Professional Documents
Culture Documents
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The contents of this Issue do not necessarily reflect the policies or the views of the co-sponsors or their affiliates
Skill Training is not what it used to be. Planning for it now has to happen under a constantly changing
environment. This leads to new rules of the game for economic success and for the role of technology.
7 Vocational and Technical Training: 7 Policies for the Effective Use of Technology
Laurence Wolff, Inter-American Development Bank
In order to use effectively technology to improve and strengthen technical and vocational training, it is
necessary to have the right public policies in place. This article summarizes recent thinking on this important
subject.
The Tech-Prep and School to Work programs have been instrumental in bringing vocational education to the
center stage of a discussion on American education, in opening the lines of communication between
employers and schools and between secondary and post-secondary institutions, and in spreading the
premises of contextual learning.
13 TechKnowNews
♦ Online University Teams Up With Hopkins Library to Offer Digital Resources ♦ New University in Vietnam
Will Rely Heavily on Information Technology ♦ New System of Peer Review Rating Academic Websites ♦
President Clinton Appoints Advisory Committee on Expanding Training Opportunities ♦ Tech Companies
Lobby Congress for Improved Math and Science Education ♦ Barnes & Noble.com to Offer Free Online
University
Imagine a highly interactive, synchronous, internet-managed learning experience between distant locations
over vast national and international networks, providing learners with an ability to obtain simultaneous
distance learning services from their geographically dispersed organizations, schools and other colleagues.
This article describes how a well designed, integrated system can provide effective e-Learning solutions.
Simulation has been a tool used by trainers for a long while. This article describes how simulation is used for
training in various industries.
This article is a case study of the development of a low-investment, internet-based, conferencing software
solution implemented at a distance learning center within the University of Leicester, UK. It explores the
practical issues encountered in establishing an online learning community, and how these issues were
addressed and resolved.
28 High Tech/Grassroots Education: Community Learning Centers (CLCs) for Skill Building
Mary Fontaine, The LearnLink Project, Academy for Educational Development
This article is a description of two Community Learning Centers (CLCs) in Africa that provide training and
learning opportunities for trainees at the grassroots level. It illustrates design and implementation elements
that are proving effective for both the CLCs and their clients.
Correspondence education remains a powerful means to reach modest clienteles with practical courses that
have positive impact in their lives. This article summarizes a survey that shatters conventional wisdom.
Can a country with inefficient ports, unreliable trains, and intermittent electrical service ever hope to compete
with American and European firms in engineering networks, writing commercially distributed software, and
developing sophisticated web sites? Can a country with long history of trade restrictions think to do so? Can
a country with widespread illiteracy expect to do so?
The late Dr. Francis Tuttle and his staff were entrusted to develop a first rate vocational training system. That
system has evolved through the years to become so remarkable that it has been considered by educators
Physicians and medical researchers recognized the potential of Information and Communication
Technologies (ICT) for medical education and research. This article reviews the literature on the use of
complex simulators, virtual laboratories, and Internet-based tutorials for the training of medical personnel.
46 Training of Technical and Vocational Teachers: A Case Study of a Low Tech Alternative
John Bartram, The Commonwealth of Learning and Dr. Nancy George, University of Technology, Jamaica
While many in North America appear to equate distance learning with virtual or cyber-learning centered on
the computer and its networking capabilities to deliver learning packages and stimulate interaction with
students, there are significant groups with learning needs for whom this paradigm is an inappropriate
technology. This article presents a case study that describes the use of low tech for the training of Technical
and Vocational teachers in small island states.
The web can be used to find a wide range of skill training. To benefit from these opportunities, this article
helps prospective students to deal with four critical determinants: (1) whether distance education is well suited
to their needs and preferences: (2) in which occupational field should they take training; (3) how to find the
various providers of training in the selected field; and. (4) which program will best contribute to their career
objectives.
51 On the Move
Upcoming Events: Conference, Seminars, Exhibits, Training Courses, etc.
Everybody seems to own, or intends to own a computer. The problem is, which computer is right for you?
One of the most useful applications for multimedia (videos and CD-ROM) is skill enhancement and training.
This article reviews a sample of instructional/training CD-ROMs and videos in the areas of technical training,
medical training, and general skill training.
57 WorthWhileWebs
Gregg B. Jackson, Ph.D., George Washington University
There are thousands of sub-baccalaureate training programs, at the tertiary level, currently available through
the Web. There are also hundreds of web sites that are intended to help people find that training. This article
presents a few that appear most useful as well as several e-Learning web sites that offer technical, business
and other courses.
Wireless technology has been around for a few years now. The Bluetooth vision is to take the current wireless
a step further, by broadening the wireless range of interaction in order to incorporate more than just
computers.
We've heard of virtual reality, but what about "virtualized reality"? How does it work and what implications
does it have for training?
1 Training (as well as general education) is society. Much training, especially of youths, cannot be left
solely to the private sector because individual firms may not
be able to capture the benefit of their trainees, who may
increasingly important for economic competi- choose to work elsewhere. In many cases, especially indus-
trial training, training is too expensive for youth or their
tiveness families to invest in. The poor especially may not be able to
afford good training.
The ongoing worldwide economic transformations have
made training at once more important and more difficult to
adjust to changing needs. Enterprises working at the leading
edge of technological change have become avid producers
and buyers of training. Traditional industries face the threat 3 General education and vocational and
of open borders, internationalization and fierce competition.
technical training are increasingly comple-
Without significant improvements in the quality of their
work force, which is required for modernization, these in- mentary and intertwined
dustries risk being wiped out of the market.
General education provides the basics in language, mathe-
matics, science, and communications, while by definition,
2 A public role in training is essential training is directed toward specific skill preparation. How-
ever, more and more the differences between the two are
blurred. Technical jobs increasingly require a mastery and
understanding of broad concepts and analysis in areas as di-
While the trainee obviously benefits from training, in the
verse as auto mechanics and construction. At the same time,
form of increased productivity and wages, there are public
good education that is meaningful to students must be em-
benefits that are also of great importance. Training helps to
bodied in the practical. Good education enables the learner
4 No demand, no training
training to ensure truth in advertising. But even full Gov-
ernment funding does not necessarily mean government op-
eration. With the right incentives, publicly subsidized but
privately operated training institutions can serve public
A critical issue, especially in publicly provided or supported
goals. While public institutions are often characterized by
training, is the potential mismatch between training and jobs.
inflexibility and lack of market responses, changing the rules
Training by itself cannot create jobs. In a period of high un-
of the game can make these institutions act more like private
employment, especially of youths, governments are tempted
ones—responding more quickly to demands, marketing their
to spend large amounts of sums on training programs since
product, and keeping costs low. A wide variety of financing
students and parents think that they will have a better chance
models is also available. In addition to the fully supported
at getting jobs. But if the economic environment is not pro-
vocational/technical-training schools, in many cases, espe-
ducing jobs, then this investment will be wasted and it would
cially Latin America, earmarked payroll taxes go to support
be better to provide general education rather than the often
autonomous training agencies, often with heavy industry
more costly vocational training. The rules of vocational
representation. In other cases, rebates and other tax incen-
training should therefore be simple—no demand, no training.
tives are provided directly to firms that undertake training.
This is easier to do for training centers outside the formal
Governments also need to play a major role in labor market
systems, since they have the flexibility to change their pro-
intermediation (e.g., unemployment insurance, re-training of
grams, market their products, and convince employers of the
laid off workers and provision of employment services to
value of their product. It is much more difficult when voca-
link workers and jobs).
tional/technical-training institutions are in the formal public
system. These programs are often marred by lack of flexibil-
ity, low salaries, and inadequate interchanges with business.
7 Training can help in poverty reduction
5 Financing of training should be shared by Skills training in the rural and urban informal sector may
contribute more to the alleviation of poverty than training for
all those who benefit modern sector wage employment. Many of the poor and
women are self-employed. They combine small amounts of
As noted above, the benefits of training are both public and capital with their labor, low general education, and mostly
private and accrue to individuals, industries, and society as a inadequate skills. Improving the earning power of the poor
whole. Therefore, to the extent possible, trainees, industry, and of women is, in the first instance, a matter of creating a
and government should share in financing. The relative supportive economic environment. Increased access to basic
share of each beneficiary will vary with the type of training education is fundamental, followed by access to credit. But
offered. Industry can be expected to pay all of “firm- training can be an important complement to these other in-
specific training.” Middle class students taking short puts, providing a variety of elements: introduction of new
courses geared to the service sector (secretarial, computing) and appropriate technology; understanding basic accounting,
typically can pay a significant part of costs. Potential blue- management, and bookkeeping; guidance on how to effec-
collar workers taking long courses in industrial arts typically tively use micro-credit, etc. For this type of training it is
cannot afford to pay and industry will not pay if it cannot usually most effective for Governments to utilize non-
capture and hold the trainees. The aim is to raise school governmental agencies or private institutions rather than to
revenues as much as permitted by the financial means of the provide the training itself.
clientele but not beyond the level where the reduction of
By Sonia Jurich
Learning to work: an old tradition in local businesses in exchange for school tuition. The first
high schools with a vocational focus were founded in the
U.S. at the end of the nineteenth century. In these schools,
Societies, throughout history, have educated their younger
the youth, mostly from low-income backgrounds, spent half
generations for the workplace, no matter what type of work
a day studying academic subjects and the other half working
was to be done. The Masai children from Eastern Africa
in the schools' facilities and laboratories.
accompany their older brothers to tend the herds until they
are old enough to care for the herds themselves. Five-year
Despite these experiments, vocational education was never
old Nambikwara boys from Central Brazil play with little
popular in the U.S. Even at its peak, enrollment in voca-
bows and arrows in preparation for the days when they will
tional education courses rarely exceeded 20% of all high
hunt for the tribe. As work becomes more complex, so does
school students per school year. Moreover, vocational edu-
the education for work.
cation was mostly seen as a dumping ground for low-
achieving and poor students who were unlikely to pursue a
Written approximately four thousand years ago, the Code of
college education. The courses were geared toward low-
Hamurabi already regulated the responsibilities between the
skilled, low-paid occupations and offered as isolated credits,
teacher and the learner in an apprenticeship system. In this
rather than as planned career-preparatory programs.
system, a child moves in with an artisan (the master) who
provides the child with house, food, clothing, and most of all,
the learning of a craft. In exchange, the child (the appren-
tice) works for the master and his family. According to the The 1980's panic:
Code, the teaching of the craft was such an essential part of A new look at vocational education
the arrangement that, if the artisan taught the child his craft,
the child could not return to his father’s house. However, if
By the late 1970’s, the rapid economic expansion of Japan
no craft was taught, the apprentice could leave the master
and Germany threatened the U.S. hegemony in the interna-
without paying restitution. The apprenticeship system spread
tional market. Rather than re-evaluating their economic and
through Europe during Medieval times. From there, English
fiscal policies and practices, politicians and economists
colonists transported it to the New World. In the system
looked elsewhere for the reasons of that apparently failing
adopted in the United States, the apprentices moved in with
dominance. A presidential commission was appointed to
the master when they were about 14 years old and lived in
evaluate the state of American schools, the most probable
the master’s house until age 21. During these long years, the
culprit. The commission’s conclusion was quite simple: if
apprentice learned from the master and paid for the learning
the U.S. was losing the economic war, the schools were at
with his work and loyalty.
fault. They claimed that the school situation was so bad that
it should be considered a threat to national security.1
The Industrial Revolution shifted the focus of work from
quality to quantity. The lengthy and intimate work of the
Educators and politicians alike began to scrutinize their com-
artisan was replaced by the speed and anonymity of ma-
petitors' systems, just to discover that they could not import
chines. Time became a valuable commodity, and the process
models. Education in Europe and Japan is highly centralized
of preparation to work gradually moved away from home
and, in many of these countries, students are evaluated by a
and into the school system. In the early 1800’s, charitable
system of national examinations. Education in the U.S. is the
organizations used to send orphans and poor children to work
1
National Commission on Excellence in Education (1983). A nation at risk: the imperative for educational reform.
Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.
2
Bailey, T. & Merritt, D. (1993). The school-to-work transition and youth apprenticeship: lessons from the U.S. experi-
ence. New York. NY: Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation; Council of Chief State School Officers (1991).
European lessons from school and the workplace. Washington, DC.: U.S. General Accounting Office (1991). Transition
from school to work: linking education and worksite training. Washington, DC
3
For instance, Revitalizing high schools: What the school-to-career movement can contribute, by Susan Goldberg and
Richard Kazis (2000), p.2-3. It is interesting to observe that although the “college dream” is widespread, an average ¾ of
high school graduates never finish college.
4
In 1994, the legislation was incorporated into the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act
(amended in 1998), a major source of federal funds for vocational education to U.S. schools.
5
Variations of this design include 3+2 (the core Tech-Prep courses start in the second year of high school) and 4+2 (the
program starts in the first year of high school)
6
Hershey, A.M., Silverberg, M.K., Owens, T., & Hulsey, L.K. (1998). Focus for the future: The final report of the na-
tional Tech-Prep evaluation. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
7
Hershey A., Silverberg, M., Haimson, J., Hudis, P., and Jackson, R. (1999). Expanding options for students: Report to
Congress on the national evaluation of school-to-work implementation. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
8
Shapiro, D. & Goetz, M.E. (1998). Connecting work and school: Findings from the 1997 National Employers Survey.
Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.
9
Hershey, A., Hudis, P., Silverberg, M., & Haimson, J. (1997). Partners in progress: Early steps in creating school-to-work
systems. Princeton, NJ: Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.
10
A reliance on tests may also jeopardize the focus on project-based performance emphasized by both legislations. See, for
instance, Hershey et al, 1999, p. 76
A myriad of issues impact online learning or “eLearning” as the new millennium dawns. The global edu-
cational kingdom is alive with paupers, princesses, princes, and wizards, all on a quest for that holiest of
grails - eLearning that fulfills the dream of technology enabled learning. And let there be no doubt, tech-
nology is changing the very nature of the learning process and fundamentally changing the educational
process.
This digest of emerging educational trends is presented for the purpose of assisting fellow educational
crusaders to discover the secrets that will enable long awaited technology-based educational break-
throughs, now and into the future.
DRIVING FORCES OF CHANGE tional and international networks, providing learners with an
ability to obtain simultaneous distance learning services from
According to Peter Drucker (1997), “Economic productivity their geographically dispersed organizations, schools and
will only be achieved through a steep and persistent growth in other colleagues. This is the domain of the “Virtual Private
the productivity of knowledge work and knowledge work- Learming Network” or VPLN. VPLN’s, while not exactly the
ers.” The opportunities for eLearning to impact business suc- Holy Grail, are definitely on the path.
cess via the acquisition and development of “knowledge” are
emerging with unimaginable speed and unparalleled critical- Technology is being used to make learning accessible any-
ity. time, anywhere, and better than ever. The question is not
about technology but rather about how to create content that
Knowledge is information put to productive use (Davis & is engaging, motivating and leads to successful performance
Botkin, 1994). Knowledge = data x information x applica- outcomes. Now we are getting closer to the Holy Grail.
tion. It is information made actionable (Maglitta, 1996).
“Knowledge” is then, in a business sense, the capability to Creating this magical content starts with having new concepts
act productively and profitably. about how to think about the learning experience. We call
this having a new architecture for learning which substan-
Workers, businesses and consumers in the 21st century will tially changes the way we design, deliver and measure the
be engaged in the process of “knowledge transfer.” learning experience.
Through learning, employees will use their knowledge to
generate knowledge capital for their organization. It is a THE GLOBAL LEARNING SOLUTIONS (GLS)
continuous “knowledge transfer” chain in which learning LEARNING ARCHITECTURE
fuels knowledge; and, knowledge fuels successful organ-
izational performance. The GLS Learning Architecture developed by Lucent Tech-
nologies New Enterprise Networks Group illustrates how a
This ability to master the knowledge transfer chain is pre- well designed, integrated system can provide effective
dicted to be THE competitive advantage for organizational eLearning solutions. This system combines independent
success in the new millennium. self-directed learning events (asynchronous) with a virtual
classroom in which the instructor and most of the learners are
IN SEARCH OF THE HOLY GRAIL at locations distant from each other. Within this model the
Instructor is central to the teaching process, though not the
Imagine a highly interactive, synchronous, internet-managed only provider of information. He or she manages/facilitates
learning experience between distant locations over vast na- the learning process by asking and answering questions, en-
• Exponentially increase capacity (see Figure 1) • The Web or CD-ROM. Either or both can be used to
deliver lesson material in a self-directed, asynchronous
mode.
I Advanced Live Classroom, Hands On Labs One answer to the puzzle lies in creating a design powerful
L Courseware Broadband Interactive Channels enough to carry the eLearning program though transitions it
e P
a II Basic Broadband Interactive Channels: will face in changing technologies, and innovations and up-
o Courseware “L Channel, LVI, BitRoom, Video
r r dates that are inevitable. In this scenario, front-end analysis
n
i
t III Knowledge Broadband Broadcasts: must include cycle management and systems thinking. Put-
a Sharing Multicasts, Videostreaming, BitRoom
n l ting all the pieces together in a coherent whole is the true
g challenge of eLearning. Are we getting closer to the Holy
IV Prerequisites Self Directed Learning:
Web, CD-ROM, CBT Grail? It’s too soon to tell.
Figure 3.
THE LEARNING ROUNDTABLE expected to grow to 40% off all U.S. corporate training by
2003 (Hambrecht, 2000).
There is big money in championing corporate educational
needs. As the knights gather around the table, rewards are For those unafraid of the challenge, opportunities abound not
estimated at more than $600 billion annually, in today’s only to solve learning capacity shortages within businesses,
market potential, for a successful conquest (Savitz, 1998). but to exploit corporate education as a primary revenue
Their pennants carry familiar names earmarked with 1998 stream for businesses themselves. IBM Corporation, as an
market values: SmartForce ($1.7 billion); Knowledge Uni- example, already generates over $800 million annually in its
verse ($.7 billion); and, Learning Tree ($.6 billion) among customer training business alone.
others (Barrons Online, 1998). All stand ready to joust for a
share of the corporate education market, especially in the Two key strategic weapons have emerged in the tournament
burgeoning technology assisted distance learning niche. to date. Both assist in providing learning infrastructures to
meet 21st century requirements while controlling costs, en-
In 1996, the distance learning market was estimated at $1.5 hancing returns on investment and generating revenue. One
billion annually and is growing at the rate of $.5 billion every is the promise of distance learning. The other is “collabo-
six months (Picard, 1996). In 1999, approximately 20% of rative” advantage via unique alliances.
the $66 billion in corporate training was technology-based
(Hambrecht,2000). And, because technology-based training
is so much more cost effective than classroom training, it is
REFERENCES
American Society for Training & Development (1997). A Start-up Guide To Distance Learning. Training & Development,
51(12).
Davis, S. & Botkin, J. (1994). The Monster Under The Bed. Simon & Schuster.
Department of Labor (1998). In, V. Uhland, Workers Juggle Jobs, Grad School To Get Ahead. Rocky Mountain News, Sep-
tember 27.
Drucker, P.; Dyson, E.; Handy, C.; Saffo, P.; and, Senge, P. (1997). Looking Ahead: Implications Of The Present. Harvard
Business Review, Sept. - Oct.
Excellence in Practice (1997). LearnShare The Consortium. Workplace Learning and Development. Citation Winner.
Global Learning Solutions Overview Meeting (1998). Lucent Technologies, October 9.
Kappel, T. (1998). An Overview Of Distance Learning. School Planning and Management, 37(2).
Macht, J. (1998). Virtual You: Time-strapped Entrepreneurs Are Going To Class On-Line. Inc., 20(1).
Petrini, C. (1998). Building The Workforce Of The Past. Business & Industry, July.
Potashnik, M. & Capper, J. (1998). Distance Education: Growth and Diversity. Finance & Development, 35(1), March.
The Trend Leter (1998). 15 Major Trends For 1998. The Global Network, 16(24).
Vasarhelyi, M. & Graham, L. (1997). Cybersmart: Education and The Internet. Management Accounting, 79(2).
TTrraaddiinngg R
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Why would anybody want to replace the real world by a fake version? Essentially, there are at least three rea-
sons:
1. Safety. The real world is dangerous. Students should not risk their lives (or that of others) or get scared
in the process of learning their trades.
2. Simplicity, ease and time compression achieved with the "virtual" version of training. Some experi-
ments take a long time to set up and conduct. In others, the results are not so clear cut, due to too many
unmanageable variables. Simulations can be a convenient and convincing way to synthesize the real
world.
3. Economy. Simulations can be less expensive than learning in the real world, particularly now that com-
puters are increasingly inexpensive. Simulations may save on expensive labs or on consumables such as
metal, electronic components or welding electrodes.
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Siim
muullaattoorr
The first significant use of simulations was to train airplane pilots. The flight trainer was invented by Mr.
Edwin Link in 1929. In aviation, the most forceful reason to use simulation is safety. At first, the Link
Trainer was used to teach pilots instrument flight. But as simulators became more sophisticated and comput-
ers were introduced, the main use became a tool to teach pilots how to handle emergency situations. Pilots
need to know how to react to life-threatening situations. Yet, turning off a turbine or disabling a rudder con-
trol in a jetliner in order to test pilot reaction is not a good idea. Modern flight simulators are multi-million
dollar machines, often not much cheaper than real airplanes. But nobody thinks of costs when deciding to use
them. The reason to resort to simulation is that it permits reproduction of conditions that, if reproduced in
real flight, would be very dangerous. Thus simulators give pilots a chance to acquire the proper reactions un-
der safer conditions.
As an increasing fraction of the tasks requiring training in- To sum up, simulations in skills training have a long history.
volve electronic circuits and components, the frontier be- Trainers have welcomed them, in contrast to academic edu-
tween the real thing and simulations is becoming blurred. cation where rejection is so common. Overall, it is a con-
Take, for instance, imaging. In the realm of silver halide spicuous case of successful use of technology in learning.
photography, when shooting a still or movie picture, by Resistance from conservative groups seems to concentrate in
pressing the shutter button, one unleashes an irreversible areas where the benefits are purely economical rather than in
process, consuming film, chemicals and photographic paper. the level of learning.
Studio photographers use Polaroid film to check results, be-
Jason Hughes
Lecturer, Centre for Labour Market Studies
Leicester University, United Kingdom
This article explores the development of a low-investment, internet-based, conferencing software solution imple-
mented at a distance learning center within the University of Leicester, UK. In essence, this is a case study of the
practical issues encountered in establishing an online learning community, and of how these issues were addressed
and resolved. The article begins by briefly examining the background to the study: it provides a profile of the dis-
tance learning activities at Centre for Labour Market Studies and an outline of the main issues faced. It then goes on
to discuss the implementation of a low-investment internet-based conferencing forum.
Chair: This person is the central ‘management’ figure in the Teaching via text-based discussion therefore demands a dif-
team: someone who controls the flow and direction of the ferent set of skills from the standard academic lecturer role.
discussion. More specifically, the role involves asking course It requires a great deal of formalization in order to work as a
members to wait while others arrive at the beginning of the coherent whole. Similarly, it demands different skills from
conference; organizing discussion streaming (for example, participants. It was most interesting to observe how experi-
when facilitating online group work); organizing who takes enced conference participants were able to follow the non-
1
Community e-mailing refers to periodical e-mail dispatches to all course members to provide course-related information, to encourage
contact with the Centre, and to reinforce a sense of community among program participants.
2
http://www.BigRedH.com
by Mary Fontaine
The LearnLink Project,
Academy for Educational Development (AED)
A few years ago, a group of 64 young men ple from all walks of life. Two cases in point, both in West
and women in Ghana graduated from a na- Africa, illustrate design and implementation elements that are
tional University of Science and Tech- proving effective for both the CLCs and their clients.
nology. Each was awarded a degree in
Computer Science for successfully com-
pleting the program. Throughout their Getting Trained in Ghana
course of study at the University, how-
ever, they neither saw nor worked on a Since November 1998, three Ghanaian NGOs have been
computer. managing and running CLCs in Accra, Kumasi, and Cape
Coast.1 The purpose of the centers is to empower individuals
and organizations for local development by providing public
How Could This Be? access—particularly for low-income populations—to the
Internet and other ICTs. In just a little over two years, the
At the macro level, the nation was going through an eco- centers grew from small, relatively obscure offices to popular
nomic crisis that affected all aspects of life, including educa- establishments with their waiting rooms filled. They served
tion. So when the Computer Science Department’s IBM 360 nearly 14,000 clients during the first quarter of 2000 alone,
broke down, it was not replaced. The cost of a new computer 77 percent of whom took advantage of the training opportu-
was prohibitive. At the micro level, the impact on students nities in typing, word processing, spreadsheets, computer
and professors was devastating, resulting in low morale, a literacy, and Internet orientation that are offered in addition
curriculum focused exclusively on theory, and a subsequent to simple access to computer equipment. That’s over 10,000
job search by the graduates that suffered from a lack of prac- individuals who gained increasingly important computer-
tical skills. Most of the graduates ended up at secondary related skills. Trainees include students, teachers, and re-
schools teaching mathematics and science. Few landed searchers as well as business people, staff from NGOs, medi-
computer related jobs. cal practitioners, artisans, merchants, local officials, and tele-
communications workers. Ranging in age from eight to
The situation is not much different today. For many forward sixty-seven, with 85 percent between 18 and 40, the vast
looking young people in Ghana—and throughout the devel- majority of clients are males. However, female enrollment
oping world—access to computers remains elusive despite has been growing steadily, in part due to the CLCs’ creative
the importance of 21st century technology for individual and outreach campaigns.2
national development. Students of all ages who seek oppor-
tunities to participate in the computer age are among the Most training classes are held three hours/day for ten days.
“early adopters,” those who could one day teach and lead CLC staff, with assistance from a LearnLink Resident Advi-
others. Regrettably, the lack of learning options not only sor, determine the courses to be offered and develop the cur-
limits their ability to lead but also often contributes to the riculum based on local needs assessments. To date, the
insidious brain drain that depletes poor countries of their greatest demand has been for training in computer literacy
greatest resource. and word processing, followed by spreadsheets and typing.
Internet orientation classes have the lowest enrollment,
A partial yet promising solution to the problem may be the which the project’s Resident Advisor attributes to the higher
Community Learning Centers (CLCs) that are launching fees for this course necessitated by connectivity charges.
worldwide to provide public access to information and com- Still, training fees at the CLCs are 10-20 percent lower than
munication technologies (ICTs). Increasingly, training and those at private computer schools in Ghana. This fall, the
skill building opportunities also offered at the centers are CLCs will offer new classes in computer networking, fun-
taking on a life of their own, attracting large numbers of peo- damentals of programming, PowerPoint, and advanced
1
The CLCs are supported by a grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented through
the LearnLink project, administered by the Academy for Educational Development (AED).
2
For more information on ICTs and gender and on the outreach to women undertaken in Ghana, See A High Tech Twist: ICT
Access and the Gender Divide, TechKnowLogia, Vol. 2, Issue 2, March/April 2000.
3
To learn more about the CLCs in Ghana and Benin, visit their web sites at the following URLs: The Central Region Devel-
opment Commission (CEDECOM), Cape Coast, Ghana (http://www.cedecom.org/, Partners for the Internet in Education
(PIE), Accra, Ghana, and the Center for the Development of People (CEDEP), Kumasi, Ghana
(http://www.members.tripod.com/cedepghana). In Benin, see the Songhai Center’s web site at http://www.songhai.org. To
learn more about the CLC project in both countries, see LearnLink’s web site at http://www.aed.org/learnlink.
"My correspondence course was auto-mechanics, but I work repairing tractors. It is somewhat different but
the course helped me a lot. I was a farm hand, now I am a tractor mechanic, employed by a repair shop
where I remain until now. I got my driving license and have afterwards gone back to evening school. I hope
one day to become a mechanical engineer." (Response to a survey of correspondence school graduates)
In times of instruction via wide-band Internet, what are we to Shattered Conventional Wisdom
say of its poorest cousin, correspondence education? And
There is a widespread assumption that these courses could
what are we to say of its most plebeian version, the voca-
not work well, given the unreliability of the mail systems. In
tional trades taught by correspondence?
fact, the Brazilian mail system had a horrible reputation in
Comic books advertise courses on radio and TV repair, tech- the seventies. One of the first surprises was to find that only
nical drafting, dressmaking, cake decoration, auto- 2% of the respondents complained of lost shipments and only
mechanics, accounting and many other common trades. (In 11% reported delays. So much for untested prejudices. This
the United States, typically, these courses are advertised in survey just about shattered all conventional wisdom about
matchboxes). These courses, in most countries, are not regu- such courses in three ways.
lated by law, are run by private enterprises, and cater to 1. Relation of the students to their alma mater
modest clienteles.
Most of the respondents assumed that the survey was directly
Most academics and educators dismiss them as innocuous at connected with the school and gave sequence to a strikingly
best and outright fraud, at worst. Not only that, but they are personal dialogue with their former teachers. The question-
accused of selling illusions to those who can least afford to naires were scribbled all over with personal stories, with very
pay for unfulfilled dreams. intimate details of their lives. We were surprised to find that
instead of a distant and lofty relationship with unknown peo-
But is that true? For starters, those who accuse them have no ple from the correspondence schools, the students were very
evidence whatsoever. These programs are so lowly and for- emotional and candid about their past experiences. Some-
gotten that few serious researchers ever bothered to find out how, they assumed there were real people behind the cold
anything about them. and impersonal envelopes coming from the mail.
Several years ago, in Brazil, with a few graduate students, we 2. The social stratification of the student body
decided to find out what was hidden behind those advertise- We looked at the distribution of working class, middle class
ments claiming that one could get jobs, and make money by and upper class students. We also examined the distribution
taking one of those courses. 1 A previous survey had identi- of parent's education. As it turns out, the social composition
fied 31 correspondence schools in the country (1977), en- of the clientele is equivalent to that of the first years of pri-
rolling around 240,000 students (almost ten times more than mary education. But as we know, the social stratification of
the network of federal technical schools.) Five schools were the first grades of school is very similar to that of society as a
included in the sample, all the large ones being there. With whole, since the social class of children enrolled at primary
the help of school administrators, a 25% random sample of is the same as that of society. In other words, correspon-
students, graduates and dropouts were chosen to be inter- dence schools cater to a representative sample of the Brazil-
viewed by mail, using a detailed questionnaire. Being used to ian population. Since after a few years of primary schooling,
the mail for communication, the graduates replied in large dropouts increased dramatically (in the late seventies), all
numbers. We got a response rate of 55%, quite impressive higher levels of education are more socially selective than
for mail surveys. The survey yielded 3,704 usable question- correspondence schools. Hence, correspondence education is
naires from students, 4,230 from graduates and 898 from the only mode of education - other than the early years of
dropouts. primary - where the poor are not under-represented. What-
Responding on the reasons that salaries might have been in- Of course, these are results of the late seventies in Brazil, a
creased in the past, 39% attribute this partly to the course and country that has dramatically changed since. What has hap-
21% entirely to the course. Also interesting to notice is that pened to these courses since?
half of the graduates either found a job related to the course
or were already working in such a job prior to taking the Perhaps not surprisingly, these courses remain as removed
course. from mainstream education as always. Serious educators still
have not taken notice of them - sad for the authors, the book
The questionnaires were manually reviewed, in an attempt to describing the results of this research does not seem to have
sort out those who had documented the benefits. We found changed the landscape. Therefore, there are still no reliable
that in 29% of the cases the alleged benefits were backed up data at present.
by concrete details of what happened to them. Another 12%
claimed benefits but did not show numbers of other tangible To have an idea of what changed since the publication of the
evidence. Hence, we have close to one third of respondents book, the author contacted an executive of Instituto Monitor,
with hard data on benefits and another 12% claiming to have the oldest and main survivor in correspondence education.2
had benefits. Considering that courses typically cost around Being in business for 61 years, the school has enrolled be-
one minimum wage and that modal students could have a tween five and six million students, out of which, 30%
salary equivalent to two minimum wages, increases of only 3 graduated (How many schools have produced two million
to 5% in earnings are sufficient to pay off the course in one graduates?). Presently, the school enrolls 30,000 new stu-
year. This is not a bad result for an additional investment of dents every year and graduates 50% of them.
two hours a day of studies, as reported in the questionnaires.
Most private correspondence schools have closed down but a
This is already a very impressive indication of effectiveness. few semi-public institutions have been offering respectable
But when we consider that 52% of the students did not take quality programs. Monitor and Instituto Universal Brasileiro
the course with an expectation of economic benefits, the pro- - always the largest two - and the smaller remaining schools
portion of those expecting benefits and getting them practi- probably enroll around one hundred thousand students.
cally doubles. In addition, for those with less than 19 years of
age, immediate economic benefits are less likely. The most It seems that the lower middle classes now predominate in
predictable results go for those who were already in skilled the courses. Somehow, working class students are less fre-
manual occupations. Typically, men change jobs and women quent than before. Correspondence education will sooner or
enter the labor market for the first time after the course. later suffer the competition of more modern means. This,
however, has not happened yet. Internet and computers cater
Overall, the results of such a survey do not permit a rigorous to higher social strata that need upgrading in their jobs. Tele-
estimate of rates of return on investment. However, piecing vision is massively used for education in Brazil, hundreds of
together the data and complementing them with qualitative thousands of students going to classes where a TV is com-
data culled from the questionnaire, we can arrive at a sug- plemented by a teacher aid. But these programs replace aca-
gestive picture. Once we exclude those who were not inter- demic schools, rather than offer trade training. Therefore,
ested in economic benefits and those who due to young age correspondence schools still have their niches. Regulation of
or other reasons could not obtain them, we seem to be deal- correspondence education has been created. When discussing
ing with a population where substantially more than half de- this issue in the original monograph, we feared that it could
rives economic benefits from correspondence schools. Since do more harm than good. Unfortunately, it seems that we
the costs of the programs are quite modest, typically much were right. Regulation seems to be bureaucratic and be of
less than 10% of their monthly earnings, these seem to be little help.
quite impressive results.
To sum up, correspondence education remains a powerful
Let us not forget: these are private outlays in education made means to reach modest clienteles with practical courses that
by a group that has the same social stratification as that of the have positive impact in their lives. Yet, it is as removed from
population of a poor country such as Brazil. No other form of the limelight now as it was a quarter of a century ago.
education, other than the early levels of primary school, ca-
1
Lucia Radler dos Guaranys and Claudio de Moura Castro, Ensino por correspondência no Brasil (Rio: IPEA, 1979)
2
Email from Roberto Palhares (June 2000)
©Corel
Gregg Jackson and Vishnu Karki∗
Can a country with inefficient ports, unreliable trains, and firms, and so English language skills are important for coor-
intermittent electrical service ever hope to compete with dination with those firms.
American and European firms in engineering networks,
writing commercially distributed software, and developing Salaries in India are low and that allows Indian software de-
sophisticated web sites? Can a country with long history of velopment companies to under-bid competitors in the U.S.
trade restrictions think to do so? Can a country with wide- and other developed countries. It is estimated that the oper-
spread illiteracy expect to do so? ating costs are about one-fifth those in the United States.[9]
Despite these hurdles, India has recently become a global The Government of India had long targeted electronic indus-
power in information technology (IT). In 1970, it had less tries for development. In 1954, it established the state-owned
than hundred imported computers in its large ministries and Bharat Electronics Ltd. which produced electronic equip-
businesses and often had to use Americans and Europeans to ment, primarily for internal defense, civil aviation, a broad-
set them up. Last year, Indian software companies grossed casting use.[8] In 1970, it created a Department of Elec-
US$4.0 billion and two-thirds of that was from exports. tronics. In the same year, computer manufacture was begun
Hundreds of thousands of its nationals were earning high in a joint venture between International Computers India, Ltd
salaries in IT firms located not only in India, but also in the and International Business Machines (IBM). It mostly as-
United States, Europe, and the world over. [7] sembled imported components. The products were mostly
sold domestically.[8]
How did India achieve that success and what are the lessons
for other developing countries? India was not able to translate that early manufacturing into a
major export industry, as did Taiwan, Korea, and Singapore.
Forces Contributing to India’s Success That was probably partly because of the poor industrial infra-
structure in India—clogged ports, unreliable trains, and in-
While India still has extensive illiteracy, the country provides termittent electrical and water service. It was also because
high quality education to some of its youth. By 1970, the the manufacture of computer chips and hard drives requires
country was graduating small percentages but large numbers huge capital investments that India did not have and could
of students from its 10+2 schools and substantial numbers not secure from abroad because of restrictions on foreign
from colleges and universities. The 10+2 schools provided a investment and protectionist trade policies that prevailed
strong academic background. A higher portion of the college through the 1970s and 1980s.
and university graduates majored in the sciences and engi-
neering than common in most developing countries. Having lost that opportunity for computer hardware manu-
facture, the Government decided to win a share of the rapidly
A substantial portion of India’s 10+2 graduates reads and growing global market for computer software development.
speaks English moderately well.[9] This was critical because Software is the instructions that guide computer operations.
of U.S. dominance of the computer industry. India’s col- Elaborate software is needed for management information
leges and universities could use U.S. and British textbooks, systems, accounting and financial systems, computer graph-
computer guides, and software manuals, which often are is- ics, computer games, instructional software, and web pages.
sued in revised versions every year or two, without transla- It is also needed for computer driven devices such as robot-
tions that would otherwise be difficult and expensive. In ics, airplane control systems, and telecommunication sys-
addition, India’s software development firms do a substantial tems.
part of their work as subcontractors for U.S. and British
In 1986, a Texas Instruments subsidiary was established in Simultaneously, other entrepreneurs have created computer
Bangalore as the first fully foreign owned 100 percent export and IT training institutes to serve people wanting computer-
business.[8] The Texas Instruments subsidiary in India was related jobs but unable to attend the engineering colleges.
a success. It provided the parent company with high quality The programs of study run from a few weeks through a year
software development at lower costs than possible in the or more. There are now more than a thousand such insti-
United States. It also provided Indian nationals with rela- tutes. Some use Diploma programs of study developed
tively high wage jobs. jointly by the Department of Electronics and the Ministry of
Human Resources Development. [6] Others use programs
India’s Department of Electronics moved quickly to expand that they have developed or adopted from abroad.
that success. In 1987, it conducted “Software India” shows
in several U.S. cities. In 1990, it introduced Software Tech- The Department of Electronics has developed a Accredita-
nology Park schemes in twelve locations. The schemes pro- tion Scheme for four levels of training. About 600 institutes
vided physical infrastructure, communication satellite are now accredited. The standards are high and last year 105
uplinks, import/export assistance, and the training of soft- institutes lost their accreditation. The accrediting agency,
ware developers. Companies operating in the schemes were DOEACC also conducts examinations twice yearly. [7]
exempt from most import and export duties, and exempt
from income taxes for five years.[8] The Magnitude of India’s Success
In 1991, India implemented a six-year Project IMPACT that India is now annually producing about 68,000 computer
was directed at improving human resources in computer sci- software professionals. About 250,000 such professionals
ence and electronics engineering. Fourteen colleges, 12 are employed in India and many others are employed
polytechnics, and six Centers for Electronics Design partici- abroad.[3] About 700 Indian companies export software and
pated in coordinated activities that included upgrading software services and many others serve only the domestic
equipment and software, updating faculty expertise and im- market.
proving their pedagogical skills, preparing model curricula
for degree and diploma programs, developing new learning India is now second only to the U.S. in software develop-
materials for fifty courses, conducting continuing education ment. Approximately 200 of the Fortune 1000 companies
seminars for mid-career computer professionals, and encour- outsource some of their software requirements to India. In-
aging private sector managers to collaborate with faculty dian companies now export software and software services to
members. [6] 86 countries. Sixty-one percent is to North America and 23
percent is to Europe. [4] India is estimated to have 18 percent
India’s approximately 350 other polytechnics and engineer- of the global cross-country customized software market. [1]
ing colleges also rapidly introduced new programs of study A recent World Bank survey of U.S. software companies
in software development in response to the private sector identifies India as the Number 1 choice for software devel-
demand for trained personnel. The Government's 1990 es- opment outside of the U.S. [10]
tablishment of ERNET, an Internet for the academic and
research community, facilitated this. These colleges now
India is not content with this success. In 1999, India created The three key ingredients to India’s success have been gov-
a new Ministry of Information Technology with the intent of ernment support, entrepreneurial initiative, and a well pre-
making India a “Global Information Technology Super- pared workforce. In most developing countries, only a small
power.” The National Information Technology Task Force portion of the population has even a secondary education.
has suggested that 500,000 more information technology Nevertheless, most of these countries have thousands of col-
jobs can be created over the next five years, and that gross lege graduates who are unemployed or underemployed be-
export can be increased ten-fold over the next 10 years to cause they took studies in fields with stagnant growth. If
$50 billion (USD).[9] In the past, Indian firms have focused those countries would direct some of their tertiary education
mostly on corporate software, but the Government is spur- to computer science instruction and simultaneously foster the
ring diversification into small business and home software, growth of software development firms, they might be able to
including multimedia. grab a share of the global market for software development.
If some modest success can be achieved, the high status and
An important part of India’s strategy to become an IT Super- high paying jobs in software development will encourage
power involves human resources development. India is now more of the tertiary level students to take diploma and full
establishing National Resource Centers to train entrepreneu- degree programs of study that prepare them for software de-
rial developers who will provide multimedia content.[7] velopment jobs. That, in turn, will help spur further devel-
India is introducing the CLASS Program in 5,000 10+2 opment in this sector.
schools to prepare young people to learn to use information
technology effectively in all sectors of the economy. It is Not all developing countries have an equal chance of gaining
supporting curriculum development, courseware develop- a significant share of the global software development mar-
ment, and teaching training for these purposes. [6, 7] Voca- ket. The ones that appear to have the best chance are those
tional training in computer-related fields is being developed. with:
India is using IT technologies to enhance its education sys- 1) Few foreign investment and trade restrictions, at least
tem. An adaptive testing and tutoring system for the 10th for this sector of the economy. High duties on com-
standard mathematics is being refined. A web-based puter equipment, software, and telecommunications cre-
“Qualitative Student Assessment” system has been devel- ate a competitive disadvantage. Foreign investment and
oped that will allow teachers to assess students’ conceptual even foreign management will probably be important
knowledge and point students to needed remediation.[7] A initially.
one-year diploma in IT is to be offered via distance education
by a Virtual Campus that is expected to graduate about 1,000 2) A tradition of mid-scale entrepreneurship, particularly
students annually. There is a plan to have the premier Indian in engineering fields. It is one thing to manage a small
Institutes of Technology and the Indian Institute of Science shop, another to manage 100 or 200 employees engaged
use distance technologies to expand the reach of their IT in easily observed assembly operations, and still another
training. In addition, a Center for Excellence in Distance to manage sizable numbers of people, all of whose work
Education Technology will do research and development is only visible as computer code. Engineering design
related to distance education.[24] work is close to software development work, but there
may be other fields of entrepreneurship that can be
Implications for Other adapted to the requirements for software development.
Developing Countries 3) A strong work ethic. Because the actual work is diffi-
cult to observe, because a given software project is usu-
Opportunities for other developing countries are suggested
ally divided into several complex assignments that are
by India’s success. Software development does not require
handled by different employees and not easily assumed
ports, rail systems, and roads, as does the export of agricul-
mid-stream by others, and because contracts for this
tural products and minerals. It does not require large capital
work often impose challenging deadlines, a strong work
investments for plant and equipment, as does high value-
ethic in the professional workforce is important.
added manufacturing.
References
[1] India Institute of Information Technology. (undated). “IT in India.”
[ www.iiitb.ac.in/New_Folder5/it/it.htm ]
[2] Iyer, Lakshman. October 24, 1995. “Human Capital & IT.”
[ www.American.edu/MOGIT/li1116a/humapage.html ]
[4] Mehta, Dewang. June 28, 1999. “Record 68% Growth of Indian Software Exports in 1998-99: NASSCOM Report.” Press
Release of the National Association of Software and Service Companies (of India). [Was posted on www.nasscom.org at the
time this article was written.]
[5] Ministry of Information Technology . March 29, 2000. Information Technology. Government of India.
[ www.doe.gov.in/grp_it.htm ]
[6] Ministry of Information Technology. March 7, 2000. Human Resources. Government of India.
[ www.mit.gov.in/impact.htm ]
[7] Ministry of Information Technology. 1998. Annual Report of the Ministry of Electronics: Electronics and Information
Technology. Government of India.
[9] Patni, Ambika. Fall, 1999. “Silicon Valley of the East.” Harvard International Review.
[10] Schmidt, Julie. February 24, 1999. “Software Industry Grows In India.” USA Today.
∗
Authors:
Gregg B. Jackson is Associate Professor and Coordinator of the Education Policy Program at The George Washington Univer-
sity. Vishnu Karki, is a doctoral student in that program, on leave from Nepal’s Ministry of Education.
Oklahoma’s training system is simply one of the best and this seems to be the State’s secret in-
gredient in successfully attracting new industries on a continuous basis. In a little more than two
decades, Oklahomans have managed to diversify from the State’s traditional oil and agriculture
activities by offering a well-trained and versatile labor force.
Apprenticeship
In addition, VoTech is carrying out its share of experiments The Francis Tuttle School was born 21 years ago, in 1979
in apprenticeship. In fact, some of them have served as mod- and given the name of the founder of the VoTech system of
els for the nation in the federal program "Craftsmanship Oklahoma. In August of 1982, it had 752 daytime students
By eliminating lectures and using competency-based training Students devote about 30% of their time to classroom theory
materials, this system allows each student to move at his own work and the remaining time is spent on applications and on
pace. Students can join the course at any moment and leave hands-on activities. In addition, given the weakness of high
when they finish their modules. They use Learning Activity schools in math and science and the importance of this type
Packets (LAPs) to advance and they are required to take per- of knowledge in the various high demand occupations, reme-
formance tests in order to demonstrate mastery of one LAP dial courses are offered to those who need them. All students
before moving on to the next. Others do not slow fast mov- spend about 60% of their time taking common core modules
ing students down and slow students can fully master the and the remaining time in specialization. Since these basic
contents by taking as long as they need. LAPs are used be- processes change very little over time, 60% of most courses
cause they are an excellent tool for delivering competency- is common for all specializations and needs no frequent up-
based instruction. Some estimates based on similar programs dating. In electronics programs, for instance, 80% of the
elsewhere indicate that efficiency increases can be quite sub- materials are the same in all the courses offered. Therefore,
stantial, depending on how they are defined.2 On the down- the fixed investment of developing a systems approach based
side, the fixed investment to operate with this method are on five processes can be justified.
consistently higher, the logistical problems much more
pressing and the administrative and technical overheads are
somewhat higher. But all these are minor problems. Over- Can It Be Replicated?
all, the method seems to be a step ahead that, unfortunately,
is not taken up by many schools. The Francis Tuttle School remains committed to continuous
quality improvement and the word on its intriguing achieve-
ments has spread worldwide. Tour groups from 47 countries,
A Modular Program including Australia, Brazil, China, Great Britain, Pakistan,
Russia and Saudi Arabia have visited the school.
Perhaps the most interesting as-
pect of the series of courses of-
fered by Tuttle is the modular
©Corel
nature of the curriculum and the
vast common core of subjects.
1
Francis Tuttle web page (http://www.francistuttle.com/ ).
2
On average, students took only two thirds of the time to finish the courses. Another 15% gains from repeating subjects they
already know. Filling places left open by dropouts may account for savings of about 25%. A large number of school days in-
crease productivity by 18%. Joao Oliveira and Claudio M. Castro, “Individualized Training Systems for Vocational Technical
Training: A case study of the Euvaldo Lodi School” in Innovations in Educational and Training Technologies, edited by
Claudio M. Castro, D. Wilson and Joao Oliveira (Turin: ILO/WB, 1991).
A MEDICAL AFFAIR
By Sonia Jurich
©Corel
The process of forming medical doctors is of extreme con- ing and breathing. It also exhibits palpable pulses and meas-
cern for all members of society who, at some moment, will urable blood pressure, and can mimic a number of manifes-
have life or limb at the hands of these doctors. It is not sur- tations associated with diseases, drug interaction and others.
prising then, that medical education is so similar to a process
of apprenticeship: long, intensive and demanding. It is not The high-fidelity patient simulators enable students to learn
surprising also that medical schools do not tend to follow invasive and risky procedures in a discomfort-free, risk-free
educational fads. Respected medical schools have tradition- environment. The mannequin responds as a human patient
ally used instructional strategies that integrate academics and and can “improve” or “die,” thus indicating the success or
skill formation, utilize hands-on and reality-based ap- failure of the procedure. The student can use the simulator as
proaches, and rely on technology to support and enhance many times as necessary to become skilled in the technique
human knowledge. without the risk of hurting or maiming an actual patient. The
Sidney Medical center uses the simulator to train anesthesi-
From the beginning, physicians and medical researchers rec- ologists, specialists whose work involves life-threatening
ognized the potential of Information and Communication procedures. As a disadvantage, high-fidelity patient simula-
Technologies (ICT) for medical education and research. tors require highly complex computer programming and en-
Common educational usages of ICTs are tutorials that en- gineering that make their production expensive and their
hance the information obtained in traditional classes, virtual acquisition limited to major medical centers.
laboratories that minimize the need for expensive (and cruel)
use of lab animals, and computerized mannequins that re- Virtual Laboratories:
place human subjects in the training of invasive and risky
procedures. As an added value, these instructional resources Among the subjects taught during the
familiarize the doctor-to-be with technologies that have sig- basic years of medical school,
nificant roles in modern medical practice. physiology is particularly challenging.
The students need to learn detailed
The Top of the Line: information about minute components
©Corel
Complex Simulators that are in dynamic relationships with a
myriad of other elements. Moreover,
Complex simulators are electromechanical models or man- they must be able to integrate this scattered knowledge and,
nequins connected to computers that can reproduce specific later on, use it to solve problems that may involve life and
aspects of human anatomy, physiology and behavior. High- death decisions. To support the learning process, instructors
fidelity patient simulators, such as those used by the De- need to break the complex into small, simple units (e.g., cell
partment of Anesthesia and Pain Management at the membrane physiology). At the same time, they must connect
University of Sidney, Australia are examples of complex the small within the complex, so that the student can make
simulators. (http://www.painmgmt.usyd.edu.au/simulat.html) the necessary associations (from cellular responses to neuro-
These are computer-controlled mannequins with an electro- muscular responses to spinal cord injuries, for instance).
mechanical cart that acts as an interface between the software
program and the mannequin. The mannequin is programmed Teaching Physiology and the World Wide Web: Electro-
to reproduce many human functions such as speaking, mov- chemistry and Electrophysiology on the Internet, by
While many in North America appear to equate distance learning with virtual or cyber-
learning centered on the computer and its networking capabilities to deliver learning
packages and stimulate interaction with students, there are significant groups with
learning needs for whom this paradigm is an inappropriate technology. Many in the tar-
get group lack the financial resource or the infrastructural requirements - or both - to ac-
cess the more sophisticated forms of technology, and therefore can use only the sort of
distance education that is based on lower end technologies such as print and audio or
videotape support. The request made to the Commonwealth of Learning (COL) to de-
velop a professional training program for Technical and Vocational Education and
Training (TVET) teachers working in small island states, was such a case.
Program Design
Development of the Curriculum The program had to be modular and flexible. Learners must
and Learning Materials be able to select those sections, which meet their particular
In response to the request for assistance, the Commonwealth needs. Modules also had to be able to stand alone, if neces-
of Learning agreed to undertake a major project to develop a sary, supporting particular professional development activi-
ties, if required. The units in each module had to be flexible
*
John Bartram is the Education Specialist in Technical and Vocational Education and Training at the Commonwealth of
Learning. He can be contacted at jbartram@col.org
**
Dr. Nancy George is the Director, Curriculum Development and Evaluation at the University of Technology, Jamaica. She
can be contacted at ngeorge@utech.edu.jm
A Shopper's Guide
©Corel
Gregg Jackson
Associate Professor and Coordinator,
Education Policy Program, George Washington University
The web can be used to find a wide range of skill training. It also is used
in some of those programs to deliver the training as distance education.
The focus of this article is on tertiary level occupational skill training
that requires less study than a bachelor's degree and is delivered by dis
dis-
tance education using the web.
There is a wide range of institutions that provide such train- skills that require hands-on practice with expensive machin-
ing, and they vary some from country to country. There are ery or equipment and complex psychomotor skills such as
government run vocational and technical schools, privately those needed by craftsmen, dancers, and combat soldiers.
owned training institutes, and polytechnics. Colleges and Web-based training may help develop some of the knowl-
universities also sometimes offer “certificates,” “diplomas,” edge people need for these occupations, but it cannot alone
and “associate degrees” that require less training than a carry the training through to completion.
bachelors degree. These training programs usually require
one month to two years of study. In addition, many of these Prospective students need to make four determinations about
institutions allow people to take one or two courses of par- web-based skills training:
ticular use to them without having to enroll and pay for the
full program. (1) whether distance education is well suited to their needs
and preferences,
These training programs appeal both to youth who want
preparation for jobs and to mid-career adults who want to (2) in which occupational field should they take training,
switch occupations or secure a better job. While some pro-
grams are offered exclusively by distance education technol- (3) how to find the various providers of training in the se-
ogy, some are offered both by distance and one or more cen- lected field, and
ters.
(4) which program will best contribute to their career objec-
While web-based training has wide applications, it should be tives.
understood that some skills cannot be well developed with
today’s commonly available technologies. These include Each will be discussed below.
• Requirements that all tuition and fees for the full pro- • Do the syllabus and study guides for each course: (a)
gram must be paid before starting the training, unless the indicate the course objectives, (b) provide a well organ-
training involves only one course or does not run for ized progression of instruction, (c) specify interesting
more than a month or two. and appropriate level course materials, (d) indicate
challenging assignments that are likely to stretch stu-
• Substantially shorter periods of training than other in- dent’s skills, (e) provide references to supplemental
stitutions indicate for similar programs of training. materials that may be of interest to some students, and
(f) indicate the basis for the grading?
• Claims that all students complete the program.
• Is there telephone technical support to help solve prob-
• Claims that all students get jobs in the field for which lems with the distance education technologies?
they are trained.
Conclusion
None of these red flags is proof of fraud, but two or more
should be followed with further investigation of the institu- Web-based skill training offers great opportunities for devel-
tion offering the training. For those in the U.S., check with oping countries and it also poses risks. It has the potential to
the Better Business Bureau (BBB) whether there have been bring high quality training to anywhere in the world, with
complaints filed against the institution. The web site at fewer delays and sometimes at less cost. There is also the
http://www.bbb.org/bureaus/index.asp indicates which of the potential for tuition payments being lost to fraudulent insti-
133 BBBs should process a given complaint. If the institu- tutions, delivery of poor quality training, and training that is
tion claims to be a college or university, check whether it is not well suited to the needs of the student and his or her
accredited. Fraudulent education and training institutions community.
often make false claims of accreditation. Check whether the
If you have a conference, seminar, exhibit, etc. coming up, send it to us for listing
in "On the Move".
©Corel
During the 1970s and early 80s, computers were restricted to cheaply upgrade your whole system. The number of compa-
enormous machines, with flashing lights, and spinning nies producing hardware for this platform keeps PCs rela-
wheels. They were a work of science fiction that, for the tively inexpensive. A well-researched consumer could pay
average person, only existed in movies. Today, these ma- as low as $400 for a new PC, or as much as they are willing
chines have become part of our daily lives. People are trad- to spend.
ing stocks online, simple programs are reducing the stress of
filing taxes, computer graphics have become a marketing The most common complaint against personal computers is
standard, movies are digitally enhanced, the internet has reliability. Hardware components may conflict with each
erased global boundaries, classrooms are computerized, and other or the software running them. Frequently, these prob-
even grandmothers use PCs to sell the old family recipes and lems can be corrected by spending a few hours on the phone
look up new ones. Everybody seems to own, or intends to with your system’s Tech Support. Unfortunately, the prob-
own a computer. The problem is, which computer is right lem may be within the hardware itself, resulting in the costly
for you? replacement of the offending part. Windows has also been
subject to criticisms about its reliability, prompting some
Computer Platforms users to switch to Linux (a UNIX based Operating System).
Linux is cheaper, has fewer problems, and requires less
memory than Windows, but it is not as user friendly nor is
Unless you’re a major corporation or a graphics professional,
compatible software as readily available.
there are probably only two types of computer platforms that
you will consider: a personal computer (PC), or a Macintosh
Macintosh’s alternative to the PC platform
(Mac). Each has its own advantages and limitations. There
is the iMac. This is a very basic system
are other options available, but the average user is probably
designed for any use of the computer, from
not going to have the knowledge or the need for one of the
graphic design to word processing. It is small, fast, easy to
many UNIX based systems. Which system you choose is
use, and the system is reliable enough not to warrant constant
entirely up to your own taste, but first, let’s clarify their basic
maintenance. Macs use a form of processing information
differences.
called Reduced-Instruction-Set Computing (RISC) that
streamlines information into the simplest possible code. The
The personal computer is exactly that.
downside is that application software must then breakdown
Although, by definition it is simply a
complex code into its simplified form before processing the
generic term for any computer that is
information. This means that a RISC processor is faster than
designed for a single user, it has become synonymous with
the PC’s CISC (Complex-Instruction-Set Computing) proc-
“IBM compatible.” When you hear someone talking about
essors, but its applications are generally more complex
IBM, Dell, Gateway, etc. they are referring to specific PC
(larger and more expensive). This faster processor has made
brand names. The Microsoft Windows platform accompa-
Macintosh popular for graphic design and video applications.
nies the vast majority of PCs, and its enormous popularity
Macintosh’s worst feature is the difficulty in upgrading the
allows compatible software to be easily available. Another
system. Its components are part of the motherboard - making
advantage to the PC is that its hardware components are in-
them faster, but impossible to change. The Macintosh line is
terchangeable and available in astonishing varieties. With
also slightly more expensive, starting at around $900.
just a small amount of know-how, you can smoothly and
Technical Training
One of the most demanding areas for skill training and assessment is the technical field. Here are just a few of the many
products out there that are geared towards the mechanically and technically inclined professions.
Automation Studio (www.ttaweb.com) is a technical and interactive CD package, which trains individuals in circuit design and
automation technology. The software package is designed so users are able to outline, simulate, and animate their own circuits
while using various methods of electrical controls, including hydraulics and pneumatics. This is a tool that can be utilized by
engineers, teachers and students alike. Automation Studio is available in multiple languages as well (English, Spanish, French,
Italian, Japanese, and Portuguese).
Aircraft Systems Review (www.nolly.com/asrv.html) provides videos that can be used in order to train pilots on unfamiliar
aircraft or allows those in the aviation field to refresh their current systems knowledge. The videos incorporate one-on-one
instruction with visual explanations and procedures, which are viewed from a pilot’s perspective. These videos are also
“generic” in the sense that they can be used universally despite an individual trainee’s airline affiliation.
TPC Training Systems (www.tpctraining.com) offer an extensive video and interactive CD library. They specialize in machine
and mechanical training and have been responsible for training over 3 million employees with their products. Their training
videos cover topics such as: Reading blueprints, schematics, and symbols; electronics and digital electronics education; engine
mechanics, hydraulics, and even heavy machinery use. TCP also offers training CDs that cover Process instrumentation,
mechanics maintenance, and air conditioning/refrigeration systems. These CDs are user friendly and incorporate full program
narration, detailed graphics, and several quizzes, automated tests, and sections where the user can interact with the software.
Medical Training
Medical training is another area in which interactive and self-training products are in wide use. Medical practitioners and
students going into those fields are able to sharpen their skills by using visual tools that allow them to view details and solve
simulated problems.
PedsLink (www.pedslink.com), a resource for pediatric healthcare, produces a series of training videos geared towards home
health clinicians and nurses who are in charge of providing care for infants and children with various illnesses. Videos, such as
Home Phototherepy for Infants, use hands on training that take the care provider step-by-step through treatment methods and
assessments, and use specific procedural demonstrations. The films cover multiple topics that can be reviewed as many times
as necessary.
Glencoe Online (www.glencoe.com) is a source of several tools for non-college related, post-secondary education. One of
which is The Job Interview CD-ROM. This is an interactive guide that trains job seekers in all aspects of the interviewing
process. The CD also provides information on commonly asked interview questions and gives advice on how one should
respond. The CD utilizes video clips depicting job interview scenarios, narration, tips, and questions in order to reinforce
concepts that are vital to having a successful interview.
BrainwareMedia (www.Brainware-tm.com) offers several videos and CDs for business and managerial training. Many of
these, though, can be useful to everyone. The Art of Communication is an interactive CD-ROM that allows individuals to
improve their communication skills and their ability to effectively get their message across. The Art of Communication
features advice, interactive role playing using common, everyday situations and self-assessment exercises that allow the user to
figure out how they communicate. This is ideal for any individual who is faced with giving presentations, public speaking, or
just communicating with people in general.
Finally, Brainware also offers a training video on how to train using videos! How to Train with Video takes you step by step
through the process of selecting the appropriate videos for any purpose. It also gives ideas on interesting and insightful ways
of incorporating videos into everyday instruction or training programs. The video describes how to motivate people into
learning on their own with interactive training, as well.
There are several options out there for post-secondary, vocational, and skills training. Utilizing audio/visual technology in
order to stimulate trainees, or yourself even, can be, not only a more exciting way of learning, but also a more effective way.
Learning as you go enables you to work at your own pace and review material as you see fit. Interactive CD training may also
provide simple lectures or textbooks. As technology advances, multimedia applications may just become a standard in all areas
of job training and general skills education.
Petersons
www.petersons.com
This organization prepares some of the most popular guides to U.S. colleges and universities. It also publishes the
most extensive guide to distance learning programs offered by those institutions. Some of the programs require
only a year or two of training.
TrainSeek
www.trainseek.com
This is a good site for finding web-based training provided by private training companies. It does not include
training offered by schools, colleges, and universities. It has information on about 2,000 courses that are currently
delivered on the web. The site allows searches for training in about 20 languages, but mostly U.S. companies pro-
vide the training.
AltaVista
www.altavista.com
This well-known search engine allows searches in about 25 different languages. A recent search of “web based
training” found 26,711 hits in Spanish and 79 in Japanese. Make sure to click on “Advanced Search” to learn how
to narrow down AltaVista searches so that you do not have to read through thousands of hits.
Yahoo
www.yahoo.com
Click on “Education” and then “Distance Learning” to gain extensive links to distance education programs, in-
cluding some programs that are operated by institutions outside of the U.S. Alternatively, click on “Education”
and then “Higher Education” to find links to 10,000 polytechnics, colleges, and universities around the world, al-
though most do not yet deliver courses over the web.
These three sites are markedly inferior to Yahoo’s Higher Education coverage, but have some links not available in
Yahoo.
USNEI
www.ed.gov/NLE/USNEI/HP0B1.html
This U.S. Government site strives to provide students the world over with authoritative information about educa-
tion and training opportunities in the United States and to provide U.S. students with authoritative information
about education and training abroad.
DigitalThink
www.digitalthink.com
This site offers e-learning technology and business courses in the following industries: financial services, technol-
ogy, healthcare, consulting and government. Courses start at US$99, but they offer "sample courses" that consist
of one module, which allow you to get a feel of their approach to learning. Some courses offer academic credit, as
well.
Headlight.com
www.headlight.com
Headlight offers a large selection of online courses that include web development, graphic design, business, tech-
nology, as well as certification courses. Many courses are free and paid courses start at US$12.95. You can also
try one of their free courses before you register and pay.
Hungry Minds
www.hungryminds.com
Hungry Minds offers job training, professional skills, lifelong learning and thousands of academic courses from
leading universities, organizations, and experts. In addition, their Subject Experts and editors recommend the best
music CDs, software programs, videos, magazines, and other resources to enhance just about any learning experi-
ence. Many courses are free and paid courses start at US$9.95.
Learn2.com
www.learn2.com
This site offers personal skill enhancement courses as well as corporate training courses. The site also contains a
bookstore as well as offers the option of downloading courses in PDA format for use on handheld devices. They
offer free courses as well as paid courses starting at US$9.95. In addition, they provide a small number of com-
puter tutorials in Spanish.
In a world with more gadgets and less time, individuals rely vices equipped with the Bluetooth chip. Furthermore, all
heavily upon the convenience of mobile technology. Sim- Bluetooth-enabled devices can be set to interact with each
plicity and expediency combined with enhanced capability other between distances of 10cm to 100m and to automati-
appear to be much in demand now, and soon, new standards cally exchange capability details and other information with
will meet that necessity. The future may hold the possibility one another. Bluetooth is also a secure system that uses en-
of households, businesses, and mobile workstations (laptops) cryption and authentication routines in order to prevent other
to be networked together without the use of cable hook ups Bluetooth users from accessing your own personal Bluetooth
or wires. Imagine being capable of transferring data from network.
work to update your PC at home without ever having no-
ticed. With the introduction of the new Bluetooth technol-
ogy, this potential future is soon to become a reality. Where will we see this new wireless?
It is no secret that wireless technology has been around for a As of now, it is expected that the Bluetooth chip will be used
few years now. Currently, the wireless LAN techniques use inside mobile phones, computers and related hardware, as
the IEEE 802.11 standard. Networks can be maintained be- well as digital cameras. The capabilities will include cable
tween other PCs within range, without the need of “line of free connections to the Internet via almost anywhere, imme-
sight” positioning; no cable hookups are necessary for Inter- diate email, information exchanges and updates between
net access or local networking. The Bluetooth vision, laptops, phones and PCs, and of course, the freedom of the
though, is to take the current wireless a step further, by wireless advantage.
broadening the wireless range of interaction in order to in-
corporate more than just computers. Several products are in the works for the Bluetooth SIG
(Special Interest Group). One of
which is the “hands free”
What is Bluetooth? headset. It is worn like a
traditional headset and will be
Bluetooth (www.bluetooth.com) is not a business, but rather, able to connect, wirelessly, to
a consortium of already well established corporations such as your cell phone and computer,
IBM, Ericsson, Intel, Toshiba, and Nokia. As the project has provided that all units are
escalated over the past 2 years, over hundreds of other mo- Bluetooth enabled. This is ideal
bile phone, computer, and chip companies have joined the for using your cellular while
Bluetooth bandwagon. Their efforts have combined in order driving or while completing other tasks simultaneously.
to produce and market a new, possible standard in wireless
technology…The Bluetooth chip. Another of the more promising creations to come from the
Bluetooth SIG is the “three-in-one” phone. This device will
Much like current LAN wireless, Bluetooth will connect enable users to operate it as a regular portable telephone at
units by way of incorporating a radio transceiver, which op- home (charging a fixed line fee), a mobile phone (by way of
erates in a license free, globally available, frequency band at a cell phone charge), and as a walkie talkie, requiring no
2.45GHz. Two of the advantages of the Bluetooth chip, charge, when it comes into range of another phone enabled
compared to current wireless, are that it’s much smaller in with the Bluetooth chip.
size and will be expected to cost less. Bluetooth offers high-
speed transmissions of both data and voice between all de-
Although consumers have yet to experience the vision that version of the company’s older developmental kit. It gives
the Bluetooth SIG is promising, Bluetooth has already made Bluetooth developers the ability to capture and log data being
its appearance with developmental tools and adapters. In transmitted between devices in a Bluetooth network. The
other words, as the developmental process for incorporating Sniffer is an essential tool to developers because it allows
the Bluetooth chip into our digital world continues, the Blu- them to view Bluetooth protocol data and analyze the net-
etooth chip itself is aiding several companies with their Blu- work’s performance. The product allows companies to work
etooth projects. with actual Bluetooth radio technology, bringing them one
step closer to delivering consumer Bluetooth products that
Digianswer (www.bluetooth.net) is a Danish company that are “bug-free” and user-friendly.
specializes in digital phone manufacturing. It is also the
company credited with producing, what it believes to be, the Digianswer also has several other Bluetooth products in the
first Bluetooth products on the market. Late last year Dig- works, one of which is the cell-phone car kit. This kit has
ianswer released their Bluetooth PC card and USB adapters the ability to control echo, reduce outside noise interference,
for notebook and PC applications. These products better incorporate voice activated dialing and commands, and it
enable users to utilize ad-hoc networking via dial-up net- even provides a Bluetooth-enabled radio. This device is ex-
working and/or LAN access points. pected to be available in the very near future along with ad-
ditional adapters for consumers, to ensure that the range of
Recently though, Digianswer has launched their newest Bluetooth will reach its maximum capacity.
product, the Bluetooth “Sniffer”. The Sniffer is an enhanced
“Virtualized Reality”
The Future of Television?
We have all heard of virtual reality, but what is “virtualized and color information extrapolated from the cameras. Now
reality.” In virtual reality (VR), three-dimensional models they have a 3-D model of a real-life event that looks exactly
are created on the computer, allowing for an imaginary cam- like the objects being portrayed.
era to be placed anywhere and at any angle. Virtualized re-
ality uses the same principles of VR, and extends them to Because these objects are 3-D models, they can be added or
real film footage. Imagine being able to see a live basketball removed as the viewer sees fit allowing him to see only cer-
game from your television, from any angle you want, even tain players, or only the ball. This technique can be used for
from the eyes of one of the players. coaches to analyze specific playing styles of their opposing
teammates or surgeons could use it to see from the angle of
That is exactly what Takeo Kanade, the head of the Robotics the scalpel for incredible precision.
Institute at Carnegie Mellon University, is hoping for. His
research team is developing a system that utilizes ingenious THE FUTURE
camera techniques and highly sophisticated software, to give
the viewer an arbitrary, nonexistent camera. This camera can There are still many obstacles to overcome. With the current
be maneuvered into any angle or position that the viewer speed of computers they are using, the processing speed is
desires. Eventually the viewer would also be able to delete about 500-to-1, which means it takes nearly eight minutes to
elements from the scene. process one second of film. Obviously, live broadcasts are
not yet available. The processing could be sped up, but de-
HOW DOES IT WORK? tails would be lost. Also, a full sized court would need
nearly twenty times the number of cameras they are using at
Currently the team has a working prototype, though it is not present.
ready for television just yet. They have constructed a 20-by-
20-by-9-foot hemispherical room in which hang fifty-one Although these obstacles may seem daunting, Takeo Kanade
synchronized cameras from the walls and ceiling. The exact has high aspirations for the technology. His team hopes to
same footage is captured in the NTSC (National Television scale up their small room to a 100-by-100 meter stadium. If
Standards Committee) standard of thirty frames per second, a jump in scale from 1-1,000 isn’t big enough, they have
from 51 different perspectives. Each frame is then compared made a proposal to transform the 2002 World Cup in Japan
by a host of computers, from which they generate a three- into virtualized reality. To do this they would need one
dimensional computer model of each instant. thousand cameras, and software that could read data from
those cameras, a thousand times faster than what they are
From that point, the technique works similarly to that of presently using. Even if the 2002 World Cup seems over
standard VR systems. The “virtualized” models are gener- ambitious, 2006 is only a few years away, and given the cur-
ated using polygons to be viewed on a two dimensional rent rate of advances in computers, that goal is not as un-
screen. If more detail is desired, then more polygons are reachable as it sounds.
needed. These polygons are then given the texture and color
Virtualized Reality shows the same play from two different angles
©Carnegie Mellon University
Global Learning Solutions of Lucent Technologies has been recognized as one of the top eLearning
organizations in the corporate training industry. Its executive leadership team, its technical expertise, its assets
in intellectual property and its physical assets make it one of the world’s most experienced full service
eLearning service providers.
Led by a very impressive leadership team Global Learning Solutions designs, builds and delivers eLearning
solutions with a special focus on corporate and organizational training. At the head of the company is
Raymond Vigil, a global expert in education who is responsible for building Lucent Technologies’ Global
Learning Solutions (GLS) division, Lucent’s highly respected eLearning organization. Prior to his Lucent
assignment Mr. Vigil was responsible for furthering IBM’s global eLearning organization and expanded the
breadth and scope of the company’s corporate training programs. He holds a Ph.D. in Education and has
worked with other Fortune 500 companies in developing their eLearning capabilities.
The GLS Distance Learning Solutions combine the latest networking technologies with the most advanced
eLearning methodologies. A typical case is the very advanced eLearning network the company built for Lucent
Technologies. In this case GLS built a global network of broadcast studios to allow for live interactive training
that could reach every region of the world. The network also included an extensive Internet based training
program with multiple courses in a variety of fields using BitRoom® and Lucent Video Interactive (LVI®)
technologies. The intellectual property rights to these technologies are owned by the Global Learning Solutions
division of Lucent Technologies.
GLS has successfully developed and brought on-line over 60 eLearning courses and delivered more than
30,000 hours of training in a variety of subjects. These include management, marketing, telecom engineering
and design, sales training, technical support, customer service, technician repair instructions, technician
operation, corporate processes and procedures, and much more.
In addition, through Global Learning Solutions parent company, Lucent Technologies, a very strong
relationship has been forged with highly respected universities from Latin America and the US for the purpose
of developing and delivering educational content. These relationships were built as part of a Lucent
Foundation initiative called Partnership in Global Learning (PGL). PGL is a collaboration between the partner
universities, Avaya Communication, the former Enterprise Networking Group of Lucent Technologies and
Lucent’s R&D division, Bell Laboratories to develop advanced methodologies in delivering distance learning
programs. It is anticipated that by the year 2001, the program will be extended to include the top universities in
the European and Asia/Pacific regions.
For more information about Global Learning Solutions please visit http://training.lucent.com or contact Guido
Minaya via email, gminaya@avaya.com.
Since the early 1990’s the Bank has significantly increased its lending to education
which now averages nearly $400 million per year. The Bank has supported all levels of
education. Initially lending focused on higher education. In the 1990’s most lending
went to primary education. Support for secondary education and for training has
recently increased. The Bank’s support for educational technology includes a loan to
Mexico for expansion and improvement of Mexico’s telesecundaria, as well as a loan to
Barbados expanding the use of computers for schooling. The Bank is also supporting a
pilot project, the International Virtual Education Network (IVEN), designed to
developed multi-media based modules for the teaching of science and mathematics in
secondary schools in Brazil, Colombia, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. A description of
the Bank’s education projects, as well as the full text of its education strategies and best
practice studies, can be found at www.iadb.org/sds/edu.
The Peace Corps was created in response to a challenge is- Peace Corps offices more clearly identify where and how
sued by then presidential candidate John F. Kennedy. After a Volunteers with these skills can work.
day of campaigning for the presidency, he arrived at the Uni-
versity of Michigan October 14, 1960, at 2:00 a.m., to find Third, they are undertaking a large "training of trainers" pro-
10,000 students waiting to hear him speak. There he asked cess for Volunteers who are comparative experts in using IT
how many of them would be willing to serve their country but not necessarily in teaching others how to use it. They
and the cause of peace by living and working in the devel- also want to expand the training programs to insure that Vol-
oping world? unteers and their counterparts become proficient in IT
teaching techniques.
After becoming President, John F. Kennedy established the
Peace Corps to promote world peace and friendship. Since Fourth, Peace Corps want to see Volunteers expand commu-
then, over 150,000 Americans have joined the Peace Corps nity computer literacy centers, micro and small business web
in over 134 countries. Currently, more than 7,000 Peace page design centers; and school-based learning centers ex-
Corps volunteers are serving in 77 countries, working to panded around the world.
bring clean water to communities, teach children, help start
new small businesses, and stop the spread of AIDS. The e-initiative will provide a structured and more systematic
way for Peace Corps Volunteers to incorporate IT into ex-
Over the years, and more recently, Peace Corps Volunteers isting and future projects. Prior to this more formalized ap-
worldwide are confirming that the demand for information proach, Peace Corps Volunteers have already provided nu-
technology (IT) skills is increasing worldwide at an expo- merous IT related services. They are:
nential rate.
• teaching counterparts to use computer hardware and to
In response to these demands, Director of the Peace Corps, use basic productivity and connectivity software, and
Mark Schneider, in March 2000 announced a Peace Corps IT where appropriate, how to design and establish web
program to recruit and place computer specialists in devel- pages
oping countries. Under this new program, volunteers will • helping to set up and run school computer labs and are
teach communities how to operate computers and applica- teaching counterparts to take over the responsibilities for
tions, teach at literacy centers, and assist with small business the facilities and the teaching
web page design centers. In June 2000, he further outlined • helping to set up and run community telecenters
the program for IT by announcing an e-initiative. This will • working with entrepreneurs and teaching them to use e-
expand the role that Peace Corps Volunteers currently play in mail and the Internet to promote their businesses and to
bringing the power of IT to the task of poverty reduction. communicate with customers. They are teaching them
According to a speech made by Director Schneider on June to use productivity software to improve internal man-
7, 2000, key elements of the e-initiative are the following: agement efficiency of their businesses.
• helping students participate in environmental and writ-
First, the Peace Corps will build on its traditional strengths of
ing programs that involve the use of IT in collaboration
local community presence, knowledge of local customs and
with students in other countries
language, and success at grassroots project development and
execution. They will enable technology projects that are fi- " Today, I would like to challenge America’s information
nanced by other organizations to become accessible to stu- giants to join the Peace Corps e-initiative by contributing
dents and businesses in rural areas. They are also proposing funds, hardware, software, and teaching modules to a Peace
to harness IT to help resource-poor communities in order to Corps e-Partnership Fund. The Fund will permit us to sup-
advance their development goals in education, health, envi- port hundreds of new Volunteer information technology
ronmental protection, agriculture production and small busi- projects—developed at the grassroots with community,
ness enterprises, and municipal development. NGO, small business, and local government partners." Di-
rector Mark Schneider, in his remarks on Peace Corps Day,
Second, to recruit Peace Corps Volunteers with IT skills,
March 6, 2000.
Peace Corps created a new category for Information Tech-
nology generalists and specialists to give computer experts a To read more about the Peace Corp, or more specifically this
place to identify their skills for the first time. This also helps initiative, go to: http://www.peacecorps.gov.