head node and one or more compute nodes. The head node deploys compute nodes and schedules jobs for the compute cluster. To automatically deploy compute nodes to the cluster, the School simply installs and configures Remote Installation Services (RIS) on the head node. As Ng says, “Windows Compute Cluster is very simple to use. The user interface is Windows-based so little learning was required by administrators and users.

And when needing to make updates, the IT administrator deploys updates remotely via the server machine.”

Integration with Active Directory enables role-based security for administration and users, and the use of Microsoft Management Console provides a familiar administrative and

Overview Country or Region: Singapore Industry: Education, Higher Education Institution Customer Profile Nanyang Polytechnic is located in Singapore, employing 1,500 staff members. Its School of Interactive & Digital Media offers three diploma courses for 1,000 students.

Business Situation Using standalone PCs, staff and students at the School of Interactive and Digital Media were taking up to several days to render high definition images for coursework projects.

Solution The school chose to deploy Windows® Compute Cluster Server 2003 as a render farm solution. Students and researchers now take hours instead of days to render high definition images.

scheduling interface. IT administrators can use Active Directory to view the exact files that are being rendered by each student.

“Before we had render farm, every student rendered on his or her own PC, so sharing images and viewing the current status was not easy. Now we can decide how many PCs will render a particular image. On 32 machines it 37

memory for other course work and research activities.

Value for Money As a not-for-profit organization, SIDM needs to be smart when investing in technology. Ng comments, “Windows Compute Cluster Server was cheaper than the Linux alternative. Coupled with excellent support and the solution meeting our exact needs, we felt that this made it the right technology investment decision. Windows Compute Cluster Server offers great value for money.”

Extensive Support

takes just a couple of hours—this is a huge reduction in time,” asserts Ng. Furthermore, students can send images direct to the render farm, enabling them to free up space on their PCs. Ng explains, “File rendering takes up a lot of CPU power. When students rendered files on individual PCs, it meant they couldn’t do very much until the rendering was completed. Now they run a client on their PCs which sends files to the render farm remotely, so they don’t need to do rendering on their local machines.” Instead files are rendered on the file server and if the local machine is networked, students simply retrieve the results from the file server, mapped to their network environment.

Benefits SIDM uses Windows Compute Cluster Server to support student and research work, and to optimize its computing infrastructure. The School benefits from the extensive Microsoft support available, the value for money when compared to competitive cluster solutions, and increased speed and efficiency when rendering large amounts of images. Due to its seamless integration into the existing Windows environment, Windows Compute Cluster Server enables students and researchers to quickly send files to the render farm from their networked PCs, freeing 38

“There is high demand on the render farm and if something goes wrong and support is lacking, then we are in trouble, as we conduct classes every day,” says Ng. The support available from Microsoft made the solution a better choice for SIDM, and the integration with existing environments and operating systems also proved to be a bonus in terms of IT admin familiarity.

Increased Efficiency File rendering could previously take days to complete, and left users without a PC while waiting for rendering to finish. Now students can send images to the file server to be rendered, and get on with other tasks. “Windows Compute Cluster is made specifically for

render farm use. Through the increased computing power that it offers us, large volumes of animation and images can be rendered very quickly. This contributes positively to the content quality of student work, as well as the productivity and efficiency of the School,” asserts Ng.

Ease of Use “Windows Compute Cluster Server is integrated into the existing desktop so students and staff do not have to learn additional commands,” comments Ng. From an administration perspective, the School finds the server easy to manage, and the solution allows administrators to manage multiple systems at the same time. “Administrators can now reinstall or push upgrades out from a single screen,” says Ng.

Seamless Integration With NYP running a Windows-based environment throughout its seven schools, integration of new software in the existing environment was a key requirement for SIDM. “We are a Windows-based institution, so naturally a solution using a Windows is going to integrate far more easily with the rest of our software. Windows Compute Cluster was deployed and ready to go within hours,” Ng comments.

YOUR SAY Mariana Patru, the Programme Specialist in ICT and ODL, Division for the Promotion of Basic Education, Education Sector, UNESCO writes to us“Thanks to your excellent publication. The latest issue, Consolidating ICT and Education has many interesting articles and lessons for our approach to and thinking about technology-enabled education.”

Do you also have any say? Do write to info@digitalLEARNING.in digital LEARNING values all your feedback.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Appejay School, Noida

A School Teaching the Students to ‘Learn to Learn’ Appejay School, Noida under the leadership of Dr Stya Paul, President and Sushma Berlia, Vice-President, Apeejay Education Society are committed to providing value based quality education of global standards. The school aims at providing holistic education of global standards, for the harmonious development of the personality. It not only channelises the youth energy in the students, but also imbibes values so that they move ahead with them.

School Track

Apeejay School, Noida excels in the field of technology and runs a comprehensive programme for Computer Aided Learning (CAL), Computer Literacy and Computer Management for last 10 years.

Power School CAL- Integrating technology with classroom teaching learning Way back in 1996, 150 teachers along with technocrats conceived, designed and developed 900 modules to make classroom teaching focused, fun-oriented, application oriented, life-long lasting. The software has been enthusistically used during the session by Social Science, General Science and Mathematics teachers of classes V to IX through paper coordination between the team and teaching staff of Apeejay School, Noida.

and its ubiquitous presence can be felt at all levels and departments, right from Nursery to the school office. This in turn has spawned an IT culture among the students, who have garnered several laurels for the school in numorous interschool competitions at the state, national and international levels, in addition to consistently performing well in the CBSE examinations.

Innovative curriculum is designed and developed by the computer staff.

A graded IT education programme (Grade I to Grade XII) has been developed that introduces the use of computers at the pre-primary level

itself and then builds on the students knowledge and skill base at every subsequent level.

Computer Aided Administration Mira School- A complete School Management System Mira’ Skool has started taking its grounds in Admission, Payroll, Finance and Student Development area with the cooperation of teaching and office staff-members. The modules those have been implemented successfully in the school through this software areAdmission Module Student Details, Facility Provide and Withdraw, Fee Bill Generation for New and Regular students, Admission Id generation, Fee Bill Modification,

In today’s challenging scenario, choosing the right tools to help students to become life long lerners as well as succeed in a knowledge based workplace has become imperative. In an attempt to help the students with these challenges the school proposed solutions in terms of Eureks- a high end 3D multimedia education software for students.

Computer Literacy Programme Apeejay School, Noida has made rapid strides in the implementation of IT and IT education over the past decade. Today, the influence of IT has permeated through out the school Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issu10 October 2007

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(IX - XII) and around 20 Members of Classes VI and VII. The students are selected through a merit test, which is included by the CODE once in three months .

Receipts, Reports : Fee Bill, Fee Receipts, Hostel Fee Receipts, Exclude Hostel Fee Receipts, Student-Period wise Fee Receipt, Receipts Date wise, Defaulters’ List, Reminder Defaulters, Student Details - Address List Payroll Module Staff Info, Staff Attendance, Staff Salary Structure, Increments and Promotion, TDS, Other earnings and deductions, Reports : Staff Attendance, Salary Bill, Salary Account Statement, Pay Slips Finance Module Voucher Entry, Miscellaneous Receipts, Reports : Voucher, Misc.

Receipts Register Student Development Module Teacher, Class and Subject Association, Roll No, Student Attendance, Export and Import of Students’ Marks Export and Import of Students’ Grades, Maintenance Incharge, Reports : Student Attendance- Register and Cumulative, Incharge Details - House Duty.

CODE - Computer Club CODE is a step-by-step process comprising of Inception, Planning, Selection, Training, Implementation, Participation and Motivation stages to proliferate the successful learning approach and establish it as a replicable model for technology learning. CODE was started by Appejay School, Noida by its Computer Department with group of 6 students in 1999 with a motive of excelling in the field of Computers.

The main aim of this society is to make the students of the school forge ahead in the field of computing. There are around 30 members of classes

40

The objective of CODE is to increase the knowledge of students in the field of information and technology by holding regular seminars, workshops and this is done through several activities like, distributing newsletters to keep the students aware of the latest events and affairs, creating and administering school website, creating functional and useful software for school to help to automate its daily tasks, to organise various symposiums and Inter Apeejay Computer Meets.

geography, and other subjects, often in the form of a game of adventure.

Principal Rajesh Hassija Software for both individual and collaborative learning exists.

Computer simulations created with sophisticated graphics and commands that let a child practice real world knowledge and decision making skills to, for example, demonstration of science concepts and mathematics.

The school again uses online services and Internet that contains Internet based lesson plans, curriculum units and other educational materials.

Robotics Age Apeejay is one of the pioneer schools that has started Robotics Lab in 2005.

Robots and robotic technologies represent a practical application of physics, computer science, engineering, and mathematics enhancing skills such as problem solving, decision making, goal setting and logical thinking. To promote and encourage the inherent inquisitiveness of the young minds of classes VI - IX and invoke their interest and challenge their creativity, a new and innovative activity called ROBOTICS has been started in the session 2005-06. The school advocates hands-on learning approach for students that help them to assempbe and design interesting, movable robots using ‘LEGO Mind storms Invention Systems 2.0.

The school uses Pre-school software, the CAL packages and systems that help pre-schoolers learn to read, write and conceptualise. Using a simple keyboard or a touch-sensitive screen, the computer can present images of letters, animals or other objects.

Many systems can also recognise and repeat sounds.

The school also uses educational software for classes Nursery to XII, in which the CAL packages enable children to learn math, spelling,

The school adopts online examinations for Apeejay Talent Search Examination (ATSE) The success story of Apeejay School, Noida in integrating technology has already been adopted as case study in Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. The focus in the school is always on teaching the students to ‘learn to learn’, so that they can adapt to a rapidly changing IT workplace, once they pass out of the school. For this, they are made to work on live projects and activities, involving self discovery and team work.

From the last five years, the school is representing the International Informatics Olympiad, which is a nationwide competition organised annually by Indian Association for Research in Computing Science (IARCS). It was also among the top 10 teams of National Graphics Championship 2006. The school also fetched a gold medal in the 3rd Cyber Olympiad at the national level. The students had been able to visualise, design, and develop a website on ‘Nanotechnology-The beginning’, which is a reflection of their caliber,dedication and technical expertise.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Bookshelf Sceptical Essays on Children, Computers and the Future of Learning Author : Utpal Mallik Publisher : Frank Bros. & Co. (Publishers) Ltd. Price : Rs. 190.00/-

Sceptical Essays on Children, Computers and the Future of Learning focuses on the vital issues pertaining to ICT in education.

This small book is an indispensable piece of reading material in the domain of ICT in education for policymakers, teachers, students and the general public and would help decision makers to make better investment and take innovative decisions on ICT in education.

The book traces the genesis of educational computing, highlights critical educational issues associated with ICT use and takes a futuristic stance. The author’s understanding of the subject, style of narration and wry humour makes the collection an enjoyable reading and a valuable source book for the non-expert.

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

Sceptical Essays on Children, Computers and the Future of Learning is perhaps the first attempt to put an earnest issue as that of Information Communication Technology (ICT) in education in the genre of essay. Laced with a tinge of wit, the author never seems to read unpleasant, yet he is convincing and forceful in his assertions.

The book is divided into four sections.

The first section is about the relationship between computers and school education in India over the past quarter of a century or thereabout. The author emphasises on the vagueness of assumptions by educators and experts upon which ICT in education programmes have been based and ambiguous policies adapted and projects implemented in synergising computer and school education. The author claims that efforts to make all school computing programmes necessarily literacy programmes has not been a wise one. He further makes the point that changing tools and technology would not solve problems in the educational system; a change in attitude of educators is indispensable in bringing about efficient and practical teaching-learning processes and highlights the need to shift the focus from “teaching the tools” to “tools to teach”.

“Literacy,” says the author, “is a strong metaphor and one that in the context of computer education is totally confusing. ... There is no consensus on what everyone needs to know. Universally required IT skills must change with the fast changing technology.”

The second section of the book puts stress on ICT tools and their relevance in education system. The author encourages innovative uses of ICT tools to promote individual learning styles and makes a strong case for spontaneous and diverse uses of the tools to encourage learning processes that an individual adopts. The author expresses his disagreement with the idea that educational games are a threat to education. On the contrary, he

argues, the educational games provide an important package of cognitive skills, containing hypothesis-creation, data gathering, hypothesis testing, evaluation of alternative strategies and tactics, classificaion of novel situations and objects, development of new concepts and generalisations and development of vocabulary.

Various courseware issues, including trends in courseware development, evaluation of courseware and teachers’ readiness to use learning resources, and other similar themes are addressed in Section three. The author speaks of teachers’, students’ and educators’ lack of preparedness to use computer courseware, many of whom are under the impression that courseware is simply a part of the computing programme that has nothing to do with teaching a school subject.

This poor understanding, together with unwillingness among teachers to use these programs, unreal expectations from them, and, above all traditional teaching practices stand in the way of children reaping any benefit out of such programs.

Section four of the book throws light on the basic educational use of the Internet and emphasises the imminent need for teaching-learning community to organise itself into online community. The author highlights the significance of active online collaborations between students and between students and teachers or experts.

The author also comments on the emerging vocabulary and syntax in our online communications, as we socialise on the Internet. Finally, the author cautions on the question of intellectual property rights (or their rampant violation) and ethical issues associated with the question as we prepare for the distance learning mode that the global network so eminently supports.

Sceptical Essays on Children, Computers and the Future of Learning is a must read for both the toughest sceptic and the most enthusiastic proponent of ICT for education.

41

THE FOYER

The Manthan Award 2007

Recognising India’s Best e-Content for Development www.manthanaward.org

C

ontents inspire, inform and allow the exchange of information and knowledge for fulfilling wider needs and objectives of communities.

While technology provides the tools, content enables delivery of information and communication services using the tools. A situation of content gap emerges when the chasm between tools and content creation and usage widens. The gap is due to when the performance of the tools increases further than the human capacity to use them. This gap is not just one between technological versus human capacity. It also has 42

awareness and availability of content aspects which results from social and economic structures and differences. There are issues of affordability and availability of content, language content, value addition, standard maintenance, infrastructure set ups, all contributing to the wider content gaps.

It is here the talk of e-Content takes the centre stage. With an attempt to make such talk more about how content creation, usage and outreach can mitigate and reduce community

concerns through the application of ICT tools like the world wide web, video conferencing, community radio and other means, the Manthan Award came into picture. The 2007 edition of Manthan Award and Second International Conference on e-Content & Sustainability was organised by Digital Empowerment Foundation, a Delhi based not-for-profit organisation, on September 21-22 in which it recognised 39 best products across 15 categories including three products from the e-Learning category.

October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

•

The Manthan Award is an Indian initiative under the patronage of World Summit Award in the context of the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS). Started in 2003, the Manthan Award has traveled a long distance since then - from 8 best products from 8 categories in 2003 to selection of 39 best products across 15 categories in 2007. Among all the nominations for the Award, however, e-Governance, e-Learning, e-Education, e-Enterprise and livelihood, and eHealth received maximum nominations this time.

e-Content Award Winners e-Learning 1.

2.

3.

India Education Digital Library (http://indiaeducation.asp/) SolidGyan (http://solidgyan.asp/) think.com (http://think.com.asp/) Special mention – Booksline (http:// booksline.asp/)

Foundation, Dr M C Pant, National Institute of Open Schooling, Prof.

B. Phalachandra, Head of Dept of Education, Regional Institute of Education, National Council of Educational Research and Training, Randeep Kaur, PLAN India, and Ajay Kapur, Think.com, Oracle Foundation.

Ashish Garg, the Programme Coordinator of Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) moderated the session, who is currently providing strategic support to the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India in developing a Policy on ICT and Education. The Centre for Science Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), an NGO, who is also one of the media partners of the Manthan Award, assists GeSCI in fostering the objectives of this Policy.

e-Education

The recommendations

1.

Some recommendations on e-Content, Sustainability and Policy emerged from the panel discussion which are as follows: • The policy should be structured with Center and State nodal centers.

They should perform the role of not just developing content-support but also create local content for personalised learning and teaching at the regional/school/teacher level.

These centers should develop policies and programmes that would help teachers to create and connect within the school and with other schools for exchange to material and ideas.

• ICT content should be perceived just as a product. It should be engraved in a pedagogical mode pf delivery as a tool to empower learning and teaching delivery mechanisms in education.

• The overall goals of the policy should aim at both teachers and students, as both equally participate in schools.

2.

3.

HIV/AIDS Awareness PackageHAAP (http://hivads.asp/) Kerala Education Grid College to Career Program (http:// collegetocareer.asp/)

The International Conference on eContent & Sustainability, as part of its day long discussions and deliberations, also organised a panel discussion on ‘Educational and Learning Empowerment through ICT, Policy, Content and Localisation’. Experts took forward the consultation and moderated discussion on role of e-Content, ICT in Education Policy and Localisation to empower the entire education sector of the country and to develop some of the key recommendation for a Vision Plan for e-Content.

The discussion panel comprised of some eminent guests like Kusam Warikoo, Director, The Banyan Tree School, Radha Ganeshan, Quest Alliance, HNS Rao, Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, Manas Chakrabarti, American India Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 10 October 2007

•

•

•

•

•

•

•

Ensure that content is available to all – procurement and distribution.

There is a need for a repository and observatory for all content to be available.

There is need to incorporate the examination boards in the process as education system is geared to achieve in examinations. Hence the Examination boards needs to be sensitised to e-Content and the emerging use of ICTs in education (online learning) and hence include a testing/examination based online that can be taken by the student anywhere anytime. Hence the integration of teacher-studentscurriculum and examination cycle.

The content policy should not be mandated by the Center. Education being a state policy the states should be allowed to build on it considering their specific needs.

Single school accountability should be an inclusive ICT component so that every school has an ICT plan and component in-built in the overall plan.

There is plenty of content in the market. The policy should outline the use of content to gain knowledge to empower the students and teachers by laying down minimum standards for content development. The content should follow the National Curriculum Goals (2005).

Monitoring and Evaluation should be an in-built and continuos part of the process of content development. e-Content standards should be fixed.

Teachers’ capacity for critical thinking should be enhanced by the use of relevant content for teacher training. There is no benefit of free content, unless the use of content to trigger the use of ICT in classroom and programmes is important.

The ICTs and content should support innovation at the local levels. Also it should be geared for a reach in rural areas. Hence should encourage community learning or peer-to-peer learning, as 1:40 children supported computercontent provision would achieve a higher reach out than a single-child centric content.

43

News WORLD Books go digital in the British Library It is said that approximately 30 terabytes of storage will be required to accommodate the project’s output. The first 25 million pages are expected to take two years to complete.

Texts which are hard to get hold of will particularly benefit from the digitisation. The new category of digitised titles will supplement other early historic printed books which the British Library has already made available for viewing online through previous projects. Digitised publications will be accessible in two ways -initially through Microsoft’s Live Search Books and then via the Library’s website. More than 100,000 old books which were earlier unavailable to the public, will be available online soon because of a mass digitisation programme at the British Library.

Vodafone supplies 5000 laptops for e-School programmes in Portgual Vodafone will soon supply the first 5000 laptops for the e-School programmes in Portugal .

In the first phase, Vodafone has selected the Satellite L40 Notebook that has just been launched by Toshiba, and which incorporates the latest Intel chip that offers advantages in terms of performance and energy consumption. The laptop includes the latest version of the Windows Vista operating system and Microsoft Office or equivalent. The first subscribers to this Vodafone offer will also receive a practical carrier case for their laptop.

Vodafone has assumed a pioneering role in promoting and developing broadband services in Portugal, contributing significantly to the development of the Information Society.

44

Kenyan Government expands access to education The Kenyan Government has taken bold steps to expand access to education at all levels in the country.

The Government is providing free primary education and support to vulnerable groups such as learners with special needs and regions that have lagged behind in education. These initiatives have increased primary school enrollment by over 2 million in the last four years. Kenya is now spending 220 per cent higher on education in the last 4 years. Secondary school sub-sector enrollment has increased from 778,000 to 1,030,000, while enrollment at university level has grown from 80,000 to 112,200 over the last four years.

S&T Ministry designs software for science education in Nigeria

students at all levels. From primary to postgraduate level, including graduates serving in the National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) scheme.The initiative enhances knowledge acquisition at all levels of the nation’s education system.

Z-SCOP was targeting in the first phase to empower, at least 100,000 students before the end of 2007. Providing them with laptops or desktops at greatly discounted prices and zero interest rate with full warranty. Zinox is ready to roll out 70,000 laptops and 30,000 desktops within the initiative that would grow to 500,000 students in the next one year. The initiative is expected to turn 1 million Nigerian students into computer literate.

Education ministry to survey state of New Zealand’s early childhood ICT

The Ministry of Science and Technology of Nigeria has designed an ICT programme, which packages science curricula in software for school children.

The government is planning to expand the scope of its computer for all Nigerian programme by subsidizing the cost of computer for making it affordable to all Nigerians. The Edo state government has appealed the Ministry to support the state’s pilot scheme for the setting up of computer laboratories in designated secondary schools in the state. The Ministry is also procuring laboratory equipment from Science Equipment Development Institute in Minna for secondary schools and tertiary institutions in the state.

Nigerian firm Zinox partners Intel, Microsoft Nigerian ICT company Zinox Technologies Limited, is partnering with Intel Corp and Microsoft Corp, to empower 100,000 students in the country through a new initiative called the Zinox Students’ Computer Ownership Project (Z-SCOP).

The project is aimed at promoting the use of computers by Nigerian

The Ministry of Education is seeking a provider to conduct an environmental scan of ICT trends and influences on the Early Childhood Education sector.

The environmental scan will identify changes and trends impacting the infrastructure workstream as outlined in the Early Childhood Education (ECE) ICT Framework Implementation Programme. The scan, or survey, will include the technical, political and institutional, and socio-cultural influences on the New Zealand early childhood education sector. The report should be completed by March 31, 2008.

The report will also comment on how technologies are being applied within the sector, what is driving uptake of particular types of technology and the levels of technology that the sector wants and is appropriate October 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Mark Your Calendar october 2nd Athens International Conference on University Assessment: Assessing Quality 12 -14 October, 2007 Athens, Greece http://quality.hau.gr/

Institutional Research and Accountability in Higher Education 17 - 19 October, 2007 Reno, NV, United States http://www.rmair.org/page.asp?page=1246

International Conference on Research in Higher Education Institutions 24 - 27 October, 2007 Cebu City, Philippines http://ched.mozcom.com

Student Achievement in Higher Education 30 - 31 October, 2007 Madinah Munawwarah Saudi Arabia http://educonference.info

november

Teaching in Public - The Future of HE 21 - 23 November, 2007 Cardiff, Wales United Kingdom http://c-sap.bham.ac.uk

ICODL 2007 - 4th International Conference on Open and Distance Learning 23 - 25 November, 2007 Athens, Attiki, Greece http://artemis.eap.gr/icodl2007/

december Regional Conference on Quality in Higher Education 10 - 11 December, 2007 Kuala Lumpur Malaysia http://qamu.um.edu.my/conf2007/

11th UNESCO-APEID International Conference: Reinventing Higher Education: Toward Participatory and Sustainable Development 12 - 14 December, 2007 Bangkok, Thailand http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=6257

Safe Schools Conference 2007 4 - 6 November, 2007 Calgary, Alberta, Canada http://www.aasro.com

13th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning 7 - 9 November, 2007 Orlando, Florida, United States http://www.aln.ucf.edu

International Conference on Teaching and Learning (ICTL 2007) 15 - 16 November, 2007 Putrajaya, Malaysia, Malaysia http://ictl.intimal.edu.my

International Education Summit 16 - 17 November, 2007 cincinnati, OHIO, United States http://www.globalcincinnati.org Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 5 May 2007

School Education, Pluralism and Marginality: Comparative Perspectives 14 - 16 December, 2007 India International Centre New Delhi, India

Call for Suggestions/ Recommendations/ Position Papers on National Policy on ICT in Education, India The Department of Education, Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD), Government of India is currently developing a National Policy on ICT in Education. Global e-Schools and Communities Initiative (GeSCI) and Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS) will provide strategic support in this process.

This process consists of drafting policy objectives, guidelines, practices and knowledge tools to support the implementation of the policy across all states and union territories of India.

The Department of Education, MHRD solicits inputs from leaders and visionaries in international agencies, industry, academia, NGOs and government to identify the needs, gaps, challenges, and issues of ICTs in Education sector in India and to contribute to the goal of defining a road map for building a National Policy on ICT in Education and invites to submit the recommendations/ suggestions/ position papers, to assist the Ministry to formulate a National Policy on ICT in Education.

http://deshkalindia.com

january e-Learning Excellence in the Middle East 2008: Define. Design. Deliver 14 - 17 January, 2008 dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://elexforum.etqm.ae/

Responding to Change - Flexibility in the Delivery of Language Programmes 7 - 11 January 2008 Hong Kong, PRC and Chiang Mai, Thailand http://lc.ust.hk/~centre/conf2008

How to submit Articulate a progressive vision, objectives, guidelines and promising directions for building the ICT in Education Policy Framework.

Last date of submission October 25, 2007.

Submissions may be sent to: Rachita Jha(rachita@csdms.in), Research Associate, CSDMS, G-4 Sector 39, NOIDA 201301. Tel: +91-120-2502180-85

Enlist Your Event Here. Write to info@digitalLEARNING.in

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digital LEARNING invites authors We invite editorial contributions from our readers in the field of Digital Learning.

While no guarantee is made or implied, we will make every effort to incorporate all views and experiences in the relevant issues so as to better serve the ICT and Education community at large. Note that contributions may be edited for space and/or clarity. Unconsolidated manuscripts and artwork will not be returned. Please be sure to read and follow the Editorial Guidelines available at http://www.digitallearning.in/editorial.asp All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, Digital Learning G-4, Sector-39, Noida, India Tel +91-120-2502180 to 85 46 Fax +91-120-2500060

May 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Beyond the mainstream...

9 - 10 December 2007 Crowne Plaza, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Get Involved!

Submit films in the following genres • Films documenting ICT use for Development • Films created by the Community for the Community Topics of the films should address the Millennium Development Goals in their essence such as, • Poverty alleviation • Education • Health • Gender equality • Women empowerment, etc.

Log on to www.i4donline.net/filmfestival for more details Contact: Sulakshana Bhattacharya (sulakshana@csdms.in)

Organised by

knowledge for change

Image credits: Chaitarya Modak, DRISHTI

Theme for the 2nd i4d Film Festival: New Media in Development