The Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu (ELCOT) is to provide government and corporation schools with affordable broadband connection, across the state in effort of taking education beyond classrooms. Through this effort the rural schools that are awaiting web access would be able to avail the World Wide Web. The importance of Internet education was acknowledged by the department long time ago but their USB wireless Internet connection, which was provided to some schools, proved ineffective due to its slow speed.
At a time when the State government has been taking extensive initiatives like equipping schools with computers and laptops, improving the school infrastructure with ICT-enabled platforms and projectors, access to the Internet will complement these facilities greatly.
This paper presents a framework as a foundation for facilitating informal learning in an on line learning environment. This environment is created by exploiting Information and Communication Technology innovations such as web 2.0 paradigms and the effective and efficient use of an open source VLE – Moodle that has number of sophisticated features for a Learning Management System (LMS). This framework is built based on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) as the learning gateway and on the use of a number of Rich Interactive Learning Objects (RILOs) that are tailored to provide three important levels of learning, namely: one way information flow, interactivity and collaboration. RILOs are used to achieve expected learning outcomes of a certain life long informal learning domain. 
Formal education occurs when a teacher has the authority to determine that people designated as requiring know-ledge effectively learn a curriculum taken from a pre-established body of knowledge either in the form of age-graded school systems or elders initiating youths into traditional bodies of knowledge.
Accretion is gradual process what the learner unaware the learning occurs with the life time of the learner even though it accounts a considerable amount of learning. It is not included in the study since it cannot be easily presented in online learning environment. The other three ways of learning Transmission, Acquisition and Emergence are mapped with the three learning levels described bellow respectively.
New Era IT, the specialist in education sector has won the IT support contract for UCol, the institute of technology in Palmerston North, Wanganui, and Wairarapa, displacing incumbent HP. New Era also supplies services to the University of Auckland, including server monitoring and management. Mike Willing, New Era’s Director of tertiary services mentioned that the company views the tertiary education sector as a potentially developing area with growing market. The company already provides services to 950 primary and secondary schools. Willing mentioned that New Era specialises in helping education clients incorporate IT into their curricula. He also told that New Era has a service desk on site and is charged with ensuring IT services, are available 24 x 7; with provision of desktop support.
Across UK, every school and academy can now benefit from a personalised ICT solution designed in accordance to the needs of staff and students with Northgate Managed Services. Building upon its significant experience working with Building Schools for the Future programmes in Leicester, Kent and Bristol, Northgate is now working with a plethora of exceptional centres of learning, including Trent Valley Academy in Gainsborough, Bristol Cathedral Choir School in Bristol, Havelock Academy in Grimsby and Litherland High School and Abraham Guest High School, one school BSF Pathfinder projects school in Sefton and Wigan. Northgate has a flexible approach to solutions and designs the service to each school’s needs, to encourage every school to have its own development and improvement plan. Northgate’s team works closely with the leadership team from the outset to foster a flexible, dynamic partnership to support this vision and ultimately help to transform learning. The services offered are tailored to meet the needs of each school and this May also include elements of outsourcing of technical and support staff.
Taoiseach Brian Cowen is to unveil a major investment in computers for schools, to overcome the criticism that Irish school children are losing out in the digital revolution. It is expected that Cowen is to commit about 150 million to a new plan for providing laptops and computer software for every school in the State. The Government has been stung into action by criticism from former Intel Chief Craig Barrett at the recent Farmleigh summit. Presently, Irish schools are noted to be lagging behind leading OECD states in the provision of information and computer technologies (ICT). The new plan is to incorporate laptops in every classroom and much closer integration of ICT in all elements of teaching and learning. It is to promote teacher training and technical support as well.
An announcement was made by CANARIE, Canada’s Advanced Research and Innovation Network, for providing funds worth $2.4 million for four ground-breaking Green IT projects aimed at reducing ICT’s carbon footprint and measuring the impact of ICT and cyber-infrastructure on university electric consumption. GreenStar Network is one of the biggest recipients of Green IT fund by CANARIE, an alliance of Canada’s leading IT companies, universities and international partners, led by Quebec’s École de technologie supérieure (ÉTS) in Montreal. CANARIE has given $2 million to develop the world’s first internet network at the GreenStar Network, where the network nodes will be powered entirely by wind and solar energy and yet will provide the same reliability to users as the current Internet network does.
Frog, the teaching online-aid specialist, has been chosen for a national award. Providing with tailored learning platforms, the Dean Clough-based company gives secondary school teachers, administrative staff and students a platform which is embedded in the school’s working practices. It supports schools and local authorities develop better ways of addressing educational needs and empowering students and staff to achieve excellence in education. Frog is competing for the most sought after awards in education sector known as the ICT Company of the Year BETT (British Education and Training Technology) award.
Fourteen civil servants from different public institutions are expected to leave for Japan towards the end of this month for a technical training programme. The Ministry of Education (MINEDUC), Workforce Development Authority (WDA) and National Forestry Authority, are the institutions from where the candidates were chosen for the programme. The candidates are expected to undergo the training for three weeks in different areas including education, environment and forestry management. One of them is Adrien Uwamahoro from Kigali Institute of Science and Technology will be enrolled for a two-year Masters’ programme. This initiative is supported by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). Meanwhile, Japanese volunteers are expected in the country to provide expertise in areas of education, rural economic development and health.
UAE students under GEMS education system will now have anytime, anywhere access to Encyclopedia Britannica Online School Edition. Secondary students can avail thousands of articles, illustrations, interactive games and multimedia resources to support their learning through the GEMS Learning Gateway (GLG). As students use the Internet more as a primary source of information, students can simply log-on to Britannica through the GLG from anywhere accessing content which is reliable, trustworthy and safe, providing peace of mind to both teachers and parents. GEMS Education has bought this content and integrated Britannica Online to make the learning experience truly interactive at schools, by providing students with learning resources at home to complement classroom teaching. Britannica provides accurate reference information that can be used to meet specific learning objectives in the classroom and ultimately make learning fun.The process by GEMS education has helped in reducing the time spent by teachers in creating their own resources and planning, to help children develop important research and ICT skills. Teachers also benefit from using the extensive Britannica resources to enhance their lessons with movie clips, images and animations, using the site as a reliable form of reference when planning their lessons. The encyclopedia also provides on-demand Arabic translation, supporting accurate translations for non-native English speakers. Placing the mouse over a word will display the translation of the word or phrase in its current context. The translating tool goes beyond simple dictionary look-up by providing context analysis, phrase recognition and morphological support – a plural form in English is translated into the plural form in Arabic. Britannica makes sure that language does not become a barrier in the acquisition of knowledge.
Ministry of Education has introduced One Laptop per Child (OLPC) in selected primary schools around Sri Lanka. School teachers who are going to cater the teaching learning activities has to adapt to technological changes and use appropriate pedagogy to guide the children. Content developers who are also trained teachers have developed localized interactive learning material based on the curriculum for primary level formal education. The implementation of the OLPC pilot project conceptualizes the change in needs, building a new learning environment. The changes focus on the pedagogy in childhood education related to ICT enabled teaching learning environment. The aim of this initial research is to explore the technology involvement in formal curriculum and the possibilities of future informal learning comprising childhood creativity and innovation in primary education.
India is a very large multicultural country with many interest groups with various culture and language. OLPC project in India not only revolutionize the way they teach children but also scale up the whole system of sharing between the diverse set of communities. The pilot project deployment in a rural village at Khairat where OLPCs have been deployed and every child carries one home. The project has expanded to several other parts of the country have shown very promising results
The operating system interfaces, in-built activities and content were originally bundled with the machine in English language. Localization process localized the operating environment and all the contents into the two official languages Sinhala and Tamil, so that the students and teachers fulfill their teaching learning activities in their own language and utilize the tool effectively. It overcomes the language barrier in education and support to master the soft skills and knowledge in the mother language of the user.
MeritTrac, India’s largest Testing company unveiled its next-generation service offering, ‘Pariksha’ for delivering high-stakes, large-scale exams across the country in a secure environment. Continuing on its journey of innovation after winning the NASSCOM Innovation Award in 2008, MeritTrac has unveiled Pariksha as a service offering built on an innovative technology platform that comprehensively covers the entire spectrum of examination delivery processes, supported by a huge network of 50,000 testing terminals in 185 cities across India. This offering is backed by stringent ISO 9001:2008 quality standards that MeritTrac has recently got certified. Addressing the media Madan Padaki, Co-Founder and CEO, MeritTrac, said, ‘Pariksha will usher in a new era for high-stakes, large-scale examination delivery – both for the Education sector and the Government/PSU exams. Security, Accuracy, Fairness and Access are key parameters for any exam process and our Pariksha suite of offerings is leveraging technology, increased reach and quality processes to deliver large-scale exams that are 100% secure, 100% accurate and better candidate-experience. As a pre-cursor to a national roll-out, MeritTrac had partnered with Gujarat Technological University, Government of Gujarat, to conduct the Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GCET 2009) online in July this year. Over a period of 4 days, 23,000 candidates successfully appeared for this online test which was conducted in 37 centers across 11 cities in Gujarat, deployed over a network of 2100 terminals. “This entire project was a great success – it dispelled a lot of myths associated with large-scale public examinations and paved the way for launching Pariksha on a nation-wide scale.” Padaki commented. Incidentally, the GCET 2009 project won the jury award for the Best e-enabled University project at the e-India Awards in September 2009.’
Admissions to India’s first and only MBA in Media & Entertainment (ME) and MBA in Advertising & Marketing Communications (AMC) are now open for the January 2010 batch. Manipal University, the pioneering force in higher education in India, offers MBA (ME) in association with Whistling Woods International. The programmes are offered from the Manipal University Bangalore Campus. This first year of the MBA (ME) would be conducted at MU Bangalore Campus covering all General Management Subjects and Media Case Studies. The second year of the Program will consists of one (1) year of internship/industrial training at WWIL premises located at Film City. This will include actual production and post production techniques, the process of film making, understanding TV, Radio and other sectors of the entertainment industry, hands-on exposure at the WWIL and Film City campus in Mumbai. WWIL, on behalf of MU shall also provide to the Students with industry interface and internship with Media companies.
Axiom Education Private Limited, an education innovations enterprise, recently announced the transformation of its company name to Mexus Education Private Limited. Mexus Education under its flagship brand- IKEN delivers innovative and interactive learning tools. Iken provides interesting features as such as Iken Books, Iken joy, Iken Library and Iken Pro. Commenting on the development, Saurabh Saxena, Director, Mexus Education, said, ‘The conversion is undertaken keeping in mind our strategic business plans. As innovators, we aim to bring new and exciting products and services in the education industry. With our new identity and distinctive strategy, we intend to extend our reach not only in the domestic markets but across the globe.’ With immediate effect, all business transactions will be carried out under the name Mexus Education. There has however been no change in the company’s management or ownership. Besides, the company is in a process of launching over 200 ‘never-seen-before’ innovative products and several institutional offerings that will completely change the way education is perceived.
SAP India and NIIT, the leading Global Talent Development Corporation and Asia’s largest IT trainer, entered into a strategic alliance to offer training to future SAP consultants in world-leading business software, Enterprise Resource Planning and related applications provided by SAP. Both organizations believe in enhancing India’s talent base to help Indian enterprises transform and become more competitive at home and abroad. Under this alliance, NIIT will offer SAP training programs in both Instructor-led and Online modes to working professionals, post graduates and graduates as well as students in colleges. On the anvil are SAP Academy Programs, Standard Short Duration Programs and New Dimension Product Training. The training programs will cover all facets of a business – Planning, Finance, Materials, Sales, Marketing, Manufacturing and Human Resources. NIIT would leverage its reach and basket of products and services to build them around the SAP training program that trains and nurtures well-rounded SAP professionals. In the next phase, these courses will also be offered in other countries in the region such as China, Vietnam and Thailand.
After reviewing and discovering that the implementation of the Act will involve a hefty amount of INR 1.74 lakh crore, the Ministry of Human Resource Development has asked the proposed National Education Finance Corporation (NEFC) to fund school education and has asked the government / local bodies to increase enrolment and develop infrastructure. According to the previous directive, NEFC was to finance only higher education. However, it is only after the HRD minister Kapil Sibal’s orders that funding of Right to Education and school education in general was also included as the mandate for NEFC. INR 32,000 – INR 36,000 crore is the anticipated annual cost of school education, including the civil works, teachers’ salary, child entitlements and teacher training programmes.
With the increase in probability of getting a seat in the prestigious Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs), there is a reason to for increased hope for all the students appearing for the Common Admission Test (CAT) 2009, as there now stands a brighter chance. With new four new IIMs coming up across the nation, CAT this year will offer 560 extra IIM seats to the aspiring management candidates. The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) sources reported that the CAT committee was asked to include these additional seats from this year. Presently, India has seven IIMs across different states. Now the cabinet has cleared to set four more in the country in August. The additions to the IIM family are to include Tiruchirappalli (Tamil Nadu), Ranchi (Jharkhand), Raipur (Chhattisgarh) and Rohtak (Haryana). The admission limit of all the new IIMs is set to be 140 seats, which is objected by the directors of some of the existing IIMs, claiming it to be on a higher side for a new institute to manage.
Nagercoil is to see new lawyers and doctors, as the Regional Director of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), B. Sukumar has announced the introduction of a degree course in law and plans to include Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (M.B.B.S) as one of the academic programmes. For administrative reasons Kanyakumari district has now come under Thiruvananthapuram and, therefore, the candidates should re-send their application forms to the regional office at Chekkalamukku in Thiruvananthapuram. With more than 5000 registered students, this region includes 43 study centres. With the aim of the region to enroll 2000 students annually, the target is to encourage students to pursue higher education. With the Kanyakumari district also included in the Thiruvananthapuram region, new courses of study will soon be offered to the students in various colleges.
IGNOU and American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) on the campus started dialogues through presentations to evaluate strengths of American model of Community Colleges (CCs) under the aegis of US-India Educational Foundation (USIEF). A two-member team of AACC, headed by Dr. Judith Irwin, Director of International Programmes and Services of the AACC, discussed a slew of novel ideas in the areas of social development through Community Colleges. Of 700 applicants from all parts of the country IGNOU followed a rigorous process of assessment and standardization and registered 50 Community Colleges in July 2009. Vice Chancellor Professor VN Rajasekharan Pillai said over 12,000 students from these colleges will take their first semester examinations in December 2009.
Formerly known as the Delhi College of Engineering (DCE), the Delhi Technological University (DTU), recently completed its hundred days of being accorded the university status. It is now all set to root its foundation in its future endeavors. The National Network of Education (NNE), DTU Vice Chancellor Prof. P.B. Sharma discloses some of its immediate agendas, announcing the beginning of new programs including dual degree programs and integrated Master’s programs in areas of relevance to our country in Medical Engineering, Aerospace Engineering, Bio-informatics, Clean Energy and Environment Technology, New and Smart Materials and Nano-Technology. The Vice Chancellor of the university explained that DTU’s board of management has already given its nod to construct a multi-storey academic block; a teaching block housing ICT enabled lecture theatres and additional hostel facilities for both boys and girls. A finishing school in partnership with the industry and alumni to further boost employability of their graduates is also in the wish list of the VC.
Chancellor Karan Singh of eco-friendly NIIT University (NU), formally inaugurated its green campus at Neemrana, spread over 100 acres on the foothills of the Aravali range. The NU officials claim that 95% of the water is recycled and harvested and there is no use of air conditioners in the two academic and hostel blocks. The university is planning to start with programmes such as B.Tech. in computer science and engineering, ICT and biotechnology, while its M.Tech. programmes are to include computer science and engineering, ICT, bioinformatics and educational technology. Its Ph.D. programmes include computer science and engineering, ICT, educational technology and bioinformatics and biotechnology.
