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Pedagogy Changes for ICT Enabled Primary Education in Sri Lanka

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

M. A. Kaleelur Rahuman and Gihan Wikramanayake

 

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.

Arrival and the use of Information and Communication Technology have been re-engineering almost all the fields of human life from basic needs like contacting a friend living abroad to fundamental needs like education, health and governance. It is not only a technological evolution but also a social revolution that forces the different age group of human, to discover new habits, new morals and formulate new life systems, so that to adapt with global change in human culture and life style. Our education system also has to be geared to meet this concept and has to be aligned with this new technology. Hence, the innovative utilization of ICT for education is becoming most indispensable need since the knowledge is the backbone that is changing the culture and the whole civilization time to time towards better quality of life of the people.

OLPC

One Laptop per Child (OLPC) (http://laptop.org/en/), an amazing especially designed educational tool for childhood learning. The introduction and implementation of this tool is expected to revolutionize the childhood education in the country and will introduce change to the pedagogical approach in primary education systems (Alexander, 2001). This will further impact on the teaching and learning methodologies. Figure 1 shows a picture of an OLPC, taken from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLPC_XO-1

OLPC helps the children to learn by exploring, creating and sharing knowledge and skills.

OLPC (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Laptop_per_Child) is introduced exclusively to create educational opportunities for remote rural children who are struggling with the access to skilled teachers, proper guidance for learning, ICT awareness, electricity and Internet infrastructure and who are unable to afford new updated education system. OLPC was originated from MIT media labs by Prof. Nicholas Negroponte, the founder and chairman of the OLPC non-profit association
(http://laptop.org/en/utility/people/nicholas-negroponte.html).

Stakeholders

Primary stakeholders in the pilot project are Ministry of Education as the owner, OLPC Lanka Foundation as the OLPC providers, University of Colombo School of Computing for knowledge partner (including server/ operating system installations, localization and training) and the Open Source Community for content development. This project is funded by the World Bank. Teachers who were trained on teaching learning activities and to handle the OLPC and the set of teachers who developed the contents for OLPC based on formal curriculum are also important stakeholders.

OLPC around the world

According to the OLPC principals, the learning tool projects have been implemented in several developing countries like Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, India and Uruguay. Each project has a different specialty as detailed below.

1350 OLPC units in Sri Lanka

OLPC Lanka Foundation is currently working with the Ministry of Education and the World Bank in deploying 1000 OLPC and private sector funding to import another 350 units that additionally. Schools in the whole nine provinces of Sri Lanka is considered for piloting in primary pilots which t is closely monitored by both MoE and World Bank officials
(http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_Sri_Lanka).

olpc outside sri lanka

In Afghanistan
OLPC is powered with “pedal power generator” in Afghanistan, the PAIWASTOON team that perform the technical implementation designed a new pedal powered machine that can power the XO as you pedal and use it at the same time. Even small kids (3rd/4th grade) can power it. As the laptop charges as you use it no additional battery is needed
(http://www.olpcnews.com/countries/afghanistan/updates_
from_olpc_afghanistan_1.html).

In India

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
(http://wiki.laptop.org/go/OLPC_India).

Readiness, adaption and application of OLPC in Sri Lanka 

The Ministry of Education together with its major stakeholders implements the OLPC pilot project in selected schools in Sri Lanka. Readiness and adaption among stakeholders in the implementation process is concerned with three major pedagogical elements such as teacher training, content development and localization. Trained teachers are directly involved in assisting students is to create an environment to adapt to the technology and understand the theory behind. Content development is enabling a new environment to learn the subjects and do learning activities using the tool and the localization facilitate the students and teachers to fulfill their teaching learning activities on their own language.

Content Development – A Leapfrog Innovation

Developing contents for primary school children based on formal education curriculum is leapfrog and an innovating idea of the country while the whole world is using OLPC – for informal learning concept. Committed teachers are selected and trained by subject matter experts to develop contents adapting to limitations and features of the OLPC. This was time consumed commitment that resulted in an excellent output – the contents for all grade one to five curriculum.

Teacher Training  

The selected teachers who are currently involving with the students are trained to adapt with sophisticated features of the tool that facilitate for informal leaning (Livingstone, 2001) like collaborative learning, peer learning coincide with “learn while play” concepts.  Through fulltime training workshops teachers were given a considerable amount of knowledge on the concept and hands on skills of using OLPC.

Localisation

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.

Changes in Pedagogy

This is a new and challenging experience for the educational promoters and stakeholders in primary education system in Sri Lanka. Changing existing pedagogy or planting new pedagogy among existing teachers with traditional mind set, is not an easy task. Clear and appropriate strategies and pedagogies have to be drawn including the broad ideas and suggestions of the teachers population is a must for successful pedagogy changes.

Pedagogy Changes

The OLPC usage in education will definitely increase the literacy rate among school children. It will add some values for their culture and morality such as sharing resources and shared learning. It will increase the friendship and further understanding between students, while it will slightly reduce the hobbies and physical activities (games) since the tool consume considerable time. It will enhance the informal learning by increased collaboration and communication via the tool during school hours and thereafter. It will raise the habit of self learning or learner centric learning by the use of Internet and searching and by the attraction to the tool.

New awareness and knowledge would be created so that to accept and adapt to this tool in school education. From parents, principals to educational departments and policy makers should be made aware and to be taught overall concept and benefit of the tool. The tool has to be used correctly and carefully and have to be handed over to the other learner in a good working condition. While the learner using the tool at home there should be an ethic to be followed so that the tool will not be used for private purpose and others such as family members.

New Environments

As in the case of a typical computer lab, there is no need for dedicated buildings and use of electricity. These OLPCs forms a portable virtual environment that could be set up in the classroom. Machine to machine or machine to server communication can take place in a wireless environment. However there is a need to charge the individual OLPCs and to host the server as well as to manage and maintain them.

Childhood Innovation & Creativity
Even though the literacy rate seems to be high, the higher values of childhood creativity and innovative thinking of kids is lacking in developing countries like Sri Lanka. Creativity and innovation is an extreme need for an education system of this era. This educational tool, once the project is implemented well, will help not only the students, but also the involved teachers to compete with the people who are in the forward line in the innovation and creativity in primary education.

Possibilities of Informal Learning

Even though Informal learning is considered as learner centric adult learning, the habit of learning things informally using the features of the tool will create new informal learning environments.

Effect on Economic & Social Values

Usage of this new tool will create the avenue for accessing world class learning resources and as a result of this will make the students to compete with global parallel learners in similar learning domains.

Rapid advances in technology were observed by some teachers as negative aspects. It gives easy access to western ideas and can have a negative impact on local cultures. Some teachers find it hard to adjust to the technological changes and continuously enhance their knowledge. They see these developments take most of their free time. Some children get addicted to tools and could give less importance for their formal learning activities.

Conclusion

This paper emphasized the readiness and adaption of the stakeholders on the implementation of the educational tool, conceptualizes the change in needs, building a new environment, redesigning the pedagogy in childhood education in ICT enabled teaching learning environment in Sri Lanka.

Corporate News- December2009

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

MeritTrac unveils Pariksha, secure environment Large-Scale Examination

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 open for Manipal University’s MBA (Media and Entertainment) and MBA (Advertising and Marketing Communications)

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.

MBA (AMC) programme is offered from the Manipal University Bangalore Campus and it covers Integrated Marketing Communication, Strategic Media Planning, and Advertising Strategy with General Management subjects. These courses are new, exciting and truly industry focused, combining managerial tools and frameworks with an in-depth understanding of the media, entertainment, advertising and marketing communications industries. These programmes prepare students to be well-rounded professionals and opens up avenues for exciting and successful careers in the fastest growing. Admissions to the two year MBA programmes January 2010 in (ME and AMC) at Manipal University are currently open. The last date for submitting applications is 30th November 2009. The programmes are open to those who have completed any undergraduate degree, with a combination of creativity & business rigour and aspire to be media and marketing professionals.

KPMG and NIIT Imperia collaborate to launch Advanced Certificate Program on IFRS

KPMG in India in collaboration with NIIT Imperia announced the launch of Advanced Certificate Program on International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The six week Certificate program which commences on 2 December 2009 is designed to assist companies and individuals on the forthcoming convergence from Indian Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The program will see KPMG’s senior professionals use NIIT’s modern virtual classroom formats to deliver the training. The training will be conducted simultaneously across several cities using NIIT’s Synchronous Learning Technology. This will allow practicing professionals and in-job professionals to be in a classroom close to their place of work. In addition, they can manage their day to day work since there will be only one day of training in each of the six weeks. This well paced program is designed for better understanding and absorption of the transition process and will help the practising and on-job professional in implementing IFRS smoothly and on time. Indian accounting and finance fraternity and those others who are interested to enrich knowledge on IFRS transition may log on to www.niitimperia.com for further information about the program.

Commenting on the launch of the Advanced Certificate Program on IFRS, Jamil Khatri, Head of Accounting Advisory Services, KPMG in India said, ‘We are pleased to come in association with NIIT Imperia during this important transition for the Indian accounting fraternity. Through this collaboration we foresee participants to gain not only the conceptual knowledge of IFRS but also the practical perspectives that KPMG’s professionals carry through years of experience. We have seen very good interest in this program and look forward to interacting with executives across the country during the IFRS training sessions.’ He added, ‘The training covers critical IFRS concepts along with case studies and will culminate with an exam at the end, which will enable participants to obtain the certificate.’ Shraman Jha, Head, NIIT Imperia remarked, ‘We are pleased to extend our offerings to now include Advanced Certificate Programs on IFRS, by KPMG- for finance professionals. Through this alliance, IFRS Training will be offered in 19 cities simultaneously, over the NIIT Imperia network, thus helping professionals overcome the challenges of mobility and time and gain from the insights of KPMG’s professionals.’ Corporates, accounting & finance professionals would need to swiftly understand IFRS and assess the implications in their work environment. This is because current Indian accounting practice & standards differs from IFRS in several areas of accounting norms. Firstly, the accounting for M&A activities and for financial instruments is largely driven by the fair value concept under IFRS, a fundamental shift from the historical cost accounting under Indian GAAP. Secondly, there are subtle but important differences in several other areas, for example, the concept of control over an entity, capitalization principles relating to property, plant and equipment, accounting for gratuity plans, the way reportable segments are identified, etc. Thirdly, IFRS lays equal emphasis on qualitative disclosures in addition to the quantitative disclosures that Indian companies are well used to. All stakeholders, from promoters to finance executives, from investors to analysts and from government agencies to bankers need to become aware of the critical differences.

Axiom Education is now Mexus Education

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 and NIIT Partner for MultiMode SAP Training Programs

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.

Iken.in Empowers e-learning Experience

e-learning website ‘Iken.in’, announced the launch of online learning subscriptions packages for Class VI to IX of study material designed for CBSE, ICSE and State Board students, mapped according to the NCERT curriculum. The packages include educational videos, slides shows, movies, animations, test papers and questions, performance assessment, feedback and a whole host of content which complements course curriculum and simplifies the learning process. Iken.in is a student centric education portal which integrates e-learning and social media features, in order to facilitate easy learning methods, with its unique blend of ‘edutainment’ – education and entertainment. Students can share and view presentations and videos, take tests, revise their curriculum, connect with peers and play educational interactive games on the site.

Unique features of Iken.in include integration of e-learning and social media features to create a unique online learning experience; it complements CBSE, ICSE, and State Board prescribed course material with interactive, multimedia enhanced learning content; it offers more than 10000 unique courseware elements which include educational videos, animation films, slideshows, mind maps, assessment tests, FAQs, etc. available on the site; it has 25,000+ users already registered on ‘Iken.in’; it includes virtual knowledge currency ‘Ken’ which facilitates easy access to educational material on ‘Iken.in’; and it has more than 6000 unique educational videos, 3000 presentations, 2000 mind maps, 4000 assessment tests and 5000 unique customized questions. ‘Iken.in’ also offers ‘pay-per-content’ option, where instead of buying an entire subscription package users can pay for access to only select study material elements, like a video or presentation as per the need

India News- December 2009

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

HRD Ministry: NEFC to fund Primary Education

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.

Sibal retorts against banks, who, he feels, treat loans and advances to the education sector in the same manner as that for trade, industry or commerce sectors. Additionally, he believes that the reimbursement period for loans to educational institutions is at par with those for ‘profit’ concerns. The function of NEFC will be to directly sponsor any educational institution recognised under law and finance any government or local body for increasing enrolment and retention. It is also supposed to grant loans and advances to any scheduled public sector bank by way of refinance for establishment, development or promotion of educational institutions.

New Colleges to be setup  in Punjab

Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal announced that 13 new degree colleges would come up in the state by next year at a cost of INR 104 crore. Locations of these colleges would include the educationally backward districts of Amritsar, Bathinda, Faridkot, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ferozepur, Gurdaspur, Mansa, Moga, Muktsar, Nawanshahar, Patiala and Sangrur. These locations have been chosen on the recommendations of the University Grants Commission (UGC).

Badal was presiding over a function to mark the silver jubilee of the Government College, 10 km from state capital Chandigarh. He mentioned that to boost higher and technical education, a central university at Bathinda has already started its academic session. Another world-class central university would be set up in Amritsar in over 700 acres of land. Further the state government had transferred 501 acres of land for setting up the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) at Ropar, 45 km from Chandigarh. The classes for the IIT have started this year from the building of a government polytechnic.

CAT 2009 to offer 560 more seats

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.

Degree Course in Law introduced by IGNOU in Tamil Nadu

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.

US community college model under exploration

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.

Professor Pillai also assured audience and the distinguished guests to create a ‘single window’ system for clearance of important decisions and recommendations with regard to CCs. Dr. Judith Irwin gave her presentation on behalf of the AACC, whereas four out of the 50 Community Colleges registered with IGNOU submitted their presentations. Enthusiasm was very high even as Dr Judith through a presentation explained in details the American model of Community Colleges. In the US the Community Colleges constitute the largest segment of higher education. These include nearly 1,200 institutions with an enrollment of 11 million students, 6 million of whom are seeking a degree or certificate. According to an estimate, in the US, the Community Colleges ensure 83% of the tertiary education, of which higher education is only a part. Set against the achievements in the USA in India the figure is merely 11%.

Learning centres for Tribals by YCMOU

In an attempt to bring  tribals into the mainstream, the Yashwantrao Chavan Maharashtra Open University (YCMOU) will soon be setting up educational centres. In whole, a total of 15 districts have been identified considering the concentration of tribal population for the centres. The state government has requested to provide five acres of land in each district for the said purpose. The university will spend INR 10 crore on each complex which will be equipped with hi-tech facilities sufficient enough to accommodate 100 students. Based on a pilot project near Nasik, one of the largest open universities in India, the YCMOU will be launching the project from next year.

Training will be provided to 1,500 tribal boys and girls initially; who were unable to clear school level exams. The university has drawn a roadmap for the next 20 years which was approved by the chancellor. The university has plans to go online very soon. Additionally, it plans to open foreign languages translation school and a school to conduct social justice for law courses. Speaking about the Nagpur centre, the VC assured that the university will soon set up a permanent centre in the Orange city with state-of-the-art facilities for the students. YCMOU had started its operations in 1989 with just two courses, 15 centres and 3,280 students.

Talent, Innovation inspires Delhi Technological University

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.

Neemrana Green Campus by NIIT University

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.

The university also appointed Dr. Rajeev Shorey as the first President of the educational establishment. A Ph.D and a Gold Medalist from The Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, Dr. Shorey’s research papers on wireless and wired networks have been published in more than 50 international journals and conferences and he has 10 US patents to his credit. Dr. Shorey worked with General Motors India Science Laboratory (ISL), in the Vehicle Communications & Information Management Group, Bangalore,  IBM Research Laboratory, New Delhi, with SASKEN Technologies, Bangalore and the Computer Science Department at the National University of Singapore prior to joining NIIT University. Talking about his new role Dr. Rajeev Shorey remarked, ‘Research as an approach in any discipline is the key to success in today’s complex and fast changing information economy. This is a challenging opportunity for me to ignite the passion for excellence in research and academia in today’s youth.’

Asia News – December 2009

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

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

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

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

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

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.

  1. Developing an audio player to play the audio tracks as final output.

  2. Creating a database for all questions and their relevant audio tracks.

  3. 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

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

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

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

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

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

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

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

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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