Latvian Govt. develops national database on learning opportunities

News

By

-

October 9, 2007

The Latvian State Education Development Agency has developed a national database on learning opportunities www.niid.lv.

Currently, the database contains information about professional education programmes and educational opportunities offered by Latvia's higher education institutions and colleges. Soon users would be able to learn about other education programmes with the database on the portal. The website contains two parts: the database and the portal. Presently, users can choose seven different test, according to their interests, intellect, career values, personality, motivation, workplace environment, and favourite subjects. In the next step, the database would be integrated into the European Commission's PLOTEUS portal

Intel donates computers to Thailand government schools

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

October 9, 2007

Intel Microelectronics, Thailand is donating 3000 PCs to 60 government-based schools under its project 'ICT for Education' with the help from the Ministry of Education.

The delivery would be completed in two years by donating 1,125 desktop PCs and 195 notebook computers in 2007 and 1,680 PCs in 2008. A total of 150 mobile PCs are the Classmate model, designed to be rugged and durable and suitable for children's day-to-day use. The Classmate PCs are small with only 7-inch screen and a child-friendly form factor for classroom use. Meanwhile, the 2,850 PCs are equipped with Pentium M processors that reduce heat, with a thin 15-inch screen. All 3,000 notebook and desktop computers come with wireless features with 802.11g standard Wi-Fi that allows students to access the Internet wirelessly. All devices come to students with licences for learning software suites, Microsoft XP and an office suite that allows teachers and students to get the most benefit from using computers as a learning tool.

Intel has hired a third party to provide implementation and maintenance services for 60 schools for a year. Intel has already deployed 45 mobile computers in Satit Chula School as the first trial site for the project. The project is not only providing computers but also provides training for teachers to use computers and software as tools to improve learning methods.

Google, IBM promote cloud computing at universities

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

October 9, 2007

Google and IBM have teamed up to offer a curriculum and support for software development on large-scale distributed computing systems, to help students and write software for parallel computing applications.

So far six US universities have signed for the programme, including the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University and the University of Maryland. This relatively new form of parallel computing, that sometimes called cloud computing although had been in use in industry, it was not being taught in universities. IBM and Google have dedicated a cluster of several hundred computers, including PCs donated by Google and IBM BladeCenter and other servers, and the companies expect the cluster to grow to more than 1,600 processors.

Philippines moves to protect Cyber Education

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

October 9, 2007

Philippines moves to support the cyber-education project to give it protection from unnecessary controversy.

The cyber-education project of the Department of Education is aimed at elevating the country's educational system. The President said that the oversight panel that includes the private sector should work out procedures to protect the cyber education project from unnecessary controversy so world-class ICT would reach fourth- to sixth-class municipalities and reach our schools. The cyber-education project uses a satellite-based distance learning which is widely used in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Chile, Panama, Thailand, India, Indonesia and China and other countries. It is an offshoot of the ICT-based education agenda included in the economic cooperation agreement signed by the Philippines and China in June 2006 that is being undertaken with the China's Tsinghua University. The government earmarked P5 billion for the first phase of the project, which was expected to become operational early next year.

Marikina (Philippines) deploys P12-M WAN project to link schools

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

October 8, 2007

The Marikina City of Philippines has deployed a wide-area network (WAN) project to connect schools and public health centers.

Under the P12-million project , there will be delivery of e-learning and healthcare applications. The project would be implemented in different stages. The project includes three components, e-Government, e-Learning and e-Healthcare. Motorola will provide the equipment to the network, which will connect 16 villages. The initiative also includes setting up a control facility to monitor key areas through real-time video feeds from IP-enabled cameras.

TERI sets up Solar Powered IT Knowledge Center in India

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

October 8, 2007

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) set up its first ever Solar Powered IT Knowledge Center in rural Gurgaon, India. The initiative is towards nurturing and building capacities amongst village communities.

This village youth driven initiative is one of its kind and the Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon, Rakesh Gupta promised support for 50 such initiatives in the district. He appreciated TERIs efforts in designing an environmentally sound model, which uses solar power solution to run the center. Mr. Gupta emphasized that this knowledge center will be a boon for children education, nurturing their levels of understanding in the fast moving world. The highlight of the IT Knowledge Centre is its capacity of providing clean and reliable power solutions to a variety of rural applications, through a Hybrid Universal Solar Power Pack developed by the TERI that uses solar energy to charge batteries and provide reliable power for appliances like computers. Run by a local entrepreneur, this knowledge center will provide various fee and non-fee based services to the local rural population. The IT Knowledge center will provide services like computer education, Internet services, desktop publishing, library, spoken English and agricultural information to the local rural population.

ICT conference of E-9 countries on ICT called for ‘Greater decentralisation’

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

October 8, 2007

The International Conference of E-9 countries on ICT (Information and Communication Technology) for literacy called for the overall guidance and supervision of national policies and greater decentralisation of ICT programmes.

About 771 million adults in the world are illiterate. Of them, 304 million are from South Asian countries. As such, development of cost-effective and easily replicable methods of dissemination using ICT media needs to be encouraged, supported and broadened within the E-9 countries that accounted for a majority of adult illiterates today, the conference said. Greater bilateral and multi-lateral cooperation between the countries is also needed, so that successful initiatives and best practices in one country could be replicated in another and delivered to the beneficiaries. It was felt that the possibility of using such existing infrastructure, including that of open schools and distance education systems for adult literacy programmes should be explored, with a view to optimising the cost of such investment.

A Total Solution in Teaching and Learning : Tarun Jain, Country Head, Hitachi Home Electronics Asia (S) Pvt Ltd

Interviews

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

October 7, 2007

What are the different models of whiteboards available to keep classrooms engaged? How to use an interactive whiteboard in the classroom, across the curriculum, and how to use effectively?

There are several models fit for the type of classrooms. Front projection model (StarBoard FX Series) is almost the same appearance as whiteboard and it can be wall-mounted. The available sizes are 63″, 77″ and 82″; and the 77″ size is for normal classrooms where it can have 20-30 students. For larger rooms that can engage over 100 students, interactive panels (StarBoard T Series) are appropriate. This allows users to operate the PC by using a pen on the LCD display and the PC image is projected on a large screen as required.

We also have Bluetooth tablets (BT-1 and BT-2) and Voting systems (VerdICT) which are add-on products to our StarBoards, and when connected to each other completes a digital classroom solution.

How does an interactive whiteboard benefit learners, teachers and presenters? Why use it? What are the essential features of interactivity, and how can their use be promoted and then sustained?

The several benefits for learners, teachers and presenters are like-

(1) Annotation: Different from presentations using PowerPoint, Hitachi StarBoard allows users to annotate presentations. Also, it is possible to insert blank background and use as a substitute of whiteboard.

(2) Using multiple pages: Normal whiteboards allow users to use only one page, and if they erase the whiteboard, the handwritten notes will be gone. On the other hand, StarBoard allows users to use multiple pages electronically and it is possible to move forward/back pages as desired.

(3) All notes are stored as electronic data, StarBoard Software allows teachers to review and reuse lessons afterwards. Teachers do not need to create lesson plans for the same subject and curriculum every year anymore. Also, teachers can email lesson plans to the learners who could not attend the lesson. StarBoard Software supports PDF, HTML, Images (jpg, png) output.

(4) No chalk dust, No marker smell -This is beneficial from the health and safety angles.

How can the use of an interactive whiteboard enhance the nature of teaching and learning, in a more subject and language specific way?

Let me answer this with an example. Science teachers can use movies and videos easily on StarBoard. This makes learners understand things more effectively than just looking at static diagrams in textbooks.

Another example is Math tools like protractor or a ruler, is available in StarBoard Software. Teachers can move, resize, or rotate the tools and show values (angle/length) as desired.

What should one look for in commercial available whiteboard materials to maximise any benefits of its use?

Hitachi provides the pre-prepared contents that work on StarBoard Software. Teachers can download contents as desired and use them for their lessons. The URL is: http://starboard.hitachi-software.co.uk/ResourceCentre/en/

The use of the website is free of charge and StarBoard users can access anytime they want.

Does the teacher need operational training of the tool? What type of materials should teachers be producing for themselves, given the varied designs of such tools with which they are working?

Training is not mandatory to use any interactive whiteboard, as StarBoard Software is very intuitive. However, to utilise the full capability such as movies/videos, animation, math tools and handwriting recognition, training will be helpful.

We have installed more than 160 StarBoards in schools in India and along with our partners Cambridge-Hitachi (www.cambridge-hitachi.com) and Foundation e-Learning (http://www.cambridgeindia.org/fbelearning.asp) we have given extensive training to their teachers and students.

Which model of whiteboards best supports the growth in the effective use in the classroom?

As StarBoard Software works on all the available models (Front Projection: FX Series, Interactive Panel: T Series), it depends on how natural the installation is. Considering this, front projection is the best choice for classrooms because the appearance is almost the same as a whiteboard as mentioned.

What are the softwares to use on whiteboards?

Other than StarBoard Software which is bundled with StarBoard products, curriculum specific contents are available from Cambridge-Hitachi (a joint venture company established by Cambridge University Press and Hitachi). Cambridge-Hitachi provides wide-range of products on Maths, Science, English Literacy and ELT (English Language Teaching) for Primary, Secondary, Higher Education and lifelong learning. As mentioned earlier we provide training on all these softwares with our South Asia partner Foundation e-Learning.

What are the ways forward, in terms of technology, innovation and potential to enhance the teaching learning process?

Interactive whiteboards make teaching and learning more effective. We think that this effectiveness will spread to assignment and assessment, and Hitachi would like to provide a total solution in conjunction with other parties such as Cambridge-Hitachi for all teachers and learners in the future.