Abstract:

This paper is an in-depth case study of author’s work during during 2001-2012 in two settings including the largest private Multi campus/ Multi disciplinary university in India, and an Art& Design school. The work explored encompasses areas of e-learning and Knowledge Management, and building sustainable ICT enabled learning systems using Open Source software. The paper is structured at two levels.

First level deals with the work from 2001-2009 exploring in detail the cultural, technological and academic settings of the University in context. I further explore the composition and extent of resources necessary to build an intranet digital learning repository and e-learning environment, how it was integrated to existing learning/ teaching/ dissemination systems and later scaled to cutting edge ICT enabled learning fostering a blended learning environment which is now networked via satellite across its four campuses. This work is now recommended by Government of India’s University Grants Commission , National Accreditation and Assessment Committee and Ministry of IT as a model repository that could be replicated by other Universities.

The second level deals with the author’s experience through 2009-2012 in building a learning resource base and e-learning environment in a top Indian Art&Design school . This intranet platform is called “Cantadora” . This level explores the nuances of information, organization and dissemination in similar settings and interesting emergence of activities on the science and technology front as well by Art and Design students. These students won awards upon entering into an international science competitions at MIT and Harvard (USA). It also looks into ways that could foster interdisciplinary approaches in Art and Design practices.

By explaining in depth and detail the workings of a system that worked and is still working well, the aim of the paper is to open up new pathways and collaborative activities towards building sustainable-scalable ICT enabled learning environments .

Keywords:

e-learning, knowledge management, ICT enabled education, information management, information architecture.