Skill building strategies for E-Learning in Indian Agriculture D.Rama Rao, G.R.K. Murthy, K.M. Reddy , V.K.J.

Rao, M.N. Reddy, N. Sandhya Shenoy and E. Bhaskar Rao National Academy of Agricultural Research Management, Hyderabad-500407
India being an agrarian country requires effective learning strategies and processes in agriculture education and knowledge sharing. There are 51 universities with more than 350 colleges offering courses in agriculture related disciplines. Majority of the colleges are in rural areas. Distance education strategies can work miracles in bringing the education to the doorsteps of rural populace. Rapid technological advances are taking place in the information and communication technology (ICT) hardware and software. On hardware front, computers with higher computing power have become affordable and there is vast improvement in bandwidth and spread of internet connectivity. On software front, open source software is becoming increasingly affordable and shareable. It is important to promote the use of open source software in agricultural education which can have multiple advantages like communicating to the needy in rural areas, digital content on knowledge available in Indian National Agricultural Research System (NARS) institutions, opportunity for learning by anyone, anytime and anywhere and improved interaction among peers and student-teachers through ICTs. ICAR has been promoting ICTs in agricultural research, education and extension management. By 2005, ICAR has created about 5000 Internet connected nodes in about 300 NARS institutions. A need was felt to develop digital content for wider dissemination using ICTs. This calls for a consorted effort which starts from training manpower related to agriculture in using the open source Learning Management System (LMS) for its application. NAARM operationalised various ICT initiatives in NARS. Knowledge sharing in agriculture is not yet fully realized in India because of lack of requisite This paper was submitted for eINDIA 2010 conference Page 1

skills in ICTs use.

A multi-pronged ICT strategy is needed to

involve NARS

Institutions for online sharing of contents to students, scientists, professionals and farmers. Besides its central role for skill development in digital content development and management, NAARM also played significant role to pilot ICT models and coordinating among various partners to make ICTs an effective tool to share the vast knowledge in Indian NARS. The project highlights critical success factors and delivery models for capturing knowledge in Indian NARS through a range of digital products like multimedia, vocational modules and e-learning through LMS. Because of limited IT awareness, care needs to be taken in simplifying the capacity building activity in the area of open source LMS. In light of these, this project is envisaged with the following objectives Objectives: 1.
2.

Institutionalize ICTs in NARS to enhance competitive advantage of Indian agriculture, Formulation of a content development strategy, capacity building and coordination of e-learning and knowledge management activities, and Development of e-learning systems and content in the major agricultural subject domains.

3.

At granular level, this study takes a look at imparting training in proven open source LMS - MOODLE to professionals working in agricultural education and research systems, who essentially comprise faculty and scientists specialized in agriculture and allied disciplines. Methodology A preliminary study in the form of an action research1 was planned in 2006 touching upon the broad themes of e-learning and knowledge management to evolve a strategy for implementing e-content development and management in agriculture education. The strategy aids in planning and facilitation of e-learning. An exercise was made to identify potential centres for e-learning in NARS and evolve a suitable skill development strategy with emphasis on open source technologies.

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The project objectives were achieved through an assessment of stakeholders for implementing the e-learning in their universities and understanding their resources and capabilities. The overall program strategy and training methodology were developed in continuous dialogue with the stake holders through a number of face to face meetings, work shops and pilot training modules in related ICT training courses at the Academy, i.e. NAARM. This involved identification of suitable open source but simple to use and with windows-friendly resources which can be incorporated in the e-learning. Results 1. Action research on e-learning strategy Based on the pilot research a strategy was developed for implementing an ICT based system to reach large number of stakeholders in agri-sector. The strategy included internalising the content management so as to sustain its continuous development. Faculty teaching specific courses are to be trained first and content development is to be made coterminous with the course so that it could be put to test with the students taking the course. Collective wisdom of faculty from other SAUs can be used for vetting the content to follow the curriculum norms set by ICAR. It laid emphasis on developing suitable capacity building program of knowledge networking among the agricultural practitioners having non-IT background using suitable open source and free to use web technologies for content management. Various open source LMS were assessed for use in NARS. Among the open source LMS, MOODLE2,3 was chosen for its simplicity and wide online support. The experiences gained in implementation of the strategies developed in the action research project are given in the following sections. 2. Strategy for capacity building on MOODLE

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Since the purpose is to administer the use of MOODLE by professionals in their teaching and for the organization they are working, emphasis is laid on simplifying the steps involved in its installation (as it necessitates knowledge of Apache for web server, MySQL for database and PHP for scripting the web site) and use for simplified tasks. Not withstanding the possibility that the target group might never have even heard of the software, the task was to prepare them to set up/launch their course in MOODLE in three days training module. Since the faculty are to further spread the awareness in their respective organizations, the first day of training is dedicated to installing the software in simplified steps. For this, the MOODLE version 1.7 was preferred as it was then available in single zipped file which on decompression split in to three software modules needed for MOODLE to run. Further, they demand no prior knowledge of networking concepts like web hosting and database administration. The installation of MOODLE was explained through a Manual4,5 which had self explanatory screen shots. Trainees had the hands-on feel of installing the software themselves in the role of course administrators for MOODLE web site. The second day was devoted for explaining various options as a Teacher like creating lessons using different resources, viz. documents, PowerPoint presentations, multimedia flash files etc., and creating activities for the students like assignments, quizzes, discussion fora and chat. The third day focused on conceptualizing lesson plans, gathering resources for the lessons through internet and other sources, structuring them in to e-learning lesson and hosting on MOODLE web site. The experience in capacity building activity in e-Learning through MOODLE is elicited through a structured questionnaire from the target group, which probed their experiences after hosting the course. 3. Capacity building perceptions

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Success of any strategy depends on how well the target group perceived it. Hence, a study was conducted through a structured questionnaire which probed their experiences after hosting their course. Some of the perceptions are : i. Status of IT infrastructure in the Agricultural Universities: Fourteen Universities were assessed for their infrastructural preparedness for promoting e-learning. The number of computer labs in the universities varied from a minimum of one to a maximum of twenty with an average of five per university. Number of computers per lab varied from a minimum of 3 to 100 with an average of 29 per lab. All the universities are equipped with internet and networked. Basic course on computers is offered in all academic programs. This amply suggests that different universities have started to use computers, though in a small measure. ii. Perception of learning MOODLE through training: The strategy adopted to train the personnel in using MOODLE is evaluated on a 1-5 scale (1 indicates strong rejection / disagreement, while 5 refers to strong acceptance / agreement). Perceptions of respondents are : About 88 per cent of participants strongly agreed to the statement that it is easy to install the MOODLE using the method advocated. This is a significant positive step towards the promotion of open source e-Learning strategy in Agricultural Universities, considering the fact that the participants had least touch with web based technologies and never used any LMS. More than 90 per cent of the participants strongly agreed to the fact that it is easy to run MOODLE in their campus as course administrators / teachers / students accepting MOODLE as a user friendly software. Forty five percent of the participants never faced any error or difficulty in using the MOODLE while forty percent of the participants faced some error occasionally. About 82 percent of participants strongly agreed that online support for the software as quite good. This is a strong point for using the software as participants are confident of getting online support in case of any technical difficulty. This paper was submitted for eINDIA 2010 conference Page 5

iii.

Software features analysis: The participants perceptions on the ease of use of different software features employed are: a. Role as an administrator: More than 90 percent of participants strongly accepted that for features like adding courses, users, blocks, site appearance etc are useful and easy to install. However, 31 percent felt that the trouble shooting part has to be strengthened. This emphasizes the fact that the role as course administrator should be made clearer though training strategies. b. Role as a teacher: The use of activities for better interaction among peers, and between teacher and student got a positive response. About 88 percent are strongly comfortable in posting quizzes, 92 percent could use discussion fora easily while as high as 97 percent felt comfortable in posting assignments for the students. Only 73 percent were able to use Wikis, being a new concept of knowledge sharing. c. Role as a student: The role as a student elicited good response in general. More than 90 percent are highly comfortable to upload assignments and take part in quizzes.

4. Institutionalization of ICTs in NARS By end of 2007, a strategy paper providing a road map for e-learning in Indian agriculture education was developed and submitted to NAIP as part of the pilot project1 initiated in 2006. NAIP in turn acted fast and sanctioned the first e-learning project on agriculture course in 2008. This initiative has spurred universities covering seven disciplines of agriculture to propose projects on e-content development and management under National Agricultural Innovation Programme (NAIP). The seven e-learning projects are at various stages of implementation now. Based on the action research findings and subsequent training interactions, essential minimum set of skill in web technologies and digital content development were identified, tested to impart to the non-IT agri-professionals associated with the elearning sub-projects. The resources are innovatively capsuled into a skill This paper was submitted for eINDIA 2010 conference Page 6

development module where the clientele are trained on the aspects of establishing and managing a website right from scratch. After successful trial runs, the skill development exercise has been standardized into a ten day module three days for LMS and seven days for the content development. The e-learning projects in seven major disciplines are being implemented in 20 universities, which in turn cover about 500 faculty in 50 colleges. NAARM has trained over 250 manpower directly in focused programs from the seven e-learning subprojects. The trained faculty in turn trained another 500 at their locations in association with the Academys faculty and resources. Training manual developed by NAARM is used in both on campus and off-campus programmes. This multiplier effect is an ongoing activity now. This has not only built the capacity of personnel but also ensured uniformity in content and consistency in approach among the diversified partners of the projects. 5. Development of e-learning systems and content All the projects offered under National Agricultural Innovation Programme (NAIP) put together are to develop about 10,000 lessons. As of now, about 3000 lessons are developed and hosted. Today, there are more than eight websites in different stages of development, which are being run and managed by the personnel trained by NAARM. These sites are : Veterinary courses by TANUVAS : http://www.elearnvet.net Veterinary courses by Assam Agri University, Guwahati: http://59.160.223.155 Veterinary courses by Sher-e-Kashmir university : http://starelearning.org Dairy science courses by NDRI, Karnal: http://www.ndri.res.in Fishery science by College of Fisheries, Tuticorin&Mangalore: http://www.elearnfish.net Agribusiness by UAS, Dharwad: http://www.uasd.edu/ecourses.html Agriculture courses by TNAU, Coimbatore: http://tau.tnau.ac.in/lms/ Post Graduate courses of NAARM: http://elearning.naarm.ernet.in

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Horticulture courses developed by Colleges of Horticulture at Mudigere (Karnataka), Solan (HP), and Coimbatore (TN) are under test on their intranets

As a spin off, many researchers/faculty have developed digital content modules on success stories, technologies and package of practices for dissemination to farmers and extension officials. Thus, the project resulted in a comprehensive and sustainable online content development and organization in agriculture disciplines, which is a model for the agricultural sector in India and the developing world. This would soon become a component of the national agricultural information portal that the ICAR is building. Conclusions The project highlight critical success factors and delivery models for capturing knowledge in Indian NARS through a range of digital products like multimedia, vocational modules and e-learning in training and education. A key outcome is the innovative development of simple e-learning technology for agricultural content development and management, and the deployment of open standards in agricultural information exchange and delivery. anywhere in the world. The study amply demonstrated that the MOODLE can be applied as a potential elearning tool in the agriculture education with appropriate capacity building methodology. The strategy adopted in the study to make novices to install, use and manage a LMS website in MOODLE was found to be very effective and highly suitable for replication to spread awareness on open source e-learning strategy in other colleges and universities too. Acknowledgements The authors are grateful to Dr P.K.Joshi, Director, NAARM, Dr N. H. Rao, Joint Director , NAARM and Dr N.T. Yaduraju, National Coordinator, NAIP, New Delhi for providing valuable guidance and support for the conceptualization and implementation of the project. This paper was submitted for eINDIA 2010 conference Page 8 Such an integrated arrangement will be the first time that these are applied to farming situations

References 1. Project report on Development of education & training through e-learning, D. Rama Rao, G.R.K. Murthy and M.N. Reddy, NAARM, Hyderabad, 2008. 2. Moodle E-Learning Course Development, William H.Rice IV, PACKT Publishers, 2006. 3. Moodlean electronic classroom, Matt Riordan, available on http://download.moodle.org /docs/teacher-manual.pdf 4. Training manual on e-content management in standard formats, G.R.K.Murthy, K.M.Reddy, NAARM, Hyderabad, 2009. 5. Training manual on E-Learning, for training program on E-Learning, G.R.K. Murthy and D. Rama Rao, , NAARM, Hyderabad, 2008,2009 & 2010. BIODATA OF AUTHORS
Dr D. Rama Rao Dr Rao, a physicist by profession, has rich experience in steering knowledge management programs. His areas of interest include Decision Support and Information Systems, Technology Forecasting, e-Learning, technology in education and ICTs for Development.

Dr G.R.K. Murthy

Dr Murthy, an engineer by profession, is engaged in activities of promoting e-learning methodologies in agricultural education in Indian scenario. He has standardised the use of Moodle for elearning in agriculture and evolved new methods of teaching with the help of simple low cost IT gadgets and open source tools. Dr Reddy, a veterinary scientist by profession, has wide experience in conducting and providing training in the area of educational technology, multimedia and digital content development. Developed many multimedia modules for learning.

Dr K. M. Reddy

Dr V.K.J.Rao

Dr Rao, an extension scientist by profession, has been working in the areas of Participatory Rural Appraisal, ICT use in agriculture extension and multimedia content development.

Dr M. N. Reddy

Dr Reddy, a statistician by profession, has interests in Quantitative Techniques using Statistical Methods and Models, Computational Statistics, Information Management, Geographical Information System (GIS) Applications in Agriculture and Web Design.

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Dr N. Sandhya Shenoy

Dr Shenoy, an extension scientist by profession, has been working in the areas of Participatory Methods, ICTs use in agriculture and gender studies. Successfully implemented rural ICT projects in public-private partnership mode.

Mr E.Bhaskar Rao

Mr Rao, a computer professional, has been working in the areas of web design using open source CMS & LMS for e-learning.

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