E-Learning: A Tool for Education in Rural India
The population of India counts to 1.0270 billion according to the 2001 census. 70% of this population is habited in villages or rural areas. Rural Indian population is not as fortune as the urban population in terms of access to quality education system (technical education) and information & communication technology infrastructure of cities. The Information Technology (IT) Giant India needs to take its development programs of education, health, technology, agriculture to the masses to eliminate disparities, specifically the digital divide. India has an excellent education system of more than 380 universities and 1265 engineering colleges [4] providing IT education in the country. Despite this the availability of trained manpower is in short supply as far as IT manpower is concerned. As projected in many reports India could face a shortage of 0.5 million skilled IT manpower by 2009. These statistics are indicative of the fact that there is a need of other alternatives to reduce the digital divide (Rural V/s Urban) in the country and also to fill the gap of shortage of IT trained manpower. In such a scenario e-Learning could play a vital role since its enabler, IT infrastructure is developing in India at a very fast pace as it is evident with the development of Business Process Outsourcing industry and number of telephone users in the country. The President of India in his address (4th August, 2004) to the children of the nation said “education is the catalyst of change” and ‘Information Technology is the major driving force and change agent”. To achieve the objective of providing education to all children, he announced the project “EDUSAT”, which would install 150,000 ground terminals in the country. In addition new initiative of e-Government policies of the government are encouraging the usage of information technology in all sectors of the economy including education. In the nutshell, India has a conducive environment where e-Learning could develop in future to solve many problems of education especially in rural India. Keeping this in background, author presented in this paper, various facets of e-Learning in India, present status of e-Learning activities, major organizations & their technologies for creating e-Learning information systems, regulatory framework, government initiations, impact of e-Learning technologies on the education system. In addition the paper includes a framework of e-Learning for rural India and a business case of implementation of e-learning “knowledge hubs” in Aligarh district of Uttar Pradesh.
Factors influencing E-learning adoption in India: Learners' perspective
In the era of electronic-learning 3.0, existing dimensions related to technologies and learner are not adequately explored while discussing e-learning adoption. In the current study, technology and learner dimensions are converged to overcome this insufficiency in analysing e-learning adoption. Earlier studies have reported less about e-learning adoption in higher education through the users' lens. System parameters and learner attributes were derived from theories of information systems and literature on learning theories. To validate the research model, 704 responses were collected through a questionnaire survey from India, where e-learning is gearing up. The present article utilised Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM), which describes the relationship between constructs in the research model. The study identifies technology and learner dimension factors that influence e-learning adoption in developing countries like India. The study also put forward implications and policy recommendations from the findings.
Initial Teacher Training: the French view
ABSTRACT This paper, against the background of trends in the development of initial teacher training in Europe as a whole, identifies and explains some of the recent, radical reforms which were introduced in France by a socialist government. These include the need to raise the status and the competence of the teaching profession; the creation of new teacher‐training institutions of university status (Instituts universitaires de formation des maitres); the introduction of common entry qualifications at degree level for both primary and secondary levels; the harmonisation and the extension to 2 years of the post‐degree teacher‐training course and the increase in emphasis placed on professional training, both theoretical and practical. These reforms provoked a storm of protest and an examination of the reasons for this reveals a multiplicity of crucial questions which have far‐reaching implications.