Amrita e-learning lab awarded for 'educational excellence'

The e-learning research lab at India's Amrita University was given the award for Educational Excellence at the Indo-Global Educational Summit and Expo.

Held earlier this month, the ceremony was organised by the Indus Foundation from the US and supported by the Ministry of Human Resource Development, inviting representatives of educational institutions from over 40 nations to attend.

After discussions were held across a total of 18 panels, Amrita was presented with the award following the university's developments in developing an e-learning platform..

The e-learning technology, entitled A-VIEW, functions in over 350 universities and 600 colleges across the nation and is geared towards overcoming India's shortage of experienced teachers in its higher education sector.

Executives leading the initiative seek to deploy the online learning programme in all higher educational institutions by the end of 2013.

The award, presented in the category of Educational Technology, is not the first to be awarded to the university's research lab.

Last year, it was presented with the jury award for the best innovation in open and distance learning at the world education summit in New Delhi.

Professor Deepak Phatak, the leader of the national workshops at IIT Bombay, who helped the university work on A-VIEW, said that the platform had "received tremendous response from various participants (faculties); the teachers were amazed that the knowledge of national experts is available at their doorsteps.”

Furthermore, US magazine Computer World awarded the lab 2012 Honours Laureate in June, following its development of A-VIEW under the training and education category.

The finished online learning platform allows teachers to communicate with students from far-reaching geographical locations and is designed to offer them similar educational benefits to those they would experience in a classroom.

A number of institutions were associated with the development of A-VIEW, including universities in New York and India and the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council.