Express Computer (Jan 13, 2003) E-LEARNING FOR RURAL TEACHERS
ITP News Network/ New Delhi LEARNINGMATE, a division of Delhi-based Educomp Datamatics, Blackboard Inc and World Links, a leading international non-profit organisation, have recently announced a strategic partnership to introduce e-Learning as a solution for professional development of teachers in rural and under-served schools throughout India, parts of Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Middle East. Under the partnership, World Links will offer teachers training in the use of technology and the Internet to improve teaching and learning via the Blackboard Learning System MLT, the multi-language edition of the company's market-leading course management system. World Links has created an innovative e-Learning version of its award-winning, face-to-face training programme. The new e-Learning course utilises interactive content, realistic scenarios and collaborative activities to enable participants to immediately apply the learning to their own environment. The 12-week course uses a distributed learning approach, integrating the Internet, CD-ROM and a one-day face-to-face seminar. To overcome challenges with unreliable and often costly Internet connectivity in most of the developing world including India, LearningMate has taken advantage of the Blackboard Building Blocks technology to develop a tool that provides offline access to the Blackboard-enabled course content. Also, through Building Blocks, LearningMate has integrated its discussion board solution with the Blackboard Learning System ML to support online peer learing and collaboration between learners in the World Links programme. Commenting on the new partnership, Andrew H Rosen, general manager of Blackboard Inc said, "After seeing verious ministreis of education and schools districts around the world invest in computing and connectivity infrastructure over the last few years, we now have identified a demand for proven technology and methodologes that make large-scale teacher professional development a reality." It is understood that the partnership will initially pilot a 12-week course in early 2003 on curriculum and technology integration in schools throughout India, Ghana, Uganda, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Botswana and Zambia. And later on, it plans to expand the offering to Latin America, the Middle East, and Southeast Asia with localisations in Spanish, Portuguese, French, Chinese, Japanese and German. (ENDS) -- Frederick Noronha Freelance Journalist Goa India 0091.832.2409490/2409783 http://www.bytesforall.org Writing with a difference ... on what makes *the* difference ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, a Non-Profit Organization*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe gkd OR type: unsubscribe gkd Archives of previous GKD messages can be found at: <http://www.edc.org/GLG/gkd/>
