History of ICT in Education and
Present Status
By
Golam Md. Muradul Bashir
The word 'e-Learning'


In October 1999, during a CBT Systems
seminar in Los Angeles,
A strange new word was used for the first
time in a professional environment – ‘eLearning’
The word 'e-Learning'


Associated with 'online learning' or 'virtual
learning',
This word was meant to qualify

"a way to learn based on the use of new technologies
allowing access to online, interactive and sometimes
personalized training through the Internet or other
electronic media (intranet, extranet, interactive TV,
CD-Rom, etc.), so as to develop competencies while
the process of learning is independent from time and
place".
Early learning aid




A Roman piece from a place
near Trier.
It dated from 200 A.C. and
shows a school where the
teacher is sitting in the middle
and two students are sitting
around
him,
reading
a
parchment role.
At the right a student is arriving
with his tablet on which he could
write.
This technique (writing slate)
was used within European
schools till around 1950.
Early learning aid





Dr. Marcel Mirande is mentioning in his
book ‘The Unstoppable rise of the
Learning machine’ that
The writing slate actually looks like,
and maybe is, the equivalent of the
modern laptop.
He also states that the meaning and
importantance of the writing slates was
very clear.
It has to be used to develop writing
skills.
Nowadays we are still developing a
clear and balanced view on the new
learning aids like laptops.
writing slate
modern laptop
An e-learning timeline

First modern distance course




Isaac Pitman taught shorthand in Great
Britain via correspondence in the 1840s
(shorthand is an abbreviated, symbolic
writing method that
improves speed of writing or brevity as
compared to a normal method of writing a
language).
He decided to start a distance course and
was sending assignments to his students by
mail and they completed the 'homework' and
sent it back to him.
History of Elearning

In 1924 The Ohio State
University professor Sidney
Pressey invented the
“Automatic Teacher”, the first
device in electronic learning

This device allowed
students to tests
themselves.
History of Elearning



Then, in 1954, BF Skinner, a
Harvard Professor, invented
the “teaching machine
Skinners Programmed
Instruction was very popular.
At this very moment,
programmed instruction is
popular when it comes to
(digital) self study courses.
History of Elearning



It wasn’t until 1960 however
that the first computer based
training program was
introduced to the world.
This computer based training
program (or CBT program) was
known as PLATO-Programmed
Logic for Automated Teaching
Operations.
It was originally designed for
students attending the
University of Illinois
History of Elearning



Stanford University psychology
professors began using computer
aided instruction to teach math
US Department of Defense
commissioned ARPANET to create
the Internet
Computer mouse and GUI are
invented to define ‘modern
computing’
History of Elearning



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Personal computer
begins with Macintosh,
Online communities
begins sharing
informations
If is the dawn of a new
era in learning
Virtual learning
environments begins
History of Elearning




Business begins rolling out
elearning courses as a central
way to train workers
Authoring tools are more
accessible than ever
Wide range of online learning
opportunities are available
A new way of learning inspired
by social media


You tube, Twitter, open online
courses, Skype
To connect, share information
and learn from each other are
found everywhere
Four major phases in the history of
using computers in education
(1) Late 1970’s – early 1980’s:
programming, drill and practice;
(2) Late 1980’s – early 1990’s:
computer based training (CBT)
with multimedia;
(3) Early 1990’s: Internet-based
training (IBT);
(4) Late 1990’s – early 2000: eLearning;
(5) Late 2000: Social software +
free and open content.
Late 1970’s – early 1980’s:
programming, drill and practice


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Math teacher was teaching also the new school
subject called in Finnish “ATK”
The abbreviation stand for “automated data
processing” – and
used Nokia MikroMikko
There were not many software at all,
There were the MS Basic for programming and
naturally that was what the ATK lessons were
almost all about
Late 1970’s – early 1980’s:
programming, drill and practice

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The academical reason to teach
programming was not to train
programmers, but
the believe that it will develop students’
logics and math skills, as it most likely
does
The software were very simple drill and
practice exercises for math and language
learning.
Late 1970’s – early 1980’s:
programming, drill and practice

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
These exercises didn’t help much students to
reach any deeper understanding
They were mainly simulating students’ short
term memory and “trial, error, trial, error, trial,
past” kind of activity
Anyway these programs kept the wild children
quiet (for a while) when teacher was teaching
those who were more into programming
Late 1980’s – early 1990’s: computer
based training (CBT) with
multimedia



Same point when the multimedia computers,
with advanced graphics and sound came to the
mass markets
Claim that the drill and practice exercises failed
to teach much because they didn’t contain
multimedia
It was said that students would learn if they
could watch animations in colours, small video
clips and then do the exercises
Late 1980’s – early 1990’s: computer
based training (CBT) with
multimedia



This was the golden era of CD-ROMs and
multimedia computers
This combination was seriously expected
to have a huge impact on the ways we
learn
The times were good for CD-ROM
producers and of multimedia PC
manufacturers
Late 1980’s – early 1990’s: computer
based training (CBT) with
multimedia




The pedagogical mantra behind this phase was
that human are different and
some students learn better by watching movies /
animations and listening audios whereas
some learn better by reading or watching still
images
The drill and practice component (now in
colours) was kept in there, too
Late 1980’s – early 1990’s: computer
based training (CBT) with
multimedia



The multimedia CD-ROMs didn’t either get
people to deep learning and understanding
They failed to be useful almost in all other study
subjects than language learning where
Part of the study work of many people really
requires hard practicing and repetition
(vocabulary, grammar etc.)
(3) Early 1990’s: Internet-based
training (IBT)


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
The third wave or hype of using computer in
education came with the raise of the World Wide
Web
The failure of CD-ROMs were claimed to be
related to the challenges to update the content
in the CD-ROMs
The promoters of the new paradigm claimed that
information changes so fast that one should
update it almost every day
The solution is here: the Internet and the
Internet-based training
(3) Early 1990’s: Internet-based
training (IBT)


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
At this point computer-based training was
brought to Internet, but again without the
multimedia
All you could do on Internet, that time, was text
and pictures and some early experiments with
animations, video and audio.
Pretty fast it was noticed that clicking and
reading e-learning course materials online didn’t
make people very smart
And again some people claimed that the
problem was the lack of multimedia
(3) Early 1990’s: Internet-based
training (IBT)

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The educational ideas behind Internet-based
training were not pedagogical at all
The purpose and reason to promote it was the
believe that it is cost-efficient as there were no
more travelling to training or absence from
workplace
Finally it was not that cost-efficient at all
In the end of the day there was very little under
the bottom line – people didn’t learn much
(4) Late 1990’s – early 2000: eLearning

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
The Internet-based training got mature in late
1990’s and early 2000 in a form of e-learning
The hype(publicity) around e-learning is a kind
of classical example of creating needs
Thousands of websites, articles and companies
made it clear for all somehow related to
education that this is something you must be
involved it
(4) Late 1990’s – early 2000: eLearning

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
The IT managers of thousands of educational
institutions and organizations were asked by the
educational experts to come up with e-learning
solutions and companies were happy to help the
IT managers.
The e-learning industry was build, even though it
was not proven that anyone (except the IT
managers) needed these products.
The markets for e-learning courses and
especially for Learning Management Systems
(LMS) were created.
(4) Late 1990’s – early 2000: eLearning

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The pedagogical thinking around the e-learning is closely
related to the computer-based training.
The point is to deliver courses for students.
Later on the learning platform developers has become
more aware that learning requires social activities among
the learners themselves and the learner and the
teacher(s).
Still the user interfaces of the LMS systems are at least
implicitly telling you that you should first read the content
and if there is something you do not understand you may
ask your peers or your teacher.
(4) Late 1990’s – early 2000: eLearning



On the other hand the e-learning field is nowadays so
wide that it is hard to say what is the pedagogical
thinking behind it.
E-learning is no more one.
It could be said that all the earlier paradigms live inside
the e-leaning plus some clues of the future: social
software and open content.
(5) Late 2000: Social software +
free and open content


I really hope that in the late 2000 social
software and free and open content will
make a real breakthrough in the field of
educational technology.
Blogs and wikis have already brought web
back to its original idea: simple tool for
your personal notes that are easily
accessible and even editable by your
peers and your potential peers.
(5) Late 2000: Social software +
free and open content

Such projects as the
 GNU-GPL,
 Creative Commons,
 Wikipedia and
 Open courseware have shown that free
content benefits all – and that people are
willing to contribute to the common good.
 Digital content is such that when you give it
away you do not loose it yourself.
 This makes giving much easier for many
people.
(5) Late 2000: Social software +
free and open content

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
The pedagogical thinking behind the social
software and the free and open content can be
located to the social constructivist theory and
cultural-historical psychology.
“Any true understanding is dialogic in nature”
wrote Mikhail Bakhtin and
Lev Vygotsky wrote that “all higher [mental]
functions originate as actual relations between
human individuals”.
(5) Late 2000: Social software +
free and open content

Learning with computers is not about
programming or drill and practice, nor about
multimedia, nor about fast updating or costefficiency – it is all about people sharing ideas.
Courseware


Courseware is a term that combines the words
‘course’ with ‘software’
Courseware can include:


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Material for instructor-led classes
Material for self-directed computer-based training
(CBT)
Web sites that offer interactive tutorials
Material that is coordinated with distance
learning, such as live classes conducted over the
Internet
Videos for use individually or as part of classes
OpenCourseWare


OpenCourseWare movement started in
1999 when the University of Tübingen in
Germany published videos of lectures
online
The OCW movement only took off,
however, with the launch of MIT
OpenCourseWare at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology (MIT) in October
2002.
OpenCourseWare


The movement was soon reinforced by the
launch of similar projects at Yale, the
University of Michigan, and the University
of California Berkeley.
MIT's reasoning behind OCW was to
"enhance human learning worldwide by
the availability of a web of knowledge”
OpenCourseWare


MIT stated that it would allow students
(including, but not limited to its own) to
become better prepared for classes so
that they may be more engaged during a
class.
Since then, a number of universities have
created OCW projects modeled after
MIT's, some of which have been funded by
the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation
edX

Ten years after the US debut of OCW, in
2012 MIT and Harvard University
announced the formation of edX, a
massive open online course (MOOC)
platform to offer online university-level
courses in a wide range of disciplines to a
worldwide audience at no charge.
edX

Goals
Expand access to education for everyone
 Enhance teaching and learning on campus and
online
 Advance teaching and learning through research


Our principles
Not for profit
 Open source platform
 Collaborative
 Financially sustainable

edX

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
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
This new initiative was based on MIT's "MITx" project,
announced in 2011, and
extends the concepts of OCW by offering more
structured formal courses to online students,
including in some cases the possibility of earning
academic credit or certificates based on supervised
examinations.
A major new feature of the edX platform is the ability for
students to interact with each other and with teachers in
online forums.
In some cases, students will help evaluate each other's
work, and may even participate in some of the teaching
online.
Problems



A problem is that the creation and
maintenance of comprehensive OCW
requires substantial initial and ongoing
investments of human labor.
Effective translation into other languages
and cultural contexts requires even more
investment by knowledgeable personnel.
This is one of the reasons why English is
still the dominant language, and fewer
open courseware options are available in
other languages.
Americas

Brazil

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Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV Online)
Universidade Estadual de Campinas [6]
Mexico

Universidad de Monterrey, 2007[7]
Americas

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USA
This listing is roughly in the order of adoption of
OCW principles.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2002
University of California, Berkeley
Stanford University
Princeton University
University of Pennsylvania
University of Michigan
Harvard University
Yale University
Caltech
Americas

The following are not directly affiliated with a
specific university:
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Academic Earth - private owned
Khan Academy - non-profit
Students Circle Network - peer to peer
Coursera - venture capital financed[8]
Udacity - venture capital financed[9]
edX - non-profit
Education Portal - non-profit
Asia

China

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OpenCourseWare originally initiated by MIT and the Hewlett
Foundation, began movement in China in September, 2003,
when MIT and the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
joined together with the Beijing Jiaotong University to
organize an OpenCourseWare conference in Beijing.
As a result of this conference, 12 universities petitioned the
government to institute a program of OpenCourseWare in
China.
This group included both some of the most prestigious
universities in China, as well as the Central Radio and
Television University, which is China’s central open
university, covering more than 2 million students
Asia

India

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
The National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning
(NPTEL) is a Government of India sponsored collaborative
educational programme.
By developing curriculum-based video and web courses the
programme aims to enhance the quality of engineering
education in India.
It is being jointly carried out by 7 IITs and IISc Bangalore, and is
funded by the Ministry of Human Resources Development of the
Government of India.
Asia

India

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Flexilearn is a very useful open course portal.
It was initiated by Indira Gandhi National
Open University, and
apart from providing free course materials,
Flexilearn also provides opportunities


to enroll oneself for a course and
appear for exam conducted by university and thereby get
certification.
Asia

Japan

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

OpenCourseWare originally initiated by MIT and the Hewlett
Foundation, was introduced and adopted in Japan.
In 2002, researchers from the National Institute of Multimedia
Education (NIME) and Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo
Tech) studied the MIT OpenCourseWare,
Leading them to develop an OCW pilot plan with 50 courses at
Tokyo Institute of Technology in September
Later, in July 2004, MIT gave a lecture about MIT
OpenCourseWare at Tokyo Tech that prompted the first meeting
of the Japan OCW Alliance.
Europe

Germany



Netherlands


University of Tübingen, 1999
SlideWiki.org (developed at University of Leipzig)
Delft University of Technology, 2007
Turkey

Middle East Technical University
Middle East


In the United Arab Emirates, a discussion, led by Dr.
Linzi j. Kemp, American University of Sharjah, has
begun about sharing teaching and learning materials
(‘open course ware’) through a community of educators
and practitioners
There is growing availability of high quality and free open
access materials shared between universities e.g. MIT
(USA).
Middle East



We are also exposed to an example of resource sharing
through ‘The Open University (UK), OpenLearn’
platform.
Kemp (2013) proposes that teaching and learning will be
enhanced when across institutions of higher education,
we work together to bring our shared knowledge into
classrooms.
Furthermore, when we open up this platform to include
practitioners e.g. Employers, then the relationship with
industry will further ensure teaching and learning is
available and beneficial for a wider community.
What in Bangladesh?

An Integrated Online Courseware Design
Approach by G. M. M. Bashir et al. in
NCICIT 2013 Organized by CUET, 21
November Organized by CUET, 21
November
Present Status of Online
Courseware



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Most of the courseware only for UG students
A few for PG students
No courseware available for primary level
No courseware for disable students
Absence of content clustering technique for
course material
Present Status of Online
Courseware


Animated video very important for science
courses
As for example, for medical student:



movable or animated image or video very helpful
for realizing blood circulation through heart
Simulation s/w link essential for electrical or
network related courses
But most of the courseware are developed
without considering theses things
Present Status of Online
Courseware




We have done survey on 9 courseware
Different courseware have different courses
with different course material
The ‘is present’ survey on different
coursewares’ course material give a
tremendous status
As for example:
Status (is present) of Animated
Video
Status (is present) of Link
Status (is present) of Interactive
Simulation
Area Wise Status (is present) of
Animated Video
Present Status of Online
Courseware




These are the only ‘is present’ survey on
different courseware’s course material
Whereas individual topic should be enriched
with proper course material
Survey on specific topic will give more
accurate status
Also different courseware have own
structure (not following any general
structure)
Virtual university


A virtual university provides higher education programs
through electronic media, typically the Internet
The goal of virtual universities is to provide access to the
part of the population



who would not be able to attend a physical campus, for reasons
such as distance —
where students live too far from a physical campus to attend
regular classes; and
the need for flexibility — some students need the flexibility to
study at home whenever it is convenient for them to do so.
Virtual university

Program delivery in a virtual university is
administered through information
communication technology such as web
pages, e-mail and other networked
sources.

Where professors give televised lectures
As virtual universities are relatively new and vary
widely, questions remain about



accreditation and
the quality of assessment.
Virtual university


The Open University in the United
Kingdom was the world’s first successful
distance teaching university
It was founded in the 1960s on the belief
that

communications technology could bring high quality
degree-level learning to people who had not had the
opportunity to attend campus universities
Virtual university


The idea for a “wireless university” was first discussed at
the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) by the
educationalist and historian J.C. Stobbart.
From these early beginnings more ideas came forth until
finally the Labour Party under the leadership of Harold
Wilson formed an advisory committee to establish an
Open University.
Virtual university



With the goal of bringing higher education to all those
who wanted to access it, the committee came up with
various scenarios before settling on the name Open
University.
The first idea floated in the UK was to have a
“teleuniversity” which would combine broadcast lectures
with correspondence texts and visits to conventional
universities.
In the “teleuniversity” scenario courses are taught on the
radio and television and in fact many universities
adopted the use of this technology for their distance
education courses.
Virtual university



The name “teleuniversity” morphed into the "University of
Air” which still had the same goal of reaching the lower
income groups who did not have access to higher
education.
The name “University of Air” did not stick and by the time
the first students were admitted in January 1971 the
name had become what it is today “Open University”.
OU proved that it was possible to teach university-level
courses to students at a distance.
Virtual university

By 1980, total student numbers at OU had reached
70,000 and




some 6,000 people were graduating each year.
The 1980s saw increased expansion continue as more
courses and subject areas were introduced; as the
importance of career development grew, so the
university began to offer professional training courses
alongside its academic programmes.
By the mid-nineties the OU was using the internet.
As of 2008, more than 180,000 students were interacting
with OU online from home.
Virtual university

A number of other universities were involved in the late
eighties in pioneering initiatives and experiments were
conducted between






Victoria University in New Zealand,
the University of Hawaii,
Ohio State University and
Waseda University
To try and conduct classes and courses at an
international level via telecommunications.
This led to the concept of a Global Virtual University.
Online degree

Accreditation

The goal of educational accreditation, according to
the United States Department of Education, is to


ensure that programs provided by institutions of higher
education meet acceptable levels of quality
ENQA, the European Association for Quality
Assurance in Higher Education, describes

the role of external quality assurance in education as one
that "combines both accountability for the reassurance of the
public and an objective and developmental role for enhancing
quality in institutions".
Online degree

Accreditation

In the area of online education, it is important
to avoid unaccredited diploma mills that
 offer fake degrees, as these are unfortunately
common.


Students seeking valid online degrees
should obtain proof of accreditation from
an appropriate national or regional
accrediting body
Problem Base Learning

An Animated Pedagogical Agent to Support ProblemBased Learning by Laysa Mabel de Oliveira et al., MAY
2013

presents an approach based on an animated pedagogical agent
and three other agents for the detection of passive students and
for the recommendation of learning objects in accordance with
the students’ context to improve the learning process of PBL
Problem Base Learning



“Work in Progress: A Model for Facilitating Problem
Based Learning” is done by Deirdre A. N. Hunter et al.,
2012
“Work in Progress - A Problem-Based Learning
Approach for Systems Understanding in the MSU AES
Program” by Jon Sticklen et al., 2011
“Problem-Based Learning and Adaptive Expertise” by
Jeffrey E. Froyd, 2011
Problem Base Learning



“On Implementation of Problem-Based Learning in
Engineering Education: Thoughts, Strategies and
Working Models” is done by Waddah Akili, 2011
“An Ill-Structured PBL-Based Microprocessor Course
Without Formal Laboratory” by Jungkuk Kim et al., 1997
“Problem-Based Learning in Wind Energy Using Virtual
and Real Setups” by David Santos-Martin , 2011
Technology Based Learning




Supporting Accessible Technology-Enhanced Training:
The eAccess2Learn Framework is done by Demetrios G.
Sampson, 2011
LaaN: Convergence of Knowledge Management and
Technology-Enhanced Learning by Mohamed Amine
Chatti et al., 2012
Teacher Tool for Visualization and Management of a
Technology-Enhanced Learning Environment by Ralph
Jayson E. Dagdag et al., 2011
Design of a Virtual Reality Based Adaptive Response
Technology for Children With Autism by Uttama Lahiri,
2012
Outcome-based Learning



“In-Service Teaching Assistant Training (InsTAT)
for Engineering and Computer Science
Graduate Students in Hong Kong: A BlendedLearning Approach” by Kai-Pan Mark, Dimple R.
Thadani et al., 2011
“Development of FYP Online System for
Outcome Based Education” by Abdul Mutholib et
al., 2011
“Guidelines For The Final Year Project
Assessment In Engineering” by Elena
Valderrama et al., 2009
WikiProject: A Survey of ICT in
Education for India and South
Asia: Bangladesh


National ICT Policy, 2002: In order to
accelerate use of ICT in every sector in terms of
information generation, utilization and
applications the government has formulated a
National ICT Policy, which has been approved
by the Cabinet on 7 October 2002.
In this policy participation of private sectors with
government sector to develop this sector has
been encouraged. This Policy aims at building
an ICT-driven nation comprising of knowledgebased society.
WikiProject: A Survey of ICT in
Education for India and South
Asia: Bangladesh


National ICT Policy, 2008 (Proposed): The
Government took an initiative in May 2008 to
review the National ICT Policy 2002 and formed
a 17-member Review Committee.
The committee and its working group met all
together 15 times over a period of four months to
complete the task.
WikiProject: A Survey of ICT in
Education for India and South
Asia: Bangladesh

During this period, about 70 representatives
from different sectors representing academia
and public and private sectors invested over
1,000 man-hours to review the existing National
ICT Policy and related documents to prepare
recommendations befitting the current and
foreseeable future needs of the nation.
WikiProject: A Survey of ICT in
Education for India and South
Asia: Bangladesh


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The proposed National ICT Policy 2008 has incorporated
all the ingredients of the National ICT Policy 2002 in a
structured manner with requisite updates necessitated
by developments since 2002.
The revised policy has also incorporated new policy
directions in line with the ever changing technological
advancements in this area.
The most remarkable changes that have been made in
the revised National ICT Policy are: 1) a methodical
framework of the policy document; and 2) inclusion of
planned action items in conformity with policies and
strategies.
WikiProject: A Survey of ICT in
Education for India and South
Asia: Bangladesh

National ICT Policy, 2009 (Approved): The
Government of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
further approved a National ICT Policy 2009 on 1st April,
2009
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Regional Initiatives