A-VIEW (Amrita Virtual Interactive e-Learning World) was developed by the e-Learning Research Lab at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham in 2004. In 2008, it was made available, through support of the Government of India, gratis to all educational institutions in the country.

A-View is currently deployed at over 350 universities and 600 colleges in India. It is an integral part of the NME-ICT (National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology).

This Amrita innovation was recently chosen for the Educational Excellence Award in the field of Educational Technology at the Indo-Global Educational Summit and Expo 2012 convened in Hyderabad.

The summit saw participation of representatives from more than 40 countries. It enjoyed support from the Ministry of Human Resources Development, Government of India and the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

Mr. Krishna Kumar, Marketing Manager and Mr. Kishore Guntha, Development Manager received the award on behalf of Amrita from the Honorable Judge of Andhra Pradesh High Court, Justice Shri Narasimha Reddy.

“We were honored for our effort in developing A-View that is today helping solve the problem of lack of experienced teachers in the higher education sector in India,” stated the duo.

Prof. Kamal Bijlani, Director, Amrita e-Learning Research Lab also shared his views.

“We first collaborated with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) and the Technology Information, Forecasting and Assessment Council (TIFAC), an autonomous organization functioning under the Department of Science and Technology, to promote e-learning using EDUSAT, an Indian satellite built for serving the educational sector. Later on, we understood that the internet is probably the best medium to connect to a large audience and custom-made A-View to suit the requirements of the digital world.”

With high resolution displays that can concurrently deliver video and presentation slides, or feature an interactive white board or provide access to most recent references, all at one click, A-View is being seen as a user-friendly e-learning platform. The application works on Windows, Linux and Macintosh and is also supported on Mobile Devices.

Today A-View is an integral part of the Talk to a Teacher project coordinated by IIT Bombay, wherein students at different locations all over India can video conference with teachers from different institutions. It is also enabling another key initiative of the same institution – the National Teacher Empowerment Program headed by Dr. Deepak Phatak, wherein teachers from over thousands of colleges across the nation are being simultaneously trained.

Alongside this, A-View is becoming the tool of choice for conducting remote classes, seminars and workshops by other universities and colleges in India, as well.

“Our goal is to connect the whole nation through A-View, thereby promoting higher education in India. We also hope that the same platform can be extended for use in schools, vocational training courses and for promoting e-governance at the panchayat level,” shared Prof. Bijlani.

In July 2011, A-View won the jury’s award for the best innovation in Open and Distance Learning under the Higher Education Category in the World Education Summit organized in New Delhi.

October 10, 2012
Amritapuri Campus

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