School teachers set for 'techy' lessons

To keep pace with the ever-changing 'teen technology' and introduction of ipods, funky mobile phones and playstations in classrooms, school teachers will soon be put through 'techy' lessons. Beginning this month, Global Education Management Systems (GEMS) teachers will get 'techy' lessons from professional trainers on the use of latest technology and gadgetry in teaching. Through several workshops, the teachers will get hands-on training in employing modern gizmos effectively in different subjects.

Cameras in mobile phones could be used to take pictures of students' projects and projected later to the entire class for assessment. Similarly, educational videos and documentaries could be downloaded from the Internet and could be 'podcast' to make education more exciting. As part of the group's ICT  workshops, 30 professional trainers will impart pedagogical knowledge to the teachers. In fact, they will also be taught to use social networking sites like Wikipedia. They would also be tutored on blogging.

In an effort to make teachers more friendly and approachable to students and parents, GEMS is organising more than 100 workshops through the year for its teachers. ICT, being only a part of it, teachers will also develop skills to make students more independent and responsible thinkers.

SpeakJapaneseFast.com launches speed learning

SpeakJapaneseFast.com has launched “Speak Japanese Fast”, a downloadable e-Book specifically designed to teach Japanese vocabulary at a rate of 100 words per hour, by tapping unused memory.

SpeakJapaneseFast.com publishes an e-Book that enables students of Japanese to learn vocabulary by discarding the traditional approach to language learning. Key features of the new product include specialised memory tasks, regular drills and categorised vocabulary learning.

Nepalese teacher wins award for connecting his village to the Internet

The 2007 Ramon Magsaysay Award for Community Leadership has been awarded to a teacher, Mahabir Pun, from Nepal, for his achievement in establishing Internet connectivity in his remote village and bringing the benefits of the Internet to his region.

Mahabir Pun was born in Nangi village, high in the Himalayan foothills of Western Nepal. Nangi is seven hours' climb from the nearest road and has no telephone lines, so is seemingly cut off from the world. Pun attended school and university away from his village but returned to Nangi in 1992. His quest to bring Internet connectivity to his village began in 1997, when four used computers were donated by a school in Australia. Pun began teaching his students to use computers and wanted his students to learn to utilise the Internet, but connectivity seemed impossible without telephone lines or satellite phones.

Pun searched for solutions and contacted the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the UK. With publicity from the BBC, Pun was able to get volunteers from Europe and United States to help him rig a wireless connection between Nangi and the neighbouring village of Ramche, using TV dish antennas mounted in trees. Small grants led to the construction of improvised mountaintop relay stations and a link to Pokhara. By 2003, Nangi was online.

With the help of more volunteers, Pun expanded the wireless network to embrace twelve villages. He distributed used computers to local schools and communication centres, connected them to the Internet, taught teachers how to use them, and then helped to troubleshoot until everything worked. Pun also established a “tele-teaching” network, through which good teachers in one school instruct students in others. The students of the region now surf the Net and are learning globe-savvy skills.

Cambodia signs agreement to train the next generation of teachers in ICT skills

On 20 August, the Cambodian Ministry of Education, Youth and Sport and Cisco Systems signed an agreement to train up to 25 teachers in five teacher education institutes (TEIs) in the skills needed to utilide information and communications technology (ICT) to improve teaching and learning.

The agreement was made in the context of the UNESCO Next Generation of Teachers (Next Gen) project, for which Cisco Systems has pledged financial and resource contributions through the Cisco Networking Academy.

The Next Gen project aims to build the capacity of TEIs in the Asia-Pacific region to prepare the next generation of teachers to utilize ICT in the classroom. Ten countries in the region are participating in the project: Cambodia, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, the People's Republic of China, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. In each of these countries, three TEIs are participating in project activities, making a total of 30 participating TEIs.  

PROGRAMMES

Blackboard unveils plagiarism prevention service

Blackboard Inc., a leading provider of educational enterprise software and services, announced a new plagiarism prevention service, SafeAssign(tm). This new service helps prevent plagiarism by detecting unoriginal content in student papers and delivering reports within the Blackboard Learning System(tm).

SafeAssign empowers academics and students to protect the originality of work, as well as creating an opportunity to educate students on the importance of proper attribution and citation. It is currently available at no additional cost to all enterprise licensees of the Blackboard Learning System.

Tata Interactive Systems in Second Life Online Symposium

Tata Interactive Systems, a world leader in custom e-Learning design, development and organisational performance improvement, has participated in an online symposium on 'Creativity in Second Life' organised by the New Media Consortium.

Tata Interactive Systems (TIS)'s Software Solutions practice is collaborating with the Federation of American Scientists, a non-profit organisation on a project in SL.

13 Indian IT cos among top 100

Thirteen Indian technology firms have been named among the top 100 in the Asia-Pacific region by global media company Red Herring, even as China dominates with 37 names.

The '2007 Red Herring 100 Asia' awards recognise private companies with cutting edge technologies in the Asia-Pacific region. The winners have been selected from 200 finalists, including 43 Indian companies, on the basis of criteria varying from vision and technological achievements to market leadership and financial health.  This year, the number of Indian winners has come down to 13 from 24 in the last year while the 37 Chinese firms have have been named this year against 33 in the previous year. Among the other Indian firms include, SatNav Technologies (www.satnavtechnologies.com) which offers products and services in IT, and primary education.

PARTNERSHIPS

NIIT District Learning Centre

NIIT Education Society has set up the first-of-its kind District Learning Center (DLC) in Chhindwara, Madhya Pradesh in India to harness talent and skilled manpower for global readiness.

The district of Chhindwara alone witnesses over 4,000 students graduating every year. To begin with, the DLC will provide intensive training programmes to over 200 students a year and will work towards increasing the capacity by another 200 students in the next 2 years. Once the model is tested it will be rolled out in other districts in the country.

These graduates will be equipped with IT skills, Communication skills (verbal and written), Professional Life skills and Business Etiquette skills that will enable them to accomplish gainful employment and secure future.

The unique initiative has already garnered support from leading global organisations such as IBM, Wipro Technologies, Tata Consultancy Services and NIIT Technologies to utilise the talent pool created by this District Learning Centre.

Edutech to launch Arabic-enabled version of Blackboard Academic Suite

Edutech Middle East, a leading international learning solutions provider, in collaboration with Blackboard Inc., will launch the Arabic-enabled version of Blackboard Academic Suite across Middle East, which integrates Blackboard's widely-accepted applications for higher education institutions.

With an Arabic user interface,students and teachers from the Middle East region can easily adopt the technology and utilise it effectively to produce better results. The new Arabic version allows users to view all features and tools in the Learning, Community and Content systems from right to left according to the orientation of the Arabic written language. The Arabic Language Pack can be selected at the system, course and user level, providing flexibility to all users to choose their preferred language.

InfoPro Learning named among World's Top 19 Specialised Learning Process Providers

New Jersey based InfoPro Learning having a growing front-end presence in the US, Europe, and now India, has been named among the world's top 19 specialised learning process providers by TrainingOutsourcing.com. TrainingOutsourcing.com is the world's first, and leading, Internet knowledge community that focuses on the training outsourcing industry worldwide. InfoPro Learning has been selected to the prestigious Top Specialised Learning Process Providers list in the category: e-Learning Development & Delivery.

InfoPro's assessment was based on its corporate competency in 22 business processes, and 13 business capabilities in areas including financial stability, geographic reach, talent of leadership, and use of best practices, especially relating to the strategic alignment of training with clients' business goals.

PRODUCTS

QAI launches Edista Suite of Education Ventures

QAI, the world's leading process consulting organisation addressing Operational Excellence for the IT, BPO and knowledge intensive services sectors announced a series of education, testing and certification initiatives under the Edista brand.

QAI has announced an online curri-culum, EdistaLearning, an initiative in the Software Testing sphere, Edista Testing Institute, and a skills assessments and measurements initi-ative, EdistaCertifications, targeted at both the corporate and the retail sectors. EdistaLearning is an exclusive coming together of expert content from subject matter “gurus” and practical insights from QAI's training and consulting experience. Edista in Finnish language means “to enhance, to facilitate”.

QAI has also announced another venture called EdistaTesting Institute, an independent industry – academia collaborative venture, with the focus on training, certifications, and assessments in the field of Software Testing.

Philippines firm develops software for kids

Philippines based firm TechFactors Inc has developed edutainment software to make technology education interactive and fun for children.

Around 90,000 Filipino kids from 170 to 180 private schools nationwide are using company's courseware. The software combines ideo games, laboratory simulation and other interactive exercises to make ICT education fun and engaging. The company has developed courseware modules for pre-schoolers, elementary, and high school students. The company is providing two books and a CD to every students and also providing training to teachers to use the courseware.

SumTotal launches new version of Talent Management Software

SumTotal Systems, a global provider of talent and learning management solutions, has released SumTotal Enterprise Suite 7.6. The newest version of SumTotal's award-winning software helps executives find talent, identify and fill gaps in a workforce's skill set and recognize and reward employee performance.

Highlights of SumTotal 7.6 include: a variety of performance-management capabilities for evaluating employee goals and reviewing succession plans, new workflows for assigning training based upon a company's unique organisational structure, a learning content management system that supports the latest edition of SCORM 2004, a collection of standards and specifications for web-based e-Learning, and enhanced language capabilities to meet the needs of customers across Asia and Europe.

Dimensions E Services launches new LMS tool

Dimensions E Services announces the launch of a new LMS tool, branded as uLearn. Some of the key features of uLearn are ability to customise itself to customer needs, ability to run multiple sessions through the same set of training titles.

uLearn's off the shelf features include an ability to run multiple sessions through the same set of training titles. There are multiple level access points for administrators, trainers and users. The technology allows SCROM compliant courseware to be plugged in. The key to uLearn's unique value proposition is the strong core which allows customisation around itself. Customers can name their needs and they would not even realsze the tailoring on the tool.

KESDEE launches e-Learning course library

KESDEE Inc., a leading provider of e-Learning courses in Finance, has launched its e-Learning course library on “Governance, Risk and Compliance (GRC)”. These courses give important insights into the intricate working of Corporate Governance, Risk Management and Regulatory Compliance in corporate environment.

The course library is interspersed with audio clips containing voice over by the author giving additional insights and information about important concepts. KESDEE is headquartered in San Diego, California, with a state-of-the-art development center in
Bangalore, India.  

SC, ST school dropout rate increasing – CAG report

A recent report of the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) says that the gap between general category students and Scheduled Caste (SC) and Scheduled Tribe (ST) students in schools is increasing despite various Government schemes and projects.

The CAG report had analysed seven schemes of the Social Justice Ministry for SCs, eight schemes of the tribal affairs ministry for Sts. According to the report – “The gap in the gross dropout rate (GDR) between general-category candidates and SC/ST candidates, which was 6.7 per cent and 15.1 per cent in 2001-02, deteriorated to 10.4 per cent and 16.6 per cent in 2003-04 respectively.

e-Learning portal for Indian diaspora

A Chennai-based e-Learning portal on cross-cultural skills has been retrofitted for a global launch during the Salaam India expo, held in Singapore between August 15 and 19.

The portal, www.globalindian.com, is targeting members of the Indian diaspora who are keen on cross-cultural nuances, ranging from soft skills to international etiquette. Infosys founder N. R. Narayana Murthy launched the portal.

According to Ranjini Manian, founder-CEO of Global Adjustments, who conceptualised the portal, the course content has been structured to enable expatriates get jobs in software companies and help those already in corporate slots to enhance soft skills for career advancement. The programme provides subscribers an interactive multimedia-based, self-paced learning experience — 12 hours of audio-video lessons on international etiquette, cross-cultural tools and effective communication with world cultures.

500 students receive EU scholarship

More than 500 Indian students and scholars have secured admission to a number of European universities under the Erasmus Mundus (EM) scholarship funded by the European Union (EU).

Students from different parts of the country will go to universities in 27 EU member countries to pursue their respective masters level courses. The European Commission allocated a sum of 33 million euro in 2005 for the India Window, within the EM programme. For the academic year 2005-06, 133 scholarships were approved. In 2006-07, this number rose to 288 and in 2007-08, 403 students were granted scholarship.

In addition to this, 81 Indian students and 27 scholars received scholarships under the general EM programme in 2007-08. The 80 Erasmus Mundus consortia selected a total of 1,825 students and 273 scholars from all over the world.

IT Ministry to link ERNET with Internet-II

In a significant move, the Government of India has decided to link its Education and Research Network (ERNET) with America’s Internet-II network to help Indian researchers in the fields of information technology, life-sciences, biotechnology, material science and environmental science.

Its linking with America’s Internet-II would not only help the Indian researchers but also help the likes of Harvard, Massachusetts and Boston to set up their independent on-line centres in India. The tie-up would help Indian universities and institutions to access online resources from 209 institutions in the US. Internet-II is the foremost U.S. advanced networking consortium with a high-speed network which provides a minimum of  100 MB bandwidth between member institutions.

e-Learning plan for Inter education

The Minister for Higher Education, Government of Andhra Pradesh, D. Srinivas asked the Intermediate Education Department to prepare a comprehensive e-Learning programme so that the vital gaps of institutional instruction could be filled up.

Reviewing the performance of Intermediate Education, he said the gaps could be plugged by providing computers, DVD players, television sets and compact discs related to various subjects. He also emphasised the need to formulate suitable proposals for Government Junior colleges on the lines of Jawahar Knowledge Centres of degree colleges.

North-East Open varsity set to offer courses from 2008

K. K. Handique Open University (KKHOU), the first and only state-run open university of the north-eastern states, will start functioning from January next year.

The varsity which was established in September 2005 at Dispur, Assam, received grants worth INR25 lakh and INR1 crore from the Government of Assam and the Distance Education Council (DEC), respectively. The DEC will also grant another INR3 crore to KKHOU over the coming years. Academicians, industrialists and experts on distance education attended a workshop organised in Guwahati earlier this month to develop a roadmap for the institution under the 11th five-year plan and discussed how ICT can be used to make KKHOU more accessible across the region.

Recommendation for Workers Technical University

The Committee constituted by the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry has recommended establishment of a Workers Technical University for inter-alia training of students from workers family and those belonging to economically poor sections of the society particularly form rural areas to make them more relevant  to the needs of today’s technology intensive and knowledge driven industrial society.

The Committee has recommended the industry to contribute a small percentage of their gross profit (ranging from 0.5% to 2%) as the education cess for the proposed university. The Committee recommended that the jurisdiction of the proposed National Workers Technical University shall be the whole of the country, having the main campus at Hyderabad with regional centres at different major cities in the country.

NTPC, DU to set up IT centre for disabled students

The National Thermal Power Corporation (NTPC) and Delhi University (DU) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to set up an Information and Communication Technology Training Centre for physically-challenged students.

The centre will be the first of its kind in providing the latest IT skills to economically backward and physically challenged students. As per the agreement, the NTPC foundation will provide equipment and software and DU will provide teaching and support staff for the centre, to take care of the day to day functioning of the centre. Students with visual, hearing, mobility and cognitive impairment will benefit from the newly setup IT centre.

INR60 bn for primary education in Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu will spend INR60 billion for the development of primary and basic education in 2008-09, the state’s Minister for School Education Thangam Thennarasu said.

Fifty percent of the amount will come from the Sarva Siksha Abhiyan programme, a central scheme aimed to provide education to all. The infrastructure and facilities of all primary and middle schools of the state will also be upgraded.

New Nasscom programme to aid NGOs

Taking corporate social responsibility forward, Nasscom Foundation (NF), the social development arm of India’s premier software industry body Nasscom, launched a technology assistance programme for non-profit and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The programme, BiG Tech, is a partnership between NF and TechSoup, a San Francisco-based non-profit technology capacity building organisation. The programme will be run in partnership with IT companies, which will act as donors by providing software and other applications to the civil society organisations. Explaining the basic concept of Big Tech, NF chief executive Rufina Fernandes said: ‘This is basically an online resource service. NGOs can log onto our website and apply for aid. We will do a due diligence of the applicant and then help them. The whole process will take around two weeks.’

In 2006, TechSoup distributed 799,000 technology products worth $207 million. Its donor partners include IT majors like Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Symentec, Adobe and Intuit.

Edusat Network in Bangalore

Karnataka Chief Minister inaugurated the Edusat Network in Bangalore, aimed at imarting higher education and training programme in the state.

The network, which has been set up with the assistance of Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), marking the first such venture, would help in conducting classes at first grade government colleges, using trained lectures. Receiving centres would be installed in 102 first grade government colleges by ISRO, out of which 72 had already been installed.

The network in a phased manner would cover 349 colleges in all

17,000 teachers trained under NCERT

An orientation programme for school teachers was organised by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT). A total of 17,000 teachers from Kendriya Vidyalayas, Navodaya Vidyalayas and independent schools affiliated to the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) were trained by 250 experts through teleconferencing.

The programme was based on the use of new textbooks published for Classes II, IV, VII, X and XII under the National Curriculum Framework-2005. Teachers were detailed on the prominent features of the newly developed textbooks, the content, style, exercises and other aspects of the books and were also told about the evaluation strategies to be followed in assessing students and nature of student’s activities, model question papers.

This teacher hasn’t taken leave for 34 years

A Government school teacher in Himachal Pradesh has been doing his job so seriously that he has taken no leave in the past 34 years.

As a reward, the State Government has decided to give Todar Ram, 57, a two-year extension in service after he retires later this year from the Government Secondary School Gurkhota in Mandi district.

It has been also decided to approach the Guinness Book of World Records to verify the records and consider his achievement. Ram, who won a national teacher award a few years ago, has taken no leave other than the Sunday weekly offs, school vacations and Government holidays.

Himachal Pradesh has one of the highest literacy rates in the country at around 80 percent.

Entrepreneurship Educators Course for Indian faculty

The National Entrepreneurship Network (NEN) has launched the Entrepreneurship Educators Course (EEC) in the capital to enhance the efficiency of Indian entrepreneurs. The EEC programme will be offered to the Indian faculty to help them become global entrepreneurship educators.

The NEN has tied up with the Stanford Technology Ventures Programme of Stanford University and Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Bangalore’s Nadathur S Raghavan Centre for Entrepreneurial learning (NSRCEL).

The EEC course would help a large number of educators, even teachers, who have never taught a management subject, in becoming an entrepreneurship educator. The course will help participants effectively learn the concepts and skills of entrepreneurship and provide guidance on how to design, launch and build a comprehensive and innovative set of entrepreneurship programmes on campus.

HC denies certificate to B.Ed holders through distance mode

Candidates who have completed their Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) through the distance education mode will not be eligible for the Basic Training Certificate (BTC), which is mandatory for serving as assistant teachers in primary schools of Uttar Pradesh.

The Allahabad High Court gave the judgment, dismissing writ petitions filed by hundreds of B.Ed degree holders, challenging the Uttar Pradesh Government for denying eligibility in the BTC exams to those, who pursued B.Ed through correspondence. The Government claims that since the BTC holders teach children in primary classes, it requires a certain expertise, which can only be acquired by candidates who have pursued regular B.Ed courses.