Monday, February 24, 2003		Guest Speak

Clicking away conventional classrooms
Naveen S.Garewal

Amit Tripathi,  Vice President, Direcway Global Education, Hughes Escorts Communication Limited

TECHNOLOGY has changed the very concept of education. Lectures delivered by world-renowned professors to elite group of students of prestigious institutions are no longer the privilege of a select few. E-education has pierced through the four walls of a classroom to reach students in the e-class rooms thousands of kilometres away. And mind you, these are not lectures thrust upon students; rather these are interactive sessions where students from different e-learning centres can simultaneously interact with the teacher, besides holding discussions on the subject. This has become possible due to the implementation of broadband satellite communication education delivery mechanism.

A pioneer in the field of broadband satellite education, Amit Tripathi, Vice President, Direcway Global Education, Hughes Escorts Communication Limited says: "Education in India is all set for a revolution with the implementation of broadband satellite communication education delivery mechanism that combines the best of traditional and a virtual classroom. Imagine sitting in Ludhiana listening to a lecture by faculty of the XLRI, Jamshedpur". Something that would be termed as a utopian dream a decade ago it today a reality, Tripathi told Login Tribune in an interview.

The tie up between Direcway Global Education and Hughes Escorts Communication Limited has brought 25 such classrooms across 16 cities in India with 1-shared studio (in Gurgaon) and dedicated studios (at XLRI, Jamshedpur and Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) and the Western International University, USA). Ludhiana has become the first city in the northern region to receive one such classroom.

Tripathi says: "We identified Ludhiana as a key centre for our satellite-based DirecWay Global Education platform because the town is the centre for industrial activity in the state, as well as an accredited centre of education. We believe that our portfolio of management courses will attract tremendous interest and participation from students and managers interested in obtaining world-class management degrees in Ludhiana itself."

The broadband has redefined e-learning, according to Tripathi who says this new interactive technologies provide a lot of interactivity and is not merely a one-way delivery. Highlighting the various advantages of e-learning, he says that a video, data and voice delivery system reduces travel costs, wherein the executives already employed can pursue further education from premier institutes without having to quit their jobs and without having to leave their place of posting. For the companies too, broadband, interactive multimedia communication technology can help reduce training costs, besides a better and consistent education.

How does the system work? Tripathi says the audio and video is broadcast through a satellite and displayed on the PC in the classroom. Every student is equipped with a microphone that allows him / her to communicate with the instructor. The central studio, which is maintained by the service provider, consists of a presentation server, assistant station, encoder and a shared application server. The presentation server tracks every viewer/participant in a class session. The instructor uses this server to present the material, call on viewers and give questions to monitor the comprehension of participants. Broadcast quality video output allows viewers to see questions and real-time results.

He adds that using the concept of Wide Area Network (WAN) live sessions are multicast using a Ku-Band broadband hub. The remote classrooms consist of a two-way VSAT equipped with multimedia computers. VSAT is used both for receiving and transmitting data to and from the studio whereas the size of the classroom can vary from 10 (minimum economically viable setup) to anywhere up to 3,500 PCs (based on the available bandwidth).

Commenting on the vision for the DirecWay Global Education platform, Tripathi says: "Hughes today, has become an end-to-end infrastructure provider of quality higher education over the satellite broadband platform across India. We have successfully leveraged our expertise in satellite communications to create this application which offers premier educational institutions to broad base their offering to the entire nation."

He disclosed that Hughes Escorts Communications Ltd. (HECL) was a joint venture between Hughes Network Systems (HNS) and Escorts Ltd. HECL, he added, had had already established itself as a leader in providing turnkey networking solutions for corporate enterprise in India, primarily using the satellite medium.

This technology platform is supplemented by the DirecWay Global Education Website through which study material and reference material can be made available to students. Another attraction of the programmes is that students can learn at their own pace by using a combination of online, real-time lectures, session archives, downloadable material at the portal and the scheduled interactions with faculty in the most suitable manner, says Tripathi.

This technology does not exist on paper, but has been successfully tested in several cities of the country and has been found to be reliable in the delivery of interactive educational content, according to Tripathi. The technology, he says would virtually re-define the concept of classroom education, retaining all its benefits, besides improving the reach and enhancing collaborative group learning.