Vol. 8 No. 2 December, 2002
The Newsletter of Commonwealth Educational Media
Center for Asia
The Commonwealth of Learning
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From the dotcom bubble to the e-commerce euphoria to today's new mantra, e-education, we have come a long way in a short period of time. But at each stage of the cycle of new inventions on ways of managing the process of learning, we return to T.S. Eliot's central question "Where is the wisdom we have lost in knowledge? Where is the knowledge we have lost in information?" I sometimes dread the time I have to spend to sit down and
write this editorial note. This is because I do not wish to be didactic or to
even pretend to have some wisdom that others do not. But, as we began preparing
this issue, and began a search to bring you meaningful, relevant, and
appropriate knowledge, I felt it was time that I too, like many of EduComm
Asia's readers, use this newsletter to learn about developments on the cutting
edge of education. Our other regular sections are also there: SMART tips on how to reference materials from the World Wide Web, Software Review of a low-cost Multimedia authoring tool, and Information Literacy in Worth While Web. Regional events in this part of the world are also covered, and forthcoming activities, both of our organization and also of others. The response to our requests for proposals has been very enthusiastic but I do caution readers to be careful with your suggestions for research and funding. This is because international referees review your proposals, and they expect international standards. Please come forward to send us news of activities, events, and achievements of your institution. This newsletter should reflect your aspirations, share your knowledge and network your wisdom. Once again, I request you to respond to the enclosed readership survey; and to tell us what you would like for us to provide for you by way of content. Otherwise, we might end up giving you information without either the knowledge or the wisdom that could be culled out of it.
Planning and Managing Technology- Enabled Education
Why Technology-Enabled Education? Never before, we had witnessed such tremendous developments and transformations in the field of education, especially in terms of its multidimensional vast capacity, capability and impact on a variety of target groups of learners, as we see now in our contemporary periods. Some innovations and new interventions have been so profound that these have led to extremely dynamic and enhanced systems and modes of educational delivery. Significant and fast changing developments in information and communications technologies (ICT) and realisation of their enormous powers and capabilities have induced reengineering in institutional planning and management. These new dimensions of change to cater to ever growing demand and challenges of providing greater access and equity have shifted attention and proactive action from strategic to holistic planning exercises. Flexible learning, therefore, has assumed greater contemporary relevance, significance and importance (Dikshit, 2002; Dikshit et al, 2002). Technological developments have also provided greater flexibility and appropriateness, and a basket of pathways to choose from. Technology-enabled education is visualised to be an enabler so as to empower learners through the pathways and the pace they would like to actually progress. Technology must help develop the skills of learning to learn, and the understanding of the intricacies of convergence and seamless system of education. IT-enabled education could be one and at times the dominant, option available to the learner. It must meet the varied and heterogeneous learning styles of individual learners. In my view, the learners should have access to multiple media and technology. There should be simultaneous availability of print-based, CDbased (interactive multimedia) and online-based materials along with face-to-face, distance and online support services. As pointed out by Hall (1996), convergence is the buzzword: we must provide for the most accessible and the most effective mode to achieve the same goal. Types of IT Use Now tools like word processor, spreadsheet, database,
languages, etc.; communication facilities like e-mail, mailing list, discussion
forums, video conferencing, chat, web casting etc, and resources such as
learning materials, sites, CD-ROMs, online journals and databases, etc. are
available to support our learners (Maier & Warren, 2002). We may also blend both
synchronous and asynchronous communication; the pedagogically effective trend
has been towards the latter, though it is difficult and time consuming. The use
of ecommunications could be for one-to-many as well as many-to-many
communication, and more importantly for management of teaching learning.
Management of learning and knowledge management have been buzzwords in the
technology-dominated world; and such services may include dissemination of
information, file transfer, online assignment submission and feedback, web
resources, etc. It is a management challenge to design, develop and sustain (and
reform along with technological developments) such a management system. Due to revolutionary developments in and fast changing complexions and complexities of the field of availability of systems based on multi purpose and multiuser principles with adequate job and time-sharing by appropriate work groups. This will optimise the benefits of the capabilities so generated and lead to a sustainable and computer conferencing and network facilities. More affluent students who need to access from home PC shall require a dedicated phone line and the required power of the PC and Internet connectivity with appropriate bandwidth. ICT, digital applications are assuming greater significance and importance. Though Digital technology may require initial investment, which is, in general, comparatively more modest in comparison to other possible alternatives, the unit cost has gradually declined with time. Moreover, the benefits are immense: there is increase in capacity and speed with possibility of enhanced clarity and voluminous data and image transfer. Some Pre-requisites It is essential that for an effective organisational networking, support and management, certain prerequisites be ensured: The faculty and support staff must have access to a
computer, the required software and the required local area network for data
access and data build-up. Also, it would be extremely useful to have a website
and individual access to the Internet, web and e-mail system. Those working on
multimedia and other courseware/authorware must also have access to an
individual system, which may be connected to the network server for wider
exchange and use. We should, of course, make available sufficient computational
and communication powers, but we should also realize that a successful and
economically viable environment for ICT applications requires a different
approach and new work culture. we have to ensure availability of system based on
multi purpose and multi-user principals with adequate job and time-sharing by
appropriate work groups. This will optimise the benefits of capabilities so
generated and lead to a sustainable and cost effective system. It seems that currently we are very well positioned to
successfully address some major issues and concerns of significant importance
and relevance like those of access, equity and equal opportunity in providing
education. Besides other special target groups of our people, we need to make
some serious efforts in providing easily accessible quality education at
affordable costs to the socio-economically disadvantaged and the differently-abled
persons. A mix of ICT capabilities and DE systems are perhaps capable of
achieving these goals, which we have cherished since long. However, one of the
initial requirements for an institution to proceed in this direction would be to
ensure sufficiently personalised access to technology. This is a tricky issue,
which many may not like to address but significant success of DE depends on
addressing this issue on priority to increase access and achieve equity
vis-à-vis technology. In view of the importance of these two target groups of
our people, I would like to elaborate a little more on these aspects in the
following two items. In developing countries, more often than not, the socio economically disadvantaged and marginalized groups of people are located in places and clusters, which are generally quite far off from urban settlements and may be difficult to be accessed by normal modes of transportation. However, it is indeed very satisfying to observe emergence of an increasing trend in our societies to prioritise provisions for educational and empowerment needs of those who are most distantly located and often remain deprived of the benefits of various developmental plans and projects. In several developing countries, availability of reasonable infrastructure to connect these groups, who need our utmost attention and care, are scarce due to financial crunch, and lack of trained professionals. It is very redeeming to share some very successful interventions made by ensuring convergence of the Government resources and the Open Distance Learning Institutions, which raise our hope and expectations to successfully address the main issue raised above. Our experience of formulating and implementing the HEADSTART project (Sharma et al, 2001) in providing massive ICT enabled education to the most deprived and most distant clusters of our populations has been rather rewarding. In essence, our major findings based on this very interesting and successful project are: (i) The learners, who are invariably of first generation and come from the remote and disadvantaged communities are excited, far greater receptive and motivated to learn about basic ICT tools than their counter-parts in the urban areas. (ii) These communities are highly sensitive and any successful intervention requires, as a pre-requisite, deep involvement and participation of the community. (iii) While choosing technologies and processes for their meaningful applications, a thorough understanding of the difficulties like alternative sources of power must be kept in view to ensure sustainability. (iv) Instead of relying on the trained manpower available, in general in developed settlements, efforts should be made to develop local capabilities and expertise from the very beginning. (v) Sustainable system maintenance is a very critical issue, which demands careful, effective and innovative strategies. Our conclusion from the experiences gained in handling quite a few projects addressed to the problem of reaching the most un reached is that concerted efforts to develop ICT networks with basic training in handling ICT capabilities at distant places and locations could be a very effective substitute for the deficiencies due to weak infrastructure support at much moderate costs. We also need to develop systems and processes for institutional re-engineering. These include infrastructure development, development of required authorware and courseware, evaluation system, supports system, and system for online database management. Cost Considerations A shift from the print-based to web based DE delivery shall involve initial cost deployment due to overhead costs of web and mail server, staff development for online teaching-learning, staff for web maintenance (or this can be outsourced), development of online registration system, online call centre services system, and the like. There is a general perception that online education is less costly than the conventional system of education. However, this may not be quite true because an effective online education system requires a well-synchronized connectivity based on large bandwidth capability, which is not easily available in most of the developing countries. Thus, the main reason for arriving at a conclusion about the costs involved in online education is that working with low bandwidth is cost effective. However, costs involved in acquiring higher bandwidth are much higher. Education through low bandwidth is, of course, less costly but is also not capable of handling even reasonably well developed interactive and multimedia programmes. Such a delivery system, therefore, tends to become less effective and at times low speed causes discouragement to learners due to difficulties in access and downloading e-materials . Since distance education institutions have already made some efforts in acquiring at least low bandwidth networks in such systems , it may be more feasible to develop cost effective system with relatively high bandwidth connectivity. Howerever , our ultimate aim should be to acquire high bandwidth capability, which may be appropriate for sustaining live interaction and delivery of programmes in real time. The challenge lies in management of the transition without much escalation in the cost. We need to develop a system, which integrates tele-learning, conferencing, mailing, learning management, testing and database management. The Future I am of the considered view that we need to explore the
following as an effective model of technology enabled education: Virtual Research Environment: Apart from what we have so far talked about virtual learning environment; development of virtual R & D environments is also important for the benefit of the virtual researchers in all disciplines including and technology-enabled education. It would be as cumbersome to develop such an environment as to maintain, sustain and progressively reform these. Obviously, this area would require international collaboration and greater clarity. References Dikshit, H.P. (2002), Multidimensional strategy and capability of ICT to reach the most distant and deprived, in Uwe Beck et. al. (eds.), Proceedings of th LEARNTECH- 10 European Cogress and Trade Fair for Educational and Information Technology, Karlsruhe, Karlsruher Messe- und Kongress-GmbH 2002. Dikshit, H.P., Panda, S. and Garg, S.(2002) 'Addressing, access and equity through open and flexible learning', in H.P. Dikshit et al(eds) Access and Equity: Challenges for Open and Distance Learning, New Delhi: Kogan Page. Hall, J.(1996) 'The evolution of electronic technology and the modern university: the convergence of means;' in T. Evans and D. Nation (eds) Opening Education, London: Routledge. Inglis, A., Ling, P. and Joosten, V (1999) Delivering Digitally: managing the Transition to the Knowledge Media, London: Kogan Page. Maier, P. and Warren, A.(2000) Integrating Technology in Learning and Teaching,London: Kogan Page. Sharma, Amita, Dikshit, H.P., Jaju, Sanjay, Gopalkrishnan, R. (2001) HEADSTART: Computer enaled education and development in S.Jenna et al (eds), Proceedings of an International Workshop on Information and Communication Technology for Professional Development of Primary Education Personnel, Indira Gandhi National Open University, New Delhi Professor H. P. Dikshit is Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi National Open University,New Delhi, India. E-mail: hp_math@ignou.ac.in This guest column has been written exclusively for EduComm Asia on invitation.We are thankful to Prof. Dikshit for sharing his ideas and vision with our readers. To Contents....
JIVA INSTITUTE: HOLISTIC INNOVATIONS
Making a modest beginning with a small school, Jiva is today a name known internationally and reckoned as pioneers in all areas of its endeavours. Its innovative approach has attracted the attention of scholars, academicians, social entrepreneurs and institutions of global repute. What has set Jiva apart is its ability to synthesis ancient knowledge system with modern science and technology. While on the one hand under the Jiva umbrella is Centre for Vedic Studies at Vrindavan-run under the guidance of Swami Satyanaya Das, an IIT postgraduate and a doctor of philosophy in Sanskrit-on the other is the Jiva Institute which is paving the way for social development through research, practical programs and technological innovations. Based on this holistic vision, Jiva has emerged as an institution of substance within a decade. SHAPING CHANGE THROUGH TECHNOLOGY Jiva places emphasis on using technologies in a way that
leads to economic and cultural sustainability. It harnesses the potential of
technology in nearly every activity or program it undertakes. This approach
forms the fulcrum of Jiva's entire spectrum of programs through which it seeks:
Jiva also offers vocational training to individuals and conducts capacity-building courses for other non-profits working in the social sector. At the core of all these activities is empowerment of the rural masses. To facilitate information access for the unlettered, Jiva has developed an iconic software, called the Baatchit Community Software (BCS), which even the unlettered villagers can use conveniently. BCS has been developed by Jiva to cater to diverse needs of people in the rural areas. Jiva uses information technologies to globally propagate the relevance of Ayurveda and the Vedic culture and philosophy. Jiva, in the field of culture preserves, translates, publishes and digitizes rare ancient texts in Sanskrit. It is also engaged in book-publishing, content development, course formulation, teacher training, and production of educational CDs. Jiva is constantly looking, developing and deploying ICTs to realize its vision of education, health, culture, and outreach. EDUCATION VISION: EYES ON TOMORROW
Jiva Education seeks to change the prevailing and the coming scenario by proffering educational system that prepares individuals for life-long learning and regular skill enhancements to be in control at all times. "One-time learning and life-long earning" is no longer relevant and the old system that perpetuated it needs to be re-engineered so that it helps create a "learning society" that is better equipped to meet future challenges in all areas of human endeavor. Guided by the vision, Jiva Education is constantly focused on finding solutions for creating a "learning society" that can apply its constantly upgraded knowledge and skills for socioeconomic betterment and local, regional and global sustainability. To this end, it conducts research, develops tools and techniques that foster constructive learning, creates relevant resources, reforms and evolves processes and models, and conducts training. Jiva Institute evolves and refines learning models, methodologies and processes that serve the needs of institutional educators and organizational trainers. HEALTH VISION: HOLISTIC HEALTHCARE Jiva Ayurveda promotes the traditional Indian medical science of Ayurveda by blending ancient wisdom with modern concepts with a view to sustaining health and health practices. Founded in 1995, this health wing of Jiva has been the first to set up an online Ayurvedic clinic that offers a holistic treatment to patients around the world. Jiva Ayurveda also conducts online and residential courses in Auyrveda. For propagating the science of eternal health in the modern era, it is continually engaged in research and development, forging alliances with like-minded organizations, and holding seminars and talks that show its growing relevance to the overly stressed modern society.
Jiva Culture, an autonomous wing of the Jiva Institute that functions from its headquarters in Vrindavan, rediscovers indigenous knowledge systems and shows their continuing relevance in fostering a firmly rooted, value-based and self sustained creative society. Jiva Culture revisits cultural leitmotifs, studies indigenous social customs and religious rituals to uncover their deeper social significance. It places emphasis on cultural resurgence for restoring the weakening human-to-human, human-to-animal and human-to environment relationships. For this, it engages the services of scholars, sociologists, historians and writers to bring to the fore the embedded traditional knowledge systems hidden in indigenous literature, arts, customs, and rituals. By doing so, it aims to establish greater meaning and direction in our lives as a single people. OUTREACH VISION: WHOLESOME DEVELOPMENT Jiva Outreach works toward the development of underserved communities. For this, Jiva forges partnerships across boundaries, borders and disciplines to find solutions that create social, economic, and environmental harmony. These collaborations result in programs that promote entrepreneurship, healthcare, relevant education, communication, and meaningful entertainment. Because development in emerging countries requires a high degree of peer support, the programs focus not only at the individual level, but also at the community level. Whether it's a group of farmers or rural artisans, the solutions build off from the strengths of the entire community. This collaborative approach produces faster, more effective, and longer lasting effects. In order to provide an even greater boost to these initiatives, Jiva Outreach identifies, designs, and implements technologies that support and enhance human systems. But no matter what the solution, it ensures that all activities and technologies are designed in a participatory manner to genuinely meet the community's needs. CONTACT: Jiva Institute Jiva Marg
This program is managed by the Bangladesh Friendship Education Society (BFES) and has been designed to develop participatory monitoring and learning system at the village level. It was established in April 2001 in Bagerhat, to cater to the needs of 20 villages in Southwest Bangladesh on a pilot basis. Goal and Objectives The goal of the project is to develop participatory monitoring and learning system at the village level by using Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools and to facilitate joint tracking progress by the communities and other grassroots level stakeholders. There are three main project operational objectives that are mentioned below: Objective 1: setting up a village communication,
information and learning center and developing a comprehensive database to
preserve, update and ensure long term use of village resources by the community
people themselves. Objective 3: create resource manpower through skill development training, particularly for the unemployed youth groups and adolescents girls, in ICT uses, data collection, compilation, analysis and information sharing among various stakeholders aiming towards sustainability of such effort. The Project Implementing Aspects BFES is pursuing to achieve its project objectives through the following components: Institutional Capacity Building of Amader Gram Branches
for Rural Development The Project started a primary school where we use local information with regular curriculum using ICT tools. A Village Information and Monitoring Center (Knowledge Center) with equipment has also been set up, which is also assisting Self-Help Groups (SHGs) to establish transparent database of savings & credit management. Establish Support Mechanisms for Income Generating Activities The project is assisting SHGs/villagers to access information for investments in income generating activities, following demonstration of capacity for credit management. In addition, it is supporting skill training, technology transfer, technical support and promotion of market linkages by providing communication services. Establish Mechanisms to Access ICT to the village people for Creation of Community Awareness In order to improve quality of poor people and release time for productive purposes, the project is creating opportunity for village youth groups in computer application training and services. The project also provides education on different development issues including health & nutrition through information & Communication Services. Provide an Effective Information Management System The project has set up village information, monitoring and
learning centers with equipment like Computer, TV, VCP etc. One center for
overall coordination and monitoring and Sub-centres (taking villages in each
group/cluster) has been established. The coordination center is based at Khulna
City and the centers in selected spots are centrally placed within the villages.
Establish support mechanisms for livelihood improvement The project is assisting SHGs/villagers to establish transparent database of saving and credit management. It is also assisting them to access information for investments in income generating activities, following demonstration of capacity for credit management. Data/information are being stored and analyzed and shared as feedback in group members daily, weekly and monthly meetings which give them scope of reflection on their improvement of livelihood status and related areas. On the other hand it is helping the entrepreneurs (at micro-level) by providing market information and promoting their products/commodities in the markets outsides of their locality. Outcomes In Bangladesh providing education by using ICT facility is very new and rare. Most of the education institutes in urban areas and universities are able to run ICT education in maintaining minimum standard. But in rural areas it is unimaginable that the poor people will use ICT tools to learn or use communication techniques to improve their daily livelihoods. The project is addressing this issue to improve quality of lives in rural areas of Bangladesh through this pilot intervention. Computer and Internet are introduced to the people for information access. Preference has been given to the School Teachers and Youth groups to learn through this initiative. Gradually, different stakeholder groups (like Local government staff, NGO workers, Locally elected representatives, and traders) have access to this idea and technology. The project has developed resource database on the villages. Future Plan Amader Gram Learning Centre of BFES is already a model now
practiced and used as community data reservoir, though at a limited scale. This
has been already proved a community knowledge center by its impact on the
community. At one level, this is a data/information reservoir for the community
use; on the other hand an opportunity for mitigating digital divide at the
grassroots. Such a center has got immense potential to be used in upgrading
community education. Contact: Syed Kamrul Hasan Tel : + 88017 324556
Beyond the hype of online learning lies a straightforward question: how do you really deliver worthwhile learning online? This book, based on action research, provides a simple answer this fundamental question by exploring a key technique that enables teachers and learners to use available technologies happily and successfully. This is not a book about the technology of online learning. Practical, accessible and direct, it looks at personalizing and customizing teaching and learning. LeCavalier, Jacques (2002) Making E-Learning Work in the Nonprofit Sector, Brandon-Hall.com This report from Brandon-Hall aims to help nonprofit organizations that are exploring or developing their own e-learning initiatives. It's partly a primer on elearning for nonprofit executives, board members, training managers and developers, and for those in foundations and other grant-making agencies looking to maximize the impact of training and education grants. It covers the basics of e-learning, including definitions, examples and a summary of key areas of interest such as e-learning strategy, learning management systems and requests for proposal (RFP). Reiser, Robert and Dempsey, John V. (2002) Trends and Issues in Instructional Design and Technology, Prentice Hall: New Jersey ISBN: 0-13-022297-6 This text clearly defines and describes the rapidly converging fields of instructional design, instructional technology, and performance technology. The text discusses the trends and issues that have affected the field in the past and present, and those trends and issues likely to affect it in the future. It incorporates a variety of instructional features that provide an excellent instructional framework for instructors and a strong learning support for students. Latchem, Colin and Robinson, Bernadette (ed) (2002) Teacher Education Through Open and Distance Learning, RoutledgeFalmer: London ISBN: 0-41-536956-8 This book examines the case for using open and distance
learning and ICT to train our educators. It describes and analyses the ways in
which these methods and technologies are used for: initial teacher training and
continuing professional development; training principals and school managers;
training those who provide non-formal adult and community education; communities
of practice and sharing of knowledge and ideas within the teaching profession.
It also discusses the policy-making, management, technology, costing, evaluation
and quality assurance aspects of this work.
New Pro-Vice-Chancellors at IGNOU Mr. D.C. Pant and Prof. S.C. Garg have been appointed as Pro-Vice-Chancellors (Pro-VC) of Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU). Before taking over this coveted position, Mr. D.C. Pant has been Advisor, IGNOU and Prof. Garg, Director of School of Sciences of IGNOU.
Software for Empowering Poor to Facilitate Information Access Twenty one participants including researchers and project managers from eight sites of a UNESCO project on "Using ICTs for poverty reduction" met recently in Chennai, India, to determine the research approach and to review the beta version of a special software interface "eNRICH" developed to facilitate information access based on the life events of poor. The purpose of the project that has sites in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India and Sri Lank is to determine to what extent the poor people can utilize ICTs to empower themselves. The project focuses specifically on marginalized and poor people. The different sites have developed their own technological and organizational approaches to put ICTs into the hands of poor. UNESCO and the National Informatics Center of India have jointly developed the "eNRICH" software interface. This software solution will be used in all the project sites and also will be made available for other similar projects. "eNRICH" enables easy generation of websites which
encapsulate both information and communication needs in a single homepage. Users
will have the facilities to browse and use authenticated websites relevant to
their daily life events; users can vote on various community issues, use
bulletin boards, e-mail, chat and voice messages to express exchange and
communicate concerns and information. It also has a Learning Zone for users to
follow skill-based modules on various occupations. "eNRICH" has the option to
capture all user patterns for designated research purposes. The multilingual
version of "eNRICH" is being developed and will be introduced at the beginning
of 2003. IGNOU-ICAR Collaboration for Agriculture Education A delegation of 35 Vice-Chancellors of Agriculture Universities and officials of Indian Council of Agriculture Research (ICAR) recently visited Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) to explore the possibility of collaboration in agriculture education and offer these to neoliterates and non-literates jointly through distance education at different levels including all its diversities and area specific programmes. Prof. H.P. Dikshit, Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU, informed that
IGNOU will devote one full channel for agriculture education and the network of
40 FM radio stations shall be available for dissemination of knowledge in local
languages. In an interactive teleconferencing on Gyan Darshan educational TV
channel at Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) Prof. B.K. Patil,
Vice-Chancellor, Indira Gandhi Agriculture University, Raipur and Dr. J.C.
Katyal, DDG (Education), ICAR emphasized that in this collaborative effort
Krishi Vigyan Kendra (KVK) and Research Centres could act as study centres for
the programmes. UNESCO-IGNOU Collaboration Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) signed
Memorandum of Collaboration with UNESCO-Regional Bureau for Education in Africa
(BREDA), Dakar, Senegal to explore cooperation and joint action to support
development of education and training in sub-Saharan Africa. Dissertation Database at INFLIBNET INFLIBNET is an autonomous Inter-University Centre of the
University Grants Commission (UGC) of India. It is a major National Programme
initiated by the UGC in 1991 with its Head Quarters at Gujarat University
Campus, Ahmedabad, India. Initially started as a project under the
Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (IUCAA), it became an
independent Inter-University Centre in 1996. One of its activities includes database development for the
Indian Universities. Its doctoral dissertation database has over one hundred
fifty thousand records. The bibliographical details like researcher, title of
the thesis, guide, university name, year of award etc are provided. This
data has been contributed by the universities and does not cover the abstracts
at present. You may use the access points given here to retrieve the
information.
The Internet and its World Wide Web has become a great source of information. However, finding quality and reliable information is still a problem. In this issue we focus on Information Literacy. We hope these links would be useful to you in understanding the new developments. All the links were working fine at the time of going to the press. ACRL Institute for Information Literacy: It prepares
librarians to become effective teachers in information literacy programs;
support librarians, other educators and administrators in playing a leadership
role in the development and implementation of information literacy programs;
forge new relationships throughout the educational community to work
towards information literacy curriculum development. Information Literacy Competency Standards for Higher
Education: Association of College and Research Libraries (ACRL) seeks
endorsement and promulgation of these standards from professional and
accreditation associations in higher education. An Information Literacy
Standards Implementation Task Force will be charged to promote the use of the
standards in higher education. We encourage you to share these with your
colleagues and appropriate organizations. The National Forum on Information Literacy: The
National Forum on Information Literacy was created in 1990 as a response to the
recommendations of the American Library Association's Presidential Committee on
Information Literacy. Information is expanding at an unprecedented rate, and
enormously rapid strides are being made in technology for storing, organizing,
and accessing the ever-growing tidal wave of information. The combined effect of
these factors is an increasingly fragmented information base, a large component
of which are available only to people with money and/or acceptable institutional
affiliations. In the recent past, the outcome of these challenges has been
characterized as the "digital divide." Directory of Online Resources for Information Literacy: The Directory of Online Resources for Information Literacy (DORIL) is intended to provide librarians and other educators with a comprehensive, up-to-date guide to a wide variety of informational resources available on the World Wide Web that relate to the concept of information literacy. <http://www.cas.usf.edu/lis/il/> Information Literacy Home Page (Florida International
University): This page includes links to general sites on information
literacy, professional organizations, competency statements, campus and
statewide initiatives, bibliographies, papers, presentations and research. Information Literacy Group (University of Calgary):
Describes the University's information literacy program, including an
action plan, the recent annual report, group minutes back to February 1996,
definitions and competencies, and a survey of undergraduate library use
strategies. Also provides a number of links to related Internet resources. Information Literacy Project (University of Arizona):
Provides a good view of comprehensive and systematic information literacy
planning at a large public university. These pages incorporate project
development documents, competencies, definitions, and descriptions of projects
from other universities, program components, and links to collected data. Information Literacy Competencies: Selected Items & Efforts: Part of the Institute for Information Literacy home page, this is a truly comprehensive list of competencies generated by colleges, universities, states and other organizations. <http://www.ala.org/acrl/nili/competen.html> Information Literacy (Queensland University of Technology, Australia): This page, created by Christine Bruce, provides useful links to alternative views of information literacy. Includes her article on the "Seven Faces of Information Literacy in Higher Education," a "phenomenography," and links to several Australian and other international sites. <http://www.fit.qut.edu.au/InfoSys/bruce/inflit/index.html> Information Literacy for Distance Education: Tutorials, Guides & Resource Collections (Centralia College). This page provides a large list of online tutorials focusing on library instruction, research skills, and the Internet. Though created for a 1997 presentation, most links remain current. <http://centralia.ctc.edu/~scarter/tutorials.html> Texas Information Literacy Tutorial: TILT (University of
Texas): A marvelous interactive tutorial from the University of Texas'
Digital Libraries Project.
INTERNET 2 : BROADBAND INTERNET Introduction If you think that the current Internet is a great thing to
happen for the mankind, providing unlimited access to people around the world
communicating via e-mail, and its other services on the World Wide Web (WWW),
you are in for a bigger surprise soon with the emergence of a new
broadband Internet (next generation Internet), called the Internet2. • Create a leading edge network capability for the national
research community Blistering Speed Internet2's biggest advantage is raw speed. Connected through a backbone called Abilene (also known as very-high-performance bandwidth network service or vBNS), it supports seamless transfer of large amount of data across lines. It uses Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) in contrast to the IPv4 that the present Internet uses. Internet2 members also enjoy much faster connections to the backbone, eliminating a major cause of Net slowdowns. About one quarter connect directly to the backbone; the rest link up through so-called giga-pops-high-speed access points located in different regions. The minimum connection speed is a blistering 155 megabits per second – a hundred times faster than a typical university lab connection and almost 3,000 times faster than a dial-up modem! Internet2 will take just about 15 seconds to download the entire Encyclopedia Britannica Collection, which is about 4.5 gigabyte in size! Applications Speed in not the only advantage of Internet2. Some of its current identified applications include Tele-immersion, Virtual laboratory, Digital libraries, learning management systems, and Digital video conferencing and transmission. Tele-immersion With a synthesis of 3D environment scanning, projective and
display technologies, tracking technology, audio technologies, robotics and
haptics (a field of engineering that designs computers with a sense of
touch and kinesthesia), tele-immersion enables users at geographically
distributed sites to collaborate in real-time in a shared, simulated, hybrid
environment as if they were in the same physical room. Tele-immersive systems
have potential to significantly change educational, scientific and manufacturing
paradigms. A Virtual Laboratory is a heterogeneous, distributed problem
solving environment that enables a group of researchers located around the world
to work together on a common set of projects. The instruments are connected to
the network and are shared amongst scientists around the world. With Internet2, it would be possible to organize digital libraries with multiple media types, and also provide remote access to these materials. At present, most of the digital libraries are limited to providing bibliographic information of available information/ documents. Current researches in many disciplines are limited to textual information, and similarly reporting of research results in printed or online journals. So also the search engines in today's databases and the World Wide Web. Internet2 will enable emergence of multimedia delivery and access of information from libraries, and also generate research and development in multimedia capable search engines. Learning Management Systems The Learning ware and Instructional Management Systems
conceptualized within the Internet2 framework enables us to provide a totality
of learning experience in the distributed environment enabling a new generation
of distance education to emerge. The learning environment will be
multimedia-based including both synchronous and asynchronous communication
between teacher and student and student and student. Internet2 also has the
potential to make assessment and evaluation more valid, because of tele-immersion.
Generically speaking, Internet2 has three core
functionalities - many to-many collaboration in real time, remote access to
instruments, and data mining. Being a membership based consortium working on high-end
application and research, the Internet2 is now a group of elite user club. The
hookup fees for Internet2 can well run over $ 1 million US, prohibiting
developing countries to participate in this new development. But, as in all
other technologies, the cost will go down enabling a new generation of Internet
applications to emerge. Sources: <http://www.internet2.edu>
Sanjaya Mishra, PhD is a Programme Officer at CEMCA.
Referencing Internet-based Materials Sanjaya Mishra The Internet is a dynamic goldmine of information in
all-possible topics. Therefore, researchers are using it now-a-days as a
primary destination for information search. Because of the sheer size of the
Internet, it is unlikely that you As a standard practice, you must provide reference to any
information that has contributed to the thought process as well as presentation
of ideas in a paper. Otherwise, it is possible that you will be doing plagiarism
(knowingly or unknowingly). Reference is required when you:
and Review, analyze, and criticize a method, opinion, process, finding, etc. Referencing helps the process of research as well. Researchers don't re-invent, rather by reviewing already existing materials they create new knowledge and add to the knowledge base.
The APA Style Manual recommends, "authors using and citing Internet sources should observe the following two guidelines: 1. Direct readers as closely as possible to the information being cited; whenever possible, reference specific documents rather than home or menu pages. 2. Provide addresses that work." 1. Type the URL of the online materials accurately without any mistake. Preferably copy the address from the address bar and paste it to your word processor. All capital and lower letter in the URL must be respected. 2. Use complete publication date given on the article. If a web document includes both a date of creation and a date it was last updated, use only the date it was last updated.
5. If author of a document is not identified, start with the title. 6. If the document is within a large and complex website and reference to specific page cannot be given, write the host institutions name before the URL preceded by a colon.
The Internet-based documents can be from many different sources such as ftp sites, websites, newsgroups, emails, etc. Similarly, they can be e-journal articles, journal articles available online as well, stand alone articles, news items etc. available on institutional websites, etc.
The reference within the text normally follows an author
(date) style. However, in cases where the author is not
UNESCO Chair on Open and Distance Learning in Nigeria Improving Nigeria's capacity to deliver open and distance learning programmes to students across the country is the aim of a new UNESCO chair inaugurated in Abuja (Nigeria). The UNESCO Chair in Open and Distance Learning is being established at the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). This university was first launched in 1983, but was suspended in 1985 by the military government of the day. President Olusegun Obasanjo re-launched it last year and NOUN now provides instruction for some 60,000 students. Portal on Development Issues The Development Gateway portal (the Gateway) offers users access to development information, resources, and tools, providing a space to contribute knowledge and share experiences.  The Gateway helps users navigate the growing amount of information available online, and empowers virtual communities of learning to address key development issues. The Gateway provides simple user interfaces for numerous functions: sharing knowledge and discussing issues, registering and profiling users, accessing projects and statistical databases, joining a topic community, receiving email notifications, searching, and branding community workspaces. The Gateway is one of the key programs of the Development Gateway Foundation (www.dgfoundation.org). The Foundation is a not-for profit organization based in Washington, DC. The Gateway covers the following: Topics and Development Focuses The Gateway builds virtual communities, guided by development experts, around major development topics. In addition, "Development Focuses" addresses current and emerging issues in development. Guides and advisors for a particular subject work with their communities to highlight the most useful resources available on the Internet. Registered users can submit content on a topic page and receive email alerts to let them know about new content available on a specific topic or focus of their interest. AiDA (Accessible Information on Development Activities) AIDA is the largest online source of public information on development activities in the world, offering information on over 350,000 planned, current, and completed projects and programs from over 200 development agencies. AIDA allows users to search activities by country, topic, source of funding, or status. dgMarket The dgMarket is a global marketplace providing information on donor and government-funded development activities. Donors and government agencies can directly post tender notices and other procurement information on development projects. Companies can set up a detailed profile to obtain automated e-mail alerts whenever a tender notice that meets their specific business interest is published. The full text of tender notices is available to paying subscribers or can alternatively be purchased on a per-notice basis. Country Gateways Country Gateways are locally owned and operated initiatives, which explore the use of information and communication technologies (ICT) for development in their countries. Country Gateway portals help create and share local and global development knowledge, solutions, and opportunities. By participating in and launching diverse online and offline initiatives, Country Gateways enhance transparency, efficiency, dynamism and sustainability of the development process in their countries. Source:http://www.developmentgateway.org Improving Technical and Engineering Education in India A US$250 million credit from the World Bank will help India boost the quality of its emerging young technicians and engineers. The Technical/Engineering Quality Improvement Program, approved by the World Bank in November 2002, will help India supply its economy with the level of professional excellence needed to foster greater competitiveness and productivity. The project will be implemented in the states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, and Uttar Pradesh under the coordination of the Department of Secondary and Higher Education (DSHE), the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the Government of India. The project is designed to support engineering colleges, technical universities and polytechnics, in achieving their own visions of academic excellence. Institutions will be selected to participate in the project on a competitive basis depending on their capabilities and long-term planning for quality improvement. All selected institutions will be required to network with others and to provide services to the local community. It will also encourage granting of greater freedom to the institutions for their own governance and management of finances. About 20 well-performing engineering education institutions will be selected for as the lead institutions, and a further 60 to 80 institutions will be networked by the project. This will impact over 100,000 students, approximately 10 percent of the total number of students enrolled for engineering degrees in India. A major share of the funding will be utilized for quality-enhancing activities, such as the introduction of teaching and research programs in cutting edge technologies, and the modernization of existing programs and facilities. Some of the funding will be utilized for faculty training, extension services and development of new facilities, depending on the long-term plan presented by each of the selected institutions. The credit, from the International Development Association (IDA), the World Bank's concessionary lending arm, has a 35-year maturity with a 10- year grace period and a 0.75 percent service charge. Source: www.worldbank.org UNESCO's Virtual Laboratory Toolkit Released The first edition of the UNESCO "Virtual Laboratory Toolkit" has just been released on the World Wide Web and within UNESCO's Public@ series of representative "open access" CD-ROMs that are giving access to information in the public domain or to information provided on a benevolent basis by rights holders. The Toolkit provides an extensive set of free person-to-person (P2P) communication tools (audio and video conference, scientific text chat, whiteboard, collaborative authorship, portal and mailing list management, etc.), and also basic advice on person-to-equipment (P2E) tools. It was developed for UNESCO by a team of specialists working with the Institute for Informatics of the Technical University of Freiberg (Technical Coordinator, Germany), the COPINE Centre of the Obafemi Awolowo University (Ile Ife, Nigeria) and the Shanghai Research Centre for Applied Physics (China). Source: UNESCO's WebWorld Online Newsletter WIPO to Provide Dispute Resolution Services for .edu Domain The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and EDUCAUSE (http://www.educause.edu/), the administrator of the .edu top-level generic domain, have signed an agreement, which makes WIPO the sole dispute-resolution service provider for the .edu domain. The .edu domain is restricted to regionally accredited, American degree-granting institutions of higher education - and is one of the original generic top-level domains (gTLDs), along with .com, .org, and .net. WIPO's Arbitration and Mediation Center will apply the .edu Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (eduDRP) - a modified version of the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) - a lowcost and speedy alternative to litigation, in the drive to resolve "cybersquatting" disputes arising in the .edu domain. The WIPO Center is the leading dispute-resolution service provider for the UDRP and related domain name policies. Source: http://www.wipo.int/pressroom/en/releases/ 2002/p331.htm To Contents....
Regional Workshop on e-Learning The Commonwealth EducationalMedia Centre for Asia (CEMCA),New Delhi will be organizing the first Regional Workshop on e-Learning at Calicut from 16-22 January 2003 in collaboration with the Centre for Electronics Design and Technology of India, Calicut. The objectives of this workshop are to: · Explore critical attributes of e-Learning and its opportunities.
Similar workshops are also planned for Open University of Sri Lanka, Colombo and Yashwantrao Chavan Maharastra Open University, Nashik. Publications Under Progress
Multimedia Authoring Tool: PenDA
|
Amader Gram
Knowledge Centre, Bangladesh
will not find some information for your
requested search. As such information from the web is being used for writing
papers. But, it is not always that we find a structured referencing pattern for
the different kinds of documents available on the Internet. Reputed journals
provide their own guidelines for referencing online materials. Some of the
standard practices followed by peer-reviewed journals include the
Harvard Style, Chicago Style, MLA Style and APA Style of referencing. Here we
provide some generic guidelines for referencing Internet-based materials. 
The
International Council for Open and Distance Education (ICDE) and the Open
University of Hong Kong (OUHK) cordially invite you to the 21st ICDE World
Conference on Open Learning and Distance Education in Hong Kong from 1 to 5
June 2003.An interesting academic and social programme is being planned and
you are assured of a stimulating, enjoyable and memorable experience. For
more information, contact: Secretariat, ICDE 21st ICDE World Conference
Organizing Committee, The Open University of Hong Kong, 30 Good Shepherd
Street, Homantin, Kowloon, Hong Kong, China, 
