Elearning Tools and Technologies for Broader IT education

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E-learning Tools and Technologies for Broader IT
education

• Mangala Sunder Krishnan
• Department of Chemistry
• IIT Madras
• Chennai 600036

Web courses coordinator NPTEL Project, the
Ministry of HRD
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Acknowledgment

• Professor K. R. Srivathsan and his team in IIITM
• My partners in the NPTEL project
• My e-learning and computer-based-course design
  guru, Prof. Bryan C. Sanctuary, McGill
  University, Canada,
• My project associates in the Web Studio, IIT
  Madras (well over fifty) from whom I learnt a lot

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Elementary Lecture

• What is learning at a distance?
• Pedagogical differences between on-campus and
  off-campus learning
• Technological challenges in online learning
• Different methods / approaches for a successful
  process

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Use examples from

• National Programme on Technology
• Enhanced Learning
• (NPTEL Project, Ministry of HRD)
• Approaches from MITs Open Courseware
• Sample Lessons from the Open Learning
• Initiative of Carnegie Mellon University

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Learning a topical subject at a distance

• No philosophies (not there yet, perhaps) but
  practical problems.
• Necessity to learn for professional/career
• development
• Effective learning in a reasonably short time to
  ensure competitiveness (on topics like
  e-security, it is a must)
• Formal teaching methods may not have evolved
  adequately.

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Learning a topical subject at a distance

• Cannot be reduced to teaching, examination and
  assessment in a time bound, academic programme
• Requires interaction of a faceless kind for most
  part of the process of teaching and learning
  (though it can be partly corrected by video
  streaming)

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Instruction is not Information - Merrill ?
Recall Gagnes 9 steps of instruction. To that we
add suitable Learning Model Ex Problem Based
Learning.
ENSURE A WEB-SUPPORTED LEARNING ECOSYSTEM FOR
EACH MODULE WITH CONTENT IN EACH OF THE ABOVE 5
LEARNING ACTIVITIES COMPONENT.
Slide, courtesy of Professor K. R. Srivathsan,
Director, IIITM Kerala
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Pedagogical differences

• Classrooms and physical campuses do not exist.
  Anytime, anywhere, any pace learning has to be
  enabled
• Topical subjects can only be offered on a broad
  basis and cannot be highly specializedcost is an
  important factor
• Feedback and redesign of classes and coursework--
  not immediate based on the response of the
  students
• Requires a high degree of organization than
  classroom lecturing

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The technology

• Integrated teaching-interaction-learning-design-ed
  ucation through an Online University setup
• Access, connectivity all times and periodic
  assessment
• Remember learning is not training or controlling
  the classroom environment.

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Integrated Syllabus, Content Management and
Instructional Support Services Model
For each subject area, we need this
web-accessible environment
Slide by Prof. K. R. Srivathsan
? Well-managed system as above for each subject
will keep syllabus automatically up to date.
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Description of a learning environment through a
project currently undertaken

• National Programme on Technology Enhanced
  Learning to provide access to a little more than
  750 engineering courses online by 2010.
• The users are teachers and students all over
  India first (others from outside are not
  excluded)
• The programme follows a curriculum closely
• Course contents to meet the needs of
  undergraduates

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Web Courses --Objectives
Summary of the programme for web supplements

• Localization of examples
• Elaboration of key concepts and theorems to
• facilitate clearer understanding
• Case studies to provide more comprehensive
• design experience
• Examples that require the use of different
• categories of engineering knowledge under
• different sets of assumptions.
• Question banks to assist instructors to design
  
• good test and examinations

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• Simple course management packages that
  provide
• features like e-mail queries by students,
  bulletin
• board and frequently asked questions (FAQ).
• Many modules are being prepared preferably by
  a
• team of faculty.
• The material will be suitably organized to
  create CDs
• to meet the needs of students of different
  universities.
• The same material can be suitably
  restructured for
• printing.

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Video Courses --Objectives
The programme for video lectures

• The course will consist of around 40 video
  lectures.
• Each video lecture will be of one hour duration
• to enhance the longevity of the video lectures.
• Video lectures are confined to core concepts.
• Its contents are distinct from text book and web
• support material

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Video Courses --Objectives

• The video lectures utilize the facilities of
  the video
• medium and are expected to contain
  interactions with
• professionals from industry as appropriate.
• The lectures will emphasize the relations of
  theory to
• industrial practice as appropriate creation
  of video
• lecture units is not tied with the scheduling
  of regular
• courses in the Institution.

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Deployment and follow-up Services
The following possibilities are being examined
regarding dissemination of web content

• Host the e-content on a web site that students
  can log on to.
• E-contents be made available in the form of
  CDs.
• Colleges be encouraged to host these materials
  on one
• of their servers and allow students to access.
  
• E-content converted into print form and then
  distributed
• at a low cost.
• Navigational flexibility of e-material, not
  possible in print
• format.

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Several workshops in IIT Madras, IIT Kharagpur,
IISc Bangalore and IIT Bombay. Review of
E-support material by various faculty outside of
the PIs in progress. Generation of E-Support
Material for the video All the courses to be
broadcast through Eklavya, or, are in the queue
for broadcast in the coming months
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E-learning /supplementing engineering education
through NPTEL

• The site which contains details of courseware for
  undergraduate engineering programmes is
• http//nptel.iitm.ac.in

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E-Learning Resources through Sakshat Portal

• The site to visit is Sakshat portal maintained by
  the IGNOU for the Ministry of HRD

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E-learning through the Open Learning Initiative
(OLI)

• The site to visit is the open educational
  initiative by Carnegie Mellon University,
  Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
• http//www.cmu.edu/oli
• (Google search Open Learning Initiative, OLI)

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Basic principles for e-learning (not e-training,
manpower quality control through e-, web processes

• Education is a process through which concepts are
  identified by the teachers
• Organized in a logical fashion from easy to
  difficult to profound concepts
• Explained through examples specific to the
  subject
• Development of the thought processes which
  evolved the concepts indicated

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Basic principles for learning (not e-training,
manpower quality control through e-, web processes

• Conceptual understanding tested through questions
  of different levels of difficulties and different
  types of responses multiple choices, fill in the
  blanks and matching are but a small part, not the
  most, of the examination processes.
• Analytic abilities, comprehension of the subject,
  retention of important data and scientific
  INFORMATION by the learner are all part of the
  learning paradigm.
• Most important it is quite personal-based on
  one-to-one contact between the teacher and the
  learner.

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Basic principles for e-learning (not e-training,
manpower quality control through e-, web processes

• E-learning methodologies to capture the above
  without one of the most important elementsthat
  of a lively classroom in which discussion and
  dialogue are instantaneous.
• E-education to students done through a network
  are still not quite effective because of the
  dilution of one or more of the interactions, or
  evaluation.

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Designing a platform which minimizes the losses
and not necessarily eliminate them altogether
(not possible to eliminate?)

• Things which are not stated in the class but are
  understood by the students, interpreted from the
  spontaneous responses and personalization of
  delivery, must be recaptured?
• How do we make a Feynman or a Jagdish Chandra
  Bose (who would excite the audience) out of the
  internet?
• How do we bring in the simultaneous laughter and
  joy of a good demonstration we understand when we
  see together?
• Difficult questions and some may not even have
  any answer except in a contact classroom.
• Hence the objective is to put the principles
  behind any subject in as lucid a form as possible
  and enable the process of learning to be unfolded
  as one goes through a course material online.

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E-Learning Standards

• Content
• Pedagogy
• Delivery
• Feedback

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The learning paradigm is different

• Even in a course like e-security, a demonstration
  by a professional in a classroom of how the
  attack of a virus happened in the most secure
  system in the US will bring in a different
  experience from merely reading about it through a
  web course.

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Content and pedagogy for e-learning (suggestions
only)

• Supplementary audio-video lessons are extremely
  important in the learning process of an
  individual in isolation, connected to others
  through wires and wireless mode.
• Audio-tracks in which a teacher who is excited to
  teach the subject explains the concept as an
  adjunct to a web based text will add to the
  learning abilities.

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Content and pedagogy for e-learning

• Difficulty level of different learners must be
  assessed periodically. Classroom provides for
  this instantly when blank faces are more in
  number after describing a concept. A good teacher
  will immediately switch to a lower gear and will
  try to bring in a more elementary example, or
  engage the one who seemingly understood the idea
  to explain to others!
• Participation by students is important.

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Content and pedagogy for e-learning

• Visual aids of several different kinds must be
  included in the design.
• They may range from a representative diagram
  describing the best and the most secured network
  to one that was the least secure there was a
  time when someone found out the password for the
  administration of the hotmail network because it
  had very few characters!! Fortunately, he
  distributed it widely over the network to bring
  Microsoft on its knees for sometime.

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Content and pedagogy for e-learning

• They may involve animations at various levels of
  how to assemble such networks and how to detect a
  breach in cyber security of a given company etc.
• They may involve possible scenarios of different
  levels of insecure network and asking learners to
  identify the most susceptible one, etc.

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Interactivity and feedback in the learning cycle
(Content and pedagogy)

• An example asking a student to list/identify
  things in the order of increasing priority
  procedural lapses in setting up a secure network
  environment can be quite useful.
• Even better would be to let the student design a
  simple, correct sequence of setting up the
  network from a set of given components on the
  screen

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Interactivity and feedback in the learning cycle
(Content and pedagogy)

• Compare his/her design with the solution provided
  by the course designer
• Analyze why and how the solution by the student
  was not adequate if there is deficiency of
  understanding.
• These are cognitive elements in learning which
  must be built in the environment.

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Assessment, feedback and redesign of e-learning
materials.

• As important as are student feedbacks in the
  evolution of a good text book over several
  editions. (not reprinting)
• Text books often take decades to become good and
  well referred to sources,
• Good text books often motivate the learner to
  explore the subject further.

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Assessment, feedback and redesign of e-learning
materials.

• Assessment is not multiple choice questions.
• Analysis of answers by students is not
  characterizing how many answered correctly and
  how many were wrong?
• Analysis is to draw an inference as to WHY the
  students went wrong?

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Assessment, feedback and redesign of e-learning
materials.

• Analysis is to find those questions that a
  majority do not answer correctly and REDESIGNING
  them in line with what was expected as outcome of
  the course.
• Redesign must necessarily result in better
  performance by the students.
• Redesigning a course may require adding
  preliminary requirements, making simple concepts
  even more transparent and discovering alternative
  ways of explaining the concepts.

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A course through e-learning is never made once
and once only

• As the learner base increases as well as widens
  across regions, other topological issues become
  important.
• Designing minimum requirements and learning
  methods becomes more challenging.
• Supplementary information for under-prepared
  students and challenges in taking the subject
  forward to better prepared students needs to be
  added and also balanced across course limits.

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E-learning is a whole new PARADIGM yet to be
understood fully

• It is becoming increasingly important in a world
  which is turned FLAT (Michael Freedman?)
• Important in the world in which the learner has
  access to more and more high quality learning
  environments in the open sources saga.
• Important in the world in which learning outside
  of a traditional classroom can pay rich dividends
  if only the learner is focused about his needs
  and matches them with the professional career.

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Recall how we got here.

• India started with Gurukulam where learning was
  within closed doors and was the privilege of the
  few.
• India also had the Worlds first distant
  learnerthe Ekalavya with a Guru refusing him to
  teach things.
• If his example is to be quoted, e-learning could
  be better that conventional learning!!
• We only have to find out how Ekalavya did or,
  better ( since we dont know), how he could have
  done!!

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Thank you very much
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Technical standards for e-learning

• There are three files attached here which give
  you the flair for standards which are evolving.

• Content creation styles
• Content standardization
• Content delivery Standards