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Room for Life Life-long learning for rural Thailand

With a passion to bring better education to remote areas in  Thailand, Sat-Ed System Co is  delivering learning centres in rural Thailand called ‘Room for life’  using the cutting-edge  technology of the iPSTAR broadband satellite.  Aimed at providing lifelong learning for the rural Thai people, this  initiative is providing access to education content in remote rural  areas beyond the reach of telephone networks.
Chang is a bright young man who won a full scholarship to  a technical  university in Thailand. He had to turn it down  because, while it would pay for his tuition and fees he had no way to  support himself living in Bangkok and his parents were not well enough off to pay for it either. Chang was  overjoyed when he learned about the Sat-Ed Room for Life because it will  allow him the chance to earn his degree without leaving the village.  There are many kids just like Chang; kids who are bright and eager and  desperate to learn but time, money and other circumstances keep them in  he village. With the Room for Life, Chang and others will not have to make the hard choice because they  can study there.
In the sleepy hamlet of Baan Nong Pai, deep in the rural heart of Sakhon  Nakorn stands the pilot Room for  Life, a unique educational and learning center. For the first time anywhere in the world, a village that  has no phone lines has been able to access broadband Internet, IPTV VoD  (providing educational video on
demand), web cam, university degrees  and a whole host of vocational learning and e-government services.  The development of IPTV (Internet Protocol   elevision) over the last 3  years has dramatically changed the  way pay TV will   e seen in the future; and yet these technologies to date  have not been used by   he  educational market even though they  offer an unparalleled opportunity for learning as well as access to digital  content. 

The technology: InternetProtocol Television (IPTV)
First one has to understand the core technology. IPTV differs from normal  TV-based delivery systems in that  instead of being a passive device that  you  atch it is now a two-way  interactive device. IPTV allows a  person to interact   ith the content  delivered to the TV. To the viewer, it  looks exactly like a   ormal   V screen  as the pages are designed for viewing  on a TV. Using a simple   emote   ontrol, a person can navigate  through a series of high-quality  videos and text pages, take tests using the remote control to answer the on-screen questions and be assessed on their results. In actual fact, these are computer web pages are being delivered through a  thin web browser located in the IPTV
set-top box. Using middleware written for this purpose by Sat-Ed it becomes  an interactive navigation device. This allows the TV to be used as the  device to deliver a traditional LMS (Learning Management System)  directly to the end-user’s TV instead  of a PC. The thin web browser then  takes an HTML or Java page and displays it on a TV screen.

Room for life- delivering education
In the village, the Room for Life has a great many different courses on offer. In addition to High School and University courses, there is a heavy emphasis on vocational training from agricultural practices to silk weaving  and everything in-between. This often means that the students are  older adults who have never seen a PC much less used one for learning.  This is where the PC is a barrier to
learning. In the same way that our parents and grandparents would leave  the VCR clock flashing 12:00 while waiting for a grandchild to come over  and program it, older adults not trained on PCs look at it as an  confronting technology. Contrast  that to our experience with children in the Room for Life. In order to be delivered through IPTV, the video has  to be converted into an Mpeg 2 transport stream. We were running  out of time to make a deadline for
another Room for Life and, in desperation our chief engineer trained  two of the village children, ages 11 and 14, to convert the videos to  transport streams. To our engineer’s  shock and surprise, the children listened carefully and fearlessly
started to convert video files flawlessly. When seasoned pay-TV  pros heard about this they were mightily impressed. We have found  that the children under 15 in the village are soon learning things on the  computer that took other people years  to figure out for themselves. The adults are a different story.
Perhaps the most telling story about the differences between the two  groups was illustrated by the time I  handed my laptop with one hand to one of the adults to hold while I did something else. Their eyes got wide  and they backed away, unwilling to  take on that kind of responsibility for fear of breaking it. Their child popped  up and took it from me without hesitation as the parent barked out  warnings to the child to be careful. I was intrigued and tried this over and over with different adults over the  course of several weeks and the result was the same. All of them either  backed away or grabbed it with both
hands, visibly scared of breaking it. In contrast the children all took it  without thinking at all. That is where using IPTV as an  educational tool becomes so
important. It allows these adults to access content, often in a group,  using the same technology that they  se sitting in front of their TV at home… a remote control. With this remote control, they can navigate through a course; stop, fast-forward, rewind or pause to discuss what they  have just learned. They can stop a course for the evening and go back  and pick it up where they last left off.
Coming soon will be the ability for the student to input their ID number into the system and the middleware will know where they left off so there is no  time-consuming backtracking to find  the spot. The Sat-Ed LMS will then track their progress and report back nightly by satellite.  Another important part of the technology is the use of “Push”  technology. Through the use of a next-generation of satellite such as iPSTAR, content is “pushed forward” so it resides on the Sat-Ed digital library. This specially designed VOD server caches the educational content at  each site so when a student accesses it using the  IPTV STB it plays out the  transport stream  instantly, in fullscreen, media-rich
video. This greatly enhances the  educational  experience. The  trouble with Internetbased  e learning is that your experience is  connection  dependent.  ven with broadband access (a rarity inside Bangkok and  unheard in the rural  reas) the most  you will be able to view is a postagestamp-  sized video because the  content is created for the lowest common denominator. You also have  to wait for the information to come through the Internet pipeline and the  content delivery is as slow as the slowest pipe it has to go through to  get to the user. This often creates a scenario where, even with a  broadband connection, a person is always waiting for the buffering to  finish; turning the World Wide Web
into the World Wide Wait. Contrast that to VOD learning with  the content residing in the Sat-Ed  digital library on-site. It plays out an instantaneous stream in full-screen  color. This allows extensive use of video in training and it also gives the  students additional video cues for enhanced learning. Studies have  shown that people learn in different ways. By delivering as many cues as
possible to learning, you increase  dramatically the chances that one of them will be ultimately successful for the viewer. This mirrors the old adage  of not just telling someone what to do but also show them what to do. With  IPTV-based learning, the video that is  elivered can address both of these at   once.  That brings us to an interesting problem. There are a number of training courses available but there is a paucity of content for IPTV-based learning.  nly a few forward-thinking  organizations have  developed content so  far but as the  emand rows, the availability  will increase  dramatically. Already curriculum is being written that   ddresses the ability to use IPTV as a  teaching tool as an  adjunct to traditional face-to-face teaching  models. Potential uses for this might be a history class that watches a  video of news reports of the period
just studied. Another might be a chemistry class watching a video  presentation of a chemical interaction shown in a lab setting instead of just  reading about it. Still another might be an anatomy class watching a video  of a dissection of a rat while following  along with their own specimen to dissect in the classroom.
The first use of the Sat-Ed Digital Library is the caching of educational  content for on-demand access. A second use, almost as important in an  educational setting, is the caching of  web sites. Because education is predicative, we can
assume that there  are a number of sites that students will want to access. In a
school settings  using the Sat-Ed digital library, the  web pages are updated nightly by satellite and stored  on the server. When the students go to access it in the  classrooms all over the country linked into Sat-Ed digital libraries, instead of having to wait while each person is trying to access  the same file over and over, they get it instantly. By multicasting it once to  all the sites that are linked to the Sat-  Ed network, it saves dramatically on bandwidth costs and greatly reduces  the burden on the in-school network.

Room for life- beyond education
There are other uses for the Room for Life in addition to strictly educational uses.  Patra had not seen her children since April last year, nearly a year ago.
Patra is not a bad mother. The  economic reality of her small village in the Northeast of Thailand means she  has to leave to find work in the Deep South in a rubber plantation. On  Saturday, she got to see them and talk to them for an hour. It cost her 20  baht (50 US cents). Patra went to an Internet café near
where she works in the South and their grandmother brought the  children to the newly opened Sat-Ed “Room for Life”. There her children,  Beau and Bee, were able to talk to their mother online using a web cam  and VoIP available in the Room for Life. The hour cost the grandmother  20 baht. Many of the  illagers have family that are away temporarily in  places all over the globe and the
ability to stayed in touch with them  through VoIP is priceless. Also there is the opportunity to bring the market to the village. By using  Ebay and other sites to sell their  goods, villagers can cut out the  middleman who marks up the fruits of
their labor and makes a profit simply because the villagers do not have  access to the marketplace. With the Sat-Ed Room for Life the global  village becomes a reality. Each Room for Life site will be owned  by a local IT professional who invests in the franchise. All of the profits  generated stay in the community and
there is someone who is able to  address the unique needs of each site. Sat-Ed does its part by continually  aggregating content and responding to requests from the field.  Currently, Thailand has an Internet access penetration of only 11.9%.  This number is skewed on the high side with a 29% access rate in
Bangkok. The rural areas are much  lower. By using IPTV through the Room for Life Sat-Ed has built a  bridge across the digital divide and helped to provide access to education  to everyone. The ability for everyone to access knowledge is available through this technology today. With  the technology in place in the village, the only limits one has are the limits  to their own imagination.?

NSTDA Online Learning Project (NOLP)

Online Learning Project (NOLP) is a project initiated by the National Science and Technology Development Agency (NSTDA) as  part of the Thai   government’s information technology and  education policy to research, develop and promote the using of e-Learning  in Thailand. NOLP provideseducational service and online learning facilities in line with the  learner’s interests and aptitudes as mentioned in the National Education  Act of Thailand. The project aims to increase the channels of education  conveniently and flexibly through comprehensive web-based  programmes.

The focus
NOLP primarily focuses on five main  activities- • Research and Development of e- Learning Technology Platform  (Both Server and Client Software) to meet the basic requirement of Thai’s Education and human resource development. By  using open system technology, NOLP  e-Learning Platform conforms to International eLearning Standard  especially ADL SCORM Standard. • Research and Development of e-Learning tools for content  development. NOLP focuses on Web based content authoring  and managing tool, that facilitates the sharing of resource for the  content developer and Content expert to work together. The
content developed by this tool  must conform to SCORM Content Standard too.
• Demonstrate and develop the  high-quality e-Learning content using fully interactive multimedia.  By using ADDIE (Analysis, Design, Development,
Implementation and Evaluation  Model), the content is designed and developed focus for the  target learner. • Promote the understanding and use of e-Learning Standard for developer, users and decision  makers to utilize such specification for their system • Train developer to have the  capability to develop the SCORM
Content Standard NOLP consists of a team of specialists  who caters to institutes and corporate  partner’s needs through a detailed analysis of their difficulties and  problems. NOLP e-Learning Development System (NeDS) enables teams of subject-matter experts (SME) to collaborate with NOLP’s  production team on large-scale courseware project over the Internet.  Using NOLP’s predefined templates  and central content database, NeDS helps to eliminate many  imeconsuming  variables found in traditional e-course development  methodologies and technologies.  NOLP Manager, which is a browserbased set of tools that allows organization to manage e-Learning  activities and site  unctions for their  e-Learning site. NOLP provides Courseware Hosting, Delicate e-  Campus Servers, Co-locations  Services, Back up, Maintenance and Mirroring of e-Campus Server. NOLP ‘s learning infrastructure  provides facilities for  tudent, teacher  and content provider in the main areas  of creativity   pplication, information access, collaboration and content tools. All NOLP &  nfrastructure Ls based on learning standards such as  AICC, SIP and LRN for interoperability.  Key initiatives

Learning Management System (LMS)
NOLP’s LMS initiative was a flagship initiative that enables student or customers to deploy and manage all aspects of their learning needs and to  assess the skills and learning needs of their employees. NOLP has developed  the NOLP-LMS version 2.1 that provides an easy and dynamic  mechanism for instructor to deliver learning content, manage and monitor  student participation, and assess
student performances. NOLPLMSTM  also handles administrative functions such as course scheduling,  registration, and enrollment.

The NOLP’s LMS supports AICC
compliant interface and content  adapter technology, system managed assignment, scoring and tracking of elearning  content from any kinds of authoring tools which compliant to  AICC. NOLP’s LMS also supports the
delivery of multiple type of learning activities with in an institution or organization including instructor-led learning, training  delivered on CD-ROM or e-learning courses delivered over an  organization’s intranet or internet.
The technologies incorporated in LMS support integrated management  solutions that are designed to scale from one to multiple servers while  maintaining centralized administration  to support a large number of  oncurrent
users.

Content Authoring and Management system ( CAM) NOLP has also developed CAMS
(Content authoring and management), which is the web based software tools
for content authoring and Key features of the LMS
• Deliver and manage blended learning experiences
• User-defined hierarchical content structure
• Flexible learning sequence
• Support multiple learning sequence on single content structure
• Automatic learning evaluation with multiple grading-systems support
• Adaptive learning based on learning and testing score
• Prerequisite checking
• Classroom management with customizable schedule and seat capacity
• Support self-enrollment
• Individual and group registration
• Support bulk registration through batch file
• Support multiple-course registration
• Automatic waiting list management
• Manageable learner status and transferable learning records
• Provide course catalog and scheduling
• Support SCORM Vi .
2 conformant courses management. This  software unlike other authoring tools uses Web technology. By this  technology the content  developer, instructional
designer, multimedia producers and subject  matter experts can work together more effectively.  NQLP CAMS enables the developer to create,  store, assemble, manage and reuse digital learning  content. CAMS provides an easy-touse  environment with Template-based content creation in WYSIWYG mode.  NOLP collaborative efforts NOLP has also worked closely withMinistry of Science and Technology to set up and operate the Science and  Technology Knowledge Center  (STKC) Project. The aims of this project is to promote Science & Technology for Thai citizen. As a part  of the project, the biggest S&T portal  in the country http://stkc.go.th has been set up. . The portal consist of 6 subsystems i.e. 1. Virtual Library 2.  S&T Knowledge Bank 3. Forumdiscussion 4. Virtual Museum 5. e- Learning 6. eService . NOLP has been  the key player to help the setup and  operation of the project. For more information on NOLP visit www.Thai2Learn.com  The Ministry of Science and Technology of Thailand has signed a  MOU with Educational Institute in Canada (Vancouver School Board – VSB and Co-operative Learning  Object Exchange -CLOE at University of Waterloo) to develop ‘Learning  Objects’ for Science and  echnology. ‘Learning Object’ by definition is the  small chunk of content that is ‘selfcontained’ i.e each learning object can  be taken independently. The first pilot of the Science and technology  Learning Object (STLO) Project willdevelop 70 LO in Earth Science in bilingual.

Thai schools principals become facilitators for e- Learning

How can one lead a whole school to positive changes when ICT utilization is a major challenge at both classroom and individual levels? When ICT has brought changes to learning and teaching experiences, each school is the battle field for those changes. In an effort to examine and demonstrate how schools could adjust to change, The Ministry of education, Thailand launched a pilot project in schools that proved that principals of schools essentially become more important in bringing changes to their schools. The emerged “LEARN” Model encompasses learning, evaluating & monitoring, assisting, rewarding, and nurturing functions. Despite the promising roles and responsibilities to challenge changes, neither is the model a panacea for any similar program nor an absolute solution for any school in the kingdom. Dr.Rangsun Wiboonuppatum of the Bureau of ICT of the office of the permanent secretary, the royal Thai Ministry of Education, discusses the Ministry’s initiative and explains the LEARN Model.

Globalization is an interconnected and changed phenomenon in political, cultural, social, and economical spheres. Together with changes in those spheres, information and communication technology is emerged (Mittman, 2001). Although the emerging is not new, it affects social members greatly. In addition, the emergence of information and communication technology (ICT) use in education has already challenged many countries to increase accessibility in both quality and  quantity to their citizens. Given the globalization together with rapid hange in technology, ICT is coming to be at the core of preparing students for successful participation in the  knowledge economy and learning society (Kozma, 2001). To prepare  students for the future, a society need to consider curriculum, instruction,  technology, and management. Moreover, professional development  is an important strategy focusing on how to equip teachers and principals  with proper skills and attitude on ICT  in education. During the past three decades, there has been considerable progress in integrating ICT into classroom. Computers have evolved from complex machines. This required sophisticated skills to operate  them to simple tools that even young children  can operate at ease. Over this same period, access to ICT has become  more widespread. As educational software becomes available, and teachers and students have gained confidence and skills in using the technologies, ICT has moved from the computer lab to the classroom, and is now appearing in more and more  homes (UNESCO, 2004). In order to improve educational  administration and management in educational institutions, the Thai government has initiated an innovative framework in a project called, “Mini-Ministry of Education.”  Inside the framework, the “Educational Innovation Committee”  was established to supervise the project which will be implemented  during the fiscal years 2003-2006 (MOE, 2004). The project, in which  students will be regarded as individuals with different capabilities and aptitudes, included five types of model schools in the school year 2003 as follows: the state-supervised  schools, bilingual schools, schools for gifted students, Buddhismoriented  schools, and ICT Model  Schools. This report will focus on ICT Model  schools which are schools that apply  ICT in developing the body of  knowledge as well as integrating ICT  into the teaching and learning process and the learners’ development activities. Originally, there were 12  schools and five universities participating in the project. The participating schools have been  supervised by one of the following universities: Chulalongkorn  University, Kasertsart University, Silapakorn University (Sanamchandra  Palace Campus), King Mongkut’s  University Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), and King Mongkut’s Insitute of Technology North  Bangkok (KMITNB). Two years later, two schools and two universities;  Thamasart University and  Meafahluang University, joined the project after the establishment of the   Bureau of Educational Innovation How has the project been   implemented?  The ICT Model School project aims toexplore alternative approaches on  how to integrate ICT into school and  classroom activities. It was to improve  teachers’ professional development  by asking collaboration from  university professors (Wiboonuppatum, 2003). The  university professors mainly help school staffs in empowering school  teachers and principals to gain knowledge and skills in  ICI application and integration in their    nstruction as well as school management. The project has five  major strategies: school and university collaboration, stakeholder  participation, professional development, lesson-learned  exchange, and collaborative learning among participating schools. First of all, the project brings university professors and schools  teachers including administrators  together to promote more effective use of  information and communication technology (ICT). The principle also  lies on asking more stakeholder  participation. It is important for schools to take initiatives in ICT  utilization. However, due to the limited funding, schools shall seek any  financial support from various stakeholders (parent and community members). During the project  implementing, all participating schools regularly meets at each school to take  turn hosting the meeting event. The meeting purpose was also to visit and  share idea and to exchange lessonlearned from each school to its peers.  Within the collaborative framework, the professor universities also  supported professional development to school teachers and administrators.  The professional development mostly aims to enhance school teachers and  administrators’ understanding on ICT utilization. Having ICT as hardware  and software in schools does not guarantee the school staffs could integrate ICT for student’s  improvement. Therefore, there were number of professional development series initiated by each participating  university including Intel teach to the future, IT youth camp, Animation  camp, Thik.com workshops, etc to  ensure the students can benefit from the program. Moreover, the participating schools are built in the supporting  network which school staffs share their expertise among themselves and  also encourage each other during the project implementing period.  The project has been initiated by the  office of permanent secretary (the bureau of information and communication technology) during   2003 and was adopted by the office of basic education commission (the bureau of educational innovation) the following year. It was an interesting pilot project because each university takes its initiative in introducing ICT pedagogy integrated approached in a  very limited resource. It was not a full funding project because the MOE  needs also to see how the school will cope up with budget constraints and  how university could help their partner schools to work in challenge  situation both budget aspect and emerging of ICT in education context.

What are questions and data collection methods?
This is a report paper on a pilot project from the Ministry of Education. Although the project primarily aims on collaborative efforts  among schools and universities, the report aims to answer one major  question: what are school principals’ roles and responsibilities in the  project that we can learn from the  practical perspectives of school principals. In addition, the report should be able to shed light on how we as educators can prepare ourselves to the digital age in emerging new environment in  schools. Moreover, there are few more questions: such as “How can one lead  a whole school to positive changes when ICI utilization is a major  challenge at both classroom and individual levels?”, “What  recommendations from those administrators on deploying ICT  integrated approaches in their school improvement plans and school  development?” etc. I spent a number of hours talking to participating school principals about their vision and strategies including  their participation in launching the project. This is an in-depth attempt to  shed light on various related aspects. The method has to rely on the  understandings, opinions, and perspective of various stakeholders  (Wiboonppatum, 2002). In addition to those long hours meeting were conducted, I also conducted a focus  group on how the principals would continue ICT utilization in their  school contexts. Ten principals and four school ICT coordinators  participated in the focus group. Moreover, ten school ICT  coordinators participated in semistructure  interviewed to reflect on  how their schools’ principal support and manage ICT in school movement in their context. I gather all  information and use content analysis technique by sorting out pieces of  information in different themes. I then check the divergence and  convergence of each theme under a major question posed in this section. Although this is a report, the data  collection method has to be flexible enough to allow the process to  adequately comprehend principal perspectives, to encourage informants  to express their opinions effectively,    nd have sensitivity to and curiosityabout what is perceived by various participants (Vidich & Lyman, 1998).

What are school principals’ roles and responsibilities?
The project has launched since 2002 with agreement among volunteering schools and universities. It was  interesting that the principals must voluntarily agree to participate in the  project. This approach also goes in the university side. Therefore, a crucial aspect of the project started  from the participating schools and  universities agreement on how to work in concert to make use of ICT in  each school context. The principals were challenged by their own efforts.  University professors were also  challenged by their know how to integrate, help and foster ICT  utilization in their responsible schools. The project has been  consecutively conducted for three years. The major challenge is still on leaders. Some schools have done a  wonderful implementation of ICT utilization in their school environment  with assistance of university professors. It was also in concert with  teachers’ and community  nvolvement. Some  chools have  gradually improved because there  were changed in the principal positions. Despite of different change  shown at each school, principals’  roles and responsibilities can be described as the following figure.

Figure 1: ICT Model Schools’ Principal Roles & Responsibilities Model
This “LEARN” model represents how principals in the ICT model school  project coping with the challenge  happened in their school after their decision making on participating the project. The “LEARN” model is consisted of learning, evaluating &  monitoring, assisting, rewarding, and nurturing function. Learning Function  First and foremost function is  “learning”. By participating in the    roject, the school principals are  asked by their university professors to put their efforts in studying some basic ICT knowledge. The principals  could at least retrieve information prepared by their teachers. This is not  only the matter of ICT knowledge gained, but it is also the matter of  setting good examples for his or her teachers. In addition, there was the  knowledge transferring from one who knows about ICT skills to learners  across the different groups. More interaction and gaining respect among  one to another naturally occurred.  Therefore, the principals must act as “a learner” in order to understand and   appreciate the ICT utilization in their schools. As a learner,  they also to  learn how ICT can be utilized in their schools setting. It was about
broaden perspectives on their ICT skills and uses.

Evaluating and Monitoring Function
In working in the pilot project, the schools have put more and more budget in their initiative. Although the Ministry of Education has  provided some budget for running project, it was not enough. The  intension from the Ministry was a kind of seed money. Therefore, each participating schools started their raising fund activities; from community members, teachers and  parent associations, contribution from  private sectors, etc. The role of principals must be extended beyond  learning functionality. They must also become evaluators as to gain more  understanding in the project and the use of ICT in their school context. The principals start collecting and  analyzing relevant incidents on ICT utilization in school. The principals   must be able to answer whether their investment in ICT in various forms creates an impact on students’  improvement or whether their ICT in  school approach is really needed.  This is because each school has been  operated on budget constraint phenomena. Therefore, different  schools in this pilot project allocated their very limited budget according to  the necessary condition. Some schools spend on computers, communication technology, or  professional development. However, they have been guided by their

university professors.  Assisting Function
Due to the project is dealing with ICT utilization, some principal cannot help to think in terms of technology oriented approached. Therefore, some  school principals have put their faith on their assistants. These assistants  could be the assistants in line with  the school structures or ICT school coordinator who the principal could  rely on. In this manner, those principals must be very helpful in  assisting their school staffs. It has clearly demonstrated that executive support is one of the best ways to   drive awareness and usage (Bersin, 2004). What kind of assistance does a principal provide to their staffs?  Based on the observation, there are  many forms of assistance. A principal could help their staffs in encouraging  other teachers to apply ICT in classrooms because it has to be a  whole school approach rather a single effort. A principal could look for ways  to help their teachers to integrate ICT in classroom activities. The principal make an explicit attempt in  recognizing an ICT school coordinator as a resource person in  the school. It was not only about assisting implementing the project,  but also about giving a hand in various task required in other related activities. The principals sometime  must release the staffs in other school activities to allow them effectively  interact and involve in many forms of training occurring  during the initial stage of the project.

Rewarding Function
From the project participation, it was clearly noticed that teachers  in participating schools must be highly dedicate. They used their  weekend for training (with  support from their university professors). The teachers also spend sometime after school hours in  capacity building. This resulted in having less time for themselves (it  was also true for principals). To encourage their fellow teachers to  gain strength in working in long hours in schools and a long term project,  each principal has different  techniques in rewarding their teachers. The teachers are highly  appreciated by their principals for the past years. Common form of  rewarding was the moral support from the principals. Although there were  some cases received special promotion, the effective form was  about soft skills of the principals. Working together with their teachers, and being present at each schools  activities are regard as forms of rewards. Recognizing each teachers in public and extend their sincere  appreciation are also effective.

Nurturing Function
The last observed function which the principals possess is “Nurturing”. It could be both easiest and most difficult role and responsibility for  principals. Due to the ICT utilization  in school and classroom activities may not show its impact in a short  period of time, the principals, therefore must nurture their staff efforts and curiosity in ICT utilization in their schools. The principals then  must foster the dedicated group of staffs in a way not creating a conflict  in schools. Some schools have  demonstrated the principal supports for ICT school coordinators while  the principal also invite other teachers to be members of the group.  This way was not only fostering and disseminating ICT utilization understanding among their teachers,  but also to allow more people in schools to involve in the project.  Some principals allow their staffs to fully engage in the project and  support their decision when the staff needed. With this nurturing process, it was not only  adding the flexibility in project implementation, but empowering
staff as well. ?

Development Gateway brings out Special Report on Online Education

The new Special Report of Development Gateway- 'Online Education: What Can It Deliver?' (http://topics.developmentgateway.org/special/onlineeducation) looks at lessons learned, innovations that work, and the future of ICT in education for developing countries. It coincides with related major international events, notably Digital Learning Asia 2006, Bangkok, Thailand, on April 25-28, and the 1st International Conference on ICT for Development, Education & Training, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, on May 24-26. 

Seven of the world's largest distance education universities, where students and faculty alike all use some form of computer-assisted learning are located in developing countries. For these communities, educational resources available via the Internet can offer cutting-edge applications of cyberspace. Yet, roadblocks

Websites to go user-friendly for disabled people

New guidelines on how to make websites more user-friendly for disabled people have been developed by the British Standards Institution (BSI). The work was sponsored by the Disability Rights Commission (DRC) after an investigation in April 2004.

The DRC's report into web accessibility found that more than 80% of sites posed barriers to disabled people. Called PAS 78, the guidance is intended for any organisation that has a public-facing website. PAS – or Publicly Available Specification – 78 describes itself as a guide to good practice in commissioning accessible websites. It is particularly aimed at the people responsible for commissioning and maintaining public-facing sites.

UK organisations with websites have been legally obliged to make them disabled-friendly since 1999. By following the new guidelines, site owners are likely to be on the right side of the law. The DRC also points out that businesses with accessible websites are in a much better position to tap into the estimated

Science graduates! Go US

Going to the US is set to become much simpler for students pursuing an advanced degree, such as a masters in physical sciences, technology and engineering thanks to the introduction of a new category of student visa, the F-4.

The Senator Arlen Specter's Immigration Reform Bill, currently being discussed by the US Senate Judiciary Committee proposes a new category of student visa (F-4) for students pursuing higher studies in mathematics, physical sciences, engineering and technology. In '04-05, there were 80,466 Indian nationals studying in the US. Of these, 57,976 were at the master's level. Senator Specter has some good news for all foreign students, irrespective of the course of study.

The Bill proposes to allow all students on an F visa to be eligible for off-campus employment unrelated to the field of study if they maintain a good academic standing and the employer attests to the educational institution and the department of labour that it has spent at least 21 days recruiting US citizens to fill the position and will pay the greater part of the actual or prevailing wage.  Off-campus employment will be limited to 20 hours per week during the academic term and 40 hours per week during vacation periods and between terms. At present, international students on F visas are not allowed to take on off-campus jobs. While such a move would help international students tide over the college years, the Specter Bill proposes to raise the period of optional practical training from one year to two years.

At present, students graduating from US educational institutions can work for a year, even as they continue to hold a student visa, in a job that is related to their area of study. This would be applicable to all international students on an F category visa. The new category of F-4 visas would be valid for an additional year after the completion of the graduate programme, while the individual seeks full-time employment related to the field of study.

Microsoft to help parents check kids on Net

Microsoft Corp. plans to include a free service to help parents control and monitor what their children are doing online in its upcoming Windows Live offering of Web services. The monitoring of children online has become a hot-button subject due to a nationwide string of cases involving adult sexual predators using virtual-communities on the Internet like MySpace.com to meet child victims.

Windows Live is part of Microsoft's strategy to consolidate a range of Web services- e-mail, instant messaging, online PC security and blogs, to compete with Google Inc. and Yahoo Inc. for Internet advertising dollars. Windows Live is being tested now and will launch sometime in the second half of 2006. Microsoft plans to roll out Windows Live Family Safety Settings in the summer, which will allow parents to filter Web sites and receive reports to see what their children are doing online.

Big names partner on IT-assisted education across private sector schools in India

Computer education just got a big boost. NIIT, Intel India, Microsoft and State Bank of India (SBI), four formidable names, have formed a strategic joint partnership to initiate IT and IT-assisted education across private sector schools in the country. 
 
Among the four partners, NIIT proposes to front-lead the education package through its NIIT K-12 (Kindergarten to 12th standard) programme by developing content in major subjects like English, Math, Science and Social Sciences. NIIT claims to have already developed 4,000 hours of content as per school curriculum and plans to take it further alongwith training teachers and thereafter students in IT-assisted education practices. Intel India will be providing its technology, software, content and integration facilities by facilitating power efficient personal computers. It also plans to extend its reach to private schools with its Genuine Intel Dealer network for the IT-assisted education programme. Microsoft India, under its Partners in Learning Program, will be working in areas of training, certification, relevant content development and affordable access to its products like Windows and Office, via its academic license programme. The State Bank of India as the fourth partner will be providing easy financing options for the schools with loans ranging from INR 30,000 to INR 12 lakh currently, at an annual interest rate ranging from 8.5 to 10.5 per cent. 
 
With an estimated 2,00,000 private schools across the country, the IT-assisted education initiative proposes to target 10,000 schools immediately. SBI through its 13,700 branches across the country proposes to assist as many private schools as possible for financing the programme and reducing the digital divide. According to estimates, a school with 800 children enrolled will require between Rs 8-12 lakh for introducing the IT-assisted education programme from kindergarten to class 12th. The four partners for the IT-assisted education initiative have targeted 35 cities across India to begin with, and have signed agreements with as many as 100 private schools. 

Tally in tie-up with Osmania varsity in India

Tally India, a technology company, has tied up with Osmania University in the Indian city Hyderabad for education programmes on Tally accounting software across colleges under the university umbrella.

This is to enable Osmania University to teach Tally. A curriculum for commerce students has also been designed. Under the academic collaboration programme, more than Rs 30 lakh are being invested in this initiative to facilitate hands-on training in all the affiliated colleges. Accordingly, the commerce faculties of all the 120 colleges affiliated to Osmania University have already undergone a two-day training programme on Tally accounting software. The training offers both the faculty and the students a hands-on experience with real-time situations. This is aimed at grooming students so that they are employable.

Village school children go online in India

Arul Mozhi, D. Deepa and K. Maunika are first generation learners from hamlets with about 1,000 families in interior Tamil Nadu in southern India but they are among the thousands of primary and elementary school children who use computers as a learning tool.

Under a computer aided learning programme launched in September, 82,400 rural children in 412 centres in 30 districts are using software packages produced jointly by the State and the Bangalore-based Azim Premji Foundation. Children answer questions in subjects such as Tamil, English, Mathematics, Science, and Social Science on computer.

Some 200 children from class I to VII took online tests for proficiency in using computers here at the Anna Institute of Management Studies. The children were winners at the block and district level online tests held earlier in February. A child exposed to computers will be able to answer some 80 questions in five minutes. Every question [that is] answered is tracked. Each class gets 150 questions. At the end of the tests the scores come up on the screen. It has three objectives. Learning play, assessment and equal knowledge for all. The aim is to make learning fun, assess the child's ability and assess if girls get as much time on the computer as the boys. The Foundation began its project in Karnataka in 2001 and has conducted such programmes in 14 States so far. But, Tamil Nadu is the first to take up statewide assessment.

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