Leveraging technology to build collaborative learning environment in academic institutes

Today with advancement in Information Communication Technology (ICT) the way the education is being delivered is seeing a paradigm shift from boring classroom lectures to interactive applications such as 2-D and 3-D learning content, animations, live videos, response systems, interactive panels, education games, virtual laboratories and collaborative research (data gathering and analysis) etc. The new companies are emerging with more innovative solutions in the field of education and bringing out their innovative products to improve education delivery. The academic institutes which were once hesitant to use such technology are now looking forward to such innovations. They are adopting the new ways as they are realizing the vast benefits of using such methods and technology. The benefits are better comprehensibility, improved learning efficiency of students, and access to vast knowledge resources, geographical reach, quick feedback, accountability and quality research. This paper focuses on how an academic institute can leverage the latest technology and build a collaborative learning environment which can then be integrated with the national e-learning grid.