MIT International Symposium to Highlight Best Practices in E-Learning, Explore Potential Social and Economic Impact on Developing Nations.

CAMBRIDGE, Mass. -- The MIT Learning International Networks Consortium (LINC) will host a conference on October 27 - 28, 2005 to present best practices and to explore the global activities of e-learning in developing countries. The theme of the 3rd Annual LINC Symposium is "Impacting Economic Development through E-Learning," and will take place on the MIT campus.

Who: MIT Learning International Networks Consortium (LINC)

Where: MIT Campus, Cambridge, MA, US

When: Thursday, October 27 and Friday, October 28, 2005

Register: Those interested in attending can learn more and register online at http://linc.mit.edu

Educational leaders from more than 14 countries, including China, Egypt, Ethiopia, Germany, Israel, Jordan, Kenya, Korea, Laos, Mexico, Pakistan, Spain, United Arab Emirates and Venezuela, will join representatives from MIT, Stanford, Cornell and other U.S. universities. The Carnegie Corporation of New York will also be represented.

Professor Richard Larson, director of the new Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals (CESF) in MIT's Engineering Systems Division (ESD), founded LINC in 2001 to help support the educational needs, through e-learning and emerging technologies, of the growing population of youths in developing countries.

The symposium will feature representatives from international open and virtual learning communities. Discussions will focus on how the experiences and assets within these new e-learning communities can be sustained and strengthened, and how access to educational resources can be expanded.

Leaders from African Virtual University, The Open University of Israel, Virtual Universidad of Monterrey Tech in Mexico, Pakistan Virtual University, and The Arab Open University, among others, will participate in the international conference.

Members of the MIT community will lead discussions on such topics as "The Effects of E-Learning on Rural Communities: Case Studies in China and Mexico," moderated by Larson; "I-Labs: Performing Laboratory Experiments Across Continents," presented by Jesus del Alamo, professor of electrical engineering, and Steven Lerman, director of the Center for Educational Computing Initiatives (CECI); and "The Status of OCW: Special Emphasis on Developing Countries", presented by Anne Margulies, executive director of MIT OpenCourseWare.

In addition, Dr. Honorio Silva of Pfizer, Inc. and Dr. Robert H. Rubin of MIT-Harvard's Health, Sciences and Technology program will jointly discuss the topic, "Use of e-Learning for Health Care Education in Developing Countries". Pfizer, Inc. is a corporate sponsor of the 2005 LINC event.

About MIT LINC

LINC, a MIT-managed project, began in 2001. The purpose of LINC is to leverage multimedia technologies such as the Internet, video, and radio to help facilitate world-class tertiary education. In a global economy that increasingly rewards those with skills honed for the 'knowledge industries', countries will be left behind unless current and future generations receive quality higher-level education. Investment in such an effort is required not only for social fairness and justice but also for world peace.