UKIERI awards Euro 50,000 grant to NCMT

The UK India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI) has awarded a £50,000 grant for a three-year collaborative programme delivery (CPD) project to NSHM College of Management & Technology (NCMT), Durgapur and Anglia Ruskin University, United Kingdom. ‘The UKIERI CPD grant is for a joint Masters (MSc) programme in optometry to be conducted at the NSHM’s NCMT Campus in Durgapur from October  2009 onwards and the degree would be awarded by Anglia Ruskin University. ‘The current faculty and students of the optometry department at NCMT would also be upgraded through exchange programmes with Anglia Ruskin University,’ said Prof Soumendra Nath Ghosh, head of optometry & vision science department, NCMT Durgapur. The National Management School (NMS) which is planning to set up 25 business schools across the country will invest INR 9 crore to set up its first management school in Chennai. The business school which is being promoted by academicians from the US will offer diploma to students in collaboration with the Georgia University of the US. The first school will be operational in Chennai by April end for which a  property has been taken on lease. NMS plans to build 25 schools nationwide in 15 years. NMS  will provide a two-year diploma in business management  at a total cost of INR 9.6 lakh. If the   IITs and IIMs are counted among the world’s most prestigious centres of learning,  it’s not    for no reason. A study conducted  among Indian companies shows that these  institutions    re the largest source of business  leaders for India Inc, accounting for more than half of the country’s professionals in chief   executive or strategic business leadership  roles.   IIMs on a standalone basis (non-IIT ) have  groomed around half of Indian CEOs, while  IITs          account for more than a third of the total

Setting benchmarks for schools, the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) will for the first time give accreditation to institutions affiliated to it on the basis of quality of education. The country’s premier school examination board has decided to launch the initiative, the first by any board in the country, before commencement of the next academic session. A committee has been set up by the CBSE to frame guidelines for assessment and accreditation.   The committee will also suggest detailed modalities  n formation of separate committees for the purpose of accreditation. The infrastructure facilities in the schools will be part of assessment and accreditation procedure. The accredited schools will be provided grades which will indicate their standing with respect to quality. The CBSE will also launch a sensitisation drive during which it will reach out to the schools and make them aware about the benefits of being accredited. The drive will cover about 10,000 schools in the country.

Educating today’s students means more than just getting them to pass tests. It also means  improving instruction for all students— and increasing student engagement and learning. A  classroom that meets this challenge is an interactive classroom. It  features students actively   interacting with  dynamic content rather than passively listening to teacher lectures or     answering questions at the end of a textbook chapter.  It takes advantage of tools that provide    tudents with a world of rich resources. Now, let us demonstrate how mimio    interactive technology is synonymous with  advanced innovation, quality, value and            commitment to award-winning educational classroom solutions.
mimio Technology:
How           oes it  Work?  Unlike conventional Interactive Whiteboard  technologies, mimio’s         tracking technology is not embedded in the whiteboard surface. Instead, it uses ultrasound and infrared to create a surface independent trackingsystem. This solution provides several benefits to both buyers and end users. The tracking system: The mimio system uses ultrasound and infrared to track the position of the pen and communicate pen information. The mimio attaches to any flat surface, either using suction cups or mounting brackets. The mimio contains two ultrasonic receivers and one infrared receiver. The two ultrasonic receives are fixed with a known distance between them. Benefits:Affordability, with all of the  functionality you expect from an Interactive White Board, is mimio’s most obvious benefits. The first factor is that the mimio system costs less to manufacture than competitive products and covers a larger surface area (up to an 8-foot by 4-foot White Board).
The second factor is that mimio attaches to an existing White Board, drastically reducing its installation expense. The third factor is mimio’s portability; multiple locations or classrooms can share a single device. The fourth and most important factor is that the mimio technology is not embedded in the White Board; as such, the tracking system will continue to work even if the surface board is damaged. Additionally, damage to White Boards will be less frequent.
Ease of installation and setup is another benefit. The mimio system ships in a small box that is quickly unpacked and setup by a single person in a matter of minutes, requiring no tools. Lastly, the mimio system was designed  o be extendable. All mimio accessories, including add-ons that can be used to create a wireless connection to the PC (mimio Wireless), capture real ink written by dryerase markers (mimio Capture Kit) and a mobile wireless tablet (mimio Pad), seamlessly integrated with the mimio hardware and software. Here are some examples of the impact and results experienced by a handful of the more than 200,000 “mimio teachers” around the world today.

Tara Jarman: Lifting Stud ents to Higher Ac hievement Tara utilises many websites that have projectable books,
phonics activities, andvideos such as www.starfall.com , www. keyskills4u.com, www.eduplace.com and www.readinga-z.com. When struggling  eaders are told to read a passage or story independently, they often stare out into space, and do not attend to it. However, when Tara puts a lesson on the mimio using Studio features such as reveal and spotlight, and calls on students to read, they all do it eagerly and perfectly! Tara pursued the mimio Master’s online training course including weekly assignments, learning and practicin   in online discussions and,perhaps most importantly, collaborating with teachers around the country.  After just 18  weeks of school that had risen to a 2.1 (first month of second grade)—six months of growth  n only four months!
Daniel Lynch: mimio In A Special Educ ation Sett ing  Daniel is a Special  Education teacher at  the Lake Braddock Secondary School in Burke,
VA. He teaches three  elf-Contained Math 8 classes as well as two Team Taught  Math 8 classes. Admittedly not a  technophile, Dan has found that interactive teaching with mimio Interactive White Boards   as been remotivating and that the technological aspects of using mimio are easily mastered.  s  e says “Unlike some technology tools, using  mimio never keeps me from paying attention to  y students. In fact, mimio advances their  learning, and that’s what teaching is all about –  earning.”  A mimio-enabled White Board can be used both as an Interactive White Board and   s a traditional dry-erase marker board. mimio does everything that other conventional IWB do, but in a manner that allows a user to get  started quickly and discover more depth as they  become more comfortable with the system. mimio’s Interactive learning products will  ontinue to be refined as mimio develops a  variety of complimentary edcational solutions specific to the classroom environment at a lower cost

Students live in a multimedia world today. However, the technology that students enjoy in 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.

Visually stimulate your learners by using an interactive Whiteboard. Interactive Whiteboards are effective in improving the way we meet, teach, train, and present.

An Interactive Whiteboard is a surface onto which a computer screen can be displayed via a projector and then interact with the information. It allows the teacher or presenter to access and display information from the Internet, run live video from a camera, interactive presentations and color visuals. Connected to a computer and projector, an interactive whiteboard becomes a powerful tool for teaching, collaborating and presenting.

An Interactive Whiteboard is touch-sensitive, where your finger can act as a mouse or a pen. With the press of a finger, you can access and control applications on your computer or write, draw, and highlight on the board using electronic pens and erasers. Changes made to information projected onto the whiteboard are transferred to the computer and can be saved and retrieved in future lessons. Whiteboards can help you deliver exciting and engaging lessons to learners of all ages and abilities.

Hitachi Being one of the leading Global Vendors for Interactive WhiteBoards has a series of technically advanced models called Starboards. Hitachi`s Starboard FX Series is the most selling and popular interactive whiteboard to date. It delivers the highest quality of benefits at attractive and competitive prices offering users a selection of powerful tools for meetings, training and conferencing for business and education. They include a range of hardware configurations to fit all presentation, education and communication budgets and room environments.

Every FX-Series board includes the most advanced presentation software available the StarBoard suite of software. Easy to learn and install, it is designed to help the user become confident with the whiteboard within minutes. These versatile, high-performance products feature large-format image areas (77” and 82” diagonal), with durable, antiglare steel-backed projection surfaces for both electronic sensing-based and dry-erase writing. FX Series whiteboards are available with serial or USB wireless computer interfaces.
Benefits
Improving Teachers Effectiveness and productivity. They make it easy for teachers to enhance presentation content by easily integrating a wide range of material into a lesson, such as a picture from the Internet, a graph from a spreadsheet or text from a Microsoft Word file, in addition to student and teacher annotations on these objects. Good visual tools allow teachers to give simple and explicit instruction. It Also allows teachers to record their instruction as digital video files and post the material for review by students at a later time.
// T hey allow learners to absorb information more easily. // T hey allow learners to participate in group discussions by freeing them from notetaking. // M akes learning an enjoyable experience for students through active learning. // Im proving Students attention , greater participation , increased retention & Recall of content.

In India Hitachi Starboards are distributed by HCL Infosystems Ltd. Some of major institutions where Hitachi Starboard have been installed and are being used for education and training are Kendriya Vidhyalayas, Central Tibetan School, Directorate of Training, Central Railways, ITBP, etc

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

Innovative products to enhance your   ActivClassroom
ActiVote: Wireless and user-friendly, ActiVote is Promethean’s original,  hand-held learner response  system. This electronic voting system integrates with the   interactive whiteboard and is a fast, effective way to obtain responses from the entire class.
ActivSlate: Interact from anywhere with this wire-free, fully integrated mini-board that  allows users the flexibility to move around the classroom as they teach.
ActivTablet:     ActivTablet plugs directly into the computer’s USB port enabling maximum portability,  and   the wireless pen simulates interaction with the ActivBoard even when teachers are nowhere  near it.
ActivPanel: With Activpanel teachers get the power of interactive teaching on walls of  ll sizes.  This easy-to-use product features a 15 inch LCD mini-board which shows exactly  what’s on the computer screen.
ActivPen: A unique, battery-free, wireless pen that allows    pupils to drag and drop elements, highlight or open tools, on an ActivBoard or ActivSlate. An  on-screen cursor means pupils and teachers always know where they are, and the pen design  aids writing development from an early age.

ActivWand: This device acts just like the   ActivPen, but provides three times the reach to enables teachers and pupils of varying heights  o interact comfortably with the ActivBoard. Designed with a comfy handle and       clickable function, ActivWand is not just a pointer – it hovers,  nd can reveal dropdown  menus or web pages with flash features and is incredibly precise