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Education and Training in Earth Observation Technology and Applications - Indian Initiative
P.S. Roy
Dean, Indian Institute Remote Sensing, Dehradun
Email: dean@del2.bsnl.net.in
P.S. Roy
Dean, Indian Institute Remote Sensing, Dehradun
Email: dean@del2.bsnl.net.in
Introduction
Assessment of natural resources is an imperative for planning and development of the society. India with its vast natural resources and population to support our needs, very effective mapping, monitoring and management techniques. Effectiveness of the development lies in the success of integrating, technology, economics, resources and social needs. Increasing human intervention in natural system, environmental pollution, accelerating process of development beyond the carrying capacity and pollution rise have shown the warning signals in the form of climate and environmental change. There is a need for new partnership to resolve interlinked problem of environment, and development sustainability as guiding principles[1]. Time bound action plan would be required to forge sustainable development and environmental management with the involvement of educationists, technologists, scientific community, non-government sectors and industry.
Earth observation is the most spectacular peaceful use of space based endeavor. It has introduced new dimensions in the study and understanding of environment, earth's processes and in improving the quality of human life. The satellite remote sensing program, in the recent past, has had immediate social and economical impacts in natural resource management. The space technology in totality cover large canvas of benefits: global and remote area education, TV broadcast, education, weather forecasting, managing of land and water resources, protection of environment timely information on disasters, supporting abating and mitigating disasters. Thus addressing almost every aspect of human needs.
Remote Sensing -Technology and Applications
Remote sensing program is an important component in space science and technology. The operational applications are firmly established in the field of agriculture, forestry, range management, geology, water resources and infrastructure mapping in urban environment. Internal The technology has been directly linked to the socio-economic programs. The socio-economic programs like, wasteland reclamation for fuelwood and fodder, planning of developmental activities like building dams, highway irrigation canal, drinking water supply to remote villages, aquaculture site location, providing information on potential fish schools to fishermen are only a few examples of grass-root level applications that remote sensing can provide.
Geographic Information System (GIS) which allows to integrate spatial and non-spatial data has opened up applications for integrated resource analysis and developing decision support system. The technology has a great relevance in developing countries for various applications of natural resource management and monitoring.
The application driven approach adopted by the Indian Remote Sensing Program has enabled the optimum utilization of this technology to address national priority issues. To achieve this National Natural Resource Management System (NNRMS) - an integrated resource management system aimed at optimal utilization of country's natural resources by a systematic inventory of resources using remote sensing data in conjunction with conventional technique is evolved as an national initiative
Technology Transfer
India's space program is designed to provide answer to the grassroot needs. It has provided constant focus on the concept of passing on the technology to the users directly. Major thrust has been to build user infrastructure, demonstrate applications, designing management models, training, education and research to find appropriate solutions.
Effective utilization of any technology depends mainly on the trained manpower. To achieve effectiveness of user assimilation and institutionalization effective education and training programs are to be imbibed with the philosophy of "transfer of the state-of-art technology".
Concept of NNRMS
A concept conceived with the planning commission of India is National Natural Resource Management System (PC-NNRMS) is being coordinated by the Department of Space. Nine Standing Committees have been constituted under the umbrella of NNRMS in the field of Agriculture, Forestry, Geology, Oceanography, Soils & Landuse, Water Resources, Urban and Regional Planning and Cartography and Training with leading experts from various organizations in India as the members of the standing committee.
NNRMS promotes the training and manpower developed in the field of remote sensing applications to various natural resource management area. One of the Standing Committee deals with Technology promotion, education and Training (SC-T). The constitution of SC-T is to act as nodal committee among various units pertaining to education and training such as University Grant Commission (UGC), National Center for Education, Research and Training (NCERT) and Dept. of Space (DOS) in human resource development using remote sensing and GIS technology for various natural resources management. In addition to this technology transfer is also one of the prime objective of this committee. The key players in this process are National Remote Sensing Agency (NRSA), Space Applications Centre (SAC) and Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres (RRSSC's).
Standing Committee on Training
Under the Standing Committee on Training an Inter-departmental Committee for promotion of Remote Sensing in Education & Training has been set up. Need for improving facilities at College/Institutions and funding support for minimum facility for PC-based Image Processing system and data products for Training & Education of college students has been recommended. NNRMS sponsors specialized training programs for the benefit of university faculty, professionals working in States/Central Government agencies, etc. During 1998-99, 30 training programs/awareness workshops were conducted by various institutions covering different application areas. As many as 1200 persons were benefited by these courses. During 1999-2000 as many as 46 training programs were proposed by NNRMS and most of them have already been conducted. Lead institutions/training centres of the country offer training courses in different disciplines at different levels for ex.short term, mid term to long term courses. Mid and long term courses are benefited by working level group while short-term courses are for decision-makers.
Satellite data containing remote sensing images pertaining to the different themes are disseminated by National Remote Sensing Agency to promote remote sensing among the students. Remote Sensing Curriculum for PostGraduate Science and Graduate level Engineering subjects has been worked out and published as Curriculum Development Report by UGC and DOS and circulated to universities.
Remote Sensing has been introduced as part of Science/Engineering/ Agriculture Curriculum in about 125 Departments coming under 75 Indian Universities. Remote sensing has been introduced as part of NCERT Geography Books of Senior Secondary level and Science Book of Higher Secondary level. Remote Sensing has been introduced as part of 10th standard Geography, Physics book of many state government syllabuses. The UGC, AICTE and DST have funded several Universities and Engineering Institutions for remote sensing projects and establishment of remote sensing laboratory facilities. State Remote Sensing Application Centres apart from other training institutions also conduct training programs on need and request basis.
Future Application Thrust Areas
In order to consolidate and enhance the achievements that have been made by India, a dual mission strategy is planned. This would address the understanding global scale problems of climate change, environmental assessment (by considering applications in atmospheric and climate dynamics, atmospheric chemistry, geodesy, ocean etc.). The local scale problems of land and water resources management (by considering the applications for biodiversity assessment and its monitoring, forest cover and fire monitoring, operational farm management, crop inventory and yield assessments, landuse management, irrigation planning, water budgeting, coastal dynamics, minerals exploration, and disaster management).
The thrusts of the future remote sensing missions are:
- High accuracy resource management applications, where the emphasis is on multi crop studies for type mapping, vegetation species identification and utilities mapping.
- High accuracy terrain applications, where the emphasis will be on target identification, utilities mapping, and obtaining Digital Terrain Models of 2-5 meters height accuracy and approximately 1:10,000-1:4,000 scales of mapping.
- Global change applications, specifically for atmospheric constituents study, pollution study, climate applications and monitoring the ozone and greenhouse effects.
- All weather applications, with multi frequency and multi polarization microwave payloads, both Synthetic Aperture Radar and other Passive instruments. These data sets could also be useful for soil moisture estimation applications and oceanographic studies.
- OCEANSAT-1 , launched in May, 1999, has payloads specifically tailored for the measurement of physical and biological oceanography parameters. An Ocean Colour Monitor (OCM) with 8 narrow spectral bands and a Multi-frequency Scanning Microwave Radiometer (MSMR) operating in 4 frequencies will provide valuable ocean-surface related observations capability.
- CARTOSAT-1 , will have a cutting-edge technology in terms of sensor systems and will provide state-of-art capabilities for cartographic applications. The satellite will have only a PAN camera with 2.5 m resolution and 30 km swath and Fore-Aft stereo capability. The 2.5 m resolution data will cater to the specific needs of cartography and terrain modeling applications. This satellite will provide cadastral level information upto 1:5,000 scale for thematic applications and will be useful for making 2-5m contour maps. The Cartosat-1 is slated for launch in the near future using PSLV-C3.
- RESOURCESAT-1 , will be that state-of-art satellite mainly for resources applications and will have a 3-band multi-spectral LISS-4 camera with a spatial resolution better than 6m and a swath of around 25 km with across - track steerability for selected area monitoring. An improved version of LISS-III, with 4 bands (green, red, near-IR and SWIR), all at 23 meters resolution and 140 km swath will also provide the much essential continuity to LISS-III. These payloads will provide enhanced data for vegetation applications and will allow multiple crop discrimination, species level discrimination and so on. Together with an advanced wide-field sensor, WiFS with ~ 70 m resolution and ~ 800 km swath, the payloads will aid greatly for crop and vegetation applications and integrated land and water applications. The data will also be useful for high accuracy resources management applications, where the emphasis is on multi crop studies for type mapping, vegetation species identification and utilities mapping. The Resourcesat-1 is slated for launch by PSLV towards the end of 2000.
- CLIMATSAT/OCEANSAT-2 , In order to meet the information requirements to study the Planet Earth as an integrated system, satellite missions are planned which would enable global observations of climate, ocean and the atmosphere, particularly covering the tropical region, where sufficient data sets are not available. The instruments like radiometers, sounders, spectrometers etc. for studying the land, ocean and atmospheric interactions are being planned for these missions. It is expected that the payload for these mix, thus arrived at, will also address specific applications related to oceanography, atmospheric sciences and climate /meteorological studies.
Real time Disaster Management System (DMS), integrating space technology applications with components for monitoring early-warning, damage simulation and prevention, etc. are to be developed. The EO capabilities will be merged with the communication capabilities so that information on disasters can reach the end-user in an optimal manner.
National (Natural) Resources Information system (NRIS) - as a key Decision Support system for planning and decision making at different levels i.e. - Central, Statel, District & Taluk/Panchayat will provide systematic databases of remote sensing, thematic maps and non-spatial developmental data - all organised around a GIS core. These databases will have customized application models for different management issues, decision support that provides information to decision-makers. Establishing a network for RS data access/browse and transfer and also in support of NRIS, and Disaster Management System is another objective.
Training and Education Needs in India
Effective utilization of any technology depends mainly on the trained manpower. Training is aimed at transferring the tested methodology and exposing to the user department to the present state art and to potential applications. Education is however, is intended for future technology developers, refining research methodology and knowledge. The T&E should provide opportunity to develop specific skills to address the following issues:
- Policy makers, decision-makers and administrators should be able to assess the political, social, economical and environmental implications of space science and technology.
- Scientist and engineers should be capable of developing and adopting the technology by designing application systems.
- Educators and trainees should be capable to transfer the knowledge at various levels in different areas of specialization.
India has focussed multipronged approach to address the training, educational and research needs. Primary emphasis has been to
- Develop specialised institutions with state of art technology
- Strengthen user department to meet their trained manpower
- Involve university system to integrate EO component in the relevant subjects.
- Address awareness needs through formal and informal media.
- Support specialised 'in-house' research and provide support to the university and specialist groups.
- Define curriculum and their revision
- Differentiation in education and training
- Design specific programs for different levels/target groups for T&E
- Address national, regional and global issues
- Exchange of experts and technical visits
- Use of electronic media and computer based modules.
An assessment indicates that there is need of large training manpower on mapping, geoinformatics and spatial database generation. The estimated trained manpower number annually is around ~1300. More that 50% may need short duration competence programs in the above areas.
Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (National Remote Sensing Agency) is premier institution entrusted with the task of EO education and training. Besides IIRS there are about ten institutions who impart training in RS-technology and application (Table 1.)
Technology Transfer of Remote Sensing and GIS to.....
| Name of Organisation | Level | Duration |
Target Group |
| Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (National Remote Sensing Agency), Dehradun |
|
45
weeks 13-18 weeks 2-8 weeks 1 week |
Professionals Researchers Resource Scientist Managers Decision makers |
| National Remote Sensing Agency, Hyderabad |
|
5 days 8/12 weeks |
Decision Makers Middle level managers |
| Space Application Center, Ahmedabad | Short term course RS & GIS ( on demand ) | Few weeks | Discipline scientists/engineers |
| Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres, Kharagpur, Nagpur, Dehradun, Jodhpur, Bangalore | Short term course RS & GIS ( on demand ) | 2/4 weeks | Technologists/ discipline scientists/ engineers |
| Centre of studies in Resources Engineering, IIT, Mumbai |
Long term course RS & GIS Appraisal |
7 months 1 week |
Working level scientists/ Engineers Decision makers/ |
| Institute of Remote Sensing, Chennai | Short term course RS & GIS on user demand | Few weeks | Planners & Decision makers Professional Scientists / Engineers |
| Geological Survey of India Training Institute | RS Course for Geologists | 12 weeks |
Geologists |
| IIT, Kanpur | RS & GIS | Few weeks | Engineers/Scientists |
| NBSS & LUP, Nagpur | Remote Sensing for Soil Survey & Mapping |
18 weeks 3-4 weeks |
Soil Scientists |
| Survey Training Institute, Hyderabad |
Geodesy Photogrammetry Cartography Digital Mapping GPS |
Few weeks to 2 years | Surveyors/ Engineers |
To meet the supply/demand gap in the manpower requirement in the field of remote sensing and GIS, it is necessary to intensify the existing training activities. Such efforts are already put in at
- Survey of India, Hyderabad.
- Geological Survey of India, Hyderabad.
- Forest Survey of India, Dehradun.
- Centre of Studies in Resource Engineering, (CSRE), Mumbai
- Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai
- National Bureau of Soil Survey and Landuse Planning, Nagpur.
- Augmentation of facilities (infrastructure) in existing remote sensing institutions can only enable the increase in present output capacity.
- State remote sensing centres should also be equipped to offer training programs on regular basis.
- Private institutions should come forward to offer training programs. Initially, Dept. of Space institutions can help such entrepreneurs technically.
The officer trainees who are undergoing training will be given preference to undertake the pilot project in the area of interest for this purpose the satellite data support is being provided to wherever possible. By this the trainees getting training and carrying out the pilot project work in the real environment.
- Standardization of course curriculum and syllabus
- Course duration vis-à-vis level of target groups
- DecisionMakers < 5 days
- Supervisory/managers < 4 months
- Working level > 6 months< /li>< /li>< /li>< /li>< /li>
- Continuous upgradation of faculty and infrastructure.
- Periodic review of training programs, course curriculum and user needs.
- Since the technology is developing, the
current trend is for specialized technology based training
programs. Accordingly there is need to reorient the training
courses:
General 
SpecificExamples Geology
Forestry
OceanographyOil exploration, mineral exploration, groundwater Targeting.
Working plan preparation, growing stock estimation, environmental impact assessment, biodiversity inventory.
Sea surface temperature retrieval, ocean color/productivity mapping, marine pollution.
- Digital Photogrammetry and Terrain Analysis
- SAR Interferometry & Terrain analysis
- Orthoimaging and Mapping
- Geographical Information system
- Global positioning system
- Microwave remote sensing
- GIS and spatial modeling
- Special Application oriented short courses.
- Digital Cartography
The benefits and spin-offs of EO training and education need to be part of the education curriculum throughout (primary to higher level).
Recent years have seen involvement of many universities level offering master of science/technology in the field of satellite remote sensing (other than Dept. of Space) are shown in Table 2.
|
Name of the Organisation |
Course Title | Target Group |
|
Anna
University, Chennai
Institute of Remote Sensing, Anna University, Chennai |
B.Tech .(Geomatics) M.Tech. (RS) |
Civil Engineers Multidisciplinary |
| Andhra University, Visakhapatnam | M.Tech. (RS) | Multidisciplinary |
| Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh | M.Phil. | Multidisciplinary |
| B.M. Birla Science & Technology Centre, Jaipur | M.Tech. (RS) | Multidisciplinary |
| Birla Institute of Technology, Ranchi | M.Tech (RS) | Multidisciplinary |
| Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay |
|
Civil Engineers Electronic & Computer Science |
| IIT, Kanpur | M.Tech. | Civil Engineers |
| Indian School of Mines, Dhanbad | M.Tech. | PG in Geoscience |
| Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi | M.A/M.Sc. | B.A/B.Sc. in geography |
| J.N.T.U., Hyderabad. | M.Tech. | Multidisciplinary |
| Roorkee University, Roorkee | M.E. (RS & Photogrammetry Eng.) | Civil engineers |
| Regional Engineering College, Warangal | M.Tech. | RS & GIS |
| Bharatidasan University, Trichunapalli | M.Tech. | Geoscience |
| Indian Agriculture Research Institute, New Delhi | Paper | Agriculture, Environmental Science |
| Indian Statististical Institute, Calcutta | Paper | Image processing |
| Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (National Remote Sensing Agency), Dehradun |
M.Sc. M.Tech. (Proposed) |
Geoinformatics RS&GIS Applications |
In the recent years annual output capacity in remote sensing has gone upto 1079 in different field of technology and application.
A recent assessment of requirement of manpower development in various natural resources area is shown in Fig. 2.
Remote Sensing curriculum for Post Graduate and Graduate level engineering subjects has been worked out and published as curriculum development report by UGC and DOS and circulated to Universities. Remote sensing has been introduced as part of the NCERT geography books of Sr. Secondary level and science book of higher secondary level. At elementary level appraisals are through supplementary reading and audio-visual aids. As far as teaching material is concerned a book on "reading to learn" is being developed with the help of Dept. of Science and Technology, NCERT.
Satellite Data Availability
During the post graduate diploma course, the participants are given preference to carryout the project work in their area of interest only. NRSA data Centre is providing satellite data products on subsidized rates for students.
Target Group
It is important not only to focus on the special training programs, but also to identify the new target group for remote sensing and education.
The benefits of satellite remote sensing technology for mankind for rural development, there is a need for identifying the new target groups such as Indian Administrative Service officers. The results of Integrated Mission for Sustainable Development with high-resolution data like, IRS-1C/1D and Cartosat (Future) will provide total solution database for rural development. The proposed training course will encompass total applications of space technology like, satellite remote sensing, satellite communication, satellite meteorology, and disaster management.
- DOS endeavor to build remote sensing application entrepreneurs outside the government sector has already shown promising results.
- Several NGO's involved in watershed management and rural development, environmental appraisal and analysis have started using remote sensing technology.
Future Direction
The future direction of EO Education is
- Distributed Education
- Creation of Virtual Campus
- Linkages within academic institutions
- Increased outreach
Indian Institute of Remote Sensing
Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) has been a premier institution under National Remote Sensing Agency, Department of Space in the country providing professional training and education in the field of remote sensing and GIS technology and applications in various natural resources areas. Attempt has been made to integrate education and training in remote sensing technology and applications in India for disseminating the benefits to the common masses and transferring the technology to the user community for harnessing the application.
The effort in this direction has culminated in establishment of Indian Photo- interpretation Institute (IPI) in 1966 with the collaboration of International Training Center (ITC), Netherlands. With the advent of satellite remote sensing, the IPI has been renamed to Indian Institute of Remote Sensing.
The prime objectives of IIRS are
- Technology transfer among the user community.
- Education at PostGraduate level in Remote Sensing and GIS applications of Natural Resources Management.
- Promote research in remote sensing and GIS applications.
- Value added services
Fig 3 Approach for Training inservice personnel
Postgraduate courses that are offered at IIRS are in the following natural resources.
- Agriculture & Soils
- Eco-development
- Environmental Geology and Natural Hazard Surveys
- Forestry & Ecology
- Geology, Geomorphology and Hydrogeology
- Urban and Regional Planning
- Water Resources
- Watershed Management
Fig. 4 Course Structure
In addition to this course curriculum is updated/required every 5 years at IIRS by constitution of several committees consisting of experts of various natural resources, academicians and user departments. Basically all the courses are modular in structure as shown in Fig. Each topic is covered in 40% of duration with theory lectures and 60% of duration with tutorials/practicals. The tutorial and practical exercises are made as self-learning modules.
The turnout of the trainees in various courses at IIRS has been shown in Fig. 5
Fig. 5 Total turnout at IIRS in various programs
Recent trends of student distribution in various courses at IIRS is shown as Fig 6.
International Linkages:
IIRS-ITC Indian Photinterpretation institute (renamed as Indian Institute of Remote Sensing) was established with technical assistance of International Institute for Aerospace Survey and Earth Science (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands, as a collborative program between two governments. Besides establishment the collaboration has focussed on curriculum development, infrastructure building, training of trainers and sharing of experiences and education materials. During the various phases of collaboration main focus has been integrated resource management, human settlement analysis and Geoinformatics.
In India, the developments of natural resources is more and more confronted with limiting factors that prevent a sustainable development, especially due to occurrence of natural disasters, such as floods, drought and desertification. More and more efforts have to be mobilized to mitigate the effects of natural disasters, and an increasing need exits in capacity building and training in the field of Geoinformatics for Natural Environmental Assessment and Disaster Management.
To augment this, the present collaboration between ITC and other Dutch institutions with IIRS will focus on minimizing environmental degradation and disaster generated sufferings using technology of Geoinformatics. The project will focus on capacity building, development of course curricula, applications by developing case studies and establishing infrastructure. The interface will be strengthened through networking, sharing experience and probing technology know how.
IIRS-GDTA (France) Under Indo-French collaboration an understanding has been arrived with ISRO to collaborate in the field of training and education. A memorandum of understanding has been signed on May, 1999 between IIRS and GDTA (France) for mutual cooperation training, education and research in Remote Sensing and GIS applications to Natural Resources Management. To start with, the cooperation focuses in following areas:
- Exchange of post-graduate diploma (IIRS) and CETEL (GDTA) students for project assignment
- Faculty exchange for consultation on curriculum
- Sharing of experience in the specialized areas.
IIRS is actively involved with International Tropical Timber Organization (ITTO) and Japan Overseas Forest Consultants Association (JOFCA) project for the formulation, development of Forest Canopy Density Mapping using semi-expert system and dissemination. It is a collaborative effort with South East Asian countries to develop technique for Forest Canopy Density Stratification using optical and microwave data.
IIRS-JRC/SAI, Ispra (Italy)
IIRS is participating in TREE-II project of European commission, Joint Research Center (JRC)-Space Application Institute (SAI), Ispra for mapping and monitoring of forest cover in North East India and Northern Myanmar using satellite remote sensing data.
Emergence of CSSTE-AP
In the response to the UN General Assembly (45/72 of 11th December, 1990) endorsing he recommendations of UNISPACE-82, the United Nations office for Outer Space Affairs (UN-OOSA) prepared a project document (A/AC 105/534) emphasizing the establishing of Centres for Space Science & Technology Education in developing countries. The first of such centres, names as Cente for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and Pacific (CSSTE-AP) was established in India in November, 1995. Dept. of Space, Government of India has made available appropriate facility and expertise to the centre through Indian Institute of Remote Sensing (IIRS) for the post graduate course on Remote Sensing and GIS. The center is supported by Space Application Centre (ISRO) for Satellite Communication and Satellite Meteorology and Physical Research Laboratory for Space Science programmes. The center is an educational and research institution that is capable of high attainments in the development and transmission of the knowledge in the field of Space Technology and Applications.
Role of CSSTE-AP
The centre aspires to grow into a nodal organization in the region responsible for comprehensive capacity building. Guiding principles of the centre are as follows.
- Developing indigenous capacity at the local level
- Provision of technical advisory services in the region.
- Provision of information in Space Science Technology
- Developing long term fellowship programs
- Organization of technology transfer programs and
- Promotion of greater co-operation in space science and technology between developed and amongst developing countries.
 |
New Approach in Education and Training
Computer Assisted Instruction (CAI)
Computer assisted instruction is relatively a recent method and this novel method has been advocated by leading programmers for efficient learning in the field of education. Systematic use of CAI began appearing in late 1960s in the areas of psychology, computer sciences and engineering. Many researchers felt that CAI appeared to be more effective with low ability students than with the high ability students. CAI is a more suitable for poor and less intelligent learner. This is the best under self-learning method. CAI will provide more information and explanation [3]
Multimedia
Multimedia is the new advancement in computer science (multimedia distributed computing) enabling multifaceted learning process using audio-visual tools in computerized environment. It required bringing in radical changes in the present method of teaching. Virtual reality is one the multimedia technologies, which allows the user to go beyond the computer, screen and enter in three dimensional computer generated world. Using certain tools such as, head-mounted computer display and hand held input device, and the user feels immersed in and interact with this virtual reality world. Computer aided virtual reality can allow the implementation in the education centre of the "learning by doing" model of learning. CD ROM course materials are available to achieve this. The development of multimedia is an involved process and more and more people are getting involved in developing such learning modules.
Internet
Internet has opened up new education culture by sharing 'libraries' located anywhere in the world through worldwide web network through computer. It has revolutionized learning process and enabled us to reach out. Many countries have changed their traditional net working system from audio teleconferencing based on Internet. Internet has many unique advantages viz., no time constraint, variety of courses, interactive, wealth of information, less bandwidth and thematic case studies.
In the Indian context, education has yet another major dimension of multiple languages. Satellite communication using computer aided instructions will provide the countrywide class rooms (wired classrooms). Enough websites and softwares in the various web languages should be available to enable teaching through Internet, which is today confined only to the English speaking few. Such education and training can also help NGOs, farmers, co-operatives etc., for the use of remote sensing data for field applications.
Distributed Education
Distance education, distributed learning, and distributed education are terms that refer to a type of teaching and learning where the teacher, course content, and the learners are not necessarily in the same physical space or present at the same time. Although attempts have been made to use different terms (distributed Vs distance) for certain modes of instruction, at this time, there is not a common understanding or agreement among educators and scholars for a common definition. Hence, it is important to note that distributed education does not necessarily refer to an educational courseware or an educational program that is exclusively on-line but it is a hybrid setting where a minimum number of meetings might be necessary to complete some of the curriculum requirements while the remaining are distributed via the Internet. Some of the efforts had been performed by ESRI (Environment System Research Institute) to conduct several training programs on remote sensing and GIS through distributed education which was found to be beneficial to the students
Virtual Class Room
Today, the Internet can provide a cost effective, reliable and virtual communication system through existing and emerging global networks. Now educational institutions are using web to support teaching and training ant to offer education to distanced students. There are different missions and courses which are running with virtual learning concepts like VISIT (Virtual Institute for Satellite Integration Training), whose primary mission is to accelerate the transfer of research results based on atmospheric remote sensing data into NWS operations. This transfer is accomplished through education of NWS forecasters on the latest techniques to integrate remote sensing data, especially from satellite and radar. The education approach is based primarily on the use of distance education techniques (WEB-based, teletraining, computer-based modules) that rely on an expert being available at the local forecast offices (the Science Operations officer (SOO) and a satellite/radar focal point. The major advantage of the virtual training mission is that they conduct the training in a cost-effective manner, which carefully monitors all resources and also reduction in available human resources, and in travel.
References:
- U.R. Rao, Space Technology for Sustainable Development (Tata McGraw-Hill Publishers, 1996)
- B.L. Deekshatulu and P.S. Roy, Human Resources Development in Space Technology Applications, Space Forum, Vol.5, pp.239-257.
- Ken Eason, Information Technology and Organizational Change (Taylor & Francis Publishers, 1988).