UNESCO to launch ICT Competency Standards for teachers at Moving Young Minds Conference, London, 8 January, 2008

News

January 7, 2008

UNESCO guidelines for teachers to use information and communication technology (ICT) to improve education will be presented to education ministers from more than 100 countries and to the press at the Moving Young Minds Conference in London on 8 January, 2008. Developed in cooperation with Cisco, Intel and Microsoft, as well as the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE) and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), the ICT Competency Standards for Teachers have been designed to help educational policy-makers and curriculum developers identify the skills teachers need to harness technology in the service of education.

UNESCO's Assistant Director-General for Communication and Information, Abdul Waheed Khan, and representatives of UNESCO's private sector and academic partners in developing this project, will present the standards at a Press Conference at the Thames Suite of the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster (8 a.m.) and, at 9.00 a.m., to the Education Ministers. The ICT Competency Standards for Teachers is considered as a tool that will help policy makers and teacher training developers plan their use of ICTs. These standards consist of modules that will help trainers prioritize their needs and design training curricula adapted to specific requirements and resources, reflecting UNESCO's conviction that countries must occupy the driver's seat of educational planning. The standards consist of three parts: a Policy Framework explaining the rationale, structure and approach of the project; A Competency Standards Modules' Structure, which crosses the components of educational reform with various policy approaches to generate a matrix of skill sets for teachers; and Implementation Guidelines providing a detailed syllabus of the specific skills to be acquired by teachers within each skill set or module. The standards were born of the realization that having a computer in the classroom is not enough, in and of itself, to ensure that teachers are able to impart the skills needed to prepare students for work and life in the 21st century. This is why the standards address much more than ICT skills: they examine these skills in light of pedagogical developments, curriculum and school organization and the needs of teachers wishing to improve their work and ability to collaborate with colleagues. Ultimately, the ICT standards should help improve teacher practice overall, and contribute to the education of a better-informed citizenry able to advance economic and social development. While defining ICT and education skills that can be shared internationally, the standards harmonize views and vocabulary regarding the uses of ICTs in teacher education, thus facilitating the international sharing of experience in this field.

No Policy? ICT Cannot Be Stopped! : Prof Marmar Mukhopadhyaya, Director ETMA

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

January 6, 2008

You have been associated with numerous programmes at policy level, both within and outside the government. What is your aspirations in terms of quality education in the country?
To me quality education is the birth right of every child born in this country. But the question is what do you mean by quality? We

Partnerships Increase Efficiency : Dr Shabnam Sinha, Senior Education Advisor, IL&FS Education and Technology Services (IETS) Bombay, India

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digitalLEARNING Network

January 6, 2008

How do you see increased access, effectiveness, and efficiencies happening in higher and vocational education and tertiary care through Public Private Partnerships in technology mediated education in India? How successful is this arrangement in India?
Quality education using ICT can be implemented across sectors and levels through partnerships with the Private Sector, NGOs, International Organisations, and other institutions. In the area of implementation of ICT in Education, the government sector is undertaking significant work in hardware provisions and connectivity. Implementation of such large scale hardware provision and connectivity is possible through networking with relevant institutions and agencies who would bring to the table innovative ideas, professional expertise, and up scaling strengths.

While models for PPP in education like BOOT and BOO exist, the efficient way to a successful partnership between Government and the Private Sector is through the creation systems and processes that are mutually supportive and sensitive to the needs of the sector being catered to, especially the disadvantaged sections within this segment. This could be through fashioning of MOUs that are workable and individualised. The PPP’s entered into by IETS vary and even the BOOT model has been successfully used, especially in projects that were hardware centered. However, as the interventions of IETS go beyond hardware and include holistic solutions like providing multimedia content, training, capacity building, as well as designing and implementation of ICT based learning programmes; other modes of PPP have been successfully tried out.

What are the challenges you come across in the PPP way of providing educational services? What is the preparation needed for standard operating procedures for PPP in the ICT-induced education?
Since PPP in education in India is still in its infancy there are several challenges. The government departments and other institutes of learning need success stories and up scaling of projects to be realised before they accept that PPP is a way to implementing quality education in India. At present, tendering is generally the acceptable mode of initiating and getting into what is called ‘PPP relationships’. However, the Government and other national and international bodies need to adopt Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) and Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) modes in addition to the tendering process- basing the PPP relationship on trust and mutual respect. This of course, taking into account the fact that there should be a careful examination and identification of credible and sound institutions coming into the picture. This would provide the fillip needed to the adoption of PPP in the education sector in India.

What would you suggest in lines with strengthening PPP cells in the Ministry or departments of Education?
The RR Shah report on PPP in different sectors including education is an important base for PPP cells and the Ministry and departments of education to draw upon. In addition, internationally there are reports and case studies on PPP initiatives in education presented by organisations like the World Bank, Partnerships UK, UNESCO, and the Academy for Educational Development among others. In the Approach to the 11th Five Year Plan “Towards Faster and More Inclusive Growth,” the vision specifies that the private sector has a critical role to play in achieving of objectives and that PPP offers the possibilities of increasing total investments in key sectors and that PPP could increase efficiency.

It is also important that the GOI and Education Ministry interfaces with the concerned stake-holders in meaningful dialogue- with private sector players, PPP experts, academia and social workers and grassroots implementers of programmes. PPP initiatives being planned in corporate boardrooms will always fail to make the relevant impact in real life difficult situations in large scale roll out in the States of India, where the need is felt the most for such initiatives.

There Is Reluctance To Invest In Content Purchasing Power : Sunita Joshi, Director, JIL Information Technology

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

January 6, 2008

Tell us a bit about your products and services.
Bhartiyavidya, is a Computer aided Teaching Solution with a vision of enhancing the quality of classroom teaching.

Campus Connect is an essential Institutional resource planning solution for seats of higher learning for any institution looking at integrating all functions of operations and cost.

Biz Connect is ERP software for SME segment which is growing at a breathtaking pace and needs such solutions for optimisation and control. The other interesting solution for the education segment is our Online Testing solution.

Would you like to describe about your partners, the who, why, and how factors of your company or the educational undertakings?
As an organisation we benefit from our groups

Internet In All Secondary Schools By 2012 : Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Bureau of School Education, Ministry of HRD Government of India

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digitalLEARNING Network

January 6, 2008

How do you rate the present situation of school education in India? Do you think India is moving in the right direction when it comes to working with the government of a developing nation in building more efficient education systems?
The present education scenario is a mixed one with some very high quality educational institutions co-existing with others where the quality is not acceptable. However, Indian education system has certain inherent strengths because of which Indian skilled manpower are in demand abroad. The new National Curriculum Framework for School Education, introduced in 2005, seeks to make learning enjoyable with focus on conceptual clarity and development of analytical ability.

What are your plans for government schools in the current academic year?
The plan is for all-round improvement of the school system. Under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, the objective is to universalise elementary education (upto class VIII) with focus on quality improvement so as to improve the learning outcome of students. A similar country-wide programme to universalise access to secondary education and to improve quality is envisaged.

What are the challenges in universalisation of secondary education in the country? And how do you go about dealing with them?
Only 40% of children of age 15-18 are presently attending secondary schools (class 9-12). To participate in the knowledge economy of the 21st century, this must go up significantly. Our target is to enhance the gross enrolment ratio for classes 9-10 from 52% to 75% in 5 years, so that the ultimate goal of ensuring 10 years of school education for every child can be met in 10 years’ time. The challenges are many and can be broadly categorised under issues involving access, equity and quality. There is need to provide access to quality secondary education for all sections of the population. Disparities based on gender, socio-economic condition, rural-urban location and disability need to be eliminated so that education can become truly inclusive.

What is your thought behind the schools (government and aided schools) reform to publish all their records, the attendance reports, progress, and other management and teaching learning information online? What are the measures the government has taken in this direction?
All schools need to be transparent and accountable. As a first step, Central Board of Secondary Education developing guidelines for disclosure of relevant information by every school affiliated with it for the benefit of parents and the public at large. The schools will be encouraged to maintain their web-sites with certain core information. This will be extended to other schools progressively.

How do you plan to address the problem of non-performing government schools with ICTs explored further?
This problem has to be addressed using a multi-pronged strategy comprising sound policies for provision of necessary infrastructure, deployment of teachers and their motivation, and not the least improvement of the level of school governance through community participation. Use of ICT can greatly improve the effectiveness of these schools by making high quality material available to the students and by making the learning enjoyable. We plan to have desktops with broadband/Internet connectivity in all secondary and higher secondary schools in the country by the end of the 11th Five Year Plan.

There are many who are pessimistic about the state of the country’s education system? What would you like to say them?
I am optimistic about the future of our country in the field of education. Despite the prevailing level of poverty and illiteracy, the upward mobility visible in the society as a direct result of education is unprecedented. This new found confidence among the young is a very positive sign. The quality and reach of education will definitely respond to this newly created demand. Use of ICT will hasten this process to a great extent.

From Best Practices to Next Practices – EdistaLearning : navyug manhot, CEO, QAI

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digitalLEARNING Network

January 6, 2008

Can you share your business overview on the Indian market?
EdistaLearning aims to provide a complete learning-to-assessment, web-based solution, on Software Engineering

The Pinnacle Of Quality Education – Interactive Classrooms : Ashish Dham, CEO, Globus Infocom Limited

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

January 5, 2008

Please provide your business overview for the Indian Market.
Globus Infocom has three verticals that drives its business- Educational Technology Group ( ETG ), System Integration Project Group ( SIPG ), and Product Sales Group ( PSG ). ETG is responsible for all education business. This group that has shown tremendous growth in the last two years. It brings in about 30% of our revenue.

The primary goal of Globus Infocom through its ETG is to improve student academic development through the use of ICT in schools and higher education institutes. Our initiatives are designed to assist students in crossing the digital divide by ensuring that every student is technologically literate, to encourage integration of technology with teacher training and localised curriculum development to establish research based instructional methods.

Today, the world is adopting the latest ICT based interactive learning and teaching method that helps everyone to reach the pinnacle of quality education. Globus Infocom presents Interactive Class Room that makes the environment more cohesive and conducive to teach and learn. We have the infrastructure for providing ICT based integrated software development and local manufacturing of necessary hardware at our two factories, at Dehradun, in Uttrakhand.

Why do you like your initiative in education? What strikes you as the cool feature(s)?
The Interactive Class Room gives the freedom to teach and learn from anywhere in the class room. The teacher explains using an Interactive Whiteboard and the students interacts through a Class Pad. Ready made content is interactively taught and live experiments, diagram, maps, 3D objects are discussed through a document camera. In this process, through the interactivity of the students and teacher, instant content is developed digitally. Imagine, over time the entire digital syllabus gets developed, class wise, teacher wise and subject wise which is available to one and all.

How do you motivate the education community for such Interactive Classrooms?
We pioneered the concept of Interactive Class Rooms two years back by conducting Road Shows in major cities. In these road shows we actually exhibited live Interactive Class Rooms to teachers, students, administrators both from private and Government sectors. It has resulted in awareness among education fraternity and many have adopted such interactive teaching and learning methodology. Our services in the education sector has prompted us so far to actively participate in Public Private initiatives, to integrate ICT in education by providing simple and workable Interactive Class Rooms, to undertake turnkey, district, city and state wise education services contracts, to upload Global Model Class Room portal shortly, to establish Centres of Excellence in institutes, and Teacher Development Suite

By Investing In Education We Invest In Future : Anshul Sonak, South Asia Education Manager, Corporate Affairs Intel

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digitalLEARNING Network

January 5, 2008

Let’s talk about Intel in Education and India; the story so far…?
Intel has been dedicated to education improvement around the world; since it as founded in 1968. At Intel, underour World Ahead Programme, we strive to be a trusted partner to educators and governments worldwide and are committed to improving education today. The Intel Education Initiative is
a sustained commitment to prepare all students, everywhere, with the skills
required to thrive in the knowledge economy. We currently invest over USD100 million per year in over 50 countries, including India, to promote
education efforts. We believe that today’s students must develop 21st century skills, including knowledge of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), problem solving, critical thinking and collaboration. Mathematics, science and engineering, which are the building blocks for technical innovation, must also be mastered.

Could you outline the programmes you have undertaken in India?
Some of the exciting programmes that we are undertaking in India are –Intel Teach Program The Intel Teach Program (www.intel.com/education/teach)
is a free professional development programme that helps classroom teachers effectively integrate technology to enhance student learning. It is the most successful professional development programme of its kind with 4 million teachers in over 40 countries since 1999. In India, the programme has mpacted over 7,75,000 teachers across 15 states governments , 2 Union territories, 40 teacher education universities and Central government education entities like Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti, and Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan. Intel Learn Program The Intel Learn Program (www.intel. com/education/learn) is a communitybased programme designed to help
learners (8-16 years) develop 21st century skills (technological literacy,critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration). The programme is currently offered in Brazil, Chile, China, Egypt, India, Israel, Mexico, Russia and Turkey. In India, the programme was launched in 2004 and to date, has reached more than 43,671 learners in 515 centres and has touched 14 states in collaboration with Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti. Intel Science Competition Initiative for esearch & Innovation in Science (IRIS) is the merger of ‘Intel Science Talent Discovery Fair’ (ISTDF) and ‘Steer the Big Idea’ from CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) and DST (Department of Science & Technology, Govt of India). The mission of IRIS is to promote and nurture science and scientific research
amongst young Indian innovators, recognise and reward outstanding projects and provide a platform for the young innovators to interact with Indian industry as well as get recognised at International events. In 2007, IRIS
impacted over 40,000 students and 4500 teachers through 78 workshops across 24 states governments, 2 Union territories, Central government relationships like NVS, KVS and other schools. Intel Higher Education Programme The Intel Higher Education Programme (www.intel.com/education/highered) focuses on advancing innovation in key areas of technology and developing a pipeline of diverse world-class technical talent for Intel and the
broader industry. In India, Higher Education programme covers more than 300 Engineering Colleges focusing on developing industry expertise in cutting edge technology areaslike Multicore, VLSI and supports research engagements and innovation and entrepreneurship development programmes across the academia.
Would you like to describe your partners, the who, why, and how
factors of your company fo educational undertakings?
Intel works closely with multiple stakeholders and partners for success of various education programmes. Intel collaborates with technology, industry partners to develop and promote education solutions architecture to enable complete solutions of hardware, software, connectivity and digital curriculum content. In India for its Education programme, the Intel Teach Programme has
comprehensive partnerships with various states and UT governments, school bodies like NVS and KVS, teacher education universities, apex education bodies like NCTE, NGOs like AIF and key multilaterals like WEF, UNESCO. We believe that public private partnership is absolutely critical for education improvement and judicious technology integration in our classroom as right systems, processes and policies can be set at government level for technology infrastructure accessibility, curriculum and content, human resources developments, etc.

Please tell us about your e-Education ventures?
We have a few interesting offerings that stand apart significantly Thinking with Technology course for Teachers: This course is designed to encourage teachers develop strategies and project ideas for using online thinking tools to inculcate higher–order thinking skills in their students. Thinking tools take advantage of
technology to allow students to convey and exchange ideas, actively construct knowledge, examine priorities, debate differences, make correlations, reach
consensus, organize ideas solve problems, and create representations of
what they have learned. Essentials Online Course for Teachers: A blend of in-person and online training that give teachers the ability to form communities to advance the integration of technology and 21st century learning skills. This online version of the flagship offering enables successful and tested teaching and learning outcomes, while allowing the flexibility of online delivery. In 2007, a pilot of this programme was carried out across private schools, schools in Gujarat and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti (NVS) skoool Learning and
Teaching Technology Programme. The skoool Learning and Teaching Technology Programme provides secondary level teachers and students access to science and mathematics and resources and tools set for engaging, ultimedia environment to help improve learning. skoool provides free online science and mathematics resources for secondary-level students.

What are the core issues that hinder the widespread use of your
educational services?
We along with the government need to ensure that irrespective of age, school
background and domicile, everyone ha an opportunity and access to education. Also, today there is a need to develop professional skills as well as basic IT operating skills among students to equip them for better opportunities
ahead. Therefore, the educational system should be so arranged that students become accustomed to IT as a tool to be used in the learning process. While new governments have proactively pledged to increase spending on education and are working tirelessly to bring in structural reforms; we still have to go a long way by focusing on improving access infrastructure and quality at all levels of education. Which educational initiatives are you focusing on in immediate future? We aim to accelerate our collaboration with various SSA epartments across country, train their teachers and provide them skills, resources and software to use in schools. As announced by Dr. Barrett during his visit to India in 2006, we are also donating 10,000 PCs to state government schools across the country. We would focus on Essentials Online Course (mentioned above) which has been piloted in India. The goal is for each teacher to leave the course prepared to effectively implement a technology-rich Unit Portfolio that engages students in effective use of technology to achieve standards. Besides this we will continue accelerating our existing programmes
across the country. We have various programmes for community education like for special children, etc. We are lanning more partnerships in India to scale that in near future. Teacher Education with NCTE support and student ducation also remains a big focus for the next few years.

Every JNV To Be A Smart School By 2010 : O N Singh, Commissioner Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti

Interviews

digitalLEARNING Network

January 5, 2008

Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas are leading examples in successful integration of ICTs in public sector schools. What is your vision for the JNVs in the digital age?
Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNVs) are on the forefront in the country on integration of ICT in teaching and learning. All the teachers are trained in application of skills of computers and Internet in preparation of lesson plans, interactive learning, sharing and dissemination of resources. Following the state-wide launch of ICT@School programme by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), we have achieved in establishment of 33 smart schools, one each per state and UT as the model schools with all the necessary ICT infrastructure and applications for teachers and students. Our vision is now is to make every JNV a smart school by 2010. We are progressing towards developing smart classrooms in each school, ICT-enabled with an LCD projector, television, computer and Internet connection to effectively integrate ICT in teaching learning activity.

ICT infrastructure is a key challenge in implementation of ICT in schools. What is the strategy devised by NVS for successful deployment of ICTs in JNVs?
ICT infrastructure is a big challenge. Because our schools are located in the rural areas with less than six to eight hours of power supply. NVS strategy for ICT deployment was twin-fold; firstly, we have planned for the physical infrastructure and secondly, we have planned for the ICT infrastructure. We have allocated one classroom for 40 computers as school building plan component. The ICT Infrastructure like hardware, software, peripherals, etc are provided by the leading IT companies, our current computer – pupil ratio is 1:12. Internet facility is also available to minimum of 10 computers in a computer lab. Currently, 201 JNVs are provided with VSAT facility with a minimum speed of 256 kbps and the installation process is on for 100 more schools.

We have developed partnerships with leading software providers for software solutions for JNVs. We have collaborated with Intel for teacher training, with Oracle for using the portal think.com, CII-Siksha for using open source software. With content software we have had software from Microsoft, Intel, Azim Premji Foundation and then CII Siksha programme have given us some software. We use Microsoft as operational software, and are moving ahead towards using open source software in parallel. For the first time, we have provided open source application software open office to all the schools in the current year.

How are ICT facilities in schools being shared for community benefits?
Computer-aided education is implemented in 541 JNVS and 502 JNVS are provided smart classrooms across various states in the country. We have started another project with Intel Learn, community programme, under this the children from the neighborhood schools in rural areas are trained in the use of ICT and they also take up projects related to problems of the community. We keep our computer laboratories open during the summer holidays for the children from the neighborhood primary schools that lack access to computers, to come and learn ICT applications. We are also planning to keep our infrastructure open in the evening, but right now we are providing training to the local school students. Each Navodaya Vidyalayas adopts one school every year; so far we have trained 50,000 thousand school children under this initiative of ICT@school programme.

What are the initiatives undertaken by NVS for capacity building of teachers and principals?
The training of teachers and principals in IT skills is very important for success of ICT programmes in schools. The training of teachers for computer uses is conducted with assistance from Microsoft, Intel and Oracle. With Microsoft we have signed a MoU under their programme of project Siksha or Partners in Learning. Under the programme they provide the necessary faculty and the necessary training material including the texts to be used by the teachers and we provide the necessary infrastructure. It is a comprehensive programme covering basics of computers and applications such as word, excel, power point, Internet browsing, e-mailing, etc. and how to use these technologies in the classrooms. We have the Intel Teach programme for the teacher professional development alongwith online teacher-training programme that we are piloting Intel.

NVS is piloting the Intel “Classmate PC” project in schools. Could you elaborate more on the Intel laptops pilot project? If its useful would you scale it up?

Intel has developed a low cost laptop “Classmate PC”. It’s a small laptop device with all the capabilities of a computer, and runs on a battery. It does not have a hard disk but it uses the hard disk of the server and it is connected by a wireless to the whole community. For example, the Navodaya schools as is spread on a 30 acres campus, can now enable children to keep this laptop anywhere in the campus they are always connected with the main server in the vicinity of the particular campus, they can have every Internet facility available and send e-mails. What is interesting is that important lessons are installed on the “Classmate PC” the child can access those lessons on that. The children can chat with the teachers and discuss about their assignments with the teachers and other students. This pilot has been launched in Faridabad, Intel provided 80 of them free of cost and with the other supporting staff, Internet connectivity and training.

How do you provide digital content to your schools?
The digital content is made available from Microsoft, Intel, and other partners. We have been using open source content and apart from that, the teachers themselves are developing content. We have trained them to the digital level, they make the lesson plans, e-Contents and e-Contents being developed by some school in physics, biology, mathematics etc. we share that. As such we have not bought any content to supply to the teachers, our approach is to empower the teacher to make their teaching more interactive.

Have you thought of using interactive radio, video conferencing or using EDUSAT?
We have EDUSAT connectivity, four of our training centers called the National leadership institutes, including headquarter office, has EDUSAT facility. We use it for video multicasting and also for sharing of information and between the head office and our network schools. Currently about 200 schools are using this facility. The topics discussed are varied, ranging from career counseling, staff, safety and security to programmes and academic improvement. We get the feedback from 200 schools in 2 hours and we settle their concerns and issues immediately, with concerned officers online.

Would you like to share more on the monitoring, assessment and feedback of your programmes?
We have evolved a feedback programme for monitoring, under that we have a detailed questionnaire pattern at regional office level, with a officer designated specifically to take care of the ICT activity. Each region has about 60-70 schools and are divided into clusters of 10-12 schools. Each cluster of schools has an in-charge officer and is responsible for all activities. We are continuously updating our system and there is a need to build in more components to evaluate and monitor the success of our programmes.

What are the critical challenges that the government schools particula

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