Online help for stress-free coaching

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January 20, 2009

The CBSE and various state governments provide sample papers and telephone helplines for the board examinees, schools come up with various workshops, extra classes and mock tests to prepare the class X and XII students for their exams, and tuition centres are something most students just cannot do without. But in today's net-savvy world, students are logging on to the Internet for information, tests and guidance. A number of interactive websites that provide not only sample papers but also concise notes, learning aides and even online interaction with teachers have come up in the recent years. Newsline also surfed the net to see the kind of information available.

Googling 'help for CBSE boards' throws up 5,10,000 hits, with a plethora of sites, including Government websites such as cbse.nic.in, edudel.nic.in and others offering sample papers. Several blogs also give links to sample papers and tips on cracking the boards. Some, like yuvajobs.com/education, cbseguess.com, also offer sample papers for ICSE and links to state and CBSE board websites. The blog Gyanguru.com even offers scanned copied of the past 10 years' papers along with a post on 'tips and tricks' for stress-free revision. But it is only a few websites that offer interactions with teachers and counsellors along with easy to learn diagrams; memory aids and mocks tests.

Tier-II B-Schools work to attract best placements

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 20, 2009

India's tier-II management schools are casting their net wider this year for the approaching campus placement season, as the economic slowdown makes it harder for even top business schools to lure high-profile companies. Second-rung schools are aggressively tapping alumni and inviting more companies from so-called stable sectors like manufacturing, besides approaching unusual recruiters such as non-government organisations (NGOs).

The tier-II institutes adopting such tactics, include Jamshedpur's XLRI, Xavier Institute of Management, Bhubaneswar (XIM-B); Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies (JBIMS) in Mumbai; and IMT Ghaziabad. The economic slowdown has forced lay-offs across several industry sectors in the past few months, dampening the prospect of companies scouting for talent even in top B-Schools and leaving tier-II institutes under greater pressure. JBIMS, which clocked an average salary of INR 13.84 lakh during 2008 and the highest offer of INR 29 lakh, expects that firms looking for talent in areas such as credit risk management may come to their campus this year, as the market collapse and the crisis gripping the banking system in the West puts risk into sharp focus.

University of Ibadan installs interactive learning boards in lecture rooms

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 19, 2009

The Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Prof. Olufemi Bamiro, has said that the institution will deploy all available information technology communication facilities to enhance learning, teaching and research in the 60 year old university. Bamiro, who spoke while inaugurating the interactive learning boards installed in all the lecture rooms in the institution's Faculty of Education, said that the institution would spare no efforts at repositioning the university. According to him, since ICT has proved to have potential to turn around the fortunes of teaching, learning and research in any institution, the university will spare no efforts at deploying it for UI's academic development.

Speaking on the new learning method, the Dean, Faculty of Education, Professor Morayo Atinmo, said that the faculty spent about N50m on the facility. She added that part of the money was used for the purchase of computers, public address system and power generation set to complement power supply from Power Holding Company of Nigeria.

Tie-up between IGNOU and BPOs: Gearing up for BPO work

Corporate Updates

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 19, 2009

When the BPO industry took off about 10 years ago and offered jobs to graduates, many young people treated it as a stopgap career opportunity, working with them for a few months or years and then moving on to more aspirational careers. This has changed as noted in the words of PG Raghuraman, lead executive for Accenture's Delivery Centres for BPO in India, 'Having seen this industry mature over the past eight to 10 years, today there is a focus given to the BPO sector and it is not just seen as an alternate opportunity but as a first option for young people.' Recognising this change in mindset, both Accenture and Genpact decided to give back to the industry in the form of training & education alliances with Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and NIIT respectively. These alliances will aid all young people interested in BPO as a career and not just those pursuing careers with Accenture's and Genpact's BPOs.

The IGNOU tie-up offers students a six-month diploma through a central university under the ministry of human resource development, government of India. Either 12^th graders or college graduates can avail this option. The programme is expected to be especially popular in Tier 2,3, and 4 cities. This programme will be available in approximately 44 centres spread over 27 cities with 90 faculty members especially trained to roll out the programme. The first batch is scheduled to start in February 2009. The idea is to make these young people readily employable at BPOs. The course will use classroom learning, self learning and eLearning tools, paying attention to both process and industry specialisation.

Reservation leads to increase in OBC aspirants for IITs

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 19, 2009

As reservation for backward category students rises in the Indian Institutes of Technology, competition among them has also stepped up. In fact, of the 3.95 lakh applications that the IITs received from aspirants wanting to take the Joint Entrance Exam in April, close to 40% candidates – 1.55 lakh – belong to the reserved categories. In 2007, a year before the IITs implemented the first phase of the 9% reservation for the Other Backward Caste category, 45,000 OBC students had applied to take the JEE. This year, more than 98,000 OBC candidates – 26% of all aspirants – will take the JEE.

Bhaba Sarma, JEE chairman at IIT-Guwahati, which is the organising institute for this year's exam, said, 'About 75% of the OBC applicants belong to the non-creamy layers. But this is preliminary data. We are yet to go through 16,000 more applications received online.' This year, the seven old IITs will set aside 18% seats for OBC candidates, and the eight new ones will have 27% reservation for them. IIT sources said the number of OBC applicants has gone up dramatically with the government raising the income ceiling for non-creamy candidates from INR 2.5 lakh to INR 4.5 lakh.

World MBA & Graduate School Tours in Delhi

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 19, 2009

The QS World MBA Tour, with hundreds of business schools such as Bond, Cornell-Nanyang, George Washington and UC Berkeley, will be visiting the Capital on January 23. The fair will include a majority of the highest-ranked American, Canadian and European schools. Candidates can meet admission officers face-to-face to find out about MBA programmes, fees, admissions, scholarships, financial aid, the GMAT test and career opportunities.

The QS World MBA Tour will be offering $US 1.2 million worth of exclusive scholarships during the Spring 2009 season. The scholarships for top business schools including Wharton, Chicago and Cass will be available only to attendees of the fair. The first 100 candidates through the door will receive a complimentary copy of the QS TopMBA Career Guide. For registration and further details, visit www.topmba.com. In addition, the QS World Grad School Tour will be visiting the Capital on January 24. Universities from US, UK, Australia, Canada and Europe will be present at the event. Graduates will have a chance to meet, ask questions, understand admissions procedures and post-qualification employment prospects and short-list international universities that are right for them.

Tamil school to be upgraded into a college

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 19, 2009

Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit has assured the Delhi Tamil Education Association that one of the seven Tamil schools run by it would be upgraded to a college and affiliated to a Central university in the Capital. She gave the assurance while participating in the Pongal celebrations organised by DTEA School on Mandir Marg. She was responding to a request in this regard made by M.N. Krishnamani, president of the Delhi Tamil Sangam. She said a Central university had been sanctioned recently to the Delhi Government and she would be able to upgrade one of the seven DTEA senior secondary schools to a college.

As for non-payment of salaries to 33 assistant teachers recruited in 2007, Ms. Dikshit regretted that the issue has been kept pending for over 18 months and said she would look into the problem and see that the salaries of these teachers were released immediately. Earlier, the Chief Minister took part in the festivities by joining in the preparation of sweet Pongal. She distributed awards to students who won prizes in various competitions. R. Mukunthan, secretary of the Sangam, highlighted the plight of the 33 teachers who were being denied salaries despite a direction by the Delhi High Court in September 2008 to release their salaries in two months. He requested the Chief Minister to intervene in to the matter.

UG research to be focused on by Hamdard

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 19, 2009

In order to boost research at the undergraduate level, Jamia Hamdard University is planning to undertake new steps. The university is working towards increasing interaction between undergraduate students and research scholars. Also, according to G N Qazi, vice-chancellor, Jamia Hamdard, the university is planning to create a 'distinct cadre of researchers who would devote 70% of their time for research and 30% for teaching.' While elaborating on the increasing need of promoting research in higher education, Qazi said, 'Teaching and research always go side by side. However, we in India have not been giving much importance to this aspect. But now, University Grants Commission (UGC) has set a guideline that a university has to earmark 20% of its resources for promoting research. This will help in improving the quality of research in general.'

Qazi feels the research component should be introduced in universities right from the undergraduate level. 'The undergraduate programme is a stepping stone in higher education. And if a student is introduced to research at this stage it would prove to be more beneficial. First, because it will help a student understand whether he/she wants to go for research in the future or not. Also, many students at the PhD level after spending few years in research realise they cannot pursue it,' he said. Hence, the university is planning to provide exposure to research at the undergraduate level itself. The university will also work towards recruiting more people with research orientation.

Portland schools honored for ICT implementation

K-12

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 19, 2009

The Instructional Consultation Team (ICT) at Oakwood Elementary School received recognition from the University of Maryland, creators of the ICT concept, for the high degree in which the school employees implement the program at the school. Portland School Board president Tanya Marcum presented a certificate to Oakwood principal Lisa Riffle and Renee Thelen, the district's direction of special education, during the Jan. 12 meeting of the Portland Schools Board of Education.

'The recognition came from the University of Maryland itself and is for the high level of implementation that Oakwood has been using the program over the last two years,' said Superintendent Charles Dumas. 'Scott Hubble from the Ionia County ISD brought this certificate over personally and said it was a big deal to receive this.' Through the ICT process, staff members identify students who are having specific problems in school and work to come up with solutions so that the student can succeed in the classroom.

New Mexico State University-Carlsbad offers new courses

Higher Education

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digitalLEARNING Network

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January 19, 2009

Three new associate degree programs from New Mexico State University-Carlsbad will make pursuing higher education in science, technology, engineering and math much easier and the public is invited to see how. NMSU-C will host a community launch to announce three two-year programs in pre-engineering, engineering techonology, and information communication technology on Thursday at the Pecos River Village Conference Center Carousel House, 711 Muscatel Drive.

The degrees are designed for an easier transition into New Mexico four-year universities and into local employment, said Rhonda Austin, director of the Title V program at NMSU-C. 'With these degrees, people will be able to seamlessly move to a four year degree school so they can finish their bachelors,' Austin said. The launch will allow local employers and community partners the opportunity to discuss the degrees and how they will impact area education and job growth as well as educational progress for area students, Austin said. Parents and students will be able to ask questions about the degrees and what benefits they see. The new degree programs are made available by a two-year US$1.6 million grant awarded in October 2008 to help develop STEM programs. The community will also have the opportunity to preview Project Lead the Way, a program designed to allow high school students to dual-enroll in college pre-engineering courses.

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