Whilst East Asia is close to meeting the Millennium Development Goal of Education for All, in 2004 South Asia still had only 80% of students accessing primary education. But what about the quality of that  education? The UNESCO (2005) report of the sixth meeting of the  working group on Education for All states that 60% of children passing through primary school are still failing  to acquire basic literacy skills. Nelson Mandela is one of the many who has  described education as “the most powerful weapon observed which you can use to change the world” so improving the quality of education is  vital. Does ICT hold the key? What are countries in Asia learning from  each other and the rest of the world?

There is little evidence that  developing countries are making use of the growing body of research and evidence from countries that  have spent many years searching for and trialling successful methods of  implementing technology in education  to improve learning. The rationale for the use of ICT in educational development is also  fuelled by the rhetoric that almost every government around the world believes technology and education  are the keys to competitive advantage. Many countries within  Asia are racing to be at the advent of the technology transformation in their  area, and groups of countries within a    region are working together to  become the global leaders. It is therefore widely accepted that echnology has a real and relevant place in the classroom not just to equip students with the digital

Technology has a real and  relevant place in the classroom not just to equip students with the digital literacy skills needed for the Information age, but also to improve access to understanding through te use of multi-modal representations of difficult-to-grasp concepts. It is important to understand what level and what type of access to Information and  Communication Technology is necessary to raise achievement to justify the expenditure on wiring up schools, connecting them to the Internet and providing the necessary student-PC ratio. This again needs to be coupled with education transformation  process which seeks to align urriculum, assessment and learning opportunities to the needs of the world in which students will live,  work and play

literacy skills needed for theInformation Age, but also to improve  access to understanding through the use of multi-modal representations of difficult-to-grasp concepts. It is also important to understand what level  and what type of access to ICT is necessary to raise achievement to  justify the expenditure on wiring up schools, connecting them to the  Internet and providing the necessary student-PC ratio. However the introduction of ICT is  not enough. ICT needs to be coupled with education transformation which  seeks to align curriculum, assessment and learning opportunities to the  needs of the world in which students will live, work and play and which will  prepare the learners  ccordingly. Harvey and Knight (Transforming  Higher Education, 1996, Buckingham, Open University Press and Society for  Research into Higher Education) provide an excellent description of  education transformation, which includes:  • shifting from teaching to learning  • developing explicit skills, attitudes and abilities as well as knowledge   • developing appropriate assessment procedures  • rewarding transformative teaching • encouraging discussion of pedagogy   • providing transformative learning for teachers • auditing improvement ICT can be a catalyst to support and  accelerate this  transformation and can  educe costs, but not until we change how we make  ffective and efficient  use of this limited resource. Currently  ICT is being used to teach what we already teach and have taught for  decades instead of considering where teachers can specifically make use of  the interactivity and multimedia
capability to help make learning easier and more accessible. The tasks given  to students and the assessment strategies employed still focus on the “what”   ather than on the “how” and the “why”, which does not  necessarily prepare students for the needs of the modern workplace.  The argument is no longer about teachers being the transmitters of  knowledge, and teachers are now positioned within a constructivist notion of “teacher as facilitator”. As  our understanding of cognition and metacognition grows this view of  teaching has taken hold almost globally, yet the rhetoric is far from  reality. In both the developed and the  developing world many commentators perceive technology as the catalyst  that will change pedagogy. However for technology to have that impact,  the educational model that supports a constructivist view of pedagogy must  be viewed as central to the process, which is then supported rather than dictated to by the technology. The  educational model takes a central role and connectivity, technology, content and teacher training are then focused  and aligned to support this model. This idea seems obvious yet it does  not appear to be central to decision making in many countries about  electronic content development and  deployment, or implementation of technology into schools or teacher  training. In the model there are two factors that we rarely take into
consideration in a developed modern society – these are the socio-economic  framework and “basic enablers”. In many countries in Asia the importance of “basic enablers” such as shelter, safety, clean water, sanitation and  adequate food supplies to ensure any modicum of educational success  cannot be underestimated since it is hard to teach students from any  society if they are suffering from deprivation of any of their basic  needs. The socio-economic framework of a society will also dictate whether modification to the  educational paradigm is possible.   here are also socio-cultural factors that affect ICT access and use which include geography  (rural, urban), age, gender and economic status.

It is necessary to explore ways to ensure that the recipient country finds an acceptable solution to adapting the resources sufficiently so students can  gain additional benefits from learning. The same mistakes are being repeated  time and again. I constantly come across country policies for ICT  integration in schools, which are  reminiscent of the efforts of the western world in the 1980s. The wheel  is constantly being reinvented, as if the world is in a time warp. The education ministry works closely with both the ministries of telecom and  ICT, yet the former rarely takes the lead in decision making. There is little  thinking about to how this digital  literacy will be used and how curriculum subjects can also be taught in  this time, although the decision makers anticipated that this will  happen by some means as all teachers are to be trained in the use of ICT.

There appears to be little or no  consultation with other governments and little cognisance taken of international research into the  effectiveness of different models of technology deployment in schools. In  situations like the one above the  government’s budget may be limited, as is so often the case across Asia, and the education ministry wants to achieve equity by making sure the computer-student ratio is the same  across every school in the country. The computer lab may seem the most effective and equitable solution. For  the Ministry of ICT who may well be leading the initiative, this is the  easiest solution technically, so the technology case will overrule any  educational rationale. What may not be considered in initial deliberations  with the Ministry of Education is to replace the idea of labs with  “computers on wheels” (COWs) –wireless carts containing around 15-20 laptop computers. The versatility of such solutions coupled with a limited  umber of data projectors means that  not all computers are in one location with classes allowed in one at a time.  Teachers are able to use a laptop for  esson preparation and personal  productivity and to enhance whole  lass teaching when connected to a   data  projector, or the laptops can be  distributed over a number of classes for use by selected groups of students during the school day.  This debate as to whether labs or laptops are the best solution for  education may soon be obsolete as the computer lab is being overtaken  by the flexibility and falling prices of laptops, while mobile technology is  oving even faster. With the advent  of the  MIT US$100 laptop and other  solutions and increasingly sophisticated internet-enabled PDAs, both developed and developing  countries may start to rethink the best technology solutions and products  for their schools. However if this is to happen in a productive and effective  way that enables education transformation, countries need to have access to the latest information  about what is possible and how it can have a positive impact on learning.

This will enable them to undertake a comparative evaluation of the merits  of each solution, given each country’s existing technology infrastructure  base. One way this can be achieved is through an increase in information  and experience sharing between governments.  At the other end of the scale from basic education is the need to provide students with the relevant vocational  skills needed for an increasingly technological society. In this context  multinational corporations have begun to play a significant role in  educational development. For example, companies such as Cisco  and Microsoft are now offering IT curricula to schools and colleges that  offer opportunities for vendor qualifications and immediate job opportunities in the Knowledge Society. For some this may look like the commodification and takeover of  education by global corporations, whereas others see this as an  opportunity to put relevant curricula into schools that provide students  with some of the 21st century skills not currently being provided by the  formal education system. Additionally, by industry providing the resources  for vocational development,
governments can focus their limited resources on improving the quality of  and access to education and so achieving Education for All.  Overall it seems that there is an  urgent need for greater dialogue to discuss the evidence of the successes and failures of those developed  countries that have found effective ways to really improve the quality of both teaching and learning through  effective use of ICT, whilst ensuring  hat advice can be adapted in ways  that avoid both cultural and technological dissonance.

Unlimited, continuous improvement and successes are the aims of the learning community. Learning is a journey, and has intrinsic merit if moves on in the right direction, thus requiring frequent shifting in   many things. Developing the right paradigm is most important of all. A new triplization paradigm  of learning has  been proposed and  discussed largely in this  article where triplization refers to the process including globalisation, localisation and  individualisation.

In facing the challenges of globalisation and international competitions, there seem three waves of educational reforms in different parts of the world, representing paradigm shifts in redefining the nature and  effectiveness of learning, teaching and integration of Information and  Communication Technology in education.

Three waves of educational reforms integrating ICT
Assuming that education is knowledge delivery and learning is mainly a process of students receiving knowledge and skills from  their previous generation such as teachers and other senior people, the  first wave of educational reforms introduced since the 1980s focused on enhancing ‘internal effectiveness’  of educational institutions. The role of ICT and other technological  innovations in education aimed to   improve the internal performance of educational  institutions, particularly the methods and processes of  teaching and learning.
In the 1990s, as a response to the worldwide success of marketisation  and business management, the second wave of educational reforms  came up which was mainly concerned with interface effectiveness of  educational provision that was often determined in terms of stakeholders’  satisfaction and market
competitiveness. Implicitly or explicitly the role of integrating ICT in  education was to add values to the educational service, enhance the marketability of educational provision, and ensure the process of  learning, teaching, and schooling meeting stakeholders’ expectations.  In the second wave, the greater satisfaction of stakeholders with ICTrich  educational provision represents the greater effectiveness of  integration of ICT in education. In facing the tremendous impacts of  globalisation and knowledge economy at turn of the new century, people began to doubt if the initiatives of the first and second waves are sufficient for revitalising  schooling and pedagogy so as to ensure that the younger generation  can meet the challenges of rapid transformations in such a new era. In  particular, even though the first and second waves of educational reforms  emphasised the role of ICT in delivery of knowledge and satisfaction of  stakeholders, both failed to address some key concerns of sustainable development of individuals and the  society in the future, such as whether the application of ICT can contribute to learners’ sustainable developmentand effectiveness in future and  whether ICT can be used to facilitate paradigm shift in learning and  teaching in a fast changing context of globalisation.    third wave of educational reforms focuses on future effectiveness of education,  efined in terms of the  relevance to the future development of individuals  and the society as well as the relevance to the new paradigm  of education concerning  contextualised multiple intelligences (including  technological, economical, social, political, cultural and learning intelligences) and triplization (an integration of  globalisation, localisation and individualisation) in education  (Cheng, 2005 in New paradigm for re-engineering education:  Globalisation, localisation and  individualisation). Differently  from the first and second  waves, the nature of learning in the third wave is to develop contextualised multiple  intelligences (CMI) of  learners for multiple and  sustainable developments (including technological,  economic, social, political,  cultural and learning  developments) in both local and global contexts.  Paradigm Shift in Learning  According to the previous research, there is a paradigm shift in learning  from the traditional site-bounded  paradigm to the new triplization  paradigm of learning. In the traditional thinking as in the first wave, students’  learning is a reproduction process of the knowledge and manpower  structure to sustain the existing society, particularly in the social   nd  economic aspects. But, in the new paradigm, learning should be borderless and characterised by  individualisation, localisation, and globalisation with the support of ICT  and networked environment. It is a  triplization learning. Individualised Learning: Student is  the centre of education process. Students’ learning should be  facilitated to meet their needs and personal characteristics, and develop  their potentials particularly contextualised multiple intelligence
(CMI) in an optimal way. Individualised and tailor-made  programmes (including targets, content, methods, and schedules)  with the support of ICT for different students are necessary and feasible.  Students can be self-motivated and  self-learning with appropriate guidance, ICT literacy, and
facilitation. Learning is a selfactualising,  discovering, experiencing, and reflecting process. Since the  information and knowledge are accumulated in an unbelievable speed  but outdated very quickly, it is nearly impossible to make any sense if  education is mainly to deliver skills and knowledge, particularly when   tudents can find the knowledge and information easily with the help of information technology and  Internet. Therefore, the focus of learning is on how to learn,  think, and create. In order to sustain learning life-long, learning should be facilitated  as enjoyable and selfrewarding. Localised and Globalised
Learning: Students’ learning should be facilitated in such a  way such that local and global  resources, support, expertise, and network can be brought in to maximise the opportunities  for their CMI developments during learning  process.  Through localisation and  globalisation, there are multiple sources for learning.  Students can learn from multiple sources such as  teachers, experts, peers,  scholars and all types of experienced people inside and outside their schools, locally and globally, not limited to a  small number of teachers in their own schools.  Participation in local and international learning  programmes (e.g. learning activities conducted in the local community;  overseas study visits or language immersion) can help them achieve  the related local and  global  utlook beyond schools. They are  grouped and networked locally and internationally with the  support of various types of ICT networks. It is expected that learning happens  everywhere and is life-long. Education is just the preparation for a high-level  life-long learning and discovery. Learning opportunities are unlimited.  Students can maximise the opportunities for their learning from  local and global exposures through Internet, web-based learning, videoconferencing,  cross-cultural sharing, and different types of interactive and   multi-media materials With thesupport of ICT and networking,
students can learn from world-class teachers, experts, peers, and learning materials from different parts of the world. In other words,  their learning can be a world-class  learning. New vision of teaching:With the  paradigm shifts in learning, there  should be a new vision of teaching that includes at least three major key  components: (1) to facilitate students  to experience paradigm shift towards the triplization learning; (2) to provide  a triplised environment (including a  networked human and IT environment) for students’ selflearning;
and (3) to develop students’ triplised independent learning ability  and contextualised multiple intelligence.
Learning in a networked human and ICT environment
According to the new paradigm, students’ continuous independent learning and development of CMI should be globalised, localised and  individualised with the support of ICT and various types of  international and local networking. Mok and Cheng (A theory of self  learning in a human and technological environment: Implications for education reforms,  2001) has proposed a theory of selflearning  in a networked human and technology environment to show how students’ individualised  self-learning can be motivated, sustained and optimised through the  wide local and international support from the borderless and  networked human and technological environment. This networked environment can create  unlimited opportunities for students’ triplized learning because it  re-defines and optimises (1) the boundary and nature of the  learning context; (2) the  composition of players involved in the learning process; (3) the  format, speed and nature of communication and feedback to learning; and (4) the generation,   management, sharing and utilization of knowledge during the  learning process.

Paradigm shift in application of ICT
Given the paradigm shift in learning,   here is also a corresponding  paradigm shift in applying ICT in education, as discussed above.  Since the traditional paradigm of  the first and second waves emphasises delivering knowledge within the site boundary and satisfying the multiple stakeholders’  expectations in the local community,  the role and effectiveness of ICT in education are very limited. But in the  new paradigm, there is extensive application and integration of ICT in  education that can create unlimited opportunities for students’ learning.  The effectiveness of ICT in education is mainly based on the following considerations that are  completely different from the  traditional thinking: 1. How well can the application of   CT help to globalise, localise and  individualise students’ learning? 2. How well can the application of  ICT maximise students’  learning   opportunities through the locally and globally networked human and ICT environment and various innovative learning programmes?  3. How well can the application of   CT ensure students’ learning to be sustainable as potentially life  long? 4. How well can the application of  ICT facilitate the development of  students’ ability to triplicate their  learning and development?
5. How well can the application of  ICT facilitate the development of a CMI-pedagogical environment,  in which students are immersed and inspired to be self-actualising  and developing CMI themselves? The implications for paradigm shift in applying ICT in education are  substantial. The effectiveness of
applying ICT depends mainly on   hether they can facilitate students to develop themselves successfully in  terms of CMI and ability for triplization in learning

New Age Skills at a 152-year-old School
In 1854, a company of British officers and two American missionaries was formed in Dehra Dun. Concerned for Protestant education for girls, they  solicited the help  of a group of English women to help staff and manage what was to become Woodstock School. The school after a century of its formation,  n 1959, became the third High School outside North America and the first school in Asia to receive US accreditation through the Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools. In 1990, the Association of Indian Universities recognised the Woodstock Diploma as being equivalent to the Indian school leaving examination, thus allowing graduates to enter Indian universities with greater ease. Today, this Woodstock School in the Indian Himalayas is one of the most highly esteemed international schools in South Asia. In recent time, it has placed a priority on its academic programming with
renovations to classrooms and laboratories, introduced innovations into the academics as well as the campus. Woodstock has an important contribution to make education modern, innovative and independent in India, which is facing a
period of significant challenge, change and opportunity. It has the ability in educational terms to bridge ‘east’ and ‘west’, offering a window for India on the best of international educational practice. It provides a broad liberal  education, with the emphasis on innovation, critical thinking, using diverse teaching methodologies and a wide variety of learning resources. Jeffrey Thomas (jeffreythomas@woodstock.ac.in), Academic Technology Coordinator of Woodstock School, Mussoorie UA in India shares the Woodstock experiences of integrating ICTs into the education process, elevating the learning spirit of students of he community

Power School
Woodstock School wasfounded in 1854 in the Landour section of the Mussoorie hill station. An Anglo- Indian English-medium Christian  boarding school affiliated with the Church of North India, Woodstock  this year is educating students from twenty-seven countries. The school  offers both Indian mark sheet and  IGCSE (Cambridge), as well as preparation for the U.S. Advanced Placement examinations. Education for  a World of Difference, with this motto it is constantly learning, and striving  to make Woodstock a better place for learning.  In recent years, the school focused on developing a firm technological  infrastructure, with computing hardware and network wiring throughout the campus. This  momentum is leading to interactive whiteboards, further installations of  data projectors in classrooms, and wireless access on campus. The goal is  to take the academic initiative in best use  of technology. This  emphasis is reflected in the school’s  recent  reorganisation to  assign the task to a  new faculty member  with a position designated  specifically to coordinate academic  technology. The faculties constantly try finding ways of incorporating technology and  computer use into lesson plans. One example is the loaner PC making the rounds – a new ‘tablet’ computer that  interprets English handwriting input, and also eases presentations that use  a data projector. The presenter can draw notations onto the computer  screen, where it will be reflected immediately onto the projector screen,  then get saved onto the school network where students can review  it later.  The school is reviewing course management and portal software and  has selected Moodle, that can streamline the way students interact with teachers and encourage collaboration. A few English literature classes have started to use weblogs to post class notes and essays for mutual commentary. A pilot group of teachers has started ‘moodling,’  distributing homework assignments and receiving presentation files via an  intranet website. Preparing the students for a more technologically saturated world   requires also preparing teachers with the new tools and ensuring that the  tools continue to serve the goal – ‘education for a world of difference’.  Professional development is crucial to the success of these new tools.  Simply placing new equipment on a  teacher’s desk does not constitute  technology integration –consistent and constant professional support  must be provided to ensure that the machines not only turn on, but also fit  into lesson plans, and work as reliably as our pencils and erasers and
calculators.   or several years, Woodstock has required basic computer competency  for graduation, and offered a few courses in computing applications  and computer programming. The International Society of Technology Educators (www.iste.org) provides a basic set of guidelines that
serve to ground Woodstock’s academic technology planning. They  outline six areas of focus regarding technology in education: operations;  ethics; productivity; communications;  research; and problem solving. Each of these areas is further elaborated in  profiles for student age groups, and teachers and administrators as well.  The school is constantly reviewing the course requirements to best fit  technology education into multiple curriculum demands.  The school is also gradually offering more computing resources to students  at residence level, eventually allowing certain students computer access to  the network in order to expand availability at peak demand periods.
As independent study opportunities  increase, and teachers incorporate new technological capabilities into their    esson plans, Woodstock moves  toward greater use of laptops in   lasses, eventually requiring older students to have computers as they prepare for university.  This effort to bring new technology
and better integrate existing technology into the daily academic  life is bearing fruit, as Woodstock  sends its graduates throughout the globe to make “A World of  Difference.”

European Schoolnet,
together with principal partner Young Digital Planet, a developer and publisher of interactive educational software and technologies, invites teachers and schools to submit their ICT projects to the eLearning Awards. eLearning Awards 2006 Schools, educational institutions and  organisations in Europe carrying out primary, secondary or teacher training  education are eligible for the eLearning Awards. Projects created  by individual teachers are eligible.However, all entries should be associated with a school or other  eligible institution. It is possible to nominate a different representative.  National educational content providers and similar, or projects run  by such institutions/organisations are not eligible. Projects that were  awarded eLearning Awards in previous years, projects that are part  of European Schoolnet (EUN) are also not eligible.  Entries should be submitted in a European language. They should   include an informative summary or an abstract in English, German, French,  Italian or Spanish. Evaluation is carried out online, CDROMs  or printed material will not be considered for evaluation. All material to be evaluated should be online from  13 October to 30 November 2006. Winning entries must be kept online  until 31 December 2006. This year’s awards ceremony in Belgium follows those from past  years, held in Lisbon, Stockholm, Geneva, Prague and Paris. A total of •  175 000 in prize money has been awarded to winning projects.  Entries must be submitted via the eLearning Awards website (http:// elearningawards.eun.org/ww/en/  pub/elearningawards2006/index. htm) on or before 13 October 2006.

If we start counting theilliterates, the number is more  in India than any country in the world, but at the same time India has highly competent human resources as well as a strong base in  information and communication technologies (ICT). India has one of the  largest ICT workforces in the world. The country has made major strides over recent  decades, increasing by  six-fold the number of children  enrolled in primary schooling. Still recent government analyses show that more than  25% (59 million school-aged children) are not now in school, and probably a larger  number of older youth received little or no schooling at all. Another dimension of  the concern for increased quality of education in India  is the relative lack of ICT resources and access in the schools. In light of these  growing concerns for universal basic education, the Government of India is  moving forward with a variety of plans to increase access to education for all sectors of  Indian society and now with a  design to take advantage of ICTs to assist in all  dimensions of school education, it has drafted the ICT in schools scheme that  can influence the country’s overall growth other than opening up the window of  ICT readiness in education sector only

India recognised the importance of ICT in education as early as 1984- 85 with the Computer Literacy And Studies in Schools (CLASS) Project introduced as a pilot. A total of 12,000 computers were distributed to  secondary and senior secondary schools through the State  Governments. 2598 schools including 325 Kendriya Vidyalayas were covered under the CLASS scheme  during the 8th Plan for providing instructors, maintenance of hardware,  consumables and textbooks for students and training of teachers in  schools. During the 9th Plan period, CLASS scheme was discontinued and  a revised scheme was launched during 2001-02.  The review of the scheme has shown that in spite of challenges in implementing the CLASS scheme, the  overall response that it has generated
in the various states has been extremely encouraging. Some states  like West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chattisgarh and Manipur  have achieved remarkable success. National Task Force on Information  Technology and Software Development constituted by the  Prime Minister in July 1998 then made specific recommendations on  introduction of IT in the education sector including schools. The Report recommended provision of computer systems to all educational Institutions up to Higher Secondary/  Secondary Schools by suitable investments (about 1-3%) of the total  budget during the next five years. The centrally sponsored scheme of  ‘Educational Technology’ and ‘CLASS’ have been suitably modified   eeping in view the past experience, the feedback which has been received and changing needs to form the new  scheme of ‘ICT in Schools’. The ‘ICT in Schools’ scheme is a  window of opportunity to the learners in the schools of India to bridge the  digital divide. The scheme is not a simple merger of the earlier CLASS  and ET Schemes but is a comprehensive and well thought-out  initiative to open new vistas of learning and to provide a level playing field to school students,  whether in rural areas or in the  metropolitan cities. The ‘ICT in Schools’ Scheme is not a stand-alone scheme while actively soliciting the partnership of States, Union Territories & other organisations in a mutual endeavour.

Financial parameters
The States would have the option to incur expenditure to an overall maximum limit of INR6.70 lakhs per school. The Central Government’s  share would be restricted to INR5.00 lakhs per school.
Managing further
At least two schools in each of the identified educationally backward blocks would be taken up for assistance under the ICT in Schools  scheme. The provision for software shall include Learning Management  Systems & curriculum based courseware apart from operating  systems & other application software. Kendriya Vidyalayas and Navodaya  Vidyalaya Samitis would convert one school per State/Union Territory into  a SMART school subject to availability of funds. At least one  section (of 40 students) in each of the class IX – XII is hoped to be fully  computerised. Thus a school having 160 computers @ 40 computer for each IX to XII classes may be called a  SMART school under the scheme. Both KVS and NVS have identified the schools, which will be converted into a SMART School. 

Proposed activities
The project will illustrate the following activities.  • Production of Audio, Video and  Multi Media programmes in the project mode by the State Institutes of Educational Technology established at Pune,  Bhubaneswar, Patna, Lucknow,  Hyderabad, Ahmedabad and Thiruvananthapuram • Training to teachers and teacher trainers in the production of lowcost  audio-visual aids, help in script development, media production, editing,  communication research, setting up and operation of audio and video studios and computerisation  of its various processes by Central Institute of Education  Technology/State Institutes of Education Technology (SIET)  • Financial support to States/UTson the basis of their Computer Education Plans  • Support to KVS/NVS for opening of SMART schools and for imparting computer literacy to  students in neighbourhood schools   Development of multimedia  content for use in schools • Development of teaching tools, designing training modules for  teachers   • Financial support for conversion of content into regional  languages • Projects for introduction of use of technology for the education of  children with special needs • Training of teachers and master trainers/resource persons in the  use of ICT tools for  nrichment of  curriculum and pedagogy  Apart from being evaluated by the Project Monitoring and Evaluation  Group that would function as the Monitoring Committee, there is  possibility of getting the ‘ICT in Schools’ scheme evaluated through an independent agency. Detailed  guidelines to facilitate implementation of the scheme shall be issued by the  Ministry of Human Resource  Development, Government of India.

schools internationally since 1988. Active in 115 countries, iEARN is the  world’s largest K-12 project-based Internet supported learning network. All projects in iEARN are initiated and designed  by teachers and students, and
provide powerful examples of how new and emerging technologies  can make a difference in teaching and learning  iEARN, the International Education and Resource Network, is a Network of educators and students from 20.000  schools over 100 countries spread  around the world. It has the vision to save the planet by improving the  environment, the welfare and quality of life of the people around the world through online collaborative projects  among participating schools.  iEARN programme has the goal to:
• Stimulate student’s engagement and service in their community
• Arouse civil awareness and responsibility
• Improve learning and teaching  practices
• Integrate technology in the curriculum in meaningful projects As part of iEARN’s mission  o  improve the quality of life on the planet, iEARN projects  include magazines, creative writing  anthologies, websites, letter-writing  campaigns, reports to government  officials, arts exhibits, workshops, performances, charity fundraising,  and many more examples of youth taking action as part of what they are learning in the classroom.  These projects enable students to develop:
• language, literacy, research and  critical thinking skills
• experience with new technologies
• cultural awareness
• the habit of getting involved in
community issues.
A strong network in the Asia Pacific region, iEARN Indonesia is formed under
UNESCO Associated School Project Network (ASPnet). ASPnet as UNESCO experimental projects is a UNESCO  vehicle to achieve peace through development of educational  innovation by implementing the four pillars of learning: learning to know,  learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together. ASPnet activities among others are: access to  education and raise quality of education, provide life skills Safe  environment, build a peaceful
community, build a cross-cultural  understanding, provide school health services, and provide ICT for learning  to live together to safe the planet. iEARN Indonesia made great strides  in July 2006 with two successful workshops for teachers that took place in Aceh. The workshops  aimed to empower teachers who fell victim to the Tsunami of 2004. On  July 19th, the first workshop took
place with the Madania School.  After a complete one-day training in how to join a discussion forum, introduction to iEARN Online Projects  and how to use and navigate a computer – 30 new teachers joined the  iEARN family. The second workshop took place on July 22-24 in Banda Aceh. 15 teachers  were trained representing three different schools. This workshop  focused on the benefits of collaborative learning. Through these  activities, iEARN Indonesia brought  support to many teachers who not only wish to pursue online collaborative learning, but also desire  to benefit from professional development opportunities and  resources.

While celebrating the 10th anniversary of its launch at the end of 2006, European Schoolnet (www.eun.org) has developed into a strong European service  organisation. From the 16 Ministries of education who signed the original  consortium agreement, the EUN has grown to almost 30 members and is currently serving three main groups, comprising schools in Europe and their teachers and  pupils, ministries of education and other education authorities and agencies, and  the European Commission, particularly Directorate Generals for Education and  Culture and Information Society. Since its establishment EUN has worked to promote the European dimension in school education and the use of new  technologies to improve and raise the quality of education. A key aim has been to build a rich, multilingual European community for innovation and collaboration in educational policy and practice.

Although the term e-learning has become part of the common vocabulary in the last few years, European initiatives to  promote the use of ICT in teaching

learning have a longer history. The creation of European Schoolnet goes  back to March 1997 when the Ministers of Education of the  European Union and the European  Commission agreed to support a Swedish proposal, which came under the European action plan entitled  “Learning within the information society”. European Schoolnet was  officially launched in September 1998 after a formal agreement between the  partners was adopted in Lisbon, in June 1998. The decision-making body of the EUN  is the steering committee, comprising one representative from each of the  partners taking part. Day to day management of the EUN is carried out  by the EUN Office located in Brussels.
The office has an international and  multilingual staff of over 30 people. The financial resources come from contributions from Ministries of Education. The European Commission  plays a big part in the financing via a large number of special projects  developed within the framework of educational or research and  development programmes specific to  the European Union. EUN’s work is organised in three  strands corresponding to its core  objective of supporting the efficient  use of ICT in education and the  European dimension in education.
1. School Networking Services:  Work aims to create a living European dimension for schools  through international joint activities using ICT. EUN acts as  a network of networks, providing common services and tools,  online communities and activities  to develop international activities for young people 2. Knowledge building and  exchange on ICT Policy and Practice: The strand aims to build  a community of ICT policymakers based  on an informed  knowledge  base of  intelligence and  foresight in ICT  policy-making, timely analytical  papers and  regular meetings and  workshops.  3. Interoperability and content  exchange:  Work aims to encourage the exchange and  interoperability of learning  content in order to facilitate the  implementation of learning  technologies in schools across  Europe. This includes work  related to architectures, web  services, standards, authentication federated  searching and rights  management. The most visible sign of the EUN’s  activities are its portals:  EUN  provides major European education  portals for teaching, learning and  collaboration, offering a wide range of  services for teachers, pupils, school managers and policy makers.

School networking and services
School networking has always been  considered as a main priority for European Schoolnet. Within the  framework of our projects, it can be defined as “facilitating the creation  of organic web-like networks of schools (big and small) that  communicate and work together as they wish or as they can on projects that make sense for them and their  pupils” (Brigitte Parry – School networking manager). At the  dawn of the century, school  networking is currently the best
way to prepare young people, and  through them society, for a successful future.

The EUN School networking methodology
The EUN office school networking  team consists of a core multicultural group of highly experienced teachers with a thorough understanding of old  and new ICT tools, learning and  teaching environments and pedagogical innovation, international projects and network  interactions both at policy and end user levels.  Around this core group revolves a  galaxy of experts groups, clustered and managed according to the  needs of our different projects (science, environment, arts,  citizenship, etc). Those experts are based in schools and in all EUN  related networks; they are in daily contact with pupils. This network of networks of experts is instrumental in the success of all our  projects with  schools. They offer  teachers from all European  countries opportunities to  work  together around themes that can be  adapted to their curriculum and through the discovery of new  technological tools. For each  project, it creates an online platform,  develops applications, templates  and tools for pedagogical activities,  produces guidelines for teachers  and gives high international visibility to the resources and  events created by the pupils through the proje

Successful school networking project
Virtual School Project: ‘For European Teachers by European teachers’
One of European Schoolnet’s very first school networking projects was the Virtual School project (VS). The Virtual School was a virtual meeting  place for teachers to exchange  material and discuss experiences and was launched to meet teachers’ need  for relevant content for their work. Teachers were encouraged to submit  anything from ideas for activities or events to fully-fledged online lessons. The VS editors and web team made  sure the material offered was relevant, safe and useful. The Virtual School  was one of the EUN’s key networks and led the way in the development  of many other initiatives helping teachers.  eTwinning: school partnerships (http://  www.etwinning.net)
European Schoolnet currently runs the Central Support Service and  international portal for the European  Commission’s eTwinning action. More  than 15,000 schools have registered  so far and more than 1,500 collaborative projects have been set  up between schools from different countries. The ultimate goal of this action is to give as many European  pupils as possible opportunities to use ICT to exchange and learn with  other pupils from other countries  before the end of their school years. eTwinning successfully contributes to the development of many teacher  training materials and workshops, and  therefore to the development of European education in general.  MyEurope: youth  awareness of European  citizenship (http://myeurope.eun.org) My Europe is a 6 year-old project built  on a very active network of more than 5000 schools. It was originally created  to link up schools from old European  member states and candidate countries. In 2004, ten new countries joined the European Union, and the  myEurope project had achieved its  goal. Its main aim is now to provide sets of learning objects on themes related to citizenship and Europe.  Those learning objects are meant to be used by teachers directly in the classroom and in different languages.  SpringDay 2006:   earn, share, debate, speak out  (http://www.springday2006.org)  Spring Day in Europe is a citizendriven event project on democracy  and citizenship where young people learn and make their voice heard on topical European issues. It is a day of  debate and dialogue symbolically, the first day of spring of each year –  prepared several months in advance through pedagogical activities in the  classroom and with the participation  of national and European decisionmakers. The wide involvement in the event of a large number of members of  the European Parliament and Commissioners has been inspiring  for schools. One of the main assets of Spring Day  is the combination of several human and institutional networks
Coordinated by European Schoolnet, a group of teachers/pedagogical advisors based in 29 countries interact with a network of  representatives from all ministries of  education who guarantee the legitimacy of the project within a
school curricular context. Both groups  collaborate with European Commission and European Parliament  representations. Members of the European Parliament, together with  local, regional and national personalities, participate in debates  with young citizens on Spring Day and around the topic of the year. The  success of Spring Day in Europe largely rests on this set of intertwined and complementary networks of  professionals.  This year, 7,501 schools from 29 countries organised events and   ebates about the future of the  European Union. Spring Day in Europe can be considered as the  largest and most successful  initiative to raise European awareness among schools.  Insafe: Internet Safety (http://www.  saferinternet.org)  Insafe is a European network of 23  nodes in 21 countries, dedicated to  raising awareness of internet safety.  It  includes a broad range of  organisations including educational authorities, universities, media councils and charities. The network is  coordinated by  European Schoolnet,  which has been mandated by the European Commission’s Safer Internet  Programme to become European leader in this global community. Its mission is threefold: empower citizens  to use internet effectively, help them avoid its potential pitfalls and protect  the privacy of their information. The Insafe portal offers links that lead  to a steadily growing source of information collected by awareness  raising partners across the world with the aim to provide users with a comprehensive overview of a wide  range of internet safety issues. Comenius Space (http://  comenius.eun.org) This initiative is a moderated online platform offering information  and partner-finding tools to any school or institution interested in  the European Commission’s Comenius action. This action is  closely linked to the previously mentioned eTwinning action. Comenius Space is a very successful online platform, which provides the elements necessary for schools to  set up micro networks and get  European funding for their work over a 3-year period.

Knowledge building through exchange on ICT policy and Practice
EUN is as much concerned in providing intelligence on ICT use to  schools and policy makers in Europe  and beyond, as with providing rich activities and immediate support to  teachers in the classroom. To be sure, the EUN Insight Observatory for New  Technologies and Education is an  informed knowledge base of intelligence and foresight in ICT  policy and practice in European  schools.   The Insight portal (http://  insight.eun.org) serves as a reference point for policy-makers, researchers  and school innovators and/or all those who want to be informed about  the main developments of e- learning in European countries but also gain  insight into specific topics dealing with school practices in using ICT in  innovative ways, in e-learning policy making and in questions related to  interoperability. Key documents of the Insight portal are the Insight’s Country reports that are regularly updated in-depth  descriptions of national developments  in different areas of e-learning policies in schools and compulsory education.  Insight also provides an annual ‘trends and issues’ report identifying  the main tendencies across European countries, as well as briefings and
Projects, competitions, activities, communication and information exchange at all levels of school education using innovative technologies, this is how EUN strives to meet its goals, being at the crossroads of national and regional education networks, building synergies between communities of teachers, learners, developers, researchers and policy-makers

updates on EU ICT-related policy issues. As such, these documents constitute a unique tool for policy makers and other education  professionals to identify latest e-learning and education trends  in their neighbouring countries and the EU.  One of the most popular divisions of the Insight portal is the School  Innovation section. Here visitors can  find information, research findings and reports about innovative ways to  implement ICT within the school environment. A key feature of this  area is the ‘Insight Schools Gallery’ with portraits of schools that have  been selected to take part in a range of projects since 2000 (e.g. e-watch,  Ernist (http://www.european schoolnet.org/ww/en/pub/eun/  projects/coordinator/ernist.htm), P2P (http://p2p.eun.org), Calibrate  (http://calibrate.eun.org)). The schools showcased in this section are excellent examples of school  collaboration, and with their inspirational practices are leading the  way in e-maturity.

The Interoperability section of the Insight portal deals with issues  around interoperability and content exchange, which has become one of  the main foci of EUN and its partners in the last years. Interoperability is  not only seen from the technical  areas mentioned above (policy,  technology and innovation) and offering a one-stop insight into specific education-related issues such  as innovation, leadership, internet safety or quality in education, just to  mention a few under the ‘thematic dossiers’ section.  European Schoolnet, the unique notfor- profit consortium of almost 30  ministries of education in Europe provides major European education portals for teaching, learning and  collaboration and leads the way in bringing about change in schooling  through the use of new technology. Projects, competitions, activities,  communication and information exchange at all levels of school  education using innovative technologies, this is how EUN strives  to meet its goals, being at the  crossroads of national and regional education networks, building  synergies between communities of teachers, learners, developers, researchers and policy-makers.  EUN invites to participate in the EUN  community, a free online collaborative platform aimed at schools and institutions that want to set up and  run cooperative online projects 9http://community.eun.org/enter.cfm),  or subscribe to the newsletters  (www.eun.org).   angle, but rather as an enabler for sharing pedagogy, infrastructures,  tools and resources (both digital and non-digital including  human  resources). This section regularly features news  and emerging issues  related to the  Learning Resources Exchange (LRE, http://lre.eun.org), a service that  provides the means to share digital  content among all partners (Ministries  of Education, regional educational authorities, commercial publishers,  broadcasters, cultural institutions and  other non-profit organisations) of the  LRE and their users. In this section, one also finds the ‘monthly insight to interoperability’ in  which international experts are questioned on the current issues on  standards and harmonisation of eLearning services, both on the  system and content level. Additionally, this section also informsits readers on actions on European  Interoperability Framework for eLearning (LIFE) that seeks to bring  together actors from different sectors (schools, academia, government, industry, education and training) to discuss common issues such as learning object repositories, learner profile, accessibility, etc.  Insight also highlights specific themes and issues drawing from the