Proliferation of ICT in Education –

Major Govt. Initiatives - Challenges

Dr. B. K. MurthyDirector & Head

National Knowledge Network DivisionMinistry of Communications and IT

Govt. of India

Presentation at Nagpur, 11th June, 2011

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Key Factors of Knowledge Economy

Govt. role is to act as a

catalyst

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Challenges: Digital Students

By age 21, the average college student would have spent:

10,000 hours video games200,000 emails20,000 hours TV10,000 hours cell phone10,000 hours of PC/Internet usageUnder 5,000 hours reading

Challenges for Technology

Countrywide classrooms? Various Tools & TechnologiesSharing of Educational resources on the Grid/CloudVarious Gadgets

High end Workstations to low cost access devicesContent for all:

Multimodal, Multilingual, locale specific, Just-in-timeCreation of Closed User Groups:

Online Collaborative ResearchOpen Source Drug Discovery/Design/Engg.

Network protocols to support various gadgetsKnowledge Centers to Host various portalsNetwork Security/QoS to cater to all types of traffic

emails/chatting/lectures/telemedicine/VC/e-Gov. etc. on the same Backbone??

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Challenges – Social

The challenge of numbers/ScalabilityThe challenge of QualityThe challenge of access/ReliabilityThe Challenge of Sustainability/affordabilityThe Challenge of InclusivenessThe challenge of course management

Guiding a student through a curriculumTapping the right content from the right source

But the most important of all……..

The challenge of the mind-set !!!

ICT in Education: Role of MCIT/DIT

Initiate Pilots in frontier areas before the formal system respondsCourses on Microprocessor in late 70sUG/PG Courses in ICT in early 80sEstablishment of ERNET, CDAC, DOEACC in late 80sLanguage Computing/Learning Material Development in Emerging Technologies in early 90sE-learning activities: Courseware for MS (BITS Pilani), ADIT of IGNOU etc. in late 90sCurrently UG/PG Courses on VLSI Design/Embedded Systems Design/Information SecurityTechnology Innovation Promotion

Being initiated and nurtured till the formal system takes over

and now establishment of National Knowledge Network

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ICT in Education: Major Govt. Initiatives

Department of IT, Ministry of Comm. & ITEstablishment of National Knowledge NetworkNational Skill Development Initiative

Ministry of HRDNational Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)

About 400 courses (40 hours each) in Engineering & Technology developed by faculties of IITs/IISc and available for free Usage by Tier II and Tier III colleges

National Mission on Education Through ICTICT@Schools

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National Knowledge Network

To interconnect all Institutions of higher learning and Research for knowledge sharing and collaborative Research across the country with a high speed data communication network.

Objective

To build a scalable network, which can expand both in the geographical coverage and Speed.To be a common Network Backbone like national highway, wherein different categories of users shall be supported.

Design Philosophy

DistributionDistribution

DistributionD

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tion

Distribution

EDGE

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EDGE

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Features of the NKN

Network consists of an ultra-high speed Core ~10Gbps & ~ 1500 nodes. A distribution layer at appropriate speeds. The participating institutions can directly connect to the NKN at speeds between 100Mbps to 1 Gbpsconnect to the distribution layer through a last mile connectivity bandwidth (Edge nodes).

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NKNNKN

Educational Institutions

Research LabsCSIR/DAE/ISRO/ICAR

INTERNET

Connections to Global Networks

(e.g. GEANT)

EDUSAT

MPLSClouds

Broad BandClouds

National / StateData Centers

NationalInternet

Exchange Points (NIXI)

Cert-IN

•To create CORE for NKN Final Phase at the earliest.

•Backbone 2.5G to begin with soon 10G

•This provides the required redundancy and availability of NKN CORE.

•Gateways at Mumbai & Chennai apart from Delhi Hyderabad

• Complete rollout in 2-3 yrs

• Implementation by NIC

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Current Status

20 PoPs were set up across the country200+ Institutions of Higher Learning were connectedVirtual Class Rooms in 26 IITs, ISERsInaugurated by the Hon’ble President of India on April 9, 2009Final Phase: 20-25 PoPs, 600+ secondary PoPs, 1500 core institutions (400+ universities, R&D labs) to be connectedTraffic from the affiliated colleges/centers/institutions are aggregated through MPLS-VPN to connect to NKN

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National Mission on Education through ICT

VisionCatering to the learning needs and providing a one stop solution to all the requirements of the learning community.

ObjectivesDevelopment of knowledge modules & the right content Research in the field of pedagogy Standardization and quality assurance of content Spreading digital literacy for teacher empowerment Providing support for the creation of virtual technological universities;

Connectivity at Institution Level

20,000 Colleges, each with 20 BB VPN connections High Speed LANs in Universities each having 400 nodes Connectivity ~ 1Gbps to universitiesNMEICT-NKN Interconnection, 1GB each about 10-15 LocationsInternet connectivity to BSNL VPN cloud.

INTERNET INTERNET

NMEICT Connecting: Universities

BSNL CloudBSNL Cloud

UNIV #2UNIV#1

NKN CLOUDNKN CLOUD

UNIV #3

INTERNET INTERNET

Universities merging with NKN

BSNL CloudBSNL Cloud

UNIV #2UNIV#1

NKN CLOUDNKN CLOUD

UNIV #3

INTERNET INTERNET

Universities Aggregating Affiliated Colleges

BSNL CloudBSNL Cloud

UNIV #2UNIV#1

NKN CLOUDNKN CLOUD

Colleges

MPLS CLOUDc

Aggregate Traffic to NKN

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ICT @ SchoolsScheme of MHRD launched in 2004 and now Revised in 2010Coverage: All Govt./Govt. aided Higher Secondary/Secondary schools

Target is to cover about 100,000 schools by 2012

Objectives:Establish enabling environment to promote usage of ICT in an inclusive manner

• Providing infrastructure & connectivity

Promote development and dissemination of e-content in regional languageTo promote ICT tools for distance education

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National Skill Development Initiative Government of India has approved the ‘Coordinated Action of Skill Development’: Three tier structure set up:

Prime Minister’s National Council on Skill DevelopmentNational Skill Development Coordination BoardNational Skill Development Corporation

National Skill Development Policy announcedTo create a pool of 500 million trained persons by the year 2022.DITs Target in NSDI is 10 million in ICT by 2022

500 million IT literates by 2022

Through a 3 pronged strategy:

Scaling up of capacities of DOEACC Society to train 1 crore persons by 2022.- To cover the entire spectrum of Training & Education starting from certificate level to Doctoral level (both Formal as well Non-Formal)

Scaling up of capacities of CDAC to train ~ 7 lakh persons by 2022. - High end courses, close to Industry needs, quick cycle time for introduction of New Courses to meet emerging needs

Financial Assistance to States/UTs for setting up of ICT Academies in each State/UTs

- To ensure quality faculty who are current with the latest development in IECT sector

DIT’s Initiatives for Skill Development in IECT

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ICT infrastructure Connecting Global

U N I V E R S I T YU N I V E R S I T Y

Internet

Wi-Fi Enabled Virtual Classroom

VPN/Firewall/ IPS

Database Servers

Application Servers

Web Servers

Servers Pool

VPN/IP MPLS Network

Highe

r Lea

rnin

g Ins

titut

ions

Servers

Servers

Servers

1

3

2

n

10 Gigabit GRID Connecting

Institutions on common Network

Internet 2

GEANT

colleges Schools

Backbone

Central Data Centre

Hosting Content & Applications of different disciplines

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Cla

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Instr

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Govt.

Colleges/ Universities

National Knowledge Network

National Mission on Education

Internet/ Broadband

LMS/ Authoring Tools

Local Language Support tools

Learning Models

Compression & Streaming

Compliances & Conformance

Multi Modal Content

Multi Modal/Multi Lingual Delivery

Blended Learning Ubiquitous Learning

Integrated Learning

Secu

red Reliable/

Affordable

Reachabl

e

Increased Quality Motivation & Retention

Just in Time

Infrastructure

Tools & Technologies

Standards

Delivery

Output

Multi Modal Delivery gives Rainbow effect

Localized

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SummaryMissions such as NKN & NME-ICT require enormous determination and vision continuity. The philosophy is “Encourage, Enable, Enrich, and Empower” the users. Collaboration, Interaction and Sharing are Important Paradigms for Quality Education and Innovation, Government would act as Catalyst. ICT is expected to bring in revolution in Education the way Text books revolutionised a few hundred years agoUltimately it is the Mindset of the stake holders requires a paradigm shift – ICT is only a tool it is not a replacement

Laptops can not replace Headtops

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bkm@mit.gov.in