Hassle-free Classroom

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April 9, 2013

Mohammed Ghouse, Regional Sales Manager (South & Western Asia), Luidia

New innovations
Luidia Inc has launched a new Wireless Plug n Play eBeam Edge Wireless, which allows to place a computer up to 50 meters from an interactive space. There are no USB cords to run or hide along the wall. Just plug in the eBeam power adapter to a nearby wall socket and connect the wireless adapter to an available USB port on PC.

Teachers training
We offer direct training through online webinars for our users. We also conduct separate training for education and business users. Apart from these, there are online tutorials and videos available for them. School Management can also take steps to encourage the faculties such as conducting tests and offering rewards, etc.

Integration of tablets
Tablets are becoming an integral part of interactive classrooms. We have found a way to integrate the tablets (iPad, iPhone or Android) with a powerful tool for classroom collaboration through our portal.

Bid Adieu to Chalk and Talk System

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April 9, 2013

Principal: Rita Kaul
Website: www.themillenniumschools.com

The Millennium School Noida

The Millennium School Noida blends the technology of the west and the values of the east. Bidding adieu to the chalk and talk system and welcoming the new trends in the teaching-learning process, it has made earning interesting, innovative and involving too.

ICT in the school

All the Millennium schools across India have compulsory integration of technology. The effective communication process brought in by this integration has benefited teachers and students equally. The dynamic lesson plans have made the pupils responsible for their learning and at the same time it has resulted into independent progress and development of each and every student.
There is a need to equip children to face the challenges and emerge as winners in every sphere. The most effective tool is the innovative teaching pedagogy that involves the usage of technology in the classrooms and making it accessible to the students in the most effective way.
The interactive smart boards are the USP of our Millennium Learning System and these have made the teaching learning process extremely effective in clearing difficult and abstract concepts. The smart class modules are so interesting and it caters to total involvement of the learners. The students are actively involved in the classroom activities that take into consideration their learning styles as well as their overall development. Superficial learning rarely happens in a classroom where the entire process involves interaction.

Project based learning

The Class Mate Personal Computers (CPMC) that are used by the students of class III upwards enable the learners to connect to the world and their peer group globally so that they can expand their learning beyond the classroom and class boards. International projects are taken up by the students and through this, innovative and creative thoughts are shared with their peer group globally.
Project based learning paves the way for the students to be tech savvy and move along effortlessly in the evolving world of education.

Addressing different needs

We also believe that technology can play an important role in creating an effective and adaptable learning environment for teaching pupils with special educational needs and creating inclusive class rooms. In the school, inclusion of IT has stimulated much interest amongst differently-abled children and they have shown remarkable improvement in getting their concepts cleared at various mental ages and stages.
Smartclass is also used as an ICT tool to reach out to the differentlyabled learners by making learning effective and interesting. The autistic and dyslexic children who resist pen and paper generally love to work with their CMPC’s and children with attention deficit syndrome pay attention in a Smart Class.
It has been our belief that the students have a positive attitude towards learning new concepts and their learning potential increases day by day.

Restructure curriculum according to the industry needs

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April 9, 2013

Prof Prasant Kumar Sahoo provides his views on the educational initiatives being undertaken by the Utkal University. In conversation with Nayana Singh

What is your vision for Utkal University?
The Utkal University, established in the year 1943, is the 17th oldest University in India. My basic purpose is to ensure that the University is providing education of good quality. There has to be perfect discipline among the teachers, students and the employees.

According to you what are the core strengths of the University?
The University is home to 27 regular departments and 23 self-financed programmes. The campus is spread across 400 acres of land. We also have 357 affiliated colleges under Utkal University. At present the University has 27 Post-Graduate teaching and research departments located within the campus and three constituent Institutions, viz Directorate of Distance and Continuing Education, University Law College at Vani Vihar and M S Law College at Cuttack. Besides the regular courses, 26 sponsored courses are offered under the direct academic control of the P.G. Council of the University.
When we compare Odisha with other states in the country, it is still lagging behind some of the other states like Maharashtra and Karnataka in the matter of investments. When it comes to education how do the students in Odisha compare with their counterparts in other states.
Our students are not only competing in the national level, they are also competing in the international level. Many bright students from Odisha are doing well in JNU and Delhi University. Students are also doing well in IITs and IIMs.

Are you using ICT for making the systems for education at the Utkal University more effective?
Application of ICT is must. Otherwise you will be outdated and cannot compete with national and international level. Therefore, we are taking steps to include ICT in every sphere of our operations. Very shortly we are going to introduce choice-based study system as per the guidelines of UGC in both postgraduate departments and affiliated colleges. This will lead to an enhancement of the quality of education at the University. As we want to maintain ethical practices and transparency in every sphere, we are promoting the usage of ICT.

How are you ensuring that syllabus is updated every year?
We have been taking steps for restructuring our curriculum. As a part of that we have introduced choice-based credit system and therefore, we have organised two seminars. In one seminar, all the teachers came and restructured the curriculum as per the needs of the industry and nation and another two-day seminar for principals of 357 colleges. Therefore, we have taken steps for restructuring and designing of the curriculum. On February 20, we are going to pass it in the Academic Council. Once it is passed, we will introduce it in 2013.

How do you ensure that the students that come out of the University are well groomed to adjust to the industry needs?
It has to be first found out what is the national and global need and accordingly the curriculum will be shaped. And I always say that the curriculum should be always restructured according to the need of the state, industry and country.

Are you facing any challenges in your functioning and do you need more support from the government?
Definitely, we need support from the government. Now we have more than 100 faculty posts lying vacant and we need government approval to fill up the post. As it is a state university, financed by the state government, therefore, in any sphere, be it finance or academics, we need government support.

ICT Brings Entire World into the Classroom

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April 9, 2013

The Cathedral Vidya School, Lonavala

Principal: Meera Sain
Website: www.cathedral-lonavala.org
Number of Students: 250
Number of faculty and staff: 36

ICT in the classroom
Interactive Whiteboard: We are using smartboards in most of the classrooms. Our junior classes use the smart boards most. Students like to perform activities on these boards, as they are touch sensitive.

Interactive Projector: Projector plays a very important role, especially in language classes. Speakers and projectors are used to enhance listening skills, which are very important in the study of any foreign language. Science teachers in the senior classes use projectors and a normal screen to simulate with realistic examples.

Tajvir Singh,
IB coordinator and Head IT department highlights the importance of ICT in the school

The benefits of IT tools and their integration with teaching and learning helps in managing time well for students. The use of such tools helps students with critical thinking, and to balance their studies”

Laptop: All senior students and teachers are given individual laptops to use in the classroom. Students can use their laptops during free classes and prep time, which helps them to utilise their time to increase their productivity.

Smart Networking (Wi-Fi): Wi-Fi is the heart of school, as far as Internet usage is concerned. Students use the Internet for research, viewing simulations, checking the latest news and updates, updating their laptops, preparing presentations, and creating or modifying videos, etc,
Tools for teachers: We have Maths tools for Maths teachers, Vernier software for science teachers, blogs for all teachers. The school has web portal for all students and teachers, and ManageBac, which is an online platform to manage assessment and deadlines. The school has ICT solutions from HCL, Harcourt and Schand, Edulearn.

Objective of deploying these ICT tools
We being an IB School, our main purpose is to prepare our kids to be life-long learners and ethical digital citizens. In the present era, it is not possible to achieve these goals without using technology in all aspects of teaching and learning. Technology is an important tool for students as well as teachers to integrate into their day to day learning to improve learning outcomes, both inside and outside the class room. The ICT brings the entire world into the classroom.

Wise management
Implementations definitely raise the bar for academic standards. As teachers, we are able to organise and manage our time more wisely. This technological change comes naturally to today’s students and they understand and utilise it better than us. So, if this awareness and willingness to use technology point students in the right direction, it will improve the performance of each child, no matter whether the child is weak or intelligent.

Evaluation of effect
The evaluation of the use of ICT tools like smart boards, online content and e-learning shows thta it helps students to the great extent and saves a lot of time. Subject wise evaluation has also been done; which shows different results according to the needs of individual subjects. Feedback, and surveys have enabled us to gauge the success of ICT in education.

Enhancing teaching learning process
Collaborative learning creates an environment in which the teacher involves students of the same class or of different class in the same topics, performing activities and thinking about the activities they are performing. Thereby, the teachers reach out to students who may otherwise not be engaged. Collaborative learning encourages active student participation in the learning process, or in small-group learning, and gives a chance to passive students to work. Involving students in group work encourages and helps more passive students to learn from the group, because some students learn better through their friends.

Teachers’ training
The school organise regular training of teachers to make them familiar with new ICT tools that will help them in class and outside class. Weekly meetings are conducted by the ICT department, and feedback is taken. Most of the teachers have good experience with such tools. The Maths, Business, and Science teachers, especially, found it very helpful.

Students’ feedback
Students love to use the smart classroom. This makes class more interactive, opening a whole new dimension to the entire class at once. However, if it takes 20 minutes of a 40-minute class for a teacher to start the board, there is a colossal waste of time, showing that we should revert to the traditional classroom. The implementation of smart classrooms also makes our school a perfect blend of traditional teaching techniques with futuristic elements.

Teachers’ feedback
Change is the first word when it comes to the impact of ICT on teachers. One needs to adapt to this new change to see the benefits of ICT. Second, in the matter of classroom engagement, which is very important to meet the daily objectives of your class. We use IT in English class by having the students look up for public domain poetry and secondary sources, on the Internet, during class, for discussion. The smartboards are extremely useful for studying and analysing grammar and poetry, especially when I can annotate the same on the board.

What’s next
As Web3.0 is coming up, as far as the use of the Internet is concerned. I hope it will save students’ time in researching data and help teachers to find something organised on the Internet for their subjects. We expect that the innovation should be like the removal of school bags totally from school and the use of tablets in their place.
Cloud storage: It is going to be used soon by schools to keep data safe. It will help reduce global warming also. Every school should go for cloud storage for students. If we are planning for students space, we should use cloud storage.
Tablet: School bags should be removed and tablets should be given to students. It is time to be practical and learn. All books should be given in the form of e-books.

Making Technology Accessible to All

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April 9, 2013

“There is a lot of scope for a tablet to show its importance in the education,” says Sandeep Arya, MD, Amtrak Info System & Amtrak Group.

He is a seasoned veteran with an experience of over two decades in the IT sector. He also presided as Chairman at Presto Infosolutions (P) Ltd and Data Gold Softwares (P) Ltd. He is on the Executive Committee of The Association of British Scholars and an active member of the European Business Group, the British Business group, FICCI, ASSOCHAM and CII. Recently, he has also been appointed as the General Secretary of the Telecom Industries Services Association (TISA). In conversation with Pragya Gupta, ENN

Please share the genesis of Amtrak Info Systems.
Amtrak Technologies Ltd is a customised solutions provider company incorporated in 1991 that specialises in IT, Audio-Visual, Electronics and Communications solutions. Amtrak has recently entered into the segment of producing user-friendly technology products, with its newly presented ‘My Buddy’. Started in the year 2012, Amtrak Infosystems believes in bringing about a change in the age of technology by introducing that was never seen before. Amtrak Info System aims at bringing more comprehensible products and support services to its customers with its presence growing pan-India.
Our aim is to make our path-breaking technological solutions accessible to maximum users across India by tapping on its business network in the market. Our designing team is situated in Singapore while two manufacturing units are located in China.
Our business model targets every medium that can sell ranging from the traditional B2B, Channel medium to reach out to customers and Online Selling. The underlying principle is to produce innovative product line-ups that benefit customers as per their requirements. The company’s core strength lies in designing its products in-house with the utmost creativity. It emphasizes on manufacturing hi-tech products at an affordable range.

How do you see the role of ICT in Education?
ICT definitely sees a clear path in the education segment. India is highly receptive to technology at every industry, and when technology innovations are aimed at providing ease, there is pure success to it. ICT has already begun in spreading its wings in the education segment by introducing some of the most innovative ideas for bringing education closer to learners. With the already emerging ideas of ICT in Education, such as, smart teaching aids, virtual class room and classboard, there can be seen immense scope for many more such IT innovations to be introduced.

How do you see the importance of tablets in education?
A tablet must not be just seen advancement to a laptop or desktop, but there’s a lot more to it. With its quality of being light-weight and ‘on the go’, a tablet can be your book, your sketch book, your blackboard, and even your classroom. There is a lot of scope for a tablet to show its importance in the education sector.

How does your solution integrate with today’s classrooms?
We are yet to define a package of solutions for the education segment, but we aim at bringing a complete innovation when we present our education tablets. This will be a true benefit for the students where the student will actually feel the importance of its My Buddy as much as his or her books.

ICT Encourages Out of Box Thinking

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April 9, 2013

Managing Director Name: Dr Lilly George
Website: www.shalomhills.com
Number of Students: 2000 plus
Number of faculty and staff: 200 plus

Shalomhills International School, Gurgaon

ICT in the classroom

The school is using interactive whiteboards, projectors, and virtual labs in all the classrooms. The school is using solutions from Edurite and ThinkLab.

Objective of deployment

We believe in excellence in education through constant evolution and continuous innovations in the teaching-learning process. World is changing and evolving fast; the revolutionary changes in ICT sector in the 21st century have been unprecedented. We at Shalom Hills believe in keeping pace with the needs of modern society and its changing face. The main aim of deploying ICT is to empower children and teachers to match up to the demands of modern society. Through technology supported classrooms, young scholars are introduced to a realm of opportunities wherein they can explore and study. We believe in moving from traditional chalk and talk methods to breakthrough methods, which will give the winning edge to both our children and teachers. Further it saves time as technology aided classrooms give quick solutions, simulated lectures, question banks on variety of topics. All our children and teachers are tech-savvy and comfortable in meeting the challenges of outside world. Through latest technology tools and gadgets, children can create different robots and study important concepts of Science, Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM).

Benefits of these deployments

Implementation has led to pronounced and heightened academic standards and has brought about 15-20 percent enhancement in the performance of students.
Weak and remedial students have also been benefitted from the implementation.
Teaching process and methodologies have become multi-sensory and more effective, leading to high academic standards in every grade.

Evaluation of effect

Periodic evaluation of effect is done through class tests, bridge course, refresher courses, assessments, live projects, experiments, etc. Through feedback from students, parents and teachers we come to know how these ICT tools are helping in the teaching learning process. Whenever possible, we also conduct refreshment course to empower teachers with technical know how and equip them with confidence to use ICT tools effectively. One such refresher training programme was organised with ThinkLabs on 2nd of March 2013. Further the children have applied all the knowledge gained through use of ICT tools in designing website of international level.
Students’ feedback: Greater involvement and participation in the learning process have been noticed. We have seen etter focus and almost zero distractions; independent earning; multi-sensory, and visually appealing lessons/content. It also encouraged development of ‘out-of-the-box’ thinking and free and critical thinking.
Teachers’ feedback: Regular teacher enrichment seminars and workshops are conducted to train them in using all the latest tools of echnology. Linguistics/language sessions improve their communicative competencies.
Three-day exclusive training programme was organised for all the teachers by Edurite service provider.

What’s Next

ICT proficiency will go to an advanced stage as children have learnt how to deploy tools like Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Dreamweaver, Adobe Image Ready, Jquery. They are able to use them for their classroom work and various cyber competitions.
In the coming year(s), it will serve as a platform to springboard students to website designing competitions and international avenues.

Impact of Technology on Teaching and Learning

? Higher quality lessons prepared through greater collaboration between teachers in planning and preparing resources
? Tailor made teaching, customised to students’ varied learning specifications and individual differences
? Improved technology enabled tracking of students’ performance, participation and progress
? Upswing in reading skills, group work and better comprehension of content
? Development of writing skills, improvement in the matrix of spelling, grammar as well as fluency in English
? Development of proactive, independent and active learning
? Building of HOTS – Higher Order Thinking Skills
? Increase in students’ levels of motivation, sense of self-confidence and self-sufficiency
? Student centric and more stimulating learning teaching process
? In Computer Lab, the students learn to use the latest tools of technology and newest software programmes
? Erratic pronunciation is rectified and communicative competencies improved in the school’s Language Lab, which has special module wherein students can listen to an expert voice and record their own voice.
? In-depth learning of concepts in STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in Robotics Lab
? Collaborative and broad based learning as students/teachers get opportunities to collaborate on assignments with people outside or inside school at city, national or international level
? Enhancement of technological literacy of the students; preparing them for a global careers
? Catering to Multiple intelligences of the students

Buying Online Helps

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April 9, 2013

Metros continue to be a potential market in eCommerce, but the real growth will come from small cities, says Manoj Chandra, Founder & CEO, AllSchoolStuff.com, in conversation with Pragya Gupta, ENN

Please tell us about the growth pattern of eCommerce in India.
The Business-to-Consumer (B2C) business through eCommerce is growing immensly due to the penetration of the Internet. Earlier, people used to search the Internet for information, and now, they browse for products and services. They transact when they find value in what is being offered in terms of price, choice, convenience and service. I believe eCommerce will soon penetrate into every part of the country. This is because our country has a large geography and people in small towns do not have access to a lot of good products and services. These customers are amongst the first people to browse the web for the products they require. In fact, 80 percent of our customer base is from tier one and two cities. Metros continue to be a potential market, but the real growth will come from small cities.
The market potential is two-billion dollar but there are a very few players in this space.

How did the idea of launching an eCommerce portal exclusively for education come to your mind?
I have worked with the shoe company – Bata that used to be the predominant player in the shoe market. We realised that parents find it a challenge to get the right pair of shoes at the right time for their kids. Therefore, we started selling school shoes online which turned out to be a great success. This triggered the thought in my mind that there exists a possibility of parents wanting to buy things for their kids online. Today, everything you need is sold by different vendors. That was where we thought we should aggregate the things needed by parents at one place to give them convenience. That is how Allshcoolstuff born in September 2011.

What strategies drive the portal?
We began very small with some books and stationery items. Primarily, our outreach has been through social media and emails. Now we have half a million fans on Facebook. From `50,000 in the first month, our sales have grown to rupee one crore in just twelve months.

Please throw light on your approach to your consumers.
We have a two-pronged outreach. One is B2C through our online retail store, where we offer around 25,000 categories of products.
At the B2B level, a lot of small schools buy from us online. We work directly with large organised school chains also.We also work with school chains and help them in outsourcing their requirement in setting up their schools and student-specific needs.
We are the only organised player in the market, both as a retailer and outsource supplier. We are also penetrating into retail from school supply segment and participating in various forums to reach out to schools and educational institutions.

What kind of growth do you foresee for the company?
Considering the rapid pace at which we are growing, we hope to become a Rs 100-crore-business in the next couple of years. We would also like to achieve a scale of operation to make a difference.

Launch of NIELIT Web Portal

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April 9, 2013

L to R: Dr Rajendra Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics & Information Technology; Rajiv Gauba, Additional Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY); Kapil Sibal, Minister of Communications and Information Technology; Dr Ashwini Kumar Sharma, Managing Director, National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), J Satyanarayana, Secretary, Dept of Electronics & Information Technology.

Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology, launched the new website of National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) at a glittering event held on March 25, 2013 at the e-Governance Hall of Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) at Electronics Niketan, New Delhi.
The web portal located at www.nielit.in is colourful and pleasing to the eye, besides being GIGW (Guidelines for Indian Government Website) compliant. It boasts of several new features for supplementing the CSC (Common Service Centre) scheme; NIELIT accredited institutes have been mandated to provide G2C services to the citizens. With NIELIT accredited institutes also performing the task of CSC kiosks, there will be a vast improvement in the delivery of such services in the States.
NIELIT students will benefit as the new web portal is designed to provide placement related facilities. It provides free online assessment test on employability and soft skills, in association with Wheebox

Dr Ashwini Kumar Sharma,
Managing Director, NIELIT
“NIELIT has constantly endeavoured to upgrade existing technologies and has considered it appropriate to invigorate its web presence by way of a new web portal. The new website launched by NIELIT is dynamic, interactive and user friendly. It is designed to provide a multitude of online services. As the website is integrated with the payment gateway, NIELIT students can now register online and also make payments online.”

Making Learning Sustainable

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April 9, 2013

Principal: Jaya Bhardwaj
Website: www.hansrajschool.org
Number of Students: 1581
Number of faculty and staff: 71

ICT Tools in the school

To make students understand the content in an interactive and innovative method, the school has deployed 30 Interactive Whiteboards, 34 projectors, and English labs.
The school is using smart classroom solutions from Class Teacher. The school have smart class where children weary from bookish knowledge, get an insight into the world of information beyond textual learning. Education is not only about books, but It is also about asking questions all the time. Integrated into the curriculum, the smart class has been introduced in the school to make learning sustainable.

Engaged students

With interactive tools in classrooms, students remain active throughout the day and ready to learn new things. The implementation is also leading to the higher academic standards. It has further increased the interest of students by making subjects much more interesting.

Teachers’ training

For teachers’ capacity building and experience, the school has conducted three-day teachers’ training programme. “We also keep updating our teachers with new technologies and innovations whenever, they are installed in school. We have received positive response from teachers and students,” says Jaya Bhardwaj.

Experience

These tools are easy to handle, user friendly, have a backup facility, Software and are evaluation oriented. However, the school looks forward to more inbuilt content from solution providers.

ICT Allows Educator to Pursue Reactive Teaching – Delhi Public School, Sonepat

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April 9, 2013

Principal: Ranjoo Mann
Number of Students: 1600
Number of Faculty and Staff: 110

The school is using ICT solutions from E beam. The overall objective of deploying the solutions was to initiate a more technological and interactive approach to teaching. It allows the educator to pursue reactive teaching. It makes the visuals more effective means of retention than the methods deployed before. The main factors for a successful implementation of these tools is the availability of basic technology, which allows such an access. Apart from material factors, it also requires the basic know how on the operational level to ensure wider usage of this tool as an important resource provider.

Benefits of these Deployments

Educators are able to take reference and remark on all issues that may crop up in class.
This technology is overall very cost effective, easy to use, install, maintain,integrate and deploy. It allows an interdisciplinary approach for educators and students to explore their subject.
With a more interactive and interdisciplinary model in place, levels of academic involvement is much higher, and superior. With the usage of internet in class, deeper research method is instilled in students, and visual teaching makes the experience richer.

Evaluation of effect

The evaluation of teaching in class is done to standardised processes in the school. The clearest way of evaluating this tool is noticed when the involvement of students in initiating discussion is seen.

Enhanced teaching and learning process

Teaching and learning as a processes have now a higher level of inter dependence, wherein, an educator is able to initiate discussion among students through a visual medium.
Students have been engaging in self learning through discussion and exploration. The connection between concepts and visualising them has greatly increased the efficiency of the learning process, deeming the work of educators much smoother, than just relying on bookish knowledge. The most important aspect of this learning method is the filtration and wiser selection of all available resources that students employ when they are engaged in this teaching module.

Teachers’ training

The training of teachers in using this tool did not take much time due to the nature of this software. It is easy to use, install, deploy, integrate and upgrade. As it is a highly intuitive tool, educators find the usage of this tool much easier and rewarding than other methods. Once trained the educators deployed these methods in their respective classrooms and get a better response as they are now able to retain the attention of students, through logical visual communication.
Students’ Feedback: The E beam teaching method used in class is a fun way to learn as an additional help. It facilitate deeper and relevant stories and anecdotes related to the subjects. It helps students understand concepts faster and put subjects in perspective. Students are also able to keep up with international standards of learning.
Teachers’ Feedback: This teaching module has allowed to unburden the greater load of research required for each subject. As it allows educators to access resources from other schools. It help teacher to stay updated with the general teaching trend, and allows a more homogeneous growth. It helps teachers retain attention of the students for a considerably longer period of time.

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