PLANNING FOR THE NEXT MILLENIUM
Distance Learning Is Near
Internet, besides transferring knowledge, promises to transfer content-control into the user’s hands.
For long, it has been recognized that imparting knowledge is the only way to empower people and reduce disparities. The traditional model of the teacher transferring knowledge to students in the educational institutions has found many limitations inherent in the system—teachers, environment, and education material. The medium used, including the books may have limitations of understanding and interpretation—being prone to alter the meaning of the content itself---as the medium and the content heavily depend on the author and the communicator.
Need for Distance Learning
Though broadcast medium like TV has been successfully used for mass education, it too suffered from limitations of the content and lack of its control with the learner.
Internet, besides making knowledge available, has transferred the control on the content into the user's hands, from the author's. The focus has now shifted to content creation than teaching itself. Also, the educators have the richness of multimedia to effectively deliver information over long distances, interactively.
University of the Web
Glenn Jones, a pioneer of the US cable industry, is making another pioneering effort to set up the University of Web--also called Jones International University--with initial focus on adult-working students to augment their education. It will provide "education-on-demand". Jones believes that education is a great hope of the world, erasing national borders and obstacles to personal economic development in the uninhibited environment of Internet.
Jones also has experience from his Knowledge TV, an educational network linking dozens of colleges and universities. His "Model J", an all Internet operation, draws from his four ventures: The TV channel, the web university, e-education (creates software to enable universities to post courses on Internet) and college communities (a web-based college registration clearing house). Jones has thus moved from being a carrier of others' content to being a content provider himself. He firmly believes that one must enter into the 21st century with the 21st century tools, i.e., Internet.
The Indian Initiatives
Among others, IIT Bombay is planning to launch a distance education programme using Internet. It comprises video lectures using CD-ROMs backed by local support in the respective city. Keeping in mind that initially it may be expensive for some students to even access Internet, course programs are replicated on local servers, though advanced programs may still require access to IIT servers through Internet. Another initiative—involving IITs, other universities, and the central as well as state governments—is IUNET-INDIA, in co-operation with Carnegie Mellon University, to provide a backbone for multimedia education.
In another exercise, a feasibility has been carried out through the efforts of the Department of Electronics—aiming at multimedia distance education—in Karnataka (with Software Technology Parks of India as coordinator) and Rajasthan. It explored updation—rather than basic education—for primary health workers engaged in rural distant health programs like malnutrition, family planning, and animal husbandary and teachers using receive-only terminals, CDs, and sometimes, videoconferencing.
Schoolnet
Distance learning has made it possible that around the world, children in classrooms—thousands of miles apart—are learning to study together, share their learnings, exchange views, or simply chat with each other. For instance, two fifth-graders may be working together on a joint project on Haley's Comet: one of them from a classroom in New Jersey and the other from West Berlin. Such powerful learning and teaching technology may transform the entire concept of education.
|
|
Glenn Jones, who is making pioneering efforts to set up the University of Web, believes education is a great hope of the world, erasing national borders and obstacles to personal economic development in the uninhibited environment of Internet. |
Such system, instead of forcing students to learn in order to gain recognition, creates a learning process that is in itself the reward. It has a sense of fun and fulfillment built into it. A dull geometry lesson is replaced by an animated demonstration by none other than Pythagoras himself. Or a dry history lecture transformed by a video clip of Mandela's release. Using easily comprehensible technology to link that fifth grader in the US to his counterpart in Germany. This is the essence of this project called "Schoolnet". It is technology fully integrated into the education process. Videos, CD-ROMs, electronic books, pre-screened Internet sites, and Internet-based tools give students entry to the information highway, and to "surround" content and multi-media packages. And give teachers access to information that supplements teaching methodologies and enhances the syllabus.
Schoolnet India, an IL&FS initiative in India, has a vision to provide connectivity and content to children in schools across the country and is expected to make its appearance in schools all over India in less than a year. It will also provide universal connectivity, which means that students in India will be linked not only to other students across the nation but also to their peers across the globe. Thus helping to rear a technologically savvy generation in a new framework of "Networked Learning".
In a world where information is power, such projects will ensure more power to our children leading to a truly empowered generation. However, it does require a filtering process in place for the content quality. Also, to thwart any cultural resistance.
By
Niraj K.Gupta, Voice and Data, April 1999