IGNOU VC inaugurates new academic building for officials

News

By

-

January 17, 2012

Prof M Aslam, Vice Chancellor of the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) opened for use by schools of studies a new academic building of 6000 square meters to accommodate 11 schools of the university. The building, comprising of ground, first and second floor has been constructed in association with RITES Ltd. as project management and architectural consultancy to the university.

The Vice Chancellor handed over the space allotment letters to the Directors of seven Schools to shift in the new building. Seven schools are School of Gender and Development Studies (SOGDS), School of Journalism and New Media Studies (SOJNMS), School of Translation Studies and Training (SOTST), School of Foreign Languages (SOFL), School of Vocational Education and Training (SOVET), School of Extension and Development Studies (SOEDS) and School of Performing and Visual Arts (SOPVA).

Along with the space for 11 schools, the building has the provision for 14 class rooms, two committee rooms and six storage rooms with a cafeteria.

According to the Chief Project Officer (CPO) of the university, Sudheer Reddy, the building has been completed in time and is well equipped with all the facilities needed for effective functioning of the Schools.

Grievance Redressal Mechanism for Students in Higher Education Introduced

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 17, 2012

Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resource Development has announced that there would now be Grievance Redressal mechanisms in higher educational institutions. UGC, AICTE and NCTE would be requiring all Central Educational Institutions, institutions deemed to be universities, technical and management institutions under AICTE and teacher education institutions under NCTE to establish a Grievance Redressal Mechanism for Students and applicants for admission before the commencement of the admission this academic year. Every institution would be required to constitute an Ombudsman; person with judicial or legal experience to be appointed from a panel suggested by the affiliating university for technical and management institutions, by the Central Government for deemed universities and by the regulator for non-degree granting institutions. The concerned regulators would issue the detailed instructions to the educational institutions shortly.

There are several grievances that arise relating to students and applicants for admission in higher educational institutions. These grievances require prompt redressal in order to provide timely succor to aggrieved students and applicants. The Parliamentary Standing Committee, while examining the Bill to prohibit and punish unfair practices, had recommended that pro-active steps be taken to constitute Grievance Redressal mechanisms in higher education institution.

Applicants for admission and students can apply to the Ombudsman for redressal of grievances and the Ombudsman shall deliver his/her order within one month. Although the order would not be binding on the institution, the regulator would rely on the frequency of non-observance to decide on continued recognition to such institutions.

The Ombudsman shall have the jurisdiction to hear grievances concerning denial of admission, non-observance of declared merit in admission, non-observance of applicable regulations for reservation, with-holding of documents and non refund of fees in case of withdrawal of admission, discrimination and other such matters concerning students in pursuit of studies in the institution. In case of matters concerning weaker sections such as SCs/STs/OBCs or minorities, the Ombudsman can co-opt a person of eminence from the area coming from the weaker section to assist him/her in arriving at a decision.

Healthcare Leaders’ Forum :: March 14, 2012 :: Assocham, New Delhi

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 12, 2012

Indian healthcare industry is gearing up for a phenomenal growth.

With a projected combined annual growth rate of 16% and an estimated market size of USD 75 billion by 2012, healthcare sector is expected to contribute as much as 8.5% of national GDP and employ more than 9 million people over the next couple of years.

Much to the delight, growth is evident in all sectors of the healthcare industry and almost across all geographic regions of the country.

While there are few who are already ahead of the curve and etched substantial success in the industry, a number of new entrants have ventured in the recent past, striving to make their mark with innovative ideas, services and business models.

A key element of this emerging healthcare success story is ‘creation of sustainable leadership’ through sharing of experiences among entrepreneurs, investors, managers and practitioners of healthcare.

To meet this critical need and create a pulsating platform for CXOs of healthcare industry to connect with each other, eHEALTH magazine is organizing the second edition of the Healthcare Leaders’ Forum in New Delhi.

KPMG and NIIT Imperia Launch Tax Training Programs for Corporate

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 11, 2012

KPMG in collaboration with NIIT Imperia has announced the launch of three new Taxation Programs- Certificate Program in Tax Regulations, Advanced Program in Tax Regulations and Diploma in Tax Regulations, primarily designed to meet the growing training needs of finance, accounting, taxation professionals and other stakeholders.

The programs will be offered in 30 NIIT Imperia centers spread across 21 major cities of the country.Admissions to the programs are open, and the batches will start in the first week of February, 2012. G. Raghavan, Chief Executive, Career Building Solutions, NIIT Ltd. “We are pleased to extend our offerings to now include three new programs on tax regulations by KPMG. These programs will provide an ideal platform to accounts and finance professionals who wish to gain unique insight in the field of taxation and move to the next levels in their career.”

KPMG’s senior professionals will use NIIT’s innovative Synchronous Learning Technology to deliver training on these Taxation Programs. The Tax diploma programs are designed to bridge the gap between theory and practice and to prepare the industry in advance for the proposed regulations of DTC and GST.

Speaking on the occasion, Uday Ved, Head of Tax, KPMG in India said, “With India standing on the threshold of major tax reforms, there is an increased demand for knowledgeable and well-versed tax experts. KPMG in collaboration with NIIT Imperia aims to cater to this demand by helping create a pool of professionals who would be equipped to deal with legislative and practical aspects of taxation and also be prepared for the new tax regimes.”

The Best Practices and the Next Practices in Education:January 2012

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 10, 2012

EDITORIAL
Exploring new frontiers in education

CONTENTS
A Skilled India
Prof S S Mantha Chairman, AICTE

On Way to Achieving Success
Dr Ajoy Kumar Ray, VC, Bengal Engineering and Science University

Our Children Need a Giant Leap
Revathi Srinivasan, Director & Principal, Smt Sulochanadevi Singhania School

Miles Ahead
Sandeep Sharma, Joint CEO, SCOPE

Education is a Recession free Industry
Manjual Shroff, Pro ViceChairperson—DPS, Ahmedabad

Supporting theLearners
Vandana Lulla, Director, Podar International School, Mumbai

The Classroom of the Future
Kartikay Saini,Chairman, Scottish High International School

Technology Challenges and Digital Insights
Sreenarayanan P C, Director,Podar nternational School,Mumbai

Where Are WeGoing Next?
Dilip Meha, Principal,Olive Green International School, Ahmedabad

Reforming the Educational Sector
Dr Akshai aggarwal,VC, GTU

Creating InnovativeModels in Education
R P Gupta, Secretary, PrimaryEducation, Government ofGujarat

All is not well inEducation
Prof Sudhir K Jain, Director, IIT Gandhinagar

Fostering Creativity
Prof Paritosh K Banik,DG, PDPU

The Concept of 21st Century Skills
Prof Sridhar Iyer, IIT Bombay

The Backbone for Empowerment in Education
Prof Z H Khan, Jamia Millia Islamia

Effective Digital Education
G R Sivakumar,Principal, DPS,Surat

The Side-effects of Digital Learning
Dr Hasmukh Adhia, Principal Secretary, Education, Government of Gujarat

Taking Education Online
Professor M J Xavier,Director, IIM Ranchi

Bringing Connectivity to Education
Dr Prafulla Agnihotri,Director, IIM Tiruchirappalli

Integrating Curriculum with the Web
Dr Bhavesh Patel, Director,Ahmedabad University

Expanding Role of ICT in Education
Manoj Aggarwal, SPD, SSA,Gujarat

Examinations through ICT
Dr Veera Gupta, Secretary, CBSE

Assessing our Students
Ceaser Disilva, Principal, SGVP International School,Ahmedabad

Assessing Students Through ICT
Brinda Ghosh, Principal, JG International School

Kumari Selja Inaugurates Leadership Training Programme for Museum Professionals

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 10, 2012

The Culture and Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation Minister Kumari Selja has inaugurated Leadership Training Programme for in-house Museums Professionals. There are over a thousand museums in India, both large and small. Over 90 percent of these are funded and maintained by the Central and State Governments and few renowned museums have also been set up through private efforts. The Archaeological Survey of India itself manages 44 site museums located near important historical sites, some of them in the remotest parts of the country like Dholavira and Lothal in Gujarat and others at well-known World Heritage Sites such as Agra.

The Leadership Training Programme has been organised by the Ministry of Culture in collaboration with the British Museum. The programme is especially designed for Indian museum professionals. The programme will include intensive training sessions on duration, museum education, design and display, scientific storage, conservation and preservation, museum marketing, outreach and collection management.

The Minister said that she is happy to note that 20 professionals from 12 national level museums will be participating in the Leadership Training Programme. She trusts that the programme will generate Museum leaders who will further train museum professionals all across the country to create a rich web of world class museums in India. “More importantly, I hope this will help shape each and every museum to be people centric institutions and not remain centres of eclectic study and scholastic pursuits.”

The Minister further added that training and capacity building are an intrinsic part of the development of Human resources of any organization. Improvement in the functioning of museums is a felt need today. Her Ministry has made efforts to organise suitable trainings for our museum professionals to open up their imagination and improve the working so that we are able to replicate the best practices being followed by international museums.

This Leadership Training Programme has been developed in collaboration with the British Museum, a world leader in its field with a strong history of providing tailor-made training for curators and museum professionals across the world. The British Museum has used its experience to develop the first programme of its kind, focusing specifically on developing the leaders of tomorrow.

Taking Education Online

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 10, 2012

When we have a fully online system of learning, students will be able to access educational content without having to come to classroom

By Prof M J Xavier, Director, IIM Ranchi | www.iimranchi.ac.in

In places like Ranchi, the connectivity related infrastructure that you find in the top metros is not there. But even the smaller towns do not want to be left behind. That is why Ranchi has taken up distance learning in a big way. I am of the opinion that the classroom mode of teaching has now become obsolete. A blended method of teaching is a better alternative. Perhaps a modern Gurukula method where there is 24×7 teaching is a better option.

The social media has to be integrated with e-learning methodologies, so that the educationists can reach out to larger numbers of students. It is possible to have a system where students who cannot come to the class will be able to attend lectures while sitting in their hostel. We are expecting seamless connectivity between the college and the hostel through NKN (National Knowledge Network). Once NKN is in place, the teacher does not even have to come to the classroom. Perhaps even the students do not have to come. The teacher can deliver his lecture from anywhere, his office, his home, even from another city or abroad.

However, the problem with this system is that it does not create an opportunity for a personal interaction between the students and the teachers. Students can not just raise their hand in the middle of the lecture and hope to put a question to their teacher. It might be possible for a moderator, or a group of moderators, sitting somewhere in the NKN chain, to offer a kind of call centre facility. When students have doubts they can call up the call centre number and place their question. But the question might not be answered directly by the teacher; it might be some other expert who would do the answering.

Students attending from hostel, study centre and other remote locations will be provided with iPad kind of device that will be configured for receiving classes. Even when students are based in remote locations, bio-metric attendance systems and cameras can be used to capture their image to prove that he or she has actually attended the lecture. With the launch of 3G services all sorts of possibilities have opened up.

Assessing Students Through ICT

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 10, 2012

Assessment is a process of interpreting evidence on basis of which the teachers can decide where the learners stand in their learning

By Brinda Ghosh, Principal,
JG International School |www.jgcampusindia.com

If we think of our children as plants, then we can say that a summative assessment of the plants is simply the process of measuring them. The measurements might be interesting to compare and analyse, but by themselves they cannot affect the growth of the plants. Formative assessment on the other hand is the gardening equivalent of feeding and watering the plants, and it is something that directly affects their growth.

Assessment for Learning (AFL)
Much of what teachers and learners do in the classroom can be described as assessment, which seeks to find out where learners are with their learning, if they are lacking, then the way has to found to bridge the gap. So the first goal should be to discover how much the learners know. Summative tests are generally conducted at the end of the year. These are useful in providing overview of how the students are faring as compared to each other. The results can also be compared from a year-to-year basis.

AFL focuses on learning rather than on teaching and it includes all learners in a culture of high expectations. It makes every learner special by making learning worthwhile and enjoyable. It also enriches the learning experience. AFL is about teacher and learner recognising where learners are now, where they want to go and how to bridge the gap.

Role of ICTModern ICT tools can also be helpful in enhancing the scope of education. As the iconic futurist Alvin Toffler has said, “The illiterate of the 21st century will not be those who cannot read and write, but those who cannot learn, unlearn and re-learn.” Digital education makes is easier for people to gain new knowledge. But even as we provide education to students today, we have very little knowledge of what the students will require twenty years from now.

Therefore the question that needs to be addressed is – what do our students need to learn today to be prepared for tomorrow? There has to be a shift from industrial mode of schooling to one that focuses on equipping students for knowledge economy. Our students must have the ability to seek, synthesise and critically think about the over-expanding volume of information that is now available in the world.

Assessing our Students

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 10, 2012

The traditional system of examination based assessments is not enough for us to accurately judge the ability of the students

By Ceaser Disilva, Principal, SGVP International School, Ahmedabad | www.sgvp.org

Few questions that can help in making effective assessment strategy
• Does testing help our students?
• Are students being measured correctly?
• Is the info biased?
• Is the test reliable?
• How are the scores interpreted?

Even though we are aware of the fact that convention practices do more harm than good we keep treading on the same beaten path. The real purpose of assessment is yet to be realised. We take assessment as a tool to judge the learning outcome and no attention is paid to judging a student’s ability. Our education system is so well organised that from kindergarten itself, we teach students how to tackle examinations and get good grades. As a result most students get trained in exam-skills rather than in real learning.

There always are a few students who are unable to fit into the system. Perhaps the education being doled out is too mechanical for them. We call these students “special.” We have faced such problems many times. There are many students in our schools who fail to perform. An analysing of their answer sheets shows that most of them are weak in basic skills. We placed these students in the SNC (Special Needs Students) category and we designed a special curriculum for them. We removed certain topics of the syllabus that they found difficult to comprehend and added topics that they were interested in.

Of course, we kept the parents of these students informed. Initially some teachers were apprehensive about the project. They felt that we were discriminating against some children. But the benefits of the project started showing up in less than six months. The children in the SNC category came to the level of general students.

Examinations through ICT

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

January 10, 2012

There is a need to evolve ICT based methodologies to resolve the myriad logistical challenges in the process of examinations

By Dr Veera Gupta, Secretary, Central Board of Secondary Education | www.cbse.nic.in

While conducting exams we face problems that are purely logistical in nature. There are so many paradigms that are constantly evolving in the examination process that we have to keep coming up with new strategies. For instance, while conducting some major exams, we have to hire numbers of trucks for delivering the question paper to hundreds of examination centres.

We take all kinds of security measures during the distribution process, yet issues of leakage of papers often crop up. The collection of examination papers, and having them corrected lead to problems of their own. Storing the papers is also a big challenge.

ICT is a great help
Last year CBSE tried the online system of examination for which four thousand students had opted. This year CBSE has provided the option of online examination to around one lakh students. When we use online test, many of the logistical challenges get automatically resolved to a large extent.

The issue of secure distribution of question paper gets eased when we have online exams. Chances of question paper leakage also get minimised. Currently the process of online marking has been launched as a pilot project. We are developing a system where the answer papers can get scanned and be examined by two to three examiners.

If answer sheets are stored online the process of retrieval becomes much easier. Currently, we hire big buildings to keep examination copies, but with ICT our level of infrastructure requirement will come down to manageable levels.

The issue of the evaluation methods being used has often been subjected to lot of criticism. So far we are using paper and pencil test methods, in which only knowledge based questions can be asked. It is very difficult to ask applied questions using paper and pencil methods. With the help of ICT the evaluation system will be transformed, and applied and skill based questions can also be taken care of.

Then there is the last important aspect that is certification. Examinations must lead to students being awarded a certification, which is a logistical exercise of large magnitude. There have been instances of forgery in the past. So CBSE is trying to develop an academic depository of certificates in which CDSL and NSDL may become the vendors.

LATEST NEWS

Top Trending News

Top Trending Categories