Dr. K. VEERANJANEYULUUNIVERSITY LIBRARIAN & CCPI, e-Granth Project

Head, University Computer CentreANGR AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY

HYDERABAD – 500 030veeru_1963@rediffmail.com

When India gained Independence, our agriculture system was underdeveloped. Food grains production was not enough to feed every citizen. Before Independence, in 1943, our country faced one of the world's worst food disasters - the Bengal Famine - wherein an estimated four to five million people died of hunger. During 1946 to 1952, we imported on an average 3 million tone of food grains annually. National food security became naturally a priority agenda for national development. Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru once remarked “everything else can wait but not agriculture”. In the Sixties, the Government took multi-directional initiatives to strengthen agriculture. Research and development programmes lead to launch new technologies; seeds of high yielding rice and wheat varieties were procured and adopted. As a result, food grain production started increasing, and food imports ultimately ended.

As a very big part of Indian population is dependent on agriculture for their source of living, it plays an immense role in development of the country. Thus, there is no doubt to say that ‘Development in Agriculture leads to Development of a Nation’.

Agricultural education is the basic foundation for developing manpower for research, education, training and extension. Agricultural education is the teaching of agriculture, natural resources, and land management through hands on experience.

Due to Information technology, Indian economy has witnessed several revolutionary developments, Viz. Green (food grains), White (milk), Yellow (oilseeds), Blue (fishery) and now Rainbow Revolution in Agriculture, Bio-technological Revolution, Industrial Revolution and Information Technology (IT) Revolution etc.

Country has made considerable progress in the communication systems, telephony and digital audio/video processing etc. These technologies have in fact coverage to Information and Communication Technology (ICT) which is defined as the technologies involved in collecting, processing, storing, retrieving, disseminating telecommunications and computers. In the wake of rapidly growing internet connectivity, accessing world-wide information, on any desired aspect and providing the same at the click of a button on the desktop along with the e-mail facility already replacing the postal communication all around the world coupled with the internet telephony, web-portals with discussion formus, on-line chatting, video conferencing etc., the world has really bridged the gap in the terms of the reach.

The use of multimedia technology has made the interactions through computers livelier with images, video clips and stereo-sound capability. ICT provides access to the latest updated information on a particular technology clearly outlining the benefits of the adopting that technology through multimedia graphics and video-clips.

Earlier, only a few traditional tools and techniques were being followed for educating farmers, researchers and extension workers. There were only class room teaching with using chalk and blackboard, lectures delivered to only a restricted number of people in fields which was not clear audible to all. But with the advent of IT, various latest tools, techniques and learning methods have replaced the old ones. The traditional class rooms have been replaced with new smart class rooms and online lectures, traditional course content with e-contents, traditional information resources with e-resources and restricted place teaching with remote teaching, oral presentations with multimedia presentations, etc.

Further, it is also well-known that without a sound capacity building framework, the financial resources spent on anything will go to waste. Thus, the need for capacity building in agricultural education principally arise due to high initial cost associated with setting up the suitable infrastructure, lack of trained faculty, lethargy on part of management, faculty to upgrade themselves, initial resistance to change by the teachers, lack of bandwidth and other technical support functions across geography, and above all the lack of awareness with regard to utility of ICT for agricultural education.

The real meaning and power of ICTs for “capacity building” would be to enable the ability of the administrators, teacher and the student to use ICTs in their own processes of administration and teaching-learning in a manner they deem fit arising from their engagement with ICTs, facilitated by Academic Institutions, teacher-educators, and teachers, respectively. The key components of the capacity building of the teachers include a clear understanding and appreciation of the pre-service and in-service training institutions, their vision, coverage, the methodologies, and the extent to which their interventions are effective. The capacity building is not restricted to improving the ICT skills of the teachers but more importantly the intention is to exploit the potential of ICT to build the professional competence of teachers, to develop their proficiency in classroom management practices, to enhance the quality of instructions, and others. In this context following ICT affected initiatives have been adopted:

Smart Class Room Teaching Video Conferencing Multimedia labs Teleconferencing Virtual Classes Webinar Video Labs.

Educational content is a key element of ICT use in education. It is basically the information that is offered to the intended beneficiary through telecenters, multimedia, or Web. The intended information may be textual, oral or visual, or a combination of them, and the importance of relevant content development can be easily assessed by the fact that any Website or a community centre can draw interested groups only if information provided is useful to them, is passed to them in an interesting way, and is made user friendly. It includes:

e-Courses/online tutorialse-Resourcese-TutorialsTeaching/Learning PortalsInformation Portals e-DatabasesInstitutional Repositories

The objectives of the capacity building programmes

for agricultural scientists and teachers are outlined below.

To help the agricultural scientists and teachers to keep abreast of the new development in the field.

To make them fit and competent in the ever changing technology field.

To help them in improving their career prospects.

To help them in learning new ideas and concepts.

To help them to improve services.

To update professional knowledge.

Formal Education:

Formal Courses : SAUs and ICAR Institutions should undertake the responsibilities in offering formal courses in handling Information Technology.

Extension Courses : Summer Schools run by the Universities/Institutions should offer extension courses. They provide practical demonstration of different aspects of agriculture.

Refresher Courses : SAUs and ICAR Institutions should organize refresher courses to scientists and teachers:-

To brush up all and recall acquired knowledge.Increasing of work efficiency.

In-service Training : In-service training programmes should be organized to improve knowledge and to improve Job efficiency.

Informal Education Obtained Through:

Reading, writing and editing.

Attending lectures, professional meetings, conferences and workshops.