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There are many faces to illiteracy. One is what we commonly understand as the inability to read or write or to lack simple numeracy skills. One can understand and sympathize with the hurdles faced by the huge illiterate populations of the world. But there are other faces to illiteracy-the lack of proficiency in a different language; the lack of
subject knowledge in a field other than one's own specialized area; the absence of minimal computer skills to help cope with a changing technological scenario- illiteracies that each and all of us have to some degree.
In today's rapidly changing knowledge society, the worst illiteracy can be the inability to adapt to change and to manage change, whether at the individual or institutional level. At an individual level, this manifests itself as our fear of being replaced as teachers. Our reaction is resistance to the inevitable change and our wishing that it would "all go away".
At an institutional level, the inability to cope with and to manage change has far reaching implications. At the most general and visible level, the society that the institution serves will become restless and begin to withdraw support. The institution be left far behind in meeting its defined mandates; objectives will not be met; efficiencies will suffer and a general rot will set in.
Educators in this part of the world have been involved in path breaking work in finding ways and means of delivering education. Alongside the "highs" that open and distance education has shown in the past twenty years, there is also the downside. And it is the hidden potential and the visible problems that Prof. Dhanarajan addresses in
this issue's guest column.
We would like to do our little bit to redressing the imbalance between the knowledge available and disseminated. We would also like to address different illiteracies. It is for this reason that this issue seeks to redress the lack of information most
people face, either in profiling important regional efforts such as AMIC; or in speaking of lessons learned from India's Jhabua Development Communication Project.
In our section on technology, we focus on India's simputer; and in "Smart tips" we suggest effective ways of using e-mail and the Internet. Book reviews
look at the durable radio and the nature of learning in a digital world.
The regional roundup brings news and events in this part of the world. We explore learning
management systems in Worth While Webs; and also include useful information on global knowledge production in this issue.
We hope you find this issue useful, readable, and we hope it makes you respond and write to us.
To Contents....
OPEN AND FLEXIBLE LEARNING : COMMONWEALTH EXPERIENCE
AND INDIA'S CHALLENGE
Dr. Gajaraj Dhanarajan
This is an edited version of the remarks delivered by Prof. Dhanarajan at the 76 Annual
Meeting of the Association of Indian Universities at Chandigarh, India during 5-8 December 2001.
Today, I am reminded of a speech made by that great Indian Mohandas K. Gandhi in early 1942
at the Benares Hindu University.On that occasion, looking at his audience of learned individuals he
was heard to have said that "A feeling of nervousness overpowers me when I am in the midst of
learned men . . . In your midst, I feel tongue tied." He went on to
further add, after looking at the topic given to him, that "The inspiration has come, but I do not know how you will welcome my
plain speaking". Some 60 years since the Father of the Nation made his remark, Indian Vice
Chancellors continue to be a powerful force with a capacity to not only make speakers such as
myself nervous by their wealth of knowledge but also inadequate by a lack of understanding of the Indian
context and challenges.
Yet, all that I have read and heard in recent times indicate that the delivery of education and training
by Indian Universities must change. Writing in the Times Higher Education Supplement,
Dr. Prasenjit Malti of West Bengal said: "The problems of India's higher education sector seems to
defy solutions. The system remains entrenched in an outdated tradition established by the colonial rulers
th in the 19 and early part of the past century for a specific purpose
suited to them. Conditions are deteriorating as a result of expansion and are even made
worse by shrinking resources. Declining quality, inadequate facilities, and a mismatch between
education and skills requirements have become crucial themes . . .
Dr. Malti is not the first to make this comment; others have also spoken, over the years, of issues
that have held back the development of the tertiary education sector in this country.
An oppressive bureaucracy,inadequate funding, politicisation of academe and its leadership,
quality of the learning environment, relevance of curriculum, inadequacy of access,
have all been identified as impediments at one time or another. Increasing access through
the introduction of flexible and open learning, however desirable it may be, will only debilitate
university administration further,apart from causing further financial stress on already hard pressed vice
chancellors.
UNESCO's 1998 proposal at the World Conference on Higher Education, which was subsequently
adopted as a vision for higher st education in the 21 century, urged its member states to "establish,
where appropriate the legislative political and financial framework
for the reform and further development of higher education, in keeping with the terms of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights which establishes that . . . no one can be excluded from higher
education or its study fields . . . on grounds of race, gender, language, religion, or age or because of any economic or social distinctions or
physical disabilities". The same document went even further to urge institutions of member states to ". . .
include life long learning approaches, giving learners an optimal range of choice and a
flexibility of entry and exit points within the system, and redefine their
role accordingly, which implies the development of open and continuous
access to higher learning . . .". One country has taken this position as its
mantra. In the Republic of Ireland the Chair of the Higher Education
Authority declared in 1999 that "Policies for equality are amongst
the most important policies of a university. Education is one of the
most effective instruments available for addressing inequality and . . .
Higher education has a key role". In demanding this, he was also resonating that country's Equal
Status Act which makes it the responsibility of an educational
establishment "not to discriminate in relation to neither the admission or
the terms or conditions of admission of a person as a student to the
establishment, nor the access of a student to any course, facility or benefit provided by the
establishment." Here in India, it seems to me that there are many
good and compelling reasons to consider UNESCO's appeal on a number of areas in its proposal. Of
these, at least five stand out to me as particularly pertinent. They are:
(i) Participation rates: With about 200 universities and 8,000 colleges catering for some 5
million learners, the expansion of higher education in India is truly phenomenal. Despite this
growth, participation rates in Open and Flexible Learning: Commonwealth Experience and India's Challenge
2 this country are still abysmally inadequate by any standards. That participation continues to
hover around 600 per 100,000 head of population compared to (say) Brazil which is around
1100, Egypt around 1700, Japan at around 3100, the UK at around 3200, Canada around
6300. What these figures indicate in the context of open and flexible learning is the huge reservoir of previously
unmet demand that is out there for post-secondary education for a very long time. As India continues to move towards a
knowledge-based economy and society, it will, like others in similar circumstances, find citizens continuously
demanding more learning while in the workforce. Many without a tertiary qualification
will find open and flexiblelearning opportunities as more suitable and their only means
to acquire such an education.
(ii) Access and Equity: There continues to be a tremendous imbalance in access and equity.
There is the shame of continuous gender imbalance but equally disturbing is that some 70% of the population,
which lives in rural India, have difficulty getting to a university because of geography and poverty.
Higher education in the country is clearly an urban phenomenon. Bringing rural inhabitants and women into
education must be seen as an important social consideration. This must particularly apply to
those who are denied access to learning for economic, cultural, religious or other reasons. If
these folks cannot come to school then school must find a way to go reach them wherever
they are.
(iii) Barriers governed by age, prior learning, social status and geography. University education in India is
surprisingly not supply-driven and therefore elitist by definition. This situation has allowed institutions to erect
barriers of one kind or another and still not fear the loss of custom. There is little evidence to indicate the
situation will change in the foreseeable future. Yet, given the huge annually recurring and accumulated demand for
higher education, there is a ready-made case for institutions to consider radical and imaginative solutions.
Sensible, sensitive, socially conscious and pedagogically imaginative policies are required to open the doors of
academe a lot wider than current archaic customs and traditions allow.
(iv) Quality and relevance: Many who have participated in developing courses and student support systems will
say that flexible and open learning educational practices demand a much more disciplined and sensitive
approach to the teaching process. As courses are often available in the public domain, the transparency of content
and the quality of instruction make it unavoidable to aspire for high quality. Similarly, open learning initiatives by
definition are meant to help reduce inequities to educational access. Denial to learning for large parts of the
population, for whatever reason, goes against the spirit of national and international conventions on the rights of
individuals.
(v) Clear public accountability and social commitment of our autonomously governed institutions of learning: As in
Ireland, Indian universities and colleges need to respond to their country's legislation pertaining to a person's right to
educational access. That it has not done so is a sad reflection on how quickly we become insensitive as a nation to the
demands of ordinary citizens.
While governments generally have a greater responsibility in ensuring that a citizen's right is
protected, those of us who have leadership of institutions cannot abdicate our share of that responsibility.
In the new knowledge society, learning can no longer be the monopoly of the 18 to 25 age group nor can it be limited to full-time
study. An increasing number of students can be expected to be part time, employed, above 25 and
making a late entry into higher education. In addition, many of today's non-participants in
education will need to be brought into the fold if we are at all serious about offering all people equal
opportunity. Such a diversity of learners will require courses to be organised so that they are flexible,
can be studied off-campus and credits received are portable. These students arrive at study with skills,
knowledge and experience. In other words, they are as much contributors to the learning as they are receivers of the knowledge. In
the (knowledge) society, everyone will participate in education or training (formal or non-formal)
throughout life. It would be a society characterised by high standards but with low failures.
Such a society will offer a seamless canvass for individuals to start their learning anywhere on the canvass
and exit at any point. To switch metaphors, they will be on a ladder of continuing attainment.
Recognising that there is a global consensus to make education a lifelong need for all citizens, universities must see a central role
for themselves in the environment. Indian universities cannot remain outside of this changing culture. If
you accept my premise, then there are some things that need your attention. Let me list a few that are
crucial:
(i) Changing the current culture of instructional practices: The first challenge is the reorientation
of our teachers and the pedagogy they apply to their vocation. The profession will have to come to terms with a new type of learner and
a learning environment that encourages the learner to be independent. Whether in a classroom, radio or television programme, print or web-based
instruction, instructors need to recognise that individuals are capable of self-learning, if provided with cleverly and
sensitively designed instruction. Moving the paradigm from a faculty centred to a learner-centred respect both the learner and the
teacher. Tagore, our great poet, expressed this sentiment much more forcefully when he said, "The main object to teaching is
not to give explanations, but to knock at the doors of the mind. If any boy is asked to give an account of what is awakened in
him by such knocking, he will probably say something silly. For what happens within is much bigger than what comes
out in words. Those who pin their faith on university examinations as the test of education take no account of
this" (Tagore, date unknown but quoted in his autobiography by Dutta and Robinson).
(ii) Freeing classrooms from time bound regimes: Flexible learning will require us to seriously reconsider the "timedriven"
element from today's schools, colleges and universities. Our institutions are ruled by time, prescribing when, in his/her life, a student
can or is ready to learn and the length of time required for learning. Not too long ago, an international study recorded
that "The instructional paradigm, holds learning a prisoner to time constraints applied by an arbitrary force
or by the preferred work schedule of a faculty member. In the desired [new] learning paradigm, learning becomes
the primary driving force and, since learning can occur at any time and at any place 24 hours every day, the constraints of
time are removed". We have the technology and the knowledge today to deliver learning at any time, 24 hours a
day.
(iii) Re-examining the campus based delivery system: Already, outside of
India, many universities and colleges
are changing the nature and structure of their organisations. The traditions of teaching and the views on learning have
resulted in organisational structures that are almost or completely centred on faculty: from the design of the
curriculum to its transformation into learning experience; from decisions relating to assessment of prior learning to elements of exit
standards; from administrative arrangements to academic governance; and from delivery systems to learning schedules.
This will not be compatible with practices of flexible learning where learning is expected to take place at the
convenience of the learner.
(iv) Re-examining the role of academics: Ways must be found to overcome the perceptions and the fear of
faculty to the changing nature of their roles and values as well as the rewards of the new learning environment. There is
a real, though unfounded, fear on the part of faculty in losing total control of the teaching and learning environment.
Learner centrality in the educational environment does pose enormous challenges to the teacher. It requires
pedagogical skills, especially in a technology-mediated environment which many of today's teachers' lack. Serious
steps must be taken to reduce the anxiety of teachers and prevent alienating them from a development that is so crucial
to academe and its survival.
(v) Becoming familiar with and
practicing a greater use of
technology to deliver learning:
Universities must become
greater users of technology to
deliver mass education. The
country's mass media and its
penetration to the remotest
corners of this land permit
learning to be distributed
beyond the bounds of
campuses. In order to benefit
from these assets, investments
have to be made in staff
training and development, and a
different kind of administrative
order must be explored.
(vi) Partnerships: India is a big
country, but it also has colleges
and universities that are well
spread across the urban
landscape of the nation. An
opportunity exists to build upon
existing collaborations and cooperative
ventures and entering
into new ones in designing,
developing and delivering
knowledge products at a much
lower cost to partner
institutions.
In spite of poor policy support,
abysmal resources and inadequate
supply of instructional talent,
distance education has grown in the
last 30 years at phenomenal rate
worldwide. Those who championed
the cause of open and distance
education around the mid-60s would
cite many good reasons for its
inclusion in national educational
provisions. Foremost among these
were the political desire to increase
provision for learning, the economic
desire to cut the cost of education
while increasing participation
levels, the social desire towards
egalitarianism to ensure equity and
equality of opportunity and, at least
in some locations, an educational
desire to improve the relevance and
quality of the curriculum. There
were also those who wanted to
reach the isolated, the marginalised,
the challenged, and minority groups.
Convincing evidence from the past
30 years justifies the inclusion of
distance education in national
educational agenda. Today, there
are more distance education
4
facilities in the developing parts of
the world than the developed ones,
including seven out of ten mega
universities.
The adoption of distance and open
education has enabled many
nations to respond to increased
demands especially for postsecondary
education. Some
institutions, like the Allama Iqbal
Open University of Pakistan, are
active in the pre-tertiary and nonformal
sectors as well. The open
universities of India, Pakistan and
Bangladesh enrol between 100,000
and 150,000 students annually.
Korea's National Open University
and China's RTVU, as well as
Thailand's STOU and Indonesia's
UT, have student populations in
excess of 200,000 to 500,000 each.
The University of South Africa (UNISA), which claims seniority
over the UKOU, reaches out to
most parts of Africa with its student
enrolment of about 130,000. In
Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Venezuela,
there is much to be proud of in
terms of the achievements of their
universities. Apart from these
dedicated systems, there are the
external studies and off-campus
departments of dual-mode
universities that also use distance
education to reach out to new
clients.
In India, for example, the total
enrolments of external students in
dual-mode institutions far
outnumber those at the Indira
Gandhi National Open University.
Collectively, these institutions have
indeed increased access to learning,
gone some distance in introducing
flexibility, they also seemed to have
brought down costs and
unintentionally may have also
taken the first steps in placing the
learner at the centre of the
educational transaction. Some of
them have used broadcast
technologies as main drivers of
educational distribution and others
have developed capacities to enrich
curriculum by the application of
multi-media. The exploration of
the technologies by distance
educators has also had a positive
impact on improving teaching in
conventional education institutions.
Above all, distance education
ventures seem to have proved that
many individuals in our societies,
regardless of the extent of prior
learning, are perfectly capable of
self-directed learning at tertiary
levels if only instruction were
designed sensitively and sensibly,
respecting the learner and
supporting him or her in the
learning. That is the good side of
the story. But in India, there is also
a bad side.
In spite of the successes, the levels
of disappointments have been high.
These disappointments range from
a failure by many institutions, on
the one hand, to penetrate large
parts of communities traditionally
marginalized by the higher
education sector and, on the other, a
reluctance to apply rigorous quality
control in many of the ventures. In
1992, UNESCO published a report
on A Survey of Distance Education
in Asia and the Pacific. Reading
through the report, one quickly
discovers that, by and large, the
open universities of the developing
countries of Asia serve more or less
the same sector of the population
that their metropolitan campus based
counterparts have been
serving. Students are mostly urban,
middle class, have substantial prior
learning, mostly male and white collar
workers. Provisions for and
ease of access to those who do not
fall within this newly privileged
group are minimal and where they
exist, learning support is almost
non-existent. Most institutions
have basically become sub-servers
to conventional providers, due in
part to a mindset that considered
higher education a part of urban
culture or worst still, or as a cash
cow to buttress cash-strapped
universities, affordable by only
those living in cities.
Notwithstanding these criticisms,
by and large the desire to meet a
social good and serve a very
diverse clientele was very much the
driving force behind the growth of
distance and open education
throughout the last three decades.
Moving knowledge to suit the
needs of the learner rather than
moving bodies to suit the
convenience of institutions seemed
to respond to all of the requirements
for learning and training in a
knowledge-based society. With the
advent of technology, distance
education is being rediscovered
again by a vast majority of tertiary
institutions in developed economies.
Learning has never been as freely
available to the poor as to the rich.
It is easier for those in urban areas
than for those in rural communities:
People, whether marginalized by
geography, race, religion, ability,
have always found it more difficult
to access learning than nonmarginalised
populations; women
have found it more challenging to go
to school than men. Those who
have more prior learning have
always found it easier to access
more new learning than those
without.
There is a time to hold back and let
things take their normal course and
there is a time to take leadership and
bring about change. In the delivery
of learning, the time to bring about
change is NOW. Otherwise, the
people of this country will continue
to be deprived of a fair opportunity
to make a better life for them and
learn a greater respect for their
country. While Vice Chancellors of
India's universities may feel that it is
beyond them to bring about a nationwide
revolution, I say to you that
they can at least bring about changes
within the smaller communities they
work in. In urging you to do this, I
am reminded yet again of
Rabindranath Tagore, who in 1939
confessed "I cannot take
responsibility for the whole of India .
. . If I can free only one or two
villages from the bonds of ignorance
and weakness, there will be built, on
a tiny scale, an ideal for the whole of
India, . . . Fulfill this ideal in a few
villages only and I will say that these
few villages are my India".
This must be true for all of us today,
as it was for Tagore in 1939.
Prof. Gajaraj Dhanarajan is CEO and
President of
The Commonwealth of Learning,
Vancouver, Canada.
To Contents....
ASIAN MEDIA INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION CENTRE
The Asian Media Information and Communication Centre (AMIC) is a regional institution for individuals
and organizations involved or interested in mass Communication. AMIC was formed in 1971 to
promote mass communication in the Asia-Pacific region. A nonprofit, non-governmental
organization, it was launched with the support of the Government of Singapore and Friedrich - Ebert - Stiftung, an independent foundation
in the Federal-Republic of Germany.
AMIC acts as a catalyst for effective mass communication and socio-economic development in the region. It co-operates with
governments and national bodies as well as international organizations, including UNESCO, which has
accorded it full consultative status, giving it direct access to the world body.
AMIC is actively engaged in mass communication documentation, research, training, publishing and mass media project consultancy.
AMIC has a wide membership base
throughout the globe and has
national chapters in most countries
in Asia.
AMIC began as a clearinghouse for
information on mass
communication in the Asia- Pacific
region, and a link in an
international chain of
documentation centres that collect
and disseminate information around
the world through its regular and
periodic publications. AMIC
publications have played a
meaningful role in providing
valuable information on matters of
concern to media professionals in
the region. AMIC 's periodicals,
conference
papers,
monographs
and research
reports discuss
contemporary
issues and
often provide
an Asian
perspective
where none
was apparent before.
Seminars and Workshops
To assist communicators, AMIC
conducts regular workshops,
seminars, conferences and training
courses on mass communication
and allied subjects in different
countries through its "Seminars and
Institutional Development
Programme (SIDP)". SIDP
organizes seminars and conferences
to keep participants informed of
important issues and trends in
communication, thereby facilitating
networking with leading
communication specialists and
media practitioners. This unit also
conducts workshops to enhance
media skills. It promotes the use of
new technologies for
socioeconomic development in the
region. A highlight of SIDP's
events timetable is the Annual
Conference, considered the premier
communications forum in the Asia-
Pacific. This conference provides a
broad perspective on relevant
issues and trends in broadcasting,
journalism, advertising, public
relations, multimedia,
telecommunications and
th information technology. The 11th AMIC Annual conference on "
Media, Terrorism and a Culture of
Peace" is to be held at Perth,
th Australia between 26-28 June
2002. Another important annual
event is the regional symposium
focusing on media and learning
technologies.
Research
AMIC is also actively engaged in
mass communication research.
AMIC's research programme
assesses overall trends in
communication in the Asia Pacific
region, and initiates and
coordinates research projects,
training programmes and research
publications. Training activities seek
to enhance the capabilities and
research resources of
communication institutions in the
region. As a coordinating body it
strives to promote inter-institutional
and multi-institutional research
collaborations in a specific country
or across countries in the region.
AMIC is concerned with action
research that has practical
applications for practitioners,
administrators and policy-makers, in
addition to academics, students and
intellectuals. There is an emphasis
on regional research that
concentrates on more than one
Asian country, and sometimes as
many as fourteen. This allows for
common research questions and
methodologies to be applied across
a number of different countries with
varying socioeconomic and cultural
backgrounds.
Library and Databases
Apart from gaining firsthand
information on communication
matters concerning the Asia-Pacific
region, members are also privy to
exclusive information. Members -
institutional and individual - also
gain access to AMIC's library in
Singapore containing one of the
largest collections of documents on
mass communication in the region.
AMIC's documentation unit has one
of Asia's largest collections of
documents and audiovisual material
on communication. It has more than
65,000 records of books, periodicals
and conference papers stored in
eight computerized databases which
can be accessed via AMIC's
website. The audiovisual collection
comprises slides, films, video and
audiotapes. A significant resource is
the library's collection of
unpublished work gathered over a period of more than 27 years,
making it one of the most extensive
collections of fugitive material in
the region.
The documentation unit functions
as a clearinghouse. To this end, it
abstracts, annotates and compiles
bibliographies on the media and
communication in the region, and
indexes periodicals for articles on
communication topics. To promote
optimum use of the collection, the
library runs a selective
dissemination programme of user
information. This includes a
quarterly "Accessions List", the
biannual "Mass Communications
Periodicals Literature Index (MCPLI)", and the biannual "Asia -
Pacific Communication Current
Awareness List (APCCAL)".
AMIC Journals and
Publications
The Asian Mass Communication
Bulletin (AMCB), which made its
debut in 1971, is a bimonthly
newsletter reporting concisely on
new events and developments
relating to the print and broadcast
media, information technology and
the environment. Media Asia,
started in 1974, provides a platform
to discuss contemporary issues and
disseminate new viewpoints. The
Asian Journal of Communication (AJC) was launched in 1990 as the
joint publication of AMIC and the
School of Communication Studies,
Nanyang Technological University (NTU). This is a scholarly journal,
which publishes articles on
empirical and theoretical aspects of
communication.
Since 1972, when the first
Occasional Paper, "Television
Reconsidered" by Wilbur Schramm
was released, AMIC has published
a wide range of material on
communication issues in Asia.
Computerization, newspaper
management, satellite technology,
video production, videotext and
media education are among the
'practical' topics covered. Issue
related titles include: "Mass Media,
Tradition and Change";
"Communication Theory: the Asian
Perspective"; "Rethinking
Development Communication";
"Role of Media in a National
Crisis"; "Asian Values in
Journalism"; "Media Monitors in
Asia"; "Walking the Tightrope";
"TV Without Borders" and AMIC's
series on Media Laws and
Regulations covering 10 countries
in the region.
AMIC-India
With a view to provide greater
interaction and more activities for
its members in India, AMIC-INDIA
was formally registered as a nonprofit
society in India during
November'1998 under the
Chairmanship of Dr. M.S. Swaminathan, the eminent scientist
of India. During the recent past AMIC-INDIA has embarked on a
communications programme
comprising seminars & workshops,
publications and research, with a
national focus.
AMIC has a wide membership base
throughout the globe and has
national chapters in most countries
in Asia. AMIC-INDIA is by far the
largest and most active chapter of AMIC. AMIC-INDIA has been
assisting AMIC-Singapore with
their activities in India and has also
been independently organizing
Seminars, Conferences and
Workshops for many years.
Membership of AMIC is for a
calendar year. Institutions /
Individuals interested in AMIC
membership may contact:
Mr. SURESH MANGALADURAI
COUNTRY MANAGER,
AMIC-INDIA Geo Towers, I Floor,
No: 465 (Old No: 319) Anna Salai,
Chennai-600 035.
Ph:044-4342917
Fax:044-4320610.
E-mail: amicind@xlweb.com
AMIC -Singapore
#02-28, SCI Building
Nanyang Technological University
31 Nanyang Link
Singapore 637718
Tel: 65-67927570
Fax: 65-67927129
AMIC postal address:
Jurong Point P O Box 360
Singapore 916412
Research Proposals Invited
In order to promote research in the area of Information and Communication Technologies
(ICTs) application in education and especially in distance learning, CEMCA invites
research proposals from
teachers and scholars for
appropriate funding .Research proposals can be
submitted anytime during the
year. The present thrust areas
include, but are not limited
to:
• Digital divide
• Multimedia applications
• Online learning
• Teleconferencing
• Appropriate media use
• G e n d e r i s s u e s i n
technology
• Technology for people
with disabilities.
For application format and
guidelines contact: Director, CEMCA.
Educational
Media
Consultants
CEMCA is in the process
of developing a database
of Educational Media
Consultants in the region
to promote the exchange
of professionals and utilise
the expertise available
within the region. For
inclusion in the database
send your resume to
Director, CEMCA or
register online at http://www.cemca.org.
To Contents....
JHABUA DEVELOPMENT COMMUNICATIONS PROJECT
Introduction
Real development comes not from
technology driven exercises but
from grass roots involvement in the
communication process. And
although we today are in an
information and communication
technology driven environment,
technology has to be perceived as a
means rather than an end in itself.
India has been a pioneer in
addressing developmental issues
through the use of state of the art
technology. The Satellite
Instructional Television
Experiment (SITE) paved the way
for the growth of India's huge
broadcasting system. The award
winning Kheda Communication
Project in the 1970s and 1980s
showed how a comprehensive
involvement of all sectors of
stakeholders could come together
for the development of a district.
The Jhabua Development
Communications Project (JDCP)
undertaken by the Indian Space
Research Organisation is a logical
successor to SITE and to KHEDA.
Started in 1996, initially for a
period of two years and later
developed further, JDCP is a joint
collaborative activity of
Development and Educational
Communication Unit (DECU),
Space Applications Centre (SAC)
of Indian Space
Research
Organisation (ISRO),
Government of
Madhya Pradesh,
Ministry of Rural
Development of
the Government of India and
District Rural Development Agency (DRDA) of Jhabua District in
Madhya Pradesh.
JDCP broadcasts development oriented
programmes to reach
viewers every evening for two
hours, five days a week from
Monday to Friday. Simultaneously
it conducts Interactive Training
Programmes (ITPs) in
the afternoon from all
the 12 blocks for
development
functionaries, panchayat
representatives and
people at large.
After running the
project for four years,
DECU has now handed
over JDCP for day to
day operations to the
Madhya Pradesh
government. The
Madhya Pradesh Administrative
Academy (MPAA) looks after both
the broadcast and interactive
segment of the project. The project
has been expanded to cover the
entire Jhabua and adjoining districts
also.
Overall Objectives of The
Project
• Gain experience in the setting
up and operations of a
development-oriented satellite
based broadcast and interactive
network to support
development and education.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of
interactive network for learning
and supporting development
and educational efforts.
• Evaluate the impact of
communication support to
development activities, through
the training and general
broadcasting components of the
project, on quantified
parameters of socio-economic
development.
• Understand the organisational,
management, technical and
software requirement to run an
interactive network on an
operational basis.
Elements Of JDCP
JDCP had two major elements
A) Evening Broadcasts and
B) Interactive Training
Programmes (ITPs) facilitated
by an interactive satellite- based
one way video and two way
audio network.
A) Evening Broadcast
• Initially the project covered 150
Gram panchayats of Jhabua
District. It has been extended to
all 612 Gram panchayats and
also covers 200 Gram
panchayats of adjoining Dhar
and Barawani districts each.
• Field trips and workshops with
various stakeholders and
development agencies, and joint
brainstorming sessions between
producers, researchers, and
experts were undertaken by the
DECU researchers and
programme producers to
familiarize themselves with the
realities of Jhabua and its
people. From these exercises,
broad problem areas were
identified for further research
and programme production.
• When JDCP was started in the
first year, the transmission was
for one hour, in the second year
it was increased to two hours
for 5 days in a week. Now the
transmission is for four hours -
2 hours in the afternoon and 2
hours in the evening - on all
days of the week. The subjects
for programming include:
• Both in-house and empanelled
producers produced programmes. In all 2080
programmes were produced
Jhabua Development
Communications Project
8
during November 1996 to July
2000 period. The number of
in-house productions was 1189
and the empanelled producers
made 891 programmes. In
addition, about 40 programmes
were produced specially for
interactive training programmes.
B) Interactive Training
Programmes
All the 12 block headquarters of
Jhabua district were provided
receive terminals to receive the TV
signals and Demand Assigned
Multiple Access (DAMA) facility
for talkback. The DAMA system
consists of a PC, a video monitor
and an indoor unit with a modem.
The receiving centers are located at
block headquarters. All the
receiving ends are also provided
with a diesel generator to run the
system in case of power failure.
ITPs, which started on October 25,
1996, are meant for the specific
training groups of different user
departments. The priority is
decided on the basis of the needs of
the district. The major user
departments are Health,
Education, Agriculture, Panchayat,
Forest and District Rural
Development Authority (DRDA).
These talkback programmes have
helped to increase awareness about
the various subjects of
development, among the
viewers/participants of different
levels i.e. Government
functionaries at the village,
panchayat and block levels and at
times NGOs.
A mechanism was developed
where local youth from the district
were engaged as Researcher-cum-
Facilitators (RCFs), responsible to
get regular feedback report on each
ITPs from all 12 blocks
headquarters and to facilitate
functioning of ITPs.
Lessons
The lessons from the JDCP project
have been many. Among them, the
sustained effort of the project
managers and team has shown that
• The average audience size
observed was about 29 viewers
in these villages. The child
audience predominated
compared to the adult audience
• The findings revealed that
JDCP programmes were more
popular in remote tribal
villages where there was no
access to any other television programme.
• Power cuts, timings of telecast,
distance (physical and social)
of the marginalized tribal from
the location of the television
set, the absence of the
custodian at the time of the
telecast, frequent
malfunctioning of television
sets, adversely affected viewer ship of the evening programmes.
• It was found that the
coverage of television
was largely confined
to a small section
called 'falia' of the
village in which the
television was
installed, and the
entire village
population did not
benefit from it due to
various factors.
• For programme
production and
planning, teams
consisting of producers and
researchers visited Jhabua, met
with villagers and prepared
notes, working jointly with
government officials in the
development of programmes.
• Programmes were generally
well produced, in simple
language and tried to address
issues affecting the villagers.
A variety of formats from
documentaries, docudrama and
magazine formats were
experimented with. Different
formats had different levels of
success with tribal populations
• Lessons from the experiment
showed that the greatest
promise for the use of a satellite
based development project is in
the interactive training
undertaken through one way
video, two way audio
teleconferencing.
• Despite all the problems of
running television, there was
recognition of the potential of
this method for providing in
service training and capacity
building for field personnel.
• Field observations show that
when this technology was
deployed at the state level, the
attendance had been quite
encouraging.
• Of the two methods of training
namely, conventional method
and ITP, if given a choice,
around 62 percent would chose ITP. In comparison only 14%
respondents showed preference
for the conventional method of
training.
• A large majority of the
respondents (about 66%) found
no difficulty in understanding
the content.
External evaluations of the JDCP
showed that issues of access to the
medium, relevance and timeliness of
content; cultural and linguistic
synchronization remain paramount.
Segmentation of programes in terms
of theme and viewers is essential.
For example, women can take out
two hours per week to watch
programming on women's issues, on
a particular day of the week. Critical to the success of any such
project is also community
involvement and ownership of
media and media content. This can
be done through capacity building
for programme production among
local youth, who in turn, would
serve as a voice of the people.
And finally, it is important that
major stakeholders in such
development must work closely
together and must be partners in
project.
Source : Summary of Impact Evaluation
Studies of Jhabua Development
Communication Project, October 2001,
Published by Development and Educational
Communication Unit, Indian Space Research Organisation, Ahmedabad.
Iuppa, Nicholas V. (2001) Interactive Design for New
Media and the Web, Focal Press: Oxford ISBN: 0240-
804-14-7
It examines the expanded capabilities of all forms of
digital rendering for increasing interactivity, and the
design principles and interface guidelines needed to make
this technology deliver the required message or story.
Numerous examples and major case studies demonstrate
the broad range of applications of studies ranging from
Websites to CD-ROM games to successful Web
commerce sites. This is a hands-on, practical book
covering the technology as well as the tools and practices
of the trade of interactive design, including the creation of
site maps and flow charts, as well as the writing of design
documents.
Rhodes, John (2001) Videoconferencing for the Real
World: A Guide to the Implementation of Interactive
Video and Multimedia Communications, Focal Press:
Oxford ISBN: 0240-804-16-3
A guide for the implementation of video communications
networks, the book brings together technical information
on video and LAN/WAN networks as well as business
communications and training expertise to provide a stepby-
step methodology for the creation of an effective video
communication solution tailored to the readers' needs. It is
a useful reference book for establishing and upgrading
videoconferencing networks, and as an effective training
resource for communication departments.
Sallis, Edward and Jones, Gary (2002) Knowledge
Management in Education: Enhancing Learning and
Education, Kogan Page: London ISBN: 0-7494-3495-3
Knowledge management is the process of constructively
using the information and knowledge that is inherent to
any organization -be it a school, university or
multinational company - in order to enhance its
performance, its management and its operation. This
process of 'learning to know what we know' is one that has
brought great benefits, particularly to many commercial
organizations. In education, the core business being
knowledge can reap tremendous rewards by using this
technique. This book shows how institutions can benefit
by effectively managing knowledge. It looks at the
impacts that educators and educational leaders can expect
and at the practical knowledge management strategies that
can be employed by education establishments. (Available
for review)
Boud David ; Cohen, Ruth and Sampson, Jane (Eds) (2001) peer learning in
Higher Education: Learning from and with each other, Kogan PageL London ISBN:
0-7494-3612-3
In everyday life we are learning continually from each
other. Whatever the situation, most of us draw on the
knowledge, skills and experience of our friends and
colleagues. This book explores how educators can
formalize the use of peer learning to educational settings.
It investigates how peer learning can be integrated into the
design and delivery of courses in higher education, and
looks at what role it can play in encouraging more
effective learning. The book draws on the practical
experiences of educators who actually are using the peer
learning techniques, and hence a valuable reading.
(Available for review)
Beard, Colin and Wilson, John P (2002) The Power of
Experiential Learning, Kogan Page: London ISBN:
0-7494-3467-8
The handbook pulls together both the theory and practice
of learning from experience covering all types of learning
that employ activity-based experience. Based on
theoretical underpinnings, and making full use of
examples and guidance for successful implementation,
the book provides guidelines to unleash the power of
learning through experience. (Available for review)
Evans, P. (2001) Information Technology for
Everybody- Volume 1, BPB Publication: New Delhi
ISBN: 81-7656-454-0
The book covers basic concepts and applications of
information technology, with illustrations and interactive
exercises. As the title suggests, it is targeted at reaching
everybody. (Available for review)
Heathcote, P.M. and Richards, R.P. (2001) Information
Technology for Everybody- Volume 2, BPB Publication:
New Delhi ISBN: 81-7656-455-9
An illustrated text, this book covers basic computer
functions like word processing, spreadsheets, PowerPoint
presentations, and databases. Basics of Web page design
and desktop publication are also discussed. (Available for
review)
Gralla, Preston (2000) How the Internet Works, Techmedia: New Delhi ISNB: 81-7635-437-6
The Internet has completely changed the way people
work, communicate, socialize, and have fun. All around
the world, millions of people log on to the cyberspace that
knows no political, racial, ethnic or religious boundaries
to meet, conduct research, send email and play games.
This book takes you to the inside of the Internet and
illustrates how it works with colorful illustration all over
the book. (Available for review)
To Contents....
Prof. Dikshit
felicitated
Prof. H.P.Dikshit, Vice-Chancellor,
IGNOU has been recently
honoured with the "Srinivasa
Ramanujam Birth Centenary
Award" for his significant
contributions to Science, Research
and Teaching. The Hon'ble Prime
Minister of India Shri Atal Bihari
Vajpayee presented the award to
him on 03 January 2002 at the
inauguration of the annual function
of the Indian Science Congress held
at Lucknow. Nearly 5000 scientists
from within the country and abroad
attended the Science Congress. The
award was given in recognition to
the significant research
contributions made by Prof. Dikshit
in the field of Science especially in
the area of Computational
Mathematics and Computer-Aided
Design. We congratulate Prof.
Dikshit for his achievement and
look forward to many more
milestones in his career.
Gyan Darshan to
go Digital
Gyan Darshan, the educational TV
Channel of India shall, soon,
become digital and utilize the
facility of Direct to Home
Television, Indira Gandhi National
Open University (IGNOU)
authorities, announced recently.
IGNOU is the nodal agency to
operate this Channel.
In the latest issue
of Gyan Darshan
Newsletter,
February-2002
schedule released by the Director,
Electronic Media Production Centre (EMPC), it is stated that, Gyan
Darshan has successfully completed
the second year transmission. It is
on the 26th January 2000 - the
Minister for Human Resource
Development had inaugurated test
transmission from the Sanchar
Kendra, IGNOU.
The Prasar Bharati (Broadcasting
Corporation of India) has agreed to
spare a Transponder on PAS 10
satellite on the KU Band, which
means the Direct to Home
Television has become a reality in
the country. Gyan Darshan will be
the first such channel to utilize this
facility, it is stated.
|
AAOU
Conference
held
|
 |
The XV Annual Conference of the
Asian Association of Open
Universities was held from 21-23
February 2002 at New Delhi.
Hosted by the Indira Gandhi
National Open University (IGNOU), the conference was
attended by more than 250 scholars
from 22 countries. There were
about 180 papers presented during
the conference under the broad
theme -- "Access and Equity:
Challenges of Open and Distance
Learning". The main conference
was also preceded by two preconferences
(seminar/workshop) on
'Quality Assurance' and 'Library
Services to Distance Learners'.
Open University of Malaysia opens
The Open University of Malaysia -
Universiti Terbuka Malaysia, or
UNITEM - accepted its first batch
11
of 1,200 students in July 2001. UNITEM, a private institution
owned by 11 public universities and
endorsed by the Ministry of
Education, will deliver all its
programmes through distance
learning methods using a
combination of traditional and
electronic/multimedia technology. It
plans on a student intake of 22,000
within five years, especially
targeting adults who are school
leavers or who were unable to
obtain places at other universities.
Tuition fees will be competitively
priced.
<http://www.unitem.edu.my>
Short-term
Fellowship at
Dr. BRAOU,
Hyderabad
Dr. B.R.Ambedkar Open University
at Hyderabad through its newly
established G. Ram Reddy Research
Academy of Distance Education
(GRADE) has announced two shortterm
visiting fellowships for
Distance Education (DE)
professionals working in Asian
Open Universities. The fellows
would work on a small research
project related to the promotion and
development of DE. The duration of
the fellowship is for four to eight
weeks. Interested persons may
contact Executive Director, GRADE
for details.
Email: vvenkaiah@hotmail.com.
Dialogue on
Regional Training
Needs in Distance
Education
During the AAOU annual
conference at New Delhi, the
Commonwealth of Learning
organized a roundtable-cum discussion
on training needs to
develop and strengthen national
capabilities in distance education.
Senior staff members of Open
Universities - Vice-Chancellors and
senior staff responsible for training,
attended the meeting held at
CEMCA office on 21 February,
2002. Two key questions were
addressed: What are the needs in
the Commonwealth for ODL
training? And, how these needs can
be addressed?
Within organizations, a clear need
for a strong policy on training with
an equally strong management
responsibility to ensure
implementation of these policies
was expressed. Training needs
were identified for all staff involved
in distance education -
administrative, academic and
support staff. The needs identified
concerned both with skills and
capabilities to fulfill functional
roles as also to include research and
project management skills.
Finding effective strategies to meet
needs was a far more difficult task.
All agreed that if we wish to avoid
"heart attacks, migraines, and stress", then we had to find ways to
share skills, experience and
materials in this area. Indeed
networking, collaboration and
resource sharing were seen as the
strategic ways for training.
To Contents....
As the global economy becomes
increasingly reliant on electronic
communications, more than four
billion people world-wide remain
untouched by the information and
communications technology
revolution. But with ingenuity,
talented individuals, not based in
Seattle or the Silicon Valley, are
helping to narrow the digital divide
with their inventions. One such
device is the Simputer.
A simpler computer
In an effort to bring the Internet to
the masses in India and other
developing countries, several
academics and engineers have used
their spare time to design and build
a handheld "appliance" for
accessing the Internet that costs less
than US$200. Called the Simputer,
for SIMple comPUTER, the device
has great potential for enabling
India's poor and illiterate
population to surf the Web and
empower themselves with
knowledge. The Simputer was
created by professors and students
at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) at Bangalore
(<http://www.csa.iisc.ernet.in>)
and engineers from the Bangalore
based
design company, Encore
Software Limited (<http://www.ncoretech.com>).
In order for the simple computer to
be of use to those who it was
designed to serve - India's and the
world's substantial population that
is unable to read or write -
engineers developed a remarkable
text-to-speech software called
Information Markup Language (or
Illiterate Markup Language). The
software enables the Simputer to
translate English text into a variety
of Indian languages and then read
the information aloud to the user.
The Simputer is built around Intel's
StrongARM CPU and uses the open
source (share-ware; free) Linux
operating system. It has 32 MB of
flash memory, a monochrome
liquid-crystal display (LCD) with a
touch panel overlay for pen-based
computing, a local-language
interface and web and e-mail
software. It also has Infrared Data
Association (IDA) and Universal
Serial Bus (USB) interfaces and
is able to access the Internet via
dialup modem or through other add-on
means.
The designers expect the Simputer
to be used not only as a personal
Internet access device, but also by
communities of users at kiosks and telecentres. Using a smart-card
interface, it could also be used for
specialty applications such as
personal banking.
The intellectual property rights for
the device has now been transferred
without cost to the non-profit
Simputer Trust and both the
hardware and software have been
offered as open source technology.
In the open source model of
development, users and developers
work together without remuneration
to improve and upgrade technology.
The Simputer is currently part of a
wireless interactive data
broadcasting trial in the Bastar
district of central Chhattisgarh state
in India. The initiative is sponsored
by WorldSpace Foundation using
WorldSpace's AsiaStar digital
broadcasting satellite.
Credit-card-like smart-cards
function as blackboards, notebooks
and report cards in the Bastar
education project. Each student's
own smart-card enables him or her,
as well as teachers and the course
designer, to monitor the progress of
lessons studied and facilitate
students in non-formal education
programmes to study at their own
pace and according to their level of
advancement.
Using the Simputer and wireless
broadcasting, lessons and web pages
can be delivered even to the most
remote villages that have only the
most basic services. If proven
successful, WorldSpace Corporation
plans to expand its reach to other
regions of the developing world.
WorldSpace satellites now cover all
of Asia and Africa, and will include
South/Central America and the
Caribbean in the near future.
<http://www.simputer.org>
<http://www.worldspace.org>
<http://www.worldspace.com>
To Contents....
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 Learning Management
Systems. In the delivery of online
learning these products and services
have become very important, and
there are large number of them
available on the net. Below is a
select list of Learning Management
Systems.
Compiled from the World Wide Web by
Sanjaya Mishra, PhD
To Contents....
USING INTERNET AND E-MAIL
Ramesh C. Sharma
In this section of Successful Media
And Research Techniques
(SMART) Tips we present to you
effective use of Internet and e-mail.
Internet
The Internet is "a Network of
Networks", whereby computers are
connected to each other, globally,
through telephone lines, network
cables, satellites and dish antenna
etc. In this network, some of the
computers, which are known
as Servers, are used to store
documents, audio and video
files, animations, and
pictures etc electronically.
These facilities are made
available to all the
computers on the network.
How Internet is
useful to us?
There are many advantages
of Internet, like:
• Searching information: The
Internet represents a vast sea of
knowledge, can be explored
for desired information
through search tools called
Search Engines. A few
popular ones are Google,
Yahoo, Lycos, Hotbot etc.
• Sending emails: A great tool
for sending and receiving
emails through web based
email clients. The advantage is
that we can access our emails
from anywhere in the world,
over an Internet connection at
any cybercafe.
• Remote administration:
Through Internet we can get
hold of another computer
through Telnet and use it
remotely.
• Chat: We can communicate in
real time mode with others over
the Internet by using various
utilities like messengers, IRC,
or a chat program.
Things required to get
connected to Internet
To get hooked onto the Internet, we
need a personal computer with a
modem, a Web browser software to
access the Web, a connection to an
Internet service provider (ISP) like VSNL, MTNL or Satyam Online in
India. Other things needed for
Internet are (for which user is not
required to be bothered as the ISP
takes care of these) DNS Servers to
host the data and to translate the
domain name of another
computer into an IP address
and vice versa on request by
the computer connection; and
Routers and switches to
direct the flow of data. Once
we have all the things in
place, for dial-up
connection, we double click
on the shortcut to
MyConnection icon (or any
other name given by user for
the program needed to get
connected to Internet) in
Desktop and click on Connect
button. After establishing
connection (handshaking of
modems at both ends i.e. our
computer and at ISP end), we get a
terminal window popping up asking
for username and password. When
it is accepted by the system, it asks
us to press F7 and after
authentication, we are now on the
Internet. Now we are free to surf
the web through any web browser,
or send and receive email, or
download or upload files thru FTP
client or can even chat with others
over then Net.
| E-Mail
Email Etiquettes
(Netiquettes)
|
TIPS |
To be a popular and successful
e-mailer, we may observe few points
while communicating with others:
• The subject line should indicate
clearly what the email is about,
so that recipient properly
understands it.
• Avoid sending unnecessary
emails to all; direct it only to
those who really need to be
associated. Sending mails to
many may be treated as SPAM
(unsolicited email).
• If need arises to send one email
to many and we want to maintain
confidentiality, we may BCC the
email. By using BCC, each
recipient sees only two--theirs
and yours.
• The message should be short
and focused. Busy people may
ignore your long mail.
• We may prefer sending
attachments as an inline text
instead of separate attachment
unless it is absolutely essential,
as some of wireless devices
don't have the software required
to open an attachment such as a
Word document or photo file.
• Avoid SHOUTING (using all
capital letters). USING ALL
CAPS MAKES IT LOOK LIKE
YOU'RE SHOUTING! IT'S ALSO
MORE DIFFICULT TO READ.
• Avoid writing purely personal or
confidential information, as even
if your email is "forwarded"
accidentally to others by the
recipient, it could leave you in an
embarrassing situation.
• As a courtesy to your recipient,
include your name at the bottom
of the message.
• Please check the spelling before
sending the email, a badly-spelt
emails leaves a bad impression
on recipient and also creates
problem for him to read it
properly.
|
What is the Web?
The World Wide Web is a
collection of electronic documents
that are linked together. It was
named Web as all the files (in
various format) are linked like a
spider web. These documents are
stored on computers called Servers
located around the world. Entering
the (Uniform Resource Locator)
URL of a web page in the location
box (also known as the address
field) in the web browser or
clicking a link sends a request to
the server, which hosts the page.
The server sends the web page to
our computer and web browser
displays it on our screen
Web Browsers: A web browser is a
software program used to access the
World Wide Web, which retrieves
data from remote web servers and
displays as a web page. Microsoft
Internet Explorer and Netscape are
the two most popular browsers.
Websites: A website represents one
or more web pages linked to a
person, business, organization, or a
subject, such as astronomy. When
we get connected to Internet and
start surfing, normally we go to
Home Page, which acts like an
index, indicating the content on the
site. From here we can access other
web pages by clicking various
hyperlinks.
Web Pages: A web page is an
electronic document generated
through HTML (Hypertext Markup
Language) and can contain text,
graphics, video, animation, and
sound, as well as interactive
features, such as data entry forms.
Each page has a unique address
known as a URL (Uniform
Resource Locator), which identifies
its location on the server. Web
pages may have hyperlinks to other
web pages. Hyperlinks (in the form
of text or images) point to the
URLs of other web pages.
Hyperlink: Normally the Text links
are underlined and in a different
color from the rest of the text.
When we move the cursor over a
hyperlink, we can see its URL in
the status bar. We can also find out
if a graphical image is hyperlinked,
by moving cursor over the image. If
the arrow cursor turns into a hand
or a URL appears in the status bar
at the lower left of web browser, we
can say that the item is hyperlinked.
Uniform Resource Locator (URL):
A URL defines the storage position
of a web page on the Internet. The
URLs should be typed exactly for
our browser for it to be displayed. It
is like a telephone number, one
digit wrong and we will not be able
to connect to the desired person!
Normally the URLs don't contain
spaces between characters and
almost rarely use back slashes (\).
All slashes are forward slashes (/).
Examples of URLs
--
<ftp://gradj.pa.uky.edu/dima/aai/p9612.txt>--A directory of files,
which we can download
<http://www.col.org>-- The home
page for the Commonwealth of
Learning website
<news:rec.gardens.roses>-- A
newsgroup about rose gardening
Anatomy of a URL
Let's have an example to
understand the various components
of a URL:
<http://www.ontoporta.org.uk.seminar/slide1.html>
<http:// l-- indicates a hypertext
http://
document or directory ( stands for
Hypertext Transfer Protocol)
www -- indicates a page on the
World Wide Web. (in some cases "www" may be missing.)
ontoportal.org.uk
/ -- indicates the
domain name, it often reveals the
name of a university, or an
organization. It may also tell the
country of origin as here it is "UK".
www.otoportal.org.uk/ -- Together,
this stands for the web server name.
seminar / -- This is directory or
folder on the web server that
contains a group of related web
pages within the website.
slide1.html-- This is a web page
inside the folder.
What is E-mail?
E-mail is an electronic message sent
from one computer to another, either
in the form of message only or along
with attachments, such as pictures or
formatted documents. Keeping in
view the lower cost of sending
message from one place to another,
immediate and ensured delivery,
email has become most popular
form of communication in modern
world.
How it Works?
E-mail acts like a post office, a
person composes an email, and
clicks "send" button on his email
program. This is just like putting
letter in the Letterbox of post office.
Then this letter (email) travels from
one post-office (server) to another
and finally reaches the destination
mail server, it is stored in an
electronic mailbox until the
recipient retrieves it (like addressee
receiving it from postman). This
process is very fast.
E-mails can be sent in two ways:
through client-based e-mail, like
Outlook Express or Eudora,
software program running on our
computer, we compose, reply,
forward, send or receive our emails
by accessing a remote mail server.
With Web-based
e-mail (e.g.,
Yahoo! Mail or Hotmail or Rediffmail), to do the above jobs,
we access a website, by connecting
to the Internet, by entering our
account name and password. One
of the limitations of these free webbased
e-mail services is the limit of
amount of storage, for instance,
Yahoo! Mail has a 6.0 MB limit. To
keep our quota within limits we
should regularly delete unwanted or
old emails else we shall not be able
to receive new emails, over and
above the storage quota of our
account.
Setting Up an Account: Setting up
a new e-mail account on Web
Based Email Servers is very easy
and takes only a few minutes. Here
we have to provide some personal
information about ourselves, and
choose an account name and
password. If we open a Hotmail
account and choose "darwin" as
your ID, the address becomes
"darwin@hotmail.com ." We can
also use letters and numbers, such
as "darwin2002" but there is some
restriction on using spaces, control
characters and are limited in length,
depending on the service.
Passwords: Passwords are usually
case sensitive, meaning that they
use both upper and lower case
letters. If your password is "EDTabc," then entering "edtabc"
won't work. The most secure
passwords contain both letters and
numerals or symbols. Changing
password regularly is a good
practice.
Anatomy of an E-Mail Message
E-mail messages, like postal letters,
contain two main parts: darwin@hotmail.com
• Header - it contains the name
and address of the recipient, the
name and address of anyone
who is being copied, and the
subject of the message. When
we receive an email, by
looking at the header, we can
tell from where, by whom and
when this mail has been sent.
• Body - it contains the message
itself.
Since emails can be intercepted and
read by others, we should avoid
writing anything which we feel is
very sensitive and may be misused
in future. For confidential matters,
"encryption" utilities may be used
which can be deciphered by the
recipient through some code
already decided between two
parties.
Anatomy of an E-Mail Address
E-mail addresses typically have two
main parts. Lets understand it
through an example: darwin@hotmail.com
It starts with the user name (darwin)
also refers to the recipient's
mailbox. Then there's an axon sign
(@) followed by the host name
(hotmail), also called the domain
name. Domain name (usually the
name of a company or organization)
refers to a mail server, where the
recipient has an electronic mailbox.
The domain name is followed by
two or three letters (such as .com
and .gov) with a dot ("."). This part
of the domain name indicates the
type of organization or the country
where the host server is located. E.g., kavita@ignou.ac.in indicates "kavita" as the name of a user,
"ignou.ac" as the domain and "in"
its location in India. For e-mail
addresses outside of the United
States, there is often a two-letter
country code. For instance, .il
indicates Israel, .uk indicates the
United Kingdom and .sl indicates
Sri Lanka.
Managing e-mail
If you receive many emails daily, it
is better to manage your emails by
following simple steps:
• Open separate account for
personal and official emails:
you can easily keep track of darwin@hotmail.com kavita@ignou.ac.in
both.
• Try to answer the email at the
earliest possible.
• Check your emails daily and
delete the unwanted ones
regularly to keep your inbox
storage within limits.
• Create rules for organizing your
emails. Rules help you getting
your emails from different
persons onto directly folders
related to them, avoiding
unnecessary cluttering of your
inbox. It helps specially when
you are a subscriber of any
mailing list.
• Prepare boilerplate responses
for the questions belonging to
similar nature. In such cases to
save time and avoid retyping the
answers, just cut-and-paste a
prepared reply. It can be edited
if required.
• Control the Rhythm of the
Exchange: Although email is a
very quick medium, take some
time to think and frame your
answer.
Sending or replying to
an email in a hurry may some
times provide such information,
which later on may prove
unpleasant.
• Be careful while downloading
attachments. These may contain
virus. If the email is from some
unknown source, better delete it.
Even if it is from known source,
scan it with some anti-virus
software before opening or
saving it.
Website: <http://everythingemail.net/>
________________________________________________________________________________________
Dr. R.C.Sharma is Regional Director at
IGNOU Regional Centre, Karnal. A specialist
in Educational Technology, Dr. Sharma is
Editorial Board member of a number of
Internationally reputed journals in the field of
Open and Distance Learning, such as Global
E-Journal of Open and Flexible Learning,
Distance Education and International
Review of Research in Open and Distance
Learning. He can be reached at
Website:
rc_sharma@yahoo.com.
To Contents....
Pre Pan-
Commonwealth
Forum on Open
Learning 2002
Virtual
Conferences
For both participants and those who
are unable to attend the Pan-
Commonwealth Forum in person,
this series of e-mail based virtual
conferences have been organised by
the Federation of Commonwealth
Open and Distance Learning
Associations (FOCODLA) and The
Commonwealth of Learning (COL)
as a lead-up to the second Pan-
Commonwealth Forum on Open
Learning, to be held at the
International Convention Centre in
Durban, South Africa, from
Monday, 29 July to Friday, 2
August 2002.
The Pan-Commonwealth Forum is
being hosted by COL, the National
Association of Distance Education
Organisations of South Africa (NADEOSA) and the South
African Department of Education,
in collaboration with the
Commonwealth's open and distance
learning professional associations.
The theme is "Open Learning:
Transforming Education for
Development". Forum web site is at <http://colforum.mweb.co.za>
There will be six monthly
conferences, each lasting two to
three weeks. A moderator who will
also present some thoughtprovoking
questions will introduce
each topic, hosted by one of the
FOCODLA member organisations.
Participants are then invited to join
the discussion virtually. At the end
of the conference, the moderator
will wrap up the discussion and the
virtual conference will end. A webbased
archive of discussions will be
available to participants. Technical support for the virtual conferences
is being provided by COL. A
plenary session will be held at the
Forum where moderators' reports
will be presented and discussed.
Topics and moderators:
Bridging the digital divide
(February)
Dates: 4 - 22 February 2002
Hosted by: Distance Education
Association of New Zealand (DEANZ)
Moderator: Dr. Andrew Higgins
Subscribe code: bdd
Technology and lifelong learning
(March)
Dates: 2 - 16 March 2002
Hosted by: Open and Distance
Learning Association of Australia (ODLAA)
Moderator: Associate Professor
Catherine McLoughlin
Subscribe
code: tll
The future of technology for
developing countries (April)
Dates: 1 - 12 April 2002
Hosted by: Canadian Association
for Distance Education (CADE)
Moderator: Mr. Bill Fricker
Subscribe code: tech
Distance learning in the small and
island states in the Commonwealth
(May)
Dates: 6 - 17 May 2002
Hosted by: Jamaican Association
for Distance and Open Learning (JADOL)
Moderator: Professor Lawrence
Carrington
Subscribe code: small
Quality assurance in open and
distance education (June)
Dates: 3 - 18 June 2002
Hosted by: Asian Association of
Open Universities (AAOU)
Moderator: Dr. Mike Robertshaw
Subscribe code: qade
Open and distance learning for
community and social development
(July)
Dates: 1 - 15 July 2002
Hosted by: National Association of
Distance Education Organisations
of South Africa (NADEOSA)
Moderators: Mr. Tony Mays,
Prof. Alan Amory and Dr. Andrey
Wyngaard
Subscribe code: csd
How to join the virtual conferences
To join the conference, send an email
message to <mailto:majordomo@hub.col.org>and put the following in the body of
the message: subscribe (conference
subscriber code) (your e-mail
address); e.g., subscribe bdd name@col.org.You will receive a
confirmation and further
information by e-mail. If you do not
receive a confirmation within 24
hours, please contact COL at <mailto: info@col.org>
Six New
Knowledge Series
Titles
This series is
aimed at
education
professionals
relatively new
to distance
education, with
content just
detailed enough
for introductory
use by and for trainers - whether
educational, vocational or corporate.
The expert-authored, ongoing series
is a succinct, topic-by-topic
overview of distance education
theory and practice. With a readerfriendly
approach, Knowledge
Series titles are limited to six pages
each, with print versions presented
in a foldout format. Each title
includes a bibliography and a further
reading list.
First published in November 2000,
the series has already profiled
editing, support groups, instructional
design, multimedia and managing
for electronic networking. Each title
includes a bibliography and a further
reading list. The 2001 titles include:
• Designing online learning (Sanjaya Mishra)
• Using community radio for
non-formal education (John
Thomas)
• Analysing costs/benefits for
distance education
programmes (Greville
Rumble)
• Audio/audioconferencing in
support of distance education
(Paul Macmullen)
• Video/video-conferencing in
support of distance education
(Linda Stilborne and Peter MacGibbon)
• Using telecentres in support of
distance education (Colin Latchem)
Single copies of Knowledge Series
titles are available at no charge,
with the provison that the contents
are used or reproduced for noncommercial
purposes and with
acknowledgement to the author and
to COL. The titles are
downloadable from the COL web
site
<http://www.col.org/knowledge/>and can be ordered individually in
print, or as a complete set on
CD-ROM. The Knowledge Series
is also generally available through
COL-affiliated projects and
institutions. For print or CD-ROM
copies, please contact The
Commonwealth of Learning at <mailto:info@col.org>
Web Archive
Libraries exist to preserve society's
cultural artifacts and to provide
access to them. If libraries are to
continue to foster education and
scholarship in this era of digital
technology,
it's essential for them
to extend those functions into the
digital world. The Internet Archive (http://web.archive.org)
is building
a digital library of Internet sites and
other cultural artifacts in digital
form. Like a paper library, it
provides free access to researchers,
historians, scholars, and the general
public. The Internet Archive,
working with Alexa Internet, has
created the Wayback Machine (http://web.archive.org). The
Wayback Machine makes it
possible to surf pages stored in the
Internet Archive's web archive. To
find out how a web page looked
like on a particular date, just type
the web address and you will have
an index of options.
Computerized
Newsroom for
Papua New
Guinea's
National
Broadcasting
Corporation
 The news service
of the Papua New
Guinea National
Broadcasting
Corporation
(NBC) now has a
computerized news
compilation and
dissemination
facility. UNESCO's
International
Programme for the Development of
Communication (IPDC) through its
Apia office granted funds for the
newsroom project in late 1997. In
1998, the new system was installed
and basic training was organized,
followed by further training a year
later. The project has now been
finalized.
According to Joseph Ealedona,
NBC news director, the IPDC
project has opened doors for other
new developments. For example,
NBC is planning to set up its own
website. "This is to help sustain the
newsroom system, but also to
increase the dissemination of our
news and current affairs service
world wide."
According to Ealedona, the national
newsroom is the only department in
the NBC that is fully computerized
with access to the Internet. The
project also ensured that technical
staff was well involved in the
training in order to be able to
support the system's operation.
UNESCO's assistance has put NBC
news service "ten years ahead in
only a matter of weeks of installing
the new facilities" said Joseph Ealedona.
Currently eight provincial
newsrooms have computers,
printers, and will gradually have email.
These were provided also with
funds from IPDC.
Source: http://www.unesco.org/webworld
Access to
UNESCO
Information
Sources Online
A common access point to 120
bibliographic, referral (directories,
projects, etc.) and factual databases
produced by UNESCO in its areas
of competence is now online. The
new website service entitled
"Information Sources" gives also
access to 57 online and offline
information services of the
Organization's Headquarter and in
its field offices.
The site (<http://www.unesco.org/unesdi/index.php/eng/a/accueil.html>)that
includes search facilities is
organized by categories reflecting
UNESCO's main areas of action
education, science, culture,
communication and information. It
gives for example access to databases with online versions of
official UNESCO documents, the
UNESCO photo bank and
UNESCO glossaries and thesauri.
New forms of services, which are
also accessible through the gateway
are the portals for specific thematic
areas that are maintained by
UNESCO, such as the Libraries
Portal, the Archives Portal, the
Portal of the International
Oceanographic Commission (IOC)
and the World Poetry Directory.
Source: http://www.unesco.org/webworld
|
Educational
Media
Database
As an ongoing project
CEMCA has been developing
and maintaining a database of
educational audio and video
programmes produced in the
region. The database
currently has more than 6000
records. The purpose of the
database is to act as a
reference point for sharing of
information and resources.
Educational institutions in the
region are requested to
continuously send us list of
audio and video programmes
produced by them for
updating the database. By
submitting information for
inclusion in the database you
are actually making it
a v a i l a b l e t o a w i d e r
community of users through
our online website and the
offline CD ROM. Now, it has
also been decided to supply
the database and its regular
updates to participating
institutions. Therefore please
share information about your
audio and video programmes
and co-operate in updating
this database. For further
details contact: Nimal T
Fernando, Programme
Officer (Broadcast Media), CEMCA.
|
To Contents....
|
|
Collis, Betty and Moonen, Jef
(2001) Flexible Learning in a
Digital World: experiences and
expectations, Kogan Page:
London, pp. 232 ISBN 0-7494-
3371-X
Ramesh C. Sharma
The dotcom wave all over the
world has its impact in the area of
teaching and learning also. The
educational institutions are
shifting their methodologies
towards adopting Information and
Communication Technologies.
The authors, with many years of
expertise in the field of
educational technology, review the
changes in four major
perspectives: institutional,
implementation, pedagogy and
technology, in this book entitled,
"Flexible Learning in a Digital
World: experiences and
expectations", published by Kogan
under its famous Open and
Distance Learning Series. This
volume looks into the use of
technology for learning and how
various components of flexible
learning should be kept in
consideration in the teaching
learning methodologies. The
unique feature of this book is the
presentation of various issues and
research involving teaching and
learning related changes through
18 lessons. The book has been
organized under
9 chapters
dealing with
above discussed
four key components.
Chapter one clarifies the vagueness
about the understanding of what is
flexible learning and contends that
it is more than distance education.
The authors discuss various
opportunities and challenges for
putting flexibility into action, in
terms of flexibility in location, programmes, type of interaction
and study material etc. The
description of educational uses of
technology applications for course
support, and pedagogical
approaches helps instructors in
facilitating learning.
Chapter two focuses on institutional
changes and the factors influencing
flexible learning. The process of
virtualization, globalization or
internationalization, new forms of
life long learning and
personalization of individual, has
resulted in issues of quality control
and the local vs. global aspect. The
higher education institutions are
now allocating more budgets for
technology infrastructure. By going
virtual the institutions now offer
special courses or programmes to a
non-typical cohort of learners and
adopts dual mode delivery of
courses for on-campus and offcampus
learners.
Next chapter deals with moving
from vision to practice and reports
how the ideas and expectations are
applied to flexible learning. This
movement is a three-step process:
initiation of change, scalability of
change and institutionalization of
change. All these three steps
complete one implementation
cycle. The authors have developed
a "4 Es" Model to depict the factors
found to be significant for the
likelihood of using new technology
product in a learning context.
These 4Es are Educational
Effectiveness, Ease of use,
Engagement and Environment
(institutional) factors. Using this
model as the focus of reference, the
implementation success can be
ensured and improved.
In chapter four, the authors
analyse the technology selection,
and the research in the choice of
technology. A WWW-based
course Management System, to
support course preparation,
delivery and interaction is
explained in terms of learner tools
and support tools. The authors put
forward some key questions
regarding cost of system at
initiation, implementation and
institutionalization phases and
whether such investment can be
justified socially and politically at
the institutional level.
Chapter fifth is entitled,
"Pedagogy: making the U turn". It
focuses on the framework inviting
more flexibility in the instructor's
pedagogical decisions, keeping in
view the characteristics of an
active student. The U approach is
concerned with the learner
activities coordinated under a
suitably designed web based
system. Such learning activities
have been identified for
preparation ('Before'), the face-toface
event ('During') and The
follow-up ('After') cycles. The U
Approach symbolizes a relation
between the degree of flexibility
and the goal of activities. This
approach provides framework for
group work in activities, feedback
and a new role for instructional
designer.
The focus of next chapter is on
effectiveness and return on
investment. It questions about the
worthiness of time and efforts put
into implementing U approach or
web based system. Can the costs
of adopting new technology, pay
off in terms of desired pedagogical
goals? This chapter suggests
effectiveness measures related
directly or indirectly to student
learning, and related to short or
long-term pay-off. It also
introduces the return of
investment from the institution,
student and instructor point of
view.
Next two chapters, seventh and
eighth, illustrate and provide
practical examples on "practising
what we preach". In these chapters
the authors have elaborated a case
from their own institution (the
University of Twente in The
Netherlands) for the period 1997 to
2000, as they were instrumental in
implementing in flexible learning
through technology. The period of
1990 to 1997 is considered to be
pioneer phase, while 1997-98 as the
initiation phase, the year 1 of TeleTOP, the 1998-99 as the
implementation phase or year 2 of TeleTOP. Then the authors proceed
to narrate their experiences from
implementation to
institutionalization in 1999-2000,
year 3 of TeleTOP, and beyond
2000.
Last chapter tries to identify a new
economic order for education. The
authors argue that the changes in
the way we work, we earn, we
spend; have given rise to a new
economy, which is multifaceted. It
is global, it is intensely interlinked
and it favours ideas, information
and relationships. The authors
report two major trends:
commercialization of education as
an online market, and emergence of
educational portals. On the basis of
these trends, authors have
visualized four kinds of scenarios:
Back to Basics (where the
institution offers a programme and
ensures its quality in the local
settings); The Global Campus
(where global and network
mediated transactions are the base);
Stretching the Mould
(individualization in the local
institution) and The New Economy
(individualization and
globalization).
Overall, the book is a valuable
treatise on how to integrate
technology to the learning context.
This work provides real life
experiences and practical
approaches of using technology in
education. The most striking feature
is advising through Lessons Learnt
by the authors from their own
experiment.
Dr. R.C. Sharma is Regional Director at
IGNOU Regional Centre, Karnal. |
 |
|
Thomas, John (2001) Audio for
Distance Education and Open
Learning: A Practical Guide for
Planners and Producers, COL/IEC: Vancouver/
Cambridge, pp. 228 ISBN
1-895369-92-4
Kiron Bansal
Despite premature obituaries
written on radio on several
occasions, it continues to be a
vibrant medium. In addition to
providing information and
entertainment radio has been widely
used in education for tutorial
support and direct teaching. The
simple nature of the medium and
the ability to adapt itself to
innovative, interactive formats has
been its major strengths. The
handbook under review by John
Thomas reaffirms this faith in radio
in an age of hi tech and glamorous
communication technologies
increasingly used for open and
distance learning (ODL).
Educational audio being a
specialized genre requires specific
planning, designing, production and
delivery. The nine chapters
encapsulate the major facets related
to audio production for ODL.
Chapter 1 on Potential of Audio
looks at the different forms, such as
radio, audiocassettes and audio
vision and analyses their potential
for ODL. The strengths and
limitations of these forms have been
mapped with the help of case
studies from different parts of the
globe.
Chapter 2 on Planning and Design
examines effective audio materials
for ODL at three levels:
institutional, series and individual
programme planning. The series
planning comes in for greater
focus by providing key questions
about what needs to be planned.
The checklist includes audience,
aims and objectives, content and
structure, form and formats,
support materials, resources,
scheduling and monitoring. The
contributions of subject experts
and producers, the common
problems encountered and the
possible ways to resolve them
have also been briefly touched.
Chapter 3 on Development and
Production takes a step-by-step
look at the process of transforming
a set of ideas about how to use
audio into a form that can be
distributed to students with visual
support materials. The script
development, production, postproduction,
review, duplication,
packaging, distribution and
scheduling have been detailed in
the chapter.
The next four chapters delineate
the Practical Skills for different
audio formats. Chapter 4 looks at
the spoken word formats such as,
scripted talks, interviews and
discussions. The skills of location
recording, editing and the basic
technology required for outside
recording have been covered in
chapter 5. Practical Skills for
more specialized formats such as,
features, magazines and
documentaries have been focused
in chapter 6. Since not all subjects
lend themselves to these formats,
how the alternative approaches of
drama, simulation and music can
be used in ODL has been detailed
in chapter 7.
A crucial factor in ODL is the
utilization of audio materials by
learners. Chapter 8 looks at this
important aspect and examines the
specific preparations to be made
by learners both individually as
well as in group situations. In
addition to production of high
quality, need based audio materials
produced skillfully as well as
professionally, the handbook calls
for organizational and managerial
support to be offered to students
and tutors for their optimal
utilization.
Monitoring and evaluation of
audio materials and the ways in
which their quality and
effectiveness can be improved
comes for analysis in chapter 9.
The objective, process and
collaboration in monitoring and
evaluation have been thoroughly
examined in the chapter. A
distinction between audio
'products' and the 'processes' have
been made and the constructive
role evaluation can play in
improving the quality of audio
materials and not for making value
judgments has been stressed upon.
Some basic research approaches
and how these can be applied in
ODL have also been examined.
COL has published a series of
training materials in the form of
toolkits and handbooks relating to
varied aspects of ODL and media
components. The handbook under
review is yet another contribution
of COL and IEC in bringing
teaching resource to a wide
spectrum of readers. The material
designed in a systematic yet
flexible manner can be used in a
variety of situations leading to
development of essential skills in
audio production. Case studies
based on real-life experiences,
activities, boxed checklists, further
reference materials and advice on
the creation and use of audio
materials provide a holistic view
of the issue under study. The
approach adopted is appropriate to
both developed and developing
countries. However, it will be
especially useful to those having
limited access to resources. The
handbook succeeds in meeting its
stated objective of 'setting out
good professional practice in the
design, development and delivery
of audio materials for ODL'.
Dr. Kiron Bansal is Senior Lecturer at the
Electronic Media Production Centre, IGNOU, New Delhi.
|
To Contents....
WinProxy
Having access to Internet and e-mail
has become very important today for
any organization. However, to
provide the access to all employees
through a dedicated leased line is still
a costly affair for many educational
institutions.
For smaller institutions it
is even further difficult to justify the
cost. Therefore, most institutions opt
for a single dial-up connection with
limited access to the employees. You
can find computer in the desktop of
most officials, but not all of them
normally have Internet connectivity.
In this section, we profile a simple
software solution (for such problems)
that we actually use at our office at
Commonwealth Educational Media
Centre for Asia (CEMCA). In order
to provide equal access to all the
employees for their effective
functioning, we use WinProxy
(<http://www.winproxy.com>) in a
Local Area Network.
Overview
WinProxy eliminates the complexity
and expense of maintaining multiple
phone lines, modems and user
accounts for each individual
connection as required under
conventional schemes. Combining the
advantages of the latest Internet
connection sharing technology,
WinProxy is an exceptionally easy-toinstall,
easy-to-use software package.
WinProxy runs on a single Windows
95/98/NT/2000/Me based PC and
supports virtually any local area
network (LAN), including wireless
connections.
Because it is a software solution,
WinProxy does not require a
dedicated server and can be installed
on any PC on the network (typically
the one maintaining the physical
TCP/IP connection to the Internet).
By installing WinProxy, the user
designates that PC as the only PC
authorized to make a physical
connection to the Internet.
WinProxy then acts as the network's
Internet gateway by accepting
authorized requests for Internet
access from all other PCs and routing
the connection through WinProxy on
behalf of the individual users, hence
the term proxy. Since Internet traffic
tends to happen in "bursts,"
WinProxy not only allows multiple
users to share access to a single
physical connection, but also allows
them to be online simultaneously
with modest declines in traffic
throughput.
Key Features
• Easy ten-minute installation on
most PCs
• Extensive alerting for virus
attempts, smart filter, etc.
• New transparent proxy
technology: WinProxy combines
the simplicity of Network
Address Translation (NAT)
technology with the flexibility
and control of a classic proxy
server. New transparent proxy
technology eliminates the need
to reconfigure applications or
install special software on each
client computer.
• Simultaneous and transparent
access: With WinProxy, the
client computers on your
network do not require special
software and there's no need to
configure individual
applications.
• Secure firewall and antivirus
protection
• Outgoing and SMTP Virus
Scanning
• Site restrictions: WinProxy
powerful site filtering allows you
to block access to sites
containing objectionable
material, an ideal feature for
controlling Internet access in a
home, school or business
environment.
• Robust User Restrictions and
Internet Access Control
• Optimized Internet connection:
Advanced network-wide caching
gives every user accelerated
access to frequently visited sites.
This can dramatically improve
performance as WinProxy helps
reduce the time spent waiting for
favorite sites to download.
How it Works
You simply install WinProxy on any
Windows-based network PC or server
(typically the one maintaining the
physical TCP/IP connection to the
Internet). Installation takes less than
ten minutes in many cases. That PC or
server is designated as the only
machine authorized to make a
physical connection to the Internet.
A
dedicated server is not required. You
point the other PCs in your network to
the proxy server via a simple
adjustment in the TCP/IP network
interface card (NIC) setting.
Then open your browser or e-mail
application and you are automatically
connected to the Internet as if you had
your own dedicated connection.
Internet access through WinProxy is
virtually transparent to any network
users. WinProxy runs unattended as a
service in the background,
automatically establishing connections
when required and logging off when
service is no longer required.
Pros: Simple set up, easy, browserbased
maintenance, site screening and
firewall capabilities, relatively
inexpensive .
Cons: Not optimal for larger or more
intensive sites needing an enterpriselevel
proxy server, cannot run on non-
Windows platforms.
To Contents....
Aquaculture Multimedia
Project at Dr. BRAOU
A COL-CEMCA sponsored project on Developing,
testing and evaluating prototype multimedia lessons in
cross-cultural context is making steady progress. For
developing the multimedia materials, a three-day
workshop on scripting and multimedia storyboard
preparation was conducted in the month of October
2001. Six Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) and five other
faculty members of Dr. B. R. Ambedkar Open University
(Dr. BRAOU), Hyderabad were trained in the workshop.
As a result, the SMEs have started providing
input/lessons in storyboard format. Recently a high end
Macintosh machine (iMac) has been installed at Dr.
BRAOU with appropriate software for multimedia
creation. The project aims at developing 15 multimedia
lessons covering various dimensions of Aquaculture.
Apart from using this as a vehicle for extension activity,
the University intends to develop this into a multimedia
based certificate programme supported by print and
other channels.
Internship available at
CEMCA
The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia,
New Delhi, invites applications for an academic
internship of one-year (commencing July 1, 2002) form
Indian citizens.
The intern should have a minimum education of a
Master's level degree in Communication and Journalism
(with a specialization in print media) or Master's level
degree in Education (with specialization in Educational
Technology). An excellent command of English is
essential. The intern should be proficient in DTP and in
current practices in composition and layout of
newsletters and house journals, and familiarity with
packages such as Page Maker, Adobe Photoshop, etc.
The internship carries a stipend of Rs. 8,500/-
(consolidated), but provides a young person with an
opportunity to work and learn in an international
organization with high standards.
Nominations/applications along with a resume,
supported by copies of certificates and testimonials and
endorsed by the Head of the Department should reach
The Head, Administration and Finance
The Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia
IGNOU's Regional Centre Building,
52, Tughlakabad
Institutional Area,
New Delhi 110 062
Tel: 011 609 6730;
Fax: 011 608 5208
E-mail: cemca@nda.vsnl.net.in
The last date to receive application / nomination is May
15, 2002. Only short listed candidates shall be informed.
To Contents....
Approximately 240 terabytes
(compressed) of unique data are
recorded on printed media worldwide
each year, as shown below :
Printed Information Flow in the World
To Contents....
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Second Pan- Commonwealth Forum on Open Learning
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Conference on "Open L e a r n i n g : Transforming Education for
Development" from 29 July 2002 - 2 August 2002, International Convention
Centre, Durban, South Africa.
For further details contact:
Ms Jennie Louv,
Conference Information Secretariat, PO Box 3 1 8 2 2 , B r a a m f o n t e i n ,
Johannesburg. 2017 South Africa.
Fax: 27114032814
e-mail: jennlyl@saide.org.za
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CRIDALA 2002
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The Hong Kong-based
Centre for Research in
Distance & Adult
Learning (CRIDAL) is
organizing CRIDALA
2002, a conference on four themes
regarding teaching, learning and
culture change on the Internet or
web-based environment. Hosted by
the Open University of Hong Kong,
the conference is to be held June
5-7, 2002.
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For more information, contact:
(Ms.) Lettice AuYeung of the
CRIDALA 2002 Organizing
Committee, Centre for Research in
Distance & Adult Learning, The
Open University of Hong Kong, 30
Good Shepherd Street, Homantin, Kowloon, HONG KONG.
Fax: (852) 2715 9042
E-mail: cridala@ouhk.edu.hk
On-line registration: http://www.ouhk.edu.hk/cridal/crid
ala2002/
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AACE
The Asia-Pacific Chapter of
Association for the Advancement
of Computing in Education is
holding a conference on "Learning
communities on the Internet -
Pedagogy in implementation". To
be held in the North Harbour
Stadium of
Auckland, New
Zealand, the
conference runs
Dec. 3-6, 2002.
For more information, contact: Julie
Lyons, conference secretary,
Department of Information Systems,
Massey University, Private Bag 11
222, Palmerston North, New
Zealand.
Fax: 64 6 350 5725
E-mail: icce2002_admin@massey.ac.nz
http://icce2002.massey.ac.nz
|
International
Federation for
Information
Processing:
World Computer
Congress 2002
|
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Runs from 25th - 30th of August
2002, Montreal, Canada. Theme:
information technology for our
times: ideas, research and
application in an inclusive world
(Stream of the TC-3 : TelELearning).
For further details contact: Rosa
Maria Bottino, Consiglio Nazionale
delle Ricerche, Istituto per la
Matematica Applicata, Via de
Marini 6, 16149 Genova, Italy.
Fax. (+39) 010 6475660.
E-mail: bottino@ima.ge.cnr.it Website:http://www.wcc2002.org/ en/index.html
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EDUCAUSE
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Educause, an
American nonprofit
association
of open learning,
is holding its
annual conference in Atlanta,
Georgia, on Oct. 1-4, 2002. This
year's theme is "Juggling
opportunities in collaborative
environments".
For more information, contact:
EDUCAUSE,
1150 18th Street,
NW,
Suite 1010,
Washington, DC 20036,
USA
Fax: 202-872-4318
E-mail: info@educause.edu
Web site: http://www.educause.edu/conference/e2002
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IEEE
International
Workshop
|
 |
on Knowledge
Media Networking
(KMN'02) to be held from July 10-12,
2002 at Kyoto, Japan.
For more information,
Contact: kmn02@khn.crl.go.jp
Website: http://lttf.ieee.org/kmn2002/
IEEE International
Conference
on Advanced Learning
Technologies (ICALT2002) to be
held from September 9-12, 2002 at Kazan, Russia.
For more information,
Contact: Ildar Kh. Galeev, Organizing Chair
Department of Information
Technologies and Technical Aids of
Learning
Kazan State Technological
University
420015,
68, K. Marx str., Kazan,
Tatarstan, Russia
Fax: +7 8432 36-57-68
Email: monap@kstu.ru
Dear readers,
EduComm Asia is your
newsletter of useful ideas,
views and information. From
one issue to the next, we aim
strengthen the newsletter.
The best way to do so is by
keeping content diverse. You
can help to do so by becoming
a contributor. Write to us
about educational media
news and other events that
you would like to see in the
newsletter. All contributions
shall be duly acknowledged
and appreciated.
-Editors
To Contents....
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