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Research Front Arnab B Chowdhury Founder and companionship Architect, Ninad Consultancy run www. ninad. in, emailprotected in When Technology Meets Health C ar in Knowledge cab bet Aurosiksha online development programme for sightlessness legal community workers Intelligence and capability are not enough. There must also be the joy of doing something beautiful. existenceness of service to God and tenderity means going wellspring beyond the sophistication of the best applied science, to the humble demonstration of courtesy and compassion to distributively patient. Dr. G Venkataswamy (Founder Chairman Aravind Eye vexation scheme) Abstract This case rent (www. urosiksha. org) is close to two great military campaigns one in Technology (the FOSS) and the differentwise in Health pull off the Aravind Eye headache Systems (AECS) and LAICO that trains blindness prevention workers. At the con? uence of the two is an eLearning computer programme called Aurosiksha, which is based on Moodle. Aurosiksha seeks to pretend out to the global user, consider its rich knowledge base, and in the act upon create a community of lifelong learners. Keywords FOSS, ICT, LMS, MOODLE, mLearning, Mobile Moodle, AECS, Aravind, Aravind Eye Care System, Vision 2020, WHO, LAICO, Aurosiksha, eLearning Platform, knowledge society, ocial health care. Introduction As we all know, the assoil and rotate Source Software (FOSS) movement began as a apostate call to what was felt to be increasing restrictions on collaborative development, dispersal, and self-command of software2. Free software focuses on the philosophical freedoms (a egress of liberty preferably than price) it gives to users, whereas turn out-source software focuses on the perceived strengths of its peer-topeer development fashionl. Openness, co letership, and transparent coaction continue to drive the FOSS movement. Development, modi? cation, ownership, and redistribution of software could now e cohesively managed by communities of similar developers. This also led to an evolutionary model of copyright and licensing (GPL) ensuring community ownership. The FOSS movement has evolved from the stages of school of thought and licensing into a complex and pragmatic ecosystem for software production and distribution bene? ting humanity globally. FOSS has introduced technological self-sufficiency, efficient use and sharing of resources, and C SI Communications June 2012 12 collaborative innovationand development. One of the about signi? brush offt areas where the FOSS movement has made strides is in the ?eld of nurture.During the past decade, education has been rapidly reorganized to leverage information and communication technology (ICT) inside the classic teaching- erudition- judgeing cycle. At the foundation of FOSS is a desire for an equitable and splay model of access to knowledge. If one of the aims of FOSS technologies is dissemination of educational content, pas t Aurosiksha is a case in point. The Case Aurosiksha is an online encyclopedism steering system (LMS). An beginning(a) launched recently (25th July, 2011) in its important transformation by Lions Aravind install of club Ophthalmology (LAICO), established in 1992 with the support of he Lions Club International, SightFirst Program, and Seva Sight Program. LAICO is Asias ? rst supranational teaching facility for the broad range of blindness prevention workers from India and other parts of the world. It contributes in improving the quality of spunk care operate by dint of teaching, knowledge, capacity building, advocacy, research, and management consultancy. It offers university-affiliated long-term courses in Eye Care precaution, with eye care management programs for directors of eye hospitals, program managers, as well as several skill development courses in the areas of instrument maintenance, community ut go along and social marketing, counseling in India, Africa, and South East Asia. LAICO accomplishes this objective within the broader environment of Aravind Eye Hospitals and Aravind Medical Research Foundation all aspects of AECS. Headquartered at Madurai, India, AECS is the worlds largest eye care service provider, which performs 300,000 surgeries per year. Aravind Eye Care was founded and directed by the legendary Padmashree Dr. G Venkataswamy known as Dr. V. Fig. 1 Inspiration and Inspirer www. csi-india. org Fig. 2 LAICOs global overhaul Designated by the institution Health Organization as a Collaborating Centre forPrevention of Blindness, Aravind is studied as a model in prestigious business schools around the world, including Harvard, Stanford, Michigan, IMD-Lausanne, and the Indian Institutes of Management. Currently, LAICO works with everyplace 270 hospitals across the developing world replicating Aravind model of high-quality, affordable eye care service delivery. Followup studies have shown that several of the programs exposed to the Aravind model have doubled (and in some cases even tripled) working(a) productivity and as a result are now ? nancially self-sustaining. 270+ hospitals (and save growing) that are partnering with Aravind?How do we create courses that cover the broad necessarily of our trainees that allow paraprofessionals, ophthalmologists, eye care program managers, administrators, and others? How do we continue to empower our all-women group of paraprofessionals who form the backbone (about 60%) of Aravinds workforce? Since most of them move up from humble, rural background and are trained as assistants and nurses, can this eLearning platform give them the opportunity for continuous training? How can eLearning work consciously toward the empowerment of women and gender equality an all-important(a) objective within the millenary Development Goals?How do we collate, aggregate content to create an interactive Knowledge society The Challenge The real challenge for knowledge society then is in creating equal opportunity in offering the ability to access, to create, to develop, and to utilise the right information at the right time in a cost-effective manner. This applies to the public (consumer) as well as the service provider professionals. In this case study, we focus on a decisive opening move with the objective of providing quality training and management skills via the virtual medium for eye care, which is an important area of social health care. How do we train more than than 10,000 lindness prevention workers worldwide, year after year, across Education FOSS ICT Aurosiksha AECS LAICO Education & Management Fig. 3 The case for Aurosiksha C SI Communications June 2012 13 ophthalmic technology evolving so quickly, everyone recognizes the importance of keeping our eye care management skills and knowledge up-todate for the bene? t of our patients. The eLearning solution testament allow especially the paramedics to access continuous educational opportu nities over the Internet and provide a valuable forum for our members/experts to exchange views and tap into the expertise of their colleagues and fellow olleagues around the world. Aurosiksha has leveraged ICT in an inclusive way. It is meant Fig. 4 Aurosiksha home page and introduction to provide a one-point Internet access to eye training mechanism that does care training for professionals worldwide justice to the enormous data and with the premise that up to 80% of experiences that Aravind has the worlds blindness is avoidable collected over decades and share it where avoidable blindness is de? ned as with the world so that other blindness blindness which could be either treated prevention professionals and social or prevented by entrepreneurs whitethorn feel inspired to nown, cost-effective create Aravinds elsewhere? means (VISION 2020 How do we create a viable way Action Plan 2006to share this ocean of aggregated 2010 World Health experiences into meaningful content Organ ization). harvested since 1976? The issue How do we instill the Aravind model into our courseware? Especially since Aurosiksha the the Aravind model needs to be lived need of the times and experienced as a broad toughened of LAICO came up values of service, compassion, and with Aurosiksha to self-reliance at its core, along with elevate the reach and management principles that identify quality of education uality care and efficiency that worn-out from the rich Aravind stands for? knowledge base that These were perhaps the broad AECS has harvested questions that LAICO asked itself after it since 1976. In this age trained and consulted 60 hospitals in 29 of knowledge society, 1 countries and 213 hospitals in India . its four essential On the eve of the launch of characteristics Aurosiksha, Mr. R D Thulasiraj, Executive digitization, Director (LAICO) said, I think this immediacy, is a very important development and virtualization, and underscores the AECSs commitment globalizatio n drive to continually enhance the range of nowledge sharing. services we offer to eye care service. With C SI Communications June 2012 14 Aurosiksha was developed and implemented by the LAICO team with the garter of instructional designers who joined the AECS as volunteers for the sole purpose of developing its own online educational program. Promoting lifelong erudition The goal is to allow all users to subscribe highly engaging and interactive units in order to learn about the theories, techniques, and practical aspects of both clinical and nonclinical management. The idea is to provide an online space where AECS staff can learn, share, and develop their nowledge of providing the best eye care services in all aspects ranging from fundamental concepts to advanced skills using assessed, accredited, and selfre? ective activities and resources. The program The program includes Courses & complete sessions These have been developed by internal and external subject matter exper ts (SMEs) with the assistance of instructional designers and technicians by using standard training curriculum. They are also assisted by JCPHO, ICO, and other professionals from leading noneye care institutes, such as the Indian Institutes of Management (IIM). Quality Fig. 5 Course on cataract ww. csi-india. org Camstasia studio Moodle environment MOODLE usability Pedagogy Technology MOODLE Information transfer summarize resources (docs, web links) Forum Wiki Glossary Lessons Assignments Communication and interaction Assessment of teaching Tests Discussion forum Co-creation of content Quiz (self-test) Lessons Assignments Discussion forum Wiki Database enunciate quiz bearr Fig. 6 The Moodle-based Aurosiksha environment check is performed by including sessions in Aravinds acclaimed training program. The material is interactive with voice narration, with short quizzes in surrounded by ideos to assess the reading. Assessment with fast feedback Assessment is featur ed in different ship canal like an organized discussion forum, Q forum, blogs (students are allowed to create), and exercises/quiz. After quiz/exercises, immediate feedback will be given to the student on each submit. For example, if a student chooses a wrong answer, the feedback will spell out why the answer is incorrect and give the correct answer to ensure learning is happening with each and every activity. Course completion bring in The tracking feature controls the student/ teacher to provide a better learning/ teaching experience.The tool gives accurate course completion and grading report. This includes customized reports for the bene? ciaries on the impact side. Selecting the tool a con? uence of feel and values LAICOs systems division began with an open mind and explored various Content Management Systems (CMS) and tie in technologies (Course Management Systems) both proprietary and FOSS, such as WizIQ, Joomla , ConferenceXP (an open-source videoconferencing platform f rom Microsoft Research), and MOODLE (abbreviation for Modular ObjectOriented Dynamic Learning Environment). Echoing Aravinds values quality, compassion, self-reliance Aurosikshas bjectives resonated with Moodle. At its core, Moodle is an educational software grounded in a philosophy of collaborative learning, often referred to as social constructionist pedagogy. Additionally, Aurosikshas pedagogical approach path matched with that of Moodle. The organization and design of Moodles interface supports learners and learning tasks, rather than technology and tools. Moodle presented the ideal vehicle for Aurosiksha. LAICO adapted its knowledge resources to the Moodle mould customization was minimal. It was a halcyon con? uence of technology and LAICO vision both shared the same spirit and values.Moodle is based on a social constructionist approach, which helps us understand how learning happens in a group and how learning is a product of incalculable human choices. Moodle was built w ith elements and tools that embody pedagogical understanding. A Moodlebased course can consist of lessons, including reading materials, activities (such as quizzes and projects), and social events that encourage participation between students. In Aurosiksha, one ? nds the Camstasia Studio software to be integrated in Moodle for quality and streaming-like videos for the audiovisual elements in its courses. Similarly, Articulate Quiz processr andles the self-test modules at the end of the lessons. An open (institutional) learning environment Cloud environment Educational institutional environment mesh PAGES pupil ID database se Student information system WEB 2. 0 apps Assessment tools Proprietary and licensed content Collaboration tools Student generated content Personal publishing tools Open content Fig. 7 Open learning environment C SI Communications June 2012 15 Fig. 8 Beta users statistics As Aurosiksha grows in terms of content repository, user base, and feedback from users, it will trigger a proportionate scaling in features, tools, and technologies ithin and outside Moodle. The followers pointers can be considered for Aurosikshas future Interoperability Aurosiksha may want to air and share its data with that of other medical research institutions. It also needs to be SCORM-compliant (Sharable Content Object Reference Model). Deeper reach with low-cost hand-held devices and low Internet bandwidth leading to low footprint m-learning With greater penetration of ICT and hand-held devices ranging from tablets (such as Akash) to prompt phones (voice and short messaging services), a strippeddown version of Aurosiksha can be An open learning environmentMoodle and Aurosiksha Apart from being part of FOSS family and therefore free, Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS). It is also known as an LMS or a virtual learning environment (VLE) and is very popular among educators around the world as a tool for creating online dynamic web sites fo r their students. Aurosiksha as the learning arm of LAICO-AECS is an experimentation in a similar space, moving from Constructionism to Constructivism an environment in which human beings dont just act (Construct) but also make sense of their actions as a group (Constructivist). This happens as humans make sense of reality, learn and reate new knowledge continuously while learning. powerful learning happens while learners are in an actively constructing knowledge mode rather than in a passive reading, viewing, and memorizing mode. The kind of knowledge generated impacts attitudes of learners, which in turn re? ects in their actions (practice). Aurosiksha is a Community of Learners in the making, offering insight and reaching out with a sense of service. Future perplexity Aurosiksha, in its beta stage, is currently being tested by over 500 beta testers worldwide that range from paraprofessionals, managers, eye care professionals to power members.C SI Communications June 2012 1 6 Fig. 9 Course creation www. csi-india. org Mentor-guided courseware Turnitin (functionality to let the student submit assignments) Acknowledgment Fig. 10 E- and M-learning logical system computer architecture a source of knowledge to especially paraprofessionals on the ? eld. Extensive reach with browserbased handheld devices leading to m-learning With proliferation of 3G and upcoming 4G, Aurosiksha can be experienced on devices, such as iPhone, iPad, and Android-based phones quite extensively with Mobile Moodle (a set of mobile apps and server components from Moodle). Right now, Google Analytics and Google Maps are being applied to study the online learning behavior of the beta users. This initiative could be further explored with other statistics generated dynamically. pertinent pedagogical applications that can be included (already available in Moodle) are as follows Grade report Timer-based courseware Fig. 11 Google maps geographical spread of beta users We wish to than k Mr. R D Thulsiraj (Director Operations, AECS Executive Director LAICO) and Dr. R D Ravindran (Chairman and Director Quality, AECS) for all the insightful and frank conversations we had with them. We thank Prof.R K Shyamasundar (Faculty of Technology & calculating machine Science Tata Institute of Fundamental Research) and Mr. M D Agrawal (President Computer Society of India) for their encouragement. We acknowledge the spirit of FOSS and the World Wide mesh (WWW) to continue to grow as active members of the knowledge society they foster. last we wish to acknowledge the spirit and values of Dr. G Venkataswamy (Dr. V) that pulsate through everything that Aravind is and does. We bow with deep reverence to the spiritual teachers of Dr. V Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. References 1 P. Mehta, and S Shenoy, In? nite vision how Aravind became the orlds greatest business case for compassion, 1st ed. , BerrettKohler Publishers Inc. San Francisco 2 Satish Babu, The FOSS exertion and i ts impact on Education, CSI Communications, vol. 35, Issue 6, September 2011, pp. 19-20 3 http//moodle. org/about 4 http//aravind. org/ 5 http//laico. org/ 6 http//aurosiksha. org/ 7 h ttp//en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Free_ and_open_source_software 8 h t t p //w w w. i f o s s f. o r g /i f o s s f _ library_0 9 h ttp//www. vision2020india. org / orbiscourse/homepage. htm 10 h ttp//www. vision2020. org/main. cfm? Type=NI=4460 11 h ttp//www. ats-pyjamas. net / wp-content /uploads/2010/05/ M o o d l e To o l G u i d e fo r Te a c h e rs _ May2010_JS. pdf n Selected among the top 4 papers expressing Collaboration for inclusive growth at SEARCC 2011 seminar (South East Asia Regional Computer Confederation, Mumbai, December 2011) With inputs from Prarthana Kalaskar Design Principal (Ninad), Remi Boutinet Outreach Consultant (Ninad), Shwetav Agarwal Solution Architect (Sri Aurobindo Institute of Culture), LAICO team (Deepa Krishnan Senior Manager Operations Vinoth Palanichamy Online Ma nager Education) C SI Communications June 2012 17