New Delhi /IndiaPRLine.com/ IGNOU on Thursday (29 October, 2009) will sign an MoU with Ericsson India Pvt. Limited (EIL), an Indian chapter of Swedish multinational firm Ericsson, to start application of the third generation (3G) mobile in education delivery.

Students of IGNOU will soon get 3G Mobile services at a very nominal fees, say hardly Rs 20 or Rs 25 more than what they are paying for the normal admissions.

IGNOU Vice Chancellor Professor VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof KR Srivathsan, who introduced the concept, and Ericsson chief Gowton Achaibar addressed the mediapersons to explain how the 3G technology would reach out the heterogenous echelons of IGNOU students communities.

“It is not the distance education alone, who are going to be the beneficiaries, from the 3G Mobile, even in the conventional university system the students using the technology will be at an edge over others”, said Prof Srivathsan, a distinguished technocrat and former director in IIT Kanpur and IIITM, Thiruvananthapuram.

India has recently launched the Third Generation (3G) Mobile Services. This MoU is aimed at effective use of facilities supported by 3G Mobile services in Open and Distance education. It is a state-of-the-art technology put to connect the remote area learners.

The common SMS today is already used in the course management through SMS alert services. With the 3G, students will be supported with access to parts of the course web pages, downloading files like Assignments and Video clips.

Prof Srivathsan said, “The 3G technology creates wider scopes for a learner. It is a small-screen mega performer which has a browser to scan, stream, build capacities of the users by getting materials at shortest possible application methods. The 3G technology helps a learner stream through video, audio and selective Internet browsing. Downloaded files may be played through laptop or PC. New notebooks with built-in 3G chip sets advanced e-learning services. This will allow consulting with academic counsellors, course coordinators, peer-to-peer discussions etc.”

A small laptop in the notebook built in 3G chip can be a wonderful utility tool for the distance education teachers, particularly for areas where infrastructure and electricity are not available enough. “The 3G technology ensures both web-mentoring and web-proctoring,” explains Prof Srivathsan, “web-mentoring means studying through the 3G chip, consulting with counsellors and/or engaging in peer-to-peer discussions.

The web-proctoring is more expert-driven. It means only the experts and researchers in the M-Learning technologies can participate to effect better application modules. Web-proctoring will ensure not only the two-way audio and video interactives, but also makes possible a delivery of classroom discussion or a seminar in a three-party module.”

He also gave an example, a sign language student, who is hearing and speech impaired, can take his/her classes through the mobile screen of the 3G model of mobile telephony. His/ her learning is more by watching the signs created by the interpreter. In this case a lecture is given at a place, the interpreter interpreting it through sign language is stationed at a different location and a speech and hearing impaired learner watching the signs of the interpreter from a different place. All activities at three points take place simultaneously. The 3G technology can make this possible.

Explaining the students profile at IGNOU, Vice Chancellor Prof Pillai stressed the heterogeneity of the communities of IGNOU, “We are not like the conventional universities. Our students come from all types of communities of the country. They are disadvantaged BPL families, lower income groups, middle class societies and also are highly articulate professionals like engineers, doctors, scientists, professors etc. We cater to all kinds of life of the country. Our 2.5 millions student bases are powerful receptors of the G3 technology.”

Answering a question about the burden of cost on the students communities, Prof Pillai said, “In most cases our students earn and learn. They can provide for the 3G Mobile services for education. Even then, from this collaboration we will charge them hardly Rs 20 or Rs 25 for the 3G Mobile services. But the real cost is likely to be from the TRAI and other services providers.”

Ericsson president Mr Gowton Achaibar in his address stressed, “We Ericsson and IGNOU would create an eco-system for the G3 Mobile technology applied in education. India has about 20% of the world’s population. If we create an ecosystem, delivery of education through the 3G Mobile will become a great success story.”

Replying to the costing aspect for thetechnology being used by students, Mr Acahibar’s deputy P Balaji, chief of marketing said, “The cost will be only for the installation on natural estimate.”

The technology has a niche area of functioning for the university. The cost will increasingly come down with enrolment figures going up. IGNOU is at an advantage in this situation. At present IGNOU disseminates education to over eight (8) million homes through the Edusat-mediate beams of DTH services. Increasingly IGNOU is putting into applications the latest Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) to reach out to the unreached in the remote areas of rural India.

Scientists at IGNOU constantly evaluate the latest ICTs to press into services of education. This MoU by IGNOU is yet another niche area specialisation for developing domain knowledge and application scopes.

Swedish firm Ericsson is a trusted name at Communication Networks, Global Telecom Services and Multimedia Solutions. A mega firm with turnover worth SEK 209 billion, Ericsson R&D makes communication around the globe easier by helping operators to bring new services to their customers.

Ericsson ensures faster reliable and cost-effective network infrastrcuture.

Its technologies converge telecom, media and Internet to ensure value-added communication beyond traditional mode. It delivers the complex networks – such as IPTV, Mobile TV, music solutions, messaging and possibility to share information with consumers — whenever and wherever they want. It ensures expertise at consulting, systems integration, education and support services. According to a company presentation, Ericsson ensures passing of over 40% of world’s mobile traffic through its network. It delivers a new radio-based station which broadcasts every 90 secs. Ericsson has about 24,000 patents to its credits.