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Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi appointed new CBSE Chairman

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digitalLEARNING Network
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Rajesh Kumar Chaturvedi, has been appointed as the new Chairman of Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) following a major bureaucratic reshuffle involving 19 Additional Secretaries and 29 Joint Secretaries.

Chaturvedi, a 1987 batch officer of Madhya Pradesh, has been appointed for a period of five years, according to Department of Personnel & Training (DoPT) notification.

Appointment of the CBSE Chairman comes close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi-headed Appointment Committee of the Cabinet rejecting the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry’s choice for the post.

The post of the CBSE chairman had been lying vacant since December 2014.

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana gets Cabinet approval to train 60 lakh youth

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) scheme has come by the central or union government. Under this scheme, various types of courses are present for all candidates and the institution owners also. This scheme is released by the P.M Narendra Modi. PKMVY 2016 Scheme Training is released for the poor candidates. The main motive to start the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana 2016 provides the education for all youth, medium category candidates.

The Scheme, completely aligned to the Common Norms as notified earlier, would move to a grant based model where the training and assessment cost would be directly reimbursed to training providers and assessment bodies in accordance with the Common Norms.

Financial support to trainees will be given in the form of travel allowance, boarding and lodging costs. Post placement support would be given directly to the beneficiaries through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). Disbursement of training cost to training partners will be linked to Aadhaar and biometrics for better transparency and targeting. Skill training would be done based on industry led standards aligned to the National Skill Qualification Framework (NSQF).

In view of the recommendations of the sub group of Chief Ministers on Skill Development regarding the need to address the unique skill requirements of different States, State Governments would be involved through a project based approach under the PMKVY 2016-20 with 25% of the total training targets, both financial and physical, being allocated under this stream of the Scheme. The financial amount/budget for achieving 25% of the total training targets of next phase of PMKVY would be directly allocated to the States.

Mobilisation, monitoring and post training placement of trainees will be done through Rozgar Melas (placement camps) and Kaushal Shivirs (mobilization camps). There will be special focus on placement of trainees with incentives/disincentives linked to placement as envisaged in the Common Norms. A project based approach for Non formal training for traditional jobs is also proposed. PMKVY will, in addition to catering to domestic skill needs, also focus on skill training aligned to international standards for overseas employment in Gulf countries, Europe and other overseas destinations. There will be scholarship for student undergoing training in high end job roles under the Scheme.

Know Your Potential Through ‘Youth4Work’

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digitalLEARNING Network
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‘Youth4work’ empowers people to assess and identify their own talents, improve their skills and showcase themselves. Founder & CEO, Rachit Jain shares his journey in what went into  making Youth4work and the encounters he faced in a conversation with Elets News Network (ENN)

What is Youth4work? Please throw light on your offerings?
Youth4work is all about helping people find their true potential, improve it and showcase them as their strengths. We believe that each individual has strengths and weaknesses and every individual is unique.  Thus, the idea of assessing and improving skills of every Indian using Human Tech is the core idea behind the development of Youth4work. Our offerings are designed to aid individuals to assess themselves. Our technology then suggests the right online courses which might help them enhance their weak areas.

What is this ‘Online Assessment’ concept all about?
Assessment to its very core is the process of finding and filtering well from not so good. With technology, we are now able to assess people on almost anything and everything. Being online gives the ease of assessing themselves right from their homes on their devices like laptops or mobiles. Though, the interesting part on the ‘assessment’ is the use of technology. There are companies/professors/educators who have an expertise in a particular domain and hence could create assessments to the best of their knowledge for the target group that they have in mind. For instance, a teacher from Bengal, can create an assessment for a 5th standard student and determine their skills in English language, which might not be right for the kids from New York city.  The teachers’ assessment of good or bad / pass or fail is based on their own understanding and the target group. Thus the interesting irony is that the advantage of technology to enable anyone and everyone taking an ‘Online Assessment’ from anywhere, is a big technical challenge on standardisation.

Do you only offer online assessment or even services like English tutorials?
We enable people to test themselves on 400+ different talent tests (we are continuously adding more and more relevant tests). What this test essentially does is compares performances and talents of thousands of others who have given those same tests.  This gives the real picture of that person’s skill to others.

Based on their Skill Graph on Youth4work, our technology suggests the right online course  that person could take and would benefit him/her immensely for professional and Self- growth

How are these assessment tests beneficial for job-seekers and the youth?
Globally students earn while they are in college. The potential of youth in Indian colleges, earning by doing part time freelance work is over 24000 Cr- a figure way beyond our imagination. A person’s productivity would increase many folds if made to do a work that they love. Imagine the impact the right and early recruitment mechanism can make to the world. Our self-assessment online tests help an individual assess his skills and then showcase it with confidence to the employers.

Can you elaborate on the online Prep Tests offered?
We use the power of students for the students. We enable students to contribute and build practice tests, which further gets enhanced by other students. We are unique in our ‘Crowd Source’ preparation approach where communities of like-minded (in this case same preparations/course/test) students contribute and help others. We are a technology platform that just enhances people’s contribution using technology. It is from the power of community & yTest Algorithm that Youth4work is able to build the biggest question bank for preparation for over 200+ different tests in India.  

Are these online tests free or chargeable?
We truly believe that education should not be costly and is the right of every youth in India. Thus, we have kept the prices very low and charge youth only after they have used it well enough and assured to upgrade and get more access. The charges start from as low as Rs.499 for unlimited access.

Student Data Augments School Teaching

By
digitalLEARNING Network
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Assessment has value worldwide as a means of generating data to support personalised learning, improvements in school teaching methodology and national reform programmes, and India is no exception, writes James Neill, Director, GL Education

Many leading educationists recognise how data from formative assessments can drive improvements in teaching and learning methods. Daisy Christodoulou, Head of Assessment at Ark Schools, who has recently opened the Ark Schools India’s SDMC Primary School in New Delhi, says, “We know from other walks of life that accurate data can be transformative.”

Christodoulou adds, “Improvements in measurements brought about by microscopes and stethoscopes in the 19th century led to improvements in healthcare systems, while improvements in the measurements of smartphones can transform people’s lives. Spending time to ensure that our educational measurements are smart can help us work out what really works in the classroom and make sure that no student is left behind.”

At GL Education, we take a ‘whole pupil’ view of a student by using assessments to look at each student’s ability and attitudes, as well as attainment and progress. In doing so, schools can build a complete picture of each student, enabling teachers to adapt to teaching and learning methods accordingly to realise every student’s potential. This helps understand whether or not students are gifted in a particular subject or they have special educational needs.

This ‘whole pupil’ approach to assessment is being adopted by educational institutions across India. Urmila Chowdhury, Executive Principal at SDMC Primary School, explains, “At Ark Lajpat Nagar, we believe that all children, irrespective of background or ability, can succeed if taught well, and so it is really important for us to use benchmarked assessment data to ensure teaching is correctly targeted.”

Recognising the importance of assessment data, Anne Waite – Senior Advisor for School Improvement at UK-based GEMS Education, opines, “With GEMS schools around the world educating 250,000 pupils, we are constantly identifying ways to support schools in recognising their strategic direction of journey when raising the performance standards of their students. We are also keen to ensure that our Indian schools in the UAE, which cater to over 74,000 students, have access to the same quality of assessment data to support learning and teaching that our NCfE (National Curriculum for England) schools benefit from.”

Understanding the potential
GEMS Education uses our Cognitive Abilities Test (CAT4) to measure the four main types of reasoning ability that are known to make a difference to learning and achievement: verbal, non-verbal, quantitative and spatial ability. It is the most widely used test of reasoning ability in the UK and is now available for schools following CBSE curriculum in India and around the world.

The new CBSE edition enables schools following the Indian curriculum to benefit by obtaining valuable insights into a student’s potential, based on comparisons with other students of the same age, and indicators of students’ likely outcomes in future CBSE examinations. These comparisons and indicators are based on data of over 12,800 students taking CAT4 and the CBSE curriculum.

Anne maintains, “The data generated from the CAT4 CBSE edition has really helped our school leaders to understand the potential and learning preferences of their students. Schools have been able to use the data to further develop focussed feedback for learners and their parents. Therefore, together they are using the data to support the setting and discussing of target grades to ensure even greater results.”

Indeed, it is the way in which assessments can be used to personalise learning and understand students’ potential that is driving the interest in formative assessments in India.

Savita Venkat, Principal – Bombay Cambridge School, Mumbai, explains, “The use of data to inform teaching and learning is important. At Bombay Cambridge, we have now designed an internal assessment system that will allow our teachers to really understand individual learners at a greater depth. This will ensure that we can not only personalise teaching to a greater depth using the CAT4, but we will be able to measure students’ annual progress, supporting them to achieve their academic potential.”

Maximising achievement
A number of schools are using CAT4 alongside GL Education’s Progress Test Series; a suite of attainment tests in English and Maths. By comparing scores from both CAT4 and the Progress Test Series, schools can quickly and easily see the students that  are not achieving their full potential and need additional support.

Nahmiya Shajas, Primary Math Co-ordinator from GEMS New Millennium School, Al Khail, has been using CAT4 in this way. She explains, “CAT4 gives a comprehensive profile of a child’s underlying ability, so by combining this with the scores from the Progress Tests in English and Maths, teachers are able to quickly find which children are underperforming. This helps to plan intervention strategies for individual students.

“The data will help us identify the areas for development,” Nahmiya adds. “We are also able to compare the children’s performance against national performance, which helps us keep their progress on track, to look at what targets we need to set, and what strategies need to be put in place to ensure these are met. Now, teachers are able to draw up a list of topics to directly address any gaps in knowledge.”

Helen L Sharrock, Principal – Primary, Mercedes Benz International School, Pune, adds, “Our school has been using a range of assessments from GL Education since August 2015 to enhance our teaching and learning. We are committed to providing a challenging, differentiated programme for all our students, and with the use of CAT4 tests, ‘Progress in English’ and ‘Progress in Maths’ assessments, we are able to gain a deeper understanding of our students’ strengths and areas for development. We use GL Education’s assessments as part of our data collection both formal and informal for bridging the gaps that could exist between attainment and aptitude.

Besides, Helen says, “We are committed to helping our students reach their full potential and the assessments provide a strong set of data, with concrete suggestions as to how we can work to develop the students further. The assessments are skill and concept-based, so are suited to a range of National and International programmes and are not dependent on a specific knowledge base. We are looking forward to the new information that GL Education intends to provide shortly, regarding the CAT4 assessments and the correlation to predicted IBMYP and IBDP grades, in terms of aptitude.”

World Education Summit – Delhi
We are excited to be a part of the World Education Summit to be held in Delhi. As a speaker, and with the support of regional school leaders, I am looking forward to reinforcing the importance of assessments to a wider audience. I hope to find new schools who wish to work with us to further develop their assessment mechanism. Most importantly, I am looking forward to meeting as many of the dedicated school leaders at the event as possible, so as to open a dialogue and explore how our assessments can contribute to your work giving each and every individual student the very best start in life we can.

New Dimensions in Education

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

MT Educare, a pioneer institution for education support and training services, has recently launched a new way of learning through an Online Education App (Robomate +) currently available on the Android platform where its HQ AV lectures are available free online. In an exclusive interview with  Abhishek Singh and Nikita Bothra of Elets News Network (ENN) ,

Dr. Chhaya Shastri, Director, MT Educare shares the challenges of her journey into making the Robomate+ app.

What triggered you to come up with an online tutorial app?
This all began in 2007-2008 in our classroom where we replaced our classroom blackboard with an audio visual media. There is usually a retention level of  50- 60 per cent, but when a student interacts, the retention becomes 70- 80 per cent.  A student will not have access to what was taught to him 5 month back at the time of his examination and has no access to what was learned. So  we thought why not capture the lectures and give this as a revision tool. Following which we observed grade enhancement at the end of the day, week and so on. So there was a science to it and based on this science what we decided is that we should give access of this content to our own students. Later we saw our own students doing well,  and thus struck the idea of making the content available for everybody. But as we know India is a country where so many apps are downloaded. Out of the World Statistics, only 9 per cent of the world app downloads is happening in India. Because our literacy level is so poor- only 71 per cent, we considered giving advantage of this medium to places with scarcity of teachers and schools like the villages where children could buy an  internet connection in a local Gram Panchayat or Zillla Parshad and  could hence study on this app.  Besides, studying on ‘Robomate+’ is easy on pockets too at a price of Rs 3000- 4000 which is a miniscule amount compared to the subscription that will cost one in a month to see high definition videos.

How  is Robomate India’s largest video platform for students helping them prepare better for exams?
Assessment is a very big part of Robomate. A child looks at a 5-7 mins learning module and immediately asks questions. Therefore it gives room to assess the level of understanding of the child. It can also be ‘one- to -one’. For instance a child see the module and immediately sees the assessment. In institutions, we are recommending flip classroom which means that the child can see this module previous day  at home, does the home test and comes to school and then the teacher teaches the same topic and  he does another test.  Then, all these tests sync on teacher’s app which lets her grade student’s performance. But if a child is studying one-to-one with Robomate home, he can access solutions of the wrong answers that get displayed on the app , thus allowing him to self-study.

What were the challenges you faced while making this app?
Firstly, curriculum wise we had to know the classroom experience, obstacles a child faces and what are his difficulties in learning. A lot of expert teachers sat down and exchanged each other’s experiences.

So collectively the expertise of so many faculties teaching the respective subjects have gone into making Robomate+.  Secondly the curriculum is dynamic.  So it was necessary to have our own in-house teachers to immediately address the changing curriculum needs. Therefore I would say that this is not an IT  based software which is a one time job: it is flowing in process and dynamic in nature.

Children’s level of multiple intelligence change and so do the methodologies. For example, in the beginning State Board was the only medium of education, but now we have innumerable boards like the  IGCSG, ICSE, CBSE, IB to name a few. Consequently, with the change of methodologies, learning is becoming experiential and to create Robomate+ on the background of so many variable factors is the key.

How do you see penetration of online education in India so far?
Today every single village has a small or some kind of smartphone. Infact in my opinion gradually use of  tablet  will skip too and education will only happen on smartphones.

In what ways will you distinguish Robomate + from the already existing education apps in the market?
Well, Robomate is not just an app.  When one records lectures and they are available on google freely, it is in an app form.  But Robomate is a component of Robo administration. It is an  ERP (Enterprise resource planning) system that can collect data of an enrollment of a student, Unique ID number, students’ marks, and their attendance in an administrative wing. It also has ‘Robo Assessment’ which means that the exam papers can be generated as per chapters like simple, medium or difficulty level depending on a child’s ability. This is called adaptive learning. Thirdly in ‘Robo Analytics’ the marks that are scored in multiple choice questions of the same day and tomorrow will give him the information if he is good in one section like concept but not that apt  in analytical ability, to help him understand his weak areas in studying and where he has to improve. Other than this there are other benefits like the ‘Robo Books’ where  books can be digitised on that platform and ‘Robo Reposite’ where one can create his own content and simultaneously record  his teacher’s lectures and lastly the ‘Robomate Mobile App’  where the same content can be transferred onto their mobile app. This henceforth becomes a one stop solution for the institution as there is one activity that is called ‘Robomate Collaboration’ which means one’s own parent, one’s own teacher and one’s own student can be on that platform for collaboration to  share and upload his own content  and download content freely on an institutional basis.

Education system in India should inspire innovation, says Prakash Javedkar

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

Union Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar remarks that the Indian education system should promote innovation. “Innovation is the key to the country’s development. Therefore, our education system should promote innovation,” during a discussion on the new National Education Policy.

He also stressed the importance of making education affordable and accessible to all. “We have to work towards making education accessible and affordable to all. Otherwise, how would a poor man learn,”  he added.

Tata ClassEdge partners with LabInApp- provides virtual labs to students

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

image001TATA ClassEdge, a leading provider of innovative technology based learning solutions for schools, partnered with LabInApp, an organisation that specialises in experiential science learning.  LabInApp is a 3D interactive virtual laboratory tool, that focuses on virtual experiments to enable understanding of scientific concepts that will enable students and teachers to perform science experiments on computers or mobile devices, without dependency on an actual laboratory. 

LabInApp will be available for students from 9th to 12th standard. With over 250 experiments available through LabInApp, students will be able to conduct practicals virtually for Physics, Chemistry and Biology. They will have the liberty to change the dimensions or measurements of a particular experiment and then observe the changes that take place.

Commenting on the same,Nirav Khambhati, CEO of Tata ClassEdge, said, “This partnership with LabInApp is our endeavor to improve the practical experience of doing scientific experiments among students and enable them to perform better. This will further strengthen their learning experience and eliminate barriers such as the availability of a physical laboratory or equipment.”

LabInApp can also act as a teaching tool and enhance the ability of a teacher to deliver live demonstration of experiments in a controlled environment. The teacher can explain concepts in a 3D representation, revise the practicals in class and carry out experiments without worrying about the availability of lab resources.

Learning is fun with the new AppyStore app

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

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AppyStore, India’s first subscription based curated edutainment service for kids, has announced the launch of its premium mobile app. The app has videos handpicked by experts for children between 1.5 to 6 years, integrating holistic learning with limitless fun. So be it nursery rhymes or videos on nature and science, parents can now ensure that their child gets a secure environment to develop and hone life skills, communication ability and learning proficiency, all in one!

Certain feature help it stand out. For instance, parents can easily track their child’s progress in various learning areas based on the number of videos viewed. Moreover, the content on AppyStore is designed to enable children to acquire optimal skills and qualities in line with the irrespective age relevant developmental milestones. With 5,000 videos classified across 18 learning areas, the app offers a much better alternative to other ‘fun-only’ video sites for children.

 Director Manoj Barot, Marketing, Appystore.in, said, “With technology fast becoming an integral part of life from a very early age, the learning experience for children has also undergone a major evolution over the past few years. This growing need for edutainment solutions in a safe, secure and engaging learning environment is why we have launched AppyStore. Children can now easily improve their logical thinking with fun puzzles, learn the importance of physical fitness, get involved in outdoor activities and imbibe good socio-emotional values with the help of the app.” Moreover, as our app is extremely kid-friendly, parents can hand over their phones to their children without having to worry about explicit content, irrelevant ads or pop-ups.”

The AppyStore content is handpicked by teachers and experts in the field of child education who are in sync with school curricula in India and across the globe. The app, which works on a subscription based payment model, has introduced special three-month, six-month and nine-month plans offering unlimited videos and free physical worksheets as part of its launch offer. Parents signing up now can get trial access to the app with free home delivery of worksheets. The worksheets are designed to help the child practice the concepts learnt through the videos.

Rs10,000 crore approved for skill development by Govt

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

An outlay to the tune of Rs. 10,000 crore has been granted by the union cabinet on Tuesday. This is in tandem with the government’s commitment to create jobs to the five million employable youth over the next four years. The corpus will be utilised towards providing apprenticeship training.  

This comes as the biggest financial boost to the sector of skill development in the last Seven years and is pegged to incentivise industries to take more apprentices on board.

As of now 2, 30,000 youth are undergoing apprenticeship training. The government plans to increase this to 5 million by 2019-20.

According to the new scheme, the central government will bear 25% of the stipend given to an apprentice by a factory

The Union government will bear 50% of the expense on academic training of an apprentice done either by a company or outsourced by it to a third-party trainer.

Government will pay Rs.7,500 per apprentice for their academic training and academic training will be of one-fourth duration of the apprenticeship training. It means, a youngster joining a company for one year as apprentice, can spend three months for academic training.

Though Modi government’s focus is on job creation, the present situation seems bleak.

In 2014, eight key manufacturing and export-oriented sectors, including IT/BPO, textiles and automobiles, created less than half a million (421,000) jobs, and in 2015, the numbers were less than 200,000, according to the labour bureau.

Unlearn to grasp new learnings

By
digitalLEARNING Network
-

With employability of students attaining new lows every year, it is a matter of serious concern for all the stakeholders of higher education to track progress of the students and the efforts the teachers are putting in. Sarvagya Mishra, Co-Founder and CTO of iAugmentor explains how they are trying to leverage technology to create a platform to address all these issues in an exclusive conversation with Elets News Network (ENN)

What is the genesis behind the foundation of iAugmentor?
As per a survey on employability  conducted by NASSCOM (The National Association of Software and Services Companies) only two per cent of the graduates  that pass out every year are employable as they lack in technical skills and other  life skills like communication skills, presentation skills, ability to handle stress and conflict resolution. In the course of interaction with the management and students of tier II and  tier III colleges, we realised that the problem lay in the way training was being imparted.  Students fail to get  specific and personalised inputs and support from the management and the trainers and hence lose interest in what is being taught to them in the classroom. We felt that the need of the hour was to leverage technology to create a platform to address all these issues. On our platform, the students get personalised inputs based on their learning needs. The trainer is then able to track the efforts being made by the students and the management is able to quantify their efforts.

What kind of learners are you catering to?
Our initial target audience is the college going students who are looking forward to prepare themselves for the next step in their career. Presentation skills, body language or interview skills are some of our most popular modules among students. We are offering custom designed modules for corporates in which we are helping them in training employees and also developing specific life skills to enable them grow more.

When you talk about opening up of neural pathways, what exactly do you mean?
Neurons are the fundamental units of the brain triggering our thinking process. A thought, idea or action is a series of neural messages communicated through a series of neurons in our brain. New learning is impeded as our brain tends to prefer spontaneously to use its preferred pathways. This is why human beings find it very difficult to change habits. For a new neural pathway to develop, it takes multiple journeys along the new pathway, for old habits to change.

Why is unlearning important?
Technology is disrupting the way we live, travel, get entertained and communicate. Let’s take the case of education. Unless our teachers unlearn, they will not be able to adapt to the needs of the new generation who were born in the Google age where information is available at the blink of an eye. The role of the teacher is now changing from a knowledge source, to someone who helps disseminate learning, already available from different sources, and guide on its practical use.

How do you relate the above with iAugmentor?
We all have limited beliefs, self esteem levels as well as habits. We operate from these unknowingly, and unwittingly settle with the performance levels of what our neural pathways are pre-set to. iAugmentor presents learning through a “Learning by Doing Approach.”  For example, it pushes the learners to upload their videos on to an imaginary audience, with a specific question. This video is then automatically compared with some expert speaker videos, as well as videos of other students who answer the same question. By continuously getting feedback and comparison with peer/expert videos, inbuilt habits and neural pathways are replaced by new ones, and the learner moves towards acquiring new ingrained capabilities.

How do you peg the scope of iAugmentor in India’s current scenario?
With almost 15 lakh students graduating every year, a mere two per cent are employable. Under such circumstances, the students need to enhance their technical skills in order to augment their chances of employment. This situation is in spite of the fact that all colleges are spending around Rs 25-30 lakhs per annum to train their students. In India, Training and Development is a $100 mn industry, growing at a CAGR (Compounded Annual Growth Rate) of eight per cent. Of this, almost 60 per cent of the money is being spent on training junior level executives and students. Yet there is no accountability in the entire process of training and development industry especially pertaining to the tier II and tier III colleges.

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