The importance of ICT policy development for education

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The importance of ICT policy development for
education challenges for research

• E.M.A. Geers (Bert)
• Delft University of Technology (TU Delft), The
  Netherlands
• TU Delft ICT program coordinator for
  International Cooperation
• Member of the ICT4DEV platform of the Dutch
  Ministry for International Cooperation
• Member of the Swedish Program for ICT in
  Developing Regions (SPIDER) network of
  consultants
• e.m.a.geers_at_tudelft.nl

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Contents

• ICT policy development and implementation for
  higher education
• TU Delft as partner for ICT policy development
  and implementation
• TU Delft as partner for ICT research
• Example of research project
• Final remarks

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ICT for higher education (1)

• Researchers can access current literature work
  collaboratively with colleagues around the world
  submit, edit and review journal articles, theses
  and conference papers and access web-based
  services and databases.
• Instructors can create electronic and
  traditional course materials including web-based
  resources and e-journals, communicate with
  students via e-mail, use e-learning tools to
  manage courses, submit marks and issue and
  receive assignments electronically
• Students can use local and web course materials
  and resources instead of relying purely on
  lectures as the sole source of information and
  knowledge participate in courses and programs
  even if not physically present on campus and
  access online administrative systems for course
  registration and mark retrieval

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ICT for higher education (2)

• Administrators can reduce archaic paper-based
  systems can have certain level of control over
  and knowledge about the areas they manage and
  can be responsive to staff and students needs.
• HEIs become attractive partners for research
  networks and education grids
• Society at large has the benefit of ICT-literate
  graduates
• With their new-found ICT expertise and
  experience, the university ICT specialists become
  a prime resource helping the public sector start
  to use ICT effectively
• What ICT environment need to be put in place ?

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Challenges for the HEI management

• What ICT services, ICT infrastructure, ICT
  technical support and what competencies are
  needed?
• What ICT services, ICT infrastructure, ICT
  technical support and end user skill development
  programs can be afforded?
• How to secure optimal deployment
• What should be the involvement of the various
  stakeholders groups?

Management Administrators Lectures Researchers Stu
dents ICT technical support Government External
(ISPs, Telcos)

• Internet / email services
• Office automation facilities
• Library information services
• E-learning platforms
• Academic Register Management IS
• Financial Management IS
• Human Resource Management IS
• Academic discipline specific IS
• ..

• ICT resource management concepts, organizational
  design, embedding and development principles

• Bandwidth connectivity
• WAN
• Campus networks
• Departmental networks

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Delft University as partner for ICT policy
development and implementation

• TU Delft has developed partnerships with HEIs in
  Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East
  for ICT policy development and implementation
• Key participatory approach for formulation ICT
  policies and ICT master plans providing
• - common, institute or sector wide supported
  vision (documented in the ICT policy)
• - a concerted approach of actions (documented
  in the ICT master plan)
• - a instrument for attracting required
  funding from national sources and international
  funding agencies

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TU Delft partners for policy development and
implementation

• Financial support from
• The Netherlands (NUFFIC)
• Sweden (Sida SPIDER)
• EU (Tempus TACIS, Asi_at_ITC and AsiaLink)
• World Bank, Central America Bank
• National Governments
• In parallel EU FP6-3 other research projects

Africa UoO- Burkina Faso MU-Kenya UDSM-Tanzania U
EM-Mozambique Kist-Rwanda
Asia USC-Philippines HA-Philippines CUSAT-India H
UCE-Vietnam UCSC-Sri Lanka
Middle East HE sector-Yemen HE sector- Jordan
Latin America UNI- Nicaragua UNAH-Honduras
Europe KPI-Ukraine
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Concerted approach of actions
ICT services

• TU Delft Resources
• Future search approach
• Template ICT policies and master plans
• Information Technology Infrastructure Library
  (ITIL/CTA-UK)
• Template ICT Resource Management (IRM) business
  modules and development plans
• Generic ARIS application
• Team of International Consultants from TU Delft
  and its partners
• TU Delft Research capacity

Technical Support
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TU Delft as partner for ICT research

• Areas of ICT research (amongst other)
• Research group Distributed Processing
• Grid computing
• Sensors for wireless networks
• Parallel processing
• Peer to Peer (P2P) networking

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Example TU Delft research project
Relevant for cooperation on ICT policy
development and implementation with partner HEIs
Tribler Campus
An Integrated Peer-to-peer Platform for File
Distribution in Course Management Systems
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CMS Client-server architecture

• Present generation of Content Management Systems
  client-server
• Problem Not scalable

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Client-server architecture

• Problem Not scalable

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Client-server architecture

• Problem Not scalable

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Client-server

• Common solution better hardware..., more
  bandwidth.
• Expensive
• Not feasible for distance learning programs in
  rural areas with limited bandwidth availability

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Peer-to-peer technology

• All computers share resources / bandwidth
• Highly scalable
• Very low costs
• More users better performance!

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Peer-to-peer technology
Napster, Kazaa, BitTorrent, ...
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Tribler Campus Project

• Idea
• Functionality of Course Management Systems
• with the performance of peer-to-peer
• Based on highly advanced Tribler P2P technology
• Improved BitTorrent
• Developed at TU Delft and VU Amsterdam

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Tribler Campus prototype

• Prototype implemented and tested in the NL and
  the Philippines
• Extension (TC agent) written for Moodle CMS
• Open-source, modular approach
• 10,000 institutions, 150 countries

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Results
(500 MB files, 40 available, 400 requests)
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Results
(500 MB files, 40 available, 400 requests)
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Results
(500 MB files, 40 available, 400 requests)
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Performance statistics

• Download time statistics (500 MB file, 400
  requests per day)

(in minutes)
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Scalability Requests
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Final remarks

• Current CMSs not suitable for large files
• TriblerCampus high performance at all times
• Highly scalable, stable and reliable
• Flash crowds, multiple campuses, distance
  learning
• Prototype findings very promising if not
  spectacular
• TribleCampus highly relevant for TU Delft
  partnership program on ICT policy development and
  implementation
• Long term ambition TriblerCampus first step
  towards toolbox consisting of shareware, open
  source solutions for Higher Education
• Research Partners funding (from FP7- IST and
  other programs) are sought.

• Pioneers
• Development and implementation
• Research (security, validation)

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