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Friday, 14 June 2013 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
‘Vidunena,’ an e-learning initiative conceptualised and developed by the national mobile service provider Mobitel along with Felidae, a leading provider of e-learning products and services in Sri Lanka, guided by the Ministry of Education was launched this week.
This new e-learning product was launched in the presence of Bandula Gunawardena, Minister of Education, S.M. Gotabaya Jayaratne, Secretary to the Ministry of Education, Anura Dissanayake, Additional Secretary to the President and Project Director for the Education for Knowledge Society Project; Kapila Chandrasena, Acting CEO, Mobitel; Hasitha Dela, Director, Felidae and Chitranganie Mubarak, Senior Program Head – e-Society, Information & Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA).
The project, launched under Mobitel’s mLearning platform, is a catalyst that fosters the knowledge economy, overcoming traditional classroom methods. This initiative, which initially started off with the Information and Communication Technology Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) in 2010 has now progressed to an enhanced level of content providing an important supplementary service, supporting the national curriculum for GCE A/L Science stream subjects.
Vidunena offers interactive video content which can be used by both the student and teacher. Reviewed by the National Institute of Education, Vidunena’s content has been developed with the guidance of renowned university academics with years of experience in GCE Advanced Level examinations.
Access to the Vidunena platform will be initially given free of charge to all school computer labs under the 1,000 schools development program, a project by the Ministry of Education.
Speaking at the launch of this initiative Minister Gunawardena said: “In the 21st century, educators need to be sure that learners are well-prepared to face the challenges of a more complex, interconnected and transparent world. Vidunena is an excellent example of how technology can be used to enhance non IT subject knowledge amongst the teacher and student community to foster multi-media skills in a non-commercial way, which would benefit the local drive towards computer-assisted teaching and learning.”
The Minister stated that continuous technological advancements are essential for Sri Lanka to progress in today’s tech-savvy age and that telecommunication companies have a monumental role to play in achieving this. “For any country to develop, the education of its youth is one of the single most important factors, and it is with great pride today that I witness yet another learning initiative developed by Mobitel. As the country’s national mobile service provider they have always taken the onus on themselves to develop innovative and interactive e-learning platforms utilising the latest technology in the market today.”
Kapila Chandrasena, the CEO of Sri Lanka Telecom Mobitel, said, “We developed this platform to act as an interactive mode of learning for students which allows them to follow their school curriculum wherever they are thus saving both time and money. All the educational material is of the highest quality and has been certified by the Ministry of Education and the National Institute of Education, providing students with reliable and on-demand access to education. Education has always been one of the key focal points at Mobitel and we are very pleased to have successfully implemented this project which we hope will greatly benefit students all over the island.”
“Working with a large corporate entity such as Mobitel on this project has been both an immense pleasure and a valuable learning curve for us as well. While we specialize in eLearning products and services, working on a national initiative like this is certainly an honour. We are proud to have partnered with Mobitel and the Ministry of Education EKSP on this,” stated Hasitha Dela, Director, Felidae.
The Vidunena eLearning platform can be accessed via Mobitel’s mLearning portal on vidunena.lk or vidunena.schoolnet.lk which will then allow the user to access content comprising rich interactive videos, animations, animated games and simulations created using the latest in audio and video technology, green screen and keying technology as well as open source capturing and editing tools. All content for Vidunena will be delivered on a custom built feature-rich platform which has been specially designed for use by Sri Lankan students who may have had little exposure to eLearning systems.
Mobitel’s mLearning platform allows students and lecturers to connect to live real-time virtual classrooms from anywhere in the world, where they can participate in lectures as they would in normal classrooms. All aspects of the learning classrooms are 100% interactive and all the sessions can also be recorded for students to review later on while studying for examinations.
Through this joint initiative by the Ministry of Education, Felidae and Mobitel, the number of students and teachers that benefit from such programs reflects the industry’s demand for a skilled workforce.
