PIL filed in SC for one board one nation

Schools News

By

-

June 20, 2020

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court (SC) demanding the implementation of uniform education for all students in India. The PIL suggests common syllabus and curriculum and one nation one education for all the students.

The PIL sought directions to consider the merger of Indian Certificate of Secondary Education, ICSE Board and the Central Board of Secondary Education, CBSE Board to one board one nation.

The plea propagates Article 21A – free and compulsory education by implementing a uniform education system inclusive of a common syllabus and common curriculum. The syllabus needs to be same for all the educational institutes be it public, private, government-aided or non aided.

“Children may not be able to exercise their fundamental right under Article 21A unless the Centre and the states provide value-based uniform education,” the plea read.

Also read: Aadhaar not mandatory for school admissions: Supreme Court

At present every board has its own syllabus so the prevailing system doesn’t provide equal opportunity to all students, as per the plea.

One more thing that came out for common notice was that even though the students were taking advantage of the right to education.

Sparkling revolution in Higher Education

Editorial

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

In COVId-19 pandemic, each level of education sector faces its unique challenges, it is the higher education segment that may end up, triggering a learning revolution. Universities are distinctive in that their students are both old enough to handle the rigours of online work and technologi- cally savvy enough to navigate new platforms. the real challenge lies for the higher Educational Institutions. can traditional, campus-based universities adapt by choosing the right technologies and approaches for educating and engaging their students? the successes and failures that unfold should give us all a better grasp of what is possible.

Video-conferencing apps like zoom, Microsoft teams google Meet are throwing universities a lifeline. however, teachers are still struggling to maintain the same depth of engagement with students they could have in a classroom setting. they need to find solutions — and fast — to avoid a dip in the quality of education they are providing. Online education platforms can play a useful role by tapping their expertise in online programme design, choice of tech platform, and digital marketing to develop the best content either with or for the traditional players.

Education institutions have quickly realized that remote learning is just a baby step experiment in the long journey to offering online education that has been conceived as such, which includes effective student engagement tools and teacher training. Some of the partnerships sparked between universities, online education companies and tech providers may continue beyond the pandemic.

Also read: Higher Education: Pathway for economic development

In this month’s issue on top higher Education Listings, we have tried to highlight how higher ed- ucational institutions have tackled the pandemic. With admission and placement season almost over, how the institutions have tried to inculcate the effect of coronavirus.

Our special story talks out the challenges and opportunities for higher education institutions. With dedicated listing pages for placement, infrastructure and admission, this issue of digital- LEarNINg Magazine will help parents and students to select better.

With host of articles by industry leaders and special story, we hope our latest endeavor would evoke invaluable feedback of our esteemed readers.

Effective digital learning during lockdown

Article

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

With the advent of digital data many of the above roles of education appear baseless. It is now well understood that Education is nothing but making our students knowledgeable or Wise says Dr Balakrishna Shetty, Vice Chancellor, Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

For a long time we thought Education is Teaching and Learning, Data Collection, Grasping, Memorizing, reproducing in the Exams and getting good marks etc. With the advent of digital data, all the above roles of education appear baseless. It is now well understood that Education is nothing but making our students knowledgeable or Wise.

In this context digital learning is increasingly becoming popular with students. The present situation in India and abroad has given an opportunity for all of us. Sri Siddhartha Academy of Higher Education has taken special measures to help the students:

Also read: Vijaya lakshmi Goswami Lahiri, State Head, Dream India Schools, West Bengal: Need to stay positive in lockdown

• All faculty members are requested to outline the curriculum for the 21 days and asked to prepare their online lectures. Where ever not possible they are asked to identify similar lectures from National or International Universities/ Digital Education providers.

• Answer first and discuss next methodology: All students are asked to study the subject, prescribed by the faculty through digital lectures of our University. About 15- 20 questions were given to all students at the end, answers collected and common mistakes are clarified by the faculty members through online chat software.

• Flipped Class Rooms: Instead of one-way lectures in the classrooms students are asked to learn at home from online lectures. Lecture notes and PPTs of the faculty members are shared with the students whenever necessary.

• Student and faculty members involvement are evaluated on daily basis by the HOD/ Academics Head.

These methodologies will:

• Flip the education from Classroom to Home and Teaching to Learning.

• Remove the apprehension in the minds of faculty members to finish the syllabus. This concept is known as uncovering the syllabus instead of covering the syllabus.

• Remove the compulsion of attendance.

• Enhance the intellectual energy of students, improve the level of understanding, help in grasping the concepts easily, ensure better comprehension of crucial concepts and learn Practical Applications.

• Changes the students’ mindset from data Collection to Knowledge and Knowledge to Wisdom.

Finally, the faculty members had an inherent apprehension in implementing digital education and this forced lockdown has enhanced the opportunities for digital education and better acceptance by the faculty members.

Mapping digitization through learning

Special Story

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

Chitkara University encouraged students, parents and other stakeholders to remain active through various online modes says Dr. Madhu Chitkara, Pro-Chancellor, Chitkara University, Punjab in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many sectors to shift their bases online including education, where numerous schools and colleges have started teaching their students through online platforms all across the world. In India, however, when most of the educational institutions were in search of alternate way of teaching, Chitkara University was equipped with its own initiative “Online Chitkara University” for giving on-line sessions on streaming, trending and state-of-art topics to the students to support their educational and employability skills. Sometimes these sessions were planned as a series of hands-on sessions. Experts from outside were invited to give industry perspectives on emerging new normal. At times, simulations packages were run online for giving insights into a complex topic. Very many cases of team teaching could be witnessed in these live seminars, thus benefitting the students multifold.

To start with, all departments at the university uploaded complete calendar for the online classes. This was done to save the students getting overwhelmed with too much coming their way. For live turorial sessions, the varasity used GotoWebinar, Zoom and Microsoft platforms. Live tutorial sessions / lectures were then planned in line with already announced time-table for the online university. Prior to this, live training sessions were given to students and faculty members for their complete preparedness. The students were incentivized to ask questions during these sessions and if they took part in online discussions. These sessions were recorded and the recorded sessions were available as the repository for the students. An administrative policy was framed and announced for safe use of IT infrastructure.

A year back, when the concept of team teaching was introduced at the University, they started recording the lectures of some excellent teachers. These recorded lectures came in handy when the Online University initiative was launched. These, along with other prerecorded lectures from the MOOC platforms such as NPTEL, Swayam, Coursera, Udacity were used to evolve blended learning models. Pre recorded lectures were also used to set up flipped classes, where students attended the online class after seeing the video lectures, and the synchronous session was conducted for fruitful discussion based on the lecture. The flipped approach witnessed an increase in the engagement of the students.

“We realized that in addition to webinars, and one way seminars, the students needed to engage in one-to-one sessions with the faculty members – especially to clear their doubts. These sessions were named as doubt-sessions. Besides these doubt sessions, other one- to-one sessions included conducting viva voce and other formative assessments to gauze the engagement levels of the students”, said Dr Madhu Chitkara Pro Chancellor, Chitkara University.

Structured feedback practices were introduced to take feedback on the online sessions. The survey was conducted in two modes – filling of online forms and the other in online one-to-one sessions. The questions were included to guaze the students understanding of ease of use of technology, ease of understating of online-material, and overall feedback on other online sessions. Sometimes these feedback sessions were conducted in small groups. Another purpose of these sessions was to mentor them and counsel them, if the students struggled with any psychological issues due to home confinement. The teachers also gave them feed back on their online performance.

During this pandemic when most of the Universities and HEIs were closed, Chitkara University encouraged their students, parents and other stakeholders to remain active through online mode. The University’s timely investment in IT infrastructure supported this move and as a result most of the students were able to complete their internship through online mode with collaborating industry partner.

Also read: Chitkara University, only University from Punjab to make place in THE Impact Rankings 2020

Chitkara University started the new online “Explore” series of lectures and interactions with eminent personalities Chetan Bhagat, Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, mythologist and illustrator Devdutt Pattanaik and many illustrious speakers addressed the students and staff. Thanks to the rebust IT infrastructure of the University.

Chitkara University has added many achievements in its list:

1. Chitkara University is the only university from North India to feature in the top list of the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings 2020 and ranked 59th rank globally in SDG- 07: Affordable & Clean Energy. Apart from SDG7, the university was able to secure good positions in other SDGs also, 101-200 in SDG5: Gender equality, 201-300 in SDG09: Industry, Innovation and infrastructure and SDG11: Sustainable Cities and Communities for development for making progress in ‘social impact’ aligned with the UN’s sustainable development goals.

2. Chitkara University was recognized as first Indian university for E-Learning Excellence for Academic Digitization (E-LEAD) Certification from QS IGAUGE, the Indian arm of global rankings and ratings agency Quacquarelli Symonds for its readiness & excellence in online education.

3. Chitkara University was the only University from India to have made it to the top 8 finalists for the category – ‘Technological Innovation of the Year’ for the prestigious Times Higher Education Asia Awards 2020. Touted as the “Oscars in Higher Education”, in which 150 globally renowned institutions across 30 Asian territories participated, Chitkara University proudly announced achieving this milestone, third in line this year, among the league of top recognitions and rankings it has bagged thus far.

4. Chitkara University was ranked in top 100 universities by NIRF with 38th rank in Pharmacy and 75th rank in Management.

Chitkara University, Punjab has been very active in supporting its five adopted villages and distributed ration packets amongst the families of Jhansla village who could not provide for themselves in this lockdown. Apart from this, “the university has supported more than 1 Crore Rupees to PM Care Fund, CM Relief Fund, District Administration and Corona warriors through cash and kind. The New generation Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development Centre (NewGen IEDC) supported by DST, GoI at Chitkara University is also making face shields and cloth masks for onward distribution to front line corona warriors. “It is our responsibility support the national fight against COVID 19, in all possible ways”, said Dr. Archana Mantri, Vice Chancellor, Chitkara University, Punjab.

Another major initiative in the line is Radio Chitkara FM 107.8, only radio station in India and world now, broadcasting round the clock programmes on Corona awareness for the community in the region including five adopted villages of Chitkara University in Punjab state since last week of March 2020. Radio Chitkara identified immediately that the priority was to disseminate information regarding spread of coronavirus, its symptoms, and possible preventive measures to be taken by the public for avoiding community transmission in India.

Ever since initiative was taken by Radio Chitkara, the response from the audience (Patiala District, Mohali District in Punjab and Ambala Cantt District of Haryana) has been great to the station. 24 x 7 ongoing transmission within a diameter of 15 kms covering three political constituencies has reached more than 1.5 million listeners through terrestrial transmission.

State government’s efforts for people during the Corona crisis are highlighted and do’s and don’ts to stop Coronavirus is played again and again in radio to reinforce the habit among the audience. The spots of central, state government on Covid-19 is also played in between programmes so that information can reach to listeners in crisp form.

Efforts of Radio Chitkara are fully supported by Chitkara University Leadership Team. Recently, Chitkara University Chancellor Dr. Ashok K. Chitkara and Pro Chancellor Dr. Madhu Chitkara have declared funding support of Rs. 1 Crore (more than hundred thousand US Dollars) through CURIN (Chitkara University Research and Innovation – Centre of Excellence) for NOVATE+2020 which was the biggest platform in the region where innovative project ideas from all over the country were showcased to find the solutions for problems arising because of the pandemic.

COVID-19 Effect: A change in Higher Education

Article

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

Most colleges are not looking to open properly until the end of the year, and many in the United States, Europe, Australia and Canada are even considering waiting till early next year, says Aditya Berlia, Co-Founder and Pro Chancellor, Apeejay Stya University in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

The Covid-19 pandemic in many ways will completely change how higher education is delivered and received. With an economic contraction across the world now more than ever people will require better credentials to take up 21st Century jobs. Regulators as well have been jolted and progressive ideas long left dormant or thought not possible will become available. It remains to be seen if this will lead to lasting reform or if they will try to bounce back to old outdated ways as soon as possible.

At the same time, we will witness in the next years the greatest number of closures and bankruptcies of institutions across the world. In India, particularly there has been an oversupply of education institutions which have not been set up with the right intention or foundation.

Covid-19 has lifted the veil of many even “well known” institutions which kept insisting on their marketing materials they were “innovative” and “world-class” but struggled even to deliver simple online learning through video conferences.

Also read: COVID-19: Delhi govt teachers demand better safety measures

Apeejay Stya University and Colleges were lucky on that note to have been able to in a few days start full online classes with the entire timetable and even conduct examinations without pause. It is the testament to grit and training of professors and administrators to have been able to stand up to the challenge presented.

For students who were looking at foreign education over the next year, it will be a challenge. Most colleges are not looking to open properly until the end of the year, and many in the United States, Europe, Australia and Canada are even considering waiting till early next year. Now is the time to search for local options that can give excellent foundations with an international academic system that allows easy transfers in the second year and beyond.

There shall also be a job crisis which will cause countries to pare down their acceptance of immigrants and work permits will be hard to come by for several years.

It is essential thus for students to ensure they can gain practical experience through not only traditional internships and projects but also through freelance work. Those who are able to use this valuable time to bolster their CV will stand apart from other graduates as well as even older candidates demonstrating their adaptability to the situation.

The good news is students who are just entering college will enter a better more robust job market two to four years from now, but the skills required would be fundamentally different.

It is therefore vital to focus on an education that encourages through a demonstrated system lifelong learning empowering students to face dramatic changes in the world with confidence.

Picking the correct institution, therefore, is more important than ever and students and their parents who embark on this journey should look beyond the facade of marketing and truly try and understand how the academic system and design of their course will allow them to reach their true potential and meet their aspirations.

Higher Education in the times of COVID-19

Article

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

The Higher Educational Institutions have to develop innovative strategies to distribute students into small groups and engage them in various academic processes says Anup K Singh, Director General, Nirma University, Ahmedabad in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

A pandemic like COVID-19 occurs only once in several centuries. Unfortunately, when it happens, it disrupts the human life drastically. It stuns and stupefies people at large and leaves them helpless and hopeless. In addition, it changes economic, social, political, and developmental paradigms prevalent in the different parts of the world. Today the humanity is caught unaware and scrambling for finding effective survival and growth strategies. What are the answers to long-term challenges posed by this pandemic?

The future of the human race depends largely on high quality education and health. Education is the spirit of the mind, whereas health provides the elixir to the body.

Higher education – like several economic and social activities – has suffered severely from COVID-19. Teaching and examination activities have been hampered. There is no telling when regular academic activities will ensue. Admission processes are delayed. Most unfortunately, placements of students have either slowed down or revoked, creating despair and dismay for the youth.

Also read: Santhosh Ram Chary: COVID-19 can make e-learning go viral

Peter Drucker – the foremost management thinker – is attributed to have said that the modern university is a relic and will disappear soon. His prediction did not prove true for many decades. Nevertheless, the modern university is poised to get its new Avtar. Higher education has been affected by the corona pandemic in three ways. Firstly, higher education professionals have realised the inevitability of online education. Previously, classroom learning and online learning were like water and oil, and they hardly mixed. Online learning has now been found a valuable tool that is going to stay in higher education forever. On- campus teaching and online teaching are meeting and merging like never before. Of course, many efforts are required to make this conflating more effective. Better communication and information technologies are needed; teachers need to be trained to optimise the online teaching-learning process; students have to be more efficient self-learners; and, governments are required to change the regulations to facilitate higher education institutions (HEIs) in enhancing their impact.

Secondly, the HEIs have to develop innovative strategies to distribute students into small groups (say 30 and below) and engage them in various academic processes. Thus, we are heading towards a paradoxical situation. While students will attend online lectures in large groups (say 100 to 500), they would also do other academic activities (tutorials, lab work, simulation, career development, etc.) in numerous small groups. It implies that the HEIs have to invest massively in equipment, facilities and production of digital learning materials. In the future, learning would not be counted in terms of class credits – the clock hours that students spend in the classroom – but in terms of learning credits – the hours the students engage in learning units.

Thirdly, examinations and assessments have to be redefined and be treated as learning. There will be a greater need for more assessments, so that learning is assured. At the same time, it cannot be – and should not be – a source of stress. It has to be as natural and smooth as learning.

A new paradigm will emerge – slowly and steadily. Sense making and agility will assist academics in developing the new paradigm of higher education. It also implicates that various HEIs must collaborate together and design new teaching methods, redefine and rework assessment techniques, and plan and develop new modes of learning. Long back, Lord Buddha presciently observed: Only change is permanent.

UPSC releases interview schedule for Civil Service Examination

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

Amid Coronavirus pandemic, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has announced UPSC Civil Service Examination (CSE) 2019 interview schedule. The Commission is to resume the interview process form July 20, onwards and the process will continue till July, 30, 2020.

The UPSC will interview 624 candidates.

The UPSC will be conduct the interview in two shifts i.e. first in the forenoon from 9:00 AM and the other in the afternoon from 13:00 PM. The marks obtained in the UPSC CSE interview will be considered for preparing the final merit list along with the marks of the mains examination.

Also read: UPSC declares IFS marks for non-recommended aspirants

The UPSC CSE 2020 prelims exam has been rescheduled to be conducted on October, 4, 2020 due to the ongoing COVID 19 crisis.

Around more than 60 candidates will be interviewed each day by the UPSC.

Steps to check interview schedule:

-Visit the UPSC website – upsc.gov.in

-Search for the UPSC CSE 2019 interview schedule link

-Details of the interview like roll number, day, date and time

-Search roll number

AICTE urges students, teachers to celebrate International Yoga Day on social platforms

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

In the wake of the Coronavirus pandemic, the All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) has urged students, teachers to celebrate ‘International Yoga Day’ by posting videos of doing yoga on social media platforms.

Regarding the issue, the council has released a press release where it has asked everyone to practice yoga keeping in mind the social distancing norm. It has also asked people to pursue Yoga from their home and use social media platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram to show the skill without moving out of your home.

AICTE has decided to issue internal guidelines to motivate teachers to use online platforms to encourage Yoga and activities like lectures, workshops, and online training sessions.

Also read: AICTE requests universities to allow 20 pc credit transfers through Swayam

Diksha Platform can be used as a dedicated Yoga channel.

The Ministry of Ayush has already launched the campaign ‘Yoga at Home, Yoga with Family’ for this year’s International Yoga Day a few days back and has asked everyone to participate in it by sending videos to them.

#AICTEdge

Celebrate #InternationalYogaDay & prioritize:

*Observe #IDY2020;Focus on #SocialDistancing
*Pursue #Yoga from home
*Facilitate #Online participation via #SocialMedia
*Join #CommonYogaProtocol Drill on #YogaDay@ 7am as per @moayush
*Encourage #Youth
*Use #Diksha.gov.in pic.twitter.com/rvoAcCWYex

— AICTE (@AICTE_INDIA) June 19, 2020

UPSC declares IFS marks for non-recommended aspirants

News

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

In a major development, Union Public Service Commission (UPSC) has released the marks of non-recommended candidates for Indian Forest Services, 2019. The marks are released on its official website.

The prelims exam of UPSC IFS was conducted on June 2, 2019 while mains exam was conducted from December 1 to 8, 2019 in offline mode. UPSC had released the final result of UPSC IFS 2019 on March 3 at its official website.

UPSC has released the details of candidates for the other employers to enable them to identify good employable candidates. The other details includes candidate name, roll number, date of birth, educational qualification, marks secured, address and email ID.

Also read: UPSC NDA II 2020 registration begins today

UPSC conducts Indian Forest Services’ exam every year across the country for the recruitment of candidates as officers to manage forest and land records in the country. UPSC IFS 2020 examination will be conducted to fill approximately 90 vacancies.

MAPPING DIGITIZATION THROUGH LEARNING

Magazine

By

digitalLEARNING Network

-

June 20, 2020

LATEST NEWS

Top Trending News

Top Trending Categories