Digital Learning

Mrs. Neelam Ruhil , Associate Professor, Computer Science and Engineering Department Of Dronacharya College of Engineering, attended a two- day IBM Research Workshop on “Digital Learning” from 27th to 28th February 2014 at ISID Auditorium, New Delhi. The objective of this workshop was to discover that how educational materials are transitioning from print to digital media and how face-to-face learning experience is shifting to more multimedia and distance option. This workshop was hosted by a group of eminent guests comprising Sara Basson(Program Director, Career Pathways,T.J Watson IBM Research Center), Chalapathy Neti, (Director, Education Transformation, TJ Watson Research Center ), Ramesh Gopinath (Director, IBM Research- India, Chief Technologist, India- South Asia), Vanitha Narayanan ( Regional General Manager of IBM India/ South Asia).

On the first day distinguished speakers Mr. Amit Bansal, VP Technology, Pearson; Mr. Andrew Ng, Co-Founder- Coursera; Dr. Shayama Chona, President- Tamana Association; Prof. Zhu Ziting, Vice President-ECNU emphasized on the transformation to digital media for learning changes the education experience - from the way learning materials are prepared and disseminated, to understanding how students learn, where students learn, and the ability to glean analytics and deeper insights about student performance. They also shared their views on research frame work for smart education and the construction of smart learning environments and smart learning ecology.

On the second day the speakers Mr. John Baker, Founder – Desire2Learn; Mr. Wayne Grant- Intel; Professor Ddembe Williams, Professor and Consultant in ICT and Higher Education- Kenya; Mr. Abraham Bernstien, Professor of Informatics, and University of Zurich enlightened the attendees on how the user experience team defines and designs such “purpose – built” solutions for the education market place and this session will closed with a discussion of trends in educational computing based on affordances emerging from a range of exciting, new interactive capabilities such as augmented reality, natural user interface, eye- tracking and learning analytics. They also discussed on MOOCs, Crowds and the Global Brain. Other experts Dr. Charles Kinzer, Teachers College, Columbia University and Mr. Nanda Kambhatla, Cognitive Solutions and Services, IBM Research- India talked on structuring Online Learning to address individual differences and user control. They also described some ways to extend and apply the technology to the education field by making content more interactive and intelligent and enabling richer engagement by learner.

The workshop was very educative as the attendees got some important hints and additional information regarding the Online Revolution: Education for Everyone, Education in the 21st Century, Big Data in Education, The Changing Classroom and Challenges Ahead, MOOCs and the Global Brains, Structuring Online Learning to Address Individuals Differences and User Control etc .