ON-LINE LEARNING: THE SKY IS THE LIMIT, AND INDIA WANTS TO AIM HIGH... What is India's share of the potentially huge on-line learning pie? Still just crumbs compared to what is obviously possible in this resource-hungry but imagination-rich country of 1000-million plus.
India's National Centre for Software Technology (NCST), an autonomous centre working in research and development, has announced plans to host a global conference on online learning called 'Vidyakash-2002' (loosely, Horizons of Knowledge). It will be held from December 15-17 at Mumbai, the Indian commercial capital formerly known as Bombay. Says NCST: "Vidyakash-2002 is being conceived of as a forum to bring together the various groups interested in online learning". In the past few weeks, it issued a call for papers dealing with learning environments, on-line teaching methodology, learner support, instruction delivery, learner modelling, faculty development for on-line learning, virtual universities, course-ware engineering and other related issues. Organisers hope this event will be the "first of many". Papers are being invited from across the globe. One goal is to set up a national resource centre -- possibly at the NCST -- for online learning. This project was founded in late 2000, and has been doing considerable work behind the scenes since then. Apart from several development projects, there have also been some collaborative efforts to bring together people working in this field from across the country. Last June, a workshop was held on online learning, and they've also been working with India's prestigious engineering-education centres called the IITs (Indian Institutes of Technology) on a distance education programme. M Sasikumar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, head of the Educational Technology Unit at NCST, explains to journalist Frederick Noronha <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> of BytesForAll.org, some of the issues and plans that could flow out of this meet. Excerpts: ------------------------------------------------------------------------- How many participants are expected for this meet? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- About 200-300. The potential audience would include companies into e-learning (software developers, distributors, service providers, etc), educational institutions interested in e-learning, content developers, faculty, and others. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- What's the level of online-education in India currently? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- India's non-formal sector, particularly in the IT discipline, have ventured in offering e-learning. But the response, as far as I know, has been low. Other institutions are also making available a lot of content on the Web; but not enough for online learning. These are largely notes and slides. Use of discussion board, e-mail, and chat are picking up for technical communication -- but we have a long way to go. Much of the work in e-learning is focused on superficial content hosting -- largely textbook and slides online. A student in an online learning environment is in a very different frame of mind compared to a classroom environment. He lacks eye contact with the instructor, the peer pressure and interaction, or the campus environment. There is very little effort to provide a comfortable and practical learning environment, or to exploit the capabilities provided by a Web-based environment (use of interactive simulations, animations, etc) in the approach most people take to e-learning. This is true, not only in India, but across the globe. It is necessary to view e-learning in its entirety as a educational problem (and not as as software technology or communication technology problem), for e-learning to make a significant impact on the educational scenario. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- What are the exciting experiments you'll hope to share with others? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a forum where a number of researchers and practitioners from a number of institutions will be sharing their ideas and experiences. It is not an NCST show. Topics of interest spans from communication and collaboration in online learning context, to content development and delivery. One can look forward to developments in effective content design models, delivery methodologies, software tools and environments, learning models, etc. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Are any other international organisations involved in the event? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- There is no direct involvement of any other specific organization. But authors and delegates will be representing work from a number of organizations across the world including India. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- What would be the cost of hosting this event? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Information is not currently available. It is expected to be largely a high quality technical event, and not a commercial show. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- At this stage, what are the expected or hoped-for outcomes? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- This is a conference where people are grouping together to share ideas and interact with fellows elsewhere. So the natural outcomes would be a deeper awareness of the issues, opportunities and challenges in e-learning, closer interaction among the various relevant groups, wider exposure to the work of various groups. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Who are the main organisers and their contacts? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- NCST is organizing the event, under a project funded by the (Indian) Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. The project, named Vidyakash, is aimed to set up a national resource center on online learning at NCST. This project is being executed by the Educational Technology Unit at NCST. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- What has prompted such a meet? ------------------------------------------------------------------------- The following paragraph from the welcome note to the Vidyakash Newsletter gives the answer. While there is a lot of activity in the country in the area of online learning -- whether it is the offering of online course material and online tests, or the creation of content for online courses, developing tools and technologies for online learning, etc -- the depth of exposure in most cases is shallow. As studies abroad are beginning to show, putting some course material on the web, does not result in an online course. Collectively, all of us involved in education, particularly in the use of technology such as the Web and IT, need to be aware of how online learning differs from traditional classroom style of learning, how it affects the instructional process, what are the opportunities and threats involved, and so on. The area of online learning is still very much in its formative years, the world over. Therefore, it is possible for us to make as much a contribution to this field as anyone else. Secondly, there is a general lack of awareness of the other players in the fray. While there are a number of institutions working in creating content, others interested in doing content development are unaware of those currently working. This leads to re-inventing the wheel as well as a loss of much valuable experience gained at different places. Institutions are trying to set up campus networks, video conferencing, etc. Again, a lack of awareness of others who have tried it before, prevents useful sharing of knowledge - of failures and successes. The conference would provide a forum for interested individuals and institutions to share experiences and ideas, explore new avenues/ideas, find out what tools and technologies are available, etc. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Vidyakash project website <www.ncst.ernet.in/~vidyakash> gives more information on the project and related activities. 'Vidyakash News' newsletter is also accessible online at that site. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------ ***GKD is solely supported by EDC, an NGO that is a GKP member*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. 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