Obama introduces first part of US education reform plan
The UK government’s recent interim report on ‘Digital Britain’ makes a powerful argument for universal access to modern technology as a key driver of the country’s economic prospects. Universal access to high speed broadband by 2012 will be vital for business, not only to continue to transform business processes, but also to deliver the education and skills required. Connecting the last 40% of the population to the digital society gives a huge opportunity to raise education standards and provide powerful incentives to continue learning throughout life, across the population, the report said.
The report prepared by BECTA said, never has it been more important to provide all of those facing the challenges of the labour market with the support they will need. It is clear that digital connectivity and discriminating use of digital technology have a vital role to play.
Call for free degrees for jobless
People made unemployed by the recession should be allowed to enrol on part-time degree courses for free, says a think tank representing new universities. Million+ says fees paid by part-time students are ‘a barrier they should not have to face’. It is urging the government to provide the funding to enable fees to be waived for those on job seekers allowance or short-time working.The government said it was spendingon developing the workforce. Million+, which represents new universities across the UK, says allowing some people to enrol on higher education courses for free would cost the government £400m, but would bring in
revenue of £523m. Unemployed people who go on to gain a degree could stand to gain in excess of £95,000 over their working lives, the think-tank estimates
their lives outside of school makes it more difficult for teachers to capture their attention in the classroom with ‘old-fashioned’ tools such as chalkboards, whiteboards and overhead projectors. In order to inspire & catch the attention of techno driven youth use of latest and exciting technology should be used to make education a fun experience.
World-class learning tools which meet the holistic needs of today’s classrooms are widely available from Promethean, the global leader and innovator in interactive learning. Connect with pupils by bringing the digital world into the classroom with The ActivClassroom – an innovative range of pick-and-mix products which enable teachers to take their pupils to places they have never been before. Developed for teachers by teachers, The ActivClassroom offers an all-encompassing solution that integrates 21st century technologies with an existing classroom setup and comprises everything a teacher might need to create an incredible educational experience. Lesson plans are brought to life in a digital format, while learning becomes truly immersive via visual and audio technology, so engaging pupils, capturing their attention and enriching the education of learners from pre-school through to ost-16. Interactive whiteboards are at the heart of The ActivClassroom and have transformed the learning space into a vibrant, welcoming environment where students are encouraged to learn like they think. It doesn’t stop there. Promethean’s market-leading Learner Response Systems ensure every pupil has a voice. Assessment for learning is a revolutionary way for teachers to gain instant insights into pupil understanding of a concept, lesson or idea, while creating an engaging environment that encourages contribution and creativity. Award-winning educational software is the spark that lights the flame of learning, and Promethean’s own software has set the standard for 21st century interactive learning by granting teachers access to thousands of user-friendly tools to stimulate the imagination and renew pupils’ motivation to learn. New ActivInspire is a single product that combines the best of Promethean software into one platform. It is a fun, friendly and integrated classroom solutions and technologies which empower teachers by allowing them to engage, educate, assess and motivate learners; and offers a comprehensive support and professional development service to enable optimum usage and return on investment. Customise your own ActivClassroom with our suite of interactive whiteboards, Learner Response Systems, teaching software and interactive tools to take your teaching to the next level. www.prometheanplanet.com is a free online community where teachers from lover the world come together to connect, share ideas and download useful teaching resources. WHERE TO THIS TIME?\\ versatile time-saver for teachers who choose how they interface with the software – sophisticated for secondary, bright and inviting for primary. Lessons are brought to life with full colour video, sound and graphics, but it’s more than just a retty interface. It’s a fully functional, integrated tool which creates a stimulating real world experience for users. Promethean is passionate about education and believes in building partnerships that enrich the learning environment. The ActivClassroomproducts are distributed via a global network ofpartners and inspire millions of learners in more than 70 countries. The company is committed to creating
One of America’s Largest Special Needs Schools Standardises on SMART Products
classrooms: a huge market potential for companies operating within this sector. The research is showing there are no real signs of recession in education technology markets. The feedback from the marketplace is positive and the general view is that there’s a far greater safety net than other sectors. Few markets hold the promise of education, where one can see very strong sales growth for at least the next five years.
Interactive White Board: A Powerful Pedagogical Innovation for Classrooms
The Interactive White Board is emerging as a useful tool for the classroom for teacher input to the whole class. But it’s easy (as always) to develop a view on the form factor (It’s a must-have tool / its too expensive, etc) rather than on what it is capable to achieve inside the classroom.
Like any other tool, it is only as good as the outcomes it can produce in a classroom. Hence the right questions to ask are -‘Does it increase engagement of students in the classroom? Does it improve understanding and retention of concepts? Does it improve the critical thinking skills of students?’
But all this shall not happen on its own. It has to be orchestrated as an overall programme with well defined timelines, mea-surement and course correction (if required). It is important to carry all stakeholders in this journey, including parents and school management. There is a tipping point for technology in classrooms, at which point a critical mass of teachers have started experiencing the benefits of technology and are able to assume the role of attracting other teachers towards their approach.
We are excited about Interactive technology in the hands of the teacher. It empowers teachers with newer ways to engage the minds of students. We have been deploying this technology for over 7 years now in classrooms. We have developed over 50,000 lessons to be used by the teachers on the Board. We have researched the key factors that impact assimilation of technology into the teaching-learning process in schools/ with individual teachers. The dominant cluster of issues includes school end leadership, expertise in teacher training and ongoing support during implementation.
There are some pitfalls to avoid. Using technology is essential in the early stages, its important to give hands-on experiences with the Board to teachers, so that they do not remain arm chair critics. The initial success is because of the fact that the White Boards are reliable and easy to use and in continuity to the existing chalk and talk method. Thus, teachers are enthusiastic about the possibilities of technology and are inspired to use ICT often in curriculum delivery. The single large visual focal point in the classroom is a strong magnet to attract and retain student attention and motivation towards the lesson.
But using the Board in the classroom is no guarantee for a sound pedagogy. The sound pedagogical principles have to be built on top of the basic functionality of the Board. Making the class to think, involving them in collaborative work, correlating the curriculum to the student’s daily life have to be fostered by the creative use of software functionalities on the Interactive Board. It is important to help teachers use the pace and flow of lesson delivery through the use of ready-made models/diagrams/animations, so that time can be freed up for teachers to focus on discovery based learning scenarios in their classes. Overall, the Board is a great tool for the constructivist educator.
On popular demand, we have now extended our professional development programme on ICT integration to individual teachers. More than 10,000 teachers in over 200 schools have already benefited from our immersive approach to ICT integration in the teaching-learning process. Teachers also get access to our rapidly growing community of practitioners who share ideas and best practices from their classroom experiences. The subject workshops allow teachers from a particular subject to discuss software approaches for their respective lessons in greater detail. Other training modules include the one on leveraging the Internet in classrooms and for student homework/projects and assignments.
Above all, we believe there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach at work here. It is better to inform the teachers about the creative possibilities of crafting engaging/visual and interactive lesson plans, to give them raw material to build such lessons and then allow them to make final choices on how best to create the lesson and to involve the students in the classroom. This choice has to be with the teacher.
Rohit Pande