Swami Vivekananda College elearning Project

In 2010 we embarked on a pioneering venture to introduce eLearning in the College. It involved setting up of a College intranet constituting a server and a 140 computer lab. Professional multimedia based educational packages on various subjects were purchased. Our ex-students and well-wishers came forth in a big way with donation of hardware, software and sponsorship. Others supported with technical knowhow and logistics. The elearning centre was commissioned on 22^nd October 2010 by the Hon. Minister of Education, Mr Filipe Bole who wrote in the guest book, ‘I am impressed. Well done!” See photos

1. Provide basic technology, resources and professional development to teachers so that they can effectively implement the 21^st century educational methodologies to better equip our citizen to compete and succeed on the global playing field;

2. Provide a creative learning space with the aid of digital technology to facilitate greater student-centered learning, thus implementing -“Learn to know” - the first of the four UNESCO’s principles of education;

3. Provide a learner-centered environment where students can develop independent, research based life-long learning skills needed for tertiary education and life in general.

4. Provide high quality multi-media based contents for Mathematics, Sciences, Arts, Commerce etc. which will make the teaching and learning exercises more interesting, effective, and interactive;

5. Implement a pilot scheme to demonstrate and promote e-learning initiatives in education as seen in secondary schools in developed countries such as Australia, New Zealand, etc.

6. Later utilize the resources to conduct after-school hours, weekend and holiday classes and courses in ICT for both students and adults to enhance their skills and knowledge.

• SERVERS:   This is the heart of intranet and has 4 servers. A DELl domain server has the necessary softwares, policies and staff/student accounts. A second IBM file server stores educational softwares. A third application server hosts the educational packages. A fourth DEL server provides a full backup.

• COMPUTER LAB   An intranet with 140 computers, new tables and chairs has been setup in a spacious hall which has 24 hour electronic camera surveillance. Dedicated electrical cables have been laid for the lab.

• EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARES AND CONTENT  To start-off, the College has purchased professional multimedia based (text, image, animation, streaming video and audio) courses from high school to college levels in Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry and Biology. Teachers are converting and developing their lesson notes etc. for hosting on the server. We plan will acquire MYOB accounting software, AutoCAD, Digital Encyclopaedia, etc. There is a whole range of web-based recourses (websites dedicated to subjects, virtual science laboratories etc.) available on line but current internet speed and costs prohibit availing these high quality resources. 

• PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHERS  The management arranged for exposure and professional development for two SVC teachers by sending them to high schools in Brisbane and Auckland during 2010 term II holidays. Another teacher was sent for training on server technology at the USP ICT Centre. Arrangements are being made for more professional development of administration and teaching staff.

The staffroom has been equipped with computers and internet facilities. Teachers are being given training in computer literacy and skills. Multimedia projectors and laptops have been provided and are being used by teachers in classrooms.

• Computers for Teachers: We have provided 8 P4 desktop computers in the staffroom for the teachers to learn and start putting their lessons in electronic format. We are glad to inform that the teachers are making very good use of these machines. It will be ideal for them to have a laptop each.
  
  
• Multimedia Projectors for Classrooms: We have provided four multimedia projectors to the teachers and they are using the same in classrooms to make their classes more interesting, effective and productive. We would like to instal multimedia projectors and whiteboards in all the 9 classrooms for forms 6 and 7. You may donate online here.

• LAB # 2:  Set up another lab of computers to increase the number of computers. We wish to give one period elearning access to every student every day. 220 computers will enable all the students of a particular level to access the eLearning content at the same time. Thus, all form 3 students will have elearning class in the first period; all form 4 students will have elearning classes in the 2^nd period; and so on.

• Acquiring more educational softwares for other subjects to develop a comprehensive library of resources.

• Ultimately linking the server to every classroom and equipping the classrooms with ceiling-mounted projectors, white-boards etc. so that teachers can directly access the resources to teach in classrooms.

• Should high speed internet connectivity become affordable, we will be able to access a whole range of exciting and high quality educational resources such as virtual labs and dedicated websites for subjects such as mathematics etc.

• Place in-house developed course materials, question papers and answers on local server, SVC website etc.

• Provide professional development and exposure to system administrators and teaching staff for proper use of the resources. Build up a team of competent staff to manage, administer and develop the project.

• Introduce a professional school management software for efficient management and administration of the College.
  You may donate online here.

1. Dr Satish Prasad (Australia) for his very generous donation to initiate this project

2. Harish Sundarji (Auckland) for donating 100 P4 computers

3. Brisbane State High School for donating computers

4. Cavendish Road State High School for donating computers

5. Principals of Otahuhu College (Auckland) and Morayfield State High School (Brisbande) for providing professional development to our College teachers

6. Serve Fiji Foundation – Sydney for their very generous support.

7. Westpac Nadi for sponsoring 20 computers

8. SVC Parents, Teachers and friends Association for sponsoring 20 computers

9. Nitin Hiralal for sponsoring the educational softwares

10. Dilip Khatri (jacks of Fiji) and his staff (Charlie & Vinesh) for fabrication of the computer tables

11. Mahalingam Sinathamby (Brisbane)

12. Radha Gounder, CADS for donating a server

13. Prashant Nandha (Japan) for donating two servers

14. Air New Zealand for air freighting servers from Japan

15. ICT Dept of University of South Pacific for their technical support and training of our teacher

16. Jimmi Nathu (Wellington) and Jagdish Punja for doing a “Imli-Chutney” fund-raising concert for the project

17. Suresh Chand, CADs for his on-going technical support

18. Kenneth Brunt (Wellington, NZ) for supplying laptops for use by our staff

19. Dilpesh Kumar and his team for installing the DVR security system

20. Raymond Prasad (architect) for helping with the computer lab design

21. Vasu (Electrician) for doing the electrical wiring

22. Sunil, CADs for networking the lab

23. Bhavin Khatri for getting the server rack

24. SVC admin, staff and maintenance team for their enthusiastic support and hard work

The following persons for sponsoring the project:

1. Ashabhai Co. Ltd

2. Ashilta Prasad

3. Devia Book Store

4. Gopi Mandali - Nadi

5. Janty Enterprise Ltd

6. Lautoka Bearing Ltd

7. Milan Jewellers Ltd

8. Ajay Amrit

9. Alan Croker

10. Amit Kishore

11. Ashvin Ratilal (Brisbane)

12. Bhagwanji Bhindi

13. Bob Gokal and Sons

14. James V Smith

15. Prakash Raniga

16. Carol & Richard Weingarten (USA)

17. Anjana Patel (UK)

18. Arti Reddy

19. Bharat Morriswala

20. Dr Ponnu Sami & Mrs J. Goundar

21. Late Jagannath Naidu & Latchmamma Naidu

22. Paidiya Naidu & Parvati Naidu

23. Roshni & Gunasagaran Gounder

24. Vandhana Sarathy (Sydney)

25. Pacific Island Air Ltd

26. Palas Auto Services Ltd

27. Shania Shina

28. Sushma Brunt (NZ)

29. Vinod Patel Hardware Ltd

30. Jyoti and Kamlesh Tappoo

31. Uday Singh (Perth)
    

32. Indra Deo

33. Tilotma & Param Sivan

34. Ajay Raniga

35. Hitesh Kumar

We look forward to your continued support to develop this project further.