digitalLEARNING-Sep-2010-[45-46]-‘Education 2.0 the connecting leading Era

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‘Education 2.0’ - The Connected Learning Era

The education sector is witnessing tumultuous changes. One aspect is the humungous growth in the number of institutions. The 11th Plan Initiatives quoted in the Union Budget for India 2010 envisage 10 more NITs, 20 new IIITs, 2 new SPAs, 5 new IISERs, 7 new IIMs, 8 new IITs and 16 new central universities.

These government-led initiatives are but the tip of the iceberg, with private institutions mushrooming by the day. Increasing competition among institutions is a natural fall out of such explosive growth in numbers.

Furthermore, the Foreign Educational Institution Bill 2010 has opened the doors for universities abroad to set up shop in

India. This move is expected to increase the course options available to students, and also impel domestic universities to do their best to retain their position of prominence. Another dimension is the ushering in of much-needed reforms in education. The draft rules of the Right to Education Act, have thrown up challenges in widening the reach of good quality education.

Given the large scale changes in the ecosystem, schools and colleges face some very complex challenges, including: • Creating a differentiated learning experience which is critical to attract students, • Increasing the reach of their offering

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Running efficient, corporate-like operations in a safe physical and digital environment, and • Maximizing return on their technology investments.

How can education institutes meet such diverse challenges? Technology may hold the answers.

Differentiation through next gen learning Today’s environment is characterized by the availability of affordable and hi speed internet access, applications for collaboration and ubiquitous video technology. These new technologies can benefit educational institutes in many

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ways. Using media-rich, video-enabled content can help students experience a more engaging, accelerated learning process.

Armed with technology tools, educational institutions will be able to meaningfully connect with their stakeholders - students, parents, educators and companies. By leveraging hi-speed network technology, institutions can also build physical and virtual networks to help students, faculty, staff, and the broader community to connect with one another. These connections will enable the sharing of key information, more effective communication and

Case in Point

With its Raj-era buildings and long history, Presidency College, Kolkata, is one of the most hallowed centres for higher education in the country.

The old world campus has, however, been quick to embrace new-age technology with the college rolling out a campus wide wireless network and an IPTV (Internet Protocol) foundation layer.

This has set the stage for implementations of e-classroom and e-learning solutions that will enable new forms of learning.

For example, students could possibly attend key lectures and seminars from anywhere in the campus – be it their classrooms or even a sunny lawn.

Important lectures could also be shared with viewers anywhere in the world - real time or archived.

The bed-rock of these functionalities is a secure, scalable, and redundant Campus Area Network built on Cisco equipment that also includes a network foundation solution for IPTV broadcast servers.

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collaboration using video, voice and chat – as the occasion demands.

Students and teachers will be able to use these networks to also connect, in real-time, with individuals from different schools, colleges and communities across the globe. Network technology will also enable institutions to offer virtual and distance learning to students across the globe, this extending their reach and revenue potential.

Enhanced productivity Educational institutions face the need to do more with less and increase efficiencies.

Productivity of students and teachers can be enhanced through wireless internet and mobile technologies that help them stay connected, irrespective of whether they are on campus.

Staying connected everywhere on campus With rising power shortages and prices, institutions also need to keep an eye on their energy consumption – saving costs and in the process stretching their rupee outlay. Technology can step in here too, with innovative solutions that manage energy consumption, thus helping institutions utilize energy intelligently.

Cohesive management of resources While on the theme of maximizing investments, an area that is often in prime focus is investment in servers and data centers. Since this is a new area, institutions would benefit by tapping knowledge resources of private companies with expertise in virtualization.

Safe learning environment through physical and IT security Today, in addition to physical safety threats, educational institutions also have to be wary of threats to their IT infrastructure. However, technology itself provides innovative solutions to ensure physical safety, more efficiently and in a robust manner.

Technology enabled safety and security solutions are critical in helping educational institutions protect networks and campus assets and to create environments where students feel safe and secure. Institutions will feel reassured about the security of the physical campus environment and that of the IT network through Cisco’s suite of video surveillance, access control,

Quality Tutoring from a Distance

Under the ambit of its Rural Entrepreneurship Development Programme, Cisco extended funding, technology infrastructure, and mentoring by people to a group of young people at Chhindwara, who had come together to set up a distance learning project, under the banner of “Lakshaya Network”.

Lakshya Network’s central tutorial hub is operational at the vantage point of the district headquarters of the Chhindwara district. From this center, experienced teachers connect with remote learning centers across the district using Cisco TelePresence infrastructure to deliver their daily lessons in Grade X Math and Commerce.

Lakshya Network today connects students from across the Chhindwara district. Thus, for the first time, students have access to high quality tutoring right in their village - without having to travel half way across the district for it.

and network security solutions. Keeping pace with cyber threats can be a daunting task for educational institutions.

They can keep up to date with the latest in security technologies by accessing resource centres such as the Cisco Cyberspace Action for Education (CAFE) that promote Internet security awareness in the education community.

All these opportunities to tap technology are out there for Indian universities to seize – be they private or government owned. And seize it, they must. After all, it is a changing, connected world – one where globalization, technology and demography are creating an endless demand for new forms of learning. \\