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International ICT congress to serve as venue for sharing info

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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The government is inviting all stakeholders of the Information and Communications Technology (ICT) sector to participate in the International Congress on ICT: Global Challenge in Education, which will kick off on November 16 at the Waterfront Cebu City Hotel and Casino in Philippines.

The three-day event, which aims to gather more than a thousand delegates from more than 40 countries, is an initiative of the Philippine government to prepare the country's education sector for the global challenges and opportunities brought about by rapid developments in ICT. The congress, which is estimated to cost P15 million, will be funded by the Global Knowledge Partnership (GKP), a multi-stakeholder network promoting innovation and advancement in knowledge for development (K4D) and ICT for Development (ICT4D).

GKP, a network of over 100 members from 40 countries, brings together the public and private sector and civil society organizations with the goal of sharing knowledge and building partnership in K4D and ICT4D. The potential of ICT to improve the quality of education in the country has prompted the government – through Ched, Department of Education and the Technical Education Skills and Development Authority

Indian University to set up digital library

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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Periyar University in the Indian State Tamil Nadu will soon join the select band of higher education centres with a digitised library. This knowledge bank will ensure its students and researchers latest information on a variety of subjects through the University Grants Commission's (UGC)-Infonet connectivity. As a part of the efforts to set up a `digital library,' the university has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre, UGC and ERNET for getting the UGC-Infonet connectivity, which would use Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and Internet to provide resources to the students.

The UGC-Infonet connectivity will help promote communication among academicians and researchers from this area. It would serve as a major resource for the researchers and scholars for tapping the up-to-date information. It will also help the students to access more than 2,600 e-journals on various subjects. The objective of getting the UGC-Infonet and establishing a digital library is to enhance the higher education and research programmes with the current and retrospective information with the support of latest technology. The connectivity will be established shortly.

The digital library has the potential to store more information than the traditional libraries. The resources of the digital library can easily be read by more number of people. In the first phase, the university has allotted Rs. 5 lakh to establish the digital library, particularly for subscription to the online journals and databases. Another Rs. 2.25 lakh has been allotted to purchase computers and digital copier for the library. In the second phase, it is being planned to digitise the university theses and dissertations. The Periyar University also proposes to establish facilities enabling the students in the affiliated colleges to access the database of the digital library through the Internet. Its traditional library however has 22,000 books and subscribing to 147 national and international journals.

24X7 programmes for distance learners

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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24×7 Learning Solutions, a provider of e-learning consulting and implementation solutions,  plans to offer employability enhancement programmes for distance learners, specially from tier II and tier III cities, who cannot afford to go for the top-notch colleges.

It is all set to start a management development and executive development programme. It launched the long-term education programme in January this year. With the programme cost coming to Rs 4,000-Rs 6,000 per student, most colleges buy it for a bunch of 500 students and shell out Rs 10-16 lakh. This total technology learning solution is useful for company top brass to brush up their technology education and also for the engineering graduates who receive their degrees from lower-rung colleges.

Non-formal schooling boosts access to basic education in Nepal

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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Children who were out of school in 15 districts of Nepal now have the opportunity to learn how to read and write, thanks to the UNICEF-supported Out-of-School Programme (OSP).

Designed to provide basic education through a non-formal approach, the new strategy has helped approximately 15,700 children complete a 10-month course. The programme's main aim is to fulfill children's rights to basic education, especially for girls and low-caste children. The ultimate goal is to help the children continue their education in formal schools. In 2005, nearly 40 per cent of OSP graduates

Linux spreads its wings in India

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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All the 2,600 schools in the state of Kerala making the shift from Microsoft to Linux. Each of the state's 1.5 million high school students will grow accustomed to working not in the Windows environment familiar to computer users worldwide, but in Linux. And over the next two years, computer science based on Linux software will be made mandatory in all of the state's high schools.

Two years ago, New Delhi said the best way to improve computer literacy in India was to adopt open source software in schools. Although Kerala is the first to introduce such a program statewide, 18 of India's 28 states either are using Linux or have pilot projects for its use in various government departments and schools. The education ministries in most states, and in Delhi the federal ministries of defense, transport, communication, and health, are all using the software on server computers. And eight state governments have put their treasury operations on Linux, while the western state of Maharashtra is using it to revamp health-care systems.

So far, most of the progress of Linux has been in server software, programs that government agencies and businesses use for their Web sites, payroll, and other key tasks. In June, Microsoft Corp. had 68% of the server market, vs. Linux' 21%, compared with 70% for Microsoft and 11% for Linux two years ago. The desktop is a different story: Just 3% of India's PCs use Linux. Still, that's about triple the level in the U.S.

Unlike proprietary software from companies such as Microsoft, Linux is based on an open-source model. That means its code is available to developers worldwide, who can tweak it to make it better or adapt it to their own needs. Since the software itself is often given away for free, revenue numbers for Linux don't add up to much. Researcher IDC (IDC) estimates that the Indian Linux market will grow by 21% annually, to $19.9 million in 2010, mostly for services provided by companies such as Red Hat (RHAT), IBM, and locals like Wipro (WIT) and Tata Consultancy Services. That's a modest amount compared with Microsoft's Indian sales of nearly $200 million last year. But Microsoft's lost opportunity is still substantial, since it sells Windows at $50 or more per copy to makers of PCs and servers, and then it typically sells other programs that run on top of it.

The shift in government has spurred more businesses to use Linux, too. One convert is state-owned Life Insurance Corp. of India, which in 2005 switched its servers to Linux. With the $2 million in savings from using the free software, LIC is adding more computers. Today it has 70,000 PCs, all running Linux, and by next year it expects to have more than 100,000. Others are taking a more measured approach. Eighteen months ago, when Bombay-based Unit Trust of India wanted to set up a call center, the bank settled on Linux for its servers even as it continues to use Windows on its PCs. The bank is putting its credit-card system on Linux as well.

Philippines is SMS capital of the world

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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The Philippines has achieved the distinction of becoming the “SMS capital of the world”. In 2005, Filipinos sent an average of 250 million text messages a day, according to the country's telecom regulator, the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC). At a base cost of two US cents a message, telecom companies in the Philippines earned a whopping US$5 million every day on text messaging alone.

According to a study undertaken by Ms Lorraine Carlos Salazar, Visiting Research Fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, Singapore, and a Senior Researcher of LIRNEasia (a regional information and communication technology policy and regulation research and capacity building organisation), about 95 per cent of mobile telephone subscribers in the Philippines use their mobile phones for text messaging. Of this, 70 per cent send around 10 messages a day even as 14 per cent send between 10 and 20 messages a day.

The high incidence of text messaging in the Philippines has been attributed to several factors. Text messages at a base price of two US cents per message is cheaper than calls that cost between nine and 15 US cents depending upon the plan chosen by the customer. The NTC has attributed the upsurge in text messaging to promotional gimmicks of mobile phone service providers.

In over a decade of liberalisation, the telecom sector in the Philippines has produced a highly competitive environment where 74 local exchange carriers, 14 inter-carrier carrier services, 11 international gateway facilities and seven cellular telephone service providers operate. From a country with a teledensity of less than one per 100 people between 1970 and 1990, the Philippines has a fixed line teledensity of four per 100 people and a mobile phone density of 41.3 per 100 people in 2005. Today, about 50 per cent of the revenues earned by Filipino telecom companies are from wireless data services.

ICT in more school classrooms in Philippines

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Under the Personal Computers for Public Schools Project (PCPS), jointly implemented by the Government of Japan and the Government of the Philippines, an additional 11 public secondary schools in Capiz have received 10 computer sets each.

Representatives from other government agencies and offices involved in the project were present at the ceremony. The project was launched in 2002 and is now on its third phase. It is being implemented through the Department of Trade and Industry, Department of Education (DepEd), Department of Science and Technology (DOST) and GILAS Foundation with the support of the Congress of the Philippines and local government units. The DTI, the lead agency of the project, also has a programme for local government units under the E-LGU. Till now, towns of Pilar, President Roxas, Maayon, Sapian, Jamindan, Tapaz, Dumarao, Dumalag and Dao have acquired 5 computer sets each under this E-LGU programme.

Google launches literacy portal

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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Search engine Google has launched a portal to connect literacy organisations around the world. The Literacy Project enables teachers, organisations, and those interested in literacy to use the Internet to search for and share literacy information.

Users can search for information in digitised books and academic articles, and share information through blogs, videos and groups. The tool also allows people to find literacy organisations around the world using a searchable and zoomable map. It has been created in collaboration with the Frankfurt Book Fair literacy campaign (Litcam) and Unesco's Institute for Lifelong Learning. Users can now use it to search through an archive of digitised books to uncover the literature that contains their words of phrases of choice. Publishers, such as Penguin and HarperCollins, and libraries, including Oxford University's, have allowed Google to scan their books. If the book is in copyright, users can only access limited information; if it is out of copyright, it can be downloaded.

IIT among world’s 100 best universities

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

The Indian Institute of Technology has joined the premier league of best universities in the world. According to the rankings compiled by the Times Higher Education Supplement, India’s premier science and technology education centre is ranked No.57 in the global list.

American and British universities comprised nearly half of the top 100 universities in the world. United States led the way with 33 universities in the top 100, while Britain ranked second with 15. Australia and the Netherlands were next with seven each, while Switzerland and France followed with five. Hong Kong, Japan, Canada and Germany each had three to their credit. China and India, the world’s two most populous countries, had two apiece, along with Singapore, New Zealand and Belgium. Denmark, South Korea, Mexico, Ireland, Austria and Russia all had one university in the top 100.

Harvard University in Massachusetts topped the poll, with Cambridge and Oxford in England coming second and third. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Yale University tied for fourth, with Stanford University and the California Institute of Technology ranking sixth and seventh. The University of California at Berkeley was eighth, Imperial College London was ninth, and Princeton University completed the top 10. The highest-ranking Asian university was Beijing University, coming in at 15th – also the highest rank for a non-US or British institution. Australian National University was Australia’s best at 16th, while France’s Ecole Normale Superieure was continental Europe’s best at 18th. The rankings were compiled by asking 3,703 academics worldwide to name the 30 best universities for research in their field of expertise, along with responses from 736 graduate employers globally, along with the ratio of faculty to students, and the university’s ability to draw foreign students and world-renowned academics.

Video games have role in school

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Video games could have a serious role to play in the classroom, a survey of teachers and students suggests. The Teaching with Games report was commissioned by games giant Electronic Arts (EA) and carried out by FutureLab.

It surveyed almost 1,000 teachers and more than 2,300 primary and secondary school students in the UK. The survey found 59% of teachers would consider using off-the-shelf games in the classroom while 62% of students wanted to use games at school. The report, which was also backed by Microsoft, Take Two, as well as the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE), found evidence of concern from both teachers and students about the impact of games on players. Some 55% of students thought videogames would make for more interesting lessons. More than 70% of the surveyed teachers felt that playing games could lead to anti-social behaviour while 30% of students believed that playing games could lead to increased violence and aggression.

There are three key objectives with the report – to understands teachers' and students' use of computer games in the classroom. The report authors also followed 12 teachers at four schools in the UK and looked at ways they could use commercial software in the classroom. More than 70% of teachers never play games outside school while 82% of children said they played video games at least once a fortnight.

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