National Education Grid as Knowledge Infrastructure for Education and Open Learning

Proposal presented to National Knowledge

Commissionby K.R. Srivathsan

director@iiitmk.ac.in

About IIITM-K: IT for Social Sector, Science & Technology

IT: The TechnologyComputers,

Networks, Systems, Devices, Systems

Software …

ITES, SW ServicesBPOs, Business

Solutions Transcription,

Call Centers, ERP

IT for Social SectorEducation, Agriculture,

Health, Water Resources, Trade,

Environment, E-Governance,…

IT in S&T, R&D Datawarehouses,

Computational Sciences, Knowledge Management, CAD,

CAM, Entrepreneurship

IIITM-K: Leader in Information Systems and Portals

• www.iiitmk.ac.in - Institute• www.edugrid.ac.in - Education Grid• www.compchem.in - Computational Chemistry• www.kissankerala.net - KISSAN - Kerala• www.tvmcitypolice.org - Trivandrum City Police

Portal for Community Interaction.• www.vuatkerala.org - Virtual Univ. for Agri. Trade• www.e-krishi.org - Agri. Trade FacilitationMore to come: Health, Information Security Education.

On Technology Enhanced Learning &

Teaching1. All of our educational institutions – universities,

colleges, schools to absorb effective use of TELT.2. E-Content, Course Management, Digital Learning

Resources, Scientific Databases, E-Journals and Publications, E-Discussion Forums, Advanced Computing access, multimedia, remote classrooms – as part of colleges’ educational systems.

3. Instructional processes management, learning management, teacher support systems, continuing education at all levels, just-in-time and on-demand learning needs, virtual institutions formed by collaborating institutions – all will need high tech support systems.

A View of ICT Requirements in Education & Research

Systems far too complex for most institutions to handle Establish Edugrid Centers for Communities of local colleges

Computational Server(s)

Streaming Services

E-Learning & E- Library

Software, IP Library & E-Publications Management

ERP & Management

Scientific Portal(s)

Security & Access Control Management

Synchronous Interactive Classroom

Environment

Asynchronous Knowledge Interaction

Environment

Terrestrial Broadband and

EDUSAT Network

Regional Network

Malcolm Baldridge Parameters of Excellence in Education Management Visionary Leadership Learning-Centred Education Organizational and personal learning Valuing faculty, staff and partners Agility Focus on the future Public responsibility and citizenship Focus on results and creating value Systems perspective Education Grid will build a supportive learning

ecosystem across all universities, institutions and colleges that help them achieve the above parameters.

Education Grid: Vision & Opportunity

VISION FOR NKC?: “Enable, Educate and Empower Every Citizen and Community through Knowledge”.

“Quality Education to all Independent of Geography”The Opportunity and the need:a) Broadband fast moving in. All institutions will soon be over

broadband; SWAN, Mission-2007…b) Increasing availability of open source, systems, open

courseware and web-accessible resourcesc) Education Grid - one click away for any competent teacher,

learner or institution who seeks knowledge empowerment. Need for servicing the complex systems and tremendous

capacity building in institutions and people.

What is an Education Grid?1. Network supporting educational Services

across colleges2. Resource Centres in premier institutions.3. Develop and maintain pedagogically

sound refereed courseware in identified subjects.

4. Subject specific Portals as Course Knowledge and Collaboration Space.

5. Dev. & Deploy Scientific & Comp. Portals backed by PG Schools

6. Introduce an IT facilitation layer in the University/ Higher Education System.

Governed by quality management of Content, supported Learning and Teacher Training Processes.

Education Grid

School of Education ?

Teacher EducatorGrids

ContinuingEducation

Student/Parent …Community Grid

Science GridsBioinformatics

Comp. ChemistryParticle Physics

Earth Science …….

Typical Science GridService such as ResearchDatabase or simulation

Integrated in to the EduGridthrough web services.

Learning Managementor LMS Grid

ContentPublisher

Grid

Campus orEnterprise

AdministrativeGrid

Education Grid as a Grid of Grids: Will NKC fund establishing such national knowledge infrastructure?

DigitalLibrary

Grid

Ack.: Geoffrey Fox, Indiana U

NPTEL over Education Grid Under the National Programme on Technology

Enhanced Learning, the IITs and IISc have produced pedagogically effective/useful content in ~230+ courses.

IITs have established facilities for ongoing production of sophisticated content.

Rich open e-courseware from other sources like the MIT-OCW, OUW-UK, many leading universities of the world.

How do we deploy these content in the colleges in ways that enhance the quality of education?

EDUCATION GRID supported instructional services will help a great deal in achieving this important objective.

Managing Quality Educational Processes using Technology Enhanced Learning and Teaching

Need to build Learning Resources and Processes that address Quality.

LEAD A GRAND NATIONAL QUALITY MOVEMENT IN EDUCATION

Quality InstructionBy Teachers

Quality Efforts by

Students

Qu

ality

Learn

ing

Am

bie

nce

Qu

ality

R

esou

rces

TELT

Objectives of Quality Education To make our graduates EMPLOYABLE.

To be PRODUCTIVE ON THE JOB and in LIFE.

To observe REAL WORLD PROBLEMS, abstract the issues and apply what they have learnt and their innate sense to solve them.

Three dimensions of Employable Graduates.

Quality Education imparts effectively all three dimensions in a balanced way.

Foundations, Concepts, Contextual Skills

Self-development Responsibility, Accountability

Professional Competence, Maturity

Quality Instruction needs teamwork and effective management

NKC TO PROMOTE THE GRAND NATIONAL K-INFRASTRUCTURE

Regional Broadband& EDUSATNetwork

Communication Gateway &

Resource Centre

College 1College 2

College 3

College 4College n

Resource Centre 1

E-Learning

Resource Centre 2

Computational Servers

Resource Centre 3ScientificPortals

National ERNET

&EDUSAT ServicesNetwork Programs

Coordination Centre

Learners anywhere

Supports all types of open learning and classroom learning.

Raw (HPC) Resources

Middleware

Databases

PortalServices

SystemServices

SystemServices

SystemServices

Application Service

Libraries

UserServices

“Core”Grid

Typical Grid: Needs advancedtechnologies and competencies(Ack.: G. Fox, IU)

Application Service

Application Service

Re-use

Re-use

ApplicationCustomization

IIITM-K builds such grids in open framework.

UniversitiesColleges

R&D Labs

Research Communities

National/ International

Collaborations

INTERNET

IIITM-K/Education Grid Gateway & Web-server

IIT

Mad

ras

Gat

eway

& L

AN

High-end Computer

Proxy User Agent

Content & LMS

Mini Computer

Linked Software &

Computational Resources

Linked Chemical / Molecular Databases

Digital Library, Open Archives &

E-Publications

Open Learning & Continuing

Education

Industries

EXAMPLE: COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY PORTAL of IIITM-K

Web Services Brokering &

Authentication Services

IP S

ecure

Tunnel

/

Web

-ser

vice

Ensure TELT as Facilitation Layer as K-Infrastructure for colleges

Education Grid

Functions

Infrastructure & Administration

Facilitation Layer TELT Environment

Instruction planning and Evaluation Scheduling

Course Processes

Today Universities must recognize TELT as part of Learning Infrastructure

Upgrade capacity of every institute / university college to absorb TELT and use it in their in house and open learning activities.

Educational Grid: Technology Enhanced Collaborative Learning Environment in Every Subject

College Students & Teachers

Mentors, Referees &

Experts

Course related World, Industry

Content Inputs, Course specific Digital Library, Links

Learning & Instructional Excellence

Course Knowledge

and Collaboration Space

Education Grid: Distributed Information & Collaboration Architecture

Experts,

Mentors

College 1

College nResource Institute

* *

Automated Grid concepts developed at IIITM-K. Get each course supported by industry for sustaining the above collaborative environment.

Course Administration

Advanced Web-Tech based Servers

Learning Management Space – one for each course

Content Development and Collaboration Space

R&D

Digital Library and Resources

Quality Learning Environment of Tacit-Explicit Interplay

At the end of a learning effort, a Learner should be able to say ‘I understand’ Add to his/her Tacit capabilities.

TACIT

EXPLICIT

Codified Knowledge and

Processes accessible over the net, paper…

Global networked

Information and computational

base

People’s Competencies,

Communications, Feelings,

Intuitions, Social interactions

People’s Real World

Build Instructional Cycle into Content (Merrill’s PBL Model)

Need to go much beyond syllabus, classes, cookbooks, tests and marks

1. Motivation2. Activation of

cognitive process

3. Learning from past experience

4. Application

5. Challenges

Next Module

SCIENTIFIC & COMPUTATIONAL

PORTALS ACCESS& INTERACTION

PORTALSData Sources Organizations

Premier Institutions

K-Services

Govt. Organizations

Knowledge Services

UNIVERSITIES

INDUSTRYR&D Organizations

USERS

K-AGGREGATION INTERFACE

LAUNCH GRAND THRUSTS IN SCIENTIFIC PORTALS & KNOWLEDGE SERVICES SECTORS OVER EDUGRID

Postgraduate Institutions

MASTERAGGREGATION

PORTAL PRESENTATION& INTERACTION

PORTLETSCommodity Boards

Kerala

Agri.

Univ.

TRADERSASSOCIATION

Dir. of Agriculture

Farm Info. Bureau

APEDA

Farm InputsSuppliers

Etc.

FARMERS

VALIDATION &EDITING

K-AGGREGATION INTERFACE

Example: Agriculture Info Services

Research Institutions

Education Grid supports Virtual K-Enterprises

Decisions & Action Out

Inputs:Information,

Requests, Observations

Business Model and Services Excellence

Group Workflow Processes

GroupKnowledge

& Computing

Base

Process Capture &

Communications

Information to other Groups

Global Data

Collections

Group/Virtual Knowledge Enterprise

People’s worldWeb accessed

area

FUTURE INSTITUTIONS AS KNOWLEDGE RESOURCE & LEARNING CENTERS

Institutions to fulfil Public Responsibility Functions: Open Education on demand.

E-Learning and Teacher Training Resource Centers.

To host Scientific Portals and Open Computational Servers.

To act as KNOWLEDGE SERVICES CENTRES backed by Postgraduate Schools.

Recognise and reward efforts in quality education and educational processes and knowledge services.

How do we build such grand K-Infrastructure? Propose a referral Advanced Informatics

Development Agency (AIDA - to be hosted at IIITM-K?) as the coordinating agency.

Like the way ADA coordinates in mission mode LCA related developments across multiple agencies.

AIDA may function as the hub of NKC’s National Knowledge Mission and K-Infrastructure.

There will be many advanced informatics centres of specialized areas in leading institutions, universities and R&D organizations associated with the AIDA.

Experts from

Academic, R&D,

Training Institution

s

VISTAPrograms

Management,

“Virtual Institute of Science, Technology and Arts”: VISTA over

Education Grid (promote virtual institutions on need basis)

LEARNERS

AnywhereAIDA/IIITM-K

Education Grid to help build &

service

Community DatacentresE-content, systems,

college portals, Computational Portals,

etc.

Establish the Grand VISTA Collaborations over Education Grid Facilitated by AIDA

Advanced Informatics

Development Agency

Academic and Research

Institutions in diverse fields

Virtual Campus ‘Knowledge Bus’

VISTA = Virtual Campus + Formal Education, Collaborative Research and Open Learning Programs

Such Learning Ecosystems already piloted in IIITM-K.

AIDA ROLE

Different Programs launched and coordinated in Mission Mode.

Postgraduate Studies,Research and

Training

OPEN LEARNING PROGRAMS

[VISTA]

Education Grid

Development & Servicing

ADVANCED INFORMATICS

R&D

KNOWLEDGE EMPOWERMENT

PROGRAMS

Under collaboration across premier institutions

Knowledge Services for Agriculture, Health, Education, Development… etc.

AIDAInter-institutional

K-Mission programs

coordination

Gordon Moore, “Education is our Achilles Heel”. It is about time we REINVENT THE EDUCATION

SYSTEM with FREEDOM OF THOUGHT, OPEN LEARNING, OPEN DATA ACCESS AND OPEN COMPUTING!

Build the Grids of Grids: Grid Computing, Grid Accessed Computing, Data Grid & Scientific Portals, Information and Knowledge Sharing Grid.

Make the Grids support KNOWLEDGE INTENSIVE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.

Involve college youth and postgraduate in development.

Restore the Joy of Learning and the Dignity of Scholarship.

IIITM-K is the most ready institute in India to host the AIDA operational centre.

About to get 10 Acres in Technopark – just 25 mts. From Trivandrum Int’l. Airport – ready to host AIDA.

Education Grid and AIDA as the mission coordination agency provide the best enabling approach for rolling NKC’s plans.

Peter Drucker: “Knowledge has become the key economic resource and the dominant - and perhaps even the only source of competitive advantage."

THANK YOU

AN OFFER OR A REQUEST ?

Available for download from www.edugrid.in 1. “Management of Refereed content generation and

utilization in formal education.”2. “Future ICT Infrastructure for Education.” 3. “Concurrent Instructional Services over NPTEL

content for quality education in the engineering colleges.”

4. Go also to NPTEL website: http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/

References

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