MITx and Harvard Introduce edX; Aims to Enhance Campus Based Education

News

By

-

May 21, 2012

Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) joins hands to bring edX to enhance campus based education and beyond.

Through edX, the two institutions will collaborate to enhance campus-based teaching and learning and build a global community of online learners.

EdX will build on both universities’ experience in offering online instructional content. The technological platform recently established by MITx, which will serve as the foundation for the new learning system, was designed to offer online versions of MIT courses featuring video lesson segments, embedded quizzes, immediate feedback, student-ranked questions and answers, online laboratories, and student paced learning. Certificates of mastery will be available for those motivated and able to demonstrate their knowledge of the course material.

MIT and Harvard expect that over time other universities will join them in offering courses on the edX platform. The gathering of many universities’ educational content together on one site will enable learners worldwide to access the course content of any participating university from a single website, and to use a set of online educational tools shared by all participating universities.

EdX will release its learning platform as open source software so it can be used by other universities and organizations who wish to host the platform themselves. Because the learning technology will be available as open-source software, other universities and individuals will be able to help edX improve and add features to the technology.

MIT and Harvard will use the jointly operated edX platform to research how students learn and how technologies can facilitate effective teaching both on-campus and online. The edX platform will enable the study of which teaching methods and tools are most successful. The findings of this research will be used to inform how faculty use technology in their teaching, which will enhance the experience for students on campus and for the millions expected to take advantage of these new online offerings.

The initiative will be overseen by a not-for-profit organization based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to be owned and governed equally by the two universities. MIT and Harvard have committed to a combined $60 million ($30 million each) in institutional support, grants and philanthropy to launch the collaboration.

MIT’s Director of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory Anant Agarwal, who has led the development of the MITx platform under the leadership of MIT provost L. Rafael Reif, will serve as the first president of edX.

At Harvard, Provost Alan Garber will direct the Harvardx effort and Faculty of Arts and Sciences Dean Michael D. Smith will play a leading role in working with faculty to develop and deliver courses.

It is anticipated that near-term course offerings from a range of Harvard and MIT schools will be included on the edX platform.

Asus to Focus on Education Segment

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 19, 2012

Asus India is looking forward to position themselves in third position in the Indian PC market. To achieve the position, Asus has plans to enter into the education market as well. Education has been emerging as the fastest adopter of ICT tools like laptops and tablets in India.There is intense government focus on enhancing the scope of education through digital systems.

At the launch of new consumer laptops and tablets, Unaez Quraishi, Sales and distribution Director- System Business Group, Asus India, said in conversation with digitalLEARNING, “We will have thrust on education sector for tablet and laptop products from the second half of this year.”

As a part of education segment engagement strategy, Asus will reach out to students directly and through the education institutions.

Asus designs and manufactures laptops, tablets, desktops, motherboards, graphics cards, optical drives, displays, servers, and mobile phones, etc.

Meghalaya Govt Approves Education Service Rules

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 19, 2012

Meghalaya government has approved the Education Service Rules.The cabinet has also approved the service rules for three directorates of the Education department. The service rules have been approved by the cabinet for the directorate of higher and technical education (DHTE), directorate of educational research and training (DERT) and directorate of school education and literacy (DSEL).

The approved rules will replace the office memorandum which the department followed and hopes that the functioning of the education department will be smoothened in matters relating to promotions, filling up of vacancies and regulate teachers trainings in the state.

NMC Issues Notice to Schools

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 19, 2012

Nashik schools have received notices from the Nashik Municipal Corporation (NMC)’s education department ordering them to follow norms set by the government in the forthcoming academic year. City schools have been asked to start implementing the rules laid down by the government, right from appointment of staff to details about school uniforms, bags, etc.

The education department has asked for approval of personnel from the schools, that is, a list of staff employed, including the headmistress/headmaster, with their qualifications. To form Parents and Teachers Associations (PTAs), the schools have to conduct elections and parents of students from every class should be notified about them. The list of PTA members along with their phone numbers should be displayed on the notice board of the school.

The education department has strictly informed school authorities that all schools should follow the academic calendar drawn up by the department. From last year, there were many complaints that schools were open on Mahavir Jayanti and that exams were conducted during Ganesh Chaturthi.

From June onwards, strict action will be taken by the education department on schools violating norms and surprise visits by officers of zilla parishad and education department will be made.

Dibrugarh University Too Goes Digital Way, Plans to Install CCTV Camera

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 19, 2012

Installing CCTV cameras in examination halls seems catching the fancy of our educators. After a few education institutes, now it’s Dibrugarh Uniuversity’s turn to install CCTV cameras in their examination halls. The objective is to keep a strict vigil on the students in examination halls.

A university official said, “The examination will be held in Guwahati, Silchar, Nalbari, Lakhimpur, Tezpur, Nagaon, Jorhat, Dibrugarh and Bongaigaon in 27 venues and for the first time, CCTV has been installed in the exam centers”. The university has taken such step for the first time to check cheating and unfair means during examination.

The official further added, “Besides, a video recording would also be done, which would be monitored constantly. This is basically to stop students from resorting to unfair means during examinations. There have been instances of cheating in earlier examinations. Such instances leave a bad impression on the student’s mind and also question the credibility of the exam. So, we will not allow any kind of gadget in the hall this time”.

Students were earlier allowed to carry their mobile phones with them in the examination halls, but now students will not be allowed to carry any kind of electronic gadget in the halls and strict action will be taken against anyone who carries gadgets with them.

While new measures are being adopted by the authorities to conduct CEE, there is a possibility that from next session onwards, it will be replaced with National Eligibility Entrance Test (NEET), which would be conducted by the CBSE board.

Indian School of Business to Offer Executive Education Programs in Middle East; Signs MoU

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 19, 2012

Indian School of Business (ISB) has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Bahwan CyberTek (BCT) Group of Oman, to offer executive education courses in the Middle East.

Under the agreement, the Centre for Executive Education (CEE) at ISB would deliver executive education courses focused at grooming senior and middle management in the Middle East.

Ramanathan Hariharan, Senior Director, CEE, ISB, and S. Durgaprasad, Director and CEO, Bahwan CyberTek Group (BCT), signed the MoU.

Durgaprasad said, “There is tremendous focus from various governments in the Middle East to look beyond oil. They are looking at creating a knowledge economy. ISB being a leader in executive education, their knowledge and their experience can come handy to build the community in that part of the world”.

Hariharan said, “They are trying to create a knowledge-driven economy which means exposing citizens to new business models, new management practices.”

BCT, an associate of the Suhail Bahwan Group, one of Oman’s foremost business houses, will focus on industry verticals like banking, financial services, government, energy utility industry and infrastructure. The executive education programs will cater to both the citizens of Oman and expatriates.

To start with, the program will be delivered in Oman from September this year for 50 to 100 people in the first year. BCT plans to expand this to the UAE, Qatar, Egypt and other countries in the region.

The MoU with Bahwan comes a few weeks after the ISB signed a similar agreement with the Institute of Business Administration (IBA), Karachi.

ISB will focus on the design and delivery of the programs, which will be conducted by ISB’s globally renowned faculty.

The CEE, which offers open and custom designed programs, is also looking at creating case studies relevant to the region.

BCT, an information technology, products and services company, hopes the spin-off would be multi-fold.

The $110 million company, which operates in four continents and deliver solutions in 20 countries, expects the ISB programs would meet the internal needs of the 1,500-member organization.

XLRI Jamshedpur Introduces Entrepreneurship Management Program

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 19, 2012

When the entire nation has been gripped by the entrepreneurship spirit, XLRI School of Business & Human Resource, Jamshedpur also thought of something similar. XLRI School of Business & Human Resource, Jamshedpur has launched a full time six-month certificate program in entrepreneurship administration designed to provide competency-based education with a view to promoting entrepreneurship in the country.

The program – ‘Post-Graduate Program for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management (PGP-CEM)’, targeted to enterprising individuals and those who run their family businesses will commence on July 2012. The total fee for the program is Rs 55,000, can be paid in two equal installments. The last date for applying to this program is May 30^th, 2012.

Speaking on the new program, Fr. E. Abraham S.J., Director, XLRI said, “This program launched by the Entrepreneurship Development Centre aims to encourage entrepreneurship in the country. The program will be extremely beneficial to all the enterprising individuals, who wish to kick-start their own businesses.”

The program, which starts from July this year, aims to encourage critical and lateral thinking and integrate theory with practice. According to the Director, the objective is to help develop effective and successful entrepreneurs who have an inclination and desire to create new enterprises, and to also enhance the skill-sets of those who are currently managing their own entities.

According to the institute, the core curriculum has been designed carefully in order to ensure that courses included in the program does not only contain the usual inputs on functional areas of business like finance, marketing, strategy and human resource, but also fields of specific interest in the context of entrepreneurial development in India like family business, women entrepreneurship, agri-preneurship and social enterprises.

Graduates from any recognized University are eligible to apply for this program. According to the institute, the applicants will be subject to a process of personal interview and, if necessary, group discussion for admission into the program.

Post Graduate Program for Certificate in Entrepreneurship Management was launched by the Entrepreneurship Development Centre (EDC) of XLRI in March 2010 to encourage entrepreneurship and social consciousness. After encouraging response for the two batches, XLRI has launched the third round of this program.

SMART’s Co-Founders Relinquish their Role

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 18, 2012

SMART’s co-founder, president and chief executive-Nancy Knowlton and David Martin, co-founder and executive chairman, are leaving their executive management roles.

Tom Hodson, the company’s current chief operating officer, will be interim president and chief executive. Knowlton will continue to sit on the board of directors in the new role of vice-chair and Martin will continue as chairman of the company.

In a news release, SMART said the significant shareholding in the company for Knowlton and Martin will not change as a result of the change in their roles.
Knowlton and Martin, co-founded SMART has served in their current positions since June 2007.

The company said the board plans to conduct a comprehensive search to select the next president and chief executive, considering both internal and external candidates, and is engaging an executive search firm to assist with this process. It expects to fill the position later this year.
Source: The Calgary Herald

Now a Soccer School in India from the Repute of FC Barcelona

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 18, 2012

FC Barcelona plans to start a soccer school in India. With this initiative the country is surely going to experience a new chapter of sports education in India.

FC Barcelona is one of the most prolific clubs in European football. Spanish giant FC Barcelona has announced the launch of its official football school FCBEscola in India, with the first centre slated to come up in Delhi NCR. It’s being set up in association with Conscient Football, FC Barcelona’s partner in India.

While there is no confirmation of the proposed timeline of operations, the school will certainly be in operation within this calendar year, according to a Conscient Football spokesperson.

The school will have a capacity of 300-360 players in the age group of 6-14 and will have permanent FC Barcelona staff stationed in the Capital to run the operations. While the details are being worked out, the program is expected to be based on the globally-run programs by FCBEscola, which are intensive and regular after-school programs.

CBSE Class X, XII Results on May 28th

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 18, 2012

After much confusion and delays, it has come out that the results of the CBSE-conducted Class X and XII final exams would be declared before May 28th.

K K Chaudhury, Regional Officer CBSE, said, “The Class X and XII final examination started on March 1. Results are usually declared in May and this time, too, they will be out on or before May 28.”

He also said, “The CBSE has started the comprehensive and continuous evaluation (CCE) system so the candidates’ overall performance would also be monitored.”

Right now, the final scrutiny is going on and all anomalies would also be sorted out.

There are about 282 examination centres in the entire northeast region. About 43,000 candidates appeared for the Class XII exams and 49,000 for the Class X finals in the region.

LATEST NEWS

Top Trending News

Top Trending Categories