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Dell Hosts Roundtable on role of IT in education at Gitex

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digitalLEARNING Network
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Bringing together representatives from across the Middle East's education sector, Dell hosted a roundtable to explore the role of IT in learning across all levels of education. The open discussion forum also showcased the company's education products and services alongside education application partner SunGard. The roundtable focused on the many benefits of effective IT in education. Using new technologies, educators can make informed decisions that can lead to better time management, streamlined online testing and personalized student information via student unique identification numbers used to check their grades, assignments and test dates. The conversation also addressed how better access to information from data warehouses can help teachers create their own improved learning resources to improve student outcomes.

 

One example of how Dell technology is benefitting the education sector is the Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) in the U.A.E. Using Dell's PowerEdge M-Series blade server, combined with other data center equipment, and ERP and learning management applications, HCT students not only gain access to the most up-to-date information and communications technology, the institute is able to reduce both power and cooling costs while increasing server capacity. During the session, Dell was able to present its education solutions, including the Latitude 2100 netbook and ProSupport services. Influenced by the needs of primary education students, Dell Latitude 2100 netbook present educators with the opportunity to enhance lessons and boost time management. The Latitude 2100 has unique features for schools like bright primary colors and a more rugged, 'rubberized' design that is easier for children to carry and use safely. It also offers wireless connectivity that can be monitored by the teacher with a Network Activity Light on the netbook lid. An optional touchscreen is a first for an education netbook and makes the Latitude 2100 a perfect choice for enhanced student interaction, assessment, and for special education teaching.

CAT applications see decline after a Decade

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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Applications for the common admission test (CAT) of the coveted Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) and 150 other B-schools have come  down by 12% over last year, its first annual dip in over a decade, as aspirants wait for the economy to pick up pace before they pursue a management course.  The new online system of applications also ensured that only those who meet the basic eligibility criteria get to register, according to IIMs' CAT committee, which said no application was rejected this year, another first in CAT history. Last year, 2.76 lakh applications were registered, but only 2.46 lakh finally took the test. This year, the number of applications itself has dipped to 2.41 lakh. CAT 2009 convenor and IIM-A faculty member Satish Deodhar said many potential candidates may have been dissuaded by the impact of the global economic slowdown on salaries and employment.

 

CAT registrations have been going up annually by double digits since 1998, and the past three years had seen a growth rate of 20-25%.  There has also been an increase in the number of candidates with work experience this year, with 71% of all candidates claiming work experience of more than six months. Most students who registered have a technical background, and female candidates constitute 26% of the total pool. The numbers were officially released by the IIMs, which is holding the computerised test with support from Prometric, a testing and assessment services providing firm. Axis Bank, authorised for selling the CAT 2009 registration voucher, sold 2,46,912 forms. Online registration for CAT had gone through a rough phase when it opened on September 9, with candidates complaining of technical glitches. 

Centre Stage at Interbuild Innovators take up by Innovators in the education construction

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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Innovators in the education construction sector have taken centre stage at this year's Interbuild show with the event's first major award ceremony taking place – the Interbuild BSF Innnovation Awards. Six awards were bestowed on companies competing in five categories, following a full day of judging by experts including Andrew King, New Projects Development Director at Bovis Lend Lease; Helen Aston, Transformation Lead at Birmingham Local Education Partnership and Mike Donovan, Transforming Education Principle Advisor for Birmingham City Council.

 

In the 'Best sustainable product' category, the competition was so tight that the submissions from HushTex and Steelway couldn't be split and were awarded joint winners. Best M&E innovation went to E-Stack, a pioneer in low energy natural ventilation systems for schools. Other category winners included Polyflor for 'Best building fabric innovation', Steljes for 'Best ICT innovation', and Furniture Keystage, which picked up the 'Best product for enhancement of learning' award. In the Construction Forum, education remained a strong debating theme with guest speakers including Sal Wilson from Partnerships for Schools, Ian Fordham from the British Council for School Environments and Robert Holt from Carillion. The day's keynote address was left to Peter Bonfield, chief executive of the BRE and Olympic Delivery Authority, who discussed whether London 2012 will be the most sustainable Games in history.

Lead exposure leads to lower test scores

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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Exposure to lead in early childhood impairs performance on reading tests among minority and low-income children, according to a new study. The analysis showed that children already at the low end of the test-score curve were more greatly affected by lead exposure – the greater the exposure, the greater the impact on their scores. The study linked data on blood-lead levels from the North Carolina Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program surveillance registry to reading test scores for 4th graders in all 100 of the states counties.

The study's analysis revealed that early childhood exposure to lead, the family's poverty status and parental education all account for a decline in test-scores. On average, exposure to lead accounts for between seven percent and 16 percent of the decline, with a larger decline associated with higher blood-lead levels. By comparison, they found the family's poverty status, as indicated by enrolment in a free or reduced-price school lunch programme, accounts for 25 % to 28 % of a decline in test results.

Silver Jubilee Year for IGNOU

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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In 1985 it was started as a university for disadvantaged students, now 25 years later Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) has evolved into a premier educational institution. The varsity will enter its silver jubilee year next month. Currently, IGNOU is one of the largest open university in the world providing education to 2.5 million students both in India and abroad. It has 61 regional centres, 2,243 learner support centres spread across 34 countries across the globe. The varsity offers 3,500 courses in 323 academic spheres. IGNOU has been recognized as Centre of Excellence in Distance Education by the Commonwealth of Learning, Canada. Started with a vision of social inclusion and democratization of education, IGNOU has a large number of socially and academically relevant programmes and nation-wide student support system. It offers state-of-the-art education through face-to-face, webcasts, telecasts and video conferencing.

Funds for colleges

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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USAID has funded three Further Education and Training (FET) colleges with $6.7-million (about R49-million) for skills development, Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande said on Tuesday. The three-year-long initiative would be implemented in 12 FET colleges in Limpopo, Mpumalanga and the Northern Cape. A further $1.7-million (R12.4-million) was dedicated to an HIV/Aids programme. In this year's State of the Nation address, President Jacob Zuma announced that the FET sector, with its 50 colleges and 236 campuses nationally, would be the primary site for skills development and training. The aim was to develop the sector into an effective part of the government's skills development programme. In line with this vision, the government had also decided to recapitalise FET colleges with an investment of R1.9-billion for the three years ending in March this year. The money was largely spent on infrastructure, equipment, development of a new curriculum and human resources.

HP Doubles Awards in Education Grants Across Europe, Middle East & Africa

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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HP  named12 universities across Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) that will each receive an HP Mobile Technology for Teaching Grant for equipment and training valued at around EUR 55,000. The number of grant recipients has doubled this year, marking an expansion of the grant program to Central & Eastern Europe and Africa.

The Technology for Teaching grants enable universities to pioneer the use of mobile technology in education and explore ways to redesign core courses in maths, science, business and engineering using mobile technology. The grants contribute to embedding technology in the classroom, improving the exchange between teachers and students.The institutions chosen this year to receive HP Mobile Technology for Teaching Grants will be given a standard package: classroom sets of HP Tablet PCs, HP printers, cameras and projectors, as well as stipends and wireless technology for faculty use. The grant awards also support the participation of a faculty representative at the annual HP Technology for Teaching Worldwide Higher Education conference, to be held in early 2007.

The recipient universities will become part of a larger community of practice, joining faculty from around the world in exploring innovations in teaching through the effective use of technology. For HP, these grants are a catalyst for ideas that can lead to improving student success in higher education.

From 2004 to 2006, HP has contributed a total of US$36 million in Technology for Teaching Grants to more than 650 schools worldwide. Over the last 20 years, HP has contributed more than US$1 billion in cash and equipment to schools, universities, community organizations and other non-profit organisations around the world. Since the inception of the HP Technology for Teaching initiative, grant recipients have reported a positive influence on teaching and student learning as a result of the program.

For 2006, the twelve recipient universities in EMEA include: Cadi Ayyad University, Faculty of Sciences Semlalia, Morocco, College of Telecommunications & Information Technology (CTIT) of the Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation (ETC), Ethiopia, Mansoura University, Egypt, University of Veszpr

‘Vision Doc’ is focus for IIT for future collaborations

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) will focus on a 'Vision Document' prepared by a three-member committee. The 'vision' is set upon the measures to suggest IITs' collaboration with the private sector in IT, biotech and other emerging areas. The IIT Council also settled upon appointing the directors and board members based on the recommendation made by an independent collegium. Reforming the non-plan grants for IITs, the IIT Council announced that instead of the existing scheme of block grants, it would now be based on the number of students in each IIT, which means that more grant will be allotted to the institutes having more students. In order to attract investment from foreign universities, changes will be incorporated even in the norms so that short term investment from any overseas institute can be made in the IITs.

12th Marks should be given more weightage, Sibal tells IITs

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs) should give more weightage to the Class 12 examination marks for admission to the undergraduate courses, union Human Resource Development (HRD) Minister Kapil Sibal said on Monday. Sibal stressed that the IIT admission procedures 'should give more weightage to Class 12 exam marks' as well as consider raising the existing 60 % cut-off percentage for students to appear in the IIT-Joint Entrance Examination (JEE). The minister made the comments while chairing a meeting of the IIT Council in Delhi.

Sibal proposed a new system under which only high-scoring Class 12 students will be allowed to sit for the entrance exams to professional courses and the cut-off percentage for being eligible to write these exams would be 80-85 % instead of the current 60 %. At the IIT Council meeting, the minister said he also wanted to get rid of professional coaching for medical and engineering exams. However, coaching centres like Career Launcher, which trains students to face the competitive exam, said that doing away with the coaching centres or increasing weightage for the Class 12 exam marks was not the real solution. Sibal has also asked for setting up a five-member committee to make the IITs more competitive. Another committee has been constituted to look into the IIT curriculum.

3rd Qatar National Robot Olympiad to be hosted in Doha

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Edutech Middle East, a leading international learning solutions provider, and Qatar Independent Technical School (QITS) will jointly host the '3rd Qatar National Robot Olympiad' (NRO) in Doha. A total of over 15 teams have signed up for the competition to be held on October 25, 2009, and will vie for a spot at the 'World Robot Olympiad 2009' in South Korea as Qatar's official delegation. Supported by the WRO Committee, LEGO Education and Qatar Petroleum, the event will be attended by representatives from Qatar Petroleum, the Supreme Education Council, Qatar University, Qatar Foundation and ICT QATAR. Launched by Edutech for the first time in 2007 to select participants for the World Robot Olympiad (WRO), 'Qatar NRO' is a unique competition for mid-school and high-school students to test their innovativeness, creativity and technological abilities in the world of robotics. Participating teams will be required to solve basic robotic problems within a predetermined time limit using a set of standard equipment and parts.

This year, participants in the Open Category will have to assemble a robot following the theme 'Artist Robot' and demonstrate their creation's unique capabilities both in a verbal and written presentation. Each team will be judged according to their robot's relevance to the theme, creativity, technical superiorly and overall presentation. Last year, Al-Khor International School (British Stream) emerged as the winner of the '2nd Qatar NRO', which was staged under the theme 'Saving Global Environment'. The winning team, who beat students from leading government and private schools in Qatar, was sent to compete at the 'WRO 2008' in Yokohama, Japan. Established in 2002 in Singapore, the 'World Robot Olympiad' is an annual event that gathers talented young robotics enthusiasts from various countries to exhibit their robotics and creative skills under multiple categories. The event has been to Thailand, China, Taiwan, and Japan, with this year's competition set to be held in Kyoungbuk, Pohang, South Korea from November 06 to 08, 2009.

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