Greetings from Colombo, Sri Lanka, where I am attending the 8th International Conference on Computer Science and Education (ICCSE 2013). In his opening speech, the Sri Lanka Minister of Technology Research and Atomic Energy, Patali Champika Ranawaka, emphasized the economic, environmental and social benefits of national investment in education.
Yesterday, before the formal conference, we had a tour of the main campus of Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT). This private institution is affiliated with numerous Australian universities, some UK ones and accredited to deliver programs in Sri Lanaka. SLIIT focuses on ICT and business courses. The main campus looks like that of an Australian vocational institution in the tropics: http://www.sliit.lk/ I noticed a sign about mid semester one hour examinations. SLIIT use Moodle for e-learning, but the primary teaching mode appears to be face-to-face in conventional classrooms. I noticed one course offered was Introduction to Renewable Energy from Curtin University: http://handbook.curtin.edu.au/units/31/314207.html There may be scope for offering my ICT Sustainability course to the engineering, ICT and business students: http://www.tomw.net.au/ict_sustainability/ An interesting issue is what effect will e-learning have on institutions like SLIIT. Currently SLIIT acts as a satellite campus and feeder to for overseas institutions. Students can complete lower level qualifications at SLIIT and travel overseas for advanced studies. However, if students can undertake much or all of their studies on-line, there may be less need for these partnerships. But, it is more likely that the services offered at campuses will change, as they are in Australia, with fewer lecture theaters and more informal spaces for small groups of students. More at: http://blog.tomw.net.au/2013/04/information-technology-education-in-sri.html -- Tom Worthington FACS CP, TomW Communications Pty Ltd. t: 0419496150 PO Box 13, Belconnen ACT 2617, Australia http://www.tomw.net.au Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation Adjunct Senior Lecturer, Research School of Computer Science, Australian National University http://cs.anu.edu.au/courses/COMP7310/ _______________________________________________ Link mailing list Link@mailman.anu.edu.au http://mailman.anu.edu.au/mailman/listinfo/link
