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A 24/7 Tool for Learning Anywhere Anytime

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Today the whole world faces and recognises the enormous force of information streaming via TV/cable, Internet, MP3, IPOD, radio, books, magazines, newspapers, smart cell phones, and handheld devices.  People live in society of access to everything via the access to web pages and information searches such as google.

So how do we combat Information Overload? The answer is we change the way the message is delivered! How do we change the message delivery system? By Chunking – that is grouping larger bodies of information into smaller, meaningful segments which has certain advantages.

This article describes flash cards in terms of transferring content to pocket-sized cards as well as access to cards by mobile phone along with making own personal mobile flash card system.

 

Flash cards for learning

By definition Flash Cards are fast reading, pocket sized deck of cards that enable individuals, public and private enterprises to quickly tap into the best minds on business, professional development, communications, sales and marketing and host of other important content topics in work, occupation, organisation and or business. Flash Cards change the way the message and medium is traditionally delivered to one using innovative technological mobility tools in the communication age. It provides persons or enterprises to have ready access to information or serve as a learning tool for capacity building to raise their level of competence to perform tasks.

By chunking these flash cards can provide a learning platform for content dissemination that meets the needs of institutions

Corporate Diary

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Indian Internet companies Mercantila, TutorVista getfunding

Two India-based Internet companies Mercantila and TutorVista, catering mainly to customers in the United States, have received US$29.5 million funding from Lightspeed Ventures Partners.

While Mercantila, an online retail venture, has received US$22.5  million funding from LVP, TutorVista, an online tutoring company, has received US$7 million funding from the investors. TutorVista was set up in November 2005 to offer online tutoring. It received a first round of funding of US$2 million from Sequoia India in May 2006.

Lightspeed is looking for more Indian ventures to finance and May invest about US$100 million to US$150 million in India in the next
few years.

Reliance to carry FLAG far and wide

Reliance Communications is all set to expand FLAG Telecom’s global optic fibre network, as FLAG will build the world’s largest IP network over submarine cable systems, over the next 36 months. Called FLAG Next Generation Network (NGN), the project will cater to the telecom needs of over five billion customers across the globe.

FLAG Global Network would have the capability to carry 2.5 billion simultaneous voice calls, 300 million simultaneous webchats, 52 million simultaneous video chats and enabling 20 million students in educational institutions of India to offer e-learning simultaneously. On completion, FLAG Global Network would span over 1,15,000 km by December 2009 taking the total optic fibre assets of Reliance Communications Group to over 2,30,000 km.

New Cisco Academy launched at St Michael’s Foundation

Investment, Industry and IT Minister Austin Gatt has launched the first of a series of five new Cisco academies in Malta, at the St Michael’s Foundation.

The first Cisco academies in Malta were opened in 2002 at the Swatar Training Centre, the University of Malta and MCAST. Through these three academies, some 700 individuals have followed Cisco courses to date.

The Cisco Academy set up at St Michael’s is special, because the school took a brave and innovative step as a secondary school to integrate the IT Essentials curriculum in the full-time ICT curriculum taught at Forms III, IV, and V.

iLink creating Saturday university

iLink Systems Inc. launched a unique Saturday University program (http://blog.ilink-systems.com/default.asp?Display=4) for all it employees in their offices spread across Bellevue (WA), Fairfax (VA) and Chennai (India).

A University calendar was published for the first trimester and it included an unprecedented 76 training hours in that period. Annualised, this works out to 28.5 training days per employee every year; well above the annual training provided to software employees in most organisations.

Subject matter for the training was spread over a wide variety of areas, predominantly based on the latest Microsoft Technologies, but also on building domain competence like business intelligence and soft-skills including communication and presentation skills. Training methodo-logies were also varied including formal training, in-house presen-tations, e-learning and self-study.

Global IT services spending to grow 8%
Global IT services spending is likely to increase at around 7-8 per cent over the medium term to $500 billion in 2007 from $470 billion in 2006.

According to a report by Icra, IT services spending is likely to be driven by strong forecast GDP growth of 3.5 per cent in the US, moderate increase in IT spending in the US, and strong growth in IT spending in emerging markets.

For Indian companies, growth is expected at around 28-30 per cent in the medium terms, driven more by reallocation of corporate budgets from internal to external spending rather than growth in aggregate IT spending.

Although communications products and services represent the largest single category of ICT spending in 2006 with $1.57 trillion, software is the fastest growing category with annual growth of 10 per cent.

Aptech opens training centre in Malaysia

Indian global learning solutions giant, Aptech Limited officially opened its maiden office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At the launch, Aptech also announced the inauguration of a high-end training centre located at Antarabangsa, in the heart of the Golden Triangle in Kuala Lumpur.

Aptech initially plans to offer services & solutions to individuals, corporates and academic institutions in Malaysia and later address the client’s needs across South East Asia. Aptech has been operating in Malaysia in partnership with Human Resource Development Corporation (PSMB) and Cosmopoint since 2002.

Under this special partnership, Aptech has provided high end software development training to over 1000 IT graduates and has an excellent 98% post training job placement record.

The IT outsourcing wave has been driving India’s economic growth and India continues to dominate as the preferred provider for global e-learning solutions. In recent years, the escalating demand for e-learning and certification coupled with the lack of globally-recognised solution providers, has led Aptech to expand rapidly.

Open document format push

IBM Malaysia is taking strides to push the OpenDocument Format (ODF) concept into the public sector. These include educating the various Government agencies of the advantages of ODF, providing suggestions on the ODF migration paths, and helping in solving certain issues that crop up. Last year, Thailand, China and Japan were some of the nations to endorse a position paper from Harvard University that supports software based on open standards. And in June, the Thai government held a summit of many Asian nations which agreed to explore its adoption. India, the Philippines and Thailand are running pilot programs for ODF.

Research company Gartner has predicted that by 2010, ODF will be required by 50 per cent of the governments worldwide and 20 per cent of commercial organisations.

Satyam to set up 2,000 seat development centre in Malaysia

Satyam Computer Services, the country’s fourth largest software exporter, said it will set up a 2,000-seat software engineering global delivery campus in Malaysia.

The company would increase the headcount to 2,000 over the next four years as part of steps to strengthen foothold in Malaysia. The campus would serve as a major technological development and software support facility for its ASEAN, US and Middle-Eastern clients. The campus is in addition to the 100-seater global solution center (GSC) established about three years back.

The GDC would be established along with Malaysias Multimedia Development Corporation (MDEC), which oversees the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) initiative. The current staff strength of Satyam is 150 employees of which majority are Malaysians. It launched its first mass recruitment program for fresh graduates outside India in 2004.

Till date, more than 65 Malaysian engineering graduates have been trained by the organisation and absorbed as full time employees at the global solution center in Kuala Lumpur.

IT grants for United Voice and Prihatin

Those with learning disabilities can now converse more eloquently with a picture-to-speech communicator PDA.  The gadget is one of the technology-breaking projects funded by Samsung Digital Hope 2006.
The Samsung Digital Hope grant programme, which is into its fourth year, recently awarded US$620,000 to 16 organisations from South-East Asia and Australia. Two of the beneficiaries are from Malaysia.  They are Pertubuhan Prihatin Sosial Malaysia’s E-Community Technology Centre for Unemployed Youths, a recipient of the grant for the second consecutive year, and United Voice, which provides social, communication and leadership skills, and forums on issues related to people with learning disabilities.
Pertubuhan Prihatin Sosial Malaysia (Prihatin) was awarded RM255,000 while United Voice received RM34,000. 

world

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Dubai Education Council honours 'I-Teach' graduated teachers

Dubai Education Council honoured 200 teachers of the 'I-Teach' programme. 'I-Teach' is an IT Training Programme for Teachers who have been awarded the Cambridge International Diploma in teaching with ICT.

ICT in primary schools

The Iceland-Seychelles Development group (ISDG), together with local partners, Air Seychelles and Cable and Wireless Seychelles, are collaborating with the Ministry of Education to develop primary school teachers in becoming more confident about using technology and maintaining students' interests in the classroom.

This follows the first round of intensive training in a project to implement Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in primary schools as from next year.  The aim is to ensure that teachers have access to the latest technology to help them in delivering their lessons to improve pupils' learning.

Macedonia announces bold plan for PC access, training

The government of Macedonia has recently announced a massive four-prong approach to beefing up computer literacy.

The Macedonian government intends all primary and secondary students to have a computer within the next two years. Through a programme of computer purchasing, training, Internet access and scholarships to those students who specialise in Internet technology, the government hopes to build its IT literacy and competitiveness.

Although the exact number of computers that would need to be purchased is not yet known, the initial phase of the program would be 150,000 at cost of about 9 million euros for 2007. The total amount just for the first project is expected to reach 20 to 22 million euros. The next two phases of the program will offer every citizen the opportunity for free basic computer training and free Internet access. These are expected to be implemented in Spring 2007 and 2008, respectively.

GEMS Education to develop 'School of the Future'

GEMS Education announced that it has concluded an agreement with Microsoft Gulf that will see the launch of 'State-of The Art Education Solutions' across the network of GEMS Schools in the United Arab Emirates.

The initiative, the first of its kind in the region, will include development of the 'School of the Future', a visionary educational model that is rooted in empowering the school community through continuous, adaptive and relevant learning. The entire programme will be supported through Microsoft certified training for teachers and the installation of Microsoft certified ICT labs.

The 'State-of The Art Education Solutions' will include the launch of learning gateways in GEMS Schools. The integrated framework will provide parents, students and teachers access to online lessons and tutorials.

ETV for schools in Philippines

Ten elementary and high schools in Rizal province in Philippines will soon have access to educational television (ETV) through the joint efforts of the British Embassy in Manila and the local Knowledge Channel Foundation.

The embassy did not name the schools, but noted that Rizal Province was selected as the project site for its contribution to the workforce requirements of the Metro Manila metropolis.

Studies show that ETV increases learning and improves academic performance while decreasing absenteeism among students.

Applied ICT Teaching and Learning Business Portal for Schools

The Assessment and Qualifications Alliance (AQA), the unitary awarding bodies in the UK, and the National Computing Centre (NCC), UK's leading independent IT membership organisation announced that they have formed a partnership to build a unique web-based information portal for schools and colleges which will provide their academic, business and operational functions with access to relevant business case studies and benchmarked IT materials.  

MALAYSIA

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Malaysian ICT market achieves 12% growth in 2006

Malaysia's ICT market achieved the 12% growth as forecasted earlier in 2006 by the Association of the ICT Industry Malaysia (Pikom), compared to an estimated 10% in 2005.  

The most promising industry segment was services; business in the “old-line” segments of hardware, software and systems integration was flat. The market for notebook PCs has grown much faster than for desktop PCs, and there is strong demand for PDA- (personal digital assistant) type products.  Another bright spot in the ICT industry was outsourcing. 

In 2007, ICT market is expected to grow around 13%.  The Government sector should remain the main driver of growth, since the Ninth Malaysia Plan's allocation for ICT projects was double the previous plan's.

Teachers are ICT heroes

Many teachers in Malaysia are adept at Information and Communication Technology and even capable of servicing and maintaining computers in schools.  According to Education Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein, this was clear from the way teachers were able to handle high-tech gadgets like laptops and overhead projectors.

Unemployed IT graduates urged to register with MDeC

Unemployed information technology (IT) graduates have been encouraged to register with Multimedia Develop-ment Corporation Sdn Bhd (MDeC).

Making this call, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Datuk Seri Dr Jamaludin Mohd Jarjis said IT companies such as Dell Malaysia and Satyam Computer Services Ltd were expecting to provide job opportunities for local IT graduates.

Dell, which has opened a centre here, expects to produce 1,500 jobs while, Satyam, an Indian based company expects to provide 5,000 jobs over the next five years.

Free job camp for unemployed engineering, ICT graduates

Curtin University of Technology Sarawak Malaysia (Curtin Sarawak) is offering unemployed Malaysian graduates in engineering and information communication technology (ICT) the opportunity to participate in a three-week Job Camp beginning Jan 15 2007.

The job camp, to be held in collaboration with the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Malaysia at the Curtin Sarawak campus, is to enhance ICT graduates' employability. The participants will be exposed to Windows Server 2003 server administrator and will be equipped with up-to-date knowledge and skills for the ICT industry and will receive the Microsoft Certified System Adminis-trator (MCSA) certificate upon completion of the camp. Admission is free but the university is limiting the number of participants to 30.

Govt to extend IPTA students' practical training

The Higher Education Ministry has agreed in principle to extend the practical training of those who had completed their studies at public universities (IPTA), especially those studying information communication technology (ICT), from six weeks to six months.

Higher Education Minister Datuk Mustapa Mohamed said a study showed that students who had a longer practical training attachment had a better chance of getting a job.

More than 600 Universiti Teknologi Mara (UITM) students from Shah Alam, Selangor, Melaka, Terengganu and Perlis took part in the programme which entailed doing community work in the state assembly constituencies of Bukit Bunga, Air Lanas and Kuala Balah.

Mustapa, who is also Jeli Member of Parliament, said students taking up entrepreneurship courses should also attend a longer practical training to produce world class entrepreneurs

Klang Valley to turn MSC

The Klang Valley will be turned into a Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) in stages, according to Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi. 

He said details of the plan were being worked out and more cybercentres would be rolled out quickly in the Klang Valley.  Abdullah said the Government would continue enhancing efforts in information communications technology, and e-education was being carried out in schools.  

Belief Euro-India e-Infrastructures Conference

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

The first European and Indian e-Infrastructures conference was  held at the Grand New Delhi, New Delhi, India from the 14 – 15 December 2006 attracting over 250 ICT research, industrial and academic delegates. The aim of the first of its kind event was to exchange views on how eInfrastructures are currently deployed in both Europe and in India with the objective of analysing how their increasing role is viewed in a business, educational, socio-political & scientific context. The two-day intensive discussions looked at promoting the sustained use of the EU India link (Geant2 connectivity) and its use by new user communities especially.

The conference was organised by the BELIEF (Bringing Europe’s eLectronic Infrastructures to Expanding Frontiers) consortium. The BELIEF partners are from varied backgrounds and areas of expertise spanning Europe, Asia, America and Latin America. The BELIEF Consortium possesses experience in Community development, e-Infrastructure expertise, networking connections & Digital Library development, sharing complementary skills, international resources & links in the areas of e-Infrastructures.

What impact will eInfrastructures have on distance and eLearning? Case studies from European and Indian leaders explored the future of Distance and eLearning in the conference by harnessing the  power of eInfrastructures. M.M.Pant from Planet Edu Pvt (India), Prof. Krithi Ramamritham, from the Bombay IIT, and Prof. Pierluigi Ritrovato, CRMPA-Centre of Excellence for Learning and Knowledge set out to answer many such similar questions. Prof. Ritrovato presented  the European perspective to the session and helped demonstrate to the BELIEF audience how can Europe and India collaborate given their mutual strengths, skills and knowledge in eInfrastructures. The European Learning Grid Infrastructure (EU funded) project concern with use of Grid technologies for supporting the implementation and adoption of pedagogy driven, user centred learning model, enabling experiential based and contextualised learning approaches. Information on the ELeGI software architecture for formal learning, defined as a Domain Specific Grid based Service Oriented Architecture, was provided highlighting the innovative design process followed in order to guarantee the compliant with respect to the pedagogical model
.
Prof.Pant’s presentation  looked at the possibility of linking Indian eLearning initiatives to the European eLearning Infrastructure to deliver high quality learning and prepare youth for the emerging global economy across an Indo-European System. Notable means for this are the ERNET, the EDUSAT, the INFLIBNET on one side and the GSM and CDMA cellular phone networks on the other. With the possibility of 3G on the horizon, there is a huge opportunity for this convergence to rapidly accelerate the growth of Distance and e-learning.

Prof. Krithi Ramamritham provided the eLearning picture in India and the potential of using eInfrastructure through showcasing aAQUA, an online multilingual, multimedia Agricultural portal for disseminating information from and to the grassroots of the Indian agricultural community.

The rich, and diverse two-day programme specifically targeted Industry and Research experts and new users who wish to adopt eInfrastructures effectively within their workplace or research activity. The participants represented a rich mix of industry, government, research and academia, NGOs and European Funded Projects. The participants were mainly from India, besides European and Latin American delegates.

Some of the speakers in Europe included representatives from:CNRS-IN2P3 (France), Copenhagen Business School (Denmark), D – Grid (Germany), Eindhoven University of technology (Netherlands), Enginnering (Italy), GEIE ERCIM (France), GRNET (Greece), INFN Cagliari (Italy), Infra Technologies     (France), KTH (Sweden), Martel GmbH (United Kingdom), Poznan Supercomputing (Poland), RENATER (France), University of Salerno (Italy).

Additionally, officials of the European Commission and of the European Union delegation to India were present to exchange information with delegates on opportunities for mutual, collaborative R&D European funded programmes. Indian representations included members from: Ministry of IT, ERNET India, Avanade Inc, Sullivan University, C-DAC Noida, Centre for Science Development and Media Studies (media partner), DELNET-Developing Library Network, Development and Media Studies, IIIT Bangalore, IIT Bombay, Indian Institute of Statistics, Indian Institute of technology, Institute of Biomedical Technologies, National Informatics Centre, PlanetEDU Pvt.Ltd, Sullivan University.

The visionary plenary and stimulating parallel sessions explored the eInfrastructures. Members could select from the following topics:
• Connectivity and sustainability – new user communities for eInfrastructures (services) between India and Europe;
• Government delivered services – eInfrastructures the current case studies, future plans and visions in India and Europe;
• eHealth – The new opportunities for EU-India e-health cooperation using eInfrastructures;
• Scientific repositories – How can the EU best collaborate with India to create worldwide digital repositories;
• Digital divide – the eInfrastructures role in reducing the digital divide;
• Enabling Business – what impact will eInfrastructures have on business in India;
• Distance and eLearning – harnessing the power of eInfrastructures;
• Mobile Grid – the convergence of eInfrastructures, mobile and Grid technology.

Some Highlights of the Conference

EUIndiaGrid Project Session: The EU-IndiaGrid (www.euindiagrid.org) project session discussed priorities for training and interoperability between EGEE and Indian Grid infrastructures; and explored possibilities of pilot applications for this new infrastructure support project.

Belief Conference Promotional Zone: This Promotional Zone displayed highly relevant documentation published by the European Commission and ERNET. The focus of this promotional area was innovative Grid-enabled technologies and e-Infrastructures developed or being developed by Europe and India; national and international initiatives aimed at facilitating the adoption of these new, more powerful resources, intensifying collaboration between the two regions and spurring innovation for mutual benefit.

Get In Touch Sessions: BELIEF offered all delegates the chance to participate actively in the conference and learn about the activities of various projects as well as FP7 opportunties. Each Session comprised a series of 10-minutes presentations focusing on project activities and ideas for eInfrastructure funding under FP7. The EuroIndia-IT project was on hand to offer expert advice on future opportunities under FP7 to foster further collaboration between India and Europe.

The Global Classroom Connection

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Do you remember the go-go days of the Dot COM boom? I do, very well. Living in the heart of the digital explosion in Northern California it was impossible to avoid. Getting bombarded from every avenue with talking heads claiming that “nothing would ever be the same,” that every idea, every product, every thought ever valued before was now history and the world had shrunk to a global village where everyone was but one click away from everyone else. At the time I found myself getting more and more irritated at a story that while exciting and glittering with new possibility was just as obviously at very best, just an utterly wild exaggeration.

My own interest was in the Global Village part so I decided to do a little research to find out exactly how connected we all were. The results of that research were depressing. Despite all the growth of the Internet and even all the efforts to build e-learning sites and communities what we found was that while the fact of the Internet created the potential for a true Global Village, the reality on the ground was something else entirely.

For all the hype and marketing, the “Internet Explosion” was essentially restricted to first world countries and the very wealthy segments of the population in other parts of the world. For most part the real villages of the world were not only bypassed but not even a consideration. At that point I started wondering just how digital technology could be employed to really create a Global Community. How, in other words could we use this supposedly revolutionary technology, to being to empower the most un-empowered individuals, the youth of the world.

That question sent us on a two-year exploration of what was being done and what could be done. The result was the founding of the Global Classroom Connection. What we discovered was that while a lot of people and organisations were sincerely trying to use the Internet to reach and empower youth, their efforts were almost always constructed on a “build it and they will come” structure that mirrors the Dot Com business models but that has proven to be utterly ineffective at achieving any meaningful results in the education venue.

We discovered that the GCC programme dovetailed neatly with some of the highest educational priorities of most school systems across Asia. Specifically, the promotion of ways to learn and practice English as a foreign language; implementation of positive ICT programs; and exposing their students to the global community

It turns out “they will come” only after they have already reached a level of technical sophistication (not to mention language proficiency) to comfortably surf and decipher the available options. For the majority of the youth in the world that level of technical and language proficiency is years, if not decades, away. The result is that the much-heralded Global Village turns out to be little more than a cruel joke that privileged people wanted to believe because it glossed over the much more disturbing reality of the digital divide. Yes, the Internet opened the possibility for leveling the playing field, but the reality was that without a wholly different approach, the same old divisions remained with the wealthy privileged few reaping all the benefits and the vast majority of the world’s population still struggling to play catch-up.

We started from there and asked the two fundamental questions: if the normal Internet model doesn’t work how can you reach the young people of the world and how can you get them into a robust cross-border dialogue? Everything we have done since then was built around trying to answer those questions and construct a model that could not only succeed but succeed on a truly massive scale.

The first thing we realised is that to get students really communicating we had to create small digital communities that would have the time and opportunity to actually get to know each other. Just connecting youth to the larger Internet community was not, by itself going to have such a significant impact.

That world is just too big, too diffuse and too dominated by the already tech savvy predecessors. Secondly, if you just give young people access to computers and the Internet without also giving them something compelling to do most will end up playing video games more than anything else. Finally, we realised is that if we really wanted to include as many young people as possible including and indeed with a particular emphasis on youth in the underdeveloped world, they would not come to us, we would have to go to where they are and where they are is in school.

Once we had figured that out the core of our strategy became clear: the digital communities had to be based on already existing youth communities, the millions of classrooms around the world. Connecting those classrooms through encrypted joint websites would give us a very flexible vehicle within which the students could communicate safely, freely, and robustly, and at the same time would give teachers a very powerful tool to direct students in cross border understanding and exploring of jointly determined curriculum.

We began piloting the GCC in Asia and in the United States in 2003 and quickly discovered both the benefits of the program and the obstacles that needed to be overcome. The greatest benefit was simply student enthusiasm. Students in virtually every classroom participated enthusiastically and reported back a very high level of interest and excitement at being able to communicate regularly and directly with peers in another country.

From an institutional point of view we discovered that the GCC programme dovetailed neatly with some of the highest educational priorities of most school systems across Asia. Specifically, the promotion of ways to learn and practice English as a foreign language; implementation of positive ICT programs; and exposing their students to the global community. In every classroom we piloted the programme we were met with real enthusiasm and very active participation.

It turned out that the biggest obstacle the GCC would face in the short run would be overcoming teacher fear of technology. Most teachers in Asia did not grow up with computers and are understandable less than comfortable with the technology. When we introduce them to the GCC they are initially very skeptical. To overcome this problem we made the web building software incredibly easy, so easy that someone with no computer experience at all can learn in less than five minutes. That has helped but the resistance is still there. Of course with the younger teachers who are more familiar with computers the reaction is exactly the opposite. Young teachers instantly understand the concept, get very excited and are immediately thrilled to join in.

Since initiating the program we have run a number of excellent pilots in Thailand, Japan, Malaysia and the Philippines and made some serious progress particularly in both the Philippines and Malaysia. In the Philippines the GCC is partnering with the Gilas Project which is connecting high schools to the Internet while the GCC is then giving those high schools the option of getting instantly connected to classrooms in other countries. In Malaysia, the GCC is one of the “international” options that will be offered throughout the school system beginning with this coming school year. We are also making the program available in both Thailand and Japan for inter-country connections in their own languages.

We are also in the formative stages of cooperation in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei and parts of China and working hard to get the funding to allow us to expand rapidly throughout Asia. The long-term plan is to establish a solid network of connected classrooms in Asia before branching out to the rest of the world.

In the long run, we hope to build a truly massive network of the worlds youth which will not only allow students to connect with their peers in other countries on a regular basis throughout their school career, but will also provide a platform for youth to share their hopes and dreams and perhaps even begin their own programmes and initiatives. In the history of our world youth has always been the most un-empowered segment of society.

The GCC model opens the possibility of changing that once and for all and giving our young people both a more sophisticated and deep understanding of the world in which they live and an opportunity to have their own input into the directions we will move.

The GCC is a nonprofit and like many nonprofits the single biggest obstacle we have faced so far is raising the funding necessary to allow us to grow to a level where the program will be self-sustaining. Every possible funders we approach gets very excited at the long term vision, loves the program itself and is very impressed with the rapid and solid progress we have made, but then apologizes and explains that our program is not within their “category” for funding. That is of course always true since what we are doing is quite unique and so far we have not found a funder with the vision to step outside their categories and assist us but we are working hard at it and have confidence the support will come soon.

We are also in the formative stages of cooperation in Indonesia, Vietnam, Brunei and parts of China and working hard to get the funding to allow us to expand rapidly throughout Asia. The long-term plan is to establish a solid network of connected classrooms in Asia before branching out to the rest of the world

Knowledge Finder

The COL knowledge finder service is the place to find documents on open and distance learning. The COL knowledge finder indexes about one million documents on education and development from selected websites related to education and development. It is operated by Commonwealth of Learning. New documents are added regularly as are “dead links” removed. The contents of this virtual library includes documents from around the world and aims to support and enhance the work of learners, educators, administrators and policy makers.

Search for:

http://www.colfinder.org/ocw/index.jsp Free Open Educational Resources (OERs) http://www.colfinder.org/public/index.jsp Complete Library of Resources (about 1 million documents)

The COL knowledge finder is the optimum technological tool for “mining” and refining the resource base of open and distance learning information repositories available through the Internet. This knowledge finder service is designed for open and distance-learning practitioners. It searches the majority of well-regarded sources of information in open and distance learning from a central location and provides tools to organise the information gleaned. Searching can be as easy as typing in a keyword or phrase. COL also offers this powerful tool to assist users in identifying information on the priority international development goals like poverty alleviation, health and education for all. The complete list is accessible on the search page.

Mark Your Calendar

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

january

linux.conf.au
15 – 19 January, 2007
Sydney, Australia
http://lca2007.linux.org.au/

iLearn Paris Forum 2007
30

Promoting Critical Tinking Skills

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Internet has created a new medium for education known as “online learning” which enables “digitised information”, accessed by a wider society. Online learning allows learning to be tailored to meet the student's needs and improve the interaction between instructor and student. The concept of online learning provides a bridge between the physical distance instructional resources and expertise and students who, for certain reasons May be of access to these resources.

According to Totten, Sills, Digby, & Russ (1991) online discussions allow students to share their knowledge that enables them to take responsibilities for their own learning, and thus become critical thinkers.

Background of the study

This research focuses on measuring the participation and critical thinking among Fundamentals of Networking class students. The framework for this study is based on the theory of “community of inquiry” by Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, (2001). This framework for a community of inquiry consists of three overlapping core elements: social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence. Garrison, Anderson, & Archer, (2001)

Among these three elements, cognitive presence is the central to successful higher education learning experiences. “Cognitive presence presented is the extent to which students are able to construct meaning through sustained communication” Garrison et al. (2000). Within this framework, critical thinking falls under cognitive presence. This study is an analysis of level of critical thinking took place as defined in Practical Inquiry Model phases that are triggering event, exploration, integration and resolution (Garrison et al. 2001).

This study is aimed to answer the following research question: How does online discussion assist students to develop critical thinking?

Online discussion is growing as a tool that could provide opportunities for teaching and learning beyond traditional classroom setting. This article presents a study on a group of four “Fundamentals of Networking” subject students to analyse the usage of online discussion in assisting them to encourage critical thinking. Blackboard Learning System that provides a platform for online discussion was used in this study. The result indicated that online discussion is a useful learning tool in encouraging students to “speak” and exchange their opinions. The author finds online discussion board an ideal learning tool for teaching and learning as the new age Information and Communication Technology, the Internet provides limitless information for students to analyse and post quality messages.

Rationale of the study

Jonassen et al. (1995) based on his study found that teachers control 80% of classroom discussions whereas in computer conferencing such as discussion board, instructors only contribute between 10-15%. (p. 14). Keeping this in mind, the current study designed to allow students interact online with their peers to share their ideas on a particular topic. The focus of the study would be on student led discussion whereas teacher does not play any role but just to guide the students to wrap-up up the discussion during the lecture.

Asynchronous discussion allows students to do some critical thinking and hence express their own opinion. Although more time May be required, students are given a chance to familiarise themselves with others' ideas and then develop a better response from them. Walker (2002) pointed out that using asynchronous discussion to stimulate critical thinking could be very challenging. As such he suggested integrating various learning styles by using sound, music, pictures, graphics, and simulations that can stimulate creative and critical thinking.

Text base asynchronous online discussion is the only style used in this study.

Classes' met on an online discussion sessions are held for two weeks, between weeks three and four. During this week students are required to join the online discussion replacing the traditional classroom discussion. The discussion will be conducted using discussion board available in Blackboard, a Learning Management System software used by Sunway University College.

For the purpose of this study, every group member is given a role and one of the members played the role of a leader. The next step is allocating a problem base question to the group in the discussion board. The instructor in early week 3 posted the question. Each student is then required to post discussion base upon their role also to respond to their group members. As this is a group work, each member of the group is required to help each other to solve the problem.

Critical thinking in online discussion

Discussion started in week 3 of the semester. In total there were seven groups that took part in this online discussion. The discussion started with “off-task” messages before moving into more active posting at a later date. This group posting are quiet consistent. Even though from 28th Jan  2006 to 5th Feb 2006 was a semester break, these students still able to contribute their ideas while being at home. This would not have been possible in a classroom discussion environment.

Online Discussion
Online learning tools such as discussion board provide many ways to increase communication between students and instructor. Rossman, (1999) concluded that communication using asynchronous postings to the discussion forum allows students to post at their convenience. Students are able to take time to read the messages, have deep thought and understanding about it before responding with valuable and mind provoking responses.

It appears that in case that asynchronous online discussion allowed most of the students to participate at a time appropriate to him or her whereas in a face to face discussion would never have this many messages especially when time is limited. All students were given equal chance to contribute their ideas and share their knowledge with their peers. Some students who hardly speak in classroom, have posted 12/13 messages over the two weeks. Marks could be the main motivator for this.

Online discussion encourage active participation

The number of messages posted and read was gathered from the Black-board system and added to get the total. In total there are 47 messages posted over two weeks. The average number of posts per student was 11.75. The length of total messages is 2291. In a group of 4 students, these results indicate a high level of participation, which might not have been achieved in a typical classroom discussion setting.

The self-pace environment that online discussion offers allow students to post quality messages, which shows that deep learning, took place. In total, the messages are read for 602 number of times. This shows that students have read the messages many times and this gives them an opportunity to increase their knowledge. Whereas, for discussion that takes place in classroom there will be no way to access or read it on their own pace and time.

The analyses of messages revealed that the quality of messages posted gets better in second week of the discussion whereas in week one students spend time introducing themselves, exchanging contacts and assigning of roles. In week two, critical thinking skills such as explo-ring, integrating and later on applying the ideas into real world took place.

Most of the time, these students post their message at at night. This is not possible for classroom discussion. The above example shows that active participation happen regardless of time in online discussion.

Findings and discussion

There are four phases of PIM to measure level of critical thinking. All messages were analysed on these entire four categories.
Higher number of messages in resolution phase could have been reached if instructor interfered and facilitated the discussion. McLoughlin & Luca (1999) found that when instructor interferes in the discussion, he is able to guide the students into a higher level of critical thinking.
Quality of messages improved rapidly in Week Two, as students were able to discuss and understand the given task better. It also helps them to have intense thought before responding with mind provoking responses.
Evidence from messages posted in Week Two shows that students have improved their writing skills as well. Discussion board helps student improve their writing skill. Cohen and Spencer (1993) as cited by Greenlaw (2003) commented that writing is essential for critical thinking as it allows student to build arguments.
Students that fail to attend lectures were still able to take part in the online discussion. They can still grasp the knowledge that they miss in class by reading the messages posted in the online discussion board. In this study the high number of messages read (602 times) shows that the students spend a lot of time reading message. This is supported by Greenlaw (2003) who commented that students would not miss the discussion as they can observe the flow of discussion anytime, anywhere without attending class.
The design of task given in this discussion is also another crucial issue for the success of online discussion. Each student assigned a role and grouped in a group of four. This gives them pressure and an impression that their contribution is very important to ensure the success of the group.

Future recommendations

Students were able to reflect their thoughts better with the guidance from Instructor. As such, instructor should involve himself in sending prompt replies to student to guide them to post high quality messages. This will be another motivating factor for students as it gives them the impression that the instructor checks each of their messages in detail.

Information collected from the messages posted by students is not sufficient to check whether critical thinking took place. Additional information from questionnaires from students would give a better insight to the researcher to evaluate the effectiveness of discussion board in building critical thinking

Practical Inquiry Model measuring cognitive presence (adapted from Garrison et al., 2001)
Descriptor Indicators
Phase 1 Trigger events Recognising
Sense of puzzlement the problem
Phase 2 Exploration Information exchange
Suggestions for consideration
Brainstorming
Phase 3 Integration Connecting ideas, synthesis
Creating solutions
Phase 4 Resolution Vicarious application to real word
Testing solutions

Critical Thinking

According to Cohen and Spencer (1993) as cited by Greenlaw (2003), writing is an important element for critical thinking. It allows the students to learn and develop arguments that are supported by logic and facts. While Jonassen (1995) cited that, critical thinking involves three general skills, evaluating, analysing and connecting, it also allows students to  construct new knowledge that empowers them and encourages critical thinking.

Lengthy messages might not favour some students as it takes long time to read and understand. As such, students need to be made clear on the length of messages they can post. Discussion should include other features such as images, videos, animation rather than plain text. This will help students communicate their ideas easily and creatively. This is supported by Walker (2005) who found that integrating various learning styles in online discussion board encourages critical thinking.

Discussion board- the ideal learning tool!

Flexibility in time that online discussions allow students to critically analyse their message before posting it. Therefore, discussion board would be an ideal learning tool for teaching and learning as information are always overflowing with the arrival of Internet.  

School

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Cambridge University Press ties up with RiiiT to promote ICT education for schools throughout South Asia

RiiiT conceptualised a unique innovative ICT Education for K-12 and is named as IT Kids. IT Kids is a special package of teaching material, to assist students and teachers in honing ICT Skills.

Cambridge University Press, impressed with the concept of IT-Kids joined hands with RiiiT for publishing, distribution and marketing to cover rest of India as well as the whole of South Asia.

IT-Kids has been successfully tried and tested in Karnataka. RiiT not only provide end-to-end ICT education to schools but also provide ICT solution for school Administration and training teachers on ICT. In stage-1, the child and teacher is supported with conventional books; in stage-2 digital aid is being provided, where in the teacher is supported with classroom presentation, workshops/seminars, orientation programs, session plans, In stage-3, Computers based tutorial and online crossword puzzle, quizzes, memory games, animations & walkthroughs. In stage-4, e-learning content is provided with more through images, audio, simulation and multimedia.

‘Emotion software’ spots distracted students

Tutoring software that knows when students’ are losing interest in a lesson and can adjust to keep them on track is being tested by researchers in China and UK.

The system keeps track of students’ attention by measuring physical signs of emotion. It then varies the speed and content of a lesson based on an assessment of their level of interest. Ultimately, it could improve electronic tutoring, say the researchers, thus helping developing countries deliver education to remote areas that lack educational institutions.

To use the new learning software, a student wears a ring fitted with sensors that monitor heart rate, blood pressure and changes in electrical resistance caused by perspiration. This data is transmitted via Bluetooth to a computer that assesses the wearer’s emotional state. It judges if they are interested and keeping up or bored and struggling.

For example, it can slow down or change topic if a student seems disinterested, or appears to be falling behind. The software might also try a different mode of delivery, switching from text to video. It can also learn that certain types of material are more stressful to the student than others. This could help the system determine which material is most difficult for a student and requires further focus.

Students from NE States steal the show

School students from the north-eastern Indian states stole the thunder at the finals of a digital art competition conducted by software training major NIIT at the “Kidex” exhibition of Confederation of Indian Industry at Chennai Convention Centre.

The winners in all three categoriessub-junior, junior and senior — were from the north and some of them were from Meghalaya and Assam. Some of the winners, such as Bhargob Gogoi and Tanya Gupta from Uttar Pradesh, were flown into Chennai by the organisers only on the previous day of the event and were visiting the city for the first time

Implementation and Strategies for Universiti Teknologi MARA Malaysia (UiTM)

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

The e-Learning Centre (i-LEC) of UiTM was established in December 2005, to serve as the core unit in initiating and implementing e-learning on a campus wide level. The main function of the centre is to implement and provide services to create a learning environment where lecturers provide Web-based contents and online learning activities.  Universiti Teknologi MARA, with fifteen branch campuses spread throughout the country offers indeed vast untapped resources as far as expertise and infrastructure.  This article attempts to describe the University's efforts to embark on e-learning in a big way after a span of only one year of implementation efforts.

In Malaysia, e-learning is no longer  a new phenomenon, but it has not ceased to be a hot topic. It has established itself as an option in all level of education, especially in tertiary education, where it is poised to take a larger role. The diffusion of information and communication technology (ICT) has enabled existing and new institutions of higher learning in Malaysia to offer their educational services to a wider market place and in many instances, beyond geographic locations. The demand for education, on the other hand has been growing so rapidly in the last few decades most particularly among adults.  This phenomenon is closely related to the change from the industry-based economy to the emerging knowledge-based economy, which focuses on the development of the human capital as the major contributor to a holistic development.

Universiti Teknologi
MARA (UiTM)

Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) is Malaysia's premier institution of higher learning that has experienced a phenomenal growth since its inception in 1956. The university has expanded nationwide with 3 satellite campuses, 12 branch campuses, 6 city campuses, 25 franchise colleges and a smart campus for the future. Its formation is based on a vision of outstanding scholarship and academic excellence that is capable of providing leadership in all fields of internationally recognized professional study.

The university has the broadest range of disciplines that any one university can boast of-from hotel and tourist management to accountancy to communication and media studies to medical and health technology, encompassing 25 faculties and 250 academic programmes spread over Science and Technology, Social Sciences and Humanities and Business Management.

Moving some activities online for example tutorials, discussion, announcements and assessment online and out of the classroom not only reduces demands on buildings but also creates efficiencies as digital materials are much faster, cheaper to produce, copy, distribute, adapt and share than other formats anywhere anytime

Today, the university has an enrolment of nearly 100,000 students spread through out the country registered in all the different modes of study and disciplines. UiTM being a pioneer institution of higher learning is totally committed to producing a significant number of Bumiputra professionals who are skilled in a broad spectrum of competencies covering a wide range of industrial and vocational requirements and therefore when given the mandate by the government that UiTM students enrolment will be expected to increase to 200,000 in ten years time, the university responded positively as it will contribute towards development of the human capital and increasing the national productivity of   the country.

E-learning: The new age solution

To respond to the challenge of 200,000 student enrolment and internationalisation of higher education, the management of the university is confident with the potential of the technology, most especially the growing availability of Internet connections. E-learning could be the solution to the growth of the student population for the university within the time given and the promotion of life long learning by taking advantage of the technological opportunity.  

For UiTM, e-learning will create an extended learning environment that supports, complements and enriches face to face classroom teaching and learning for the on-campus programmes as well as distance learning programmes. Now learning can extend well beyond the classroom in a blended learning powered by the virtual capabilities of e-learning. Academics now can put course materials online for students to access and also create online activities and discussion to improve students understanding and encourage deeper learning. Besides, moving some activities online for example tutorials, discussion, announcements and assessment online and out of the classroom not only reduces demands on buildings but also creates efficiencies as digital materials are much faster, cheaper to produce, copy, distribute, adapt and share than other formats anywhere anytime. E-learning is also easier for mature students and post graduate programmes.

 

The distance learning initiative for UiTM began since 1973 with the establishment of the Off Campus School which provides off campus learning opportunities (for certificate and diploma programmes) to individuals aspiring for higher education and improved  qualifications but who are unable to take advantage of traditional modes of education. In 1990 the function and responsibilities of the Off Campus School were expanded to include distance-learning programmes through the use of study manuals and audio recordings. In 1995 the Off Campus School name was changed to 'The Institute of Education Development (InED)' and since July 2000, it began to offer online   programmes (diploma, degree and masters) via the Internet. Currently, the Institute has an enrolment of 8,000 students and has successfully produced 3,000 graduates since its establishment.

The achievements at i-Lec shows 60% of lecturers registered as active instructors and 1600 courses delivered onto the portal accessible to students anywhere anytime by the end of April 2006. Beginning June 2006, data of all full time students has been successfully integrated into the system and through the i-student portal they can access the i-learn portal and course content

With the explosive growth of the Internet, in 1999 the university  began to consider incorporating e-learning into its education offerings and not only limited to distance learning but also to complement on-campus programs. The main challenge was how best to create a potentially powerful learning environment that could enhance full-time on-campus education in the shortest time possible. The university embarked on a pilot project with twenty lecturers from different faculties selected based on their interest and commitment on e-learning and use of technology in teaching. The  platform chosen and used by this pilot group was Lotus Learning Space 5 (LLS 5).  Subsequently two more ICT group of lecturers were trained and efforts were drastically geared towards equipping faculties with technology-enabled classrooms to encourage lecturers to adopt technology in their teaching. However, feedback from the pilot group members was not satisfactory regarding the platform. It was too cumbersome and unfriendly for them and students to get started on their own. The achievement of the project was limited due to infrastructure and software limitations and time constraint to train all lecturers as content developers. After three years, 23 courseware of highly multimedia interactive mode were completed and uploaded online.

Acquiring UiTM e-learning platform: (http://i-learn.uitm.edu.my   

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