Coursera and Udacity offer massive open online courses (MOOCs) in a variety of subjects to large numbers of students from around the world. MOOC courses are often taught by professors who have been teaching for years at elite universities in the United States. Top academic institutions are in the forefront of online learning. For example, Harvard and M.I.T. have joined hands to introduce EdX, which offers free online courses from each university. About 753,000 students have enrolled, with India, Brazil, Pakistan and Russia among the top 10 countries from which people are participating, according to NY Times.
Khadija attends a local school in Lahore. She was only 10 years old when she first took the Artificial Intelligence online course on Udacity. She managed to finish the course and, the following year, Khadijah completed Udacity’s Physics course with highest distinction. She now plans to take courses in Astrobiology.
Enabling virtual education is the high-speed broadband expansion led by PTCL which has propelled Pakistan to become the fourth fastest growing broadband market in the world and the second fastest in Asia, according to a recent industry report.
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| Source: OECD Global Education Digest 2009 |
The quickest and the most cost-effective way to broaden access to education at all levels is through online schools, colleges and universities. Sitting at home in Pakistan, self-motivated learners can watch classroom lectures at world's top universities including UC Berkeley, MIT and Stanford. More Pakistanis can pursue advanced degrees by enrolling and attending the country's Virtual University that offers instructions to thousands of enrolled students via its website, video streaming and Youtube and television channels.
The concept of virtual instruction is finding its way to K-12 education as well. Increasing number of Pakistanis are drawn to the Khan Academy channel on YouTube making Pakistanis among its top users. Virtual Education for All is a local Pakistani initiative extending the concept to primary level.
All of these technological developments and open courseware initiatives are good news for making education available and accessible to satisfy the growing needs in Pakistan and other emerging countries around the world seeking to develop knowledge-based economies of the 21st century.
Here's a video of Khadija's interview with Tom Friedman at Davos:
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
Pakistan's Youngest Computer Prodigy
Khan Academy Draws Pakistanis
Pakistan Virtual University Wins Top OCW Award
Pakistan Rolls Out 50Mbps Broadband Service
More Pakistan Students Studying Abroad
Inquiry Based Learning in Pakistan
Mobile Internet in South Asia
Allama Iqbal Open University
Online Courses at Top International Universities
Pakistan Virtual University
Pasi Sahlberg on why Finland leads the world in education
Intellectual Wealth of Nations
20 comments:
Online learning leaps ahead with US partnership
Centers for Advanced Studies in Pakistan being connected with US university researchers
http://www.thenewstribe.com/2013/02/04/online-learning-in-pakistan-leaps-ahead-with-us-partnership/
Here's Pakistani response to Joel Brinkley Op Ed published in Chicago Tribune:
Proving its doomsayers wrong is among Pakistan's many overlooked strengths. Mr. Joel Brinkley, a Pulitzer Prize winning journalist, with his article, “Pakistan coming apart at the seams,” (Jan. 22, ChicagoTribune.com) joins the list of the misinformed and the plain wrong about Pakistan. This is unfortunate. It is even more unfortunate that he mistakes the coming of age of Pakistan's democracy, with its promise of political and economic stability, as a sign of failure. He cites numerous examples of the apparent dysfunction in Islamabad, as if Islamabad is only capital city in the world suffering from that disease.
This is not to deny that Pakistan faces numerous, and in some cases, unique, challenges. Mr. Brinkley attempts to list some of these also. What eludes him is the fact that Pakistan is meeting these challenges head on while constructing the edifice of a modern democratic state.
The Parliament, the most active in Pakistan’s history, is about to conclude its five-year term, paving the way for the first peaceful transfer of power in the country’s history. It cleansed Pakistan’s constitution of the debris of past non-representative regimes while also addressing longstanding constitutional and political issues threatening the federation. This Parliament has passed more legislation on human rights and women’s rights than all of Pakistan’s previous parliaments combined.
The economy continues to grow despite the burden of a full scale war against terrorism, the effects of some of the biggest natural disasters ever to hit Pakistan and the global economic slowdown. Pakistan expects a growth rate of around 4 percent in 2013 despite these challenges. The Pakistani stock market is among the most productive and profitable in the world. On most indicators of economic vigor, resilience and strength, Pakistan continues to perform well. Pakistan’s teledensity is one of the highest in the region. Users of broadband Internet and social media continue to grow exponentially, not only providing the masses entertainment, but empowerment.
Consumer spending remains robust. Many American companies have invested in Pakistan and are generating impressive profits.
The judiciary, long a rubber stamp of dictators, stands proud and independent, hauling the very intelligence agency Mr. Brinkley calls “mendacious” before it. And despite its perceived ‘mendacity’, the agency submitted itself to the court. This had never happened in Pakistan’s history before. Similarly, when a disagreement arose between the court and the government, the latter, in the true spirit of democracy and accommodation, accepted the court’s verdict. This speaks of a political maturity hitherto absent from Pakistan’s political discourse.
The social scene is no less impressive. Pakistan’s pop music industry is bigger than that of India. Pakistani students top international examinations. Pakistani sports teams, for both men and women, continue to record wins. In short, Pakistan is a vigorous, resilient nation, working hard to put a turbulent past behind and become a modern, democratic, and economically prospering country.
I challenge Mr. Brinkley to name one country with which he has bracketed Pakistan as a failed state that has these attributes. It is one thing to see a half-full glass as half-empty. It is quite another to see nothing in it. Sometimes, it seems, the real challenge Pakistan faces is not defeating terrorism, strengthening democracy, and generating economic growth, but convincing reporters to report impartially about it rather than seeking to regale public opinion with preconceived notions and worn out stereotypes.
I have meant to do an article on distance learning benefits for years for City mayors (before these new programs arrived-but I kept pushing it back on back burner). It is thrilling for me to see how more and more new providers are appearing. .I still plan to do an article and now I have more resources I can mention. Sometimes delay works out for the better!
But technology is taking away jobs. This conundrum needs to be solved.
> http://raceagainstthemachine.com/2011/12/06/labors-declining-share-in-the-computer-age/
> Labor’s Declining Share in the Computer Age
Mayraj: "But technology is taking away jobs...."
Not necessarily in education.
In fact, there's a teacher shortage in most the developing world.
And it's hard to attract the best and the brightest to become teachers in America.
I suggest that you read Salman Khan's "The One World Schoolhouse" in which he proposes changing the role of the teacher from delivering broadcast lectures in classrooms to coaching and mentoring students to solve problems AFTER they have heard the lecture via video BEFORE coming to the classroom. In other words, turn the current teaching model upside down to do the CLASSWORK at home ad HOMEWORK in the class.
http://books.google.com/books?id=xz-gkDYm4UUC&printsec=frontcover&dq=salman+khan+one+world+schoolhouse&hl=en&sa=X&ei=vw8QUby8IIOziwKXgoHICA&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=broadcast%20&f=false
Who will make sure kids do that in houses where parents work more than job to put food on the table today? He is out of touch with reality.
Even in wealthy household parents do not have time.
Mayraj: "Who will make sure kids do that in houses where parents work more than job to put food on the table today? He is out of touch with reality...."
Who makes sure now that they do their homework?
As if to create a bookend to the horrid Malala shooting, from which she is fortunately healing, Thomas Friedman interviewed a 12 year old Pakistani girl at Davos, on her experience as a successful MOOC student, having passed university Astrophysics through a Udacity course. She is poised and witty; no one seems to have told Khadija Niazi she shouldn’t take university courses in Middle School. Amazing what a fine mind will do with opportunity!
I have been told there are ways to get around the YouTube ban in Pakistan by using proxies to access videos....that's how many MOOC students in Pakistan taking courses at Udacity, Coursera, Khan Academy etc. have been able to continue taking classes.
They work by masking IP addresses.
Here's an example:
http://en.softonic.com/s/youtube-proxy-list
Here's a Daily Times report on AI and Robotics education in Pakistan:
ISLAMABAD: Robotics as a discipline of science and technology is being taught at the graduate and post-graduate levels by more than 60 universities of Engineering Science and Technology in Pakistan, official sources told Daily Times here on Saturday.
The research and development (R&D) in advanced fields of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence has also been undertaken by some of laboratories established in the R&D institutes and universities in Pakistan. The official in the Ministry of Science and Technology claimed that there is a technical group engaged in development of automation of industrial processes at the National Institute of Electronics (NIE), Islamabad. The group has developed Programmable Logic Controllers (PLCs), which are used in automatic industrial controls.
The Centre for Intelligent Machines and Robotics (IMR) at the COMSATS Institute of Information Technology has a Research Group, which is undertaking research related to robotics, computer vision and machine learning. The IMR Research Group is conducting basic and applied research in robotics technologies relevant to industrial and societal tasks; the robotics technology in Pakistan has the potential role in boosting the productivity and competitiveness. The researchers at CIIT are working for projects on visual guided robotic systems for use in surgery, navigation control, mapping and geometric representation of environmental parameters.
National Engineering Robotics Contest (NERC) is an inter universities robotics competition held annually since 2005 at the NUST. The contest is organised by HEC, the Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Careers Project with more than 60 Pakistani universities participating in the event, and aims to train individuals for engineering services in Pakistan, and cash prizes are awarded to the winners.
NERC 2011 held at the College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering (EME), Rawalpindi from June 28 to July 2. Many universities like FAST, GIKI, LUMS, CASE and UET Lahore participated in the event, where students were encouraged to design, develop and programme their respective robots.
R&D projects on Tele-Surgical Training Robot and Simulators and Development of Intelligent Robotic Wheelchairs are being undertaken by NUST funded by ICT R&D Fund.
International workshops and seminars for knowledge sharing and events at national level for talent hunt among youth in the fields of robotics have been organised regularly at NUST. Specialisation in robotics is a popular choice for students going abroad to study under various scholarships schemes for research and PhD. This field offers job opportunities, and robotics engineers can apply their mastery in diverse fields like modern warfare, surgery, nano-technology and space-exploration.
The official claimed that developing a robot comes with the goal of finding a solution to the problem. Along with the technical know-how, interest in research is essential. This field has promising opportunities, with no boundaries and will continue to grow with the advancement of science and technology in the near future.
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2013\02\10\story_10-2-2013_pg5_12
Here's ET on Acer beefing up presence in Pakistan:
LAHORE: Acer, a Taiwanese multinational hardware and electronics corporation have re-launched their presence in Pakistan, with a special focus on youth and government functionaries to capture the emerging information technology market.
In September 2012, The Express Tribune reported that the government planned to spend Rs4.6 billion on IT projects during the fiscal year 2012-13 with an emphasis on strengthening e-government, human resources and infrastructure development. Keeping the investment in mind, Acer is thinking of capitalising on it.
“After relocating our operations from the Middle East to Pakistan, Acer has formally started sales and marketing operations in the country with an initial office in Islamabad since January 2013,” said Amin Mortazavi, Vice President of Acer Middle East and Africa, at the re-launch ceremony. “We are here for a purpose, which we lacked previously.”
The emerging IT sector of Pakistan, especially in Punjab, has forced Acer to shift its operations to here. “We are revamping our setup and landscape with our distributors and channel partners. This, of course, will need investments, which we have planned for future expansions.”
Moreover, this will also aid masses in acquisition of Acer products, besides generating employment opportunities, Mortazavi said.
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“We will launch more tablets in 2013, at affordable prices, catering the needs of the region,” Mortazavi said.
50% of Pakistan’s population is under 30 years of age and their appetite for information is big, therefore Acer seeks to tap this market segment.
Acer is also eager to work closely with the provincial government, especially after the launch of youth programmes particularly in the shape of laptop distributions. Acer was hopeful to score the contract for the scheme, which they previously failed to secure. “We are eager for this, we want to deliver, but with due process, and we are working on this also.”
The business model, which Acer is adopting for Pakistan is quite interesting. The representatives failed to answer the initial investment figures Acer made for the re-launch.
The tech firm wanted to be transparent, growing step-by-step and proceeding to the next goal only after the first one matures. The company’s Islamabad office will, firstly, focus on commercial business and work for importing latest technology. Later, Acer will revamp its entire channel programme and then run a campaign to build a brand image.
“We are not in a position to tell the exact figures of the initial investment,” said Ali Nemati, General Manager of Acer for the Middle East, the person previously supervising Acer’s Pakistani operations from Dubai. “Once we achieve the first step of the business plan, in three months, then I will be able to tell the figures,” he said.
Acer claims that they still have a 30% market share in Pakistan, despite of their absence, but the officials said that the share is not the goal for them; it is just an indicator of growth for the brand. Acer’s partners and distributors look forward to increased support from the global firm, particularly in terms of customised training, certification, and sales lead generation.
“Our partners will be able to see immediate benefits as we focus on making the channel more profitable. The Pakistani IT market is constantly evolving and is of significant importance to Acer. We have made great progress in the last few years, and empowering our channel is instrumental for our continued success,” Nemati added.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/506411/acer-re-launches-brand-in-pakistan/
Here's PakObserver on Dell business in Pakistan:
Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - Peshawar—Dell is proud to be doing its part in developing literacy and promoting education in Pakistan. Dell was recently selected to provide the provincial government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) 25,000 Inspiron3420 computers, the first round of distribution was conducted on Feb 10 at Peshawar University.
Speaking about the initiative, Project Director KPK, Adeel Khan, said “This project is a great leap in terms of equipping our youth to meet the challenges of the modern world and to keep Pakistan a competitor in the global knowledge economy. Dell’s involvement goes a long way in guaranteeing the success of this initiative.”
The initiative is the largest of its kind ever in the province and is designed to help enable students and people of KPK to become productive and contributing members of society and to give back to the province.
Shahzad Aslam Khan, Country Manager Dell Pakistan & Afghanistan, said “We look forward to working with KPK as they increase technology access and the learning potential for students. Mobile computing devices have become essential to daily life — at work, at home and increasingly, in academic institutions. Students are leveraging devices of all kinds to access information, collaborate with their peers and teachers, and produce dynamic content inside and outside of the classroom.
At Dell, we believe these devices can help support teaching and learning – and have the potential to personalize the learning experience for each student.Dell is delighted to work with KPK in this important program and is committed to providing these devices by meeting aggressive time lines and ensuring highest product quality”.
http://pakobserver.net/detailnews.asp?id=195707
Here's an ET Op Ed by LUMS' Professor Rasul Bukhsh Rais:
I have a serious problem with the cynic brigade that writes and comments on social, developmental and political issues along familiar lines. What is their familiar line? The Taliban are coming, extremism is on the rise, corruption is pervasive and life is miserable. This is a partial truth, not the whole truth. That nothing can change is a viewpoint that conflicts with history and the evolution of societies.
Cynicism in hard times like ours and in a climate of fear, insecurity and violence, sells and viewers and readers readily embrace the dark side of things rather than looking at what is bright and shining. The other issue is the habit of most of my colleagues and columnists to write from the comfort of their offices or homes. They tend to look at the big picture that gives a disturbing spectre rather than examining achievements at local levels, and by dedicated individuals and communities. If there is any meaningful and real change in Pakistan, it is taking place at these levels in every aspect of the social and economic life of this country. By missing details of development and positive change at the smaller scale, we may draw a big picture of a society and country that may not be in agreement with reality. This is what is unfortunately happening.
One of my social beliefs is that only by changing at the local level will Pakistan change for the better at the national level. The national in spatial terms is nothing but local. By often travelling through the villages, mostly in Punjab, I have seen thousands of positive contributions and developments that are neither documented nor narrated. Never has our regular cynic brigade opened its eyes and minds to what this change is and how it is becoming a catalyst for more and larger changes.
Let me share one man’s gigantic contribution at a government agricultural research farm in Bahawalpur. I had heard about Mushtaq Alvi for his collection of berries and date palm trees for some years. Last weekend, I had the opportunity to visit this fabulous farm, which may not be noticed from outside the walls. Mr Alvi, as a young man with his first job, started the plantation in 1985. He went to every place in Pakistan to collect the best local species of date palms, berries, mangoes, guavas and pomegranates. Today, he has 35 species of date palms, 20 of berries, 20 of mangoes and five of pomegranates, and almost every of guavas. Never has his search for new findings ended.
While the collection continues to expand, the farm has supported thousands of farmers and households that would like to have various species of these trees. Every season, thousands of berry plants and hundreds of date palms are distributed. Then there are private collectors of these trees that have developed their own farms and would like to sell plants to new farmers. Each new tree becomes a source for saplings leading to further proliferation.
Scientists like Mr Alvi and many of his colleagues may move on to other research stations or retire but what they have done is something remarkable. This is just one example of ordinary Pakistanis making a difference to society. Unfortunately, our media, commentators and pseudo intellectuals cannot lift their eyes from what is wrong in society and shift their attention, even for a moment, to what is right and working.
Recognition and celebration of achievements by individuals and communities encourages positive change, positive attitudes and stimulates energies for innovation and more contribution. While grieving about the many things that are troubling us, let us not ignore the pleasing side of changing Pakistan. Go out and see it.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/509088/changing-pakistan/
Here's an excerpt of a News Op Ed on online education by Dr. Ata-ur-Rehman Khan:
The national focal point of this distance learning initiative selected by the HEC is the Latif Ebrahim Jamal Science Information Centre located at the University of Karachi. Over 2,000 lectures from professors based in the US, UK, Europe and Australia have been delivered through this mechanism during the last three years.
A major advance in distance learning was the availability of MIT OpenCourseWare free of charge to the world. This provided over two thousand excellent undergraduate and postgraduate courses in various disciplines delivered by the MIT faculty. There are about 20 million website visits by students from 215 countries to benefit from these courses annually and an astonishing 100 million users have benefited from them so far.
We set up a mirror website of the MITCourseWare in Pakistan to facilitate downloading when I was chairman of the HEC. These Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are also being introduced by Stanford and other universities. One such initiative, ‘Udacity’, was initiated by a Stanford professor last year and attracted 160,000 students to register for the course on artificial intelligence.
The fastest growing distance learning initiative, ‘Coursera’, was started by two Stanford professors of computer science and has already enrolled more than two million students worldwide. Harvard University has also followed the same path, teaming up with MIT to start online courses under a programme termed ‘edX’. These will be available free for developing countries.
Apple-iTunesU also offers access to websites of the leading universities in the world including Cambridge, Oxford, Yale etc, where free video lectures are available. The Khan Academy based in California has been providing school and college level materials for many years, many of which are dubbed in Urdu by a group based in NED University, Karachi.
Recently a meta search engine has been developed at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences at Karachi University to quickly search through all these materials, and arrangements have been made to make these materials available to students and academics in Pakistan free of charge through internet and television.
The Latif Ebrahim Jamal Science Information Centre is the HEC designated national focal point for the video conferencing and distance learning programmes. The formal inauguration of educational TV is expected to occur within a couple of months. This will be a huge leap forward for education in Pakistan, and I am thrilled to be a part of this exciting initiative to help bring quality education to the doorsteps of some 100 million youngsters of Pakistan who are below the age of 19.
http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-9-161624-Education-at-the-doorstep
Here's a post on AI and Robotics Conf at NUST Pakistan:
Rawalpindi:The 1st International two days Conference on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence was organized at NUST, College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering.The conference held under flagship of IEEE and National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) on Monday.
ICRAI is the first of its series, and this conference will be held biennially. This conference covers latest and emerging trends in the fields of robotics and artificial intelligence including Intelligent Mechatronics and Robotics, Haptics, Tele and Medical robotics, Unmanned Vehicles, Prosthetics, Micro and Nano robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Neuro and Fuzzy control, Human Machine Interface and Automation.
Maj Gen. Obaid Bin Zakria, commandant college of E&ME welcomed all participants and guests at the opening ceremony. He highlighted the importance of research conferences around the world and said that this is how knowledge integrates into development of great ideas.
He appreciated the efforts put in by the Department of Mechatronics Engineering for arranging such an event. He said that NUST College of E&ME has been a home to novel, state of the art projects and the research work being done here is no less than the work done internationally. Our students are technically sound, very talented and extremely competent and the work presented in this conference is a proof of that.
Dr. Mahmood Anwar Khan, the Conference Chair informed that more than 110 research papers had been submitted to the conference and after a thorough review, 20 were accepted for oral presentation and 13 for poster. He also mentioned that the conference was graced by four International key note speakers from USA, UK and Korea.
Dr. Francisco Sepulveda from University of Essex, UK gave an interesting keynote talk on Brain Computer Interface Systems . At the end of his talk, he praised the level of research being done in Pakistan.
Dr. Lynn E Parker from University of Tennessee, USA said in her recorded message that The conduct of such an event in Pakistan shows the research maturity of the academic institutions . She further assured to attend the conference next time.
Dr. Younus Javed, Dean NUST College of E&ME emphasized that such events and meetings give a chance to form collaborative projects and research groups.
Dr. Javaid Iqbal, Head of Mechatronics Engineering Department appreciated the turnout at the conference and said that the aim of conference is to have collaboration of national and international researchers from a wide range of academic and professional backgrounds to bridge the gap.
At the end of the ceremony, the Chief Guest Dr. Javaid R. Laghari, chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) gave souvenirs to the foreign keynote speakers.
In his address, the Chief Guest congratulated NUST College of E&ME for arranging 1st International Conference on Robotics and Artificial Intelligence in Pakistan.
He mentioned that conferences like this are not only a platform for great minds to meet but also a venue for research collaboration. He said that everyone should make the most of this opportunity and socialize and discuss latest topics of research.
He also mentioned that this conference was the first of its kind and expected it to grow over the years into one of the prestigious conferences in the field of Robotics and Artificial Intelligence .
A large number of participants from many Universities, colleges and research organizations of the country have benefited from this well focused and target oriented conference.
http://pakistan.onepakistan.com.pk/news/city/141930-1st-international-conference-on-robotics-and-artificial-intelligence-icrai-2012-held.html
Here's an excerpt of a report on the impact of science and technology on developed nations:
Technical advance -- according to Eric Hobsbawm's The Age of Extremes -- had three significant impacts. First, it transformed everyday life in the affluent world: before 1945 most families in the "developed world" would not have had a refrigerator, a television, vinyl records, tape cassettes, transistor radios, digital watches, pocket calculators, video equipment or general access to the birth control pill. Second, disproportionately more money was now spent on research and development (R&D) than ever before, thus bolstering the dominance of the wealthy regions of the world over the poor. By the 1970s the affluent countries had over 1000 scientists and engineers for every million people in population while Pakistan averaged around 60 and Kenya around 30. Third, and most importantly for the period after the 1970s, the new technologies were capital-intensive and eventually labour-replacing: machines would build automobiles, computers would manage trains, and money would be deposited, invested and withdrawn without the intervention of tellers. The significance of technological progress was that employees in the rich countries -- other than scientists and engineers -- would eventually become more crucial to the success of the economy as consumers rather than as producers.
Technology's great leap forward -- and our deification of it -- continues unabated: it is now enabling some corporations to "in-source" production. Historically, technology facilitated companies' abilities, especially those from the United States, to "out-source" production, though not necessarily co-ordination, to other parts of the world thus substantially reducing the costs of labour. Today, because of computerization and other factors, some companies are choosing to return some of their manufacturing processes back to the United States. Tyler Cowen notes in the May/June 2012 issue of The American Interest that "in a manufacturing survey from November 2011, almost one-fifth of North American manufacturers claimed to have brought production back from a 'low-cost' country to North America." While it would be understandable for workers to stand up and cheer at the thought of companies returning to their country, their elation would be short-lived. Artificial intelligence and computing power are taking over manufacturing, thus transforming factories into quiet, empty spaces whose only sound is the hum of a machine.
http://rabble.ca/columnists/2013/02/economic-development-and-technologys-great-leap-forward
Here's a NY Times piece on online education companies using videos:
While companies like Udacity and Coursera — providers of giant online open courses — are just beginning to introduce courses with fees that count for academic credit, other online learning companies have carved out a lucrative niche in courses on design, photography and other creative pursuits. CreativeLive, Lynda.com and others have tapped into an audience of customers who are highly motivated to hone skills that might help enhance their careers. The online courses are usually less expensive than intensive in-person workshops on photography and other subjects, and can attract top-notch instructors with their promise of big national audiences.
Amanda Picone, a wedding photographer in Babylon, N.Y., bought the CreativeLive course on photographing people in lingerie, a genre known as boudoir photography, because she thought it would enhance her appeal to clients, some of whom want boudoir shots. Ms. Picone learned that asking subjects to lift their chins slightly while posing can result in more flattering portraits.
“They’ve all been incredibly helpful,” Ms. Picone said of the several CreativeLive courses she has bought.
Investors are noticing the profit potential in this niche of online learning. In January, some of the venture capital firms behind Facebook and other technology companies pumped $103 million into Lynda.com, a maker of online training videos for software and other technical tools used by creative professionals.
And two of Hollywood’s largest talent agencies, Creative Artists Agency and William Morris Endeavor, have invested small sums in CreativeLive that signal their interest in using the company’s service as a new outlet for their celebrity clients. CreativeLive has raised a total of $8 million since last year, most of it from the venture firm Greylock Partners.
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“We love the idea that this could grow into another platform of scale and financial weight and could be another piece of the offering to our clients,” said Michael Yanover, head of business development at Creative Artists.
CreativeLive has a twist that most of its rivals do not: courses are broadcast live over the Internet and shaped in real time by input from a small studio audience and the much larger group of people watching online. About 20,000 to 60,000 people on average tune in for the live broadcasts. One exception was the audience for a three-day course by the author Ramit Sethi called “Essentials for Creative Entrepreneurs,” which topped 150,000.
In some cases, instructors earn six-figure payments for teaching multiday courses. In total, CreativeLive has paid “millions” to its instructors, said Chase Jarvis, a commercial photographer who co-founded the company in 2010.
“Creativity is the new literacy,” Mr. Jarvis said.
The company’s live broadcasts are free, but CreativeLive charges $19 to $249 for replays of the courses; 3 to 10 percent of its live audience ends up buying the replays because they were unable to tune into the entire course live or want to study it more closely.
“They see it as furthering their career or life,” said Mika Salmi, a longtime Internet and media executive who used to run Viacom’s digital operations and joined CreativeLive as chief executive last year. “This is an investment in me.”
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Digital-Tutors has more than 1,000 courses on the special effects and graphics tools used by filmmakers and game developers, available to subscribers who pay $45 a month. Coursera, too, has begun to beef up its arts and design offerings, including a course titled “Introduction to Programming for Digital Artists” taught by an instructor from the California Institute for the Arts.
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/11/business/creative-learning-pays-off-for-web-start-ups.html?hpw&_r=0
Here's an excerpt from TechCrunch on Raspberry Pi computer in developing nations:
Asked about the global sales distribution of the Pi, the Foundation provided TechCrunch with some “very rough”, internal estimates of Pi sales to developing/emerging nations — and the figures (listed below) suggest that the first million+ Pi sales have overwhelmingly been powered by wealthier nations.
The most Pi-populous country on the developing/emerging nations list (India) can lay claim to roughly 0.5%-0.6% of total global Pi sales to-date, according to this data. While, collectively, these listed nations make up between only 1.4% and 1.7% of total global Pi shipments. So more than 98% of the Pi pie has been sold to the world’s wealthiest countries thus far.
India 6000
Indonesia 1200
Lao P.Dem.R. 600
Malaysia 3400
Philippines 500
Pakistan 100
Sri Lanka 50
Thailand 2000
Vietnam 500
Egypt 150
South Africa 2000
Tunisia 200
Zimbabwe 50
Bolivia 100
Chile 400
Colombia 20
Peru 50
There are also, of course, scores of (apparently) Pi-less developing nations that do not make this list at all. One of which – the Kingdom of Bhutan — does actually have a princely one Pi sale to its name at present, according to the Foundation. “It’s a server for Khan Academy Lite in a school, whose 64GB SD card costs more than twice what the Pi cost,” the Foundation’s Liz Upton tells TechCrunch. “We’re working on getting more out there!”
It’s likely that some of the Pis shipped to developed countries have found their way to less wealthy nations – via charities and other ‘suitcase schemes’ such as the Cameroon school project mentioned above which took out 30 Pis. Or via individual buyers seeking to avoid high import tariffs that can push up the price of bulk commercial imports (such as in Brazil).
But even factoring in some extra spread, there’s no doubt the Pi is predominantly disrupting the living rooms and schools of the developed world. Which, it should be noted, was the original ambition of the Pi founders — specifically they wanted to get more U.K. kids coding, following a national slump in interest in computer science education....
http://techcrunch.com/2013/04/12/raspberry-pi-global-sales-spread/
Here's a News story on Pak students participating in international robotics competition:
RAWALPINDI: Pakistan Robotics team will leave for United States of America on April 23 to take part in First Lego League (FLL) international robotics competition to be held on April 24 in United States of America (USA).
According to details, the National Robotics Champions Team would be the first-ever Pakistani team to take part in World Festival. Pakistani team, out of 20 teams, won the regional championship title earlier in qualifying round held for the International competition.
It was also the winner team in the national robotics championship as it defeated 13 other teams.
It may be noted that out of 20,000 teams which took part in the competition worldwide, only 85 teams were declared successful as they cleared the national qualifying rounds. Now they would take part in the FLL World Festival to be held from April 24 to April 27 in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Three-member team comprising Vice Captain Muhammad Rafay Arshad, Abdullah Gulraiz and Umar Khalique along with coach Saeed Akhtar will leave on Tuesday.
The team members have expressed the hope that they will win the international title for Pakistan.
Earlier, the team comprised 7 members but now only three team members will participate in world festival along with their coach, said a statement. (PPI)
http://www.thenews.com.pk/article-97782-Pakistan-robotics-team-to-compete-in-international-event
Here's a Globe & Mail story on potential for MOOCs:
The world’s media recently reported how a new approach to online learning – called massive, open, online courses (MOOCs) – allowed a 12-year-old girl from Pakistan to study subjects like astrobiology from the worlds’ top universities. The story captured our attention, hinting at how education might open doors in ways unimaginable just a few years ago.
While the potential for change is dramatic in developing countries, new learning technologies have the power to revolutionize life for Canadians, as well.
A recent Statistics Canada survey suggests that as many as one third of Canadians have unmet learning needs. That is, because of family responsibilities, demands of work, or the challenges of location and time, many Canadians are unable to pursue the educational path they imagine for themselves.
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MOOCs are certainly opening our eyes to the possibility of addressing these needs. They may also be the tail that wags the dog. The technology is evidence of dynamic forces at work to dramatically change higher learning.
Four factors are rapidly taking us beyond the tipping point for major change in postsecondary education: advances in understanding how people learn; transformative technologies; a shift in demand for new learning options; and rising costs for the current bricks and mortar model.
What is at play here is similar to the upheaval we’ve seen in the book, music and video industries. Technologies are driving dramatic new ways of enjoying these creative materials. The winners are almost everyone: There is massive access now to the very best works of art. But with the new forms of access come new forces of change, and pressure for the creators of these materials to rapidly adapt to new forms of content created in different ways and by almost anyone.
The analogy is imperfect, however. Education is not a product to be passively consumed. Just as people still want to attend a concert, go to a high-quality bookstore, or prefer to see a hockey game in person rather than on TV, there will still be a place for physical classrooms and the exciting face-to-face experiences of learning.
However, the factors mentioned above are pushing us to adopt more effective teaching methods like “flipped” classrooms, where students review material online, and spend valuable class time in discussion and analysis. They are pushing us to make more use of blended learning, which involves a varied mix of technologies outside and inside class time. And they are pushing us to offer more high quality fully online programs. All together these represent an approach often called flexible learning.
The challenge will be managing this profound change. Professors are not dispensers of information. They are guides through the growing vastness of information – provokers of critical thought and analysis, facilitators and mentors who can effectively channel discussion so that the learning becomes a personal and a shared effort.
For those who are passionate about education, the possibilities of change outweigh the anxieties. After leading UBC’s first MOOC on game theory, a course that attracted 130,000 learners, Prof. Kevin Leyton-Brown, an associate professor of computer science, enthused that he had four times as many Canadians in his course than he had taught in 10 years as professor.
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We don’t know yet what the future holds, but I invite universities across our country to join with us to embrace the challenge to develop innovative learning opportunities. Together we can open worlds to 12-year-old Pakistani girls and boys. But we can also unleash a new level of creativity and potential for Canadians.
http://m.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/education/technology-will-change-universities-as-it-changed-the-music-industry/article11310170/?service=mobile
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