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eLearning to be promoted with aid of Private parties

The government should push the private sector to help schools with limited financial resources to install supporting technology for e-learning, an expert says. Heru Suhartanto, a professor of computer science from the University of Indonesia, said while the government and some academic institutions had successfully developed the backbones for e-learning programs (such as content, software and network systems), they needed to make sure all schools could adopt and operate their programs. Heru also emphasized the importance of maintenance. According to data from the Indonesian Internet Service Provider Association (APJII), in 2007, Indonesia had 25 million Internet users, 25% more than the year before. Last year, the Association of Indonesian Internet Cafes Indonesia (Awari) also recorded a significant increase in the number of outlets, from 10,000 to 12,000. Since the number of Internet users has increased rapidly in recent years, the government has been making efforts to develop Internet-based learning facilities to improve education and tackle the 'knowledge disparity' between students and teachers in developed areas and those in remote ones. Institutions or individuals interested in developing distance-learning programs, for example, could use the National Education Network, which facilitates them to send and receive study material. However, it has been difficult for schools with limited financial resources and no Internet-literate staff to take advantage of the facilities. Even those that already have proper facilities have not found it easy to carry out e-learning programs. Hasan Bisri, an ICT teacher in SMA 37 state high school in Tebet, South Jakarta, said although the school already had a computer laboratory with a reliable Internet connection, it was only used for teaching at this stage. According data from the National Education Ministry, Indonesia currently has around 180,000 elementary schools, 30,000 junior high schools and 20,000 high schools.


UNESCO and Department of Education Philippines work towards betterment ICT in education

The Philippines is hosting this week's First Philippine Conference on Information Communications Technology in Teacher Education. With it, Education Secretary Jesli Lapus is hopeful that the integration of ICT in education will soon be realized. The education chief also called for teachers and school administrators to attend the event, which will be held this entire week from October 26 to 30 at the University of the Philippines Diliman. The event is also organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. Topics covered in the conference include peer coaching, Web 2.0 tools, ICT integration, and curriculum development. DepEd has been planning to connect to the Internet all 6,650 public high schools in the Philippines through its Adopt-A-School program. The agency has also worked with several organizations to help in its Internet connectivity endeavor. Among these organizations are the Smart Schools and the Gearing Up Internet Literacy and Access for Students.

Career Workshop at IIM Calcutta

Diamond Consultants, one of the world's leading management & technology consulting firms, will conduct a Career Workshop for second year students of the Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C). The workshop will be organized on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the IIM Calcutta Campus, Joka. The workshop will address issues ranging from what a consulting firm expects out of potential applicants to how one should prepare for interviews. Diamond is a Slot Zero company at IIM Calcutta, and recruits from here on the first day of the Placements Process. Summer Placements at the institute this year will kick off on November 4, 2009. Summer Placements is the recruitment process for the first year students, who are looking for a two-month internship over the summer of 2010.

Scheme for training jobless youth

Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda launched the e-Cadre scheme for unemployed youths in North West yesterday. Thousands of unemployed youths will benefit from a newly launched government training scheme, Communications Minister Siphiwe Nyanda said yesterday. He was speaking at the official launch of the scheme, known as e-Cadre, in Rustenburg in North West. The programme is a multi- pronged approach offering information and communications technology (ICT) skills training and life orientation to young people, said Nyanda.

About 350 information technology graduates have been recruited since the programme was identified as a flagship of the communications department in 2007. The programme, conducted in partnership with the National Youth Service and 15 Further Education and Training (FET) colleges, has three phases

eLearning Project by UNZA

The University of Zambia (UNZA) in partnership with the African Virtual University (AVU) has launched the Open and Distance e-Learning (ODeL) project to train teachers in mathematics and sciences. Speaking at the launch of the project in Lusaka today, UNZA Vice Chancellor, Professor Stephen Simukanga, said fast track programmes will see UNZA train and offer degrees to 6,000 teachers who are junior secondary teachers but are currently teaching at high schools due to poor staffing levels in schools.

Professor Simukanga said the University has been engaged by the Ministry of Education in Zambia to mount this project and has found it prudent to use distance learning to offer the degrees to the teachers. He said UNZA has a big responsibly to provide higher education to every qualified person in the country but was however hindered by inadequate infrastructure at the school. He however said the partnership with AVU to offer open and distance e-learning to students will provide an innovative and practical way of extending access to University education to people around the country. And African Virtual University (AVU) Rector, Bakary Diallo, said open distance and e-learning has the potential to improve the quality of teaching in Africa.

Education Specialisations by CISCO

Cisco Systems Inc. has added six new education specializations designed to help customers identify qualified partners that command advanced training capabilities in specific networking technologies. The vendor authorizes about 350 Learning Partners worldwide to deliver training and certifications on Cisco technologies both to customers and channel partners. Cisco's education specializations are modeled on its technology specializations that point to a partner's level of skill on a specific platform. The vendor offers four tiers of technology specializations

90 CCTV camera installed by Government

Lagos State government has installed about 90 Close Circuit Television (CCTV) camera across the state. Commissioner for Science and Technology, Obafemi Hamzat, said this on a radio programme, adding that the CCTV had in the past, helped to arrest criminals who robbed a woman. Hamzat said Information Communication Technology (ICT) had been deployed by the state in carrying out many government activities in the area of health services, education, judicial process and issuance of Certificate of Occupancy.

He said about 80 schools in the state had been provided with ICT laboratories, to give students in state secondary schools the opportunity to interact with the outside world, and improve their knowledge base. On the possibility of vandalising the camera, Hamzat said, 'if someone is trying to tamper with camera A, camera B is surely monitoring it. We will have what we call the ring toplogy, that is some will overlap, so that if camera A and B is checking a particular direction, camera C and D will also be looking at 15 % same direction and 85 % of somewhere else, so by that we have an overlap.'

Australia to see its first Education exhibition in Belait

The Australian government has recorded an annual average of 700 Bruneians enrolments in Australian educational institutions. This reflects the continuing strong interest from Bruneian students wishing to study in Australia, said the Australian High Commissioner to Brunei Darussalam, Mark Sawers. The High Commissioner was in Kuala Belait yesterday afternoon to ripen and show his support the first Australian education exhibition held in the district for potential students and professionals seeking study or training options in Australia. Sawers mentioned that its accessibility and the high standard of education offered in various leading universities and institutions have resulted in the continuous interest among Bruneians to pursue education or training in Australia. Australia is amongst the first country to promote education and offers global education support and affiliation with various universities and colleges in Southeast Asian region in addition to opening campuses in Miri and Kuching to offer the same quality of education, he added.

 

The High Commissioner underlined Australia's strength of education in the areas of engineering, biotechnology, green technology, research, medicine, law and ICT. Highlighting Brunei-Australia ties in the area of education, the High Commissioner revealed Brunei's interest in seeking cooperation with Australia's vocational education training (VET) in line with Brunei's education system, SPN21. The Study in Australia-Brunei 2009 education exhibition event was held in the Belait District for the first time to disseminate valuable information in guiding potential students and individuals looking at study or training options. The Australian education exhibition yesterday drew mainly technical students and individuals who also had the opportunity to listen to briefings on 'Great reasons to study in Perth' and 'Studying Maritime Engineering at AMC – A pathway to the oil and gas industry'.

Diploma in Patent Law Online

Delhi's National Law University has started a postgraduate course in Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and patent law. The course, to be run through video conferencing, will enable students to get absorbed in research and development organisations, government and non-government agencies. Under intellectual property laws, owners are granted certain exclusive rights to a variety of intangible assets, such as musical, literary, and artistic works, ideas, discoveries and inventions and words, phrases, symbols, and designs. Common types of intellectual property include copyrights, trademarks, patents, industrial design rights and trade secrets in some jurisdictions. This 12-month course will encompass all of these and other forms of intellectual property (IP) law, filing procedures and how to conduct trademark searches. In order to attract working professionals, the classes will be conducted before office hours, twice a week. The total fee for the program is INR 1,55,000.

Lack of computers hit new maths course in schools

The roll-out of a new, 'cutting edge' maths course for Leaving and Junior Cert classes has had to be scaled back because of a lack of computer support in schools. The decision to abandon the Information and Computer Technology (ICT) elements of the new course, Project Maths, is a serious embarrassment for the Department of Education. The new 'user-friendly' course, piloted in 24 schools,  is designed to address the maths crisis. But a confidential report to Minister for Education Batt O'Keeffe on the pilot study says the lack of ICT support has created difficulties. The report from the National Council on Curriculum and Assessment says uneven provision and support of ICT in schools means some elements of the course have had to be 'recast'. Teachers have been forced to abandon teaching key areas such as geometry and statistics with computer support. The Minister has been under pressure from business and employer groups to address the maths crisis. Ireland is 19th out of 26 countries when it comes to using technology in the classroom.

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