Photo: IT4D

The fourth International Conference on Information Technology for Development (IT4D), organized by Deerwalk Institute of Technology was a three-day event that was successfully held from 29th July-31st July  2017.  With the theme of e-learning for development, many researchers, professionals, academicians and development workers associated with e-learning attended the event. They shared their knowledge about how e-learning has been and can be beneficial to hone the way of teaching and learning that can eventually aid in development. The first day of the conference was held at Sagarmatha Hall, Deerwalk Institute of Technology on 29th July. The event officially started by an opening speech by Mr. Hitesh Karki, the Chief Academic Officer of DWIT, who warmly welcomed all the people. The event proceeded with three presentation sessions followed by a workshop on research writing. The speakers mostly students, studying their bachelors and masters emphasized that e-learning is one of the flourishing subjects for research and development and has remarkable scopes in the tech-inclined future generation. They showcased their subjects’ significance via their paper presentations which indicated that e-learning has given way to noticeable changes currently and are expected to deliver more commendable contributions in the days to come. One of the inspiring speakers was Ms. Rejina Giri as she was the youngest speaker who is currently studying in her second semester. The first day concluded with the workshop on research writing which was conducted by Dr. Gokul Bhandari and Dr. Devinder Thapa. The second day of the conference was held at Annapurna Hotel, Durbarmarg on 30th July. The event began with an opening speech by Dr. Lekhnath Sharma, the vice chancellor of Nepal Open University which was followed by a keynote speech by Dr. Sanduk Ruit and an opening session concluding speech by Dr. Rudra Pandey. The event was divided into three presentation sessions and a panelists' discussion. The speakers on this day were mostly researchers and professionals who expounded the audience with brief details and knowledge about how e-learning can benefit the mass to promote good quality education. As as example of e-learning, one of the flipped classes videos produced by Digital Media Team of DWIT which is now used in Jumla district, was presented in the conference as well. Ms. Ruby Shrestha in her senior year from DWIT also presented a stunning presentation on Blended Learning in DWIT which was one of the best presentations in the whole event which left the audience in awe. All in all the two days of the conference made the audience aware of the vast scope of e-learning in the development process and effective education is possible with the blend of technology in this technically developing era.