What's Next in K-12 Environment : November 2007 Issue

The monthly publication on ICT and Education

digitalLEARNING Volume III Issue 11 November 2007

ISSN 0973-4139

Rs 75

www.digitalLEARNING.in

What’s Next in

K-12 Environment

ICT Usage in 1000 Schools of India PAGE 8

An ASSET for Schools PAGE 18

Education in an Wireless Environment in Pathways World School PAGE 37 Leaders’ Speak

Soumya Kanti Purkayastha, President ICT Educomp Solutions Ltd. PAGE 28

Interview: Ram Narayanan, Director, Unlimited Potential Gr. Microsoft India PAGE 25

Contents

Verbatim

Volume III Issue XI, November 2007

I am always doing that which I can not do, in order that I may learn how to do it. – Pablo Picasso Nine tenths of education is encouragement. – Anatole France It is not the answer that enlightens, but the question. – Eugene Ionesco Decouvertes A teacher is one who makes himself progressively unnecessary. – Thomas Carruthers The most damaging phrase in the language is: `It’s always been done that way.’ – Rear Admiral Grace Hopper

Country Story

Education, Unplugged: Schools Make Cable-Free Connections Russell Fortmeyer

Cover Story

ICT Usage in 1000 Schools of India

Project

Connecting, Combining, and Colloborating Learning

Tools for Getting Kids 17 Top Smart in Classroom

Corporate Diary

In Practice

18 Vaishali Shah

An ASSET for Schools

37 Pathways World School

Jason Wong

Leaders’ Speak Ram Narayanan Director, Unlimited Potential Group Microsoft India

Vivek Bharadwaj

Smart Tools

School Track

Leaders’ Speak Soumya Kanti Purkayastha President ICT Educomp Solutions Ltd.

Research

Designing a Business Model to Help Students Learn Math Dr Gaurav Bhatnagar

Case Study

Intel: Mobilising Communities, Creating Trust

Awards & Excellence Literacy 40 Computer Excellence Awards for Schools 2005

The Foyer for E9 Countries 43 Conference on ICT, Bangalore

Regulars

36 45

Blog Book Mark Your Calendar

News

15 33 42 44

India Corporate Asia World

All the articles are available online at www.digitalLEARNING.in

digital LEARNING Volume III, issue 11 | November 2007

President M P Narayanan Editor-in-Chief Ravi Gupta Programme Co-ordinator Jayalakshmi Chittoor Sr. Sub Editor Manjushree Reddy Research Associates Rachita Jha Syed Ghufran Hashmi Marketing Siddharth Verma +91-9811561645 (India) email: siddharth@csdms.in Subscription & Circulation Lipika Dutta (+91-9871481708) Manoj Kumar (+91-9210816901) Designed by Bishwajeet Kumar Singh Om Prakash Thakur Web Zia Salahuddin Santosh Kumar Singh Editorial and Marketing Correspondence digital LEARNING G-4 Sector 39 NOIDA 201301, India Phone +91 120 2502181-85 Fax +91 120 2500060 Email info@digitalLEARNING.in Group Directors Maneesh Prasad, Sanjay Kumar Printed by Vinayak Print Media, Noida Gautam Budh Nagar (U.P.) India digital LEARNING does not neccesarily subscribe to the views expressed in this publication. All views expressed in the magazine are those of the contributors. digital LEARNING is not responsible or accountable for any loss incurred, directly or indirectly as a result of the information provided. digital LEARNING is published & marketed in collaboration with Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. (www.elets.in)

Editorial Plugging schools in to the information age In the past decade, the easy access to nearly any piece of information imaginable has become an expected part of our daily life. We’ve been Googled and YouTubed and iPodded so completely that such names have seared into our cerebral cortex, even becoming verbs. Don’t we face questions like “Did you Google it”? Even after so much fever with the technology advancement, what happens with our schools? Not much. They continued to plod on gamely, passing out paper-based textbook after paper-based textbook, keeping their rooms and halls nearly free of the technology saturating the students’ lives. Imagine watching the visuals of world history while flipping through the pages of your book. The Computer Aided Learning programme under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme of Government of India, the Smart Class programme launched by e-Learning companies in India promises all this and much more. There is a shift in the schooling process required now, as these programmes for the digital classrooms have been designed for interactive learning. Schools which support students’ learning and thinking skills with programmes, infrastructure, tools, teachers and management aided by information and communication technologies automatically enable children to acquire abilities of constructing knowledge from available information. These abilities are crucial to a learning society. ICT is not about the computers or the educational CDs or the Internet or the specific device or medium we use. It is really about a different process that we deploy for the purpose of enhancing the quality of education. It is about providing alternative learning experiences to the children who currently do not have options other than text book as a learning tool. In the environment of ICT usage in K-12 segment, the skills and abilities will lead to a perceptible shift from didactic classroom teaching to participatory, decentralised, interactive group learning, traditional learning environment to a climate that encourages exploration, problem-solving and decision-making. There are many who are fortunate to be able to use new technologies in schools. Sadly there is still a very large digital divide in our country. According to one study which is featured in the cover story of this issue- while there is a relatively better availability of older technologies like the TVs or RCPs, in Indian schools; newer technological products like Multi-media Projectors, Laptops and PDAs, which make learning more student-centric, are scarce. Schools should not shun the seemingly endless variety of technology options available for integrating to the classroom scenarios, but should instead see them as new sources of inspiration for their teaching learning affairs. The major constraining factor being the change of mindset of all stakeholders, keeping track of technology change and ensuring one is on the right path. Let’s hope it is not too late. We use technology for entertainment. Let’s now hear it for academic progress, and innovation, in schools. Let’s hear and see it for teachers, for students, for schools, as its time to see technology all around, in meaningful ways.

Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@csdms.in

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

COUNTRY STORY

Education, Unplugged: Schools Make Cable-Free Connections Russell Fortmeyer, [RUSSELL_FORTMEYER@MCGRAW-HILL.COM], COLORADO, USA

ew observers doubted that the wireless-technology revolution would have an impact on K-12 education, but when third graders start turning in homework using personal digital assistants, we know we’ve made a significant leap from the era of chalk and blackboard. The days are long gone when computers were rare objects in schools, rolled around on carts from classroom to classroom. Now, the most wired schools hand out laptops or PDAs to students, assign homework online, and facilitate classroom presentations using PowerPoint. Ironically, the freedom offered by the move of instruction into wireless cyberspace doesn’t solve the sometimes daunting problems of real space -- upgrading the design of network-ready classrooms, installing communications closets for servers, and, even in the burgeoning wireless age, creating the pathways needed for cabling systems. Robert Bogan, a consultant with Technology Plus, in Aurora, Colorado, considers finding those pathways the most difficult aspect of retrofitting older schools with new cables and network systems. In many schools, concreteblock walls pose particular difficulties, because architects typically dislike surface-mounted conduit and block walls can’t be opened like wall board can. That obstacle can be remediated to some degree-or at least minimisedby routing computer networks and cable-television, security, voice, and audiovisual systems on a single category-six (CAT 6) cable, because each system’s unit acts as its own Internet address. (CAT 6 cable, an industry standard, is the typical cabling 6

for network connections for computers and servers.) Bogan says, however, that full integration can be a tough sell with school districts accustomed to keeping systems separate. And wireless technology, though it gives students and teachers vastly increased flexibility, isn’t a cure-all for interior upgrades in buildings with block walls, Bogan points

Reusing existing cable is rarely an option, according to Bogan, because gauging length, quality, and condition is more time consuming (and more expensive) than pulling new wire. New closets need additional cooling to handle electronics-generated heat loads, as well as electrical receptacles. Upgrading a school’s electrical power system to meet the needs of the computer age can present space issues, as well as

With wireless portable devices, students now can take the classroom home out. “Even with a wireless data system,” he says, “you still need a cable for all those other systems.”

Taking Stock of the New Bogan installed both wireless and hardwired systems at the Denver School of Science and Technology, where technology is showcased rather than hidden, with exposed cable trays in the open ceilings and a glass-enclosed server room. “Having both systems is more expensive,” he says, “but you have to provide wireless, because everyone uses it.” In addition, for high schools offering courses that depend on bandwidth-hogging software, such as AutoDesk’s AutoCAD, hardwired networks are mandatory. More common in schools are classrooms where computers are used mainly for accessing the Internet, which is easily accommodated on a wireless network. In new school construction, it’s easier to accommodate leading-edge technology, as was the case in Denver. But often, consultants such as Bogan find themselves cramming server racks into unused custodial closets or carving out extra space in administrative offices.

high costs for service size increases, transformers, and panel boards. Giving a laptop to each student is easier than ensuring each classroom has the electrical capacity to power them; one advantage of issuing PDAs is that multiple units can be recharged at one receptacle plug. Some schools have even provided dedicated closets intended just for recharging laptops.

The firewall factor Portable technology, however, brings its own security problems. Mario Sanchez, a technology consultant with Los Angeles-based EQ International (part of RTKL Architects), says that as schools establish virtual private networks (VPNs) to allow students’ laptops to access school networks from home, care should be given to implement appropriate security measures through smart cards or thumbprint identification to ensure that only students use the computers. “You can install software to automatically lock down a laptop if a student stops attending school,” Sanchez adds. In the case of encryption software, November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

automatically updated Internet filtering, and stronger firewalls, he says, the concerns that outsiders might access wireless networks or students could download inappropriate material are considerably diminished. Security concerns about power outages and emergencies also exist. Sanchez says rack-mounted, uninterruptible power sources are commonly sufficient to allow only for server shutdown, not for continuous network use. Schools

site. For example, introducing PDAs into a science lab means students can connect them to probes for testing phenomena such as a river’s pH level. The Littleton Public Schools, in Littleton, Colorado, implemented a Web-based learning program to help students with special circumstances complete their high school coursework. Using the Blackboard K-12 Starter Edition, well-known platform software from a company called Blackboard, the

Blackboard, like other Web-based programmes, assessment is instant and can be shared with a wider community of teachers, parents, administrators, and fellow students. Although the district helped pay for its programme by partnering with the local community college, schools can apply for a grant for such initiatives through the U.S. Department of Education’s Star Schools programme, begun in 2000. The programme, which requires a matchingfunds commitment from schools, encourages them to develop distancelearning programs and offers funding for equipment, facilities, coursework, and support staff.

Smart phones, smart kids Technology consultants and administrators almost uniformly point to so-called smart phones as the next wave in education. Like Palm’s Treo and other such devices, these phones would allow students total connectivity while combining nearly every function they might normally use: phone service, email, and the Internet.

typically provide power backup exclusively for telecommunications systems. Server backup, however, is less of a problem. The drop in digital storage costs has made the idea of backing up a student’s entire academic career less far-fetched than it once would have been. And Sanchez wonders why anyone would bother with a CD-ROM anymore, when server-based storage provides security and continuity between grades. “Managing, searching, and distributing it is the hard part,” he says.

Small devices in the big picture School-technology administrators say infrastructure upgrades, though necessary for aging buildings, are useless without a comprehensive elearning plan. That approach can mean anything from curricular changes in specific subjects to offering a high school diploma program solely via Web Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

Littleton school district offers a wide selection of classes students access online or at a computer lab set up at the city’s Arapahoe Community College. Course content is provided by Class. com, but the district could eventually use its own class materials. Blackboard’s pilot programme can be expanded to offer professionaldevelopment courses for teachers, a common feature for other districts. Blackboard has been implemented in nearly 1,200 K-12 schools, many of which rely on the Internet for offering specialised classes for students in isolated locations. Students in some Alaskan school districts, for example, can access Advanced Placement courses through Blackboard without resorting to the previous vogue in distance learning, which relied on expensive and complicated teleconferencing facilities and instructor availability. And, with

Some school administrators already rely on smart phones to augment their work: If a principal catches a student wandering the halls during class, a quick name check on a smart phone -- one Internet enabled and connected to the school’s student database -- could pull up the student’s photograph, class schedule, and tardiness record and a parent’s email address; cutting class now has its digital risks. These phones can be a boon to teachers and parents as well -- assignments can be assessed on Palms instantaneously, and results can be emailed or provided on demand in a Web portal to parents -- not to mention the kids themselves. “A Palm gives students the ability to access learning technology at times and in places unavailable before,” says Eric Johnson, a director at Palm, in Sunnyvale, California. “And handhelds mean all students can have access to the same kind of tool.” The article was originally published in ‘edutopia’ magazine (www.edutopia.org) 7

COVER STORY

ICT Usage in 1000 Schools of India Vivek Bharadwaj [VIVEKBHARADWAJ@HOTMAIL.COM], SPECIAL SECRETARY, DEPARMENT

IT, GOVERNMENT

WEST BENGAL

The access to ICT facilities whether by students or by teachers is of great concern in India. Less than six computers per school and one computer for seventy two students is the average here 8

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

ne of the major objectives of the study was to show the relationship between technology use and changes in teaching and learning process, as well as educational curricular improvements. In view of the large size of the country and the fact that the number of primary and secondary schools run into hundreds of thousands, two representative States were selected – Gujarat in Western India and Karnataka in South India. Again two Districts in two different areas of the States were selected for the Pilot project. Schools in the capital cities of the two States were also surveyed to reflect the different stages of development in the use of ICT in teaching and learning. The survey used multistage random sampling and the sample unit was the school. This methodology produced the following sample size: • Number of schools : 1000. • Number of teachers : 6239. • Number of students : 35,547. The survey took place in the early part of 2004. Out of the 1,000 schools surveyed, 500 each were in the States of Gujarat in the West and Karnataka in the South of the Country. Out of these 500 schools, 200 each were in the Districts of Patan and Surendranagar in Gujarat and Bellary and Mandya in Karnataka. 100 schools each were also assessed in the capital cities of Ahmedabad in Gujarat and Bangalore in Karnataka. In Gujarat the ratio of the number of urban schools to rural ones was 26:65.8 and in Karnataka it was 37.6:53.6.

Though computers came to Indian classrooms in the year 198485, the level of adoption of modern technology in the teaching and learning process has been limited and uneven. Possibly there has been no comprehensive study or survey on the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in schools in India. This study is an attempt not only to provide a snapshot of the situation on the ground but also for providing a road map. The report was prepared by Vivek Bharadwaj (vivekbharadwaj@hotmail.com), now the Special Secretary, Deparment of IT, Government of West Bengal, who was serving as a Director, Ministry of HRD while undertaking the study.

A majority of the schools surveyed in both the States were Government or Public Schools. Out of the 1,000 schools, 602 (60.2%) were Government Schools and 398 (39.8%) were Private Schools. Out of the total 1,000 schools 49.7% were primary and 51.3% were secondary. The total number of students enrolled in these 1,000 schools were 2,24,018. Out of these 1,21,029 were in Gujarat and 1,02,989 were in Karnataka.

Observations and Recommendations 1. 10

The first major finding of the survey is that the use of ICT in Education

is very limited in the country whether measured by the number of schools having an ICT Department or Unit (20.4%), the availability of a budget in schools for its implementation (6.5%), the number of teachers trained at ICT, the per capital availability of hardware and so on and so forth. The access to ICT facilities whether by students or by teachers was of great concern. In the 200 schools surveyed in Surendranagar there were only two Multi-media Projectors, three PDAs and four Scanners. Even in Ahmedabad there were only 589 Desktop Computers reported in 100 schools. This means less than six computers per school and one computer for 72 students on an average. There is thus a great need for increasing the availability of various ICT tools. While there is a relatively better availability of older technologies like the TVs or RCPs, newer technological products like Multimedia Projectors, Laptops and PDAs, which make learning more student-centric, were scarce. In the 200 schools in Mandya, for example there was not a single Multi-media Projector, LCD Projector, Scanner or a PDA. The survey found that the abundance of different technologies was directly related to their vintage. Older equipment like TVs, RCPs and Desktop Computers were more abundant than Multimedia Projectors and Hand-held Computers. As the increased availability of these technologies in the country

would take time, it would be a sensible strategy to concentrate on utilising traditional media like the radio and the television. These technologies also have an edge over Desktops or Laptops as more students can utilize them at any given time. As mentioned earlier, in Gujarat schools it was the TV and then the RCPs, which were available in maximum numbers. The hypothesis that even where ICT tools were available there was low level of integration in education was validated as both Principals and teachers stated that ICT tools were most used for teaching ICT as a subject. In Gujarat, teachers stated that ICT was used most for teaching computers as a subject and then for sciences. In Karnataka, computer classes were the second most important subject for which ICT was used. There was little utilization of these tools in Social Science and Music in Gujarat and in Music and Art in Karnataka. Principals reported that they were used least for teaching the local language. The maximum percentage of respondents who stated that one subject for which computers were always used was ICT – both in Gujarat (8.2%) and in Karnataka (11.8%). The lack of Internet connectivity came-up starkly and repeatedly during the survey. This had its own impact on the various uses to which ICT could be put to by both the teachers and students. Only 8.6% of the teachers in Gujarat and 8.8% of the teachers in Karnataka had

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

access to the Internet, whether at school or outside. As far as students were concerned, only 4.2% students stated that they had access to the Internet in Gujarat. This number was 12.8% in Karnataka. In Gujarat 79% of the students surveyed could not e-Mail and 78.3% could not browse. In Karnataka an even larger percentage (87.3%) could not eMail and 89.5% could not browse. The frequency of use of Internet for surfing websites in schools, for example were instructive. 55.4%

The hypothesis that even where ICT tools were available there was low level of integration in education is validated as both Principals and teachers state that ICT tools were most used for teaching ICT as a subject schools which had an ICT Master Plan in place was even less. 20.4% of the total number of schools surveyed had an ICT Department or Unit. It is well known that without trained personnel the hardware is of little use. It was found that only 13.7% of the schools had an ICT Coordinator which was as mentioned earlier less than

of the students surveyed in Gujarat stated that they had never surfed the Internet. The proportion of students who surfed the Net daily was 0.1%.

There was only a marginal difference in the usage of ICT tools when assessed according to the type of school-Private or Governmentthat the student attended. In Gujarat Private School students used ICT marginally more than Government School students for all purposes except for communication. In Karnataka Private Schools used ICT marginally more than Government Schools for communication, creation and functional purposes. Government School students used ICT more to find, acquire and use information. While a relatively larger number of schools had an ICT Department or Unit a much lesser number had an ICT Coordinator to make the entire process effective. The number of

the number of schools which had an ICT Department. Purchase of hardware, training of teachers, procurement of educational content, scheduling of classes etc. all have to be part of a master plan to ensure maximum benefits. Very few schools had an ICT Master Plan in place, in fact only 7.8%. This comprised 11% of schools in Karnataka and 4.6% in Gujarat. There has been steady but slow progress in the availability of ICT facilities for students in the country. An assessment of the length of time that computers had been with schools was made during the course of the survey. It was found that only a miniscule percentage of schools had computers 8 years back. These were also more noticeable in the urban areas which clearly points to the fact that computers first became accessible in towns. The maximum percentage of schools in Gujarat have acquired computers in the last

1-2 years while it was 2-4 years for Karnataka. The case of rural Karnataka is instructive. While 8 years back there was no computers in any school, now about 18% have computers and the maximum number of computers were acquired in the last 2-4 years. A possible lack of communication in propagating the components of the ICT policy framework to the schools was discerned. Less than 30% of the schools in Gujarat claimed to be implementing the regional policy on ICT. Surprisingly many more Private Schools claimed the same than Government Schools!

The focus of implementation of the Policy on ICT in Education differed in the two States. While in Gujarat the emphasis seemed to be on training teachers on ICT and then on using ICT in the management and administration of the school, in Karnataka using ICT for teaching specific subjects was most important and then was the training of teachers. 10. An assessment was made of the level of expertise in the use of various software tools and applications. These ranged from simple ones like Word Processing, Power Point, Internet Browsing to Programme and Project Management. Teachers from Gujarat consistently reported better expertise at these applications than those from Karnataka. Interestingly, however teachers from both the States were best at Word Processing and then at Presentation tools. In Gujarat they were least acquainted with Project Management and in Karnataka with web-page designing. In general the level of expertise was quite low. The expertise at even basic activities like E-mailing and Internet Browsing was fairly low primarily because of the lack of Internet November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

access in schools. The major difference in the level of expertise remained between teachers from Ahmedabad and Surendranagar and those from Bangalore and Mandya. It was found that there was practically no expertise in higher order skills like web-page designing or data base management. 11. Students were questioned on the level of expertise acquired by them in using ICT tools. These skills were divided into basic, intermediate and advanced. Less than 20% students surveyed in Gujarat assessed themselves as excellent or very good in the basic use of ICT tools. Only word processing got more than 20% responses. The situation was worse in Karnataka where in general only 5-10% assessed themselves excellent or very good at these simple skills. Again, only word processing was relatively better. As stated earlier, there was in general low level of expertise. The conclusion that ICT tools are mostly being used for making presentation or documents but not for developing critical thinking is inescapable. 12. The declining levels of community participation in education came out clearly during the survey in both the urban and rural areas of the two States surveyed. ICT tools were least used for communicating with parents! 13. The location of computers is an important determinant of access to technology by the students. If Desktops are confined to the office or TVs to the residence of the Principal, these technologies would have no impact on the teachinglearning process. An assessment was made of the location of computers in schools. In Gujarat, location of computers in classrooms and in a computer laboratory was evenly distributed. In Karnataka computers were pre-dominantly located in Laboratories. Some were housed in the library also. The maximum number of computers in laboratories were in Bangalore. None of the respondents ticked both classroom and the laboratory as the location of computers in Gujarat. Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

14. Students were also queried during the survey whether they possessed mobile phones, hand-held/PDA, E-mail addresses or a personal website/web-page. 5.9% of the total number of students surveyed in Gujarat had a mobile phone. This figure reached a high of 14.1% in Ahmedabad. Karnataka students had the maximum number of E-mail addresses. The district of Mandya in Karnataka surprisingly had the maximum number of E-mail addresses! 15. There was only a marginal difference in the usage of ICT tools when assessed according to the type of school-Private or Governmentthat the student attended. In Gujarat Private School students used ICT marginally more than Government School students for all purposes except for communication. In Karnataka Private Schools used ICT marginally more than Government Schools for communication, creation and functional purposes. Government School students used ICT more to find, acquire and use information. While Private School students in Gujarat had 4 times more access to the Internet compared to their Government School peers, it was the reverse in Karnataka where 16.6% of Government School students had access to the Internet compared to 5.6% Private School students. Surprisingly, the percentage of

students who used e-Mails as a means of communication was marginally better in Government Schools in Gujarat and a little better for Government Schools in Karnataka. Access of Government School students to ICT tools outside school was in general low. The access of Private School students to such devices was comparably better and pre-dominantly at home which implied a better socioeconomic condition. This was true for both Gujarat and Karnataka. The data was compared between Government and Private Schools to assess the effectiveness of the different school systems. In Karnataka, while Private School students were better than their Government counter-parts in Word Processing, Spread Sheet, Graphics, Web Designing and Chatting, the Government School students were better at Presentation Tools, e-Mailing and Internet Browsing. Similarly, while Private School students in Gujarat were better at Word Processing, Spread Sheets, Presentation Tools and Graphics, their Government counter-parts were better at E-mailing, Internet Browsing, Web Designing and Chatting. The results were therefore mixed. 13

Access to government school students to ICT tools outside schools is in genral low. The access of private school students to such devices is comparably better

Government School students liked to draw and paint most and play games next. It was the other way round for Private School students in Gujarat where 49.8% ranked playing games as their favourite activity using computers! In Karnataka also there was similarity in the choices with Gujarat where most of the Government School students liked to draw and paint most and play games next. The favoured activities of Private School students were the reverse to that of Government School students in Karnataka but same as that of private school students in Gujarat. 16. While there was no difference in the mode of offering ICT courses or ICT based activities between Private and Government Schools in Karnataka as most offered them first as a separate and then integrated with other subjects, the emphasis on integrating technology was however apparent. The maximum number of hours spent on integrating ICT with other subjects was in Government Schools in Karnataka. 17. One of the assumptions of the study was that most of the ICT facilities are confined to boys and that the girl child is at a disadvantage. What the study revealed was an eye-opener. There were no gender differences discernable. In Gujarat more girls (55.8%) are using computers compared to boys (38.8%) and their numbers are also growing faster. This is apparent in Karnataka also 14

specially in the last 2 years. The access of girl students is much more to Desktop Computers in Gujarat. Data suggests that it is marginally more than boys for TVs, RCPs and even Lap-tops, CD Writers, Scanners and Computer Speakers. In Karnataka, the access of girl students to various ICT tools in schools is marginally more than boys to TVs, RCPs, Desktops, Computer Speakers, Scanners and CD Writers. Comparing girls in Karnataka with their counterparts in Gujarat, one finds that RCPs, Desktop Computers and Computer Speakers are more accessible to girls in Karnataka. However, the availability of TVs to girls in Gujarat schools is more. Girl students in Gujarat had a distinctly better access to ICT tools for doing schoolwork. While this was also true for Karnataka the difference with boys was not as pronounced. Girls had better access to the Internet in both Gujarat and Karnataka and it was best for Karnataka girl students where 4 times more girls than the number of boys claimed to be able to access the Net on a daily basis.

18. While it was difficult to come to the conclusion as to which among the two States was better in terms of access, utilisation and effectiveness of ICT tools, what did come across repeatedly during the analysis was the fact that Gujarat had substantial disparities between its urban and rural areas and Private and Government Schools. For example, when students from the two States were questioned about their access to ICT tools for doing class-work, these ranged from 41.5% in the affirmative in Ahmedabad to 9.1% in the affirmative in Surendra Nagar. Access was more evenly distributed between the capital and the Districts in Karnataka. Similarly in Gujarat access to ICT tools was maximum for Private School students at 28.3%. Only 4.7% of Government School children had such facilities. In Karnataka, fortunately there was no digital divide discernable between the Private School and Government School students. As mentioned earlier Government School students in Karnataka had better access to the Internet. Overall too there was better availability of access to the Internet in Karnataka than in Gujarat. The responses of students to once a month and once a week usage was much better in the Districts of Bellary and Mandya compared to the Districts in Gujarat. The number of students who had a mobile phone was 10 times more in Private Schools in Gujarat when compared to Government Schools. None of the Government School students had a PDA or an e-mail address or a personal website. In Karnataka the differences were not so stark. In fact, the number of eMail IDs were more in Government Schools than in private ones!

Vivek Bharadwaj has 17 years of experience in policy formulation, programme planning and project management of various public service programmes in association with multilateral agencies and community based organisations within which time he has served with different capacities like Director Secondary Education, GOI, District Magistrate & Collector, Nadia, West Bengal, and Joint Secretary, Mass Education Extension, Government of West Bengal. He has a major role in formulating the flagship Govt programme ICT @ schools of the Xth Plan.

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

News INDIA TN to set up ICT academy The Tamil Nadu Government will set up an ICT Academy under publicprivate partnership to develop and maintain a world class ICT industryrelated curriculum and content for students across the state. The process of setting up the academy was in the advanced stage and a few companies had signed up to become partners. The academy, to function as a non-profit autonomous organisation, would develop curriculum and content to address gaps in specific technical as well as management areas. It would be made available to students and faculty through an online portal. Specialised training to the faculty and industry-related training programme to students would also be provided.

NCERT trains academicians from Afghanistan The National Council of Educational Research and Training, India has organised a 40day-long trainingcum-workshop programme for academicians from Afghanistan, with a view to help them strengthen their elementary education system. The 40-member delegation comprised teacher educators and academics was headed by Seddiq Weera, a senior policy advisor in Afghanistan’s Ministry of Education. The training programme applies a multi-method approach that includes lectures, group-discussion and groupwork. District Institutes of Education and Training and schools in Delhi as well as two Regional Institutes of Education in Ajmer and Mysore would help them give experience at the field level.

e-Learning portal for company secretaries foundation programme The Union Minister of Railways Shri Lalu Prasad has launched e-Learning portal for Company Secretaries (CS) Foundation Programme at the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) Foundation Day function. As a first step to this direction, the e-Learning portal of ICSI would be imparted to the students of the CS Foundation Programme. In the second phase, the training would be imparted to the students of Executives and Professional Programmes. Under the system, the students would be imparted coaching through web based training. A nominal annual of INR250/only would be charged from the Foundation Programme students for availing the services at the e-Learning portal.

Info Edge plans to get into education Info Edge (India), the Internet company known for its online job site Naukri. com, has earmarked about INR 50 crore to fund the expansion of its other portals and launch a new portal in the education space. This is part of the about INR 170 crore raised by the company in its IPO last year. The company plans to launch a portal that will bring together colleges and students seeking college admission. The portal would be launched in the next six months. It may also invest in e-Learning and overseas education initiatives of other Internet companies. Two months ago, the company launched ‘asknaukri.com’, a career guidance Web site that has so far registered about 6,000 queries.

India to have one million IPTV subscribers by 2011 India will have one million IPTV subscribers by 2011 but for it to succeed companies need to get their act together in the areas of access, content and technology. This was a point made at the IBE 2007 Conference in a session that examined IPTV’s growth prospects in India.

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

In terms of access, companies need to have fibre optic infrastructure. A strong DRM system is also needed; otherwise, content owners will be wary of parting with their offerings. IPTV offers the most robust DRM system which has made it easier for the company to deal with the Hollywood studios. It has also tied up with companies like Satyam for e-Learning. As time goes by, the company will also offer games on demand and music on demand.

Picsquare allows users to create their own photo website Picsquare.com, an online photo sharing and printing company, has launched a new service which allows users to create their own photo website with a personalised domain name like manish. picsquare.com. The new service provides an option of selecting occasion based theme for the entire site or for an individual album. The photo site creation platform will differentiate Picsquare from competitors and has tremendous value add to Picsquare users.

CollegeMantra.com to help students find the ‘right’ college, course Delhi-based start-up Mantra Consulting has launched CollegeMantra.com, an online college search portal that aims to help students find the right college and course, network with students from that college to get inside information, compare colleges, view their ratings, and ask experts from specific fields to answer questions. According to the company, CollegeMantra.com currently hosts 15

information on over 5,000 colleges and more than 28,000 courses. The site also claims to have over 300 experts to answer students’ questions. Soon students will be able to purchase prospectuses and admission forms online and fill in a single form to apply to multiple colleges.

Extramarks in talks with VC firms to raise fund Extramarks.com, an online education site that offers afterschool academic support to Indian students of classes VI to XII based on the NCERT syllabus, plans to raise USD5-million (around INR 20 crore) venture capital fund to launch its services in UK and US and introduce syllabus for higher education and curricula of state educational boards. Promoted by Noida -based BPO firm Cleave Global e-Services, the portal is in talks with three VC firms and is expected to close a deal soon, reports Business Standard. Cleave Global is eying revenues of INR10 crore from Extramarks.com during 2008-09. The portal charges INR1,200 per year for providing expert guidance to its paid members.

UniGuru.com launched to help students looking for courses abroad Hotcourses, a UK-based publisher of guides to education, has launched

UniGuru.com for Indian students looking for courses in higher education institutes abroad. The website offers peer-to-peer advice on over 100,000 courses at 808 institutions in UK, US, Singapore and Australia. The company also plans to launch a similar site for domestic universities in India next year. UniGuru will feature written posts, video diaries and photographs from existing students about aspects of their lives and studies, including the quality of the course, advice on visas, the weather, city life, accommodation and the cost of living.

India based Upside Learning Wins Apex Publication Excellence Award

At present, courses are available in core sciences, computer science, civil, mechanical, electronics and electrical engineering related subjects. The contents were developed in association with the ministry of human resources development’s National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL) helped by over 320 faculty members of the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) and the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

SNIA India to expand its education initiative Upside Learning, a fast growing India based e-Learning organisation has won Apex Grand Award in the Apex 2007 Awards for Publication Excellence. Fire Safety and Prevention is an eLearning course created for Tooling University, Ohio, USA, by Upside Learning. The course has entered in the Electronic and Video Publications category under the Education and Training sub-category. The Apex Awards are presented annually to recognise excellence in graphic design, editorial content, and the ability to achieve overall communications excellence. Fire Safety and Prevention is a simulationbased e-Learning program targeted at students enrolled in online classes, with the aim of reinforcing their learning through engaging and interactive content.

Indian Institute of IT and Management offers eContent for engineering The Indian Institute of Information Technology Management-Kerala (IIITM-K) has developed a site offering e-Content for some 230 engineering courses. 16

The materials for the undergraduate engineering curriculum in the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)-approved engineering colleges are available on the website. 110 courses are in the form of full length recorded video lectures covering some 40 lecture hours per course and as web-based supplementary learning materials for some 130 courses. The web content is also hosted at IIT Madras.

The Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) India, the apex storage networking industry body, has announced its plans to expand its education initiative through the appointment of select technical education institutes and universities in the country as its education franchise partner. SNIA said, the disk storage systems in India are growing at 68.8% CAGR from 4 Petabytes (PB) in 2003 to 56 PB in 2008. The external storage market in India is expected to hit USD300 million mark in terms of value and about 160,000 TB in terms of volume by 2010. The availability of trained storage networking professionals is not in accordance with the growth the industry has witnessed in the recent past and this has been a serious impediment for industry’s growth in general. SNIA India aims to address this issue by making its curriculum and courses available at education centers of repute. SNIA India has prepared a detailed charter for the same, which defines certain qualifying criteria for an institute or university to be selected as its franchise partner. November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

SMART TOOLS

Top Tools for Getting Kids Smart in Classroom Today’s kids are hardwired in a fundamentally different way than most of the adults who teach them. Every child from high school on down grew up immersed in a world of technology. None have known a world without visual computing. Other items within easy daily reach include a Radio, a Television, DVD, and various cell phones.Yet the typical school reflects little or none of this technology.There is an enormous disparity between the world in which the students live and their life in the formalised educational environment of the classroom. What technology do they use outside of school that would be good for the classroom also? Why? How would that work? Here’s how we can make students crazy about technology.

Laptop Computer They contain components that are similar to their desktop counterparts and perform the same functions, but are miniaturized and optimised for mobile use and efficient power consumption. This is an obvious selection, but the need may further be felt for the heavy books, paper, folders, and pencils were eliminated, if all had laptops. It would have been easier too for students to come out with new editions of texts, if the book publishers put all this material online, and the students carry laptops.

Bluetooth This wireless-connectivity standard provides a way to exchange information between electronic devices such as mobile phones, laptops, PCs, printers, digital cameras, and video game consoles over a secure short-range radio frequency. Install it on the school’s technologies so students can send information from cameras and cell phones onto school computers.

Cell Phone Its an essential item for staying in touch. It’s also a great device for the classroom, as for example, the new interactive services allow students Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

to create and flip through electronic flash cards displayed on their cell phone. Other uses can be to call a parent whose child has just excelled in class, or simply use the phone’s notification feature to ring as a reminder to study for a test.

home -- without the shoulder pain associated with overloaded backpacks. A drive costs very less and can store hundreds or thousands of items.

Universal Remote Teachers have separate remote control units for their classroom television, DVD player, projector, camera, and VCR - why not have one for all, just like at home? They could control everything with it, making life a lot easier.

Digital Camera Use it to photograph what’s written on the whiteboard (such as a list of vocabulary words or a homework assignment) that may be too laborious to copy by hand!

Nintendo DS This addictive handheld game console has several brain-building programmes/games. Brain Age (www.brainage.com) - in which you are asked to do simple equations quickly or divide words into syllables, as well as various other learning games - is useful. Such games are great for critical-thinking skills.

Webcam With these handy items, students can talk to kids across the world - and they’re cheap and easy to install.

iPod These portable media players can help to listen to books, instead of reading them (a different learning experience entirely), or catching up on the world of podcasts.

Video Camera Tape the class, study it later. Or, better still, post it to school’s Web site for other students to download.

Flash Drive An excellent way of carrying an enormous amount of information

Sims The range of artificial environments - from SimCity games to Second Life and beyond - boggles the mind and provides myriad possibilities for social interaction and group learning. 17

IN PRACTICE

Benchmarking Student Achievement

An ASSET for Schools

www.assetonline.in

Vaishali Shah [VAISHALI@EI-INDIA.COM], Education Initiatives, Ahmadabad, India

ducational Initiatives (EI), the organisation run by a group of IIMA alumni aims to bring about a significant improvement in the quality of student learning through research-based means with a special focus on assessment. The group wants to accurately measure how well children are learning so that this can meaningfully serve as feedback on how the education system is doing as a whole. About 50% of their effort is focused on private, English medium schools, and the balance on the mass government education system. EI works with the World Bank with rural schools in Andhra Pradesh, with UNICEF in 13 states of India, and also with municipal schools of 30 towns of 5 states. At the heart of EI is its focus on “measuring true learning”, i.e., finding out how much children have really

understood and can apply from what they have studied in school. The experience of assessing kids over the last 5 years through the diagnostic test ASSET and other studies has repeatedly shown that children even in the best schools in India aren’t learning as much as they should. The purpose of doing this study, or all the studies, is to trigger a debate on the real status of teaching and learning in India, and then play a part in a larger movement for change. In the experience of the founder directors of Eklayva, who are currently the directors at EI, there have been innovations in teaching methodology, architecture, infrastructure and educational material. Most schools invest a lot of their time and energy in creating the right physical environment for the children to learn. They also provide a lot of different type of stimuli (in the form of activities, projects etc).

ASSET is started by a group of IIM Ahmedabad alumni, who have chucked juicy corporate careers, have been working for the past seven years in answering the question - “How can we improve the quality of school education”. After gaining experience of setting up a school and a teacher training college, they have chosen the domain of diagnostic assessments (ASSET) as a method to do a “Where are we now” analysis. This analysis can apply to a child, a class, a school, a group of schools, a district... But one of most critical links missing is ‘Feedback’. The current assessment methodology encourages and rewards rote memorisation. A large part of this is due to the structure of the Board exams (some boards are changing their pattern) so the schools also prepare the children accordingly. There is very little time, given the curriculum width and breadth and the shortage of teaching

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

student. It is prepared on the curriculum of various state boards, CBSE and ICSE and consists of activities, worksheets, experiments and games scientifically designed to strengthen skills. It is a tool to diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of each student. The test is conducted in three subjects English, Maths and Science and Social Studies and Hindi are optional subjects for the students of Class 3 to 10. The uniqueness about ASSET test that it is not a just launched concept. Over 1000 schools in the country are taking the test every year in India, Middle East and Singapore. These schools see value because it is a test designed for the Indian curricula and the results are useful for taking remedial action. Over 2,00,000 students take part in the test every year.

www.assetonline.in

hours to focus on, has the student really understood and can the student use this understanding to apply the knowledge in unfamiliar situations. It was felt that schools are changing their curriculum to make it more

question of “WHY” has my child done bad/well and what are the concrete steps that the child/parent should take to ‘IMPROVE’ the child’s achievement level. To answer the above questions, ASSET was developed as an objective, skill-based diagnostic test that would

Over 1000 schools in the country are taking the test every year in India, Middle East and Singapore. Over 2,00,000 students take part in the test every year relevant and are adopting a lot of new practices. In such a situation it would be useful for the schools to get accurate, objective and scientific feedback on the extent to which their efforts have been successful. The mark based feedback by its very nature does not answer a child/ parent’s

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

test the understanding and application of concepts that are covered within the school curriculum. Unlike the conventional system of examination which tests the ability of a student to memorise without application of thought, ASSET diagnoses and conceptualises the understanding of a

A lot of technology goes into the analysis of the ASSET results. One interesting technology involves automatic matching and correction of student names allows us to ship the results to schools within 45 days or less. Note that, unlike other tests, ASSET papers are matched for every student, and the student gets a consolidated report across subjects. For children whose schools are not taking ASSET, the alternative mode is ASSETOnline (www.assetonline.in) - an online version of the ASSET test. ASSETOnline, being the exact same test available on the Internet, makes available all these benefits at the time and place convenient to students. Moreover, unlike the paper based ASSET test, a student can take this

diagnostic test herself, who do not have to wait for her school to start offering it. If the school does offer ASSET, it is now possible to practice taking a similar exam before appearing for the test at school! One can monitor the student’s progress more than once a year, by sim-ply going online and taking a new test. Being an online test, ASSETOnline tests are not taken under uniform supervised conditions. Understandably, individual scores cannot become a measure of competitive performance. Scores however have high diagnostic value

when the tests are taken honestly by the student. The Road Ahead for the Student After children go through the test, a skill profile chart is prepared based on the child’s performance. A check is made on what a child lacks and what are his/her strengths. This further analyses the level of the child’s proficiency in different subjects. A skill-wise analysis gives a clear picture of the strengths and weaknesses and helps the student focus on improvement.

The Road ahead for the Teacher The ASSET team visits schools where the participation has been of a sizable number of students to ensure that the data is statistically valid and conducts a post-ASSET analysis with the teachers. This session aims at increasing the teachers’ familiarity with the analysis and offers teachers a clearly laid out plan of what to do in the year. Suggestions like preparation of a Skill-Book for specific skills chosen 20

for improvement, are given to the teachers. In addition to the above sessions, the ASSET team organises twoday workshops on “Design and Implementation of a Skill-based Curriculum”. These workshops are aimed at helping the teacher become familiar with cutting-edge theories such as “Understanding by Design” and implement them in their classrooms.

Participating in ASSET To participate in ASSET, a student has to register through respective school. ASSET is offered to the schools as an option to participate in July or in December. Schools are valuing the feedback and realising that the analysis validity increases if more students participate. Therefore schools like Kumarans, Bangalore, Sishu Griha, Hosur, Gear Innovative are including the test as a part of their curriculum and ensuring that parents are involved in the process so that they also understand the rationale behind the tests. But there are schools that make the test optional also. A lot of schools have appreciated the clarity and usefulness of the analysis and are fully supporting the programme. The growth of ASSET in the past three years from 14 schools in December 2001 to more than 1000 schools in December 2007 is an indicator of its wide acceptance across CBSE, ICSE and State board schools.

Features For students of classes 3-10 • Core Subjects: English, Maths and Science • Optional Subjects: Social Studies and Hindi • Based on the Indian curriculum (CBSE, ICSE and state boards) • Detailed Skill-wise feedback with customized letter for every student • Conducted in the school during school hours • Schools choose to take the test in Summer (July-August) or Winter (December)

Feedback from Students and Parents Student: Meghana Harikumar, Class 9, Bangalore International Public School, Bangalore I am very happy to appear such an educative test. The questions asked are fantastic. The answer paper is designed really beautiful. I request you to conduct the same test for standard 10. As I am studying in standard none, I am really excited to write such competitive examinations. Parent: Sarita Sikaria (meghapolytop@vsnl.net) My son has sat recently for Class 4 Assets test in Guwahati. This was his first such test and I was very impressed with the math and science papers - they really tested the child’s grasping power of the subject. However the English paper was heavy, as per their curriculum in school. Maybe central board students are more efficient at such papers, but not state boards. Parent: D.SRIHARI (alphanet@sify.com) This is with reference to your Assessment of Scholastic skills through educational testing at M/s SHISHUGRIHA school at Bangalore. While I am very happy at the method used to test the skills of children, I am very much impressed at the feedback given to every child to test and improvement in particular subject and areas of improvement. My son has already started improving in such areas. I would like my son to go through such tests time to time. Parent:T Subash, Chennai (subi59@yahoo.com) The quality of test conducted and assessment afterwards are something to be admired at the highest level. I will be happy if student report includes the school’s performance on all India ranking. The other things is, when you conduct the test again you should be able to compare with previous ranking, for the student and the school.

Power of ASSET The power of ASSET does not end with detailed feedback and benchmarking provided to students. It offers many tangible benefits to teachers and schools: • it allows SCHOOLS to benchmark themselves against the best and identify areas requiring improvement • it provides TEACHERS insights into where exactly their students are weak compared to the national average or another section or school • it allows SCHOOLS to focus on initiatives like teacher training in the areas where they are needed the most • it provides concrete ideas to teachers of questions that can be used to improve assessment methods • detailed skill-training and other workshops are also offered free to schools with ASSET. November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

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PROJECT

Connecting, Combining, and Collaborating Learning Scriptovia.com

Scriptovia. com is a next generation Web 2.0 networking site that allows users to share, collaborate, and learn more efﬁciently in a virtual environment. Users interact collectively by posting their own school work to be critiqued and used as resources by other students. Members can also interact by reading and critiquing posted work as a source of learning and inspiration. 22

elf-referenced as the “YouTube” of academic papers, Scriptovia. com hopes to find its place in the Internet community among giants such as Facebook and YouTube by allowing for hundreds and thousands of user-generated content to continuously be available to students taking similar courses all over the world. All paper uploads to the website are converted to html, indexed, and made available to the wider audience through search engines such as Google and Yahoo. This document conversion allows Scriptovia.com to attract its primary audience, English speaking high school students, who are referred by search engines and drawn into the site to read specific paper topics. The hope is that these users become regular members by seeing the benefits of Scriptovia.com’s emphasis on learning and collaboration as important skills to develop in an increasingly globalised and technological society. Collaboration is encouraged through the use of member profiles, and message, comment and ranking features, among other tools available. Collaboration is an important feature for the website. Scriptovia describes learning as “all about making connections, and building on what others have discovered or learned.” Along these lines, Scriptovia hopes that with access to its online resources and network of users, November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

regular members can practice working together, develop useful contacts and supporters, share knowledge with others, “combine existing ideas in new ways”, and “look at old information from fresh

also the founder, president, and driving force behind Scriptovia.com. Perhaps most remarkable is how Badshah, while still only a teenager, has been able to dream up the concept of a revolutionary

While Scriptovia puts thousands of resources at the hands of millions of students, some of whom may be unscrupulous users, technology has made it easier to catch plagiarists perspectives”. Scriptovia, however, draws a fine line between collaboration and plagiarism.

Scriptovia on Plagiarism A major concern for the website is plagiarism, which is strictly prohibited. Plagiarism is a concern that is hardly limited to Scriptovia.com and its user-generated and reviewed content. Plagiarism has been a concern ever since students were assigned schoolwork and schools developed an honor system. While Scriptovia puts thousands of resources at the hands of millions of students, some of whom may be unscrupulous users, technology has made it easier to catch plagiarists. In many ways, Scriptovia’s learning community is also geared toward educating the populace about plagiarism. Scriptovia devotes an entire web page as part of its discourse on plagiarism, and it is mostly student’s own responsibility to make sure that they utilize their resources responsibly. Although cheating has always existed, the advent of new technology makes it easier to catch those who cheat. Questionable papers can be investigated by concerned teachers through the same search engines that students use. Additionally, Scriptovia.com works with all the major anti-plagiarism services, will ban users reported by teachers to be plagiarizing, and utilizes moderators to help oversee the web community.

Scriptovia’s roots Scriptovia.com came about through Aseem Badshah, 18, a rising sophomore at the University of Washington who on the surface seems to be a regular college student. Badshah, however, is Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

educational resource such as Scriptovia. com where others have not. When asked, Badshah reveals that the concept of Scriptovia was born during a reflection on his experiences as a junior in high school. In an interview, Badshah stated pointedly that “as a junior in high school it was pretty apparent that what is happening in our schools are not really relevant to what students are doing. The goal of the site is to bring students out of isolation, where there are thousands of students trying to do the same thing. With Scriptovia, students can build on top of each other, have a conversation, and practice skills important to the 21st Century including collaboration and communication.” With that in mind, Scriptovia.com has come about to help students access previously decentralised and inaccessible resources from fellow students online in a

positive, cost-effective, and meaningful way. Scriptovia.com is free for its users, and unabashedly promotes lifestyle aspects that are universally important, especially in India, which include collaboration, access to information, and the acquisition of knowledge.

Scriptovia’s relationship with India e-Learning is an increasingly important force in Indian IT, and has been continuously featured in this publication. What Scriptovia.com has to offer that most other firms have neglected are its free features that include most of the capabilities found on social networking and other Web 2.0 sites, but with an emphasis on education, collaboration and learning. These features include document viewing, sharing, member profiles, Facebook integration, document tagging, categorisation, messaging, notifications, and rankings and awards, to name a few. Students benefit with collaborative and academic resources that help them excel academically. Users can view other similar essays to see how they are structured, get referred to useful

Aseem Badshah, 18, is the Founder and President of Scriptovia.com, and is a second year student at the University of Washington studying business administration. Aseem has always had a passion for technology, at age 11, Badshah earned the Microsoft Office User Specialist (MOUS) certification, making him the youngest person on record to earn this certification, an achievement typically reserved for grown-ups. Spending his whole life as a student, Badshah has fused his passion for technology with a drive to change the landscape of education as a whole. At 16 years old, he founded ThinkEssay.com, the proof of concept for Scriptovia.com. In addition, Badshah worked as a high school intern and consultant with Microsoft Corporation for more than a year as a program manager developing internal tools, as well as for a project called Scenario Voting – a tool that allowed the Windows Vista test team to collect satisfaction data from the millions of beta testers.

resources, brainstorm topic ideas, find study guides and compare data. Students who upload documents receive extra recognition from the public for their work through rankings, referrals, and rewards. Their documents also get additional feedback from members at large, useful for papers which could be spruced up before being turned in or just to extend the learning experience beyond what the teachers provide. In addition to providing these services to India, India serves as a vital market to Scriptovia because India is an English speaking country, a leader in information technology, and it is well known that education is an important aspect of Indian culture. Indians are increasingly thinking globally, and India will help Scriptovia encapsulate the global culture and give its users the invaluable globally connected learning experience they seek. Scriptovia ultimately seeks to empower students, both within India and throughout the world.

Helping the educational landscape to evolve It is an unfortunate fact that most classrooms haven’t changed much over the years. In addition, many classes can not afford to constantly update their textbooks and learning material. In this manner, poorer schools are disadvantaged over those who can afford updated material. Furthermore, schools whose classroom materials haven’t changed much since the technological breakthrough of the chalkboard are disadvantaged over schools that are kept up-to-date with technological progress. Top schools, not to mention top universities and corporations, are kept high performing through their emphasis in being up-todate with the latest learning tools and through their collaboration with people and programs around the world. But not everyone can afford to buy the latest computer programmes, hire tutors, and take other measures to stay up-to-date with what is available to increase student productivity. That is why the conception of a free-to-use web 2.0 academic networking site is 24

so important for students around the world. In addition to providing a place where students can access learning material, papers, and collaborate with top students from around the world, Scriptovia.com helps students embrace 21st Century Internet technology where many current professionals already network, communicate, and conduct business online. Scriptovia is a cheap, nay; Scriptovia.com is a free way for students to increase their educational

One of a kind Ultimately, most current related Web 2.0 networking websites are building networks for social rather than professional and academically productive reasons. Scriptovia, unlike many of these similar websites, will help build networks for these professional and academic purposes. Members who upload papers will collaborate with those users looking for ideas and receive the benefit of personal

What Scriptovia.com has to offer that most others have neglected are its free features that include most of the capabilities found on social networking and other Web 2.0 sites, but with an emphasis on education, collaboration and learning boundaries and allow their learning tools to evolve with the times. Not only do students benefit by using Scriptovia, but on the other side of the equation students benefit by contributing their academic paperwork to Scriptovia as well. For example, take the student who has spent hours on a detailed paper titled Scarlet Letter, which is a real paper on Scriptovia. In this paper, “Hawthorne uses a stark contrast between his portrayals of Hester and Dimmesdale to better solidify his indictment of extreme religious views.” Ordinarily, the most thoughtful academic paper will receive at most 20 minutes of attention from a teacher. By posting a meaningful essay online, students will feel better about helping others (why do people spend so much time editing Wikipedia if not for contributing to the general knowledge?), but they will get the personal benefit of recognition, high rankings in a global community, perhaps a few awards, and potentially some detailed feedback that will help them become better writers in the future. As the famous saying goes, “A rising tide lifts all boats.”

critiques, suggestions, rankings, and recognition for simply writing a useful paper. Other users who are looking for ideas and a source of inspiration can come to Scriptovia. com and sort through documents by subject matter and other search features. Users can continuously message and communicate with each other in order to further exchange ideas and inspiration. Its major draw will continue to be its content (academic papers authored by students), which is unavailable anywhere else. Most significantly, Scriptovia.com represents a shift in websites by meshing social networking with information sharing. Communication and collaboration are growing to become ever-more important and necessary skills in a rapidly integrating global economy. Scriptovia.com offers a breath of fresh air in offering services to students that fulfill both their needs to complete and develop their schoolwork and pursuit of greater learning, and yet also caters to their interests in interacting with and learning from their peers on a global scale.

Jason Wong is a rising Sophomore at Harvard University. Jason has ongoing interests in public policy and education. Jason has served as one of two student representatives on the San Francisco Board of Education for three years, writes for the Harvard Political Review, is a student representative on the Harvard Undergraduate Minority Recruitment Programme, and teaches English to recent immigrants to the United States and AP Government to Boston area high school students.

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

CORPORATE DIARY | LEADERSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; SPEAK

Bringing the Learning Ecosystem Closer Ram Narayanan

Director - Unlimited Potential Group, Microsoft India

www.microsoft.com

Along with Project Shiksha under the Unlimited Potential Programme, Microsoft India has already signed closed to 10 MoUs with Government, trained 160,000 teachers, runs eight IT academies across India, reaches out to over 8 mn students... Ram Narayanan, Director, Unlimited Potential Group, Microsoft India speaks out to digital LEARNING about building this ecosystem stronger in education.

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

CORPORATE DIARY | LEADERS’ SPEAK Could you tell us about Microsoft’s education programmes in India? How is India different as a playing field in promoting greater use of technology in education and how is Microsoft contributing to it? At Microsoft, we firmly believe that people form the most important economic resource for the knowledge economy. Sustaining high growth requires a vibrant local economy which in turn can only develop and thrive if the required talent pool exists. Microsoft Unlimited Potential was launched recently with one of its core focuses being talent and capability building. We are partnering with local governments, NGOs, educators, community and business leaders to build the ecosystem by catalysing communities to help improve lives and provide access to transformational technologies. It is our strong belief that India currently stands at the threshold of a bigger technological boom. The country has lagged behind in producing high end IT talent owing to a distinct lack of an overall robust education system which is critical for defining success in the knowledge economy. Microsoft India has ‘Project Shiksha’ under the Unlimited Potential programme, which has been designed to deliver affordable software solutions, comprehensive training and curriculum leadership for students and teachers in government schools. Close to 10 MoUs have already been signed with the government and we have around 8 IT academies running successfully across India. We have also trained 160,000 teachers under the programme and reached out to over 8 million students. We recently launched the Connected Education framework called IQ in India with the pilot of an education PC and an online service on MSN to target the educational needs of young students. The USP of the IQ programme is the variety of educational content and services offered. Every PC will be sold with 100 hours of free broadband for users to access the content. It is essentially a combination of an offline 26

content tied into all aspects of a student’s learning growth. How does Microsoft address student and teacher issues separately? What are the hindrances in the way of taking technology to classrooms on a wider scale? Microsoft’s initiatives are aimed at building capabilities through teacher training. The key issue with teachers is that of gaining a comfort factor in using technology tools for teaching purposes. We work with them in overcoming the high degree of hesitation that exists particularly in the initial phases of training. On the student side, our innovative products such as IQ PC and developing innovative technology such as MultiPoint are aimed at helping more students gain access to technology. We’ve also launched a project called Digital Study Hall (DSH) that seeks to improve educational opportunities in urban and rural low-income areas. Live classes, taught by skilled teachers

of exposure to PCs and an even lower level of broadband penetration. Apart from these, dearth of relevant content is also posing a challenge. What do you think is India’s biggest challenge in terms of getting to the next level in education? How can the private sector contribute? India is emerging as an important economic and intellectual centre in the world today. The country’s biggest asset is the strong talent base. Research has shown that education in India takes second position after food in the spend hierarchy, with clothing and housing following it. Despite the country having a global advantage of having a skilled talent pool, especially in the IT industry, there is a clear disparity in the supply of skilled professionals vis-à-vis demand. An escalating industry concern is the lack of an adequate skilled workforce; with NASSCOM predicting a 500,000 shortfall by 2010. The gaps identified are lack of technology capability to compete at a global level, lack of good quality technical institutions/

We recently launched the Connected Education framework called IQ in India with the pilot of an education PC and an online service on MSN to target the educational needs of young students. The USP of the IQ program is the variety of educational content and services offered in local schools, are digitally recorded, made into DVDs, and transmitted. The teachers’ lessons are stored in a worldwide database, where they can be then sent to schools that need them. Our first DSH pilot has been operating in India since the summer of 2005. Today, we operate three hubs in Lucknow, Bangalore and Pune. As of the spring of 2007, we have accumulated about 500 DVD-quality recordings of lessons staged by the best teachers at the hubs. The languages used in the content include Hindi, Kannada, Marathi, Tamil, and English. As the content is quickly and cheaply generated, it is being continuously pushed out to a variety of underserved rural and urban pilot schools around the hubs. The major hindrances in the spread of technology to schools are low level

infrastructure, dearth of trained faculty as well as low level of access to technology. It’s a known fact that the ICT sector is the creator of jobs for knowledge professionals. So it becomes imperative for players like us to develop an indepth understanding of the prevailing scenario and develop programmes that will correspond well with the topical issues that the industry faces. What are you personally most proud of with the launch and progress of the products and programmes like IQ PC and the information portal? Microsoft has had an intense focus from our early days in helping empower generations of people worldwide in realising their full potential. In India, our programmes like Shiksha, Jyoti November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

CORPORATE DIARY | LEADERS’ SPEAK and Bhasha have had real impact in helping transform the way people learn, work and get access to information. There is still an immense scope for technology to play a transformational role in helping people, especially those in the middle and bottom of the pyramid who are as yet unexposed to the powers of technology. As we look ahead, new and innovative programmes like IQ will help build a new generation of technology savvy people who can help impact the economic growth of India in a very positive way. How are Microsoft’s education programmes different from those launched by other corporates? Microsoft’s has a holistic approach to education with an entire range of education and empowerment initiatives targeted at the needs of various communities from those of primary to higher education and adult learning. Our India education initiatives are aligned towards achieving the goal of building technology capacity within student communities, academia and institutions in collaboration with the government. As a part of its worldwide Unlimited Potential Programme, which aims to bring the power of technology to the next billion people globally by 2015, Microsoft India has launched IQ PC to specifically target the educational needs of young students. Another example of how we have impacted people’s lives through technology is Project Jyoti. In this programme we engage with NGOs to

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

equip and impart basic technology skills training to underserved communities that empower them to explore sustainable livelihood options leading to individual, community and economic empowerment. What is Microsoft’s take on fostering local innovation in India? Innovation at Microsoft India spans across all the six business units present in the country. India is the only country to have the presence of the entire Microsoft product lifecycle from research to technical support. Microsoft

Innovation Centers, 15 Microsoft Technology Centers and five Microsoft Research Centers that it currently runs globally to create a world-class facility. The ITP will consist of one or more Microsoft Innovation Centers focused on three areas that are integral to the growth of software economies: skills and intellectual capital; industry partnerships; and last but not the least, funding for software companies looking to create intellectual capital. The Innovation Framework also includes the Microsoft Start-up

As of the spring 2007, we have accumulated about 500 DVDquality recordings of lessons staged by the best teachers, under our project Digital Study Hall (DSH) India has emerged into a significant contributor to Microsoft globally. With a commitment to make an impact in any area we operate in and ensure that the local software ecosystem too benefits, Microsoft is committed to Innovating from, for and with India. We recently announced the Innovation Framework for India at the third ‘India is Innovation’ summit hosted by Microsoft in Bangalore. The framework involves a number of investments designed to increase innovation in India. A major component of this framework is the shared vision of Microsoft and partners to create the world’s first Innovation Triangle Park (ITP) at Pune. As a long-term effort involving multiple private and public sector partnerships, Microsoft will contribute its expertise from over 100 Microsoft

Accelerator Programme, the Imagine Cup Innovation Accelerator Programme and the Business Model Innovation programme. Would you like to share some of your future strategies for education sector, in India? Under the aegis of Microsoft Unlimited Potential, we are using a combination of quality and relevant content, partnerships, training and access to the underserved in India. Microsoft has a long-term vision towards its role in education through our ‘Connected Learning’ concept where we are striving to bring relevance of technology to connect the student to programmes, content and the larger learning ecosystem of teachers top help build capabilities, which will result in better economic well being.

Transforming K-12 Learning Environment

www.educomp.com

Soumya Kanti Purkayastha (education.ict@educomp.com) President ICT Educomp Solutions Ltd.

How are you involved at the K-12 level in India? What learning environment does Educomp provide inside and outside the classroom? Educomp Solutions Ltd was incorporated in 1994 and since then our focus continues to be on K-12 segment. We have created and own the largest content library for K-12 in India. The company participates in large-scale education infrastructure projects to bridge the digital divide and research into newer ways of reaching out to learners and educators. For learning environment inside the classroom we have a solution called Smart Class. Here the teacher is empowered with resources that are fully teacher-centric, enabling her to deliver the classroom sessions effectively. In addition we have a range of ICT based solutions wherein Educomp runs and implements and maintains Computer Labs in the school for Computer Aided Learning. This makes the present teaching learning process joyful, interesting and easy to understand through audiovisual aids. Overall it helps in improving the quality of education in the long run. Outside the classroom Educomp offers a range of online solutions which help the students get support after school hours. Some of our leading products in this range are a maths help portal called mathguru.com as well as several other Internet based virtual school solutions / portals which are custom built for specific segments / clients. Educomp signs agreements with State Governments to install and run computer classes in public schools on a BOOT basis. Who are the States consented to this arrangement? For the next 2 years, what is Educompâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aim, to attract how many schools? What revenue per schools the company books in this model? Educomp has signed 3 to 6 year agreements with several State Governments including Government of Assam, Chhattisgarh, Orissa, Karnataka, UP, Tripura, Gujarat, West Bengal and Karnataka. These projects essentially offer Computer Aided Learning to the children of the schools. Educomp has also recently implemented one of Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s largest computer aided education project in the State of Gujarat. Currently several states are contemplating to replicate the success stories of the BOOT model based ICT implementation and we expect several new project to get started during the current year.

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

The revenue model varies depending on the project and the funding structure and various models are currently under implementation across the states. In India there are approximately one million schools out of which 50,000

to over 143 institutions in Singapore, China, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan, Brunei, Vietnam and Kuwait. Its Customers include the National University of Singapore, Republic Polytechnic, SIM, MINDEF, over 110

The premium school segment in India is growing at an estimated rate of 30% per year. It is estimated that the public school system will also open up for premium services such as Smart Class are privately owned and operated. The premium school segment in India is growing at an estimated rate of 30% per year. It is estimated that the public school system (Govt. owned and operated) will also open up for premium services such as Smart Class. This will significantly increase the estimated market size for our offerings. Educomp has developed many content modules in many languages for the Smart Class segment. The Smart Class initiative has been extended to foreign countries as well. You have also announced to enter into the pre-school segment. Could you explain the project little more? How do you see the success taking the project further? Educomp Solutions Ltd understands the need to create digital content. The content created uses the richness of multimedia with its inherent capability of interactivity to further increase its learning value. The content has already been developed in Bodo, Assamese, Bengali, Thai, Malay, Gujarati, Hindi, Oriya, Tamil, Kannada, Telugu and Urdu. These content modules help the educators meet the challenge of providing an exciting teaching learning process in the classroom. With the help of these multi-media content Educomp aims to usher an era of anytime, anywhere learning to break down the barriers to education. Our Smart Class programme has been gaining increasing popularity in Singapore. Educomp’s fully owned subsidiary ASKnLearn currently provides Internet-based eLearning solutions, content and services Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

Singapore schools, school clusters and zones, top regional universities, MOE Singapore, MOE Brunei, MOE Indonesia, and International Schools. What are the challenges you observe in the K-12 segment of Indian Education system, when we talk about integrating technology or bringing innovation to the classroom teaching and learning? The key challenges that Indian K12 system faces is the availability of relevant regional language content that addresses essential teaching and learning requirements. It is tempting to try to give an all in one solution and thus add to the information glut. Content providers need to understand the thin line between relevant content and surrounding information. Another key challenge is for content providers to move beyond the standard content in Maths and Science. In addition with the advent of EDUSAT and Direct to Home Services, a new range of content development has to take place to cater to the requirements of this segment. Training the teachers will also continue to be another challenge for the government and Educomp has continued to partner with several state governments as well as large private sector organisations to help the teachers understand the new technologies and effectively use them in the classroom. We firmly believe that at the end of the day the technology will be successful only if we are able to empower the teachers to use it effectively in the classroom.

How are you gaining recognition in the market for extending an appropriate K-12 learning environment? Educomp today works with over 6000 schools across India, US and Singapore. In recognition of its innovations and product offerings, Educomp was conferred the “CNBCICICI Bank Emerging India Award” as the “Company of the year 2005” in the ICE and ITeS category. The company has also the honor of being the first company in India to have been rated SME 1 by CRISIL. It was ranked 346 in the BT 500 list of the most valuable private companies in India in November 2006, ranked 319 by ET 500 March 2007 issue. Educomp was chosen as the “Future Titan”, one of the ten hottest companies in India by Outlook Business Magazine in November 2006. Educomp today is a publicly traded company on the Bombay Stock Exchange and National Stock Exchange. It was also rated the best performing IPO of the year 2006 across all sectors in India. While observing one of your classrooms, how do you describe student autonomy, how engaged they appear in their tasks. What is it that has transformed the classrooms with the presence of Educomp’s solutions? Educomp has a division that offers an integrated learning delivery framework for the entire school ecosystem. Every classroom is digitally empowered with computers, plasma screens and individual smart assessment systems for each child. Each level of the child ranging from the cognitive, affective and psychomotor perspectives is addressed in detail. Every lesson has the best teaching methodology interwoven into the lesson. Lesson is accompanied with creative lesson plans with fun and challenging activities. Educomp’s strategic advantage is its close understanding of the Indian school market and its understanding of business models that work for both the public and the private schools. We see ourselves as an education transformation company. 29

RESEARCH

Designing a Business Model to Help Students Learn Math

www.mathguru.com

Dr. Gaurav Bhatnagar, Sr. Vice President, Digital Products and Solutions Group, Educomp Solutions Ltd.

ata from the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) suggests that the maximum number of failures in board exams is in Mathematics. Why Mathematics? Whatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the solution? Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not that everyone is bad at mathematics. If we assume there are a billion students, the top 5% of them can be considered to be good at math. So there are 50 million students who are good at math. What makes them good? Letâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s explore the secrets of good students.

Students hate math, because they do not get the right answer. The contra-positive of this statement is: If students get the right answer every time, they will love math.

Mathguru.com Students feel really bad when they turn to the back of the book and find that they have got the wrong answer. And if this happens most of the time, students begin losing confidence in their ability to do math problems, and end up hating the subject.

We listed the strategies good students follow that enable them to be good at math and therefore enjoy it. These secrets helped us to design businesses and products that make life easier for students to learn math. Finally, we came up with a website www.mathguru.com that helps thousands of students to master in mathematics.

The student who acts upon these secrets is bound to do very well in every exam. In addition, students will suddenly find themselves liking math-another secret is that most people who do well in exams tend to love math.

A business model to help students do well in math As we have seen, all it takes for a student to do well in math is to do all the problems. But there is no student who always gets the right answer. And the wrong answer always makes the student feel bad.

The three secrets of good students are useful pointers to understand the business scenario. The website mathguru.com is an example of a business designed to help students when they get stuck on math problems. This site is meant for CBSE students from Grade 6 to 12th. Each problem of the standard NCERT book is addressed. When a customer (a student in class 6-12) gets stuck on a problem in the NCERT book, he/she can log on to mathguru.com and browse to the relevant question. On clicking a problem, a video file plays which shows a teacher explaining a problem step-by-step. The student sees the solution being written on a piece of paper, and hears the teacher explaining the solution.

How to study math The 3 secrets of a good student Secret #1. Do all the problems. Secret #2. Spend as much time as possible on a problem before giving up. Secret #3. Write down all the solutions neatly.

problem sets are based on what the student knows. After lots of practice, students begin doing better in math in school.

A math problem being solved on www.mathguru.com

So the key issue in designing a business to help students do well in math is to help them overcome this issue of feeling bad on getting the wrong answer. If one looks at all the current business models, all of them involve helping a student deal with this issue and to encourage them in doing more problems. For example, the popular Kumon system (made in Japan and now popular all over the world) is about a series of problem sets that are graded from easy to hard and have to be done by students in a specific time. A test decides the level of the student, and the first

At present there are nearly 10000 solutions on the site. The website www.mathguru.com has helped students solve problems, understand math and thus helped them do better at school. In less than 2 years, mathguru.com has become the standard must-have tool for many students. We have seen how the secrets of good math students can be used to design products. The success of mathguru.com suggests that Internet based businesses can be an exciting new way to help students learn.

Gaurav Bhatnagar is a Ph.D. in mathematics from the Ohio State University, USA. He has taught for several years and co-authored a book on Multimedia published by Academic Press, NY. He has been working in the field of e-Learning for many years. Currently he is Sr. Vice President, Educomp Solutions Ltd., where he is heading the Digital Products and Solutions group.

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

With Every Right Comes a Responsibility Education is Everyone's Right and Spreading the Message of Education with ICTs is our Responsibility

Some of the forthcoming editions

digitalLEARNING Volume IV Issue 1 January 2008

Digital LEARNING celebrating its 2nd Anniversary in January 2008

December 2007 e-Readiness of Higher Education February 2008 Innovation and Research in ICT and Education March 2008 Open and Distance Learning

We are happy to present you with a bumper edition! You will hear voices from Government, Academia, Industry, and All Stakeholders of ICTs and Education.

For Advertising Enquiry, Contact: Siddharth Verma + 91-9811561645 siddharth@csdms.in For Editorial Enquiry, Contact: Manjushree Reddy + 91-9999662910 manjushree@csdms.in

CASE STUDY

Intel: Mobilising Communities, Creating Trust Children in Basantpur would rarely attend morning classes in the village primary school and the teacher would rarely turn up for the classes. Children could not afford to spend eight hours in schools as they were required to help their parents in the daily struggle for existence. In the midst of such under development, when the government established Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya some years back, the villagers could not identify with the purpose of a residential school in the community. The common thought was that the school was mainly for the rich children in the community. The elders would smirk at the high boundary walls of the school. ‘Amiro ka school’ or ‘a school for the rich children’ was what it was nicknamed. The school authorities were also facing a lot of resentment in the village. Few children from the richer families did join but others stayed away. So far their efforts to enroll village children in school had been futile. Intel Learn Program being an out-ofschool programme, the involvement of the community was necessary. As such it was an uphill task to convince the community to send their children to school and on top of that the parents had to be convinced to send their children after school working hours. There was resistance from almost all members. They were suspicious; they thought it was a money-making scheme and that they would be required to pay after the course was over; they thought it was a complete waste of time. Rajesh Kumar Dubey was the computer teacher at JNV Sidharthnagar at the time. He spoke to the parents about the Intel Learn Program curriculum and how it would enhance the communication, collaboration and critical thinking skills of children. Slowly but surely, the children started

In a small, dusty and remote village named Basantpur in Uttar Pradesh, education for the children was indeed a luxury and the dropout rate was very high. The villagers were very shy and suspicious of any new initiative in and around the community. And then... The Intel Learn Program was launched in the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya situated near the village which changed their lives forever… enrolling for Intel Learn Program and this year (2007) ninety-two children from the village enrolled and completed the training. But this story is not about how many children accepted the Intel Learn Program. It is about the impact of the programme on the community. The learners went back with stories on how they learnt to use the computer, how they could create projects on the computer and more importantly how this program enabled them to think about the problems in the community and search for solutions. Gradually, the community became aware of the positive impact of Intel Learn Intel Learn Program is an effort to reach out to the children and adolescents in communities with limited or no access to technology. The Programme is designed to encourage 21st century learning skills and develop technology skills, critical thinking and collaboration among the learners through effective community based education, propagated by successful models of learning outside the formal school setting. Aimed at learners’ aged 8–16, the curriculum is particularly appropriate for those who live in communities with limited access to technology. The curriculum can accommodate community technology centers with a wide range of technology infrastructure - from newer, more sophisticated facilities to those with fewer resources. In India the Programme is running successfully across 15 States having touched more than 40,000 learners from underprivileged backgrounds.

Program and JNV that was implementing this Programme. “Learning modern skills, free of cost was the motivational factor in sending the children to undertake the program”, says the Principal, Ram Bir Singh. ‘Poor parents cannot afford to spend money on their children for learning modern technology. So they often discourage their children from continuing their education. Intel Learn Program has, in fact, promoted education amongst the villagers’. The earlier nicknamed ‘Amiro ka school’ has since become ‘Sab ka school’ or a school for all children. It is easy to see the attitudinal change in the community as parents put on their best clothes and display their best behavior while visiting the school. Priya Tripathi, a 12 year old girl got the opportunity to explore the world through the internet. She says, “I want to become a doctor when I grow up”. Priya’s partner, Meera says, “This programme will definitely help me have a better future”. The Intel Learn Program has changed the lives of the Basantpur community. It has helped them to understand the intrinsic value of education and encourage their children to go to school and stay in school. A process to connect the villagers to the world of change has been initiated … For more information, please visit: www.intel.com/education/in November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

CORPORATE DIARY | NEWS PARTNERSHIP Core brings virtual environment of learning for Indian students Mumbai based Core Projects and Technology is bringing a NASAdeveloped technology for Indian students. Core has partnered with the NASApromoted Centre for Higher Learning (CHL) based in NASA’s Stennis Space Centre. Under the collaboration, Core would use CHL’s CAVE technology which uses an interactive 3D interactive virtual environment, to produce educational software for Indian educational institutions. While NASA will use CAVE to train its astronauts to get acclimatised to extra-terrestrial environment. Core is talking with several state governments including Maharashtra and Gujarat and technical institutions to set up virtualisation labs in their campuses. Core will invest USD5 million over the next 5 years in this project.

Reliance Com, OLPC join hands to promote e-Learning

Dhirubhai Ambani Group invited state governments, NGOs, corporates, and media to participate in the programme, a pilot of which is already started in a school in tribal-dominated Khairat village, near Karjat in Maharashtra.

Microsoft and Indian Institute of Science (IISc) collaborate for research Microsoft Research has announced to enter into a research and collaboration agreement with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc). The pact is aimed at accelerating the scientific discovery process by increasing the computational power in scientific and engineering research. Microsoft Research is committed to providing funding and research expertise in the next two-three years to assist with major projects in life sciences research and advanced high-performance computing platforms based on Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003. Microsoft Research would collaborate with IISc on a project for biological data mapping and on another project on high performance applications using commodity clusters for scientific research.

WIPRO, INFY,TCS come together to boost education To take the industry-academia partnership in education to the next level, the country’s IT majors, including Wipro, Infosys BPO and TCS, are now in talks to come together for education initiatives. Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group has partnered with One Laptop Per Child (OLPC) Foundation under which Reliance Communication (Rcom) is to provide Internet connectivity, network and logistics to the OLPC’s India initiative. Under the programme, every student will receive a water-proof and almost unbreakable laptop, which is priced at USD 188 to reduce the burden of the school bag and promote eLearning in the country. Reliance Anil Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

So far, all three have launched their own initiatives to train teachers and students in information technology. While Infosys BPO has Project Genesis to train faculty, which in turn teaches students, Wipro recently launched a similar programme called Mission 10x. This initiative is likely to be launched next year and in the first year of its operation it will benefit four lakh students across the 10 universities and the IT giants will adopt their states.

NetDimensions and Atlantic Link establish affiliate partnership NetDimensions , a global provider of learning, knowledge and performance management systems, announced establishing an Affiliate Agreement with Atlantic Link Limited, a provider of advanced rapid e-Learning tools. These tools allow subject matter experts who are not IT experts or programmers to produce highly sophisticated e-Learning courses. Under the agreement, Atlantic Link will promote NetDimensions products to clients who lack a learning management system (LMS) or a portal for hosting content. NetDimensions award-winning Enterprise Knowledge Platform (EKP) will provide the back-end learning management services to complement courseware developed with Atlantic Link’s advanced content authoring tools. With the Atlantic Link software, anyone who can use a computer can create stunning e- Learning and unleash the knowledge locked within themselves and their organisations.

PRODUCTS Intel to launch new low-cost laptop chip Intel plans to launch a new microprocessor aimed at ultra-low cost laptop PCs, codenamed ‘Diamondville’, in April 2008. Diamondville will assist a new segment of low-cost mobile PCs such as the XO laptop from the One Laptop Per Child 33

CORPORATE DIARY | NEWS Project (OLPC), the Eee PC by Asustek and the Classmate PCs developed by Intel. These notebooks are designed for children and for use in emerging economies where living conditions require long-lasting batteries and durable, dust-proof casings. Diamondville will be extremely low voltage laptop PCs that will cost between USD199 and USD250.

Ministry of Education, Government of Thailand. The delivery would be completed in two years by donating 1,125 desktop PCs and 195 notebook computers in 2007 and 1,680 PCs in 2008. A total of 150 mobile PCs are the Classmate model, designed to be rugged and durable and suitable for children’s day-to-day

think3 Inc. unveils free2Design think3 Inc, the Italy based pioneer in providing solutions for product development and innovation worldwide, unveiled its free2Design (f2D) initiative aimed at enhancing the design capability of Indian manufacturing sector to develop world class and innovative products. As part of this initiative, think3 Inc. will make available for the first time in India, a full commercial version and license of its 2D software for free download at www. free2design.org. think3 (www.think3.com) has been operating in the ICT sector for over 25 years providing technology for the complete Product Development Process. Besides offering free downloads, there was a need to empower engineers, design community and students so that they could effectively leverage this cutting-edge tool. This prompted to create a web platform – www. free2design.org , where they could come together and share best practices and make it a learning and knowledge sharing hub for development of innovative products.

PROJECTS Intel donates computers to Thailand government schools Intel Microelectronics plans to donate 3000 PCs to 60 government-based schools under its project ICT for Education with the help from the 34

use. All devices come to students with licences for learning software suites, Microsoft XP and an office suite that allows teachers and students to get the most benefit from using computers as a learning tool. Intel has hired a third party to provide implementation and maintenance services for 60 schools for a year. Intel has already deployed 45 mobile computers in Satit Chula School as the first trial site for the project. The project is not only providing computers but also provides training for teachers to use computers and software as tools to improve learning methods.

Microsoft to train teachers in computer in Nigeria Microsoft has launched a programme to provide ICT computer training to teachers in association with the National Teachers’ Institute (NTI) and the Universal Basic Education Commission (UBEC) in Nigeria. During the first phase, around 225 teachers participated in the training programme. This flag-ship training programme aims to make classroom teachers computer literate. This training programme will help teachers to use ICT in their teaching profession. The is emphasising on computer sciences at all levels of education. nder the

new national policy on education, the government will provide computer training so as to make teachers’ curriculum at the National Certificate of Education (NCE) level.

Cisco commits USD 10 million to ICT in Africa Cisco has announced to invest USD10 million to support ICT strategies in Africa. In the first year of this multi-phase commitment, Cisco Systems Inc, the global networking company will provide USD1.75 million, followed by an additional USD8.25 million over the next three years to target Nigeria, Rwanda, Ethiopia, Cameroon, and Kenya. Funding will support ICT strategies designed to enable basic human needs, access to education, and economic opportunity. Cisco will also assist the Nigerian government in training and strengthening the skills of about 20000 university graduates.

Educomp will reach out to more schools Despite raising its guidance of taking ICT (information, communication and technology) practice to 8,000 schools by March, against the 7,000 declared earlier (up 14 per cent), Educomp Solutions, India’s largest e-Education service provider, is sticking to its earlier revenue and net profit guidance of INR230 crore and INR60-65 crore, respectively. Educomp reported its July-September quarter results. At INR45 crore, revenues rose 128 per cent from the year-ago quarter and net profit stood at INR14 crore, up 170 per cent. Under ICT solutions, which accounts for a quarter of its revenues, Educomp manages computer labs in government schools. Smartclass, the digital classroom education content, is Educomp’s flagship division, accounting for 58 per cent of its revenues. Professional development (teacher training) and e-Learning are its other divisions. November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

BLOG BOOK

Blogging in the Classroom Shuchi Grover, [SHUCHI_GROVER@POST.HARVARD.EDU], Educational Technologist, Bangalore, India

Could you help me start a blog for my literature class?” That question posed to me by a teacher the other day truly warmed the cockles of my heart (pardon the quaint expression). I thought the idea of leveraging her students’ new-found interest in poetry through a classroom blog was a brilliant one. Writing poems is just the kind of Language Arts activity that can benefit immensely from a forum for publishing and an audience of readers (for praise and critique) in teachers, parents and most of all, peers. “Blogging in the classroom”, or rather “Blogging in K-12” - it’s a slow but sure trend in urban schools in India - one that I’m happy to fan along in any way I can, because I see such tremendous possibilities in these common platforms for expression and discourse that extend beyond the four walls of the classroom. As explained in my earlier article, blogs are akin to online journals, but they are much more than that. The ease with which others can read and comment on a blog post, and the ability to link to any other resource on the Internet, makes it a powerful tool in the hands of teachers and students. Will Richardson’s group blog on the high school English text “The Secret Life of Bees” which had students reflecting on the text, engaging in discussions with each other and the teacher, and also had the author of the book responding to student questions and comments, is an exemplar of how potent the blog can be as a tool for collaborative learning which engages every student. (You can read more about Will Richardson’s pioneering work with Web 2.0 tools in the classroom on his 36

blog “weblogg-ed” (http://weblogged.com) and in his book Blogs, wikis, podcasts, and other powerful web tools for classrooms published in 2006). Blogs set up by the teacher can be used as a class website for organizing classroom work e.g. posting announcements, assignments, resources, notes and such. The teacher can also set up ‘group blogs’, as in the example above, for collaborative discussions and reflections. Students can set up ‘group blogs’ for planning, organizing and reflecting on collaborative work that the teacher supervises, follows and gives feedback on. Finally, students can set up personal blogs for publishing their writing or their reflections on their learning, which their peers as well as their teacher can read and comment on. Personal student blogs can also help create a paperless classroom where the blog becomes an online filing space for students to archive their work, and in effect, creates a space for an online portfolio of work. Blogs also serve as useful self and teacher assessment tools. Since all blog posts are on one site (in reverse chronological order) it’s very easy for students and teachers to look back over student work and chart student growth over the course of the year.

As described above, blogs in K-12 can have various purposes – as a quasi-course management site maintained by the teacher alone; or a collaborative platform for sharing ideas by the teacher as well as the students; or a personal space for publishing maintained by individual students that the class (or even the school community at large) has access to. Having used blogs in all these different ways with my students (who are actually teachers in professional development programs), I think it’s important for teachers to be aware of the different ways in which blogs can be set up and used – driven, as it were, by the purpose of setting up this collaborative learning space. In my next article in this series, I will describe some easy how-to’s and freely available resources that would be useful for teachers eager to start blogging in their classrooms.

Blogs on K-12 learning http://tbarrett.edublogs.org/ http://handhelds.motime.com/ http://wordpress.com/tag/k-12education/2/ http://technologyinmomsclass.blogspot. com/

Shuchi Grover (shuchi_grover@post.harvard.edu) is an Educational Technologist from Bangalore. An alumna of Harvard University (and BITS Pilani and Case Western Reserve University), she has worked with educational institutions such as Harvard Graduate School of Education, Harvard Business School and several K-12 schools in India and the US. Her current professional pursuits include creating a Web 2.0 platform for networking educators in India (educatorslog.in), coaching on Harvard University’s WIDE World online courses, Designing curriculum for teacher education programmes, and assisting school management and teachers with technology planning and effective integration. Know more about her at http://shuchi-edblog.blogspot.com November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Pathways World School

Education in an Wireless Environment and Beyond Pathways embodies Howard Gardner’s pioneering learning model called multiple pathways to learning, that Pathways world school incorporates to ensure that every student’s talents are developed to the full. Designed for anywhere-anytime learning, Pathways envisions a learning community of motivated students and staff engaged in active learning through the best use of modern technology. Based at the outskirts of Delhi, the school is well equipped with the 21st Century educational technologies. Pathways sees each of its secondary school students to carry a laptop round the clock, providing them with a twenty four hour monitored access to Internet.

Power School

School Track computerise the reporting system, enabling the parents to track their children’s progress on the Internet.

Technology for anytime, anywhere learning Pathways profoundly believes that learning should not be time bound. As such, at Pathways all the students can have the monitored access of information via the school’s intranet to the resources of the Internet even when out of class hours. With the universal access to IT and other technological support, students can learn ‘Anywhere-Anytime’. This means that they can refer any doubts and questions to the teacher share them with other students. Thus resulting in a learning community, where students and teachers can share and collaborate to beneﬁt from each other.

To effectively meet the challenges of the 21st Century, Pathways world school equips itself with the latest ICTs with all Secondary School students have access to laptops, that is linked by campus-wide radionetworking. Pathways picked up the concept of a ‘notebook cart’ that has 10-30 wireless notebooks moving to the classrooms. The use of hardwired or desktop computers has been reduced to the minimum and the school server maintains a broadband connection Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issu11 November 2007

throughout the round the clock and 365 days of the year, giving each student continuous but monitored access via the school’s intranet to the resources of the Internet. This restricted access to Internet resources is to put check on students downloading materials that has least importance to education. The concerns of parents regarding their children’s progress are also well taken care of. The school is shortly going to

At Pathways ICTs and other related technologies have crucial place to thrust the acquisition of information and education. The Science laboratories, for instance, are specially equipped for computer simulation of dangerous experiments. Numerous relevant ICT tools are available and relied on to efﬁciently impart learning. This is complemented with the access to a Design Technology Studio, in which each student can work on their individual projects with external experts’ support.

Library and Media Centre at Pathways The Library-Media Centre at Pathways has a Distance-Learning Studio for access to quality teaching and learning materials from various prestigious universities both from India and the UK. In addition, Pathways is developing an extensive CD Rom library and there are Reprographics Centres in each academic building that will be open even in the evenings. Learning Style and Methodology In sync with this philosophy that a variety of learning methodologies need to be incorporated according to the suitability in various circumstances, Pathways implements a variety of teaching models like ‘Student Centred Learning’, ‘Multiple Intelligences Theory’, and ‘Project Based Learning’ to equip the students for the 21st Century. This international K-12 school in India, partnered with IBM Global Services - Integrated Technology Services and provides a sophisticated IT network that would support the school’s goal of nurturing “multiple intelligences” and prepare its students for top-tier universities. The school offers the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme up

to Class X and the International Baccalaureate Diploma programme for the Class XI and XII students. The IB degree is a gateway for the Indian students to the best universities in the world. The students equipped with this degree need not clear the foundation course to enter a foreign university.

IBM Global Services Integrated Technology Services Pathways partnered with IBM Global Services - Integrated Technology Services to install landline and mobile access networks using

Cisco switches. Then IBM designed the landline and mobile-access networks to support the school’s existing user demand and provide network scalability. IBM installed Cisco 3750 switches to support classroom Internet access and used Cisco 1200 Series switches running the Cisco Aironet solution to provide wireless computer access to students across the school’s campus. IBM provided supply, integration and support services for the solution. The IBM Integrated Technology Services team also helped the school migrate its existing network to the new scalable network infrastructure and extend the network to a new building. Pathways students now have seamless Internet access across their campus. The students beneﬁt from the wide open campus and use the wireless network to increase their learning potential. Pathways deems that technology is only a means to an end and therefore assists its students to equip themselves with such talents that enables them to fulﬁll their fullest potentials in social, intellectual, academic, sporting or cultural, to inculcate a feeling in them that every one of them is good at one thing or the other.

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Learning Curves Most creative school

MONDIALOGO DAY Celebrated at Springdales School, Pusa Road 10th October 2007, students of Springdales School Pusa Road celebrated a “Mondialogo Day” as a part of Mondialogo School Contest. The school tried to showcase integration of technology through ﬁlm making skills, with a social cause. The contest, initiated by Daimler Chrysler and UNESCO in 2003 is one of world’s largest global contest on international dialogue. Simmi Kher, the IT Coordinator along with her team coordinated the event. The photo showss the Winning Team Blue Bells School with the trophy.

team from SMK USJ 12 beat 58 others from three schools to emerge winner of the TM eSchool LCMS Content Creation Competition recently. Led by teacher Shirley Tan, the team received RM3,000, a plaque and certiﬁcates of participation. The other two schools which took part were SMK Seksyen 11, Shah Alam and Methodist Boys’ School, Kuala Lumpur (MBSKL). The second and third prizes were won by teams from MBSKL who won RM2,000 and RM1,000 respectively. The objective of the competition was to increase the usage of the LCMS application by exposing students and teachers to the advantages of using this e-Learning tool. LCMS was introduced through the TM eSchool project, which was launched in April. To take part, the groups were required to create e-Learning content based on any subject of their choice from the school syllabus using LCMS. The theme of the competition was 50th Merdeka celebrations.

School heads meet to improve education Nearly 70 heads of schools from across the Asia-Pacific region came together recently to discuss innovations in education. Hosted by the Global Indian Foundation (GIF), the two-day conference marked the fifth foundation day of the Global Indian International Schools (GIIS). Ashok Ganguly, chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), G Balasubramanium, former director (academics), CBSE, and C S Dharmadhikari, vice-president, GIF, were among the Indian delegates present for the meet. During his address, Ganguly stressed on making CBSE-affiliated schools global in their outlook and upgrade their curriculum to international standards. Principals from Thailand, Middle East, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand and India also shared their experience in school education.

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issu11 November 2007

AWARDS AND EXCELLENCE

Computer Literacy Excellence Awards for Schools-2005 A.Raja, Minister of Communications and Information Technology presented awards to the winners of the Fourth Computer Literacy Excellence Awards for Schools(CLEAS)-2005 and said, the focus of the Ministry is to “Catch Them Young” to inculcate IT knowledge and skills at school level itself. This, he hoped, would ensure that creativity and innovation are nurtured at a young age and in the long run would lead to the quality levels of graduates and post-graduates coming out of higher educational institutions.

English School and Aarambha Mahavidyalaya, Nasik; Catholic School,Canchipur,MU,Imphal; Synod Higher Secondary School,Mission Veng, Aizawal; DAV Public School,Unit 8,Bhubaneswar; Mayo College,Ajmer; St.Xavier’s School,PO Pakyong East; City Montessori School,Lucknow;

Navodaya Vidyalaya,Koasi; Kendriya Vidyalaya,Kirandul; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,Canacona,South Goa; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,Trapaj Bungalow,Bhavnagar; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Village Mothuka (Ballabgarh); Govt. Girls Senior Secondary School,

Sherwood College,Nanital; DAV Model School,IIT Kharagpur, Kharagpur; Vivek High School,Chandigarh; Shri Machhi Mahajan English Medium School,Nani Daman; Fr.AgneloEnglish School, Silvassa; DAV Public School, Pitampura; and Amalorpavam Higher Secondary School,Vanarapet.

Portmore,Shimla; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,Mesra,Ranchi; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,Gajanur, Distt. Shimoga; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya PO Malampuzha, Distt.Palakkad; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, PO Pawarkhea,Distt. Hoshangabad; Jawahar Navodaya VidyalayaVidyalaya,Distt. Washim; Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1 Imphal (W); Govt.Pianghleia Secondary High School,Aizawal; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, PO Kalamati, Distt.Sambalpur; Govt.

The Computer Literacy Excellence Awards Scheme for schools is an attempt to bring India’s children at par with young achievers of the world. There are two category of awards – one for Private/Government aided school and another for Government/Municipal school. The 51 State/UT level awardees have created a benchmark of excellence in computer education for the rest of the schools across India to follow. Following is the list of award winners Category ‘A’ - Private/ Government Aided Schools St Joseph’s High School, Guntur; Notre Dame Academy, pataliputra, Patna; O.P.Jindal School,Raigarh; Damodar English School, Gudi Paroda, Post Quepem; Swastick’s Sattvavikas School, Ahmedabad; Salwan Public School,Gurgaon; DAV Sr.Sec.Public School,Lakkar Bazar,Shimla; K.C.Public School,Akhnoor Road,Jammu; Canara English Higher Primary School, Mangalore; Christ Nagar English Higher Secondary School,Kaudia PO Thiruvananthapuram; Sagar Public School,Bhopal; Purushottam 40

Category ‘B’ - Government/ Municipal Schools Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,Visakhapatnam; Jawahar

November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Girls Sr.Sec.School,New Power House Colony,Patiala; G.U.P.S. Mammar Khera,Sri Ganganagar; Sang Govt.Sr.Sec.School,PO Sang East; Kirit Bikram Institution, Udaipur, South Tripura; Govt.Jubilee Inter College,Gorakhpur; Rashtriya Indian Military College, Dehradun; Kendriya Vidyalaya No.1 Salt Lak, Kolkata; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, Chandigarh; Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, Lodhi Road,Delhi; Govt. High School,Androth Island, Lakshadweep; Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,Yanam, Puducherry. All India Award was bagged by Vivek High School, Chandigarh. In the National Award Category ‘A’ the rankings are: (i) City Mongessory School,Lucknow; (ii) DAV Public School, Pitampura, Delhi; (iii) Swastik’s Sattvavikas School,Ahmedabad. In the National Award Category ‘B’ the rankings are: (i) Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalay,Gajanur PO,Distt. Shimoga Distt; (ii) Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya,Visakhaptnam; (iii) Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya, PO Kalamati, Distt.Sambalpur. The Department of Information Technology, in the year 2002 has instituted an Award Scheme for Excellence in Computer Literacy and Information Technology in schools at State and national level to create IT awareness among schools and to encourage computer literacy among students in early stage of schooling. All recognised schools in India, Government and Private, teaching computers and information technology in their schools are eligible to compete for the award. The last date for submission of applications for CLEAS-2007 by school is 14 November 2007. The applications form is available at www.mit.gov.in. Such awards are for giving recognition to the leading schools. This would motivate the teachers and students of the schools and maintain a healthy competition among the various schools and motivate the management of these schools to provide more incentives to the teachers and students. Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

UNESCO King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICT in Education

Belgium and U.S.A. based projects win for 2007 The Belgium-based Claroline Project - The Claroline Consortium and Curriki: The Global Education and Learning Community, based in the U.S.A., have been named as the laureates of this year’s King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for the Use of ICT in Education. They were selected by the DirectorGeneral of UNESCO, Koïchiro Matsuura, on the recommendation of an international jury. The Claroline Project - The Claroline Consortium (represented by the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium) provides an open-source platform to 900 institutions in 84 countries and in 35 languages. Claroline is a catalyst for the effective delivery of interactive and learner-centred instruction. With the continuous addition of new tools and functions from participating schools and institutions around the world, it provides a robust, open-source learning management system that is easily adapted and customized to meet the needs of educational institutions in different countries. Two thousand online courses are available for open sharing through the network. Curriki combines the notion of curriculum with the concept of wiki, a collaborative website whose content can be edited by all users. Curriki, a global education and learning community, was created by Sun Microsystems in 2004 but has since become a non-profit organisation. It is a comprehensive Internet portal, tool set and user service designed to develop, aggregate, evaluate and support the best open source curricula, catering for the requirements of all age groups and all learning interests. It has a comprehensive online, open and collaborative repository of educational resources that enables learners, teachers and parents to add content to existing curricula. Curriki’s 5,000 learning objects in many languages are used regularly by 30,000 people. The Director-General of UNESCO will present the prize - a diploma and USD25,000 each - to the two laureates in a ceremony at Organisation Headquarters on 19 December. The laureates were chosen from among 68 projects from 51 countries and one international nongovernmental organisation focusing on the theme of open access to education. The Prize is placed under the patronage of HM King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain. Honourable mentions will also be given to Sésamath Project, Mexico. Sésamath is a comprehensive mathematics curriculum developed by a community of experts, designers and close to 300 mathematics teachers. Enciclomedia is a basic easy-to-use platform installed in 145,000 classrooms in state primary schools in Mexico, including the most remote and poor areas, as well as in 13 other Latin America countries. It enriches curricula by providing digital multimedia resources such as images, maps, virtual visits, video, audio, music, animations, and interactive learning activities. The platform has helped train 120,000 teachers in the use of ICTs in just two years. 41

News ASIA ICT sector not growing up to the mark in Bangladesh According to finding in a survey conducted by Jobs IRIS Bangladesh, the ICT sector has grown approximately 22 per cent in the past two years, while the mobile phone sector alone has witnessed 180 per cent growth for the last one year. The poor growth in ICT re-emphasises the continued necessity of a highly skilled human resource pool in the ICT sector in the country. ICT graduates are not gaining the skills required by the private sector. The ICT topics taught widely do not always align with the needs and priorities of private sector. Students learn the requisite theoretical and technical skills but not how and where to apply them. At present, there are over 40 universities and 60 colleges offering ICT courses at the Bachelors and Masters levels in the country.

Malaysia To Support International Dialogues On Education Malaysia has pledged its full support for international dialogues seeking to pursue the global commitment of “Education For All” (EFA). Outlining its vision in vying for a seat in the 58-member Unesco Executive Board, Malaysia hopes to contribute its experience and expertise to Unesco, which has been mandated by the United Nations to coordinate international efforts to achieve the EFA by the year 2015. Apart from identifying best practices and benchmarks, Malaysia is also prepared to share its knowledge in teacher training, curriculum development and the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to increase access to quality teaching. Malaysia will also contribute inputs in improving access to students in rural 42

and remote areas and in facilitating regional linkages and cooperation in areas like educational research and development and in the dissemination and sharing of information.

High school education in Philippines via the Web

repeatedly said the CEP will be undertaken in partnership with the Beijing-based Tsinghua University, which is recognized for its expertise in the use of ICT for distance education. But the memorandum was signed not by Tsinghua but by the chairman of Nuctech. The CEP aims to fill the gaps in the education system by using satellite technology to deliver key learning concepts and other educational services to every school in the country through TV screens.

The Commission on Information and Communications Technology (CICT) in Philippines says it is making progress towards its goal of making public high school education completely accessible over the Internet. A project by the commission called “e-eskwela” (electronic school) aims to digitise the entire high school curriculum as an alternative to taking it in the normal classroom setting. Of the total 80 modules (20 for each year of high school), around 40 have been digitised and made available online. The e-eskwela project is part of a larger ICT for Basic Education project that attempts to develop e-Learning components for primary and secondary public school education.

Teachers question Chinese firm’s role in Cyber-Ed deal What does a Chinese company that manufactures X-ray machines and other state-of-the-art airport security equipment got to do with the government’s Cyber Education Project (CEP)? Militant teachers in Philippines raised the question as they asked the Department of Education to explain the details of the memorandum of agreement with China covering the $460-million CEP. The agreement requires the DepEd to team up for the project with Tsinghua Tongfang Nuctech Company (Nuctech), a Chinese company that has “no expertise in satellite-based distance learning. The DepEd has

COA finds P329-M textbooks unused Some P329 million worth of textbooks, information and communication technology (ICT) products, computers and instructional materials are lying around in the offices of school officials or in stockrooms, destroyed by molds, according to the Commission on Audit (COA) in Philippines. In its 2006 audit report on the Department of Education, the COA disclosed that 2.5 million copies of textbooks or instructional materials costing around P186.96 million have remained undistributed for reasons ranging from oversupply, deficiency in contents to scarcity of funds, and vehicles for delivery. The COA report also highlighted the P138.84 million worth of computers which were either reported missing or underutilised due to lack of technical resources and facilities to operate the computers. The ICT packages worth P115 million was being used for administrative purposes instead. Each package consisted of 349 units of computers, compact discs (CDs), workbooks and teacher’s manuals as aids of instruction for English, Math and Science for elementary schools, and English, Chemistry and Geography for high school. The DepEd justified this by saying that the computer supplier did not provide the teachers training to operate the computers. It also said that most of the CDs could not be installed. November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

THE FOYER

Use Modern Tools! Conference for E-9 Countries on Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), 4-6 October, 2007, Bangalore, India The two day international conference of the E-9 countries on Information Communication Technology (ICT) for literacy ended on October 5, 2007 with a call to universalise literacy. Minister of Human Resource Development, Arjun Singh inaugurated the Conference at Bangalore. The Objectives of the Conference are to increasing awareness about use of ICT for promoting literacy, sharing best practices of utilising ICT for Literacy, and exploring collaborations with private sector on ICT for Literacy.

participating country circulated a brief country paper outlining the present status of literacy in their country, the extent of the problem faced, recent efforts made, etc., indicating the role played by ICT in helping in the eradication of illiteracy, specific innovations and lessons learnt. The following session ‘Successful Cases in Asia, ICT for Literacy and Education’ included presentations by UNESCO as well as organisations involved in implementation of ICT-based literacy programmes.

During the Group discussion session, participants broke up into three groups, and charted the 10 recommendations including the decentralisation of ICT programmes. The charter document felt that locally - relevant context specific and flexible content for literacy can be delivered at low cost to cover the literacy programme in places that is most needed.

The charter also appealed to the governments to increase incremental investment in ICT for literacy. The charter also stated that there has to The conference was jointly be greater bilateral and multiorganised by the Union lateral cooperation between the Government and UNESCO countries, so that successful under the auspices of the initiatives and best practices in National Literacy Mission. one country may be replicated Those participating in the meet and delivered to beneficiaries include Bangladesh, Brazil, elsewhere. The participating China, Egypt, Indonesia, countries in this network have Mexico, Nigeria and Pakistan. to establish a close network of E9 Focal Points as well as other Speakers at the inaugural session focal points for adult literacy included Wipro chairman Azim and elementary education, on Premji; Chief Secretary P.B. the lines of similar, pre-existing 304 mn illiterates in South Asia: Arjun Singh, Minister of HRD, GoI along knowledge sharing networks, to Mahishi and Representative and Director of UNESCO, New with other dignitaries during the Inaugural Session facilitate the speedy and efficient Delhi, Minja Yang. The plenary dissemination of information session took note of the significance The session on ‘Other between the E9 countries. of ICT in several fields especially Successful Initiatives’ focused on in delivering and improving literacy other ICT-related literacy initiatives Acknowledging the importance of civil services in the emerging economies. The that have worked successfully in society organisations and the private need for which has been recognised as India and elsewhere, including both sector in modern-day development, the being crucial to the successful reduction government and non-governmental charter recommended the deepening and of illiteracy worldwide where over 771 projects. augmentation of existing partnerships million adults were still illiterate out of with these groups so that government which 304 million were in South Asian The session ‘Collaboration with efforts may be supplemented and Countries. Private Sector’ looked at initiatives enhanced to deliver literacy services to taken by private partners, and explored last-mile recipients, with a particular The Conference was structured into the manner in which some of these emphasis on girls, women, those from five Sessions. During the first session strategies for social and educational the most deprived sections of society ‘Sharing of Country Experiences in development can be taken forward in the and those residing in scattered and hard ICT for Literacy/Education’, each E-9 countries. to reach areas of each country. Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 11 November 2007

News WORLD New digital library project of UNESCO launched

Uganda will unveil the programme, which will run in 10 universities across Africa. These universities include Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Madagascar, Senegal, Ethiopia, Uganda and Somalia. The first subjects to be taught under the programme are Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Information Communication Technology. The ODeL centre is setting up a satellite station at Kyambogo for the programme.

Sub-Saharan Africa accounts for 2.4% of global public education resources The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the United States Library of Congress have signed a pact paving the way for the creation of a World Digital Library which will digitise rare materials from libraries and other cultural institutions globally and make them available free on the Internet. Manuscripts, maps, books, musical scores, sound recordings, films, prints and photographs will all be available online. The prototype for the initiative was developed by the Library of Congress and UNESCO with five other partner institutions: Bibliotheca Alexandrina, the National Library of Egypt, the National Library of Brazil, the National Library of Russia, and the Russian State Library. The prototype functions in the UN’s six official languages – Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish – as well as in Portuguese. It features search and browse by place, time, topic, and contributing institution.

Uganda to start e-Learning programme The Open Distance and e-Learning (OdeL), a new education system in Uganda will assist students, who are willing to study at home. The African Visual University of Nairobi-Kenya has designed the system with the sponsorship from the African Development Bank (ADB). Kyambogo University, 44

The UNESCO in its recent report has disclosed that the governments in sub-Saharan Africa spend only 2.4 percent of the world’s public education resources, where about 15 percent of the world’s school-age population lives. In contrast, the United States of America, which is home to just four per cent of the world’s children and young people, spends 28 percent of the global education budget. This makes the USA the single greatest investor in education, with its public education budget close to that of all governments in the world’s six regions combined. The regions are Arab states, Central and Eastern Europe, Central Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, South and West Asia, as well as sub-Saharan Africa. The report presents the latest education statistics from primary to tertiary levels in more than 200 countries and focuses on the financing of education and provides series of indicators to compare spending patterns across countries and levels of education.

Nigeria, Uganda join Linux Professional Institute (LPI) Nigeria and Uganda join Linux Professional Institute (LPI), the worldwide promoters of skills on Linux and Open Source technologies. LPI will be represented in Nigeria by Lifeforte, a member of the Association of International Schools in Africa based in Ibadan, Nigeria. While the East African Centre for Open Source Software (EACOSS) will be located in Uganda to cater for Kenya, Tanzania,

Uganda and the Great Lakes region. Since the programme’s inception, LPI has delivered over 155,000 exams and over 47 000 graduates.

Exemplar network to boost technology for learning The UK government unveiled a £3.9 million initiative to accelerate learnerfocused use of technology in further education. The Technology Exemplar Network programme, jointly led by government technology partner Becta and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), is a key element of the two organisations’ complementary strategies for encouraging further integration of technology for learning into the further education and skills sector. The programme will lead to the development of a national support network by encouraging providers with a track record of successfully embedding technology into their learning and teaching to create a forum to share best practice with other providers.

Education in Northern Ireland transforms by ICT investment Northern Ireland has unveiled the results of a £46 million investment in the latest education technologies. The project ICT for primary schools was awarded to Northgate Information Solutions, is part of the largest ICT education managed service project to be implemented in Europe. Over five years Northgate will deliver and support the latest media rich education technologies to each of the 883 primary schools in Northern Ireland. Under the project over 25,000 laptops are being distributed to schools. The primary school sector will be fitted out with the very latest computing equipment including LCD monitors, workstations, video conferencing facilities and colour printers, enabling schools to work collaboratively online and more effectively share and enhance the teaching/learning experience and benefit from a more secure teaching and learning environment. November 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

Microsoft contest on HPC

Mark Your Calendar november 13th Annual Sloan-C International Conference on Online Learning 7 - 9 November, 2007 Orlando, Florida, United States http://www.aln.ucf.edu

International Conference on Teaching and Learning (ICTL 2007) 15 - 16 November, 2007 Putrajaya, Malaysia, Malaysia http://ictl.intimal.edu.my

International Education Summit 16 - 17 November, 2007 cincinnati, OHIO, United States http://www.globalcincinnati.org

School Education, Pluralism and Marginality: Comparative Perspectives 14 - 16 December, 2007 India Intl. Centre, New Delhi, India http://deshkalindia.com

january e-Learning Excellence in the Middle East 2008: Define. Design. Deliver 14 - 17 January, 2008 dubai, Dubai, United Arab Emirates http://elexforum.etqm.ae/

Responding to Change - Flexibility in the Delivery of Language Programmes 7 - 11 January 2008 Hong Kong, Thailand http://lc.ust.hk/~centre/conf2008

Teaching in Public - The Future of HE 21 - 23 November, 2007 Cardiff, Wales, United Kingdom

february

http://c-sap.bham.ac.uk

International Research Conference 27 to 29 February 2008 Iloilo City, Philippines

International Conference on Universal Quality Schol Education 21-23 November, 2007 New Delhi, India http://www.etma-india.org/uqse_2007.htm

http://www.wvsu.edu.ph

iLearning Forum Paris 2008 4 to 5 February 2008 Paris, France

ICODL 2007 - 4th Intl. Conference on Open and Distance Learning 23 - 25 November, 2007 Athens, Attiki, Greece

http://www.ilearningforum.eu

http://artemis.eap.gr/icodl2007/

The 2008 International Conference on e-Education 27 to 29 March 2008 Bangkok, Thailand, Thailand

december Regional Conference on Quality in Higher Education 10 - 11 December, 2007 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia http://qamu.um.edu.my/conf2007/

march

http://www.e-case.org/e-Education2008/

Intl. Conference on Quality Enhancement in Educational Communication 29 to 30 March 2008 Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India

11th UNESCO-APEID International Conference: Reinventing Higher Education: Toward Participatory and Sustainable Development 12 - 14 December, 2007 Bangkok, Thailand

http://bdu.ac.in

http://www.unescobkk.org/index.php?id=6257

Website: http://www.icoet,.com

Digital Learning | Vol 3 Issue 5 May 2007

International Conference Of Educational Technology ICOET2008 3 to 5 March 2008 Muscat, The Capital, Oman

Microsoft is launching a regional contest and engagement around High Performance Computing (HPC) with Engineering colleges and Universities. Background Once the exclusive domain of a handful of well-funded companies, supercomputing is increasingly becoming accessible, scalable and affordable to companies of all sizes, budgets and needs. Microsoft launched its first HPC offering last year and is bullish about its prospects in a US$10 billion market. Academic and research institutions in Asia have significant experience in High Performance computing and this programme is designed to expand on that by encouraging the students and the faculties to orient efforts in the direction of parallel programming and building applications, middleware and projects based on this concept. Programme This project will initially run at the key science universities in Thailand, Indonesia, Australia, Malaysia and Korea. Students will be introduced to the programme through information displayed at their university and by their lecturers. They can then go online to find out more about this programme and register their interest to participate. The offer will vary slightly country-tocountry however, students will be offered an MSDNAA license for only USD$1 per node (minimum 4 nodes) and if their project is chosen as a winner they will be rewarded with a prize (which will vary by dollar value per country). The research projects could focus on, but are not limited to - Digital content creation, Animation, Science & Engineering, Finance, Geology, Medicine, Mining, Computational applications for development, Oil and gas exploration or any other field of research involving extensive computational calculations.

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digital LEARNING invites authors We invite editorial contributions from our readers in the field of Digital Learning. While no guarantee is made or implied, we will make every effort to incorporate all views and experiences in the relevant issues so as to better serve the ICT and Education community at large. Note that contributions may be edited for space and/or clarity. Unconsolidated manuscripts and artwork will not be returned. Please be sure to read and follow the Editorial Guidelines available at http://www.digitallearning.in/editorial.asp All correspondence should be addressed to: The Editor, Digital Learning G-4, Sector-39, Noida, India Tel +91-120-2502180 to 85 46 Fax +91-120-2500060

May 2007 | www.digitalLEARNING.in

9 - 10 December 2007 Crowne Plaza Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Beyond the mainstream...

A GK3 Associated Event Its 2007! The mid-point of the goals set by the UN.

Where are we?

Announcing the first film festival of its kind focussing on the Millennium Development Goals through the eyes of ICT4D. Films showing us the true picture of what has happened at the grassroots

Register online now ... Limited seats available and Sumbit short documentary films or Community Created Content. Topics of the films should address the Millennium Development Goals in their essence such as, • Poverty alleviation • Education • Health • Gender equality • Women empowerment, etc.

Log on to www.i4donline.net/filmfestival or Contact Sulakshana Bhattacharya @ sulakshana@csdms.in Organised by

GLOBAL

knowledge for change