The advent of computers and the Internet has changed the learning process. Most students have integrated computer and collaborative web technologies in their life and are benefiting. It is in this milieu that one can have a look at the physical employment of computers and IT infrastructure for delivery of education in classrooms, laboratories, and libraries in Pakistan at public and private sectors learning centers.
Most public sector universities and business schools still lag behind in deployment of IT. Reason: Economically, Pakistan is yet not very strong. Hence, graduates of many public sector universities cannot compete with those who have an opportunity to study in good private sector universities. While much progress has been made in making computers and the Internet available to educational institutions in the past few years, nowhere computer student ratio is seen to meet student's ever growing IT needs. There have been hardly any concentrated efforts to prepare students to take advantage of IT and other resources that have been made available by the Internet and the World Wide Web.
Workstations equipped with computers, CD-ROM players, modems, and phone or cable line, as well as output devices such as printers, to gather information, analyze, organize, and understand information, and present it clearly and effectively are playing important role in learning process everywhere including reputed private sector universities in Pakistan.
Imagine an educational institution having classrooms equipped with multimedia, sound systems and projectors to deliver presentations, multipurpose computer labs where teachers illustrate and simulate observable facts. "I bring my assignments and presentations in pin drive and transfer the assignment on the computer of the teachers. Or I attach the removable drive with computer in the class and multimedia software does rest of the job for me. And at times, I put all my assignment online at my blog where it is graded by out teacher and also seen my fellow students," says Mahaisa Tahawar, a student in Lahore School of Economics.
On the other hand, lack of computing facilities in public sector educational institutions is a serious problem in this digital age. Those students who cannot make appropriate use of computers, the Internet and the Web in learning have trouble keeping up with advancements in their chosen specialties and staying ahead what to talk of many other related areas. It becomes difficult for them to get necessary stimulation and motivation to prepare for real world where employers these days have started looking for graduates who can get along well in global marketplace. Only information technologies can help bridge the gap between the worlds of education and work even in local job market.
There are full compliments of computing facilities, including educational software and subscriptions to some of the online research achieve services like JSTOR (Journal STORage) in purposely designed workstations for syndicate as well as individual work in computer laboratories and workstations in quiet study zones of libraries. There are dedicated networks with own connectivity; own bandwidth. What is more, students bring their own laptops and have the facility to connect and work.
Of course, the extent of the actual change, due to the use of IT and the degree to which the more progressive higher education enterprises have adapted to these changes, are quite impossible to predict in the longer run but in the short run they have already earned the reputation and pride in good reception for their graduates in corporate sector and in multinational concerns. Students in technology-supported institutions are confident and rely more and more on their own initiative for knowledge exploration. IT enables them to manipulate information in a way that steps up both understanding and the progression of higher order thinking skills and logical aptitude. Student's horizon broadens as they gather more real-world data and share their findings beyond their own institutions.
Where one may see all this type of services in Pakistan? So far in some private sector universities and business schools that can be counted on fingers of one hand.
May be one day, policy makers will think of bridging the wide digital gaps. Creating national educational grid and connecting public as well as private sector universities and higher educational institutions to the grid and provide online information and support to students, teachers and support and management staff equally can be a starting point. But first, all learning institutions have to have physical infrastructure they need to get wired up to the any such central grid. This has not started happing still!
When it comes to accumulation of knowledge on the World Wide Web and presenting it to users in a friendly manner, "SciTech Daily" and "Art & Letter Daily" are the two Websites that cover almost everything that is being writing on wide variety of subjects. Both the sites are very useful for students who want to broaden their intellectual horizon.
For news, analysis, and opinion on science and technology issues, SciTech Daily (http://www.scitechdaily.com/) is a very helpful starting place. Updated 6 days a week, it keeps around 60 items on its home page before scrolling them off the bottom. The page is arranged in three columns: "Features and Background", "Books and Media", and "Analysis and Opinion". In addition, they have a link to an archive of each column.
The format for their items is a short and brisk – usually one or two sentences picked up from the story -- and a link pointing directly to the original source. Site search feature is also there. Though lack in aesthetics (it looks old fashioned), this site does not waste time. In addition to the meat of their content, they have handy link columns pointing to: "Breaking News", "Sci/Tech Publications", "Useful Media", and "Interesting Sites". They keep these lists small – some 20 to 30 links -- and the quality high. You can subscribe to an alert that brings the updates of your interests direct in your inbox.
Sister site, Arts & Letters Daily (http://www.artsandlettersdaily.com/) is also a fascinating clearinghouse of links to some of the best articles on the Web, with a strong bias toward the humanities. This too is updated six times a week in three main categories --Articles of Note, New Books, and Essays and Opinion -- the site is a good collection of great reads across an impressive range of subjects and points of view.
The content makes both SciTech Daily and Arts & Letters Daily unique in the history of knowledge that only the Web could have spawned - economical, fast, smart and full of surprises. Thought these are only a compilation and achieving but after first few online visits, one realizes that putting them together involves imagination, energy, critical judgment and intense curiosity. Visit both the sites and find subject of interest there.
