Oman MoE staff to attend Microsoft ICT Training of Trainers programme

Corporate Updates

By

-

May 26, 2009

To support teachers and ministry staff gain proficiency in a wide variety of Information and Communications Technology (ICT) skills, Microsoft Oman partnered with the Ministry of Education (MoE), and recently concluded a 'Training of Trainers' programme. The intensive technical training programs and workshops were attended by 25 teachers from different schools and 25 MoE personnel, thereby gaining proficiency in a wide variety of ICT skills from email and calendar support to group projects and communication tools.

The training was a product of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between MoE and Microsoft Oman. The training was meant to implement the globally successful Partners in Learning program in Oman which is committed to empower students and teachers and transform education worldwide. The focus of the above was on three key areas including Innovative Teachers, Innovative Schools, and Innovative Students. The goal of the partnership was to enhance the the transformative power of software to create innovative educational experiences that bring students and teachers closer worldwide. The different topics to be covered in the training included Innovative Teaching Using Technology, Integrating ICT in Education, The Learning Process, Review of software tools for innovative teaching in the classroom and Digital Lifestyle. The objective of the programme was to aid teachers integrate ICT into teaching and learning in a meaningful way and also empowering students to use ICT in their schoolwork and learning.

UPSC announces CRPF – Asstt.Commandants examination result

Higher Education

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 26, 2009

The Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced the result of written part of the Central Police Forces- Asstt.Commandants (CRPF) Examination, held in October 2008. The Central Reserve Police Force, nodal authority nominated by Ministry of Home Affairs will intimate to the candidates about the date, time & venue of the Physical Standards Tests/Physical Efficiency Tests (PET) & Medical Standards Tests, to be conducted by them.

In case of non-receipt of the call letter for these tests by the 5th week of May 2009, the candidates may contact the CRPF on telephone no. 011-24362802 or on fax no.011-24362479. The marks of candidates who have not qualified in paper-I or both papers of CPF (ACs) Examination, 2008 shall be available on the Commission's Website within 30 days after declaration of result and would be available on the Website for a period of 60 days. Candidates have been advised to intimate change in their address, if any, to the CRPF Authorities, Block No.1, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi-110003 and U.P.S.C. immediately, to facilitate delivery of summon letters to them promptly.

eRate applicants frustrated with audits

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 25, 2009

Opinions about the management of the federal e-Rate program have improved over the last year, a new survey suggests. But applicants continue to be frustrated by audits, and they'd like to see more transparency in the program. e-Rate consulting firm Funds for Learning (FFL) released the results of its second annual survey of e-Rate participants June 29. The e-Rate provides US$2.25 billion in telecommunications discounts for eligible schools and libraries each year, but keeping track of the program's many rules and deadlines can pose a challenge to applicants. Nearly 73 % of those surveyed who expressed an opinion about the e-Rate's management gave program administrators a favorable review–up from 65 % last year. Those who strongly agreed that the e-Rate is well managed increased from 14 % to 20 % in the same period, while those who strongly disagreed with this statement dropped from 10 % to 7 %.

Four out of five applicants said the e-Rate is meeting its goal of connecting schools and libraries to the Internet, and 71 % said their organization has more classrooms online as a result of the program–up from 59 % last year. But applicants continue to say the Two-in-Five Rule, which limits a school or library's receipt of funding for internal connections to twice in a five-year period, is not having its intended effect, which is to allow this funding to reach a greater number of entities. In last year's survey, applicants regarded the Bishop Perry Order–a rule change from 2006 that allowed them to make corrections to specific items on their applications, if minor errors are discovered–as the most positive change to the e-Rate program in recent years. This year, however, applicants weren't quite so enamored with the order. The percentage of respondents who believed Bishop Perry would bring no change to the e-Rate program was 36 %, up from 25 % last year.

PDAs to mould the personality of high school children

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 25, 2009

Handheld devices are boosting interest and results in education among the school children in UK. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The initiatives to provide schoolchildren with constant access to information through PDAs are coming with proven results. The handheld device is an invaluable means of supporting personalised learning and has become a buzzword for ensuring the school children not to be treated like homogeneous groups of pupils but more like individuals, with different needs and interests. Some of the free software is so good and powerful that children can handle themselves. However, the devices are considered ideal for secondary schools rather than primary schools.

Rockets launch by ISRO to study solar eclipse

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 25, 2009

A series of rockets will be launched by the Indian space agency from its two centres between Thursday and Sunday to study Friday's solar eclipse and its after effects. Arrangements are being made by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to send up a series of sounding rockets. These rockets are to carry instruments to measure the physical parameters of the upper atmosphere – from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh and Thumba in Kerala to study the effects of the solar eclipse. The solar eclipse on Friday will be for a duration of 11.8 minutes. The sounding rockets will be fired before and after.

The nine-meter RH 560 rockets weigh 1.5 tonnes and carry a 100-kg payload of instruments each. The two-stage rocket will take the instruments 500 km above the earth's surface. From Sriharikota, there will be one launch each on Friday and Sunday. ISRO's Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) in Kerala is to launch most of the rockets. On Thursday four rockets will be launched from TERLS and five on Friday. The rockets fired from TERLS are smaller than RH 560. They will reach 75 to 120 km above the earth.

OMATEK exports e-education

Corporate Updates

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 25, 2009

Omatek, ventures Plc have decided to extend most of its e-education initiatives outside the shores of Nigeria. The indigenous computer company, last week assisted the Ghanaian Government in achieving its goal of ensuring that every Ghanaian owns a personal computer. To seal its support, it distributed computers to beneficiaries under the Omatek e-Xpress/Government Assisted PC Programme(GAPP) which is originally a Nigerian e-education initiative of Omatek. Handing over the computers, Group Managing Director of Omatek, Florence Seriki said that Omatek will continue to produce quality products to satisfy the demands of its ever growing customers. She explained that the Omatek e-xpress consumer scheme makes it easy for civil servants, corporate organizations, educational institutions and students to acquire computers through a convenient payment plan spanning 12- 24 months and is being supported by leading banks in the country.

The scheme now in Ghana, forms part of Ghana Government Assisted PC Programme tagged i-Advance which aims at equipping every Ghanaian with Personal Computers at affordable prices. Reactiong to the gesture, Ghana Minister of Education, Alex Tetteh-Enyo commended Omatek for its efforts at bridging the digital divide while enhancing Information Technology penetration in Ghana. He said the Omatek Computer consumer ownership scheme will help beneficiaries keep pace with the latest developments in Information Communication Technology the world over. He however promised to institute policies and strategies in the Education Ministry to focus on embracing ICT in education. Also, the representative of the Minister of Communication, Alice Attipoe said the hand-over ceremony represented a successful collaboration between Omatek and the i-Advance project initiated by the Ministry. Meanwhile, one of the beneficiaries, Doh Castro, who is a teacher to children with disabilities, said the laptop could not have come at a better time, as it would enable him research on new teaching techniques to enhance his job performance. The beneficiaries cut across educational institutions in public and private sectors, the Land Valuation Board as well as other government parastatals and institutions in Ghana.

e-Tool to be used across India

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 25, 2009

A revolutionary e-Learning tool could soon be used across < ?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />India and could help bridge the growing gap between skills availability and requirement. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The adaptive assessment and e-Learning tool called LearnITy, which is keyed to global standards, has been developed by a team of researchers at Kolkata’s Jadavpur University in collaboration with an American university. As many as 21 of India’s centres of excellence, both academic and research, are already using this e-Tool. Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) is using it to support the project assessment of EDUSAT, India’s satellite exclusively for education. Sun Microsystems and IBM too have begun using it. Through LearnITy the student answers the questions online and gets to know within 10 minutes if he has achieved the level of knowledge required. More than 100 students of the Jadavpur University Centre for Mobile Computing this year were assessed by LearnITy this year. The LearnITy assessor is Java and can be used on any platform like Windows or Linux or Solaris. It is multilingual too and highly scalable.

Uganda plans for teaching of Computer Science in schools

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 25, 2009

Uganda has been named among the top 10 African Countries that have made advances in Information Technology.< ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Uganda's Information and Communication Technology (ICT) State Minister John Chrysastom Alintuma Nsambu said that the government had a grand plan of improving the teaching of Computer Science in Schools. Nsambu said ICT ministry intended to boost the teaching computer science as part of government's over all plan of improving the standards of education in the country.

Sibal’s take on Education

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 25, 2009

Addressing the first plenary session of the 17th Conference of Commonwealth Education Ministers in Kuala Lumpur, Union HRD Minister Kapil Sibal urged developing nations to ensure maximum utilisation of the demographic advantage they possessed. He emphasized that the education must keep pace with technological development and use tools like Information & Communication Technology (ICT) to ensure that quality education reaches children in the remotest areas. He also added that regional, national and local conditions also needed to be taken into account for a human resource development strategy as there was no successful 'one size fits all' approach.

Elaborating on the concept of 'Skill Development', the minister said that each country must assess its own economy and empower its youth by providing them the skills necessary for contributing to economic development. He also added that 'structural reforms' and 'out of the box' thinking was required in the education sector to re-orient it to meet the growing aspirations of people.

Increase in SSLC examination results

K-12

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

May 25, 2009

There has been a steady increase in the results of Secondary School Leaving Certificate (SSLC) examination from past few years. The overall pass percentage has increased to 70.22 from last year's 66.37. If only fresh candidates are taken into account, then the scale increases further at 75.77 %. Girl Students have fared better at 77.25 % as compared to boys at 74.38 % this year. Schools in rural areas have excelled as well with pass percentage at 71.64 (urban) and 75.26 (rural). While addressing the press on Friday, Kumar G. Naik, Commissioner for Public Instruction said, 'Udupi district has topped the State with 86.39 pass percentage, followed by Mandya with 83.78 and Chikkodi with 82.23.' 'Bidar district even though is still right at the bottom but has shown improvement in the pass percentage though, from 27.39 to 41.08,' he added.

A series of quality initiatives by the department has helped in the improvement of the results, and the focus would be on educationally backward districts. Thirty-five schools have registered zero percent results, but only one among them, in Belgaum district, is a government school. While considering the performance of the schools, South and North Bangalore top the list with the highest number of schools securing 100 % results in these two districts

Handheld devices are boosting interest and results in education among the school children in UK. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

LATEST NEWS

Top Trending News

Top Trending Categories