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Digital Classrooms – with &lsquo:Scientech&rsquo:

Scientech's Interactive Classroom Solutions are designed to engage all the students within a classroom.

It provides the teacher with a dynamic teaching tool that makes assessment for learning instantly achievable.

Seamless integration makes presenting and preparing lessons simple.

Our Interactive Classroom consists of Interactive White Boards or Interactive devices eBeam, Wireless Tablet, Document Camera, Response Systems and Computing Devices.

Our Solutions are ideally suited for the Indian Classrooms Environment, For instance Our Interactive Whiteboards support use of regular dry markers (avoiding extra white boards) its helpful  when your are dealing with power crisis or addressing casual meets and not to forget they can withstand dents too.

 Similarly our Document Camera is extremely user friendly, just 2 clicks and glimpse of any object/ human face from Real World is brought to the Digital World. To add with it runs on USB, no extra power  supply is required.

 Well features of our Solutions are endless. Further with our extensive Training programs our Solutions prove their added value.
Our objective and efforts are to put  Indian Schools and Colleges  on the Digital Track of 21st Century with Scientech's Interactive Classroom Solutions.
 
Company Profile

Scientech Technologies is a Global Technology company in the field  of Test and Measurement Instruments, Technology Training Equipments, Simulation/Teaching Software and Online Education. It serves a variety of academic disciplines and offers a vast selection of products, state-of-the­ art  Educational and Interactive Classroom Solutions (Interactive Whiteboard, Response Systems). Its products engage the students' hands and minds and help translate their ideas into reality. Scientech Technologies excellent student-centered learning concepts range from middle school to college/ university levels.

Scientech Technologies exclusively represenents Global brands such as  M/s Luidia, USA,  M/s Designsoft, Hungary,  and few others for their range of products.

Through its own 16 offices and over 60 dealers, Sciectech products are available across India. Scientech customers are also spread across the world in over 60 countries through its agents.

Scientech has top end R&D teams which are constantly working on providing innovative products and solutions for Education, Industry and Research.

With Scientech you are in safe hands !! 

&lsquo:Learning the smart Way…&rsquo:

Twenty-two years ago, SMART’s executive chairman and co-founder, David Martin, conceptualized the SMART Board interactive whiteboard executive chairman and co-founder, David Martin, conceptualized the SMART Board interactive whiteboard – the fi rst and most widely installed interactive whiteboard in the world. In 1991, the fi rst generation of the SMART Board interactive whiteboard was introduced. Currently in its sixth generation, the MART Board interactive whiteboard line has expanded to include models integrated with projectors and other tools. SMART’s focus has expanded to include a variety of supporting hardware, software and content to create complete classroom and meeting room solutions.
The SMART Board interactive whiteboard connects to a computer with a USB cable (older models use a serial  cable) and draws the power it needs from the computer. The SMART Board driver automatically starts when the computer is turned on, and the interactive whiteboard
becomes active once the driver is running. When you connect a digital projector to your computer, you can project the computer image onto the SMART Board interactive whiteboard. The SMART Board driver converts contact with the interactive whiteboard into mouse clicks or digital ink. This feature enables you to use your fi nger as a mouse or write overtop of applications. Simply by touching the large display, users can access and control any computer or multimedia application, including the Internet, CDs and DVDs, and write notes in digital ink and save their work to share later. The SMART Pen Tray automatically detects when a user picks up a pen or the eraser. Buttons activate the On-Screen Keyboard, right-click and help functions. ABOUT SMART SMART Technologies is an industry pioneer and global education market segment leader in user-friendly ICT products and group collaboration tools. The award-winning line of SMART Board interactive whiteboards is the most widely installd in the world because of its unsurpassed product quality, versatility and ease of use. The SMART Board interactive whiteboard is used to teach over 30 million students in more than a million classrooms around the world. SMART is a private company founded in 1987. Employing more than 1,500 people, SMART is headquartered in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, with assembly facilities in Ottawa, Ontario and offi ces in Bonn, Paris, Tokyo, Shanghai, New York City, Chicago and Washington, DC. SMART has been issued and maintains a broad portfolio of patents with numerous U.S., Canadian and other patents pending. In 1992 SMART formed a strategic alliance with Intel® Corporationthat resulted in Intel’s equity ownership in the company. SMART products are sold through dealers across North America and distributors worldwide. Learn more about

Interactive Whiteboard and Audiovisual Aids Product Matrix

Name of Vendors

Categories of products

Interactive Whiteboard

LCD/Plasma TV Screen

Projector
Actis Technologies Pvt. Ltd
Almoe Digital Solutions
Canon India    
Ceeco Technologies
Dispro Visual Technologies Limited
Epson India Pvt. Ltd    
Genee Solutions India Pvt Ltd  
Hitachi India Trading Pvt. Ltd
LG Electronics India
Mimio Interactive Teaching Technologies  
Onida Electronics
Panasonic India
Promethean Limited
Samsung India
Scientech Technologies Pvt. Ltd.
Smart Technologies Inc.
Vivitech Corporation    

LMS for outright sale with IP

An International award winning Learning Management System (LMS) with large scale installation experience and multilingual capabilities is available for outright sale with Intellectual Property (IP). The complete suite consists of: Learning Content Management, Highly Advanced Online Assessment Engine, Student Management, Advanced communications and Performance Tracking.

Genuinely interested parties May contact by email on:
buylms2010@gmail.com

Learning the Interactive Way!

Technological advancements have an unprecedented effect on the methods of teaching-learning process globally developing the concept of  the ‘Classroom of the Future’ as an extremely advanced and modified picture. It is continuously promoting shift in paradigm of learning from teacher-centric to learner centric. Concept of multimedia in education, though not new, has gained momentum recently; with integration of voice, data and video shared resources creating synergistic effect. The convergence of media and education is also encouraging change in the curriculum in universities all across the world.

Interactive Whiteboards are emerging as powerful pedagogical innovation in area of teaching and learning. Of late Audio-Visual aids have become one of the most effective and advanced mode of  communicating with people. With 4.9 million classrooms in 1.2 million schools of which 1.6m are in Private schools (private schools only represent 19% of the total number of schools), the Indian market clearly provides a significant market opportunity for suppliers of IT equipment, says the report. One million Interactive Whiteboards will be sold globally in 2010 according to a Futuresource Consulting  report. The Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) phenomenon continues to take hold, with nearly 750,000 boards sold worldwide in 2009 and the market on track to top 1 million sales in 2010, according to a new strategic report from Futuresource Consulting.

The future picture of the IWBs and multimedia equipments in terms of its usage and demand will be higher and it is crystal clear, say experts and market leaders. There is an obvious major boom to see in the education sector in India in terms of using technology in comparison to the global scenario. The observations say that India will undoubtedly become one of the world’s largest ICT markets in the coming years as the country already has an exceptional world class infrastructure of knowledgeable expert companies fully capable of delivering highly effective ICT implementations nationwide. digitalLEARNING explores the issue further…

Union Budget 2010 – 11 in Education

Plan allocation for elementary education increased by 16% from INR 26,800 crore in 2009-10 to INR 31,036 crore in 2010-11. In addition, States will have access to INR 3,675 crore for elementary education under the XIIIth Finance Commission grants for 2010-11.

The education sector is considered as the virtual base of the country's economic and social developmental agenda. India is known for its intellectual capital worldwide, a lot remains to be done though.

The excerpt from the speech by Pranab Mukherjee, Minister of Finance, during the presentation of the Union Budget, 2010-11:

“Madam Speaker, I rise to present the Budget for 2010-11….. For the UPA Government, inclusive development is an act of faith. In the last five years, our Government has created entitlements backed by legal guarantees for an individual's right to information and her right to work. This has been followed-up with the enactment of the right to education in 2009-10….. To fulfil these commitments the spending on social sector has been gradually increased to INR1,37,674 crore which now stands at 37 per cent of the total plan outlay in 2010-11. Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural infrastructure. With growth and the opportunities that it generates, we hope to further strengthen the process of inclusive development.

The Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education Act, 2009 creates a framework for legal entitlements for all children in the age group of 6 to 14 years to education of good quality, based on principles of equity and non-discrimination. In recent years, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has made significant contribution in improving enrolment and infrastructure for elementary education. About 98 per cent of habitations are now covered by primary schools. I propose to increase the plan allocation for school education from INR 26,800 crore in 2009-10 to INR 31,036 crore in 2010-11. In addition, States will have access to INR 3,675 crore for elementary education under the Thirteenth Finance Commission grants for 2010-11.”

In order to support the developmental measures in the economy, adequate investment in training, skill development and education in the larger economy was necessary and need of the hour as indicated by the experts.

The Budget announced a major allocation with an increment of INR 31,036 crore in the current fiscal year against the previous year's allocation of INR 26,800 crore for elementary education which is a INR 4,236 crore or 16% increase from the 2009-10 fiscal. In addition to this, the states' access to a grant of INR 3,675 crore in the current year for basic education will ensure states' responsibility of the 65:35 Centre-State funding arrangement dedicated to the Right To Education (RTE).

National Skill Development Corporation has approved three projects worth about INR 45 crore to create 10 lakh skilled manpower at the rate of one lakh per annum.

An extensive skill development programme in the textile and garment sector to be launched by leveraging the strength of existing institutions and instruments of the Textile Ministry to train 30 lakh persons over 5 years.

The spending on social sector has been gradually increased to INR 1,37,674 crore in 2010-11, which is 37% of the total plan outlay in 2010-11.

Another 25 per cent of the plan allocations are devoted to the development of rural infrastructure.

Allocation for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme stepped up to INR 40,100 crore in 2010-11. However, there is no specific mention of the Higher Education allocations this year, though.

Union Budget 2009-10 announced the provision for the scheme 'Mission in Education through ICT' substantially increased to INR 900 crore and the provision for setting up and up-gradation of Polytechnics under the Skill Development Mission enhanced to INR 495 crore. INR 827 crore allocated for opening one Central University in each uncovered State. INR 2,113 crore allocated for IITs and NITs which includes a provision of INR 450 crore for new IITs and NITs. The overall Plan budget for higher education was to be increased by INR 2,000 crore over Interim B.E. 2009-10.

Impact on education sector

Tracking the life and times of the acheivers

It was probably in my class 3 or 4 history textbook that I read that 'Augustus Caeser completely transformed Rome. When he became emperor, it was not a great city. But when he died, it was completely transformed with miles of good roads and good facilities'. Somehow, those lines have always stayed with me. Years later, some of us asked ourselves 'Can one person (or a small group of people) change the world?” and told ourselves that the answer was 'yes'!

All-India Exposure: I did my schooling in Calcutta and Delhi, engineering in Madras and have now lived for the past 15 years in Ahmedabad, giving me a strong basis to claim to be 'all-Indian'. I got a ZX Spectrum home computer thanks to a generous uncle in the US when I was in class 9, and at IIT Madras moved from punch cards to a Siemens mainframe computer. IIM Ahmedabad upgraded their PC lab (from XTs!) the year I was there and I was in-charge of the lab. At IIT, I used to bunk my engineering drawing classes (having had the advantage of already having done that in class 11 and 12) to work on my passion

Emerging Directions in Global Education: Catalysing Change

Left to right: Anand Sudarshan, Dr. V S Ramamurthy, Sam Pitroda, Shri Kapil Sibal, Dr. Martha Kanter and Prof. V N Rajasekharan Pillai at the inauguration of EDGE 2010

EDGE 2010 was a conference that was spread over a period of three days (3-5th March 2010), at Indian Habitat Centre, New Delhi, with agenda that was to address the 'Emerging Directions in Global Education'. The first day witnessed registration for workshops and inaugration of the conference and two workshops.

The First Day

Workshop I: “Lessons Learned: Issues to Consider in Building a National Admissions Test” by The College Board, USA. The panelists for the workshop consisted of  Janine M. Farhat, Senior International Specialist, The College Board, who also chaired the session; James Montoya, Vice President, Higher Education Relationship Development, The College Board; Dr. C. Peter Magrath, Senior Presidential Advisor, The College Board; Dr. Andrew Wiley, Executive Director for Higher Education, The College Board; and Madan Padaki, Co-Founder 7 CEO, MeritTrac Services.

Workshop II: Education Governance

The panelists coinsisted of Prof. N. Ravichandran, Director IIM Indore; Prof. Rachel Davis, Adjunct Professor, National University of Singapore; Prof. Krishna K. Ladha, Professor, IIM Kozhikode; Prof. C.V. Baxi, Former Director, MDI Gurgaon; Sharat Kumar, Former Director, IMT Ghaziabad; Dr. Pallab Bandyopadhyay, Vice President

&lsquo:Classroom of the Future&rsquo:

Technology plays the most important role in modernising global education systems and India shows no exception in that. In such scenario, the usage of Interactive Whiteboard and Audiovisual equipments is emerging as one of the powerful pedagogical innovations in the teaching and learning process.

sangita ghosh de, digitallearning, explores.


The advancement and inventions in the domain of technology are having an unprecedented effect on the methods of teaching-learning process globally developing the concept of “classroom of the future” as an extremely advanced and modified picture.

Technology plays the most important role in modernising global education systems and India shows no exception in that. Need and awareness for technology-enabled education is spreading in across the verticals of the education system in India. According to the researchers and experts, technological determinism and the predictability of technological change in education have now become the area of research and analysis.

In the process, the idea of multi-media concept in education, has gained much momentum where the integration of voice, data and video resources creates synergistic effect. The emergence of this new concept of media convergence is also changing the curriculum in universities all over the world.

Multimedia, which also connotes to Audiovisual term of the medium, is usually a combination of computerised and electronic devices that includes a combination of text, audio, still images, animation, video, and interactivity content forms in contrast to conventional media which only use traditional forms of printed or hand-produced material. Here particular attention is paid to the audio and visual presentation of the material with the goal of improving comprehension and retention. In that scenario, the usage of Interactive Whiteboard (IWB) and Audiovisual equipments is emerging as one of the powerful pedagogical innovations in the teaching and learning process.

The background and opportunity

According to a recent research report by Futuresource Consulting Ltd. of United Kingdom, India provides a significant market opportunity for suppliers of IT equipments, because of its 4.9 million classrooms spread across 1.2 million schools (of which 1.6 million  are in private schools – private schools only represent 19% of the total number of schools in India). Overall, there are almost as many private schools in India as there are government schools which have computers, however, the market is extremely fragmented with a vast disparity in the education system throughout
the country.

In most schools, IT equipment tends to be located in an IT lab as opposed to individual classrooms, thereby limiting the potential penetration opportunities for IWBs and projectors.

According to Jaemes Shanley, Director of Sales-Asia Pacific-Latin America-New Mexico, mimio – a leading IWB vendor, “Given that today's students tend to be already “digital” in their awareness and orientation, one could also argue that use of Interactive Whiteboard in the classroom simply makes the environment more relevant for students. The IWB and related interactive systems at work in the classroom not only utilise the power and versatility of digital media and information as content for learning but also synchronise the classroom context with the contemporary world outside the school.”
Outside IT Labs, a cost-effective bundled solution incorporating PC, projector and IWB

Distributed Education: Learning and Beyond : Thimmiya A.M, Manipal Education

 Manipal Education provides with a service of distance education. Can you tell us about the importance of distance learning and skills education?

Present day distance learning is based on ideology of creating and building on human capital. It has moved to another level all together with objective of creating substantial work force that can aid in raising the economy of a country to newer heights. The former is supportive of what is known as the ‘Earn & Learn’ model. This model enables people who are already in jobs or people who want to get into jobs, to avail educational opportunities whereby they can learn the fundamentals of a particular skill and gather knowledge from hands-on practicals with certification. Scope of vocational training is now being realised at a wide scale. This is applicable right from 10+2 level to Post Graduation. There is provision of scalability in between employment. ODL programmes help in enhancing career profiles.

What are the challenges in the field of distance education?
What are the challenges in the fi eld of distance education? Rather than a specifi c challenge, be it across – distance education or campus education – is employment versus employability. The biggest challenge is whether people today fi t into their work spaces or not. I think the challenge that organisations face is that they need people fi rstly and with full productivity,
gone are the days when they could hire people put them for induction for years and then get productivity out of them. So they need people on priority basis who can give immediate productivity. So largely distance education appeals to people who are working largely education appeals to people who are working. So they bring with them their experince, that exposure of the practical work and the course is also laid out in such a manner that it helps them optimise their productivity. Our courses are also geared to meet the challenges.
We have in our own way tried to design the curriculum including lot of practical experiences, presenting real-life situations so that candidates are more competent. In formal learning streams, all subjects are not possible to fi nd and that is where distance learning education opens doors to different courses. What is your understanding of the eLearning scenario w.r.t distan e education? eLearning is basically seeing a paradigm shift. From Teacher – Centric to Learner – Centric in both campus nad distance education. We have come up with inititaives like EduNext, which is collaborative learning – which addresses the issue of teacher and student centric learning. Now earlier in Teacher centric mode, teacher would come teach and
go and student would also go bakc home and learn from what teacher had taught. So what answers were gathered were the ones taught, while in a learner centric mode, a student can browse for information, and gather as much information as student wants. The challenge equally exists for the teacher fraternity, with technology that has come to stay. Everything and every information is available fl exibily anywhere, at any time. What are the kind of supportdoes an education service provider like yourself, expect of the government?
I think support isn’t the correct thing that we seek, it is the clarity that we want.I think if rules and regulations are not opaque or grey, and there is a clear cut policy and farmework, of what can be and what can not be done with no ambiguity on that one; but keeping in view all theaspirations and fl exibility. The rules that are rigid are not helpful. Inclusiveness
and expansion are two things that are to be implemented if you need to proceed with any action in relation to above. What do you opine of PPP, especially, when people mostly see it as a
profi teering collaboration for the private sector? You listen to any world leader, from developed or a developing country, you  ill fi nd two important pegs in that, oneis education and health. We at Manipal Education, ever since inception 57 years back we have dedicated ourselves to education and health. We did not enter this sector becasue of the commercial
aspect. The amount of investment we made, that people asked us not to for various reasons, was made for a casue not profi t. And distance education is a cause to support increase in GER.
Even the courses that we initially started were to provide customised and professional education to the masses. As well as to help the existing professional sector. \\
Rather than a specific challenge, be it across

India will become one of the world

What are the major impacts that Interactive Whiteboards and Audiovisual equipments have overall in transforming education system? 

The universal appeal and educational impact of Interactive Whiteboards, of which more than 750,000 units were sold and installed worldwide in 2009, derives from their ability, when utilized by appropriately trained teachers to create lessons and learning exercises that are more engaging and stimulating to students.   
 
How does the use of IWB and AV aids change the dynamics of the classroom?

Given that today’s students tend to be already “digital” in their awareness and orientation, one could also argue that use of Interactive Whiteboard in the classroom simply makes the environment more relevant for students.  Most students recognise that the world they will enter as adults will be characterised by ubiquitous information technology and that both social and professional communication, interaction and collaboration will be enabled by digital tools. The IWB and related interactive systems at work in the classroom not only utilise the power and versatility of digital media and information as content for learning but also synchronise the classroom context with the contemporary world outside the school.
 
How do you see the Indian market of IWB and AV aids is growing in comparison to the international market?

While India is at an early stage in the adoption of classroom technologies like IWB’s, we see three important factors at play, in addition to India’s huge population size, which are likely to catapult India to the forefront of large markets for educational technology in the near future.  

Firstly, there is probably no other nation which has seen the transformative impact of a well educated and technologically literate workforce on the national economy that can accelerate the extraordinary growth of the Indian economy in the future. Secondly, India already has some of the worlds most highly innovative providers of ICT to education. India the fastest growing and one of the largest markets for mimio outside of North America over the past two years.Thirdly, that the rapid growth in adoption of ICT and IWB’s in the private schools sector will migrate to the public or government schools sector in the coming years and when it does, will be of unprecedented scale.
 
What is the comparative ratio of the usage of IWB and A/V aids in India comparison to the global perspectives?

In mimio’s experience, most IWB and A/V adoptions in the K-12 educational system of India are primarily in the private schools today, with some some of the national government schools just beginning to trial some solutions.I would describe government education authorities’ position today as one of interest, analysis and trial more than active support of adoptions but that can and probably will change quickly and fairly soon.
 
Could you please mention about the range of the products the price range?

At this moment, mimio provides a range of portable and highly affordable solutions for creating Interactive Whiteboards in classrooms. The cost of these systems can start at prices as low as Rs 32,000.   The additional of whiteboard digitizing tools and accessories or RF wireless computer interface can increase the price up to as much as Rs 60,000 but overall the combination of low product cost, negligible installation costs, and unsurpassed warranty (5 years) and low warranty service costs makes mimio an ideal solution to bring ICT to a maximum number of students within any given budget. 
 
How do you see the future picture in terms of usage and the tentative market size?

India will undoubtedly become one of the world’s largest ICT markets in the coming years.   It already has an exceptional world class infrastructure of knowledgeable expert companies fully capable of delivering highly effective ICT implementations nationwide. In my opinion, what will both trigger and catapult the growth will be the alignment of these highly capable Indian private company resources and suppliers of world leading solutions with government policy and commitment to applying the powerful leverage of ICT to Indian public education.

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