Enabling institutions with IT
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Aakash 2 tablet to be launched by April 2012 The Government of India has said that it will bring out the improved version of the Aakash tablet by April this year. Aakash 2 is likely to have several improved specifications such as elongated battery life and faster processor. Touted as the world’s cheapest tablet, it has faced harsh criticism from several quarters for its poor quality and dismal features. IIT Rajasthan, which developed the prototype of the device along with DataWind, found a series of faults in the device, prompting reports in the media that the
government is reconsidering the project. Under pressure to provide better endowed lowcost device, the government has now its turned attention to the Aakash 2, which is likely to come at the same price tag of the original Aakash. HRD Minister Kapil Sibal has said that the government will be looking for more manufacturers to manufacture the Aakash 2 tablets, attributing the massive demand for the move. “We want to make sure that the upgraded product caters to the need of the customers...We will be able to bring in Aakash 2 by April,” Kapil Sibal said.
ronment. The first article in this three Today, 15 million Indians are enrolled part series highlights a graded set of steps in brick-and-mortar as well as distance to establish good IT infrastructure on learning universities. To quench an everthe campus. The key aspects of software increasing demand for trained manpower, acquisition and skills training for the our gross enrolment rate (GER) in higher faculty must also be considered. With learning has to double by 2020. Our an eye on increasing scale while containcountry is blessed with talented teachers ing costs, the benefits of the cloud model at all levels, and quality academic instituare explained. tions that have been around for decades. If The next part elaborates on institutionthese institutions were technologywide platforms such as learning manageenabled, they could help raise the GER by ment systems and lecture capture systems, expanding their enrolments manifold. which facilitate richer interactions between However, only a select set of academic the faculty and the learners. The concludinstitutions in India have harnessed the ing article in the series examines the vital awesome power of technology, albeit in an role videos can play in assisting learning. It organic fashion. Most have opted to stay details the author’s own experience withclear of all things IT. An oft-cited reason is developing videos for an MBA-level statisthe absence of management support to tics course, and showcases student reacimplement changes. Consequently, a systions to the exercise. In addition, it offers tem of discrimination has sprung up withsome pointers for an IT-enabled college to in our institutions: those that are ITmake the grand leap into distance learning. enabled, and those that are not. Even though the students of the latter category are fully at home with technology, any Technology Enablement knowledge and skills they acquire on their Even though the chalk-and-talk lecture own shall remain vastly method is the dominant undirected. form of pedagogy in There is a flawed perIndia, some instructors ception that IT-enablehave begun to use slides, ment is a complicated and play videos off the interexpensive proposition. net, and run applets and Truth is, any conventional animations. Students in every 12 ‘degree college’ with a Indians can access can assimilate higher generous, open-minded order skills and knowlthe web, whereas management and a comedge better when instrucfour times as mitted faculty body can be many Chinese can tion is accompanied by transformed into a dynamic demos, which dynamic learning envithey can try out on their
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own. All of this is feasible only when the institution is IT-enabled. One reason many of our colleges are yet to make the switch to IT is the worry that installing and maintaining IT infrastructure ‘on premises’ is too complicated. A small IT division consisting of a set of professionals can capably manage this effort. Managements must come to terms with the reality that the budget for their salaries may well exceed that of the infrastructure: after all, the benefits far outweigh the costs. Also, software and hardware upgrades may cause recurrent headaches. But by closing the avenues to IT-enablement, an institution misses the boat to modernity. We shall see how the set up costs can be contained by taking the cloud computing route.
Campus Infrastructure For a traditional college, IT-enablement begins by equipping every classroom with a projector, a computer console, good lighting, a cordless mic and a sound system. It is reasonable nowadays to ask every student to own a laptop. A loan or a subsidy from the college authorities for needy students would be welcome, in lieu of building a large ‘lab’ and installing hundreds of desktop machines, which will obsolesce quickly. The funds may also be utilised to enable each faculty member to procure a decent laptop. Installing a campus-wide network enables the community of faculty, students and staff to access ‘critical services’ February 2012 EduTech
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