Asia News – December 2009

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December 1, 2009

Technology for Teachers

A special crash programme is being implemented by the Education Ministry, Sri Lanka, to develop Information Technology in government schools. Education Minister Sunil Premjayanth told that implementation is being done with special effort of training at least 75 % of the teachers in computer technology or literacy. Minister mentioned that Teacher Training Institute has been converted to a full fledged ICT training college to train 220 IT teachers, annually. Two years back, a survey was conducted by authorities, through which it was noted that only 25 % of teachers in government schools were computer literate. The Minister told that training provided to teachers since has achieved considerable results.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa had declared year 2009 as the Year of English and IT. The Education Ministry has taken several steps to develop IT literacy in the country, starting at grassroots level using the maximum resources available. In past two year, the ministry had trained 62,000 and aound 15,000 of the trained teachers had received international diplomas. Currently 100,000 teachers are being trained in weekend sessions, explained the minister. Explaining the progress, Minister Premajayanth also mentioned that a school IT development program is being conducted with 3,500 computer labs in schools island-wide while another 500 IT labs are currently under construction. The targeted number of school computer labs of 5,000 would be ready by 2010 end. He also mentioned that the ministry has taken steps to integrate IT at the GCE O level and by 2,010 it would be a GCE A Level subject.

Universities and Singapore Centre Collaborate for improving quality of Chinese teaching

Four universities, including the Media Development Authority (MDA), SIM University (UniSIM), the University of Hong Kong and NTUC's SEED Institute, are collaborating with the Singapore Centre for Chinese Language to improve Chinese teaching standards. The objective of the collaborations is to support upgradation of teaching skills amongst Chinese teachers. The partnership with SEED Institute, Singapore's largest training institute for early childhood education, will offer pre-school mandarin teachers a part-time Chinese degree programme in the same area.

The partnership with MDA will focus on integrating information and communication technology (ICT) into the learning and teaching of the Chinese language. A part-time Bachelor's degree for Chinese teachers will be offered by SIM University, who are diploma holders. The programme will commence in 2010. The centre will also cooperate with the University of Hong Kong from next year, offering teachers a master's degree program focusing on curriculum planning.

More funds to Higher Education

To support quality improvements at universities the United Kingdom's Prime Ministers Initiative was established. A fund of 1.2 million has been made available to higher education institutions around the world, including those in Indonesia, to develop international partnerships over the next two years. Indonesian students like other in world desire and dream of Higher. However, despite the demand there are no Indonesian educational institutions listed in the top 200 Times Higher Education Supplement (THE) 'best universities in the world.' The ratings of countries' global competitiveness based on the quality higher education available in The Global Competitiveness Report 2009-10, ranks Indonesia at 54th position among the listed133 countries. This represents being placed below Singapore (ranked third), Malaysia (24th, China (29th , Thailand (36th) and India (49th).

It was reported by The National Statistic Agency that as of February 2009, 13 % of Indonesia's unemployed held bachelor's degrees, which is around 1.2 million people. To improve the quality of education, one of the ways is through encouragement of partnerships between universities in Indonesia and other countries. International collaboration is usually delivered through double degree programs, franchising or staff exchanges. International students from universities already affiliated with a UK institution benefit double: they secure a double diploma and receive one of the best educational experiences available. Since its launch in 2006, the Prime Ministers Initiative has already funded 235 collaborative programs in research, lecturer development, student exchanges and scholarships with universities around the world. Success stories include Bina Nusantara University (working with Northumbria University in Design Studies and Bournemouth University in Tourism & Hospitality), and Indonusa Esa Unggul University (with Heriot Watt University in Management). Other countries in South East Asia benefiting from the Prime Ministers Initiative include South Korea, Vietnam and Thailand.

'Visit-Japan Program' for 6 Philippine High School Students

Japanese embassy at Manila reported about six high school students from different parts of the Philippines, who have left for the two-week 'Visit-Japan Program' from November 15 to December 1. Georgina Palmario, the supervisor of the students, leads this group of 13- to 15-year-olds, who left for an opportunity to understand Japanese culture through home-stay and other exchange activities with students of the Kamigo Junior High School. Dana Sofia T. Ferma of Faith Christian High School, Patricia Marie S. Regalado of Colegio San Agustin (Makati), Lora Megumi Z. Santiago of Makati Science High School, Gabriel A. Monteza of Don Bosco Technical Institute-Makati, Paul John T. Ngoyahon of Infant Jesus Montessori School, and Allen Alexander V. Villanueva of Colegio San Agustin-Laguna, were included in this group of six. The visit is under the Japan-East Asia Network of Exchange for Students and Youths-Asia Japan Alumni Association (Jenesys-Asja) Jr. Program.

Besides this group of 6 students from Philippines, participants from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore are also invited in this batch, where supervisors would get an opportunity to interact with their counterparts at this Japanese junior high school as well as to exchange views on education with each other. The Jenesys-Asja Jr. Program, which started in 2007, is sponsored by the Japanese government and is implemented jointly by Asja International and Philfeja in the Philippines, in cooperation with JICC and the embassy of Japan. Application forms and guidelines for both programs are available at the National Youth Commission. They can also be downloaded from the websites of NYC and embassy of Japan.

Tamil and Chinese Primary schools May follow Bahasa Malaysia Standard

Opinions are being collected, currently, by the Education Ministry from all parties to study the feasibility of using Malay primary school's Bahasa Malaysia syllabus in Chinese and Tamil primary schools, hoping that students from different streams will be able to achieve equal Bahasa Malaysia standard. Presently, Bahasa Malaysia is being taught as second language by Chinese and Tamil primary schools. An effort is being made by the government to strengthen English and the Education Ministry is studying the feasibility of using Malay primary school's Bahasa Malaysia syllabus in Chinese and Tamil primary schools. However, the above study is still in the preliminary exploratory stage with no decision has been made.

University lecturers, academic groups, Chinese education organisations, teacher associations, Tamil education organisations, as well as the Indian community are being approached by the Education Ministry for collecting views on the given matter. It seemed that Education Ministry officials had conducted a meeting with the representatives of the above mentioned groups to discuss on the curriculum reform in Chinese and Tamil primary schools, namely to use Malay primary school's Bahasa Malaysia syllabus, including the UPSR examination papers, in Chinese and Tamil primary schools. During the meeting, discussions were also held about increasing Bahasa Malaysia lessons in Chinese and Tamil primary schools from the current 270 minutes per week to 360 minutes per week in order to implement the proposal.

Emphasis on Education and HR Development in 10th Malaysian Plan

The Federal Government is gearing the 10th Malaysia Plan (10MP) to give particular focus on education and human resource development, for hastening the generation of a skilled pipeline of knowledge workers to support the country's industries and lure investments. Minister in the Prime Minister's Department Tan Sri Nor Mohamed Yackop told that the plan is to be implemented from 2011 to 2015. The plan was being drafted ahead of its scheduled time to give enough time to iron out the details of allocations for the critical economic plan. He mentioned that government will make efforts to ensure that the physical infrastructure was built for the economy, as well as preparing appropriate human resource supply to protect and boost the industries. The objective clearly indicated that the allocations for the 10MP should be attuned towards developing a reservoir of professionals particularly that were in-demand by industries identified to lead the economy by 2020.

Universities brought together for Sri Lankan Education

With efforts of Amazing America 2009, 17 US universities were brought together to create an event that educated and informed the Sri Lankan students, parents and other institutes about the American education system, entrance opportunities, visas, scholarship programmes, student life and much more. Conducted annually the event was conducted for the second successful time in Sri Lanka. The event was held in Colombo at Cinnamon Lake on November 6 and 7 and at Queens Hotel in Kandy on November 9. In Colombo, the opening ceremony was graced by Her Excellency, the US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Patricia Butenis and Secretary to the President, Lalith Weeratunga. The opening ceremony in Kandy was graced by Minister Keheliya Rambukwella. The event was sponsored by American College of Higher Education, Sri Lanka. The directive of American Alumni Association is encouragement of educational opportunities between Sri Lanka and the US, with the primary purpose of promoting fellowship, achievements, appreciation of American culture and values and ultimately to build a mutual understanding between the people of the two countries.

Effectiveness of ICT in Open and Distance Learning: A Case Study

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December 1, 2009

Trisha Dowerah Baruah and Krishna Kanta Handique

The role and the use of the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in Learners Support Services in Open and Distance Learning (ODL) is a proven fact now. The distance education system responded positively and quickly to the revolution in ICT. It is because of three reasons – the need to reduce the cost of imparting education, to introduce need based educational programmes to a large number of people and to reduce time required for sanctioning new programmes by adopting new flexible nature of administration.

ICT is a major factor in shaping the new global economy and producing rapid changes in society. Within the past decade, the new ICT tools have fundamentally changed the way people communicate and do business. They have produced significant transformations in industry, agriculture, medicine, business, engineering and other fields. They also have the potential to transform the nature of education where and how learning takes place, and the roles of students and teachers in the learning process.

Embedding ICT in teaching-learning process is a major initiative in all branches of education; ICT has a particularly important role to play in developing provision for bilingual learners. This is concerned with exploring new ways of working with bilingual learners as well as facilitating more established techniques. The increased use of ICT to deliver and enhance aspects of educational provision is now an emerging practice for all learners belonging to rural and geographically remote and mainly monolingual areas thus having advantages in overcoming geographical barriers.

For example video conferencing facilities developed to enable isolated learners to share learning with others in remote areas can also be used to reduce linguistic isolation by allowing same first language learners to discuss and communicate remotely.

Learners Support Services are an important part of Distance Educational system. Since the learners in ODL system are not directly involved in the regular classroom teaching-learning process having direct interaction with the teachers regularly, they are provided with adequate Learners Support Services.

Such support services include the pre-admission counselling, admission process, provision of study materials both in print media and audio visual forms, subject specific academic counselling, audio visual viewing facilities, participation in teleconferencing, ICT facilities for e-learning, library services, laboratory support facilities, academic career guidance, information services related to rules, regulations, procedures, schedules etc.

The role of ICT to speed up the delivery of the support services has now become inevitable for the distant learners. It also considers the shift from mass produced generic resources to tailored, personalised support and communications and sets this in the context of globalisation of the economy and the changing expectations of students as ‘consumers.’

ICT and learner support

Distance and open education schemes that have until recently relied mainly on the mailing of written materials, videos, cassette recordings, and radio or TV broadcasting techniques can be augmented, enhanced or replaced by new on-line tools and technologies which have the power to transform the learning environment.

Technological developments are coming together which offer the following benefits:

Through the Internet and worldwide web, new and enlarged sources of information and knowledge that offer teachers and students opportunities for self-development as well as benefits from incorporation into classroom environments.
Through e-mail and other Internet related feedback mechanisms, greater opportunity to reduce the isolation and time delay associated with distance education.
Through the extraordinary pace of software development, enriched teaching and learning with enhanced graphics, interaction, animation and visualisation.
Through lowering telecommunications bandwidth costs and emergence of enhanced cable, wireless and satellite systems, greater opportunities for basic access, video conferencing, on-line interactivelearning, and live interaction with the central place of a distance education programme.
Through community access schemes, more potential to make the benefits of distance education eventually available to lower income people and rural communities.

Sound pedagogical principles would increasingly dictate the need for a more interactive learning environment which was earlier difficult to achieve and also adds considerably to the remotest areas. But it was noted that its deployment requires expensive satellite resources as well as an expensive face-to-face lecture and broadcast system running in parallel.

Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT) satellite systems are increasingly seen as a powerful distribution mechanism for Internet based resources, with ready access to interactive learning tools and e-mail, especially when linked or packaged with key educational web-site sources, servers and services. VSATs can overcome many of the bandwidth/delivery speed, limitations of terrestrial systems, particularly in developing countries, and can be especially economic when deployed in an asymmetric multi-casting mode in which high-speed ‘downlink’ capability is combined with slower speed ‘uplinking.’

These features and the emerges the need of specially designed Distance Education network management and learner software packages of ICTs in distance education especially in the developing world.

The use of ICT in distance education actually depends on at least five factors. These are:

Geographical size and situation: Large countries with dispersed people and communities have an additional drive or motivation to use communications to deliver educational services cost-effectively.
Policy on telecommunications: The Internet, IT and Education, Privatisation and Liberalisation of telecommunications and the Internet are improving quality, lowering costs and accelerating innovation around the world. Education policy is often the key to raising awareness and providing leadership in educational use of ICTs.
Population and market size: Small markets attract fewer investors and less competition, and offer fewer economies of scale which would lead to price reduction, while regional schemes can overcome that, aggregate market size and achieve scale economies.
Per capita means: To address start-up investment challenges and the market affordability to attract commercial players to ease the way to change and growth.
Perceived educational or developmental needs: These can relate to educational delivery challenges due to geographic or cultural isolation, or appreciation for the more systematic challenges – such as adapting to the demands of the information economy which can only be seriously addressed with ICTs.

For the purpose of finding out the effectiveness of the use and role of ICT in distance mode, IGNOU has been chosen as a case study. This is mainly because IGNOU uses a wide variety of ICT materials to reach out to the distance learners /students.

IGNOU – A Case Study

The Instructional System:

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) provides multi-channel, multiple media teaching-learning packages for instruction and self-learning. The different components used for teaching/learning include self-instructional print and audio-video materials, radio and television broadcasts, faceto-face counseling/tutoring, laboratory and hands-on experience, teleconferencing, video conferencing, interactive radio counseling, interactive multimedia CD-ROM and Internet –based learning, and the use of mobile phones for instant messaging.

While the traditional distance education delivery through print and study centre support is being strengthened, the University is gearing towards the development of interactive multimedia content and learner support through video-conferencing and web –based platforms, by utilising both the EduSat and the Internet. The design of the instructional system, as well as teacher and learner capacity building, are facilitated by the different Schools, Divisions and Centres of the University.

Brief descriptions of the important ICT tools that are used by IGNOU, Assam regional centre comes under EMPC:

Electronic Media Production Centre (EMPC):

The Electronic Media Production Centre (EMPC) is entrusted with the task of production of audio and video educational programmes.
This centre is equipped with state-of-the-art production facilities: two digital audio studios, two large video studios, Betacam SP edit suites, non-linear editing, audio editing suites, a large duplication plant, graphic facilities, etc.

EMPC coordinates the educational radio and television channels like Gyan Darshan (GD), a fully digital 24 hour exclusive Educational TV channel, Gyan Vani, a unique low cost, interactive medium for enhancing and supplementing the teaching-learning process by reaching out to widespread learners, a two-way audio teleconferencing facility being offered through GD2, one hour of live phone-in counselling programme weekly through the national network of AIR and the Gyan Vani stations and Edusat that has ushered in an era of Internet and intranet for transmission, interaction, dialogue, digital repositories, digital multimedia content, and for virtual education and research.

Nevertheless to say that in IGNOU, ICTs are really effective in enhancing the learners support services above the conventional means and methods of learning and therefore, days are yet to come to explore newer technologies in distance learning further.

MATHVIS

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December 1, 2009

Isuru Wimalasundera, Kulari Lokuge, Lahiri Soysa Menaka Nanayakkara De Silva, Ragavan Satkunanathan, Seyed Mowlana and Tharaka Tharanga

One of the main objectives of this research was to bring forth, with the use of technology, a learning environment that is new and exciting to visually impaired students. Howell and Porter (2003) highlight that technology has paved its way to greater heights in the modern era in facilitating visually impaired. Taking the opportunity of the technological revolution and latest teaching and learning pedagogies using technology, the team researched to identify the needs of visually impaired students. The literature revealed information about available software tools and resources for the visually impaired. JAWS, Text Aloud, MAGIC, and Zoom text were some of the software tools that were identified.

The game was developed mainly using Java Language and applications such as 'Netbeans 6.0' was used to create the entire game. 'Microsoft Access' was used to store all the data needed for the game. The only way in which a visually impaired child can communicate with this application is through sound. Therefore, this game uses voice instructions with the help of software such as Text Aloud and Jet Audio.

Developing and implementing

The math game application, MATHVIS, was implemented as a desktop application in order to make the learning process more interactive and lively. All output was given as voice instructions since the focus was on visually impaired students. The language selection was given an important feature in the application. The student is given an opportunity to select either Sinhala or English as their language in order to proceed with the game. After the language selection, the student is allowed to register with the game and log in to play the game. The game consists of three levels where, at each level, different types of questions are introduced to the player. If the student answers the question correctly, a number of points is awarded whereas if the student fails to answer correctly, a maximum of three attempts is given to answer correctly. To enhance usability for visually impaired students, a replay button is given for them to listen to the question again if required.

The use of a mouse or the shortcut keys allows the users to navigate within the game. The shortcut keys were introduced as most visually impaired students find it difficult to use a mouse as an input device.

This application was fully developed using Java Standard Edition technologies. Given below are the most important development phases for this project.

Developing an audio player to play the audio tracks as final output.
Creating a database for all questions and their relevant audio tracks.
Creating user interfaces for the game.

Sound was one of the key features used to facilitate communicating with the visually impaired students. Therefore, user input, selection of options and other facilities were provided along with sound tracks and a menu to enable selecting native languages such as Sinhala and English to fulfill their requirements.

An audio player was developed using Java sound API, which provides low-level support for audio operations. The audio player has been developed in such a manner that the developer has only to create an object instance of the audio player class and pass the audio file name as a parameter in order to play the audio adhering to Object Oriented standards.

This audio player was used to play all instructions and notifications which were given throughout the game. After evaluating several databases, MS Access was found to be the most suitable database application to create the database and store all question, answers and audio tracks for the application. For each question in each level, a unique ID has been given to select questions and audios. Within each level, this ID is randomly generated and questions that have the same ID are selected from the database. This enabled the development of a key feature for the application allowing the user to be presented with different questions each time he/she enters the same level. The audio tracks were recorded and created using software such as Text Aloud and Jet Audio. Finally, JFC/swing API was used to create the Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) for the application.

The design application

The main reason for developing this game to implement mathematical questions was to open up avenues for visually impaired students so that they May expand their thinking capacity. The game was designed to challenge the students to proceed to the next level while encouraging and motivating them to learn. As a result of this concatenation, the students are encouraged to think in a much broader perspective of logics rather than focusing on just one method of solving problems. It was designed not only to help visually impaired students educationally, but also to develop their overall thinking capacity in a positive manner.

Firstly the user is presented with a Welcome page followed by language selection. This page enables the user to select the desired language, either Sinhalese or English. Depending on the language selection, relevant voice recordings are retrieved to give further instructions. Finally, the user logs in to the system by feeding in the appropriate credentials to the system.

The game comprises three prominent sections: Level 1, Level 2 and Level 3. Further, Level 2 is divided into 2 sub sections. Level 1 consists of simple addition and subtraction questions. Ten questions are presented to the user where each correct answer for a given question is awarded ten marks. The user is required to obtain a score of seventy marks in order to proceed to the next level. This scoring process encourages students to further enhance their mathematical skills.

Level 2 section 1 consists of number sequence questions and Level 2 section 2 consist of equations, which requires the user to calculate and guess the value of a given unknown character. Each of these levels consists of ten questions in which each correct answer for a given question is awarded ten marks. As in the previous level, the user should obtain seventy marks in order to proceed to the next level.

Level 3 consists of scenario type questions, where a scenario is read out and the user is prompted with a question based on that particular scenario. Level 3 contains a maximum of five questions in which twenty marks are awarded for each correct answer to a given question. The user is required to obtain a total score of sixty marks in level 3 in order to complete the game successfully.

After completing each level, the total marks will be read out with the aid of an audio track indicating the total marks gained by the user. While proceeding with the game, if the user fails to provide the correct answer for a given question, he/she will be given two additional chances to provide the correct answer. Failing which, the answer will be read out to the user and the user will be taken to the next available question in order to carry on with the game. If the user fails to obtain the minimum score for a given level that would enable him to proceed to the next level, he will be presented with two possible options: to exit the game or retake the same level.

At the end of the game, a final score page is displayed indicating the scores gained by the user at each level. Questions are populated to the system through the question database which was created for this application. The uniqueness of this game is that it not only generates voice instructions but that a diagrammatic interface is also represented along with each voice instruction. The instructor guiding the user would be able to look at the interfaces and direct the user in case he/she comes across any difficulties while proceeding with the game.

The feedback

Students application evaluator for the 'Ceylon School for the Deaf and Blind' in Ratmalana, evaluated the prototype and provided feedback. The main concern of the visually impaired was to incorporate changes that would enhance the language selection process. Further, the instructors recommended limiting the number range to two digits. The visually impaired were impressed by the resource as the availability of such resources in local languages is very limited. They also recommended the incorporation of the Tamil language to enable visually impaired Tamil students to benefit by learning mathematics in an enjoyable manner.

Further, the application was tested out with a visually impaired student at Informatics Institute of Technology. He evaluated and commented on the application saying that the game was a good idea. However, he was concerned about the quality of the voice instructions and suggested the inclusion of a replay button for the questions. Since, visually impaired students need special equipment such as Braille keyboards that are expensive, this software application can be considered as a cost effective mechanism to be used with a standard computer with the help of short cut keys in the QWERTY keyboard.

Conclusion

The use of game based learning for visually impaired students to learn mathematics was rewarding as the evaluation feedback highlighted how the software application could encourage many local visually impaired students to use this cost effective approach to learning. MATHVIS can also be utilised to improve computer literacy in addition to mathematical knowledge and to make a difference to the traditional education system by engaging visually impaired students in learning activities enthusiastically.

Capacity Building of University Teachers

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December 1, 2009

The Institute of Lifelong Learning, (ILLL) University of Delhi is the brainchild of the Honourable Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deepak Pental and is the hub of e-learning. It is an initiative towards the e-transformation of the University. The idea is to make Delhi University state of the art so that it is abreast with the international standards of education and is able to scale them higher.

The Institute of Lifelong Learning, (ILLL) University of Delhi is the brainchild of the Honourable Vice-Chancellor, Professor Deepak Pental and is the hub of e-learning. It is an initiative towards the e-transformation of the University. The idea is to make Delhi University state of the art so that it is abreast with the international standards of education and is able to scale them higher. Playing a crucial role, the Institute of Lifelong Learning is the nodal body that is going to effect this refurbishment. The vision of the Director ILLL Professor A.K.Bakhshi is to use a three-pronged approach. The first is to provide the basic infrastructure and cyber connectivity to facilitate a materialisation of the theoretical aspects of e-learning into praxis. In this the Honourable Vice-Chancellor has supported this venture by providing 80 computers for students in each Delhi University college. The second aspect of this approach is to develop content. At ILLL nearly 100 teachers of Delhi University are engaged in the preparation of e-content, e-quizzes, video lectures and generating virtual labs. The aim is to substantiate the existing pedagogy with technology so as to be able to maximise the imaginative potential of the teacher and the student to enhance the process of teaching and learning. But all this would be incomplete if the teachers of the University were not well versed with the latest in terms of technology. In harmony with its aim of transforming the paradigms of teaching, the Director ILLL, Professor A.K.Bakhshi, envisaged a project for developing the soft skills of the teachers and developed a programme, Developing Champions of ICT Capacity Building in DU in alliance with Microsoft India comprising a series of workshops aimed at the capacity building of teachers.

Today, students are technologically advanced and therefore, it is imperative to remodel the pedagogy involved in the teacher-student dynamics. The old system of the chalk and talk method the students and teachers are class bound. The input of the student is, therefore, subject to two sources. One is the teacher speaking in front and the other is the words on the blackboard. In this model the dynamics of the student teacher relationship is structured and unidirectional. The student is at the receiving end in this discourse being completely dependent on the teacher for information. In contrast, in the virtual world, the association of the youth with the new media is very different world where configurations can be easily changed by the click of a button. The students that we address in higher education are in sync with the technological revolution around them. The question to which then we turn is, how does this sync modify our role as teachers? Do we continue to look at our students as static recipients of the spoken words or can we enhance their process of learning in any way? These were major concerns, as the team at ILLL brainstormed to evolve the idea of a workshop to bring about a change in the entrenched pedagogy. At the Institute of Lifelong Learning it was felt that it was time that the teachers reworked their own concepts in a new and more interactive frame so as to be able to meet the requirements of the students, as the simple lecture mode was completely insufficient.

At the end of this 10 day workshop, the teachers were equipped with the following:

Basic knowledge of computer hardware and software
Alternative Operating Systems
Documentation using MS Word

Spreadsheet using MS Excel
Making Presentations using Power-Point
Use of the World Wide Web
Developing e-quizzes
Use of animation with special reference to class room teaching
Use of i-work

The ICT team at ILLL designed a programme for the capacity building of teachers in alliance with Microsoft India. But logistics became a huge challenge for us. Delhi University has 83 colleges and about 8000 teachers. It was a big challenge to come up with a workable methodology to train the entire faculty of Delhi University as inviting each teacher for a workshop would not have been realistic. It was decided to resolve this issue by coming up with a two-tier programme where at the first tier about 2-5 teachers from each college were trained in computer applications. This was in the form of a 10-day workshop where Microsoft trainers held sessions with the teachers from Delhi University.

It is a great achievement for us at ILLL that we have created a resource pool of more than 100 teachers who have joined hands with us in taking this programme forward.

The teachers were also trained in transforming a simple lecture or lesson into an e- lecture or e-lesson. This was expected to alter the dynamics of classroom teaching making it more interactive and student friendly. This would also increase the input and the exposure provided to the students. This is the first rung of the first tier of the programme. At the second rung, these teachers will be involved in a plan of action about how they will train the teachers in their respective institutions. At the second tier the champions of ICT will further train the teachers in their respective colleges according to the guidelines of the ILLL-Microsoft team. It is a matter of great pride that the ILLL venture with Microsoft India to enhance the capacity building of the teachers of Delhi University has been a huge success. The first tier of the programme is already complete.

The workshops to train teachers from the different colleges were conducted in three segments:

ILLL-Microsoft workshop-I 17 Aug-28Aug, 2009.
ILLL-Microsoft workshop-II 31 Aug-1Sep, 2009.
ILLL-Microsoft workshop-III 14 Sep-25Sep, 2009.

The first batch was inaugurated by the Honourable Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi, Professor Deepak Pental and attended by the Microsoft Chief, Mr. Rajiv Katyal and had 42 participants from the different colleges of Delhi University. The second batch inaugurated by Professor H.C.Pokhriyal, Dean Examinations, had 30 teachers as participants. The third batch had 40 teachers who were trained in ICT. At the launch of the third batch we were fortunate to have with us Mr. Ravi Gupta, Director, Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (CSDMS), and Chief Editor Digital Learning and the Dean Planning, University of Delhi, Professor Vivek Suneja.

It is a great achievement for us at ILLL that we have created a resource pool of more than 100 teachers who have joined hands with us in taking this programme forward. We are now on our way for the second tier of our project to ensure capacity building for each Delhi University teacher. The completion of this programme will be followed by similar workshops for the students. The ILLL-Microsoft training module will enhance the teaching strategies of Delhi University teachers who will be proficient in their use of cyber skills to plan classroom lectures that go beyond the chalk and talk. This will help in doing away with rote learning and will promote better knowledge acquisition. The teacher student relationship is now mediated by the virtual world that helps them to think in graphic terms about the concept that they are grappling with in the classroom. This is, decidedly, a leap in the field of higher education making learning a truly lifelong process for both students and teachers. The Institute of Lifelong Learning has been instrumental in achieving this target and making a constructive contribution to the University.

QA Infotech Ensuring Quality Content to Online Users : Mukesh Sharma, QA Infotech

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December 1, 2009

Mukesh Sharma
Founder & CEO,
QA InfoTech

QA InfoTech (QAIT) is a leading Independent Software Quality Assurance and Testing Company which specialises in providing independent, unbiased services to Fortune 500 companies.

Mukesh Sharma, in conversation with digital LEARNING, provides insights into the work being done by QA Infotech in this field.

Can you tell us something about vision of your company? Please highlight your role in the Education Sector.

We are a leading and independent Software Quality Assurance and Testing Company. The idea is to provide testing and quality assurance services to the e-learning and the online education sector. We started in 2003 and the first product that we tested in India was essentially for libraries and online databases. In this kind of testing, we were trying to ensure that the users who utilise the search engines get the right and relevant data that they are looking for from the online archives and information portals. This is what we had started with and we have grown in. So far we have been working with e-learning companies and publishing houses like Pearson; companies providing software in e-learning, including Adobe systems, are also some of the customers that we are serving.

What are your strategies regarding online education? Can you reflect on opportunities in field of testing for professionals?

As a testing company, our strategy in online education is to assist companies providing online education to provide quality content in education. There are enormous opportunities in this field for a test professional. If we compare a programmer and a tester, we will find that the scope of growth for a tester is far greater than that of a programmer. The kind of knowledge that a test engineer has is much more expansive since he has to understand the functioning of the whole system, while as a programmer, the focus is on a specific component of the product. As a tester you are not just working towards making a product, but also are on a look out for problems from diverse customer perspectives, and trying to address it.

What are the specialised software solutions that makes you company different from the other players in the Indian market?

As an independent quality assurance and testing company, the primary advantage that we have in the testing field is our knowledge domain and expertise. By testing, we imply that we are not just looking at the input and the output. It is also about being able to understand the customer interests and needs and the kind of customers that the product is going to serve. Essentially as a tester, we are responsible for the quality of software and also to serve as a quality gatekeeper before the product is released. The value that we add to quality assurance comes from our domain expertise in e-learning; the kind of tools that we use for testing, i.e., from open source and off the shelf tools created from test automation framework and processes; and performance testing.

Are there any Research Projects your company is involved in? Can you share some details of the same?

The research projects that we carry out are basically in the testing field. We have created something called ‘Distributed Intelligent Automated Test Harness’. The idea is to cater to a wide range of customer needs. Usually when a product is launched, 80% of the customers might be happy with the product. The rest of the 20% customer base who may have complaints are either those using old machines or those with high end equipments networked into highly sophisticated and complex systems. These customer requirements also need to be taken into account.

Therefore, testing not only involves checking the functionality of a particular product on single user material but checking the same on multiple browsers and operating systems.

Through our research projects, we are making it possible for software testing engineers to be able to click on just one test, run all these tests on the products and crosscheck the configurations. We are not creating a product but primarily creating a framework where these kind of services can be given to the customers.

Would you like to throw some light on the partnerships you have with Private players? Do you think Public Private Partnership is useful in current scenario of education?

Public Private Partnerships are very crucial and collaborations is going to be the key for the growth and success of this sector. A lot of content companies and publishers exist today. However, some of the publishers have absolutely no online presence. Publishing companies need to tie up with online content providing companies to deliver the content online.

In the era of globalisation, we are looking for major partnerships in India and China. In India, with its distinctive feature of several regional languages, localised content can be provided in all these dialects. Infact, making this content online is something that has a huge potential and can be tapped into.

Can you give us some details about your security and performance testing methodologies?

SABA is an enterprise learning management system which is used in companies whereas MOODLE and SAKAI are used in educational institutions. We do majority of our testing on institutional LMSs. There are a lot of companies in the US that have made their content online through their respective LMS, but the challenge to educational institutions is to use the content through individual LMSs of different publishers. To put it practically, for a student who is using 12 different books from 4 different publishers, it means that the student will have to use 4 separate online content and remember 4 user passwords which becomes challenging. Tools like Learning Management Integrated Platform have come into existence where these publishers integrate their e-content for the benefit of the user.

We are not just manual testers. There was a perception in the industry that testers are the ones who cannot do programming, but such is not the case. Testers are the ones who understand the customer’s needs and relate it to the products. That is how we add more value to the testing sector. A lot of planning goes in performance testing.

In security testing, a number of things need to be taken into account. How would the application behave when a lot of information has been stored in it? Security testing involves finding ways and means to prevent hacking.

Presently, what according to you are the challenges being faced by education sector with regard to content quality?

The lack of a systematic testing procedure and awareness, even while India is witnessing tremendous growth in online education, is a major challenge. A lot still needs to be done in terms of standardisation and collaboration. Several content related products are being released in the market, which have not necessarily been tested, resulting in a situation where the customers are not sure if they are buying the right merchandise. The government can play a facilitating role here. There has to be a Public-Private-Partnership wherein the government approves and empanels the testing companies. These companies will then be in a position to test products, give certification, and only then can the product be released in the market. This arrangement will ensure quality assurance for the customer.

Industry Specific Training is the Need of the Hour : Shri Harish Rawat, The Ministry of Labour and Employment

Interviews

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

December 1, 2009

The Ministry of Labour and Employment, GoI, has the mandate to protect and safeguard the interests of workers through enactment and enforcement of labour laws and programmes relating to welfare of the workers.

Shri Harish Rawat shares with digital Learning about the recent scopes and opportunities of skill development and technical education in India.

50,000 skill development centres are being opened and we have identified 450 skills so far to cope up with the industry-based demand. Our courses run from 19 hours to 2 year/ 3 year Diploma. We have a huge momentum built up because of PM’s initiative.

What is the Role of Ministry of Labour and Employment in relation to issue of Skill Development and employment opportunities?

India is a developing economy and the major challenge before us, today, is how to fill the gap between the demand of the industries in various sectors and supply of trained labour. Interestingly, there is a mismatch between the demand and supply and there is a gap between what the industry requires and the available resources. Therefore, the key issue is to provide the right kind of skills that the industry requires for the country to develop. At the same time the level of skills which we are being developed, should essentially be in-line with what the industry desires. For fulfilling this purpose, the government has launched the skill development initiative. The Prime Minsiter of India has fixed a target, that is, by 2022 we have to train 5 crore people. Our assessment has revealed that in the developed and the developing countries together, 4.5 crores of manpower is required as resource to match up with the industrial demands. Not only can we succeed in providing the technical requirements of our own domestic requirements but also the requirements arising in the other countries.

Can you highlight some of the influential factors which are part of the Skill Development Initiative?

Let me give you an example. Our technical manpower which is working in US helps us to have an influence over that country. Let me share a few numbers with you. There are 17 other ministries apart from Minsitry of Labour and Employment, with a target of 5 crore, which are involved in this work. We also have participation of various industries and organisations such as FICCI involved in this initiative. Additionally, IITs which that are being opened, the curriculum being prepared for the ITIs and courses being undertaken at ITIs are being decided by us. This is how we are controlling and encouraging the actions for development of the initiative. In minority dominated districts and areas minority development

ministry is working so that the weaker section can also reap the benefits from the initiative funds. For the purpose of the same, 50,000 skill development centres are being opened and we have identified 450 skills so far to cope up with the industry-based demand. Our courses run from 19 hours to 2 year/ 3 year Diploma. We have a huge momentum built up because of PM’s initiative. Our ministry has decided to open 1500 new ITI in backward areas, naxal areas, far flung areas, hilly areas and also in minority intensive districts. We have also started the initiative of opening 5000 skill development centres and we have identified 450 skills for them.

Is there any special focus on women empowerment under this initiative?

We are trying to make provision for women ITIs (Industrial Training Institutes). 450 modules and courses for gainful employment skills, covering 41 sectors have been developed and approved by National Council for Vocational Training. 22 industries and employer organisations have been empaneled as assessing bodies for conducting assessment. For this certification is required and for this purpose we require some independent body, which in this case is constitutes of 22 industries and organisations. The total number of persons who have been trained and adjusted in the industry, since inception of the initiative, is 2,53,803. Also, we have registered 4,293 vocational training providers.

Our whole objective of skill development initiative is to provide vocational training to school drop-outs, employing untrained workers and improving their employability by optimally utilising the infrastructure available in government and private institutions and industry. There is a facility for existing skills of people under training to be tested and certified, under the scheme to build capacity in the area of competency development, standardisation of courses, standardisation of curricula/ learning material and assessment standards in the country.

Can you elaborate on courses being offered under the skill development initiative?

Demand driven short term training courses are also the main feature of the skill development programme. These courses are based on modular employable skills which are decided upon in consultation with the industry. The aim is to provide the gainful employment. We have already upgraded the existing 100 ITIs through domestic funding, that is, the internal resources, since 2007 when the initiative was announced. Our ministry has been identified as a centre of excellence and it spent a total of INR 160 crores for the above. 400 ITIs are being upgraded through The World Bank assistance of around INR 1,581 crores. We are upgrading 1,396 government ITIs through Public Private Partnership, that will cost INR 3550 crores. Under the skill development initiative the total outlay for short term courses is around 550 crores. And our target is to train 1 million people in 5 years and this is ongoing now. After 5 years, 1 million are to be added every year. We have been told by the the PM that our target is of opening of 1500 new ITIs which will cost INR 36 crores. 5000 skill development centres which we have proposed will cost us INR 1000 crores, that are to be spent in coming 3 years. The role of vocational training providers is also very important. We are willing to help the states in training their inspectors, for building their infrastructure and also for upgrading the existing manpower. This is all about the ministries and central bodies only involved in opening of ITIs.

Are their any efforts being taken to provide the trained manpower with employment?

From the beginning we have involved the industry and whatever courses we are running are all requirement based. Our focus is on employable skills whether we are imparting the skill to the new person or upgrading the skills of the people who are already trained. Our focus is that the worker should get some rewardable employment.

What are the major challenges in achieving the target of 1 million in 5 years and then 1 million in every consecutive year?

There is huge shortage of trainers for which we require trainer’s training programme. We have suggested to the states that where they have ITI, they should also conduct trainer training programmes. And with whatever facilities we have, we are ready to train the master trainers who can further impart training to their sub-trainers. Through National Council for Vocational Training we are working on developing the courses. 450 course modules have already been developed and these modules are based on gainful employment skills, which are to cover 41 sectors.

Further, with the limited resources that we have, we can use a particular pool of resources in making video of that particular training programme and show it to the people in areas where they are not available. We have developed web based software for the SDI scheme, that is, design development and management of web based softwares, with testing and certifications from foreign agencies.

450 course modules have already been developed and these modules are based on gainful employment skills, which are to cover 41 sectors.

Sir, you mentioned about the skills that have been identified. Can you specify some major skills that are being imparted that is the top priority schemes that are required in the market.

These are matters of details and from the old skill to the new skills required or the future technology these all are encoded in that. We are even developing courses for the service sector such as hotel industry and willing to impart training for developing even the minutest of skill required in the industry. The PM’s direction is very clear in meeting this future challenge if we are going to be an economic superpower. For that we need skilled manpower and for that purpose because we are the youngest country now, that is more than 75% population are below 25 years of age. There is more of older population in other developed countries. There is a huge gap in the age of the population in these countries whereas in Africa and other Asian countries they do not have the expertise and resources to be our competitor. So we can convert our young force into skilled manpower and our target is of 5 crores. Hence, the situation in the world is helping us. America, Europe, China and Russia, the population of these countries are ageing. About 63% of the school students are dropouts at different stages before reaching class 10th. Only 2.5 million vocational training seats are available in the country whereas 12.8 million people enter the labour market every year. This signifies that a large number of school dropouts do not have access to skill development for improving their employability. Thus our target is the school drop-outs. Our target is those who are somewhere working in skilled areas without having some skill training. For them the name is given Modular Employable Skill.

What are your views on schemes such as sarva shiksha abhiyan and whether they can aid in skill development programmes?

‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ has a different direction has a different focus, that is, to have a ‘sihikshit Bharat’ (educated India). Our focus, however, is to provide gainful employable skills even to those who have never attended schools. There are other ministries to take care of them. We have different schemes for this such as swarnjayanti swarozgar yojna, shahri rozgar yojana, swarnjayanti grameen swarozgar yojana, pradhan mantri swarozgar yojana and many other schemes. For women we have mahila gafsta force to take care of them. We have to develop skill for them and prepare a modular of the skills. For this we have a target of opening 50,000 skill development centres out of which 5,000 are being opened by our ministry. We have identified the courses but apart from that we will open 1,500 new ITI s and whatever ITI we have that is 1,800 we are upgrading them to have world class skills. World class skill means the skill which the country and outside of the country is required. These Industrial Training Institutes are only in government sector. There are large number in the private sector. For private sector we have The National Council for Vocational Training. It has its own standard for deciding the criteria for giving recognition. We have even approved their procedure of assessment of their capacities, their testing and also certification. For certification, also we are tying up with the foreign certification agency. We are collaborating with some of the world class certifying agencies of the world. We are even tapping the expertise from countries such as Germany, UK, Korea. This is itself a big challenge! In this there are challenges of money, manpower, operation and stakeholders. At this time the condition worldwide is conducive for us. Earlier as a cheap labour on a large scale we were entering the world market and then with the coming of information technology. Now we could create softwares at a cheaper rate but things are changing for us even in the developed countries. The technology is growing at such a fast pace that in those countries also the earlier requirement of ten workers is gradually being replaced by one worker. So now Indians are getting hold of their technology. So young India will definitely turn into a big boom.

Teach Job-specific Skills With Globally Recognised Certifications : Pankaj Rai, CyberLearning

Interviews

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

December 1, 2009

Pankaj Rai
Director & CEO, cyber learning

CyberLearning has been at the forefront of affordable education in the USA for over a decade now. In India, CyberLearning brings the same high- quality, engaging and effective course content to skill and reskill the people.

Pankaj Rai provides us his views on the need for digital literacy and details of the Cyber Learning activities in India.

India needs to produce a large number of skilled manpower at an accelerated pace and must expand capacities in ICT

What according to you could fill the gap between what the industry needs and what the academia is producing and how?

A Recent NASSCOM study indicates that more than 75% graduates being produced by Indian Universities are NOT readily employable. And this mismatch is likely to become more acute because of the rapid structural changes in the economy. Today, there is a huge shortage of middle level technical and supervisory skills in India, which can very well be absorbed by non-technical graduates with some validated training and certification.

There is now a growing need to teach job-specific skills and to bundle the curricula with globally recognized certifications to be able to quickly response to changing market needs.

In order to continue on the path of growth, it is imperative that India continues to produce a large number of skilled manpower at an accelerated pace and must expand capacities in ICT/Digital Literacy at all levels as pre-requisite for jobs of the 21st century.

Can we know more about the activities of CyberLearning In India in affordable education?

CyberLearning, headquartered in the USA, has provided technology-based training since its founding more than 15 years ago. We started our operations in India in December 2006.

Today, CyberLearning offers one of the most comprehensive and sought after content in the eLearning industry, effectively covering the entire range of learning needs of individuals, corporations, educational institutions and governments across the world. CyberLearning catalog is 2500 course titles strong and offers over 5500 hours of eLearning. The courses include 50 IT certifications like ITIL, CAPM, PMP, A+, CCNA, MOS, MCSE, MCAS, MCP, Oracle, Java, Project Management etc. In addition to eLearning for certification tracks, CyberLearning also offers eLearning courses in English language and soft skills that cover topics such as Effective Writing, Business Communication, Communication Skills, Time Management Skills, Negotiation Skills, Customer Service, Leadership, and Personal Improvement to name a few.

CyberLearning also provides some of the most in-demand and most critical global certifications like Digital Literacy, MOS, MCAS & ACA.

How do these certifications add value to an individual?

Certiport, the global administrator of these certifications exams, has appointed CyberLearning as the ‘Exclusive Provider for Microsoft Office Certification, Adobe Certified Associate & Digital Literacy Certifications for the Indian sub-continent’.

They aid in practical technology problem-solving and improving on-the-job performance of IT professionals, developers, information workers as well as job seekers. Organizations also reap the benefits and are able to maximize their return on technology and people investments.

Could you please elaborate further on the product of Internet and Core Computing Certification (IC

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