Smart classes: IIMs to share faculty online

In a first-of-its-kind attempt, the Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) are planning to introduce ‘smart classes’, which could be shared among all centres of the institute online. The move, aimed at beating the faculty crunch, is expected to involve global universities, too. The proposal for these classes is going to be top on agenda when the directors of the 13 IIMs meet Human Resource Development Minister M M Pallam Raju in New Delhi next week.

The IIMs have currently been working with 30 per cent fewer faculty members than requirement. The meeting, to be chaired by Raju, will also discuss the draft Bill to convert IIMs into institutions of national importance through an Act of Parliament. Ajit Balakrishnan, chairman of the board of governors, IIM-Calcutta, says smart classes will be an innovative move and it help students get the best on a particular subject.

According to the plan, videos of lectures by a faculty member could be shared online or through video-conferencing. Besides, courses on various management subjects could be prepared in a way that students could access those online. “This will help the IIMs and its students in a big way. If a particular faculty member is good with derivatives, that (his lectures) can be shared through the e-route among all IIMs,” Balakrishnan adds.

Though IIM-Bangalore currently provides a similar facility on its portal, it is at a much smaller scale. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), too, have a similar project through the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL).

Balakrishnan confirms this endeavour will not be restricted within the country; plans are being evaluated to make it global.“We are looking at the possibility of taking it globally, where content can be shared with other leading international universities and management institutes,” he added.

In India, some existing open universities do provide their educational content online for students who cannot attend the classes, but the quality of these study materials has been suspect. Experts, however, believe the idea of smart classes, if implemented successfully, will be very fruitful for the premier IIMs.

Source: Business Standard, March 31, 2013

Government to spend Rs.1 trillion to democratize information, connect institutions of learning and research

India will spend Rs.1 trillion over the next three years to “democratize information” through projects such as the National Knowledge Network (NKN) and the gram panchayat (village councils) network, Sam Pitroda, adviser to the Prime Minister on public information, infrastructure and innovation, said on Thursday. Pitroda, also a member of the National Innovation Council (NInC), said though the budget for NKN is now Rs. 6,000 crore (Rs. 60 billion), it could increase by some 65%. “We will probably end up spending some Rs. 10,000 crore (Rs. 100 billion) by the time the project is completed.”

NKN aims to connect the top universities, science research institutes, central institutions like the Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), and research labs through fibre optics, to promote research in the country. It will be a multi-gigabit pan-India network providing a unified highspeed network backbone for all knowledge-related institutes in the country. Of the targeted 1,500 institutes, NKN has so far connected 693; the rest will be connected before the end of 2012. “Multi-disciplinary research needs immersive interaction and NKN is facilitating it,” Pitroda said at a select press briefing to give a lowdown on the progress on NKN. “What we are doing now is putting an infrastructure of infrastructure that will drive the growth of India in the coming years.”

NKN will later connect with Edusat (education satellite launched by the Indian Space Research Organization) and foreign research labs to allow people from diverse background to come together, he added. “If you put together all such projects, including UID (unique identity project), then the total investment will be around Rs. 100,000 crore (Rs. 1 trillion) in three years.” Providing broadband connectivity to all village panchayats alone, which is overseen by NInC, will need some Rs. 25,000 crore (Rs. 250 billion), Pitroda said.

All meteorological organizations and related institutions, including the India Meteorological Department in Delhi, the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, and the Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services in Hyderabad are now interconnected under NKN for grid computing on climate change, said R. Chidambaram, scientific adviser to the government. The National Brain Research Centre and Canada’s McGill University too are working together on a project, he said. “It (NKN) is facilitating academia-industry interaction, remote access to advance facilities, rural tech delivery, and research collaboration,” Chidambaram explained. S.V. Raghavan, scientific secretary to the government, said NKN, once fully rolled out, will allow for virtual classrooms, countrywide classrooms and sharing of faculty among institutions. The Meta University that the government wants to set up will be based on the NKN backbone, he added.

Meta University, through which students can take up more than one course at a time and study from different universities, will not be a physical infrastructure. It will be a network based model, said R. Gopalkrishnan, member secretary of NInC. “It will start operation from the 2012 academic session and the details will be fleshed out within a couple of months. We think top-grade universities should be allowed to come together to start this.”

On the challenges to NKN, Pitroda said while the network will provide connectivity, “the need is for content, Indian (local language) content and new applications. We have to see how we can use it to promote vocational education.” But primarily, Pitroda added, there has to be a “change of mindset at the students’, teachers’ and researchers’ level.”

Source: Mint, January 20, 2012

IIT alumnus launches education tablet Classpad

Rohit Pande, a graduate of the Indian Institute of Technology-Delhi (IIT-D) and Indian Institute of Management- Calcutta (IIM-C) comes back to his alma mater to launch his latest innovation Classpad. With his academic background Rohit, plans to make education accessible to each student according to one’s own merit and intellect.

Classpad facilitates personalized and interactive learning in the classroom and makes education accessible to every student according to his/ her individual intelligence level and talent. Using the Classpad, teachers can transfer class work to the students’ tablet, share their own content instantly and conduct tests/ assessments. Students can also give undivided attention to class lessons, attempt assessments and get results to further enhance their learning. Classpad has a touch screen with a 7 hour battery life, 1.3 Ghz processing speed and a built-in memory of 4 GB expandable upto 8 GB.

Addressing the participants at the launch, Mr. Rohit Pande, CEO, Classteacher Learning Systems said, “Our education system does not differentiate students according to the learning capabilities and teach them at the same level, but the software installed in Classpad tests students’ problem solving, creativity and application of language skills. It provides them with personalized teaching as per their learning capabilities. Equipped with artificial intelligence, Classpad can help to categorize students as fast learners, average learners and slow learners. Classpad can assist in reducing the monotony of repetitive sessions in the classroom. Teachers can now complete their syllabus within schedule and get considerable time to focus on slow learners.” Classpad is available for students in standard 3 to 12.

Source: The Economic Times (Online Edition), January 2, 2012

Infotel Broadband buys 38.5% in Extramarks Education

Infotel Broadband, the Reliance Industries subsidiary that holds pan-India wireless broadband permits, has acquired 38.5% stake in Extramarks Education, a company focused on school education and digital learning, for an undisclosed amount. The investment in Extramarks has been made through an affiliate company Reliance Strategic Investments, RIL said in a statement on Tuesday.

However, investment will enable Extramarks to pursue growth plans, it said, indicating that RIL invested in freshly issued shares. Extramarks’ content is distributed digitally, making it valuable to Infotel that plans to launch wireless broadband services.

Infotel is the only company in India to have bandwidth for highspeed wireless broadband service across the country. Reliance Industries bought the company in mid-2010, shortly after Infotel won spectrum at a government auction, for approximately Rs. 13,000 crore (Rs. 130 billion).

The company plans to launch services in mid-2012. “The relationship with Reliance is the start of an exciting phase for Extramarks. Over the last two years we have progressed on our journey of revolutionising the domestic education sector through technology-enabled smart solutions and active participation in infrastructure development,” Extramarks Chairman Atul Kulshreshta said in a statement.

In May 2010, the Ambani brothers terminated a non-compete agreement of five years, allowing RIL’s re-entry into telecom. RIL’s entry is expected to trigger a tariff war in the data services space, say industry experts. The company may offer data at Rs. 10 per gigabit, compared with Rs. 100 for most operators currently, say people familiar with its plans. While analysts have said RIL is likely to acquire a mobile service operator to complete its service offerings, the company has maintained it will only service the Internet and data market.

Source: The Economic Times, November 9, 2011

Government to connect higher education institutes

At least 15 million college students pursuing higher education will be able to share information, lab experiments and classroom content as the Union cabinet on Tuesday approved a proposal to connect 572 universities, 25,000 colleges and 2,000 polytechnics as part of its mission to promote technology usage in higher education.

This approval will merge the National Knowledge Network, promoted by the erstwhile National Knowledge Commission, and the National Mission on Education through Information Communication and Technology (NMEICT). With this, all colleges and universities can hope for seamless connectivity that will enable e-learning, and enhance e-content repository and sharing of best practices.

“The ultimate target is to provide last-mile connectivity and provide high-quality e-content to be used with the connectivity being provided to the universities and colleges across the country,” Ambika Soni​, Union minister for Information and Broadcasting, said after a cabinet meeting. In colleges and universities with Internet access, the technology will be upgraded to optical fibre cables from copper wire-based connectivity, the cabinet note says. Every institute will have a “provisioning of 400 nodes of LAN (local area network) on an average.”

Initially, the government had approved connecting 18,000 colleges and 419 universities. The addition of polytechnics is a part of the government’s push to promote vocational and skill education to bridge the demand-supply gap for efficient human resources in the country. The government has not specified the amount to be spent on the initiative.

Since 2009, only 11,600 colleges have got Internet connectivity—a success rate of 47%, according to data from the human resource development ministry. States that have benefited include Haryana, Punjab, Kerala and Karnataka. Once seamless connectivity is established, students will have complete access to the e-content being generated under NMEICT.

Several hundred hours of lectures of Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) professors will be available for free. In addition, the ministry is promoting a virtual lab and an interactive online audio tutorial. In October, the government launched a low-cost computer for students. But both government and private experts have said such devices will not drive a change in learning unless college have access to the Internet. With the latest decision to improve connectivity, the $35 computer can be used better despite its several configuration limitations. Human resource development minister Kapil Sibal​ had said the device ‘Aakash’ will help eliminate digital illiteracy, but the country needs high-quality study content to be made accessible to students online.

Private universities say the move is a good step, but Internet connectivity and e-content need to be integrated for students to benefit. Aman Mittal, deputy director at Punjab’s Lovely Professional University, said the facility is unlikely to be free. “This is a good step as students and professors can now access a lot of information available outside their own campus. But what is required is to boost the e-content repository and clear framework on how to use it better,” he said. “But anyway, availing IIT lectures will be of help to students.”

Colleges and universities that have already adopted technology will benefit more, he said. “But I believe there should be some agreed framework on the usage. If a lecture series is happening at any IIT or a leading varsity, we can benefit if there is some broad agreement on content sharing.” India has some 130 private universities, according to official statistics.

Source: Mint, November 2, 2011

Everonn to plough in Rs. 1.5 billion for learning solutions

Everonn Education Ltd. will invest nearly Rs. 150 crore (Rs. 1.5 billion) in the current financial year to expand its footprint in virtual and technology-enabled learning solutions in schools and colleges. The Chennai-based company will use funds from internal accruals. It has Rs. 100 crore (Rs. 1 billion) in cash; a networth of Rs. 520 crore (Rs. 5.2 billion) in the balance sheet; and debt of Rs. 200 crore (Rs. 2 billion).

The company will also use the funds to expand the ICT in Government projects and in its subsidiaries and business development. Everonn is also exploring the option of foraying into overseas markets with Africa being one region that has a lot of potential.

The company reported consolidated net profit of Rs. 68 crore (Rs. 680 million) on revenue of Rs. 425 crore (Rs. 4.25 billion) for the financial year ended March 31, 2011. It has over 10,000 points of presence across the country and touches the lives of over eight million students.

Source: The Hindu Business Line, August 5, 2011

12th Plan to look at faculty retention: MHRD

In an attempt to increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in higher education to 21% by the end of the 12th Five Year Plan period from the current 13.5%, the Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is formulating an action plan to achieve this target. It will discuss the matter in an internal meeting on Tuesday.

Raising the GER would entail an additional enrollment of over 26 million in higher education and almost 1 million school teachers by 2020. “Thus, a concerted strategy to retain best talents in universities for faculty positions and preparing secondary teachers needs to be formulated. It would also require changes in strategies relating to open learning and technology enabled learning,” said a ministry note.

For faculty attraction and retention, the ministry is mulling Human Resource Planning and Management (HRPM) centres at the university level to assess teacher requirement and plan their professional growth research and faculty development programmes such as seminars, training, workshops, incentive and award schemes.

Besides faculty development, the meeting — which will happen at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Guwahati — will also discuss vocationalisation through short and medium-term training to achieve 50% enrolment in vocational education sector of higher education by 2020. This is so because even after achieving a GER of 30%, there would be 150 million or more youth who would require vocational education, the ministry says.

Encouragement to private investment is next on the agenda with substantial role of private sector at diploma and degree programmes. On the research and innovation front, the government may look at Sector Innovation Councils that would provide platforms for innovation right from school to higher education and would be developed alongwith at least 50 centres of innovation in different institutions of higher learning.

In fact, the note asks for appropriate amendments in the Copyright Law to foster creativity and to keep it in harmony with the features of the World Intellectual Property Organization. Also on the agenda of Tuesday’s meeting is the much ignored local languages along with book promotion and reading habits.

Source: The Financial Express, July 26, 2011