Nearly 40 teachers from different colleges of Delhi University attended a one-day workshop on the launch of e-classes. They were familiarized with the process of registration on the portal. These teachers will be called DU e-learning portal coordinators and will be an important link between Institute of Life Long Learning (ILLL) and the colleges in respect of the usage of this portal and e-classes.

The workshop was inaugurated by vice-chancellor Prof. Deepak Pental who said, "The importance of ICT in higher education cannot be under-estimated. It is of high value and this could be an answer to many problems affecting the quality of education in the university." Pental further said, "E-classes will empower the teachers to manage their student-teacher interactions efficiently."

Prof A.K. Bakshi, director, Institute of Life Long Learning, commented, "We are launching the most significant feature of our portal. The element of interactivity was something we didn't have earlier, and with this facility, both the students and teachers will benefit."

Source: The Tribune By Charu Singh DU Introduces E-Classes On Its E-Learning Portal ' www.illldu.edu.in'

According to the statement of an official, the aim of the programme is to encourage the members of the university community to donate old and unused books to those in the neighbourhood who are unable to afford them. In addition, the objective is to generate a spirit of volunteerism as also to empower others.

As part of the programme, the student volunteers would set up three stalls at the main gates of the Faculty of Engineering and Technology, the Main University Campus, and the Jamia School. The books collected at these centres would be distributed among the poor and needy people. Moreover, some books will also be donated to community libraries around the University.

Contact address:
Jamia Millia Islamia
,
Maulana Mohammad Ali Johar Marg,
Jamia Nagar
Delhi - 110 025
Delhi
Phone: +91-11-26981717, 26988044, 26984075, 26985176
Fax: +91-11-2698 0229
www.jmi.nic.in

The information provided by Kanta Kelkar, under secretary, NCERT, on July 23, under RTI says efforts are being made in the direction. The Act has been referred to in chapters of the textbooks of standard IX to XII. The issue of RTI has been dealt within the context of democratic governance. Besides, NCERT is developing supplementary reading material on RTI separately. "This should help strengthen the understanding and implementation of RTI Act in a better manner," read the information.

The council started the efforts to include the RTI Act in school curriculum in 2006. NCERT textbooks based on the National Curriculum Forum (NCF), 2005 already highlight the importance of the Act as it promotes accountability and transparency in the functioning of the public institutions, says the information. The subjects like political science, economics and sociology have been incorporated with the references on the Act for students of Class IX, X, XI and XII. The books discuss RTI through narratives and cartoons.

The issue of inclusion of RTI in school curriculum has been raised by several RTI activists and organisations so far. Mahendra Pratap Singh, an RTI activist, had sought the information about the same under RTI in February, 2010 from the Minister of Human Resource Development. In response, under secretary, NCERT, stated that efforts have started. NCERT has also provided a list of textbooks wherein chapters on RTI have been incorporated.

Source: Times Of India By Neha Shukla NCERT to mention RTI Act in Class IX-XII books

With its new batch of students, the University will usher in a new way of learning . DU is now ready with extensive e-content to supplement and enhance the quality of classroom teaching. The e-lessons, electures, equizzes and elabs now uploaded on www. illldu.edu. in will be useful because infrastructure is falling short because of the implementation of OBC quota.

Students entering DU this year will the first batch to have access to e-learning material. The content, developed by the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILLL) in consulation with ``hundreds of teachers''. ILLL is already giving out a unique enrolment key to every college which will enable students to access the content in their college initially and on the internet from anywhere at a later stage.

``We have been working on this project for more than two years now. It was initially difficult to convince teachers about the feasibility of this project. But we are now ready with around 150 e-lessons for almost all courses, about 15,000 multiple-choice questions for e-quizzes, about 25 elabs and six e-lectures. And the work is still on,'' said professor A K Bakhshi, director, ILLL.

Source: Times Of India By Neha Pushkarna Now, DU courses at the click of a mouse

The ministry of human resources development (MHRD) has subscribed to the world's top e-journals and e-books for students. Humanities, life sciences, law, maths, medicine, social sciences, management, you name it.

The login and passwords have been provided to over 1,000 colleges while many more are in the queue to avail the facility under the national library and information services infrastructure for scholarly content programme. Students can access the journals on nlist.inflibnet.ac.in by using the username and passwords provided to their colleges.

The best part is, over 3,500 e-journals and e-books will be available to students free of cost in over 7,000 higher education institutions in the country. However, the institutions have to pay a one-time fee of Rs5,000.

So far, the journals were accessed only by topmost institutions or students through personal subscriptions costing between $31 and $45 (Rs1,452-Rs2,108) and in some cases, up to $120 (Rs5,647).

"It is being given free of cost to students. If money is charged from students, the facility will be taken away from the college," a senior MHRD official said.

"The government is also making a concentrated effort for content creation by encouraging writing of good articles," the official said. IITs have been asked to put up their content on sakshat.ac.in.

According to Jayashree Sathe, co-ordinator of the project, computerisation will speed up the process of collating every word, its meaning and the different contexts it can be used in.

"Sanskrit is not just an ancient language, it also contains information and knowledge of about 62 fields of life like philosophy, literature, science, astrology, agriculture and economy, among others," said Sathe. "Two years ago, the Union government granted Rs 5 crore for this project and this is being utilised to computerise the entire project and scan old papers and books.

The research team has already prepared reference slips of each word, its meaning and the evolution of the meaning over centuries. All these documents are being scanned and a software is being developed to edit and process the text."

By current estimates, the entire project is likely to take 40 more years to be completed. The project began in 1948 and so far, some 25 sections of various volumes of the dictionary have been published. Every year, at least one more section is published. Generally, a volume consists of three sections, Sathe said.

Source: Times Of India By Nikhil Deshmukh Work on Sanskrit lexicon to be computerised soon

The N-LIST project provides access to more than 2,100 electronic journals and 51,000 electronic books to students, researchers and faculty from colleges and other beneficiary institutions through server(s) installed at the Information and Library Network (INFLIBNET) Centre.

"Authorized users from colleges can now access e-resources and download articles required by them directly from the publisher's website once they are duly authenticated as authorized users through servers deployed in the INFLIBNET Centre," said an official press release.

Faculty, staff students and researches from colleges covered under section 12B of University Grants Commission (UGC) Act are eligible to access e-resources through the N-LIST project. These colleges are required to register themselves on the N-LIST Website.

Currently, 665 colleges are registered members. Registered colleges are issued Log-in IDs and passwords for their authorized users including faculty, staff, researchers and students. Colleges that are not covered under 2F/12B Act of the UGC may join as N-LIST Associate Members.

Source: indiaedunews.net Kapil Sibal inaugurates nationwide e-library project

Union Minister for Human Resource Development Kapil Sibal today released a book titled "The Indian Army A Glorious Heritage" published by the National Council of Education Research and Training (NCERT).

The book has been specifically compiled for youngsters and contains authentic inspirational accounts from India's wars, traces the history, sacrifice and evolution of the Army and provides details on the entry system into its ranks.

An official press release said the book was an attempt to create an awareness about the Army in a readable style.

Mr Sibal and Army Chief Gen Deepak Kapoor appreciated the effort made by NCERT and reiterated the need for constantly upgrading the country's military capabilities.

Gen Kapoor said the book was the culmination of a sustained effort to reach out to the vast talent pool available at the school level.

The book has been published by the NCERT as a non-textual adjunct and is available in all their outlets.

This comes six months after the knowledge giant made inroads into the school textbook business in India with a cache of 30 books, 10 knowledge CDs and nine teachers' manuals.

"The fact that the Indian government is stressing knowledge beyond the classroom and is devising a new school education system will help us grow," Cauz told the sources.

The Britannica books cover the National Council for Education, Research and Training (NCERT) syllabus from classes one to eight.

"While the books published in September 2009 will be included in the school curriculum in April 2010 as additional tools to supplement NCERT knowledge, access to the education portal will be made available on the basis of subscription."

The internet modules under Britannica Online School Edition (BOSE) have been created for three levels elementary (primary), high school and senior high school covering classes one to twelve.

Cauz said, "The e-module was viable in the country with the increasing penetration of computers at the school level."

Source: indiaedunews.net Now, school textbooks, e-module from Encyclopedia Britannica

TREAT FOR BOOKWORMS: The book fair will be held from January 30 to February 7 at Pragati Maidan

Nearly 700 books on different sports published by 75 publishers from across the country will be exhibited at the theme pavilion. The theme pavilion will be set up in hall number 7E where several sports personalities are also expected to interact with visitors during the exhibition. Besides, the organiser of the fair, National Book Trust, India, plans to show programmes and documentaries produced by the Film Division on various sports.

The pavilions for children and youth will also be put up in the same hall. NBT India will also hold workshops, quiz programmes and story-telling sessions at these pavilions. There will be a special exhibition of books on Jawaharlal Nehru and also the ones written by him.

The New Delhi World Book Fair is a biennial event. In the last fair held on February 28, 2008, 1,343 publishers from 17 countries had taken part. In comparison, the number of publishers is less this year with Pakistan's National Book Foundation giving the fair a miss. Though NBT India did not give a reason for its absence, its director Nuzhat Hassan said the foundation expressed its inability to participate. The fair will be on from 11am to 8pm every day. HRD minister Kapil Sibal will inaugurate it on Saturday.