Taipei’s e-learning project to benefit all students in Taiwan

Taipei Mayor Ma Ying-jeou debuted the courses at 9 a.m., available at http://www.edunet.taipei.gov.tw or http://home.elearn.hinet.net, for students forced to stay at home to help stem the spread of severe acute respiratory syndrome that has taken over 40 lives throughout Taiwan and its offshore islands.

Students under quarantine in all other cities and counties outside Taipei may also take advantage of the distant learning courses prepared by a team of about 300 teachers and officials at the Education Bureau of the Taipei City Government.

The cyber learning program, dubbed “the e-Virtual Learning Network,” offers courses to students from elementary schools to junior high and senior high schools.

Although busily tied up by the uphill battle to contain the SARS outbreak, Mayor Ma and his team at the Taipei City Government decided to move up the timetable for the distant learning project.

The major mission at the current stage is to enable the students not to be left behind in their studies because they cannot go to school becuase of SARS.

The courses start from 9 a.m. to 405 p.m. with three classes each in the morning and afternoon sessions from Monday to Friday. There is a break from 1100 a.m. to 2 p.m.

The state-run Chunghwa Telecom Co. and the privately run information service provider (ISP) Seednet will exempt charges for using its learning platform and broadband network for a period of four months. All users need to pay just the connecting fee for access to the ADSL system.

To support the distant learning project, Taiwan Cellular Corp. will give free communications for one million brief messages to allow interactions between students and their teachers in the absence of normal contact at classrooms.

Home-bound junior high students and primary school pupils in Taipei have the extra advantage of using the television to enhance their studies.

The city government’s own “Public Interest Channel” (channel 77) and 10 cable TV operations in various districts of the city will offer elementary courses.

Beginning on next Monday, May 26, Microsoft Taiwan, Acer Inc., and several other high-tech firms will put online courses catering to third-year junior high schools to help them do review work and prepare for the upcoming general scholastic test set for June 21.

The contents of the e-learning project will be changed from academic courses to recreational programs catering to students in July when schools begin during the summer vacation.

Some 6,000 students islandwide, including college-level students, are currently staying at home for quarantine due to SARS or because their families are required to stay home for compulsory quarantine, according to officials at the Ministry of Education (MOE).

Some schools and institutes have taken “preventive recesses” due to SARS, affecting some 18,000 other students who are also required to learn at home,

The officials expressed hope that all governments in other cities and counties may take the same strategy of soliciting cooperation with cable TV systems in their areas to help students study at home.

Cable TV will be most suitable for the auxiliary courses since households outside Taipei still lag in the availability of PCs and access to the Internet, an MOE official said.

The Ministry of Economic Affairs is taking an initiation to alleviate the SARS impact, which has caused a steep drop in sales at department stores and other retailing outlets.

Detecting the strong surge in electronic shopping, the ministry is seeking funds from the Executive Yuan (Cabinet) to accelerate the development of e-commerce by companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises.

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