AIT’s considerable expertise in e-learning and distance education has attracted the interest Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development, who are now engaged in initial-stage discussions for a capacity building tie-up with AIT’s Internet Education and Research Laboratory (IntERLab). http://www.interlab.ait.ac.th
Sri Lanka’s Minister of Urban Development and Sacred Area Development, Dinesh Gunawardena originally suggested the idea of an initiative with AIT when he met with AIT President Professor Said Irandoust in May 2007. Subsequent efforts of AIT Golden Jubilee Fund Raising Campaign (GJFC) Director, Mr Sanjeev Jayasinghe, led to a recent AIT mission to Sri Lanka, which included a series of exploratory meetings and workshop in Colombo, from 17-21 September.
During the visit, Professor Kanchana Kanchanasut, Director IntERLab and Ms. Wit Hmone Tin Latt, Program Manager, IntERLab, discussed the possibility of the Ministry becoming a center for e-learning education; initially by training Ministry staff to certificate and diploma levels, and later offering e-learning services to other ministries in Sri Lanka, through an agreement with AIT IntERLab.
The two IntERLab experts also conducted a workshop on September 18th which was attended by over eighty officials from the Ministry. Throughout the visit, Ministry officials explained their needs for e-learning mode capabilities, Mr. Jayasinghe said, adding that the presentation from Prof. Kanchana was very well received.
One strategy proposed by the IntERLab experts called for the recruitment by the Ministry of a core group of IT professionals from the University of Moratuwa, where AIT has an established link, who would be sent to AIT IntERLab for an intensive training session lasting from two weeks to a month. Under this ‘train the trainer’ scheme, the recipients of AIT training would then return to Sri Lanka to set-up an e-learning laboratory at the Ministry, where they could apply what they learned and extend their knowledge to other staff members.
Ministry officials indicated they might be receptive to AIT’s suggestion to assist with additional types of academic training of interest to the Ministry, Mr. Jayasinghe said.
Different subjects could then be delivered from AIT via e-learning through IntERLab platforms. AIT faculty members delivering the e-lectures to Sri Lankan students would never have to leave the Bangkok campus.