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E-learning Studio launched at Amrita Varsity
 Close
on the heels of the launch of the Amrita – Indian Space
Research Organization (ISRO) Satellite network by Her Holiness
Mata Amritanandamayi Devi and Padmabhushan Dr. Madhavan Nair,
Chairman of ISRO, a state-of-the-art E-learning Studio with 6
simultaneous synchronous LCD panels was launched at Amrita Vishwa
Vidyapeetham (Deemed University) Ettimadai campus on 7 July, 2004
by Mr. Kris Gopalakrishnan, Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer
of the Indian IT major, Infosys Technologies. Mr. Bhaskar Narayan,
Director, Satellite Communications, Indian Space Research Organization
(ISRO) was the distinguished guest of honor for the function.
Dr. P. Venkat Rangan, Vice Chancellor presided over the function.
 This
studio and e-classroom is the front-end of the high bandwidth
satellite network, which has made Amrita University a fully interactive,
multimedia capable, multi-disciplinary virtual university –
the first of its kind in the nation. It will enable interactive
class room sessions across all 4 campuses of the University in
three south Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka.
The teacher is empowered with the unique capability of performing
two-way live audio-video interaction between four AMRITA campuses
located at Coimbatore, Kochi, Bangalore and Amritapuri (Kollam).
The facility is equipped with 130 seats for classroom instruction,
24 hours a day, 7 days a week using the dedicated satellite link
with a bandwidth of 1.5 Mbps. The e-classroom is ergonomically
designed so as to enhance the teaching and learning process and
give teachers and students a feel of a normal class room session.
This heralds a new vista in the delivery of education and is a
model for educational institutions across the country. The studio
will become a landmark for the educational and IT community of
Coimbatore.
Amrita University has ambitious plans of immediately offering
various courses between campuses. Courses on cutting-edge technology
areas like Mobile and Wireless communication, Information Security,
VLSI using Cadence tools, Bioinformatics etc. for the Amritapuri,
Kollam, Kerala campus are slated to begin shortly. In addition
to Amrita campuses, the network and studio will be utilized by
Amrita for community outreach and extended to remote rural centers
and schools. With ISRO, Amrita University plans to start Village
Resource Centers for the transformation of rural communities.
Witness a great miracle as video and voice travel a distance
of 36,000 km up the satellite and down in a matter of seconds
to remove the barriers of distance for education in the 21st millennium.
7 July, 2004
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