People&rsquo:s Access to Knowledge can Transform India

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February 1, 2007

A national drive to ensure access to knowledge and learning can transform India’s potential for development, lift young Indians to new levels of understanding and competence, and make India one of the leading knowledge societies in the world. This is the central affirmation of the National Knowledge Commission in its 2006 Report to the Nation, released recently. The Report was presented to the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, by Commission Chairman Sam Pitroda. This is also marked by the Prime Minister’s inauguration of two national knowledge portals, opening public access to knowledge and ideas on the issues of Water and Energy.

Appointed by the Prime Minister in October 2005 with a three-year mandate, the Commission is assigned to prepare a blueprint for radical improvement of knowledge access, knowledge creation and application, by and for the Indian people. The assignment includes the generation of practical plans for comprehensive improvement of education standards and opportunities at all levels and notably the uplift of vocational knowledge and skills. The Commi-ssion’s initiatives focus especially on youth and children, who comprise 54 per cent of India’s people, and are its vast human resource of talent and potential competence to meet both national and international needs.

The NKC recommendations are wide ranging, taking in their sweep higher education, vocational training, libraries, e-governance, right to education and translations. Each of the recommendations has been crafted to achieve the objective of tapping into India’s ‘enormous’ reservoir of knowledge and prepare the country for the challenges of the 21st century.

According to the Chicago-based chairman of the Commission, ‘While making the recommendations we have been guided by how knowledge will impact the lives of ordinary hardworking people of India. We are conscious that knowledge is about farmers having access to accurate information about water resources, land quality and fertilisers, students having access to schools and colleges of high quality and good libraries, scientists having access to well equipped modern laboratories, industry having access to skilled workforce and people generally having right to information and good governance.’The Report to the Nation highlights key areas where change could significantly improve people’s inclusion and capability in existing and new fields of knowledge use. This would entail reform in education, learning processes, governance, enrichment of knowledge institutions like libraries and centres of research and learning.

A major thrust is proposed in translation across all Indian languages to further knowledge creation and information dissemination. Access to new technologies and services for information provision and the transfer of knowledge is a priority. The commission has already submitted wide-ranging recommendations for action to the Prime Minister, to which the report has now been made public.

Based on a year-long process of consultations with experts and representatives of government, parliament, academia, industry, civil society and the media, the recommendations are based on open and intensive discussion to identify priorities, concerns, and needed action. The Commission Chairman Pitroda expressed the hope that the Report will generate further discussion and debate, so that public participation enriches the Commission’s efforts.

The inauguration of the two national web portals on Water and Energy marks the Commission’s bid to enhance public access to information and knowledge on these two critical development issues. The promotion of web portals on Internet is just one of the Commission’s initiatives to open up knowledge sources and resources for public use.

Evaulating the Web Accessibility of World&rsquo:s Top Ten Universities&rsquo: Home Page

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 1, 2007

While last numbers of colleges Universities and business organisations around the world are adopting e-learning for learners, the website accessibility is becoming of critical importance. This article is the result of evaluating the web accessibility of the World's Top Ten Universities' home pages with the World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0. The analysia of the source code of the individual home page of each selected university was conducted using “Bobby,” a Web-based analysis tool designed to help determine page features that May be inaccessible for students with disabilities. Based on these evaluations, half of the 2006 World's Top Ten Universities' Home Page or five universities of the 2006 Top Ten Universities did not meet all WCAG 1.0, Conformance criteria. There are three universities of the 2006 World's Top Ten Universities' Home Page that meet WCAG 1.0.

The importance of web accessibility for e-learning is an issue that is gaining incresing attention. There are two main reasons supporting the need of evaluating the 2006 World's Top Ten Universities' Home Page. First is, there is no clear database or collection of e-learning web sites in the global rank. However, the Times Higher Education Supplement has published World University Rankings annually from 2004 to 2006. The third edition was published in October, 2006. The World University Rankings report came from a survey, which focused on many aspects such as research, teaching and international expectations of universities around the world. The second reason is the 2006 World's Top Ten Universities are in countries that declared legislation related to web accessibility. Seven of the 2006 World's Top Ten Universities are in the United State (U.S.) and three universities are in United Kingdom (U.K.). Currently both U.S. and U.K. have policies involving web accessibility.

Using 'Bobby' to evaluate web accessibility

This study focuses on evaluating conformance to accessibility standards based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 1.0 by the automated tools, Bobby. The reason for selecting “Bobby” as the only evaluation tool for this study is because Bobby is a free web accessibility testing tool designed to generate reports of accessibility and encourage compliance with existing accessibility guidelines, including Section 508 of the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and the WCAG 1.0. The usefulness of Bobby confirmed that it reduced time for automatic testing of 14 guidelines, which include 65 checkpoints of WCAG 1.0. In addition, Bobby is free from CAST, the Center for Applied Special Technology. Bobby has been recommended for web developers as a first step to ensure accessible Web page design. Bobby might be used only as a tool for checking completion of three levels of conformance, Priority 1 or “A”, Priority 2 or “AA” and Priority 3 “AAA”.

The evaluation has focussed on determining the strong inaccessible features of the selected web sites of World's Top Ten Universities.

Ranking the web accessibility of university websites

The results discussed in this report are based on an evaluation conducted on October 30, 2006.The home pages of selected universities May have changed since that time. The results of the evaluation can be categorised into four groups as is explained in the figure below.

Cambridge University is the only university whose home page reached the Conformance Level “AAA”. Oxford University is the only university whose home page reached the Conformance Level “AA”. There are three universities, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and Stanford University, whose home pages reached the Conformance Level “A”

The first group is the home page that reached the Conformance Level “AAA”: all Priority 1, 2, and 3 checkpoints were satisfied. Cambridge University is the only university in the first group. The second group was the home page that reached the Conformance Level “AA”: all Priority 1 and 2 checkpoints were satisfied. Oxford University is also the only university in the second group. The third group is the home page that reached the Conformance Level “A”: all Priority 1 checkpoints are satisfied. There are three universities in the third group, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and Stanford University. The fourth group is the home page that did not reached the Conformance criteria. There are five universities in the fourth group, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley, Imperial College London and Princeton University.

Common obstacles to web accessibility

Based on the levels of conformance of WCAG 1.0: Priority 1 (A), 2 (AA), and 3 (AAA), the top three mistakes that occurred at each level are discussed below.

The most common mistake for Conformance Level “A” is '1.1 lack of alternative text for all images' on the home pages of both Harvard University and California Institute of Technology. The home page of Princeton University also had similar errors – '12.4: lack of alternative text for all image-type buttons in forms'. The home page of Imperial College London has different points of mistakes regarding the frames: '6.2: each FRAME must reference an HTML file and 12.1: give each frame a title'.

The most common mistake for Conformance Level “AA” includes two checkpoints that are '3.4: use relative sizing and positioning' and '9.3: make sure that event handlers do not require use of a mouse' on the home pages of six universities. The error 3.4: occurred on home pages of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley and Imperial College London. The error 9.3: occurred on home pages of Yale University, Stanford University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University.

The second common mistake for Conformance Level “AA” include two checkpoints that were '12.4: explicitly associated with controls and their labels with the LABEL element using relative sizing and positioning' and '13.1: Do not use the same link phrase more than once when the links point to different URLs.' on the home pages of five universities. The mistake of 13.1 occurred on home pages of five universities: Harvard University, Yale University, Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley and Imperial College London. The mistake of '12.4: explicitly associate form controls and their labels with the LABEL element used relative sizing and positioning' occurred on home pages of five universities: Yale University, Stanford University, California Institute of Technology, University of California, Berkeley and Princeton University.

The third common mistake for Conformance Level “AAA” is '5.5: provide a summary for tables' on the home pages of five universities. The error 5.5: occurred on home pages of Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University, Harvard University, California Institute of Technology and Imperial College London.
In this new 21st century, large number of college's universities and business organisation around the world are to adopting e-learning for all learners which included students with disabilities. Thus, the standard for e-learning must consider web accessibility issues. This experimental study assumed that the visitors to all universities web sites are primarily the students including the students with disabilities. It also assumes that the home page of universities should be the representative of the universities' web sites. The results from this study validates that the World's Top Ten Universities' Home Pages analysed by Bobby show that the universities from U.K., the Cambridge University easily earned Conformance “AAA”, Oxford University earned Conformance “AA”. Cambridge University is the only university in 2006 that is ranked at the top in the world by peer review score of 100% (O'Leary, 2006). The other three universities from U.S., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Yale University and Stanford University earned Conformance “A” from the validation.
For future studies, the researcher would like to recommend that the evaluation might gather better result quality by combination of the automatic testing of source codes such as Bobby and conducting usability testing by students with disabilities. The combination of testing approach May bring about a clearer understanding of how people with disabilities interact with the web pages, using assistive technologies. The results of this study indicate that any websites that satisfied check points of Priority 1, 2, and 3 might not be very meaningful or significant. The websites have to become more accessible for anyone, anywhere, at any time.

Suggested resources

For up-to-date information on web accessibility – Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) at http://www.w3.org/WAI/. For universities' web developers interested in employ techniques of design accessible web content can learn from the Quick Tips to Make Accessible Web Sites by Henry & Popolizio (2006). The Quick Tips on a vinyl business-card-sized reference card, in large print, and in Braille are available at no charge, up to 500 cards.

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines version 1.0

Provide equivalent alternatives to auditory and visual content

Don't rely on colour alone

Use mark-up and style sheets and do so properly

Clarify natural language usage

Create tables that transform gracefully

Ensure that pages featuring new technologies transform gracefully

Ensure user control of time-sensitive content changes

Ensure direct accessibility of embedded user interfaces

Design for device-independence

Use interim solutions

Use W3C technologies and guidelines

Provide context and orientation information

Provide clear navigation mechanisms

Ensure that documents are clear and simple

Towards a Goal of Global Excellence

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digitalLEARNING Network

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February 1, 2007

In an environment characterized by rapid advance in ICT, globalization, liberalization, and greater reliance on knowledge for value creation, Malaysia has planned to leapfrog into the post-industrial age by leveraging ICT as a strategic lever for national development and global positioning. Malaysia had achieved its independence in 1957. Since then the country has implemented nine five-year economic development plans. Believing in the philosophy that economic development should not be left entirely to market forces, Malaysia had focused on the eradication of poverty, restructuring of society, equitable growth and investment in human capital as its key national goals.

The New Economic Policy (NEP), 1970–1990, and the National Development Policy (NDP), 1991–2000, formed the bench-mark of all policy and plans for the country. In 1991, Malaysia launched a program called “Vision 2020’’, which laid out a plan to build a fully developed, knowledge-rich Malaysian society by the year 2020 through the development of the ICT sector and the use of ICT to increase global competitiveness. Lessons from several researches indicate that well crafted government policies can make a difference in a country’s economic and social development. However crafting the right public policy can be a huge challenge, particularly for a developing country. The development of the ICT sector presents a unique opportunity to build technological innovativeness that can accelerate the economic growth. However, it also presents significant challenges of developing a sound technological infrastructure, a highly skilled workforce, economic openness, and broad social participation. Malaysia had setup the National Information Technology Council (NITC) in 1995 to spearhead, the development of information technology in the country. Thisgained further momentum with the development of Multimedia Super Corridor in Putrajaya a high-tech environment and infrastructure for IT companies Malaysia’s leadership recognized the need for a comprehensive policy and cooperative partnership to achieve its development objectives and its ambitious vision. The Vision 2020 liberalized educational policies were introduced leading to a more democratic, privatized, and decentralized educational system. With respect to elementary and secondary education, the country has shifted its focus on the provision of basic education for all to the provision of quality education for all in the 21st century. Changes were also introduced in higher education and training systems, permitting the establishment of private universities and branch campuses of foreign universities and efforts to provide financial assistance to students. In the non-formal educational sector, there was an increased emphasis on human resource updating and meeting individual and business needs for job advancement and higher wages. At he same time comprehensive policies were developed not only to accelerate the growth of the ICT sector but also to encourage ICT use in various sectors of the economy and development including education

The thrust of higher education
Currently, Malaysia allocates an average 20% of its development budget for education. This amount ranks very high compared to many other countries and reinstates Malaysia’ vision to become a knowledge powerhouse in the region.
In 2004, the government formed the Ministry of Higher Education to oversee tertiary education in Malaysia. The education sector offers a variety of higher educational programs as well as professional and specialised skill courses that are comparatively priced and of excellent quality. In the late 1990s, following the amendment of the Education Act in 1995, The Private Higher Education Act 1996 was introduced. Malaysia has been able to improve its education standard with the support of its private sector over the last couple of decades. While some of this has been in the form of private collaboration for setting up universities others have been through industry-academia collaboration in project-based training programmes. Several major corporations were icensed to run private universities including Telekom’s Multimedia University, Petronas Universiti Teknologi and Universiti Tenaga Malaysia. Two distance learning universities were also created: Universiti Tun Abdul Razak and the Open Univesity of Malaysia. The liberalization of education had also led to the trend of reputable universities from the UK and Australia setting up branch campuses in Malaysia. These include, Monash University, Australia, The University of Nottingham, United Kingdom, SAE Institute, Australia and Swinburne University of Technology, Australia. Currently, Malaysia has 72 public tertiary education institutions, which comprises of 12 universities, 6 university colleges. For private tertiary education institutions, Malaysia has 11 universities, 11 university colleges, 5 branch campuses and 532 colleges. Atpresent the total number of students registered in tertiary institutions is about 732,000 and expected to be doubled in the year 2020. After the vision 2020 was formulated, al universities in Malaysia are urged by the government to focus more on the fields such as science and technology.

Internationalisation of Higher Education
The Private Higher Education Act of 1996 allowed many private colleges in Malaysia to offer programmes whereby the student does part of his degree course in Malaysia and part of it in the other institution, this method is named “twinning”. Thus students can do their foreign bachelor’s degree programmes at these colleges in Malaysia, which have an interinstitutional collaborative arrangement with host-universities from overseas. Universities from USA, Canada, Australia, France, Germany and New Zealand offer twinning,

India

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February 1, 2007

Kalam calls for World Knowledge Platform

President A P J Abdul Kalam has called for a World Knowledge Platform, comprising renowned scientists, ‘to ensure development of people and participating nations’.

During his visit to Singapore, the Philippines and the Republic of Korea, he had put forward the concept of ‘World Knowledge Platform’, aimed at integrating the core competencies of the partner countries to develop knowledge products. The World Knowledge Platform May take up issues- ICT , Energy, Agriculture and Food Processing, Water, Healthcare, Infrastructure, Materials. The World Knowledge Platform would also evolve a virtual design centre with the participation of collaborating countries.

India gets Creative Commons chapter

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay is setting up a chapter of Creative Commons with the aim of providing easier access to educational and other content.

Creative Commons offers a content licensing system that gives copyright owners the option to reserve only some of their rights. The organisation was founded in 2002 by Lawrence Lessig, a law professor at Stanford University, to make more creative work available legally to others to share and build on.

In the first phase, the Creative Commons licenses are likely to be more attractive for educational content than for India’s large film industry, popularly known as Bollywood. People working in education and government-supported research in India are far more open to exploring new concepts such as Creative Commons. The Indian chapter of Creative Commons is already working on drafting versions of licenses that are more in tune with Indian culture and the legal system.

Applications of EAMCET to become online

The Government is toying with the idea of allowing students appearing for Engineering Agricultural and Medical Common Entrance Test (EAMCET) and Integerated Common Entrance Test (ICET) this year to download application forms from the web and also register online. However, they have to send the hard copies of the applications to the respective convenors.

The convenors of EAMCET-2007 and ICET-2007 would prepare a concept note on this and based on their report a decision would be taken soon. The issue of submitting application forms online was also discussed with the State Bank of India authorities and the ESeva officials but nothing concrete came out.

C-DAC launches open source enterprise software applications

The Center for Development of Advanced Computing (C-DAC) has launched five new open source products, including a directory of open source projects, a network security tool, and a supply chain management solution for SMBs.The five products are Bharat Operating Systems Solutions (BOSS), Network@Guard Enterprise Edition, Area Traffic Control System (ATCS), e-SAVYA and Bangla-Assamese-Manipuri Speech Corpora.

Pune University goes digital

The University of Pune (UoP) will bring one single digital platform in all its 408 affiliated colleges across the three districts, Pune, Ahmedabad and Nashik by using existing satellite, broadband and other terrestrial network. The University panel is planning to connect all colleges in three terms of component video, voice and data. The project named Triple Connectivity Project (TCP) will include various features like virtual classroom for students, teachers and student friendly measures like online application and admission procedures.

AP to forge ties with MIT for open source software

The Andhra Pradesh government is forging ties with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), United States, for collaboration in the areas of e-governance, data standards and service-oriented architecture. MIT will provide funding and technological assistance for developing and promoting different software components including an open source platform.

To encourage the IT sector, the government is also planning to extend its IT education programme for students to regular degree colleges. Currently, there are 86 such centers covering 240 engineering colleges. This year, this has been extended to degree colleges in four districts – Kadapa, Warangal, Ranga Reddy and Vizag.

Orissa promotes Mid-day-Meal scheme in schools

The State Government is trying to keep their eye on Akshaya Patra model of mid-day meal (MDM) scheme in Orissa, India.

Bnagalore based voluntary organisation Akshaya Patra Foundation (APF) has started the programme in Puri, Orissa. The Orissa Government has decided to put the model of MDM programme in other districts also after the success of programme in Puri. APF is feeding about 2800 school children daily in 190 primary schools of Puri. The State Government has invited APF to partner with it in implementing the MDM programme. Now, Government is providing food to 500 children in Government schools.

Kerala to set up higher education council

Kerala government will soon set up a higher education council for addressing the problems that are being faced in the higher education sector.

The information to this effect was provided by State Education Minister M. A. Baby. The minister also disclosed that the government is contemplating of instituting scholarship scheme in the state education to encourage talented and meritorious students.

Kerala plans technical university

A new technical university is to come up in Kerala as part of the government’s attempt to overhaul the educational sector.The proposed university will be the umbrella body for all science and technological institutions in the state. The government also wants to convert 104 government schools as model institutions with the full support of parents, teachers and students.

IIM-A lines up string of foreign tie-ups

Some internationally acclaimed B-schools from around the world will soon tie up with IIM-Ahmedabad for student and faculty exchange programmes, apart from sharing modules and case studies. Among them is Columbia Business School, which will tie up with IIM-A for student exchange programmes and case research. Many international colleges and institutes have been showing interest in collaborating with IIM-A in the last few months.

India’s education budget about three times less than defense
Planning Commission of India announced the increment in allocation of education funds by 2% of India’s GDP which was INR 24,115 crore (6.70 billion US$) whereas the defense budget at the same time was INR 83 crore (19 billion US$).
The defense budget announced for next fiscal year by the Indian Finance Minister P Chidambaram by an increase of 7% stood at INR 89 crore (20.11 billion US$). According to a press report, the Planning Commission of India said fund allocation for the education sector would have to be raised to six percent of the GDP in the 11th Plan from the current four percent.

Rajiv Gandhi Technical University launches website to connect students with administration

The Rajiv Gandhi Technical University (RGTU), India is planning to launch website which will offer students to get in touch with authorities directly. The administration is aiming to establish a better understanding between students and authorities to help students to sort out their problems regarding educational and other matters.
The website will see the students of all parts of the state. The website will help the students to view forth their complains regarding academics and other administrative problems.
Madras University initiates digital record system for examination
The University of Madras is planning to use digital encoding and encryption of examination answer sheets to prevent cheating.
The university administration is establishing e-Governance initiatives in university campus. . The University administration is talking with HCL technologies to set the modalities. The digital records of all mark
sheets would be stored in future for next 10 years.

i-flex builds DSS for education department of Karnataka, India

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February 1, 2007

i-flex solutions, banking software maker has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Karnataka (India) State Government to build a Decision Support System (DSS) for the state's education department.

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i-flex's Center for Business Intelligence (CBI) is developing the DSS in two phases. The company has developed the DSS, which is helping the Karnataka State Quality Assessment Organization (KSQAO), a part of the Department of Education in analysing the quality of education of around 19 Lac children in 41,000 schools, in around 2100 clusters, in around 200 taluks in 32 districts of the State of Karnataka. The Chief Minister of Karnataka, H. D. Kumaraswamy, has launched the 'Karnataka Schools towards Quality Education' programme on the basis of i-flex's DSS. i-flex is also planning to work with the Policy Planning Unit and e-Governance unit of the Education Department, and provide Project Management Support to implement Information Analytics, Data Warehousing and Decision Support System. DSS system shares the information on the assessment with all stakeholders, parents, teachers, communities and political representatives, to enable collective efforts to work towards quality education in the State.

Read Newspaper on your mobile phone

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February 1, 2007

Now, Indians can enjoy Newspaper on their mobile phones, while on the move. Pressmart, a subsidiary of Bodhtree Consulting Limited, and IMImobile, has announced the availability of mPaper. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The mPaper technology will enable newsreaders to read and access their favorite newpaper content, while they are traveling also. The mPaper technology also allow user to use features like archives and options to search and save news reports and it would be available on monthly subscription. Pressmart, a subsidiary of Bodhtree Consulting Limited, is a new media delivery partner of leading newspapers and magazines published in over 15 languages across 21 countries. IMImobile is a next-generation end-to-end enabler of Mobile Value Added Services (VAS) for mobile operators, media companies and enterprises.

Pressmart will provide mPaper facility in 9 major newspapers of India, including, Hindustan Times (Mumbai and Delhi editions), Deccan Chronicle (Hyderabad and Chennai Editions), DNA, Indian Express, The Asian Age, The Financial Express, The New Indian Express, The Telegraph and Pioneer. Currently, Pressmart is providing content on its e-Publiching products.

According to Sanjiv Gupta, CEO of Pressmart, the company has partnered with IMImobile to deliver new services on mPaper in the future.

Intel, Morocco

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February 1, 2007

Intel Corporation has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Ministry of Education of Morocco to develop the second phase 'Intel Teach Program'. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

This professional development-training programme will provide appropriate information and communication technology, teacher training, relevant content and connectivity in the North African curriculum. MoE and Intel will train 3000 of the education pre-services teachers by using the localised Moroccan version of the Intel Teach training manuals. As a part of Intel's World Ahead Program, the company is investing more than $1 billion worldwide in a broad new programme. The main aim of Intel Teach Program is to help students develop the thinking skills they will need in order to participate and succeed in a knowledge-based economy. The program also incorporates use of the Internet, Web page design, and student projects as vehicles to powerful learning. The program offers strategies to develop digital literacy, creativity, higher-order thinking, communications and collaboration skills.

IGNOU launches smart card system for Indian students

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January 31, 2007

Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) of India is planning to launch a smart card system for Indian students. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

IGNOU will give the smart card system to each student, which will carry information on admission, projects, assignments, attendance, practicals and semester results. The card will student to keep their record on their study activities. According to IGNOU Vice Chancellor V N Rajasekharan Pillai, the e-Initiative will help university to better conduct the courses and monitor students' performance on individual basis. Each student would be issues a smart card with a unique password, which can be used specified computers having the software to read the data. IGNOU has already issued 100 cards on trial basis.

RIHS ties with IGNOU to offer academic programmes in Sri-Lanka

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January 31, 2007

The Regent International Institute of Higher Studies (RIIHS) of Sri-Lanka has partnered with the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU), India to offer its academic programmes in Sri-Lanka from January 2007.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

IGNOU will prepare a comprehensive set of modules for the distance learning system and provide to students. The “IGNOU-RIIHS partnership” allow students to pay their course fees as per the SAARC norms on a semester basis. Further, a sufficient number of contact sessions for each course and other required services including effective counseling will be provided by the RIIHS during weekends. RIIHS believes this partnership provides a marvelous opportunity for Sri Lankans.

Oracle

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January 30, 2007

Oracle has launched its online community learning system 'Think.com' to connect schools across Sri-Lanka. Think.com is designed to connect students around the world and engage them in collaborative, project-based learning using technology.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Oracle's Think.com will provide a safe environment for both students and teachers to collaborate to make learning more interactive and fun. Teachers and students from member schools can enter this password-protected learning community. Currently, the Think.com is available in 8 different languages across 26 countries. Oracle has successfully implemented Think.com in Sri-Lanka and Pakistan. Think.com programme is reflecting the goal to promote collaboration and learning that spans borders. Think.com” turns students into multimedia authors for a global community and allows peers to think and learn together.

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