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KALOREX Nurturing 21st Century Learners

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Kalorex schools follow best education practices and teaching methodologies for the holistic development of children. The group’s motive is to develop global learners equipped with 21st century learning skills. Manjula Pooja Shroff, MD & CEO, Kalorex Group, explains their strategies and methodologies in conversation with Elets News Network (ENN).

What is the USP of Kalorex group? What changes have been brought by the brand in the school education space?

There is a huge gap between the demand and supply in education sector of India, compelling schools to follow the best educational practices and provide all round exposure to children. Establishing world-class schools that follow holistic and integrated educational approach is the need of the hour. To meet this demand, Kalorex came into being in 1995.

Kalorex, a professionally managed autonomous institution, is focussing its activities on K-21 education since its inception. The group believes in empowering children to succeed in all spheres of life. Currently with 40+ schools and growing, Kalorex follows a cradle to career approach- addressing need of all segments of educational domain.

Kalorex is a preferred choice for high quality education across all segments of the society. The group is one of the most trusted names among parent irrespective of the education boards, be it national or international boards of education.

May it be appearing in Reality shows with Amitabh Bachchan, or pursuing a career in the making of animated movies in Hollywood, or securing Gold medals at Asian Games and other International competitions, Kalorexians are known for bringing laurels to their country resulting out of a diverse exposure given by the Kalorex institutions and its relentless pursuit for excellence, each and every time.

What is the philosophy followed by the group for imparting education to the students?

Kalorex believes in developing Glocal learners and nurturing them as better human being. The word ‘Glocal’ refers to global citizen with local adoption. At Kalorex, each and every child is equipped with 21st century learning skills along with financial literacy, linguistic competencies, digital literacy, media literacy, life skills and self learning skills along with values and traditions of the countries that it operates in. This enables every child to become an asset for the country.

Kalorex follows a unique pattern of curriculum named as “Taxonomy”. The curriculum is developed in house by the best of teachers and academicians by incorporating and amalgamating globally acclaimed teaching learning practices and methodologies in education. The Kalorex curriculum emphasise on innovation in education with technology as a learning tool and with support from teachers as mentors.

Kalorex believes in developing Glocal learners and nurturing them as better human beings. The word Glocal refers to global citizen with local adoption. At Kalorex, each and every child is equipped with 21st century learning skills.

As a brand, how do you differentiate from the various other school brands operational in the country?

Kalorex is a well-established name in education sector. It is managed by a group of professional edupreneurs and chaired by a President of India awardee for her work in education and social sector. The group is also supported by leading education industry stakeholders and funded by a private equity partner specialised in education sector. The group is high on culture, values and ethos, catering to the entire spectrum of learners from preschool to university across all segments of the society. Technology and research based pedagogy across all Kalorex institutions have resulted in the development of the best brains of the time. The alumni of Kalorex are placed at leading corporates, business houses, research, space and defence institutions across the world.

The objective of shaping Glocal Learners is embedded into the DNA and ethos of more than 650+ employees who are dedicated to the cause of Kalorex.

Dynamism, humanistic approach, living in the gap (Continuous Learning Mode), Ownership etc. are the beliefs which are practised by every Kalorexian every day.

The school franchisee business is blooming rapidly and a lot of new players are joining the fray, how does Kalorex safeguard the interests of the partners?

Kalorex believes in replicating its success formula not only for itself but also for the associated partners. A win-win relationship is very important in education. Thereby Kalorex sees it collaborated as partners in progress.

Kalorex is well-equipped to accommodate and accept the constantly changing dynamic environment in the field of technology, human resources, skill development and government policies.

Kalorex also provides to its clientele a platform for online support, educational accessories, content and other tools towards knowledge enhancement, personality development and making a career for every child.

How does your brand ensure the quality of all its partner schools?

In order to ensure the quality, we have a structured operational code for processes and procedures, an end-to-end support system, well-defined training programmes and schedules complimented by strong systems and methods of audits and feedback mechanisms. Along with it a specialised team mentors all the partners to ensure the same standards of quality across all the schools under the Kalorex umbrella.

What is your vision for the brand and how do you see the expansion for the brand happening in near future?

In the next five years, Kalorex envisions to have its presence with over 100 institutions across the country. Multiple investment models will offer good returns on investment and better brand value to the partners of Kalorex group. The group will continue its endeavour in providing best quality education and thereby raising its own standards and benchmarks.


What are the challenges of operating a school chain in the country?

Challenges make one think beyond comfort. Challenges help one to innovate, succeed and accomplish. Kalorex believes in being ready to face challenges in its endeavour to provide quality education to all segments of the society.

What are your plans for expansion in India and abroad? In which regions are you planning to expand?

Kalorex wishes to expand to 100 cities across India. Internationally we have our presence in the Middle East and other countries of Asia through a strong network of business associates. The 40+ institutions of Kalorex is a mix of selfowned and investment led partnerships by Investors who wish to make a mark in education.

How is the technology used to impart education in k-12 learning?

Teacher and Technology are two important aspects in a child’s life. Teacher as a mentor and Technology as a tool help every child at Kalorex in becoming a Gocal Learner.

Kalorexians are trained on a 360-degree environment. May it be for teaching learning process, communication and interacting channels, ERP systems , Robotics and Virtual Reality , self-learning, Flip classrooms, Research and Innovations, technology helps teachers and students to teach and learn through the best practices.

Building A World-Class Knowledge Society

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-
Dr Ravi Gupta
Dr Ravi Gupta, Editior-in-Chief, Digital Learning Magazine and CEO, Elets Technomedia Pvt Ltd

Universities and schools are the engines of any knowledge society which holds the responsibility to nurture a generation of brilliant individuals and thought leaders, equipping them with the much-needed know-how as per the requirements of that time.

In this light, it becomes vital to understand and emphasise the crucial role these temples of learning play in building such a significant society.

Considering the kind of innovations, technologies, and methodologies being adapted and introduced in various aspects of higher education by private players so far, it looks pertinent to understand these private universities’ worth in India where there’s a huge shortage of government colleges and universities to cater to a large young brigade of students.

With our country fast emerging as a global hub of higher education under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the Indian private universities are rapidly innovating on all fronts to attain global standards and create a niche for themselves.

However, with so many universities claiming to be on top, it seems a Herculean task for students to choose that most suitable institution which could be detrimental for their career. In this wake, ‘The University Ranking: Top Universities of 2017’, the second edition of university ranking carried out by our magazine, aims to shortlist top universities from different zones of India on the basis of various parameters.

We have ranked 60 of the over 350 private universities in the country based on — Infrastructure, Faculty, Global Collaboration, Placement, Industry Interface and Entrepreneurship, and Placement.

The universities have been ranked considering these parameters, with the mammoth exercise spread over two months involving online voting of visitors on our website– www. digitallearning.eletsonline.com.

Besides, our special stories on “Placements: Stay the Course to Cherish Your Tomorrow”, “Challenges of Being a Private University”, “Finding the Right Fit”, and “Private Universities — Unavoidable Alternative for Higher Education” provide our readers an in-depth view about varying dimensions of the higher education sector evolving in the country. The issue also carries an interview of Anoop Khinchi, the former Commissioner of College Education, Government of Rajasthan.

Our latest issue of the digitalLearning magazine carries a cover story ‘Kalorex Nurturing 21st Century Learners’ highlighting how a group of schools is developing global learners equipped with 21st century learning skills.

Hoping the latest issue would provide useful information, we look forward to our readers’ valuable feedback.

Top Universities of India 2017

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

With an unprecedented level of competition in every sphere of life, zeroing-in the right university or educational institute for higher education has always been a Hercules task. Higher education is not only about grabing some lucrative job but to learn the skills that may help individuals sail through their career with aplomb. Understanding the current requirement of current education scenario, the Government of India is emphasising on imparting world class higher education to the youth of the country. This field of education has been expanding rapidly throwing up the need for qualified and skilled graduates, post graduates and research scholars in the country. All this inspired us to conduct a comprehensive ranking of “Top Universities of India 2017” to ensure better exposure for youths of India.

In the second edition of university ranking issue, we have shortlisted the universities from different zones of India on the basis of various parameters. We have ranked 60 private universities in the country based on: Infrastructure, Faculty, Global Collaboration, Placement, Industry Interface and Entrepreneurship, and Placement. The universities have been ranked considering aforementioned parameters on the basis of their score out of 600. The mammoth exercise was spread over two months that involved online voting of users

RANKING PARAMETERS

 

Private and Deemed Universities Overall Ranking
University Entrepreneurship Faculty Industry Placement Interface Infrastructure Global Collaboration Total dL – 600 Rank
Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) University 85.8 75.83 78 80 67.5 50.83 437.62 1
Amity University, Noida 77.17 42.08 81 79 98 55.33 432.58 2
Birla Institute of Technology and Science (BITS), Pilani 68.2 42 83 90 66.57 81 430.77 3
Bharati Vidyapeeth University, Pune 81.59 48.83 75 68 67.5 89.33 430.25 4
SRM University, Chennai 84.88 91.11 79 72 61.5 40.85 429.34 5
Apeejay Stya University, Sohna 88.18 59.08 79 62 74 65 427.26 6
Banasthali University, Jaipur 55.9 55.75 63 65 92.5 89.83 421.98 7
Lovely Professional University, Phagwara 70.46 64.58 65 64 82 74.17 420.21 8
Birla Institute of Technology (BIT), Mesra 54.64 61.75 82 80 89 52 419.39 9
Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) University, Bhubaneswar 71.16 79.25 77 76 56.4 58.33 418.14 10
Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Coimbatore 55.75 53.33 79 84 84.14 61.17 417.39 11
Manipal University 89.25 41.08 82 85 72.5 47 416.83 12
Symbiosis International University, Pune 56.54 48.67 81 81 65 65 397.21 13
Sharda University, Greater Noida 63.29 83.92 63 65 53.15 61.67 390.03 14
KL University, Guntur 62.95 55.33 74 72 52.5 60 376.78 15
Thapar University, Patiala 50.16 45.75 81 88 62.5 46.67 374.08 16
Karunya University, Coimbatore 55.44 44.17 70 69 85 50 373.61 17
Shanmugha Arts, Science,
Technology & Research Academy
(SASTRA) University, Thanjavur		 56.65 53.5 77 78 58.4 49.17 372.72 18
Sam Higginbottom Institute of
Agriculture, Technology and Sciences,
Allahabad		 59.99 41.25 73 68 81.5 40 363.74 19
Narsee Monjee Institute of Management
Studies (NMIMS), Mumbai		 49.38 46.75 80 85 52.5 48.33 361.96 20
Sikkim Manipal University, Gangtok 45.01 46.02 73 71 83.04 43 361.07 21
University of Petroleum and Energy
Studies, Dehradun		 49.75 49.67 71 67 51.5 70 358.92 22
Nirma University, Ahmedabad 51.25 45.58 76 75 55.5 49.17 352.5 23
Dhirubhai Ambani Institute of Information and Communication Technology, Gandhinagar 42.48 44.25 82 86 53 44.17 351.9 24
GITAM (Gandhi Institute of Technology
and Management) University,
Visakhapatnam		 54.63 58.08 73 69 54.85 40.83 350.39 25
Sathyabama University, Chennai 51.25 48.33 72 65 67.5 43.33 347.41 26
Jaypee University, Noida 48.21 48.83 75 76 50.78 45 343.82 27
Kalasalingam University, Krishnankoil
(Tamil Nadu)		 54.18 45.42 67 62 66 49.17 343.77 28
International Institute of Information
Technology (IIIT), Hyderabad		 45.01 41.07 84 89 43 41.1 343.18 29
Centurion University, Bhubaneswar 41 43.07 71 65 81 42.01 343.08 30
Galgotias University, Greater Noida 50.69 52.83 72 66 54.75 46.67 342.94 31
Hindustan University, Chennai 52.55 44.42 73 67 57.5 47.67 342.14 32
Shiv Nadar University,
Gautam Buddha Nagar		 42.33 41.17 78 73 64.3 43.33 342.13 33
Azim Premji University, Bengaluru 55 50.02 65 70 52.07 47 339.09 34
Gurukul Kangri Vishwavidyalaya,
Haridwar		 50.33 42.83 77 71 56.65 41 338.81 35
Siksha ‘O’ Anusandhan University,
Bhubaneswar		 40.04 43.07 70 64 79.32 42 338.43 36
O.P. Jindal Global University, Sonipat 50.13 41.92 76 71 47.07 52.17 338.29 37
Assam Don Bosco University,
Guwahati		 41 42 68 66 78 41 336 38
ICFAI University, Ranchi 41 41.04 65.89 66.06 75.28 40.04 329.31 39
Sant Longowal Institute of Engineering
and Technology, Sangrur		 47.05 42.67 61 63 75.28 40 326.27 40
Amity University, Ranchi 42 44.46 59 62 77.77 39.01 324.24 41
NIIT University, Neemrana 43.26 41.25 69 67 55 45 320.51 42
Sri Sathya Sai Institute of Higher
Learning, Puttaparthi		 45.48 47.33 61 66 60 40 319.81 43
Chitkara University, Solan 41.39 41.67 62 65 50.84 57.5 318.4 44
Maharishi Markandeshwar University
(MMU), Ambala		 46.68 42.67 65 63 59 40.83 317.18 45
GLA University, Mathura 49.49 47.25 62 65 52.6 40 316.34 46
Jaypee University of Information
Technology, Solan		 45.25 46.92 65 63 51.25 44.17 315.59 47
Mangalayatan University, Aligarh 47.39 44.67 64 64 53.6 40.83 314.49 48
The Northcap University
(formerly ITM), Gurgaon		 42.78 41.94 69 66 50.01 44.17 313.9 49
Saveetha University, Chennai 42.93 42.67 64 63 56.5 43.33 312.43 50
Periyar Maniammai University,
Thanjavur		 51.48 41.92 58 56 60.8 41.67 309.87 51
Manav Rachna International
University, Faridabad		 40.28 43.96 71 66 47 41 309.24 52
Gandhigram Rural Institute, Gandhigram 46.49 52.08 55 50 60 40 303.57 53
ICFAI University, Hyderabad 44.48 42.33 66 63 44.48 42.33 302.62 54
Jagran Lakecity University, Bhopal 38 43.91 69 66 44 41.07 301.98 55
Yenepoya University, Mangalore 54.66 41.75 52 53 51.57 45 297.98 56
NITTE University, Mangaluru 44.01 41.33 65 67 39.48 41.01 297.83 57
Shobhit University, Meerut 41.26 42.95 62 61 46.15 44.1 297.46 58
AISECT University, Bhopal 37.02 42.19 64 68 41.89 40.98 294.08 59
Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi
Vishwa Mahavidyalaya,
Kancheepuram		 48.06 44.17 55 50 52.5 43.33 293.06 60

Delhi University to Track PhD Progress through Online Portal

By
Akash
-

Delhi University is soon going to develop an online portal to track the progress report of a PhD student. Right from the enrollment of a student in Phd to his/her thesis submission will now be available on the portal dedicatedly developed for the purpose by the University.

An examination department official said, “A portal is being created to make the students’ works reliable. Notification regarding their research works and field reports will be available on the portal. However, the research work and findings will be kept confidential”

Currently, all work related to PhD including admission, thesis, research report, attendance, marks, interview, viva, progress report and others is being done manually, which involve a lot of paper work.

“But with digitisation, all these records will be maintained on the online portal. The portal will not only help PhD scholars but will also ease the work pressure on the staff,” the official added.

In 2014, an MoU was signed between University Grants Commission (UGC) and Delhi University had to upload thesis and dissertations of its research scholars. The digital database was named as ‘Shodhganga repository’.

Delhi University is currently running PhD courses under 27 departments which include fields of arts, commerce and science.

MHRD to Bring Graded Regulatory Mechanism in UGC soon: Prakash Javadekar

By
Akash
-

As part of the key reforms in University Grants Commission (UGC), the Ministry of Human Resource and Development (MHRD) will bring in a “Graded Regulatory Mechanism”.  The mechanism will help to bring greater transparency, freedom and autonomy, said HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar.

The HRD minister also announced that ‘SWAYAM’, an open web based platform from which 2000 courses will be run for students across the country, will be launched next month.

Javadekar said that the Union Budget 2017 reflects the government’s vision of raising quality in the education sector. This time the sector got additional funds involving Rs 6,000 crore. He added, learning outcomes are being defined as per the Right to Education Act and will be part of coming academic session.

He said that an innovation fund of Rs 100 crore will also be introduced for schools in educationally backward districts. Along with this, a separate exam agency has also been announced to conduct major exams in the country. The agency will help CBSE to release its pressure of conducting exams and focus mainly on school education, revealed the HRD Minister.

Referring to SWAYAM which, a Massive open online courses (MOOCs) platform, Javadekar said it would become what ATM is for money. “It will be any time learning and anywhere learning,” he said while thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley for the budget provisions.

Delhi High Court ordered to set up grievance redressal system in all varsities

By
Akash
-

Delhi High Court directed the University Grants Commission (UGC) to set up grievance redressal system in all varsities within four months.

The bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Sangita Dhingra Sehgal ordered to appoint an ‘ombudsman’ in every university. The bench further passed a mandate to set up a grievance redressal committee (GRC) in every college or group of colleges.

The court further said in its order that failure in appointing an ombudsman or to constitute GRC for universities and colleges would defeat the very object of grievance redressal mechanism provided under the UGC (Grievance Redressal) Regulations of 2012.

The court also directed Delhi University (DU) to “take necessary steps forthwith and appoint the ombudsman” in terms of provisions of the regulations “as expeditiously as possible preferably within a period of four months from today”.

The court has issued the aforementioned order in response to a PIL filed by a former law student. The student alleged non-compliance of the UGC regulations with regard to appointment of ombudsman by universities, particularly DU.

The bench noted the regulation in its judgement which says, “The ombudsman shall be a part-time officer appointed for a period of three years or until he attains the age of 70 years, whichever is earlier”.

Top Schools of India Ranking 2016 :: December 2016

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Editorial
Demystifying the Finest Schools of India
Cover Story
Defining the finest schools of India
School Education in India
E-learning
Augmented Reality
Government Initiatives in Sports Education
Teacher Training
Academic Excellence
Flipped Classroom
CorporateInterview
Techior Solutions:Changing eLearning Landscape Through Innovation
Next Generation Schools – Set to define new age learning
Making Digital Education a Reality
School Profile
Bringing Best of Modern, Traditional values together
MD International School, Bijnor
Special Story
Demonetisation brings modi-nomics to schools
Interview
A Blend of Multiple Intelligence
Ranking
Top Schools of India Ranking 2016
Result Based Ranking
Top Schools List

Result Based Ranking

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

CBSE Board
“Top Schools of India – 2016” is the school ranking issue of Digital Learning, Asia’s premier education magazine. For the fourth time, the ranking has been published by us after considering various factors. For the first time, the ranking has been decided on the basis of a school’s result in class 10th and 12th of Central Board of Secondary Education. Students’ performance in subjects like Mathematics, English language, arts, science, and social studies in their CBSE board exams of current year is the only factor that decides the ranking of any school. Graduation rate data of previous years is also used for schools. Overall Ranking that each school receives is based on the performance components of student achievement and their improvement from previous year.
Average score of a school on the basis of its result is the deciding factor for any school. More the score of school, better will be its ranking. Public schools can also identify their areas of both strength and challenge. Ranking is also used to recognize the top 5% of schools in the overall ranking and the top 5% of schools with the highest improvement values.
All schools are included in the ranking if they at least have two years of assessment data for five or more full academic year. Along with that, students must have assessed in two or more subjects during these years.

ICSE Board
School ranking issue of Digital Learning, Asia’s premier education magazine is out now with “Top Schools of India – 2016”. We have published the ranking for the fourth time after considering various factors. This is the first time when ranking has been decided on the basis of a school’s result in class 10th and 12th of ICSE board. Performance of students in the subjects of ICSE board exams like mathematics, English language, arts, science, and social studies of current year is the only factor that decides the ranking of any school. Graduation rate data of previous years is also used for ranking of schools. Performance of a student is decided on the basis of two components, first one is student’s achievement and second one is their improvement from previous year. Overall Ranking that each school receives is based on the performance components of students.
Average score of a school obtained on the basis of its result is the deciding factor for any school. More the score of school, better will be its ranking. Ranking will help the public schools in identifying their areas of both strength and challenge. Ranking is also used to recognise the top 5% of schools in the overall ranking and the top 5% of schools with the highest improvement values.
All schools are included in the ranking if they at least have two years of assessment data for five or more full academic year. Along with that, students must have assessed in two or more subjects during these years.

Top Schools of india Ranking 2016

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Ranking Parameter: Goodwill and Legacy

Schools have traditionally been viewed as places where one gets the opportunity to obtain education. But these places play much bigger role than usually assumed or believed. The impression that a school is actually a home away from home is based on the fact that there is much more that a kid learns while being nurtured at schools than just learning about the academic syllabus.
Be it imparting skills or developing the right aptitude for learning, exploring progressive thinking in life, much more depends upon the school we send our beloved children to. In brief, a good school has to have diverse and compelling ways to measure of success.
So, while evaluating the top schools of India, some of the parameters that digitalLearning magazine adhered to included Goodwill and Legacy

Goodwill and Legacy
With societal expectations and careerrelated challenges witnessing an unprecedented high, almost any parent wants to first know what has been the legacy of any school and what is its present goodwill?
How a school is going to take care of our wards is also influenced by the culture and system that has dominated the place of education over the years. And, obviously it is bound to be any concerned parent’s prime concern.
Apart from academic information and skills, a good school also aims to serve a number of purposes from building confidence to inculcating a habit of believing in team work and achieving big success in coordination with others. We, at Digital Learning magazine, considered five criteria under Goodwill and Legacy parameter for acquiring detailed information of a school before ranking it. The criteria were as follows:

School Environment
 Effective schools have a warm environment. Students feel welcomed and know that the staff cares about them.

Unbiased Environment
 A good school is disruptive of bad cultural practices. These include intolerance based on race, income, faith, gender and apathy towards the environment.

Safe and Secure Environment
 With a number of incidents being reportedly occurring in schools off and on, how secure a school is for a child makes a difference. It is important to consider what kind of security or safety standards are being complied with to keep child abusers at bay or how foolproof the school is from security perspective for the children from not just outsiders but their peers and internal staff as well. Thus, it’s crucial how seriously a school considers this aspect and what kind of measures are in place.

Effective Discipline
 Discipline is viewed by many as the base of entire educational journey. Be it any sphere of life, the approach to learn and implement is influenced by discipline. So how does a school inculcates such an important habit in its students or in what fashion it is taught or brutally imposed on students reflect the character of any school.

Alumni Feedback
 How do alumni of any institution view the school? What kind of reviews they feel like offering about that edifice where the new students should or shouldn’t spend their years to come? All this matters a lot while evaluating a school. So, alumni relations or engagement should be considered by every school. A good alumni network could prove to be the best source to get a detailed report of the reputation of the school.

Ranking Parameter: Learning Experience

In the present time, how wellthought out and updated methodologies a school abides by can make or mar the success of any student’s learning experience. And, teaching strategy is one of the most vital aspects of that. It can enable students learn the right thing, the best way for the finest possible objective and achieve all this in a wellplanned way.
Assessment of the learning capabilities of students is a key pillar in the development of a successful teaching strategy. For benefitting the students and making them future ready, education sector is undergoing a paradigm shift from Traditional Teaching Method to Innovative Learning Process.

Traditional Teaching: The Chalk-and-Talk Method
In the pre-technology education era, the teacher was the sender or the source, the educational material was the information or message, and the student played the role of receiver of the information. In the delivery medium, the educator can deliver the message via the “chalk-and- talk” and overhead projector (OHP) methodologies.

Innovative Learning Process: The new-age learning
 Confucious, the Chinese philosopher, teacher and political figure widely known for his popular aphorisms and models of social interaction, used to say: “I hear and I forget, I see and I believe, and I do and I understand.”
In the similar fashion, multimedia is the combination of various digital media types such as text, images, audio and video, integrated into an multi-sensory interactive application or presentation to convey information to an audience.

Why “Learning Experience” is a parameter for ranking Top Schools of India – 2016?
Traditional educational approaches have led to a mismatch between what is taught to the students and what the industry needs. As such, many institutions are moving towards problem- based learning as a solution to producing graduates who are creative, critically thinking, and analytically attempt to address problems or challenges.
The Digital Learning magazine considered “Learning Experience” as one of the parameters for its Top Schools of India-2016 ranking because the cognitive experience of a student should be fun and thrill rather than become a monotonous experience.

Ranking Parameter: Academic Excellence

Though academic excellence is pivotal in laying the foundation of learning, it is also integral to the holistic development of mind and personality. Since the society is going through a transition, to make the students futureready, academic excellence cannot be replaced by anything. It requires to be supplemented with needs of ensuring holistic education and development.

What’s Holistic Education?
Holistic education is a methodological paradigm shift which focuses on preparing students to meet any real life challenges. The most important theories behind holistic education are learning about oneself, developing healthy relationships and positive social behaviour, social and emotional development, resilience, and the ability to view beauty, experience transcendence, and truth.
Digital Learning magazine’s Top Schools of India – 2016 ranking included academic excellence as a parameter to acknowledge the efforts of Schools which adopt the best practices for overall development of their students.
Why “Academic excellence” was chosen as a parameter for ranking Top Schools of India – 2016? Keeping academic excellence in mind, it is important that schools should also lay emphasis on complete development of a child which comes only through holistic education.

Career Advancement

Of the various parameters employed while ascertaining the ranking of schools in India, we believe ‘Career Advancement’ has been one of the most significant of all.
With career prospects remaining the chief concern of both — parents and students — this parameter to evaluate any educational edifice has gained currency in general. Hence, it was evaluated what career advancement courses the schools offer to help students in the initial stage of their career.
Digital Learning has used ‘Career Advancement’ as one of the parameters to rank the schools.
Schools provide students careerrelated research and advance courses so that they manage to develop an effective and result-oriented job search strategy, build a professional network, and market themselves in best possible fashion during interviews, drew a higher score in ranking.
Career advancement courses, as we all know, are actually undertaken to consolidate one’s career prospects and ensure a bright future, empowering students and alumni to translate their academic success into professional success. Through industry-specific training, global networking connections and apprising about relevant opportunities to put a world-class education into practice, these courses enable students to embark upon a journey of success without much hassle or struggle.
Whether students require short-term or summer internships, or wish to build a lifelong career in a stream, career advancement courses help students in realising their dreams of professional world.
Career advancement also covers career counselling that schools provide to their students. Career guidance and counselling programmes aim to help students make more informed and better educational and career choices.
Among other things, these programmes offer information on high school courses offering various career options, the type of academic and occupational training needed to succeed in the workplace and opportunities that are linked to their field of interest. Such programmes also provide teachers, administrators, and parents with information to support students in career exploration.

Future Ready Infrastructure

While evaluating how one school holds edge over others in the industry, one of the yardsticks we evaluated it through was ‘Future Ready Infrastructure’.
But what defines Future Ready Infrastructure or Schools can be gauged from components such as Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment, Personalised Professional Learning and Robust Infrastructure.
Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment: The more the digitisation of the curriculum, higher will be the ranking of school.
We noticed that the digitisation has turned classrooms more interactive and participative than they once used to be about a decade or two ago. Today, a lot of school teachers can teach students with ease by showing 3D models availing the benefits of digitisation. They can ensure imparting of education is effective and cohesive than letting things remain cumbersome for students through handdrawn diagrammes on the blackboard.
Introduction of digitisation has definitely made process of education more simplified and interesting to draw maximum attention than it used to be once. Furthermore, it has proved helpful in promoting higher education.
Personalised Professional Learning:
Schools imparting professional training to their students are ranked higher. To prepare students for future jobs, it is necessary that they are trained as per the job oriented curriculum.
Robust Infrastructure: When employed as part of a comprehensive educational strategy, the effective use of technology provides tools, resources, data, and supportive systems that improve teaching methodologies and promote efficiency. High quality, high speed technology and infrastructure system within a school are essential to the advancing of digital learning and hence the ranking in the Top schools of India.

Online Presence

With almost every sphere of technology being influenced or linked to the web world, every institution’s online presence has acquired immense significance. Hence, making it possible to assess what makes a school important in the eyes of its visitors or prospective clients, the schools’ websites have acquired immense significance.
Since almost all parents wish to know what kind of school their wards should be sent to and why they should zero-in on any particular school than the others, they wish to be informed about everything in black and white instead of relying on hearsay.
They wish to know about the school’s culture, mission and priorities?
How much importance does it offer to foreign or regional languages? What is the medium of learning? What sort of extra curricular activities are encouraged in the school and much more. Overall, this sort of information is accessed to know before hand how a child is going to benefit in term of overall personality development, as all this paves way for the holistic development of children in future.
Since it is quite difficult to know by parents from any official of the school or gain access to parents whose children are already studying there, it is the school’s website that can serve this purpose.
The school website answers all these questions at one platform. A good website can quickly influence whether the parent of a prospective student seeks more information about the school.
We used Moz, an online tool which ranks schools according to their online presence.
For a good school website, the following features were kept in mind:

‘Useful’ Homepage
Homepage is expected as much useful and friendly to handle that it motivates visitors to click on every icon without getting bored from any of the icons available to click on the website. It shouldn’t involve too much scrolling.
We observed if the homepage of any school was appealing and informative enough for students or parents and if it engages the read on or leads to closing the website down in no time, feeling little educated or informed about the school. We did take a note if the homepage was too crammed with useless or avoidable information on it.

Responsive Design
Since responsive design (i.e. mobile friendly) is a crucial element of a school website design. We noticed if it prompts easy access by a wide variety of mobile devices. A good responsive design is supposed to assure each webpage is readable and usable on a desktop computer, a laptop, a tablet or a smartphone. It automatically resizes and reformats pages to eliminate that annoying and time-consuming zooming and dragging that serve as barriers to the viewer.
A school website that incorporates responsive design can be shared and viewed through e-mail links, or social media sites like Twitter and Facebook, which more than half of users now access through mobile applications.
Social Media Integration Social media is a must for any school looking to create stronger connections with the community. A well-designed school website should have all its social media icons in the top navigation of the website. That’s where people look for them.
In addition, website should be easy to share. Social media ‘sharing’ buttons should be placed on all news, calendar, blogs, video and other shareable content. This is critical to spreading the word and promoting the school website as a valuable source of useful content. These design tips not only make the website look nice, but assure that its most important function is carried out: effective communication.

Ranking Parameter: Social Footprints

The popular platform of connecting and popularising one’s update of life events is being used to reach the top in popularity charts in following ways:

Connectivity: Social media helps to develop networks of students and teachers. Students can also use these platforms to connect with various educational institutes as these institutes constantly communicate through social media channels promoting and sharing relevant information from student point of view. Online presence of any school helps it to strengthen connectivity without any limitations on proximity.

Community Building: It is a great way to reach out to potential students and professionals. It gives a chance to network with different industry experts and faculty of different institutions, social media can provide a better industry exposure.

Stimulate Knowledge and discussion: With the help of various social media channels, there is constant sharing of information, educational content at rapid rate by the schools. Educational content shared by educational institutions include views and opinions of faculties, new updates in the education sector and knowledge on various topics. Other than this these platform may help the institutions in assessing, analysing, retaining and sharing the information on a widespread.

Parental Involvement: In order to engage parents and encouraging them for their involvement, social media networks prove to be valuable tool for education institutes. The online presence of educational institutes through social media help the parents in accessing institute’s curriculum and knowing the teachers better. This helps them get clarity about the educational institute.

Visibility Advantage: According to IMAI (Internet and Mobile association of India), 65% of the population go online to search educational content.
Thus, institutes with more online or social visibility have an advantage of being more accessible by the student. Having an online presence often contribute towards a positive approach for the institute.
The below facts are self-explanatory about how social media is taking off in the 21st century. Today, social media is not only a medium to stay connected with friends and family but various social media channels are the ways for professional learning and researching.

  • Facebook added over 200 million users in less than a year
  •  iPod application downloads hit 1 billion in 9 months
  •  80 percent of companies use social media for requirement
  •  YouTube is the second largest search engine of the world
  •  India has 22.2 million Twitter uers in 2015. n

 

Making Digital Education a Reality

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Seeing immense opportunities in the education space, Rohit Midha, Director, Commercial Accounts & Tablets Business, Lenovo India, in an exclusive interview with Elets News Network (ENN), tells about his company’s versatile product portfolio that has been designed keeping in view the specific requirements of educational institutions both in urban and rural areas.

What is Lenovo’s idea behind collaborating with various schools, colleges and government education bodies across India?
 Lenovo sees these collaborations as a growth opportunity and as a contribution towards the government’s ‘Digital India’ initiative. All around us content is getting digitised and educational institutions are no different. For example, we are seeing police training divisions starting to use tablets as part of their course curriculum. On the country’s education front, the government is considering reducing the number of books students are forced to carry to schools. The education fraternity has already set weight limits for the books students can carry with them, thereby creating the need for devices that can reduce the number of books. Devices and technology are being used to prevent pilferage in many government aided education schemes. We definitely see an opportunity here and we want to make learning more interactive. Technology coupled with a good device opens up a host of opportunities. Both governments and private institutions are beginning to see the need to provide laptops to students in order to give them early exposure to the world of internet, digital technology, touch-enable experience and globalisation. Basis our experience, we understand there is a clear need for device-enabled education for better tracking of performance and mentor students.

Which education segments does Lenovo majorly focus on and what are your product offerings in these segments? The education space in India offers immense opportunities when it comes to IT enablement and we work across the entire spectrum of services. We directly collaborate not just with governments to provide students with devices like we did under the ELCOT deal in Tamil Nadu, but also with various institutes across the country.
From digital text books to graphic-rich content, audio lectures and use of devices to record attendance or even conduct tests, our list of user cases is long. Our versatile product portfolio across diffrent screen sizes, their robustness and design innovation make us a natural choice for this segment. We have propositions for K12, higher education and other specialised courses including skill development. For example, we collaborated with ConveGenius, an educational technology company, to launch ‘CG Slate’, a kindergarten specific product. This is an animation rich product that enables parents to pre-define intervals wherein the child can take a break and watch cartoons on the same device.
When dealing with such a varied audience group, it is critical to understand the customer’s key requirements. While one may be looking for devices for content interactivity and graphics, the other may be requiring a product with a better processor or RAM for enhanced computing, or superior audio for more effective course delivery, or robust built and product reliability.
As for our collaboration with premium institutes like Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT), Bhubaneswar, we have provided them with Windows products. Their requirement wasn’t content interactivity alone, rather they wanted devices that support online examinations and tests. In other words, there are various factors we need to keep in mind when catering to the demands of educational institutions. Firstly, we need to understand ‘content compatibility’ required and provide systems that can support the demand of 50 plus students using different platforms at the same time. Secondly, we should keep in mind the ‘nature of requirement’ itself, as some of our customers look for devices with embedded fingerprint scanners to be used as an attendance monitoring system.

What is your opinion on the impact of technology on education and how do you think it can enhance the level of education in rural areas?
Opportunities within the education segment for players like us are immense. For example, the usage of devices in rural education institutions is not limited to teaching alone. To day, Lenovo devices coupled with biometric devices are used for attendance monitoring, monitoring on pilferage of various aids offered to these institutes and at the same time making the student future ready. Rich graphic and interactive content-based subjects like mathematics and science can become easier to understand and learn by using such devices. Educational institutions can shift from semester-based examinations to online exams. Our devices also eliminate the requirement of manual and time consuming evaluation systems and enable parents to monitor their wards’ reports online.

We see challenges as a way to understand user specific requirements and meet expectations through closer mapping of our offerings.

Using such devices also does away with the tedious process of collecting test papers, manual evaluation and creating score cards. Easy access through Lenovo devices makes the entire process more convenient for students and teachers alike. Additionally, solar powered chargers, eyeball scanners and projector-based products are also gaining momentum in rural areas.
Our objective is to provide students both in urban and rural areas one such device that combines good battery life, quality audio output, clear display and responsive service support. All in all learning can become more fun and enable a better future.

What are the challenges that Lenovo faces when it comes to aligning with modern day technology and meeting student expectations?
We see challenges as a way to understand user specific requirements and meet expectations through closer mapping of our offerings. Therefore, this is not specific to only the technology on offer, but the entire experience. This includes aspects like buying experience, after sales service, total cost of ownership. For example, ‘Accidental Damage Policy’ that we offer on our products can really enhance the user experience. All our learnings from addressing various requirements have helped build a robust go-to market strategy for this segment.

What are Lenovo’s plans for the next five years in the education space?
We would like to be seen as pioneers in the education space, not just from a business opportunity point of view but as an enabler providing access to education across the country, and therefore contributing in building a better tomorrow. We want to be the market leaders in this space and stay abreast with the changing time and technological advancements. We will continue to bring forth our innovative technologies and use our deep understanding of this segment to offer best-in-class products that make learning a fun filled experience.

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