Communications and Society Program

Appendix

Proposal

Knowledge Learning Centers
for
 Special Economic Zones in India

The Problem
     India's Special Economic Zone (SEZ) policy aims to invest Rs.1 trillion including foreign capital worth U.S. $5-6 billion, by December 2007, and will create over 500,000 jobs by the end of that year. However the policy has attracted a lot of controversy after protests over land acquisition due to the concern over displacement of farmers and other inhabitants of SEZ location.  At the same time there is a widening gap between the demand for skilled human resources in India, as evidenced in the new SEZs, and the limited supply of qualified workers, in some cases from the very areas where SEZs are being established.

     The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM) has approved 83 SEZ projects in addition to the already approved and announced 63 projects, with some changes in the policies to better address social issues.  But these policies to not appear to be effective enough. Eminent scholars have voiced support for SEZs, acknowledging the fact that they would create over 15,75,452 additional jobs.  They have also advocated that, in view of global examples, the Government should ameliorate the problem regarding displaced people.

A Proposed Solution
     The participants at the Second Annual Aspen Institute Joint Roundtable on Communications Policy proposed a solution to fulfill the requirements of building the knowledge and skills base within Special Economic Zones and address the Indian Government's interests in both economic development and social inclusiveness.  The group suggested establishing Knowledge Learning Centres (KLCs) in SEZs for displaced residents . The KLCs would address the individual needs of companies in the SEZ and nearby areas, and prepare the local population with a host of skills to serve community needs within and outside the SEZs.  These skills include healthcare, education, agriculture, hospitality, catering and retail, among others.  The proposed Knowledge Learning Centres would thus have accomplished two goals: provide the local population with more opportunities and reduce the shortage of skilled human resources, thereby beginning to bridge the gap between the supply and demand for skilled human resources. 

     The Knowledge Learning Centre will be a tripartite partnership between 1) industry that will serve as the coordinating and implementing partner, 2) a recognized institute as training partner, and 3) government as the funding partner.  For the KLC to be successful, an industry partner and the Government would need to form a partnership and develop training modules based on the major focus area of that particular SEZ. The KLC would adopt both conventional teaching from tested models like NIOS, The NIIT Institute of Information Technology (TNI) and IGNOU.  At the same time the KLC could also take advantage of new collaborative "Learning 2.0" models which exploit the potential of the inter-active Web 2.0.  For example, they can take the approach of Hole in the Wall at one level, and of the freely available OpenCourseWare offered by MIT, and the Open Courseware Consortium of universities throughout the world, at the higher education level.

     The steps required to implement the KLC Proposal include:

1. mapping of target population and providers;
2. identifying relevant skills as per the population and requirement of companies in SEZs;
3. developing suitable infrastructure, proper administrative structures, and friendly policies;
4. strategizing to reach out to target audience;
5. designing courseware as per the requirement of industry; and
6. identifying funding sources and recruitment of excellent resources for training.

Sustainability
     To achieve its objectives of creating lifelong learning, and spurring a paradigm shift in the learning levels of the target population, the KLC requires:

• access over broadband connectivity,
• public private partnership
• open collaborative content from various available sources.

     Though a Knowledge Learning Centre would initially train the displaced inhabitants of SEZs, the model needs to be scaled up for broader sustainability.  It must also have full funding.  In addition, the KLC must be made accessible and promoted throughout the entire population. 

     The Public Private Partnership (PPP) model proposed by the Task Force on Vocational Education & Training and constituted by the Planning Commission is an ideal model. The KLC Task Force proposes the provision of land by the State Government to the industry group with loans by the Central Government for setting up the Knowledge Learning Centre. The SEZ member company will fund the training at the subsidised rates quoted by the Government for displaced residents, or at normal rates from residents outside SEZ.  In addition the KLCs will also serve as placement centres for companies within the Special Economic Zone.

Proposal to Government: Proposed Pilot Project
SEZ Type                                                   IT SEZ

Skill Sets                                                   Problem-solving, Collaboration, Creativity, Critical thinking, Communication, Entrepreneurship
 
Capacity of KLC                                         1000 Target Audience maximum (Alternatively can be based on the size of the SEZ)  

Requirements:

From Government                            Allocation / Funding of land
From developer of SEZ                     Infrastructure development
Companies in SEZ                            Funding of training. Exploit the skill voucher method.

Certification                                               By independent agency

     Upon success of the pilot program, the Government could consider making KLC a mandatory regulation -  every SEZ developed should have a KLC that provides training at all levels dependent upon the employment requirements of companies in the SEZ.

Knowledge Learning Center (KLC) Pilot Project
Design and Implementation Map

Joint Roundtable on Communications Policy

"Enhancing India's Knowledge Workforce"

Chennai & New Delhi, India
February 1-5, 2007

Note: Titles and affiliations are as of the date of the conference.

Roundtable Participants

Richard Adler
Research Affiliate
Institute for the Future
UNITED STATES

Jonathan Aronson
Professor and Executive Director
Annenberg Center for Communication
University of Southern California
UNITED STATES

Dorothy Attwood
Senior Vice President, Regulatory Policy
AT&T
UNITED STATES

Vanu G. Bose
Chief Executive Officer
Vanu, Inc.
UNITED STATES

John Seely Brown
Director Emeritus
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC)
UNITED STATES

Jeff Brueggeman
Vice President Regulatory Policy
AT&T
UNITED STATES

Charles M. Firestone
Executive Director
Communications and Society Program
The Aspen Institute
UNITED STATES

S. Gopalakrishnan
President and Chief Operating Officer
  and 
Joint Managing Director
Infosys Technologies Ltd.
INDIA

Reed E. Hundt
Senior Advisor
McKinsey & Company
UNITED STATES

Laura Ipsen
Vice President
Global Policy and Government Affairs
Cisco Systems
UNITED STATES

Murugavel Janakiraman
Chief Executive Officer
BharatMatrimony Enterprise
INDIA

Franklin Jones
President
Intel Technology India Pvt. Ltd.
INDIA

Parag Kar
Senior Director, Government Affairs
Qualcomm India and SAARC
INDIA

S. Mahalingam
Chief Financial Officer         
Tata Consultancy Services
INDIA

Harsh Manglik
Chairman
Accenture India
INDIA

Shamsher S. Mehta
Lieutentant General (Retired)
   and
Director General
Confederation of Indian Industry
   and
Trustee
The Aspen Institute India
INDIA

Lakshmi Narayanan
Vice Chairman
Cognizant Technology Solutions India Pvt. Ltd
INDIA

R. Natarajan
Former Director
Indian Institute of Technology – Madras
INDIA

Ann M. Pendleton-Jullian
Associate Professor of Architecture
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
   and
Principle Architect
Ap-J Architects
UNITED STATES

Robert Pepper
Senior Managing Director
Global Advanced Technology Policy
Cisco Systems
UNITED STATES

J Raghuram
General Manager – Human Resources
Hutchison Essar South Ltd.
INDIA

Amit Sharma
VP Strategy and Business Development
Motorola Asia Pacific
INDIA

Kanwalinder Singh
President
Qualcomm India
INDIA

Stacy Standley
Managing Director
ICG
UNITED STATES

Vijay K. Thadani  
Chief Executive Officer 
NIIT Limited
INDIA

Vikram Tiwathia
Colonel (Retired)
   and
Chief Information Officer
Confederation of Indian Industry
INDIA

Manoj Varghese
Director, Human Resources
Google India
INDIA

Roshni Venkatesh
Corporate Citizenship Lead
Accenture
INDIA

K S Vishvanathan
Senior Vice President and Chief Executive
India Operations
Wipro Infotech
INDIA

Staff:

Mansi Sharma
Executive
Confederation of Indian Industry
INDIA

Mridulika Menon
Senior Project Manager
Communications and Society Program
The Aspen Institute
UNITED STATES

Members of the Open Courseware Consortium (July 2007)

Australia
• University of Southern Queensland

Austria
• University of Klagenfurt

Canada
• Capilano College

China
• China Open Res. for Education
• Beijing Hang University
• Beijing Jiao Tong University
• Beijing Normal University
• Beijing Science & Tech. Univ.
• Central Radio and TV Univ.
• Central South University
• China Mining University
• China People’s University
• China Science & Tech. Univ.
• Dalian University of Tech.
• Fu Dan University
• International Business &
  Econ. Univ. of China
• Nanjing University
• North-East University
• North-West University
• North Western Polytech. Univ.
• Peking University
• Shanghai Jaiotong University
• Sichuan University
• Tianjin University
• Tsinghua University
• Xi’an Jiao Tong University
• Zhejiang University
Plus more than 200 others

France
•  ParisTech "Graduate School"
École Nationale du Génie Rural, des Eaux et des Forêts (ENGREF)
•  École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées (ENPC)
•  École Nationale Supérieure d'Arts et Métiers (ENSAM)
•  École Nationale Supérieure de Chimie de Paris (ENSCP)
École Nationale Supérieure des Mines de Paris (ENSMP)
•  École Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications (ENST)
•  École Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées (ENSTA)
•  École Polytechnique (EP)
•  École Supérieure de Physique et de Chimie Industrielles de la Ville de Paris (ESPCI)
•  Institut National Agronomique Paris-Grignon (INA P-G)
École Nationale de Statistique et d'Administration Économique (ENSAE))

India
• National Programme on Technology  Enhanced Learning
• IIIT Bangalore

Japan
• Japan OCW Consortium
• Doshisha University
• Hokkaido University
• Kansai University
• Keio University
• Kyoto University
• Kyushu University
• Nagoya University
• National Institute of 
  Multimedia Education
• Osaka University
• Tokyo Institute of Technology
• University of Tokyo
• University of Tsukuba
• Waseda University

Spain and Portugal
• Universia OCW
• Universidad Alicante
• Universidad Aveiro
• Universidad Barcelona
• Univ. Carlos III de Madrid
• Universidad Islas Baleares
• Universidad Jaume I
• Universidad Murcia
• Universidad Oviedo
• Univ. Politécnica de Madrid
• Univ. Politécnica de Valencia
• Universidad Rovira i Virgili
• Univ. Santiago de Compostela
• Universidad Sevilla

Saudi Arabia
•  Alfaisal University

South Africa
• University of the Western Cape

Peru
• Univ. Nac. Mayor de San Marcos

United Kingdom
•  Open University UK

United States
• Defense Acquisition University
• Harvard Law School, Berkman Center for Internet and Society
• Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology
• Michigan State University
• Tufts University
• University of California, Irvine
• University of Michigan School of Information
• University of Massachusetts Boston
• University of Notre Dame
• Utah State University
• Utah Valley State College
• Wheelock College

Venezuela
• Univ. Central de Venezuela

Vietnam
• Fulbright Econ. Teaching Prog.
• Vietnam OpenCourseWare
• Can Tho University
• Da Nang University
• Hanoi Agriculture Univ. No. 1
• Hanoi Education University
• Hanoi Medical University
• Hanoi Nat. Univ. of Economics
• Hanoi University of 
  Technology
• HCMC Education University
• HCMC Medical University
• HCMC University of  
  Economics
• Hue University
• Thai Nguyen University
• Vietnam Nat. University –
   Hanoi
• Vietnam Nat. Univ. – HCMC
   Affiliates

Affiliates
African Virtual University
Chulalongkorn University
Creative Commons
Fahamu
Opensource Opencourseware
Prototype System
Thailand Cyber University
WiderNet Project eGranary
Digital Library
United Nations University

Learning 2.0 Resources

U.S./Global Resources

  Bugscope           
The Bugscope project is an educational outreach program for K–12 classrooms. The project provides a resource to classrooms so they may remotely operate a scanning electron microscope to image “bugs” at high magnification. The microscope is remotely controlled in real time from a classroom computer over the Internet, using a Web browser. The Bugscope project is primarily oriented toward K–12 classrooms; there is no cost to participate in the project.
URL: http://bugscope.beckman.uiuc.edu

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Carnegie Mellon Open Learning Initiative         
Carnegie Mellon University’s Open Learning Initiative (OLI) is a collection of “cognitively informed,” openly available, and free online courses and course materials that enact instruction for an entire course in an online format. OLI courses include several innovative online instructional components, such as cognitive tutors, virtual laboratories, group experiments, and simulations.
URL: www.cmu.edu/oli/

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Connexions
Connexions is an environment for collaboratively developing, sharing, and rapidly publishing scholarly content on the Web. The Content Commons contains educational materials for everyone from children to college students to professionals, organized in small modules that are easily connected into larger courses. All content is free to use and reuse under the Creative Commons “attribution” license.
URL: http://cnx.org 

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Curriki
Curriki is a community of educators, learners, and committed education experts who are working together to create quality materials that will benefit teachers and students around the world. Curriki is an online environment created to support the development and free distribution of world-class educational materials to anyone who needs them.
URL: www.curriki.org

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Faulkes Telescope Project
The Faulkes Telescope Project is the education arm of Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network (LCOGTN). It provides access to robotic telescopes and a fully supported education program to encourage teachers and students to engage in research-based science education.  Access is provided at no charge to teachers and students.
URL: http://faulkes-telescope.com/news/1232

* * * * * * * * * * *
  GLOBE
The Global Learning Objects Brokered Exchange (GLOBE) is an international consortium that strives to make shared online learning resources available to educators and students around the world. The consortium provides a distributed network of learning objects that meet quality standards. GLOBE aims to connect the world and unlock the “deep web” of quality online educational resources by brokering relationships with content providers.
URL: www.globe-info.net/globe/go/pid/2

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Carnegie Foundation Knowledge Media Laboratory/Gallery of Teaching & Learning
The goals of the Knowledge Media Lab (KML) are to develop digital tools and resources that help make knowledge of effective teaching practices and educational transformation efforts visible, shareable, and reusable; to build the capacity for faculty and teachers to take advantage of information and communications technologies that enable them to reexamine, rethink, and re-present teaching and student learning and share the outcomes in an effective and efficient way; and to sustain communities of practice engaged in collaboratively improving teaching and student learning.
The KML is a program of the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Education. The KML includes a Gallery of Teaching and Learning that contains collections of work created by the foundation’s programs and partners, as well as case studies of how technology-enabled educational knowledge representation and sharing helps advance teaching and learning.
URL: www.carnegiefoundation.org/programs/index.asp?key=38

* * * * * * * * * * *
  MERLOT
MERLOT is a leading-edge, user-centered, searchable collection of peer-reviewed higher education online learning materials created by registered members, as well as a set of faculty development support services. MERLOT's vision is to be a premiere online community where faculty, staff, and students from around the world share their learning materials and pedagogy.
URL: http://taste.merlot.org/index.html

* * * * * * * * * * *
  MOODLE
Moodle is a free, open source course management system (CMS) designed to help educators create effective online learning communities. It can be downloaded and used on any computer (including Web hosts), yet it can scale from a single-teacher site to a 50,000-student university.
URL: http://moodle.org/

* * * * * * * * * * *
  National Science Digital Library
The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) was established by the National Science Foundation (NSF) in 2000 as an online library that directs users to exemplary resources for science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education (STEM) and research. The NSDL provides an organized point of access to STEM content that is aggregated from a variety of other digital libraries, NSF-funded projects, and NSDL-reviewed Web sites. The NSDL also provides access to services and tools that enhance the use of this content in a variety of contexts. The NSDL is designed primarily for K–16 educators, but anyone can access NSDL.org and search the library at no cost.
URL: http://nsdl.org

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Open Educational Resources           
The Open Educational Resources (OER) Commons is an open learning network where teachers and professors (from pre-K to graduate school) can access their colleagues’ course materials, share their own, and collaborate on affecting today’s classrooms. It uses Web 2.0 features (tags, ratings, comments, reviews, and social networking) to create an online experience that engages educators in sharing their best teaching and learning practices.
URL: www.oercommons.org

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Open Courseware Consortium           
The OpenCourseWare Consortium is a collaboration of more than 100 higher education institutions and associated organizations from around the world creating a body of open educational content using a shared model. The mission of the consortium is to advance education and empower people worldwide through open courseware.
URL: www.ocwconsortium.org/index.html

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Sakai Project           
Sakai is an online collaboration and learning environment. Users of Sakai deploy it to support teaching and learning, ad hoc group collaboration, support for portfolios, and research collaboration.  Sakai is a free, open source product that is built and maintained by the Sakai community.
URL: www.sakaiproject.org

India: Government/Academic Initiatives

  Digital Library of India           
The mission of the Digital Library of India is to create a portal that will foster creativity and free access to all human knowledge. A proposed first step in realizing this mission is to create the Digital Library with a free-to-read, searchable collection of 1 million books, predominantly in Indian languages, available to everyone over the Internet. This portal will also become an aggregator of all the knowledge and digital contents created by other digital library initiatives in India.
URL: http://dli.iiit.ac.in 

* * * * * * * * * * *
  National Program on Technology Enhanced Learning           
The objective of NPTEL is to enhance the quality of engineering education in India by developing curriculum-based video and Web courses. This program is being carried out as a collaborative project by seven IITs, the Indian Institute of Science, and other institutions. The goal of the project is to provide learning materials, digitally taped classroom lectures, supplementary materials, and links to state-of-the art research materials in every subject possible. Samples from approximately 70 courses offered by faculty in various departments to students at all levels are currently available, and approximately 140 courses are in various stages of preparation and distribution.
URL: http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/

India: Corporate Education Initiatives

  Cisco Networking Academy
The Cisco Networking Academy Program is a public-private partnership between Cisco Systems, education, business, government, and community organizations around the world aimed at nurturing IT professionals.  The education program uses an e-learning model, with a combination of Web-based and instructor-led training, along with a hands-on lab environment to teach students how to design, build, and maintain computer networks. Cisco currently operates 155 Networking Academies in 23 states in India.
URL: www.cisco.com/web/learning/netacad/academy/About.html

* * * * * * * * * * *
  HeyMath!           
HeyMath’s mission is to establish a Web-based platform that enables every student and teacher to learn from the “best teacher in the world” for every math concept and to be able to benchmark themselves against their peers globally. The HeyMath platform includes an online repository of questions, indexed by concept and grade, so teachers can save time in devising homework and tests.
URL: www.heymath.com/index.jsp

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Hole-in-the-Wall           
Breaking the traditional confines of a school, Hole-in-the-Wall Education Limited (HiWEL) takes the Learning Station to the playground; uses a unique collaborative learning approach; and encourages children to explore, learn, and just enjoy. The first Hole-in-the-Wall computer was installed in 1999 in New Delhi; today, more than 100 are in operation around India.

For experts, Hole-in-the-Wall is a “shared blackboard” that children in underprivileged communities can collectively own and access to express themselves, learn, explore together, and at some stage even brainstorm and come up with exciting ideas. For villagers, it is more like a village well, where children assemble to draw knowledge and, in the process, engage in meaningful conversation and immersive learning activities that broaden their horizons. For children, it is an extension of their playground where they can play together; teach each other new things; and, more important, just be themselves.  Established in 2001, HiWEL is a joint venture between NIIT Ltd. and the International Finance Corporation (a part of the World Bank Group).
URL: www.hole-in-the-wall.com/

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Intel Computer Clubhouse
The Intel Computer Clubhouse is an after-school program where youth ages 8 to 18 have access to high-tech equipment and mentoring to develop skills that open up opportunities, encourage self-confidence, and foster creativity. Youth who visit the Computer Clubhouse learn by doing. They create digital artwork, produce their own music CDs, film, write and edit their own short movies, and design Web sites. The first Intel Computer Clubhouse in India was launched in New Delhi in December 2001 at the Katha Khazana, a nongovernmental organization (NGO)-run school that is open to children from the Govindpuri slum area in Delhi. The second clubhouse was opened in Bangalore in December 2002.
URL: www.intel.com/cd/corporate/education/APAC/ENG/in/communityed/communityed2/239088.htm

* * * * * * * * * * *
  Shiksha India
Shiksha India is an initiative of the CII and is managed by the Shiksha India Trust. Shiksha India works with schools and institutions across India to promote the use of technology to make teaching and learning more effective. Shiksha operates a portal, built with open source tools,  to allow teachers to collaborate and engage in discussions concerning e-learning, e-teaching, and creative teaching and learning.
URL: www.shikshaindia.org
 

 About the Author

     Richard Adler is principal of People & Technology, a research and consulting firm based in California’s Silicon Valley.  He is also a Research Affiliate at the Institute for the Future (IFTF) in Palo Alto, California.  His current work focuses on the implications of the aging of baby boomers and the impact of technology on the delivery of healthcare.

     Mr. Adler was one of the first staff members of the Aspen Institute Communications and Society Program.  He served as Associate Director under Douglass Cater, the program’s founder.  He has also written reports on several Aspen conferences over the past decade including Next-Generation Media: The Global Shift.

     Mr. Adler has taught communications at Stanford University and UCLA and was a Research Fellow at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. 

     Mr. Adler’s recent publications include Anytime, Anyplace Health: How Mobile Applications Are Expanding Access to Healthcare (IFTF, 2006); “Reinventing Retirement” (Aging Today, 2005); “The Age Wave Meets the Technology Wave: Broadband and Older Americans” (SeniorNet, 2004); and Telecommunications 2010 (Institute for Information Policy, 2001).

     Mr. Adler holds a BA from Harvard, an MA from the University of California at Berkeley, and an MBA from the McLaren School of Business at the University of San Francisco.

About the Aspen Institute India

     In collaboration with the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), the Aspen Institute launched its newest international partner with the opening of the Aspen Institute India in New Delhi on February 3, 2004. The Aspen Institute India is a nonprofit organization dedicated to in-depth discussion of global issues; development of leadership based on values; and a high-level exchange of opinions, information, and values.

     The Institute focuses on the most important problems and challenges facing Indian society, the business community, and the individual, inviting top industrial, economic, financial, political, social, and cultural leaders to discuss these issues in reserved settings that encourage frank and open debate.

     The Aspen Institute India pursues its objective by organizing value-based leadership seminars, policy programs, and public activities.

About the
Communications and Society Program
www.aspeninstitute.org/c&s

     The Communications and Society Program is an active venue for global leaders and experts from a variety of disciplines and backgrounds to exchange and gain new knowledge and insights on the societal impact of advances in digital technology and network communications.  The Program also creates a multi-disciplinary space in the communications policy-making world where veteran and emerging decision-makers can explore new concepts, find personal growth and insight, and develop new networks for the betterment of the policy-making process and society.

     Ongoing activities of the Communications and Society Program include annual roundtables on journalism and society (e.g., journalism and national security), communications policy in a converged world  (e.g., the future of video regulation), the impact of advances in information technology (e.g., “when push comes to pull”), advances in the mailing medium, and diversity and the media.  The Program also convenes the Aspen Institute Forum on Communications and Society (FOCAS), in which chief executive-level leaders of business, government and the non-profit sector examine issues relating to the changing media and technology environment.

     Most conferences utilize the signature Aspen Institute seminar format: approximately 25 leaders from a variety of disciplines and perspectives engaged in roundtable dialogue, moderated with the objective of driving the agenda to specific conclusions and recommendations.  In 2007, FOCAS has emerged as a larger event.

     Conference reports and other materials are distributed to key policymakers and opinion leaders within the United States and around the world.  They are also available to the public at large through the World Wide Web, www.aspeninstitute.org/c&s.

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