Boards Get Brains

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April 1, 2009

Classrooms have now come a long way from obsolete computers to projectors, Interactive Whiteboards (IWB), tablets, interactive suites with remote sensors, etc. IWBs were first conceptualised 22 years ago. Starting with the US and the UK, the technology has since grown internationally, with a presence in 75 countries.

IWBs have rendered a new meaning to the use of technology in education by making it more accessible to teachers and students alike. It has enabled ICT to be used in new ways to support a wider range of teaching and learning styles. By integrating audio-visual, graphics and text into the lesson structure, it offers the potential to improve learning by illusrating new concepts more clearly and effectively. A 2007 study commissioned by the British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA) concluded that IWBs have a positive impact on primary school students in Maths, Science and English. It showed that many students progressed more quickly if they consistently used IWBs for an extended period of time.

The recognition of this potential has translated into record-breaking sales of whiteboards in 2008, with over 600,000 IWBs installed at various locations around the world, according to Futuresource Consulting. According to forecasts, the worldwide interactive whiteboard category will increase by 200% in the next five years and that one in six classrooms will have an interactive whiteboard by 2011.

India, with its 4.9 million classrooms, presents a significant market opoortunity for suppliers of this interactive technology. Having the youngest population in the world means that education is high up the government’s agenda, making the market ripe for suppliers of IT equipment. Our special issue on whiteboards is an attempt to capture this ever-growing space by focusing on major players in this field like Hitachi, Promethean, SMART, etc. We also bring to you some case studies reflecting on the classroom transformations brought on by integration of such technologies. Watch out for this space!

Nepad to establish e-Schools in Africa

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

The New Economic Partnership for Africa Development (NEPAD) has concluded arrangements to establish 500,000 e-Schools to be equipped with ICT equipments such as computers, TV and radio sets as well as telephones in Africa. < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

The schools will also be connected with scanners, photocopiers and communication terminals that will be hooked to the Internet via satellite communication links. The e-Schools will train teachers to teach ICT skills on a continuing basis and ICT will be used to upgrade the quality of education and the management of administrative activities. The initiative aims at rapid dissemination of ICT skills across the continent by bringing ICT literacy to bear on African children and equipping youths with the basic IT skills that will enable them find jobs.

Committee formed by Delhi Govt to sort out exam’s difficulty

K-12

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

Keeping in mind the difficulty level of the board exams, the Directorate of Education, Delhi government has set up a committee comprising teachers and subject experts. 18 members committee will submit its report by 31st March. 'We will keep the compatibility between Question Papers and Question Bank by us so that to improve the quality of content,' said a member of committee.

If the difficulty level in board exams is very high, the committee will approach to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE). The private unaided schools will do the same if they find any problem related to exams and marketing scheme. 'The question papers dealt with analytical and thought provoking matter this year. Overall exams were much fair than last year. We are waiting for results and approach the board if there is problem with exams checking,' said principal of Springdales School, Jyoti Bose

Intel promises help in Uttar Pradesh’s computer revolution

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

Intel Corporation, the world's largest chip maker and a leading manufacturer of computer, networking and communications products, has shown interest to set up production unit for low-cost battery operated ''Rural Personal Computer'' in Uttar Pradesh in India.

This battery operated PC would be useful in the common service centres which have been proposed to be established in over 16,000 villages of the state as part of the Core Infrastructure Projects development scheme of the Government. These centres would enrich the delivery system in rural areas covering 80 areas of 15 departments which include agriculture, marketing, micro credit finance, disaster information, life death certificates, family welfare, e-diagnostics, education, land records and other service sector areas. The company had agreed to provide battery opearted rural PCs for these centres and would set up a production unit for the same if demand arose. Intel also plans to introduce the course of chip designing in the top technical colleges of UP. The top chip maker in the world is willing to impart its expertise in preparing the curriculum of the technical and engineering colleges of the state in this regard and also free training for students and teachers at Banglore.

Microsoft and Yahoo to link up messaging

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

Microsoft and Yahoo's Messenger users will be able to chat to each other across their networks. The companies are creating the world's largest consumer instant messaging community, with nearly 350m accounts, although not everyone would be able to use the service right away as testing continued.

Tapping e-Learning for school education under plan in Pondicherry, India

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

The Pondicherry Government (India) has plan to improve the quality of school education through e-Learning.

The Education Minister M. O. H. F. Shahjahan has stated that a blueprint had been prepared. The teachers would train students in e-Learning with the support of centralised laboratory. A coaching centre to prepare students for various professional courses was also on the anvil. The thrust areas would include infrastructure development, orientation courses for teachers and helping children overcome their disability to learn fast. The anganwadis would be made a hub of educational activities to encourage opening of kindergarten schools. Education Advisory Committee would meet periodically to plan and review implementation of schemes as stated by the minister. Leading institutions and Aurobindo Ashram-sponsored Centres of Education would be associated with these activities to improve quality in government schools.

Global Scholar-Education World Young Achievers Awards 2009

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

The nominations for the GlobalScholar-EducationWorld Young Achievers Award 2009 close on December 12, 2009. The awards aim to acknowledge and inspire young achievers (between 12- 25 years of age) across India in four fields of endeavour – Science, Maths and Technology: Arts and Music: Social Work and Sports. Entry forms can be downloaded from www.Globalscholar.com/yaa or www.educationworldonline.net and duly completed forms must be submitted before December 12, 2009.

The awards will be held in January 2010, following the scrutiny of applications/nominations by IL&FS Education and Technology Services Ltd. A hand-picked Global Scholar-EducationWorld jury will shortlist eight young achievers from across the country for the final round of interviews and assess their all round development and personalities. Amongst the finalists, one Young Achiever in each category will be adjudged the GlobalScholar-EducationWorld Young Achievers 2009 at a unique celebratory convocation in Mumbai. All travel expenses of shortlisted finalists will be borne by sponsors. The winners this year will also receive cash prizes and exciting gifts, along with their trophies.

IIT- B alumnus to launch ‘RoboCamp’ in Bangalore

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

A venture of Thinklabs, 'robo.in,' founded by a group of Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) alumnus, in the field of educational robotics, today announced the launch of RoboCAMP, a summer camp which aims to offer a wholesome robotic learning system which will help kids learn science and technology in more practical and fun manner. The camp will start from April 13^th , 2009 at three venues namely at Cunningham Road, Indira Nagar and Jayanagar. The camp is targeted at students who are in the age group of 10-18 years. It is a 6 day course in which the children will spend 4 hours daily learning to implement various concepts of science and mathematics in a practical way. Further it will also provide hands on exposure to robot programming, enhance problem solving skills and help logic development. Robotics being a multi-disciplinary field gives the students the advantage of working on all their favourite technical topics on a common platform.

The training will be provided by experts in the field of robot building and programming. The course would include a take away multi sensored re-programmable Robotic Kit with Software. The kit has been developed after two years of extensive research at IIT Bombay involving more than 300 students, faculty and experts. This robotics kit is an indigenously developed product and will more accessible to students as compared to other international brands which are inaccessible due to their high pricing. Commenting on this issue Fred Rose, Director Technology and Strategy for Honeywell, said, 'robo.in has developed a product, a low cost robotics platform and associated training class, that has filled a big need in India,' once again reinstating the requirement of such a robotics platform. In addition, the program has also been recognized and certified by Indian Innovators Association (IIA).

AICTE to give nod to one year MBA

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

Following the lines of the United Kingdom (UK), the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), has decided to amend its Act drawn up in 1987 to give nod to one year MBA programme. Till this date one year MBA course offered by B-School is considered as unrecognized by the AICTE. In spite of this, number of prominent colleges including the Indian School of Business (ISB), Hyderabad and Great Lakes School of Business in Chennai backed by the industrial house Godrej offers a one-year full-time postgraduate programme in management. Both the institutions has been declared as unrecognized by the AICTE.

Now, both the colleges have applied to the AICTE for recognition. 'We have started framing rules to legitimize one year MBA programme, because a number of colleges offer one year MBA programme. Some industrial houses had also approached the Prime Minister's Office stating that one-year management courses across the world were popular and the government should amend the AICTE Act with the changing times,' informed an official from AICTE. As per guidelines released by AICTE for two years MBA Course, its obligatory for B- Schools to provide a minimum of 1,050 to 1,200 hours of classroom teaching. And it should be half ( 600 hours ) for colleges offering the year- long programme with a minimum of 100 hours spent on project work or industry based assignment. Apart from this, the student wanting to enrolled for the part time management courses will require work experience of a minimum of two years.

Tamil and Chinese Primary schools may follow Bahasa Malaysia Standard

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digitalLEARNING Network

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April 1, 2009

Education Ministry is currently collecting opinions from all parties to study the feasibility of using Malay primary school's Bahasa Malaysia syllabus in Chinese and Tamil primary schools, hoping that students from different streams will be able to achieve equal Bahasa Malaysia standard. At present, Chinese and Tamil primary schools are teaching Bahasa Malaysia as the second language. The textbooks and the Primary School Evaluation Test (UPSR) examination papers that they are using are different with those used in Malay primary schools. The government is preparing to strengthen English and the Education Ministry is studying the feasibility of using Malay primary school's Bahasa Malaysia syllabus in Chinese and Tamil primary schools. However, the above study is still in the preliminary exploratory stage with no decision has been made.

The Education Ministry is keeping an open mind and collecting views from university lecturers, academic groups, Chinese education organisations, teacher associations, Tamil education organisations, as well as the Indian community. It seemed that Education Ministry officials had conducted a meeting with the representatives of the above mentioned groups to discuss on the curriculum reform in Chinese and Tamil primary schools, namely to use Malay primary school's Bahasa Malaysia syllabus, including the UPSR examination papers, in Chinese and Tamil primary schools. In the meeting, they also talked about increasing Bahasa Malaysia lessons in Chinese and Tamil primary schools from the current 270 minutes per week to 360 minutes per week in order to implement the proposal.

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