In order to enrich teacher training programmes, which include diploma and certificate in primary education, the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) is developing a portal (depssa.ignou.ac.in/ wiki). The portal is expected to be launched soon. KR Srivathsan, Pro Vice-Chancellor, IGNOU, told that nned of streamlining the teaching methodology is the need of the hour. In addition, interactive and supportive approach for handling students in terms of self reflection is also a priority. The portal would be helpful for both the above as well as uploading multimedia publishing content to serve the purpose of teaching. Srivathsan states that while there is a profusion of online content in terms of teacher training, there is no portal that helps in structuring that content into effective training modules. The portal will also include an open course guide. He added that the aim of the portal is to make teaching efficient in accordance to the needs and aspirations of the teachers. He sums up that the portal will also be linked to the community radio stations and other local media platforms.
Digital Literacy grants for schools by British Computer Society
With the start of the Autumn term, BCS (British Computer Society) is urging schools to claim Government money designed to help pupils benefit from the latest digital technologies. The beginning of the new academic year means a new raft of schools are now eligible for Harnessing Technology Grants, however, many schools who contact the BCS about enhancing education through digital technology are unsure how to go about claiming the money, told Peter Leavy, a strategic consultant at BCS responsible for its Digital Creator learning resource.
The grants are available for improving ICT infrastructure, such as upgrading a school's broadband connectivity, to systems that help improve classroom learning, such as whiteboards. It is also available for resources such as Digital Creator, which builds pupils' digital media skills (such as creating and sharing podcasts and digital video) and encourages them to use these across the curriculum. The online BCS digital media tool is suitable for pupils of primary and secondary school age, and leads to a qualification the equivalent of a GCSE Grade B.
Kapil Sibal Launches
Shri Kapil Sibal, Union Minister for Human Resourced Development has recently launched 'Aakash', a low cost access cum computing device, in New Delhi.
This device was also distributed among 500 children on the occasion. Speaking on the occasion the Minister underlined that Aakash will help in eliminating digital illiteracy. For this he also emphasised the need for having high quality study content to be made accessible to students. He also called for support and partnership from all so that the device could cost further less, while praising the team which had worked towards the creation and production of this device.
The development of this device has been done in India in a plant at Hyderabad. This unique device is meant for students across India. Using this device, and the connectivity also provided under this Mission, learners will be able to access all the thousands of items of content available on the Sakshat portal and other educational web-sites.
Reliance connects Rashtrapati Bhavan, US University
Reliance Communication's telecom solution was chosen to connect Rashtrapati Bhavan of India and the University of California, during the recently held US – India summit in education, research and technology. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />
Mr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, President of India, had given the keynote address of the summit organised by the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2). The President's address was beamed live from the Rashtrapati Bhavan to a larger audience in San Diego using 50 Mbps bandwidth through Reliance's Virtual Private Network (VPN) services. According to the company while the State-owned MTNL provided dark fibre connectivity into the Rashtrapati Bhawan, Reliance Communications provided fully redundant connectivity between New Delhi and Los Angeles, California.
Digital Technologies for poor-country schools through Open campaign in partnership with UN
A partnership brought together Silicon Valley, UN agencies and the educational community to take measured aim at the digital divide in global education, avoiding the errors of early attempts to force-feed personal computers on schools ill-equipped to put them to use. The action plan was adopted today at a global forum on ICT (information and communication technologies) in education in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey, an industrial and high-tech powerhouse in its own right. Among the objectives of the partnership are to train and certify one million teachers annually at the
Auto Quiz by DTU and Mahindra
Delhi Technological University (DTU) along with automobile giant Mahindra & Mahindra will be organizing an auto quiz 'Auto Quotient' (AQ) in Delhi on September 18, 2009 to create an understanding and knowledge about today's and tomorrow's automobiles and also to providing a platform for promoting and engaging youngsters with a passion for all things auto, under its Mahindra AQ initiative. The aim of the quiz is to allow the young engineering students a chance to interact with experts in the auto field and to create the thrill and excitement about the challenging, exciting and exhilarating world of automobiles.
DTU has been identified by Mahindra & Mahindra for showcasing the event primarily because a number of automobile innovations such as Hybrid Car, Super-mileage Vehicle, All-Terrain Vehicle and Formula Students Car, have been designed and developed by the DTU (erstwhile DCE), which have won high national and international acclaim in SAE International Competitions. The Mahindra AQ Quiz is being organized in collaboration with NDTV Profit. DTU is focused on fuel-efficiency and eco-friendly automobile design and development.
No X class Boards from 2011
There are to be no Class X public exams for Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) affiliated schools from 2011 and a grading system would be introduced from the current academic session, announced Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal. The minister told that the board exams would be held as usual this academic year, but a grading system would be introduced along with the prevalent marks system.
Sibal had so far maintained the Class 10 board exams would be optional. He mentioned that it would be at discretion of the students to choose the evaluation on the board exam system. The grading system, he said, would have A1, A2, B1, B2, C1, C2, D, E1 and E2 grades.
Research: Australia
Recently, a newly released survey highlighted that 70% of ICT graduates wish they had undertaken more work experience when at university. This tallies with the importance that prospective employers place on work experience. More than 700 recent ICT graduates from 21 Australian universities responded to the survey which was funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council and led by a team from the University of Wollongong. While there was satisfaction with the quality of technical preparation, there was a resounding call by employers and the graduates themselves for improved work-integrated learning.
When asked how well they thought their university had prepared them for employment in the industry, 70% of students wanted more workplace learning to be included in their courses. John Debrincat, Chairman of the ACS Foundation, said that the findings support the activities of the ACS Foundation which promotes the concept of mandatory Work Integrated Learning for all ICT students. Since its launch in August 2001, the ACS Foundation has raised more than $23.5 million and awarded more than 1,650 scholarships. There have been a number of recent surveys of organisations which employ graduates, including a pilot study by the Australian Information Industry Association (AIIA) which was conducted in conjunction with this graduate study. It showed that less than half the employer organisations were satisfied with the personal qualities and interpersonal skills of their recent graduate recruits. The areas most in need of improvement were communication and problem solving skills.
All districts to get Self Employment Training Units through government
Government plans to set up 500 Rural Self-Employment Training Institutes in each district of the country under the proposed 'National Rural Livelihood Mission'. The Mission, being designed to replace the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojna (SGSY), aims at reducing poverty in rural areas through promotion of diversified and gainful self-employment and wage employment opportunities as the SGSY has failed to yield the desired results. Setting up of RSETIs across the country on lines of RUDSETI is expected to be a success in bringing more BPL households in the network of swarojgari (self- employed) groups by providing training to the beneficiaries under the proposed NRLM, told an official.
NRLM also proposes to use the existing infrastructure facilities at district and block levels such as Polytechnics, Krishi Vigyan Kendras, Jan Shikshan Sansthans, Khadi and Village Industries Boards and State Institutes of Rural Development for capacity building and orientation programmes, told an official.
National Awards for 300 teachers
On the occasion of Teacher's Day 'National Awards' conferred to meritorious teachers. Vice President of India, M. Hamid Ansari, said that in the past decade and a half, India has made impressive strides in universalizing access to primary education. About 300 teachers from all over the country were awarded this year. Each award carried with it a Certificate of Merit, a cash award of Rs.25,000 and a Silver Medal. Ansari said that the time has come now to assess whether formal enrolment has been translated into meaningful educational outcomes.
The Vice President expressed his concern that the question of inequity, and of segregated access to quality, remains a problem. He stressed that since Independence issue of equity has been center of focus in educational planning. Furthermore, issue of access equity and quality are main concerns that need to be addressed in parallel fashion. The same are especially required to be assessed in term of their execution for the poor and the vulnerable at the bottom of the socio-economic pyramid.Ansari also appreciated the awardees for their life-long service to the educational community and hoped that they would become role models for others in this most noble of callings.
