National Education Grid as Knowledge Infrastructure for Education and Open Learning

1. Proposal presented to National Knowledge Commission by K.R. Srivathsan director@iiitmk.ac.in National Education Gridas Knowledge Infrastructure for Education and Open Learning

2. IT: The Technology Computers, Networks, Systems, Devices, Systems Software … IT for Social Sector Education, Agriculture, Health, Water Resources, Trade, Environment, E-Governance,… IT in S&T, R&D Datawarehouses, Computational Sciences, Knowledge Management, CAD, CAM, Entrepreneurship ITES, SW Services BPOs, Business Solutions Transcription, Call Centers, ERP About IIITM-K: IT for Social Sector, Science & Technology

3. 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 Facilitation • More to come: •  Health, Information Security Education.

4. On Technology Enhanced Learning & Teaching • All of our educational institutions – universities, colleges, schools to absorb effective use of TELT. • 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. • 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.

5. Terrestrial Broadband and EDUSAT Network Asynchronous Knowledge Interaction Environment Streaming Services Computational Server(s) Scientific Portal(s) Software, IP Library & E-Publications Management E-Learning & E- Library ERP & Management Security & Access Control Management A View of ICT Requirements in Education & Research Synchronous Interactive Classroom Environment Regional Network • Systems far too complex for most institutions to handle • Establish Edugrid Centers for Communities of local colleges

6. 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.

7. 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: • Broadband fast moving in. All institutions will soon be over broadband; SWAN, Mission-2007… • Increasing availability of open source, systems, open courseware and web-accessible resources • 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.

8. What is an Education Grid? Networksupporting educational Services across colleges Resource Centresin premier institutions. Develop and maintainpedagogically sound refereed coursewarein identified subjects. Subject specific Portals as Course Knowledge and Collaboration Space. Dev. & Deploy Scientific & Comp. Portals backed by PG Schools Introduce anIT facilitation layer in the University/ Higher Education System. Governed by quality management of Content, supported Learning and Teacher Training Processes.

9. Ack.: Geoffrey Fox, Indiana U Typical Science GridService such as Research Database or simulation Science Grids Bioinformatics Comp. Chemistry Particle Physics Earth Science ……. Campus orEnterprise Administrative Grid Integrated in to the EduGridthrough web services. Education Grid Content Publisher Grid Learning Management or LMS Grid Student/Parent … Community Grid Digital Library Grid ContinuingEducation School of Education? Teacher Educator Grids Education Grid as a Grid of Grids: Will NKC fund establishing such national knowledge infrastructure?

10. 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.

11. Managing Quality Educational Processes using Technology Enhanced Learning and Teaching LEAD A GRAND NATIONAL QUALITY MOVEMENT IN EDUCATION Quality Learning Ambience Quality Instruction By Teachers Quality Efforts by Students TE LT Quality Resources • Need to build Learning Resources and Processes that address Quality.

12. Foundations, Concepts, Contextual Skills Self-development Responsibility, Accountability Professional Competence, Maturity 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. Quality Instruction needs teamwork and effective management

13. NKC TO PROMOTE THE GRAND NATIONAL K-INFRASTRUCTURE Regional Broadband & EDUSAT Network Resource Centre 3 Scientific Portals College 2 College 1 College 3 Communication Gateway & Resource Centre National ERNET & EDUSAT Services Network Resource Centre 2 Computational Servers Programs Coordination Centre College n College 4 Supports all types of open learning and classroom learning. Resource Centre 1 E-Learning Learners anywhere

14. Databases Typical Grid: Needs advanced technologies and competencies (Ack.: G. Fox, IU) IIITM-K builds such grids in open framework. Portal Services UserServices Re-use Application ServiceLibraries ApplicationCustomization Application Service Application Service Middleware SystemServices SystemServices SystemServices Re-use “Core”Grid Raw (HPC) Resources

15. EXAMPLE: COMPUTATIONAL CHEMISTRY PORTAL of IIITM-K Universities Research Communities Colleges R&D Labs National/ International Collaborations INTERNET High-end Computer IIT Madras Gateway & LAN Open Learning & Continuing Education IP Secure Tunnel / Web-service Proxy User Agent Industries Linked Software & Computational Resources Linked Chemical / Molecular Databases IIITM-K/Education Grid Gateway & Web-server Content & LMS Digital Library, Open Archives & E-Publications Web Services Brokering & Authentication Services Mini Computer

16. Course Processes Instruction planning and Evaluation Scheduling Education Grid Functions Facilitation Layer TELT Environment Infrastructure & Administration Ensure TELT as Facilitation Layer as K-Infrastructure for colleges • 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.

17. Educational Grid: Technology Enhanced Collaborative Learning Environment in Every Subject Course Knowledge and Collaboration Space College Students & Teachers Mentors, Referees & Experts Content Inputs, Course specific Digital Library, Links Course related World, Industry Learning & Instructional Excellence

18. Education Grid: Distributed Information & Collaboration Architecture Digital Library and Resources Experts, Mentors Content Development and Collaboration Space Learning Management Space – one for each course Course Administration Advanced Web-Tech based Servers Resource Institute College 1 R&D College n * * • Automated Grid concepts developed at IIITM-K. • Get each course supported by industry for sustaining the above collaborative environment.

19. E X P L I C I T T A C I T 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. People’s Competencies, Communications, Feelings, Intuitions, Social interactions People’s Real World Codified Knowledge and Processes accessible over the net, paper… Global networked Information and computational base

20. Build Instructional Cycle into Content (Merrill’s PBL Model) 2. Activation of cognitive process 1. Motivation Next Module 3. Learning from past experience 5. Challenges 4. Application • Need to go much beyond syllabus, classes, cookbooks, tests and marks

21. UNIVERSITIES Postgraduate Institutions Knowledge Services K-AGGREGATION INTERFACE LAUNCH GRAND THRUSTS IN SCIENTIFIC PORTALS & KNOWLEDGE SERVICES SECTORS OVER EDUGRID R&D Organizations INDUSTRY Govt. Organizations SCIENTIFIC & COMPUTATIONAL PORTALS Premier Institutions K-Services U S E R S ACCESS & INTERACTION PORTALS Data Sources Organizations

22. Farm Inputs Suppliers TRADERS ASSOCIATION Farm Info. Bureau Research Institutions Dir. of Agriculture K-AGGREGATION INTERFACE Example: Agriculture Info Services Etc. APEDA VALIDATION & EDITING MASTER AGGREGATION PORTAL Kerala Agri. Univ. F A R M E R S PRESENTATION & INTERACTION PORTLETS Commodity Boards

23. Education Grid supports Virtual K-Enterprises Inputs: Information, Requests, Observations Decisions & Action Out Information to other Groups Group Workflow Processes Group/Virtual Knowledge Enterprise Global Data Group Knowledge & Computing Base Process Capture & Communications Business Model and Services Excellence Collections People’s world Web accessed area

24. 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 SERVICESCENTRES backed by Postgraduate Schools. Recognise and reward efforts in quality education and educational processes and knowledge services.

25. 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.

26. Experts from Academic, R&D, Training Institutions LEARNERS Anywhere “Virtual Institute of Science, Technology and Arts”: VISTA over Education Grid (promote virtual institutions on need basis) VISTA Programs Management, Community Datacentres E-content, systems, college portals, Computational Portals, etc. AIDA/IIITM-K Education Grid to help build & service

27. Establish the Grand VISTA Collaborations over Education Grid Facilitated by AIDA VISTA = Virtual Campus + Formal Education, Collaborative Research and Open Learning Programs Advanced Informatics Development Agency Academic and Research Institutions in diverse fields Virtual Campus ‘Knowledge Bus’  Such Learning Ecosystems already piloted in IIITM-K.

28. Under collaboration across premier institutions Postgraduate Studies, Research and Training Education Grid Development & Servicing ADVANCED INFORMATICS R&D AIDA Inter-institutional K-Mission programs coordination Knowledge Services for Agriculture, Health, Education, Development… etc. KNOWLEDGE EMPOWERMENT PROGRAMS OPEN LEARNING PROGRAMS [VISTA] AIDA ROLE  Different Programs launched and coordinated in Mission Mode.

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

30. AN OFFER OR A REQUEST ? • 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

31. References Available for download from www.edugrid.in • “Management of Refereed content generation and utilization in formal education.” • “Future ICT Infrastructure for Education.” • “Concurrent Instructional Services over NPTEL content for quality education in the engineering colleges.” • Go also to NPTEL website: http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/

32. TOGETHER EVERYONE ACHIEVES MORE