E-learning is learning facilitated and supported through the use of information and communications technology. It may involve the use of: desktop and laptop computers; software, including assistive software; interactive whiteboards; digital cameras; mobile and wireless tools, including mobile phones; electronic and communications tools and virtual learning environments. Students are often delighted when they understand that new technology like ipods and mobile telephones become part of the classroom environment rather than objects to be confiscated.

E-learning at Schools

Robert Louis Fenech is a 16-year-old student about to enter St Aloysius’ College 6th form. He remembers that in primary school at Stella Maris, they used to play games on their class computers – generally educational ones, mostly dealing with mathematics and problem-solving, although they would sometimes play fun games as a special treat. They didn’t have a computer in each class however they had a computer laboratory. A computing teacher together with their class teacher taught the classes.

In senior school they used to have a computer lesson once a week and they used to learn about the hardware and software of computers. They were also geared towards the ECDL and the Computing “O” Level. Occasionally they were also taught Geo-Cabri and LOGO mathematics through computers. Robert remembers these lessons very fondly and says that the teacher and computer worked as one.

Fabian Muscat and Kieron Cassar are five years old and about to start Year 2 at E.B. Vella Primary School in Mosta. They have a computer in their class. They have computer lessons regularly and their usual teacher and a special teacher give these lessons. They both love their computer lessons saying they are more fun than normal lessons and they love doing sums and playing word games on the computer.

Martina Vicario is a Year 5 student at the Convent of the Sacred Heart. She also has a computer in her class. She has computer lessons every week from a qualified computer teacher in a special computer laboratory. In these computer lessons they learn how to use various computer software. However, the computer is also used for other subjects such as history and she remembers that they learned all about Athens on the computer! Martina thinks “computers are very, very cool,” and she would like to work on computers when she is older.

Maria Fenech participated in the IKONOS project at the Malta Centre for Restoration. During this programme the lectures in Malta were broadcast in real time to Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan, the Netherlands, Scotland and Greece. In turn the Maltese students could follow lectures from other countries. Students could even ask questions to the professors situated so far away.

Although Maria liked the way she was being lectured by such a variety of people, she preferred the lectures by the professors in Malta as there is still more interaction between the student and teacher.

Nicholas Negroponte’s

$100 laptop

This $100 laptop, also known as the Children’s Machine, is a cheap computer which will be distributed to children all around the world, hence providing them with access to knowledge. Several countries are committed to this project.

The laptops will be sold to governments, who in turn will distribute them through the ministries of education willing to adopt the policy of “one laptop per child”.

The operating system and software will be localised in the languages of the participating countries. In 2001, a pilot laptop programme was successfully run in a remote Cambodian village.

The countries which have committed to the $100 laptop are:

• Argentina

• Brazil

• Cambodia

• Costa Rica

• Dominican Republic

• Egypt

• Greece

• Libya

• Nigeria

• Pakistan

• Peru

• Rwanda

• Tunisia

• Maine and Massachusetts,

(US)

• Uruguay

E-Learning

Ray Vassallo is the E-Learning Manager at the Institute of Tourism Studies.

For many people e-learning is merely the use of computers in an educational setting, specifically the use of the internet. However, Ray Vassallo, the e-Learning Manager at ITS, believes otherwise. He believes e-learning is much more than simply knowing how to use the internet but is part and parcel of living in a “Knowledge Society”. Ray Vassallo continues, “We are living in a society where man’s knowledge is growing exponentially, and this very growth itself is also growing exponentially. My question is how is mankind going to manage to assimilate this knowledge in an effective way?” Ray Vassallo thinks this will lead humanity to experiment with new methods of learning or acquiring knowledge.

Ray Vassallo believes that the way humans access and learn information, and the swiftly changing way that information is packaged, have kindled an electronic revolution far more complex and powerful than the liberation of the printed word that occurred 500 years ago in Central Europe. That last revolution, led by Gutenberg, Grolier, Aldus Manutius and others who built and used printing presses, yielded powerful and long-lasting transformations to the human condition that far exceeded the imaginations of that day.

Today, Information and Communication Tech-

nology has virtually established itself as the premier technology for creating anything from dynamic presentations to courseware to virtual worlds of sight, sound and motion. However, Ray also says that it is unfortunate that in Malta and many other countries, education is still stuck in the Victorian era, although sometimes it may be veiled with words like “innovative” and “modern” or disguised through the construction of educational mausolea. Ray Vassallo believes that only through the introduction of e-learning and other adjunct technologies and systems, can education truly forge ahead.

E-learning came to be as a result of a number of developments in the world of technology, especially in the areas of informatics, computers and telecommunication. However Ray Vassallo thinks it is a mistake to implicitly hold to the “American” belief that there is a technological fix for everything or, as a matter of fact, the contrasting “European” concept of man’s innate inability to actually master nature. Rather, we should strike a happy medium – the truth lies in equilibrium between the two beliefs.

Ray Vassallo continues that e-learning provides the educational system which can be accessed by everyone. In addition, this method of education allows the student to learn what he wants, how he wants and at his own pace. Ray Vassallo feels that it is erroneous to consider e-learning as merely a supplementary tool to the present education methodologies. He views e-learning as a milestone on the way to a truly humanistic system mediated through Artificial Intelligence and through a thorough immersion in a virtual learning environment. Another important factor here is the ubiquity of broadband wireless networks and human computer interfaces – the ability of humans to access, absorb and interpolate information wherever and whenever they desire to create new knowledge.

Moreover, Ray Vassallo considers the economic implications of e-learning. He says that from the advent of home computers in the early 1980s, their cost has fallen drastically. This has made computing available to all strata of society. On the other hand the cultural and social changes brought about by knowledge society technologies has widened the socio-cultural gap between the developed and the developing world leading to a digital divide; a term which fell into common usage when it was used by President Bill Clinton and Vice-President Al Gore in 1996 during a speech in Knoxville, Tennessee. However there lately have been various initiatives, which utilise the cheap cost of computing and the massive manufacturing power of the developing world to create initiatives like Nicholas Negroponte’s $100 laptop.

In conclusion, Ray Vassallo says that he does not believe in any fabricated dichotomy between humans and machines. Man has always assimilated his tools, whether they were primitive thigh-bones to crush the skulls of his enemies and prey or the most advanced cybernetic operating systems available. He believes that thanks to coming developments in such areas as artificial intelligence, neuroscience, nanotechnology and biotechnology, man will truly be able to interface fully with machine intelligence, and as a result become someone better that he is now.

E-learning at ITS

Few people realise the importance of Information Technology for the tourist industry. In reality, one should note that this industry was one of the first to take up computing so wholeheartedly. Mr Vassallo says that as early as 1957, airline companies were already using computers for ticketing services. Computing made world wide commercial travel possible. Nowadays all operations going on inside our tourist establishments are handled through computer systems such as Micros or Opera. These programmes can take care of an entire hotel, including front office to housekeeping to energy management to material control.

Following its participation in the MEDFORIST Project, a three-year initiative sponsored by the European Union to set up a Euro-Mediterranean Network of ICT teachers specialising in applications for Trade and Industry, ITS has set up the Centre for E-Learning Technologies (CELT).

The aims and Objectives of CELT (Centre for e-learning Technologies) at ITS are:

• To create and maintain a centre of excellence for e-learning and computer based learning with special emphasis on their use in the tourism industry, at the ITS;

• To develop courseware and software systems to support teaching and learning;

• To carry out research into e-learning and computer based learning techniques;

• To teach and promote the use of e-learning and computer based learning;

• To promote the creation of the information society.

CELT sets out to improve dissemination and networking with others in the field towards its own improvement, for the sharing of work carried out, to obtain feedback and stimulate debate. CELT particularly welcomes international collaboration and the challenges this brings to its work.

CELT’s research and development interests are varied and include: Distance-Learning, interface design, cultural adaptation and multimedia.

Furthermore Mr Vassallo points out that the ITS website has a section devoted to e-learning. Over here students can access information uploaded to the computer by their lecturers. This site is being developed as part of the MEDFORIST Project funded by the European Commission under the EUMEDIS initiative.

Mr Vassallo also notes that ITS has been training its students in e-business for the past three years.

The government and

E-learning

The Investments, Industry and Information Technology Ministry is presently developing the national E-learning Vision & Strategy.

The ministry website http://www.miti.gov.mt/ is a treasure house of tools which would aid Malta’s educators in using technology. The ministry is highly committed towards making Malta computer competent.

The IT Ministry has successfully coordinated a project between the Education Ministry and the Local Councils Association which resulted in the availability of a number of computer labs within public secondary schools, after school hours. The Local Councils made use of these labs for the delivery of an ICT Awareness Programme aimed at the local community members. This programme is particularly useful to individuals who have had limited or no exposure to the use of information and communication technologies.

In addition, the IT Ministry together with the Computer Society of Malta and the Education Ministry embarked on an ambitious project through which all public secondary school leavers will have the opportunity to obtain the European Computer Driving License (ECDL) – an internationally recognised certificate in basic ICT skills. Together with leading ICT industry players like Cisco Systems, Microsoft Corporation and Oracle Systems, the ministry set up a number of information technology academies which provide the opportunity for students to attain industry certifications which are recognised by the local and international industry players. These certificates are available through educational institutions, namely the University of Malta, The Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), Swatar Training Centre and ETC.

The ministry has also ensured that every Maltese citizen can obtain a free e-mail address, hence disseminating the use of ICT in Malta.