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July 1, 2010

Conference Report on ‘The Role of Technology in 21st Century Education’

Venue: SKICC, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmirs

digital LEARNING, the media partner for the event, shares a snapshot

Globalisation has provided a radically new dimension to the Education system across geographic boundaries governed by two main drivers of society: a) Continuous advances in information and communication technology; b) Speed and availability of knowledge and information in various formats. Knowledge and learning have achieved a new level, so have the methodology to deliver and methodology to learn. Today knowledge is shared across the world on a click of mobile phone, on a click of mouse or on a television screen.

With the objective of bringing best practices and partnerships across the globe for the benefit of Indian education institutions, Global Knowledge Network Society in association with S. Chand Harcourt (India) Pvt Ltd and S Chand Group organised a conference on “The Role of Technology in 21st Century Education” at SKICC, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) on April 24, 2010.
The conference was presided and inaugurated by Honourable Minister of Education and Public Enterprises, J&K Government, ShriPeerzada Mohammad Sayeed. The other distinguished guests of the conference were Shri Ashok Ganguly, Former Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education, Desh Bandhu Gupta, Chairman, J&K State Board of School Education, Shagufta Parveen, Director, Department of School Education, J&K, Sheikh Bashir Ahmed, Secretary, J&K State Board of School Education. The Conference was attended by 150 school principals from across Jammu & Kashmir.

After the welcome address by Navin Joshi, Vice President (publishing), S Chand Publishing, Amit Gupta, CEO & Director, S Chand Group, introduced the conference to the distinguished guests by highlighting the importance of blended teaching and learning approach. He urged the August delegates comprising of 150 school principals to provide their teachers and educators with flexible technology aided educational solution tailored to the unique needs of students. Shri Ashok Ganguly, in his keynote address shared that technology has penetrated across governance, businesses, social network, personal domains and educational space. He stated that India is fast emerging as one of the major service providers to global business ventures, therefore there is a need to build a ‘Quality Quadrangle’ consisting of Knowledge, Skills, Attitude and Value. There is a strong need to redefine pedagogy and learning and delivery methods. He emphasised on remedial teaching equipped with right technology. He also insisted and urged the school leaders to share the best practices across and to draw a roadmap guided by the National Curriculum Framework 2005 providing right direction to students, structuring the classroom curriculum, harnessing the use of technology and engaging the stakeholders.

The Honourable Minister shared with the distinguished delegates that today’s economy is a knowledge driven economy. The process of knowledge acquisition and creation has witnessed tremendous changes in the past two decades due to the growth of technology. Globalisation and advancement in technology are driving changes in the social, technological, economical, environmental and political landscapes at an unprecedented rate and magnitude. In order to drive the 21st century digital economy, teaching

ICT in Education @ National Institute of Open Schooling

Magazine

digitalLEARNING Network

July 1, 2010

Usage of ICT for facilitating learning definitely is a thrust area for enhancing the quality of courses offered by the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS). The focus in recent years has been a transition from print-based instruction system to the ICT supported instruction dissemination.

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

Salient features of Online Admission

Admission process made simpler and faster

Freedom to select Study Centers of choice through a computerized system on a First Come First Served Basis

Admission open throughout the year

Improved Learner Support Services and faster redressal of problems

Easy payment of fee online through Credit Card or Bank Draft

NIOS ONLINE (NI-ON) PROJECT

The Ni On Project, a unique initiative in the field of school education, which is conceptualised to enable NIOS to move in the direction of e-governance so that it could provide better educational services to its learners as a service provider and also improve efficiency, transparency, accountability and cost effectiveness with high quality. Such an e-governance initiative has not only helped to bring about a structural transformation of NIOS to a higher level of openness in education but also allows NIOS to play a lead role in the horizontal transfer of this technology to other State Open Schools and Open and Distance learning institutions of developing world. This Project was launched on 3rd July 2007 with the in-built mechanism for Online Admissions to NIOS, through online submission of application form available on the NIOS website. This gave learners the freedom to access education from anywhere in India, at any time without involving any outside agents.

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

For the detailed procedure for On-Line admission and other details, learners May log on to the NIOS website www.nios.ac.in

Under Ni-On, a Learner Support Centre (LSC) is functional in NIOS to address the problems of online learners related to admissions, examinations etc.

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

On-Demand Examination Scheme (ODES)

To introduce greater flexibility in the system, the NIOS has introduced the On-Demand Examination System (ODES).

Under the system of ODE, a set of question papers having defined number of items is generated randomly by the computer out of the already developed question bank on the basis of question paper design and the blue print of the subject as and when demanded. All such generated Question Papers are different with the same difficulty level. A number of items having comparable difficulty level are developed for each activated/marked cells of the blue print. These questions covered in the item bank test learning objectives under knowledge, understanding, application and skill competencies of a student. For identification, all these items are given a code indicating the subject, the content area to which the item belongs, the objective being tested, the type of question, the marks allocated to the item and the serial number of the item.

Block for Online Admission	Dates for Online Admission	Examination in which students can appear
I Block	1 March 2010 to 31 August 2010	First time in the next year April/May 2011
II Block	1 September To 28 Feb.2011	First time in Oct./ November 2011

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

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

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

On-line Course material

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

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

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

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

Stream 2 : is open from 20.05.2010 to 20.07.2010 for all those learners who had appeared but could not clear the Public Examination of Secondary/ Senior Secondary levels from selected examination Boards. Learners will be eligible to appear in the October/ November 2010 Public Examinations of NIOS.

Stream 3 : open throughout the year for learners wanting to appear in On-Demand Examination System(ODES) of NIOS for Secondary Level.

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

Other Areas of IT Applications

Proper connectivity is established with the NIOS Regional Centres for better and effective communication services.

The student information system beginning from registration to certification has been computerised. So also are the processes of registration, scanning of admission forms, pre-examination work, conduct of exam, secrecy work, spot evaluation result processing and result declaration.

Learner Support Centre (LSC)

Under the NIOS on-line initiatives, a Learner Support Centre (LSC)is established to address the grievances of the learners, be it for admission, examination result, TMA, issue of Identity Cards, general counseling etc. The LSC functions on the pattern of a call centre with the on-line support of counselling engaged as the expert executives. The LSC functions with the support of toll free call at 1800 180 9393 by the caller. Initially the learners connect to the IVRS and facilited by the voice recorder for any queries. In case the learner intends to have additional information, she/he is connected to the counselor known as executives. The learners can obtain the information by sending an e-mail to lsc@nios.ac.in. The reply is sent instantly by the on-line experts.

On-line Applications for Accreditation

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

IT related subjects/courses offered by the NIOS

NIOS has been offering the following courses to support ICT based learning.

Data Entry Operation (Stand alone course with Secondary & Senior Secondary level)

Computer Science ( Stand alone course with Senior secondary level)

Certificate in Computer and Office Applications

Certificate in Hardware Assembly and Maintenance

Certificate in Basic Computing

Certificate in Advanced Web Designing

Certificate in Desk Top Publishing

Certificate in IT Essentials : PC Hardware and Software

Technology@School Education

digitalLEARNING Network

July 1, 2010

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

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

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

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

Futuristic Schooling System : Pramod Sharma, T N Academy-Gangtok, Yadavindra Public School, India

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

July 1, 2010

Yukti Pahwa in conversation with Pramod Sharma, who brings with him an illustrious career in education spanning 37 years to the school. He was awarded the National Award for Teachers by the President of India. He has served as Principal for over 2 decades across various institutions, including the T N Academy-Gangtok, Yadavindra Public School- Patiala and Mayo College-Ajmer.

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

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

I am aiming to introduce ability to understand perceptions of others and self in various contexts amongst my students and eventually community. Example understanding of an Indian child of concept of pollution, where there are lots of industry, will be very different child who lives on an island, next to sea. So I want my children to understand that perceptions of the same problem could be different and we must appreciate it. I feel understanding perceptions is one of the philosophical points that I want to stress on.

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

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

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

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

It does not hinder in anyway because it is important for faculty and students to be trained in ICT. We now have interactive whiteboards in every single class. So students can take computer aided learning to next higher level.

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

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

All the products look fascinating but for me the proof of a vendor is backing of a happy school where their products have been implemented. Many products are there in the market, lots of things are promised and we also fall for the big names in the market, there are assumptions that it would be good. But such is not the case always. We have gone to an unknown vendor from UK, which is providing services to a few school, not many. But we can not discredit the big names also. We also have some e-solutions from S.Chand, for a few subjects across fourth to eight standards.

Hyderabad Government on K-12 Initiatives : Smt Chandana Khan, Government of Andhra Pradesh, India

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

July 1, 2010

Yukti Pahwa in conversation with Smt Chandana Khan, the Principal Secretary to Government is the Official head of the Department. She is responsible for careful observance of the Business Rules and Secretariat Instructions in the Transaction of Business in the Department.

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

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

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

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

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

Right to Education Act is a very important Act. Successful implementation of the same can bridge to barrier between India and other developed Nations. Rajiv Vidya Mission is the implementing instrument for this program. Some of the barriers exist in Andhra Pradesh to reach the different segments in the tribal areas, focus groups like SC, ST, Minorities and most importantly girl children, as there is an existing gap in gender terms.

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

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

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

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

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

Information and communication Technology can play wonders in improving School Education system, as frequent and continuous monitoring is required in the field of School infrastructure, presence of teachers and monitoring the quality of Education being rendered. Already Rajiv Vidya Mission has prepared G.Maps (Geo-Physical Map) for every District showing location of Schools and other related amenities, so that at a glance the infrastructure position in every District can be seen for further intervention.

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

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

Please share your thoughts about platforms such as digitalLEARNING magazine and events such as eINDIA 2010, that work for promotion of ICT integration in the education sector.

eINDIA2010 is a very welcome event that works for promotion of I.C.T. integration in Education sector. It is a very broad platform which will offer opportunities for further learning and exposure to the functionaries in the field of Education.

Cutting Edge Digital Content for K-12 Segment : Chris Stevens, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt International

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

July 1, 2010

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

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

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

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

What has prompted you to enter the Indian market?

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

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

Currently we are looking at developing digital content, across all subjects, for a number of schools, which will be- in a sense- the trend setting schools. We are not focusing exclusively on private schools. Our intention is to make a move towards all sections in the market. We are acutely aware of the practical needs of the teacher in the classroom. We have a clear understanding of the national curriculum demands and have forged a relationship with CBSE.

We have also worked very closely with teachers who have sizeable experience in teaching. We get continuous feedback from teachers and build our content accordingly.

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

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt’s education initiatives extend across the globe.Would you like to highlight a few case studies done in this respect?

We have conducted quite a number of case studies, one of it being in USA. We decided to use our digital content in a Summer School in Florida in St Louis district. Our product Destination Math and Destination Reading was used in the Summer School. Students who attend this School are those who have failed the state tests- meant to be given to students after the fourth or fifth grade. Summer School for this district had not seen great success. When they started using our products, supplemented with interactive whiteboards and management system, they immediately witnessed a huge increase in the number of students who passed these tests, i.e, from 35% it rose to 66%.

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

How has the S Chand & Houghton Mifflin Harcourt alliance promoted technology integration in education

Firstly, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt has brought to its alliance with S Chand years of research into how technology directly enhances education. We are the world leaders in quality e-learning solutions. Secondly, using S Chand’s long-standing distribution network and sound relationships with schools, S Chand Harcourt can offer its digital content to a wide variety of schools throughout the country. Thirdly, because we are educational publishers, we understand the value of teacher training. For us the “product” is not only the digital content we deliver into the school, but the relationship and the service that we establish with the teachers and administrators.

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