Promoting innovation among the young, BIBOX has come up with a unique comprehensive hardware and a software solution which can translate an idea into a prototype, says Sandeep Senan, Director & Founder, BIBOX, interacting with the Elets News Network (ENN)

Please give us a broad overview of your Digital Labs already deployed in the institutes.

We started moving into the schools only last year, February 2014 to be precise. In last one year, we have trained more than 10,000 students. We have also signed 25 schools in Bangalore, Kerala and Delhi with 70% of the schools using our product as an integrated program in the schools. With the kind of response that we have got from the schools, this year we feel that we would at least double the number of schools and the students.

Tell us about your top selling Digital Lab product.

As of now, we have only one product “Bibox Innovation Lab”. The entire session is an hour and 20 minutes long. Every time the students come into the class, they are exposed to a challenge and by the end of it, they are expected to create the prototype with automation, art and craft etc.

What is the price of your top selling product?

The price depends upon school to school and the number of students. Since the entire solution is a service model, the entire material, two mentors (all engineering graduates), tablets which are being used by the kids are a part of the program. Depending on the number of students, our rates vary from 2500/- per annum to 6000/- per annum for a child who attends a BIBOX class.

What kind of systems are parts of the Digital Lab product package that get delivered to the institute for setting up of a digital classroom?

Everything that goes into the school is our propriety and the school only pays per child.

Please tell us about the new Digital Labs you are planning to develop in the future.

Our endeavour is to develop the futuristic products, which is exposed to kids already familiar with the technology and blend with his overall learning. We keep investing into creating newer technology so that these children are able to bring out innovation and make these children ready for the next gen skill sets.

What is the market size of the Digital Labs business in India?

We are unique at this point of time and the solutions are absolutely new. There is no competition as such and hence we stand a good chance to penetrate into the market very well. Proof of the pudding is also to see the enthusiasm in all the schools wherein we had signed up last year.

What kind of growth did your business see in 2014? What growth rates are you aiming for in 2015?

Though, we do not want to disclose our revenues at the moment, our growth next year would ensure that we would earn at least 50-80% more revenue than last year.

Are the digital Labs cheaper than the traditional teaching tools? How has the system of Digital Labs impacted on pedagogy?

In fact in our case, more than the gadget, it is the pedagogy which has made the entire program successful and popular. In our classroom, we divide the children into a group of three, wherein each one of them would have a role viz. Concept Leader, Assembly and Logic guys. Concept leader would lead the team for that day and the responsibility would keep rotating. An assembly guy would create the art and craft for the project and the logic fellow would do the programming. Our programme is based upon the 21st century learning skills and focusses on the 4 “C”s and the STEAM (Science Technology Engineering Arts and Maths concepts). The overall program is based on the Design Platform and the Challenged Based Learning.

Integrating robotics into engineering or mathematics courses can provide a degree of relevance that students sometimes complain is missing in traditional courses, Elets News Network (ENN) takes an indepth look

A common sight everywhere, the robots, or robotic devices, are being increasingly employed as teaching tools in schools, colleges and universities.

Incorporation of robotics into design, engineering, mathematics and science course so fundamentally changes the form as adds colour into the content or, more simply, provides an innovative way of presenting the subject matter. There is hardly any subject left out of the reach of the robotics. The school children tend to be highly receptive to the unusual sight of robots in the classroom situations. Through the use of robots, they may subconsciously be led onto a career path they might not otherwise have considered.

Sudhanshu Sharma, CEO, Techtronics Education India Ltd says, “Research at leading universities across the globe shows that in order to bridge the large gap between academic achievements and practical, 21st century skills and competencies, hands-on learning or learning by doing is the right way. The concepts of hands-on learning as the foundation of all kinds of learning was widely popularized and developed in the modern context by Frobel – the creator of Kindergartens. This was further carried on by several fellow educationists. Mitch Resnik at MIT Media Labs, enhanced the concept by making learning fun in a “lifelong kindergarten” where the students learn while working on something, engaging themselves with the concept. Rapid intrusion of technology in our everyday lives has triggered the extensive use of technology in the classroom for hands-on learning that would include mechanical design, construction, logical thinking and programming, creative thinking and team work. All these areas can be easily integrated into Robotics.”

Other benefits of the role of robots in the classroom include:

• Preparation for the major role that robotics will inevitably play in the future
• Enhancing creative problem-solving skills
• Encouraging development of communication and interpersonal skills
• Encouraging teamwork in a realw o r l d r a t h e r than pure- l y spor t ing activity

Though not an integral part to the conventional courses, the robotics can make engineering or mathematics more relevant.

The students are typically more inclined to solve, or at least attempt to solve, mathematical sums if a correct answer means their robot works properly.

Similarly, without knowledge of basic engineering principles, the students cannot produce a working robot. The robots can transform abstract ideas and principles into a concrete, real-world understanding. Advances in technology have meant that the cost of robots has fallen to tight and affordable budgets.

Robotics in education lays the foundation for prof icient, independent learning in formal education. If the students enjoy themselves while learning, they are much more likely to retain what they learnt. There are many robotic resources which children can develop their skills from.

Currently, the robotics industry does not have enough jobs to employ all the engineering graduates keen to pursue a career in robotics. Sometimes, this disappoints the engineering graduates passionately pursuing robotics in school.

Hopefully, the robotics industry will continue to grow and the job situation will be significantly better a few years down the road. But what should the graduating students, interested in robotics, do in the meantime?

Robotics in education lays the foundation for proficient, independent learning in formal education. If the students enjoy themselves while learning, they are much more likely to retain what they learnt. There are many robotic resources which children can develop their skills from

Let us also keep in mind that the robots can be quite entertaining. The robots have become ambassadors of STEM education in the US.

Sudhanshu Sharma, CEO, Techtronics Education India Ltd says, “Robotics is a multidisciplinary field that encompasses design, creativity, logical thinking. programming, engineering and structured problem solving. It triggers thinking, innovation and entrepreneurial skills in students from an early age. They can apply theoretical science and Maths concepts in real working models thus getting engages with the subjects and core CS-STEM concepts.”

Comparing India with other countries, he adds, “The concept of Robotics is known to educations and they value its importance and benefits. However, the adoption is far too less as compared with other countries like China, Korea, Japan and Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia. We are not even trying to draw up a parallel with developed nations.”

Robots are a very good example of modern cyber physical systems. They contain mechanical, electrical, electronic and software components that interact in complex ways to produce the desired behaviour and performance. In terms of building blocks, they are no different than modern dish-washers, automobiles, magnetic resonance imaging machines and cranes

According to him, “Even though there are no fixed numbers or surveyed data, but we can safely assume that the market size of robotics in India is easily over Rs 1000 crores.”

When asked about the career opportunities in this field, he says, “Being e Robotics and hands on teachers is a very fulfilling and exciting career opportunity. We believe that India needs over 10,000 trained STEM and Robotics teachers and trainers over the next 2-3 years.”

Robotic education plays more prominent role in:

1. CS-STEM Computer Science, Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths.

2. Core concepts of Physics and Maths.

3. Communication, presentation, team work, leadership, structured & creative problem solving, innovative thinking, design & technology, vocational etc.

Sudhanshu says that one must me particular about the essential points to keep in mind while designing the robotic labs for schools and colleges. For example the lab should be flexible to address both STEM learning and Robotics projects.

Besides, the product selected should be scalable, high quality, child friendly and safe and durable product. Product platform should be easy to learn and use. It should be flexible and re-usable. It should be such that it can be reused to build different models by the entire school to reduce the cost of ownership and cost per child.

Trends Be it banking, education, healthcare, or business, going paperless is the trend these days, and almost every sector is in a hurry to catch up with the trend. The science digital labs cannot be far behind. Elets News Network (ENN) takes a look

Nowadays, science is rapidly emerging and making space in our lives, with almost every area equipped with technology. One of the popularly appearing technical aspects includes the execution of Science Digital Labs in various institutions. These are the labs which are especially utilised in the arena of healthcare and education, acting as a strong pillar for the betterment and comfort of people.

However, a change being witnessed is the arrival of several significant trends. Every other day, new software are coming in the market, thus making the use of these labs more efficient and effective.

Modernising Education

“Some of the software in lab management like Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN) and Laboratory Information Management Systems (LIMS) are being offered in Lab Informatics area, but no significant presence of paperless lab can be seen in other sectors,” says Dr Sraban Mukherjee, Director, Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology. Thus, it is understood that these labs are on their way to reach several different domains.

An Electronic Lab Notebook (also known as electronic laboratory notebook or ELN) is a computer programme, which is designed in a manner to replace paper laboratory notebooks. Generally, these lab notebooks come in use by the people working in the field of engineering, science and other technical spheres. The various activities include research, experiments performed in the laboratory among others.

These notebooks are an essential part of the fairly growing new technology and provide a number of benefits to the user as well as the organisations using it. For instance, the research process is quite easy on these Electronic Lab Notebooks and copying the data and restoring backup takes few minutes. Further, the device supports collaboration amongst many users, and is safer than its paper counterparts. It also helps directly incorporate the data from other instruments.

LabArchives, the developers of the innovative web-based Electronic Laboratory Notebook (ELN), have entered into an agreement with Internet2, (a not for profit computer networking consortium in the United States of America.) The step has been taken in order to profit universities providing higher education. There are two editions for the same: one is the Professional Edition and the other is the Classroom Edition. Both the editions are available to the universities which hold a membership under the unique site license service packages.

The Professional Edition is being utilised for the scientific laboratory environments and the Classroom Edition simplifies the instructional lab courses. Let’s have a look at both these editions:

Professional Edition

In this edition, any lead engineer or scientist in a particular project can easily include the ELN into their lab workflow. It will provide an authority to the researchers to create, store, share and manage their research data easily, along with controlling the intellectual property. Further, it will enhance the efficiency and productivity of the research staff.

In addition to it, it will manage the progress of the lab team to provide timely feedback and catch the mistakes much earlier, also enabling 24/7 real-time feedback and cooperation. The security of lab’s intellectual property is assured too. Above all, it is an easy to set up lab and readily manageable to use.

Classroom Edition

It is easy for teachers to provide their students with a structured lab notebook, which is accessible on Windows operating system and other devices like Android, iPad and Mac with the help of a familiar and intuitive user interface. This will mainly help teachers and their colleagues for acknowledging the ability of their students. The good thing is that it can happen anywhere, at anytime, and will provide quick and constructive feedback, and teachers don’t need to carry the stacks of paper notebooks at home to grade. Even in the classroom edition, a 24/7 real-time feedback and collaboration is enabled via this device.

Apart from that, it is easy to detect students’ misconceptions and give them a fair chance to enhance their performance. The frequent use of these Electronic Notebooks reduces the overall costs and saves paper too. As the time passes, the students’ success rates will also improve. Even the students, after witnessing such a device prefer the Electronic Notebook over paper.

The latest trend in education will be how to use cloud computing in digital management. In future, scientists will simply conduct their research while an automated tracking system simultaneously keeps the record. Bar-coding will record samples and the instruments used, providing context to the data for the analysis. The research would be simple since the fully automated system won’t require any hand-operated data entry. Such a process will assure transparency for keeping the records so that the other researchers are also able to use the device.

After ELN, the other software is Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS), which is defined as a laboratory and information management system based on software. The software comprises a set of essential features which strengthens the modern laboratory’s operations. These fundamental features include data tracking support, flexible architecture, and smart data exchange interfaces. The other names for LIMS are Laboratory Information System (LIS) or Laboratory Management System (LMS).

Advantages of LIMS

1. Efficiency- One can enter the data only once, and can restore it quickly. It will also help generate quick reports and send them to the clients on time. Another trend one can witness is that it is capable of generating invoices and tracks the access of archived data.

2. Productivity- It schedules routine tasks, and spends time effectively.

3. Accuracy- The system reduces the scope for errors as manual data entry is limited to some specific characteristics. Also, the validation protocol gives authority to the technicians to catch the data input errors before they are entered. With the presence of automated scheduling prompts, it avoids missed deadlines, and helps escaping the embarrassments of false results.

Digital laboratory, communication and engineering open up new vistas, untold career prospects for the students. After completion of a degree, potential students can easily get recruitment in teaching, manufacturing industries and service organisations like broadcasting, consulting and others, reports Elets News Network (ENN)

Application of digital electronics in our lives is undeniably huge and varied, and the work of a digital electronics engineer is to manufacture or control anything that is digital. One of the widely used tools these days is the Digital Labs, and an important aspect for digital learning.

Thousands of everyday devices that we use constantly make use of electronics technology in order to operate. These are the products ranging from automotive engines to automated equipment in production settings.

Digital labs are being used in the health field, not only to assist in diagnosis and determination of medical problems, but to assist in the research that is providing treatment and cures for illnesses and even genetic anomalies.

Equipment such as MRI, CAT and the older X-rays, tests for diabetes, cholesterol and other blood component tests all rely on these labs in order to do their work quickly and accurately. Pacemakers and similar equipment implanted in the body is now almost common.

Be it any area, using electronics today is so much a part of our lives that we cannot do without them. Music is a prime user of electronics, both in recording and in playback mode. Stereos, record players, tape decks, cassette players, CD drives and DVD players are all the result of advances in electronics technology in the last few decades. When you add Bluetooth or headphones the music can be heard by the user, but does not disturb those nearby.

Scope

The students completing their studies in Digital Electronics have a great scope as it is one of the most popular branches of engineering. Digital labs and Communication Engineering opens up great career prospects for the students.

After completion of a degree, students can easily get recruitment in teaching, manufacturing industries and service organisations such as broadcasting, consulting, data communication, entertainment, research and development and system support.

The candidates can also work in modern multimedia service firms that are involved in real-time transfer of information through video conferencing and internet broadcasting. The application of digital electronics is tremendous and stupendous.

It provides job opportunities in almost every industry one can think of: military, medical, automobiles, home (personal to professional), IT, manufacturing companies. Some of the firms that require candidates of Digital Electronics for academic and research works are BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited), VSSC (Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre) and DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation).

Skills

There is a demand for critical thinking to get the job done in the right way. A proper knowledge of the practical application of engineering science is essential for students pursuing digital electronics. This includes applying principles, techniques, procedures and equipment to the design and production of various goods and services.

Other necessary skills are:

• Ability to identify complex problems and review related information
• Excellent mathematical and IT background
• Strong decision making skills
• Excellent team working skills
• Aptness in quality control analysisconducting tests and inspections of products or services
• Capability to think critically-using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternate solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Associate degree in engineering technology with a college background in Math & Science
• Potential to learn and adopt new techniques
• Innovative bent of mind

Job prospects

Digital electronics engineer designs and develops the systems used by machines and equipment in many industries such as telecommunications, IT, aerospace, defence, manufacturing. With greater experience, one can specialise in research and development, project management or consultancy.

The opportunities for digital electronics and communication engineers are ample as they are employed in variety of sectors such as Civil Aviation, Development Centres in various States, Indian Telephone Industries, Defence, National Physical Laboratory of India(NPL), All India Radio(A.I.R), Posts and Telegraph Department, Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Telecommunication, Software Engineering/IT, Power sector, Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Hardware Manufacturing, Home Appliance and VLSI(Very Large Scale Integrated) design, Television Industry and Research & Development.

Some job profiles are:

• Software Analyst
• Research and Development Software Engineer
• Technical Director
• Service Engineer
• Electronics and Communications Consultant
• Senior Sales Manager
• Network Planning Engineer
• Field Test Engineer
• Defense Services
• Customer Support Engineer

Application of digital electronics in our lives is undeniably huge and varied. The work of a digital electronics engineer is to manufacture or control anything that is digital

Eligibility

The candidate should have a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree in engineering to pursue a career in Digital Electronics. Digital Electronics course are offered at both graduation and post graduation levels across various Institutes of Technology in India. The candidate must complete 10+2 with high scores in Mathematics, Physics and Chemistry for Bachelor’s Degree. The duration of the course is 4 years. For the post graduation degree in Digital electronics, candidates must have a Bachelor’s degree with at least 50% marks with an associate engineering degree (Electronics & Communication Engineering).

Some of the prominent institutions which provide B Tech & M. Tech degrees in Digital Electronic Communication are as follows:

• Rajasthan Institute of Engineering and Technology, RIET, Jaipur (B Tech in Electronics & Communications Engineering, M Tech in VLSI and Digital Communication)
• Andhra Loyola Institute of Engineering & Technology (M Tech in Digital Electronic Communication)
• Lalaji Institute of Technology & Science (M Tech in Digital Systems & Computer Electronics)
• Ballari Institute of Technology & Management, Bellary (BITM)- (M Tech in Digital Electronics)
• MS Ramaiah Institute of Technology – Master of Technology in Digital Electronics & Communication
• Visvesvaraya Technological University- M Tech in Digital Electronics & Communication Systems

Remuneration

As a junior telecom officer/technical engineer/survey and maintenance engineer offer salary between `10,000 – `32,000 per month. In the private sector, the package offered is `3, 50,000 – `4,00,000 lakh per annum. The high caliber graduates with specialisation in mobile computing and VLSI Design are offered are `4,00,000 lakhs per annum.

Digital lab offers the students and the teachers an opportunity to create layers of digital information including both a virtual world and a real world element, to interact with in real time, says Dr Virendra Sangtani

The traditional “chalk and talk” method of teaching that has continued for hundreds of years has now been replaced by technology. It is the age of the “digital”. This new generation is more comfortable with collaborative, online technologies, where pen and notebooks formed the toolkit of previous generations, today’s learners come to class equipped with laptops, smart phones, tablets, etc.

The current era of inescapable technology has significant implication to education. The Digital Lab is in itself a “classroom learning digitised”.

The Digital Lab is the result of educational technology referring to the use of both physical hardware and educational theoretics. It covers several domains, including learning theory, online learning,

and m-learning (where mobile technologies are used) computer-based training. Educational Technology itself can be a subject. Such courses may be called “Information and Communication Technology (ICT)”. Educational technology includes many types of media that carry text, audio, streaming video, images, animation , and includes technology applications and processes satellite TV, CD-ROM, and computer-based learning, as well as local intranet/extranet and web-based learning. Educational technology and e-learning can occur in or out of the classroom. It can be instructor- led, synchronous learning or a nonsynchronous learning. It is suited to distance learning and in conjunction with face-to-face teaching, which is termed blended learning. Educational technology is used by learners and educators in homes, educational institutions, businesses, and other settings.

The Digital Lab may comprise of

E-Learning, including build out of courses and systems for various studies programmes; online laboratories; taxonomy of e-Courses.

Pedagogy including group-learning; active learning; teaching of multiple subjects together and knowledge management.

Instructional Technology aids to implement delivery to reach learners more effectively and develop instructional design via internet textbooks; virtual reality lab; virtual room concepts for cooperative scientific work. E.g. Media/ New Media Lab, Language Lab

Vision Systems for human action sensing, face recognition, and image processing algorithms for smoothing of high speed motion.

Engineering and Technical Education includes robotics; web enhanced design; virtual laboratories.

Digital lab serves the students and the teachers an opportunity to create layers of digital information including both a virtual world and a real world element, to interact with in real time. Active and collaborative learning is the means of education in delivering an enhanced learning taking full advantage of the increasingly powerful mobile devices matched with the capabilities of wireless communications.

Greater interaction among students is encouraged, the boundaries of control are being broken down, and a focus on enjoyment over grades is highlighted via digital lab learning. The teachers, today, have to have the dexterity in engaging the students along with the ability to teach. A digital learning lab provides for a virtual learning platform that simulates a virtual classroom or meetings by simultaneously mixing several communication technologies. For example, web conferencing software such as Go- ToTraining, WebEx Training or Adobe Connect allows students and instructors to communicate with each other via webcam, microphone, and real-time chatting in a group setting. Participants can answer polls or take tests. Students are able to whiteboard and screen cast when given rights by the instructor, who sets permission levels for text notes, microphone rights and mouse control.

A virtual classroom provides the opportunity for students to receive instructions from a qualified teacher directly in an interactive environment. Learners can also have direct access to their instructor for instant feedback and direction. The virtual classroom provides a structured schedule of classes, which can be helpful for students who may find the freedom of asynchronous learning to be overwhelming.

In addition, the virtual classroom provides a social learning. Most virtual classroom applications provide a recording feature. Each class is recorded and stored on a server which allows for instant playback of any class over the course of the school year. This can be extremely useful for students to review material and concepts for an upcoming exam. This provides students with the opportunity to watch any class that they may have missed, so that they do not fall behind. Parents and auditors have the conceptual ability to monitor any classroom to ensure that they are satisfied with the education the learner is receiving.

In higher education especially, the increasing tendency is to create a virtual learning environment (VLE). A growing number of physical universities, as well as newer online-only colleges, have begun to offer a select set of academic degree and certificate programmes via the Internet at a wide range of levels and in a wide range of disciplines. While some programs require students to attend some campus classes or orientations, many are delivered completely online.

Technology in education was a debatable topic amongst the society a few decades back. Everyone had his own views on modernising education and making it technology aided. There were a huge number of positives and negatives to education technology.

But, gradually educational institutes have embraced technology; they have realised the importance of technology in education. A digital lab is nothing but the amalgamation of all these technology to create one concrete unified environment to fabricate, learn and impart knowledge.

A virtual classroom provides the opportunity for students to receive instructions from a qualified teacher directly in an interactive environment. Learners can also have direct access to their instructor for instant feedback and direction

The educational technologies can improve a student’s achievement, so long as such tools are integrated thoughtfully into teaching and learning, suggests evidences. When digital capabilities like online environments are included meaningfully into instruction, students have new options to learn and achieve.

The effect of technology on education depends on the design of instruction. The design of the instruction considers for more contrasts in how and why people learn than the technology used to deliver the instruction. Educators and educational researchers should be encouraged to focus on determining how to better integrate the use of a given technology to facilitate learning, rather than asking if it works or if one is more effective than another.

A digital lab allows for a higher quality lessons through collaboration with teachers in planning and preparing resources. The students learn new skills: analytical, including improvements in reading comprehension. A digital lab also develops some writing skills: spelling, grammar, punctuation, editing and re-drafting. Still, new technologies encourage independent and active learning, and students’ responsibility for their own learning. The ICT proves that students who used educational technology felt more successful in school. They are more motivated to learn more and have increased self- confidence and self-esteem. It is also confirmed that many students found learning in a technology- enhanced setting more stimulating and much better than in a traditional classroom environment.

With technology, education has taken a whole new meaning that it leaves us with no doubt that our educational system has been transformed owing to the ever-advancing technology. Technology and education are a great combination if used together with a right reason and vision. Digital Labs are a proof of it!

Dr Haresh Tank, Director, Station-e Info Services Pvt Ltd, has taken an initiative with special focus on Skills Development. With a passion for teaching and contributing to the society, he has initiated several projects in the realm of Skills Development with Government and private companies

Please give us an overview of Digital Language Labs that are used in the institutes?

We have established Skills Development Centre – Digital Language Lab in various educational institutes including schools, colleges and even NIT. To cite a few relevant instances, we have established the Digital Language Labs at National Institute of Technology (Yupia), University of Kota (Rajasthan), Gujarat National Law University (Gandhinagar), C. U. Shah University (Surendranagar), The Islamia College of Science and Commerce (Srinagar), Govt. Degree College for Women (Anantnag), RaoLal Singh College of Education (Sidhrawali), M S Kakade College (Someshwarnagar), Maharaja LakshamanSen Memorial College (Sundernagar), Munshi Manubarwala Charitable Trust (Bharuch), P K Chaudhary Mahila Arts College (Gandhinagar), Gardi Vidyapith(Anandpar), M.P.E. Society’s Shree Dharmasthala Manjunatheshwar College of Arts, Science, Commerce, Business Administration & P. G. Studies (Honavar), Swami Ganga GiriJanta Girls College (Raekot), Ahir College (Rewari), Sister Nivedita Foundation (Rajkot), T.N.B. College (Bhagalpur), Arts College (Limkheda), Industrial Training Institute City Mahila (Jamnagar), ITI (Rajula), ITI (Keshod), Madresa-E-Mustafaiya (Tankaria).

Which is your top selling Digital Language Lab product?

Our Skills Development Centre – Digital Language Lab is a top selling product. It is the most sought after product because it is complete solution for Skills Development Centre – Digital Language Lab of varied clientele. One of its kind, Digital Language Lab is exclusively designed to change the education system while learning the soft skills and life skills.

Today, skills development has become an important part of education to create more job opportunities for the future professionals. Therefore, these modules on specific skills required for employability and effective workplace skills bridge the skills gap.

What is the price of your top selling product?

We have different models available. In terms of operations and scope, we have zip model and fully loaded model. In terms of seating capacity, we have a 24-seater, 32-seater and 48-seater lab models. Pricing would vary with each model.

What kind of systems are parts of the Digital Language Lab product package that get delivered to the institute for setting up a digital classroom?

We provide complete solutions in terms of hardware and course content required to effectively implement the skills development modules for a digital classroom. The console comes equipped with operating the software required to play the audio/ video files and run the learner-friendly exercises and activities of the courses.

Please tell us about the new Digital Language Labs that you are planning to develop in future?

We are planning to develop new Digital Language Labs powered by mobile technology to take it to the next level to what is referred as MALL (Mobile Assisted Language Learning). We would be keen to tap into the rich resources of Web 2.0 technologies to transcend to the next generation seamless ecosystem of learning.

What is the market size of the Digital Language Labs business in India?

The market size of the Digital Language Labs business is yet to be explored because educational institutes are gradually growing conscious of the need of technology-empowered modes of learning. Once the educational institutes are fully aware of the potential it has for their growth, the market is as big as the number of educational institutes in India. Each school and college is a potential client for Digital Language Labs business in India.

Digital Language Lab is a top selling product. It is the most sought after product because it is complete solution for Skills Development Centre – Digital Language Lab of varied clientele

What was your growth in 2014 and what is your target for 2015?

We saw significant growth in our business in 2014. We are aiming at 20-30% increase in our business by the end of next financial year.

What are the specific products you are offering under virtual laboratories? Please mention the technical features/USP of these products?

Digital Lab

A) Courses Offered

• Communicative English
• Communicative French
• Vedic Mathematics
• Computing Skills
• Call Centre Training
• Resume Building
• Leadership Skills
• Goal Setting

B) USP

• Activity-based Learning
• Learner-Centric Approach
• Advanced Technology
• Man-Machine Combination
• Innovative Training Methodology

Are Digital Language Labs more affordable than the traditional teaching tools? How has the system of Digital Labs impacted the pedagogy?

Digital Language Labs may not be affordable than the traditional teaching tools but they are more effective. Digital Language Labs have rendered pedagogy learner centric. It has allowed personalized experience of learning to learners and made it possible to track the growth of each learner through the high-tech tools Digital Language Labs offer.

The digital laboratories have revolutionised the Indian education system, fundamentally redefining the process of learning and teaching with the help of digital tools. An Elets News Network (ENN) report

The Digital media and laboratories connect the students, the teachers, the researchers, and the partners to the ideas and projects in physical and virtual spaces. Much better than the rote learning, the digital laboratories help the students virtually repeat the experiments for examinations. It helps save physical resources used for experiments in the laboratories, said Sindhu Aven, head of Academics, Zee Learn Limited.

A cursory glance at the case studies mentioned below reflects the huge strides digitisation can make in a short span of time.

• Many schools have seen an improvement of 20 percentage points — from 68 percent to 88 percent — in the proportion to its students who scored “proficient” on all core-subject state exams, like reading, math, and science in four years since its conversion to a 1-to-1 laptop programme.
• Carpe Diem-Yuma leads the state in student academic growth and last year achieved an average 92% proficiency and 40% advanced performance on Arizona’s math and reading assessments.
• According to the e-learning Guild 2013, the learners had 40% higher skill based knowledge level, 11% higher actual-knowledge level, and 9% higher retention rate, as per meta analysis of instructional effectiveness of computer based simulation games.
• According to research institute of America, e-learning has the power to increase information retention rates up to 60%. It implies that it is also more effective in terms of knowledge acquired during the learning process.
• According to a 2009 study from the Department of Education, the students who took all or part of their class online performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.

It is not always possible to conduct the experiments in the laboratories at home or even schools. The endeavours sometimes also drill holes into the coffers, however deep and long it can be. Besides, the laboratories have an element of structural uncertainty.

One can never know what can be required next. The experiments in Chemistry, for example, are particularly difficult to conduct under controlled conditions. Where a laboratory is physically impossible, a digital laboratory can come up with virtual space for a student and even a teacher to complete the experiments. An experiment in a physical laboratory is ever demanding, sometimes springing surprises even from the most unexpected quarters. Technology can be both a master and a slave. Thanks to the digital tools, technology is a new teacher taking multiple avatars, giving the students enormous control over time, place, path and/or pace.

According to Vishal Bisht, (CEO, Marksman), the digital laboratories are a rich collaboration of an institution with the clients. A tutorial in a digital laboratory can be simultaneously attended to or viewed at several places. On the other hand, once an actual tutorial is over, it is past forever. Hence, digital learning is no longer restricted to the premises of the school or the academic sessions. The students have broken free from the handicaps of a school without teachers and those of teachers without schools, books without copies, copies without books.

Sindhu Aven, head of Academics, Zee Learn Limited said, “ Special needs education is in complete synchronisation with technology. Digital labs help children with special needs to manage communications, maintain focus, and provide engagement. Digital labs increase, maintain, or improve functional capabilities of children with special needs. Example Autistic children are visually oriented and more comfortable communicating via technology than directly. Also, digital labs are universally safe and provide a controlled experience that is helpful for students with special needs.”

Proliferation of Internet access devices has given students the ability to learn anytime, anywhere and everywhere. According to Vishal Bisht, CEO, Marksman, “digital laboratories and e-learning save lot of time. The same information and data can be used again and again. The digital laboratories are extensions of the geographical barriers. A professor speaking at a seminar can be simultaneously broadcast or telecast to so many places,”.

• Path: Learning is no longer restricted to the pedagogy used by the teacher. Interactive and adaptive software allows students to learn in their own style, making learning personal and engaging. New learning technologies provide real time data that gives teachers the information they need to adjust instructions to meet the unique needs of each student.
• Pace: Learning is no longer restricted to the pace of an entire classroom of students. Interactive and adaptive software allows students to learn at their own pace, spending more or less time on lessons or subjects to achieve the same level of learning. More than just providing students with a laptop, digital learning is a combination of technology, digital content and instruction.
• Technology: Technology is the mechanism that delivers content. It facilitates how students receive content. It includes Internet access and hardware, which can be any Internet access device – from a desktop to a laptop to an iPad to a smart phone. Technology is a tool, not an instruction.
• Digital Content: Digital content is the high quality academic material delivered through technology. It is what students learn. It ranges from new engaging, interactive and adaptive software to classic literature to video lectures to games. It is not simply a PDF of text or a PowerPoint presentation.
• Instruction: Educators are essential to digital learning. Technology may change the role of the teacher but it will never eliminate the need for a teacher. With digital learning, teachers will be able to provide the personalised guidance and assistance to ensure students learn and stay on track – throughout the year and year after year – to graduate from high school. Teachers may be the guide on the side, not the sage on the stage.

Once digital learning is integrated into the academic curriculum of the schools, India will not lag in student assessment programmes and lead from the front instead.

“Good communications skills are perhaps one of the most important criteria of success in life. English language because of its global reach has made its learning almost mandatory for success. Language learning cannot take place as other subjects. Language is a skill and it can be learnt only through use and practice. ”

The educational standards in India have been deteriorating in recent times. Assessments of Indian school students by two different entities are indeed discomfiting. In the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) test conducted by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) for South and South-East Asia, India was second last — barely nosing out Kyrgyzstan. Incidentally, China topped the assessment.

If that seems like some consolation, wait. In its 10th year, The ‘Annual Status of Education Report, (ASER), 2014, continues to illustrate the all too dismal state of learning outcomes of children in the rural India. It also indicates that the enrolment in private schools is steadily increasing and that students in these schools have better learning outcomes than those of their peers in government schools.

As has been previously the case, Madhav Chavan, the CEO–president of Pratham Education Foundation, sums up this mammoth document in his note that precedes the plethora of tables, figures, and charts. He writes, “But its [the Government of India’s] neglect of learning outcomes has definitely contributed to a growing divide in every village and community between those who access private schools or tutors, and those who do not”.

While there is no doubt that the ASER 2014 report provides interesting data about learning outcomes of children in rural India, the rhetoric that has surrounded the report is deeply problematic and has been widely circulated amongst popular media, policymakers, and educationists. Put simply, two points have been emphasised somewhat repeatedly.

First, learning outcomes of students attending private schools are better than those attending government schools. And second, students are leaving government schools to join private schools in large numbers.

Limitations of rote learning

Long after the Right to Education Act was cleared, what continues to ail Indian education? The problem: the wrong focus and skewed priority. At present, the authorities are simply seized with ensuring that all children are educated. While there is nothing apparently wrong with this, it simply reduces education to statistics. The responsibility for ensuring the students to learn and imbibe what is taught is missing. Rote learning only works to a certain extent. In today’s hyper-competitive environment, rote learning without comprehension won’t take the students farther than calculated. For example, rote learning only works with standard questions. Re-frame the same questions from another angle and the students schooled in rote learning cannot comprehend them and respond appropriately.

Fortunately, there are solutions to surmount such learning problems. Simply pinpoint the actual problem and then choose the right solution. Instead of rote methods used in traditional teaching, the schools should use such modern means as introducing interactivity and personalisation in education. In this regard, digital learning and interactive education methodologies can provide solutions. Digital learning uses such modern as computers and tablet PCs — something today’s generation is most comfortable with.

Digital revolution

In fact, the students have taken to technology like the ducks to water. This compatibility between the students’ receptive minds and the limitless possibilities of digital technology has led to paradigm shifts in the K-12 (primary and secondary levels) education system globally. Where the adults were once befuddled by fast technological transformations sweeping the globe, children welcomed these swift changes. The truth about this transformation is gradually becoming evident as the schools slowly adopt interactive classroom teaching and virtual learning systems by marrying information with communication technology. Of course, the transition from traditional teaching methodologies to modern modules has had hiccups at some stages. The reservations, paradoxically, were voiced by the teachers and parents, not the students.

However, as more schools embraced technology, the skeptics realised the significance of what they have been missing. Modern education transcends the brick walls of classrooms, as well as the borders and boundaries of nations. As education becomes an interactive voyage of discovery on colourful computer screens, the students of all ages discover exciting prospects of the studies. Digital teaching modules offer integrated solutions that assist teachers in classrooms via the use of software, hardware and school support services. Once considered just a ‘job’ by teachers and ‘dull and dreary’ by students, interactive learning has now become an enriching experience.

Moreover, interactive learning promotes critical thinking among students, too. Students no longer accept what the teacher says at face value. They are unafraid to pose unconventional questions that cannot be answered via stereotyped responses. Students would earlier think twice before replying. Today, teachers need to marshal their facts before answering offbeat queries. Such interactions fuel the creative thought processes of not just students but teachers, too.

Personalised education

With technology — and activity — based modules, digital learning tools make teaching easier for teachers, while facilitating faster learning by students. Interactive teaching is immediately followed by practice sessions. Consequently, comprehension and retention capacities of students soar, unlike traditional teaching, where monotonous lectures lead to the lowest student-retention capacity. Besides being user-friendly, control functions of many digital teaching modules allow the teachers to monitor real-time performance of every student. Although the students have personalised consoles, the teachers hold the administrative rights to make classes fully functional. The teachers can then allocate personalised lessons to each student, as per their specific levels. After the lessons are submitted, the teachers are well placed to assess performance levels of each student. Assessment is an important cog in the learning process, since it evaluates learning outcomes, provides remedial inputs and offers a powerful set of solutions towards consistent development of students.

Implementing assessment programmes assist teachers in ascertaining students’ strengths and weakness, thereby planning future lessons in sync with the pace of students. Besides taking a great burden off teachers, user-friendly teaching modules make the concepts simpler for students to understand.

Furthermore, interactivity aids focused concentration for longer periods. All this ensures students termed laggards in class could now deliver aboveaverage performances. Given the element of fun and interactivity that digital learning programmes bring into classrooms, the teachers may find it difficult to label students as slow learners. Students taught in this manner possess an array of creative, problem-solving, communication and analytical skills — the best means to succeed in the 21st century’s ultra-competitive environment. With most modern schools in Indian cities and towns introducing computers and computer education, the time is right to adopt digital learning technologies across the classrooms.

Once digital learning is accepted by most schools across the country, India will no longer lag in student assessment programmes but lead from the front instead. Considering India’s rich cultural heritage and millennia-old teaching traditions, this would be its rightful place amongst the global comity of nations. Digital learning has five advantages over the traditional teaching models, said Vishal Bisht of Marksman, elaborating further, “firstly, it saves time. What the traditional models of teaching will take several hours and days to finish, a digital tool will take much shorter time. Besides, the reach is far and wide. The geographical barriers are overcome”.

The traditional models are driven by the books. Recycling information was not possible those days. The same information can be recycled now.

Secondly, it brings in the qualitative changes. The concepts, far too complex for a tender mind, are simplified by the digital laboratories. The digital platforms and screens are 3D enabled. A digital picture on the screen helps one visualise the concepts, impossible to visualise otherwise, given the complexity of the concepts.

Thirdly, the increased collaboration between the institutions and the students at several levels is a huge improvement over the age-old archaic model.

Fourthly, e-learning, clouding seems to have infused a fresh lease of life into an otherwise archaic and stagnant system. The classrooms and the laboratories are alive now. The teachings, the evaluations are all personalised, customised to the needs of every student.

Powered by success in North America and stories of early adoption of mobile tablets in K12 schools, under graduate and post graduate courses; device manufacturers, operators, app guys and cloud service providers made a beeline for private university owners to adopt to technology in education. This is where it became tricky. Not armed with the right knowledge and failure of early business models in the education sector in India – both private universities and entrepreneurs burnt their fingers with early editions of mobile technology in education. And as Don Norman puts it “this incident brought a delay of adoption of mobile technology in education because early users saw it problematic and unadoptable.” Within a couple of years, things have changed.

The Government of India has also taken an initiative namely ‘Digital India’, which might bring a time when science and technology would almost conquer every sphere in our life. We would be living in a duly digitised world, finds Elets News Network (ENN)

Tday, the century we are living in, is rapidly heading towards digitisation, and seems to be a colossal world of technologies. From mobile phones to tablets, our lives are surrounded with high-tech equipments, thanks to the booming science. Years ago, the emergence of IT Boom in India was a turning point in the economy of the country. Since then, scientists have been experimenting and their innovative ideas have very-well ruled our lives. Seeing the huge scientific developments in the world, even the Government of India has also taken an initiative namely ‘Digital India’, which might bring a time when science and technology would almost conquer every sphere in our life. We would be living in a duly digitised world.

One of the initiatives scientists have taken to simplify the lives of people is the invention of Science Digital Labs. These are the labs used in various areas of life by a large number of people to make a healthy, happy, easy and comfortable living. Be it healthcare or education, these labs have a significant role to play.

“Science Digital Labs act as a bridge between the islands of data gathered through various means, and transforming that data into meaningful inferences and share it within the enterprise. Integrating laboratories improves regulatory compliance and data integrity”, says Kalpana Singh, founder and chairperson, Discovering Magnates.

Today, the Science Digital Labs are mainly being used in life sciences and the healthcare domain. Though the utility of these labs is immense, but organisations in general are not very enthusiastic in introducing them. Bringing in Digital Labs requires a strategic shift in the thought process of an organisation. In addition to that, one needs to analyse the ways to operate them in a comprehensive manner, reducing or eliminating the non-value added method as well.

Demystifying Data

The Science Digital Labs or the Paperless Labs are a crucial help in eliminating the unnecessary tasks from the workflow, as they automatically produce all the required documentation. Automated data collection and transfer allows a person to get rid of the redundant or fragmented data. Moreover, it allows the availability of relevant data to each and every authorised user in real-time. Steps like these lead to improved processes, increased efficiency, faster decision-making and better teamwork.

Over the past few years, scientists have struggled much to keep the track of data of various laboratory components that they have been collecting. There is a central database that allows simple tracking of equipment data and highlight current issue on equipment. All the experimental equipments in Science Digital Labs are computer-controlled and accessed remotely from WiFi Tablet. Besides, for organising normal day-to- day work and storage of data files, these labs allow users to coordinate, collaborate projects and meetings and arrange how and what new experiments should be done. “The key message is to ensure that, once data is acquired, it is transferred electronically between systems, eliminating boring and repetitive jobs, such as retyping, error checking etc. Digital lab is introduced as a process improvement technique, not necessarily automation or reducing paper work or Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)”, says Dr. Sraban Mukherjee, Director, Krishna Institute of Engineering and Technology (KEIT). In order to achieve that, all the processes in the organisation are required to be optimised by using IT system effectively & efficiently. Digital lab requires effective, efficient data repositories and effective integration between applications within an organisation.

Aiming High

The Science Digital Labs have higher aims to attain. They are created keeping various things in mind such as:

1. Electronic Data Capture (EDC)- it is a computerised system designed for gathering the clinical data in an electronic format, which might be mainly used in human clinical trials. It further consists of three other parts:

(a) a graphical user interface component for data entry

(b) a validation component to check user data

(c) a reporting tool for analysis of the collected data

2. Electronic ways of working- with the presence of digital equipments and their increased use in our daily lives, everyone today wishes to de-burden themselves. Now, people no longer stick to the copy-pen method to note down important notes. Furthermore, the advantage comof electronic working is that unlike a notebook, the electric way of working would secure all your data.

3. Electronic storage and sharing of data and information- all the data and information stored in an electronic device is always free of any damage or harm. Besides, it can be easily shared with others within seconds.

4. Electronic signatures wherever required- it won’t be surprising for someone to know that even the signatures today are digitised. If one has to urgently get signatures on a document, and the person is not available then the task can be easily accomplished with the help of electronic signatures.

The Science Digital Labs or the Paperless Labs are a crucial help in eliminating the unnecessary tasks from the workflow, as they automatically produce all the required documentation. Automated data collection and transfer allows a person to get rid of the redundant or fragmented data

Enhancing Education

Education is also one of the important areas where Science Digital Labs are performing a significant role to enhance and ensure the quality education for every student’s better future. Kalpana Singh, Founder and Managing Director, Discovering Magnates, tells, “As per my knowledge, new generation of Digital Lab courses are practical or project based learning tools that address the challenges of film, video, digital collection management and preservation of facts by aligning theory with practical scenarios.”

For example, Genomics Digital Lab (GDL) is a series of animations, educational games, and simulations based on browser. The lab is being developed by Spongelab Interactive and is used to teach high-school students about biology. The topics of study include photosynthesis, respiration, transcription and translation. Almost six years ago, Genomics Digital Lab came out in the market in the year 2009. It is easily available for purchase at home or at schools. The sample is also available for a free seven day trial.

Over the past few years, there have been significant changes which are being observed in both the primary and the secondary education patterns with the help of Science Digital Labs. Now- a-days, every second school is using digital learning systems to make education more efficient and fun-filled. Previously, we were only restricted to the higher education segment, where all the digital learning aids were used. However, in the past one year, it is observed that there are many specific courses for management that are being run on Digital Labs such as Moving Image Archiving and Preservation (MIAP) programme in the New York University. It is a plan that involves collection assessments, copyright audits, and detailed study of an upcoming technology and full preservation of media work.

Ensuring Good Health

The use of Science Digital Labs is also witnessed in the field of healthcare, and involves the implementation of the medical simulation process. It is a method which is used to educate the medical students for the nursing courses. In the field of healthcare, these labs are known as Simulation Labs as well. The School of Nursing under the University of Delaware situated in the McDowell Hall is one of the educational institutions that provides nursing courses for medical simulation. There, the students are given special facilities for learning, and an opportunity to enhance their skills in a risk free suitable environment. It is a practice- based hands-on education. There are a large number of easily accessible learning opportunities in this area.

While teaching most of the disciplines, students witness a lot of chances to learn. In addition to that, they are given a chance to practice things too. And as the opportunities to practice come along, it is expected that the students encounter enough situations to ensure that they indulge into a competitive spirit. However, this seems a random way to handle things and might put learners and patients at a disadvantage. What students actually require is a scheduled, valuable learning experience that can be difficult to obtain in real life. Some of the key features in this course involve addressing hands-on and reasoning skills, including knowledge-in-action, research procedures, decision making, and effective communication.

Other things that are taught within the process are handling work pressures, error trapping, and coordinating while stress is all around. Since any of the clinical situations can be portrayed at will, these opportunities to learn can be scheduled at suitable times and locations, being performed repeatedly as often as necessary.

One has the freedom to make mistakes and learn from them. All those working and learning in an environment surrounded by these labs are allowed to make mistakes without any need for intervention by experts to stop patients harm. After seeing the outcome of their own mistakes, students are capable of gaining powerful insights. They carefully watch the aftermaths of their actions and analyse the necessity to “get it right”.

Further, the advantage of these simulation labs is that the learning experience of the students can be customised. From beginners to experts, these simulation labs can accommodate a range of learners. Once the beginners gain confidence in themselves, they can further pay attention to the parts that demand much care. It is also easy for experts to succeed in achieving mastery with the continuous use of technology for invasive surgery to catheter-based therapies to robotics While taking this step and putting the first group of patients, there is hardly any risk to their lives.

Nonetheless, there are a few complex procedures and limited diseases, which simply do not provide sufficient opportunities for practice, even to the established clinicians. The example involves treatment of a severe allergic reaction or heart attack in an outpatient clinic setting, or managing a case of malignant hyperthermia in the operating room. This is a gap which can be filled with the help of simulation training methods under the Science digital Labs.

The students can also get the detailed evaluation and feedback of their performance, but it might be troublesome to learn, review and understand the pace of actual healthcare operations in the real events, as they do not allow enough time to analyse things. Why something happened, or how to perform well in a particular section are the main things one keeps in mind while learning something. Thus, controlled simulations in these Labs can be immediately followed by a videotape-supported debriefing or after-action reviews that provide a detail of what happened. Many advanced and hi-tech surgical task simulators gather much data about the activities that a student is actually doing. Healthcare simulation is spreading its wings and has started to share much with the accomplished methods in various areas. The rapid advanced progress of computer science, bioengineering, and design has very well succeeded in meeting the demands from all the stakeholders for a much effective, efficient, ethical and safe healthcare.

Boosting Businesses

The emergence of the Science Digital Labs is a boon for various business prospects. It is because it has made our lives easier in many ways. For instance, reduction in paper work and increased efficiency through electronic data sharing between geographically dispersed users allow automated regulatory compliance. At the same time, a person can use electronic signatures to make his/her business processes faster.

Nowadays, every other institution is tending to be technology oriented. Raj Mruthyunjayappa, Managing Director, APAC and EMEA, Talisma, tells Elets News Network (ENN) how in an internet driven society, his company is serving techincal aids to various institutions

Give us the genesis in brief about Campus Management?

Campus Management foresaw the converging needs of institutions serving traditional and non-traditional students in a global and increasingly Internetdriven society. The company’s vision is to ensure that its clients achieve rapid delivery of highly integrated administrative and academic systems that are easier to maintain over the long-term.

Campus Management serves organizations across the higher education landscape—ranging from career colleges to public and private institutions, offering non-credit programs, professional degrees and certifications, or traditional 2/3 -year, 4-year, graduate and postdoctoral programs. The software, strategies and services which are delivered by Campus Management empower institutions of higher education to offer dynamic models of engagement & delivery. Over the past 25 years, Campus Management has supported higher education, both proprietary and traditional institutions, as well as foundations and other educational institutions.

The mission of Campus Management is to provide robust, elegant and cost-effective software systems. Worldwide, more than 1,300 higher education institutions in 35 countries run on its administrative systems. Hundreds of other non-profits, community service and health care organizations, and other businesses depend on Campus Management to manage their most missioncritical transactions, dynamic relationships, and the complexities of learning, finance, research, and regulation.

Which areas does Campus Management specialise in?

If we look at education specially, Campus Management is among the few endto- end technology platform providers operating on a global scale. We serve organizations across the higher education landscape—from universities, colleges to public and private institutions, offering non-credit programs, professional degrees and certifications, and traditional 2-year, 4-year, graduate and postdoctoral programs.

Campus Management has implemented hundreds of diverse colleges, universities, foundations, and fundraising organizations. In order to ensure access to consistent and dependable service levels, we have full array of professionals ready to fulfil the needs of clients, including support, administrative outsourcing, application hosting and Software as a Service (SaaS), systems integration, and training.

The hurdles faced by institutions on administration level are abundant and how does Campus Management counter these and provide solutions for the same?

Campus Management is working with major private and government institutions to provide products and solutions in the general area of student admissions, student services such as academics, hostel, library, labs, scheduling and services integrated with learning management systems and overall student information systems (SIS). We have also advanced and implemented solutions to cover the entire engagement eco system of universities, which includes Students, faculty, administration, vendors, alumni etc. This comprehensive system will enable universities and colleges to scale the operations in a very effective way.

Educational institutes have become more competitive. Students have more options of university or college they are going to. Thus, the institutions across the country are looking at tools like our technology to improve students’ experience, as technology brings in higher transparency, and improves governance and efficiency.

How does Campus Management provide an edge to institutions for the products and services offered by them?

Campus Management is the only leading enterprise systems provider in Higher Education that offers institutions all options for accessing the functionality, performance, and support. Our solutions are specially designed to provide institutions the flexibility required to adapt to the changing landscape around them in terms of student aspirations, industry requirements and competition among other areas.

To quote renowned activist Malcolm X, “Education is the passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to those who prepare for it today.” As the scope of learning continues to grow, so does the demand for more effective education. However, developing a cost-effective infrastructure to cater to the individual learning requirements and styles of each of their learners is a Herculean challenge even for the most experienced of educators. But not anymore.

Delivering quality education is now easier than ever, thanks to online learning. Explore a whole world of opportunities for both those who seek to teach and those who seek to learn, no matter where they are. The traditional model of education required students to come to their teacher. With online learning, teachers can now reach out and connect with students anywhere and everywhere.

Whether for supplemental support to regular college programs or distance education programs, online learning has redefined quality education.

Teachers can now not only use technology to illustrate processes and concepts with the assistance of readily-available teaching tools like animations and audio-videos, but can also leverage it to create live learning environments wherever their students are, thanks to online and mobile learning.

Using Web browsers, a stand-alone desktop application, interactive whiteboards, digital styli and mobile applications for the Android and iOS platforms, educators now have the tools to connect with learners no matter where they are. With an internet-enabled smartphone or tablet, both educators and learners can rest assured that the full power of online learning is available on their fingertips.

After-hour study sessions, live class sessions, virtual office hours, flipped classrooms, quick test builders, access to course content, instant reports, analytical insights to study learning patterns and progress, are just some of the capabilities to speak of. The next sections of the article will delve into detailed discussion of some tools that enable such capabilities.

Beyond boundaries and traditions

Unlike the traditional set-up where both educators and learners were forced to follow only one pedagogical style. Educators today have the freedom to choose from blended courses, self-paced online courses, instructor- led courses depending on their curriculum requirement or learning styles students.

This means that learning is not just no longer confined to the four walls of a classroom but also not to the age old traditions.

Educators can also safely and securely store and share a vast range of custom course content like presentations, documents, high-definition videos, spreadsheets and much more. Share digital content with a few clicks and give learners permissions to download said content for their own reference at a later time.

Online learning frees learners from having to learn exclusively from a fixed set of educators in the academic institution they attend. Now, getting the best education from the best educators is easier than ever. Simply log in, find the course and/or teacher of your choice and enroll.

What’s more is that this learning is no longer restricted to a certain age. Be it for professional growth, corporate training, or even enhancing the capabilities of teachers in the classroom, online learning has something for everyone.

Analyze and adapt

Tracking performance is now easier with online learning platforms thanks to up-to-date reports which are automatically generated as and when required. Administrators can keep track of and analyze every aspect of their digital academy ranging from an instructor’s performance, learner’s performance to course content consumption patterns with comprehensive and detailed statistics.

Educators can check which classes enjoy maximum enrolment, which content is getting the maximum response, which session had higher engagement, how well a particular learner is performing in online tests, assignments. With statistical charts and graphs being generated instantly by the platform itself, educators don’t have to worry about in-depth research towards their teaching methods.

Using the advantages of exhaustive analytics helps educators develop and modify teaching strategies in real time. With performance and attendance reports being generated automatically, there is no more wastage of resources in sharing them with learners. Just a few clicks of the mouse and this information can be shared via email or even using popular social-media websites.

Flip the classroom

Today educators are no longer reliant on mountains of coursebooks and research papers to teach their learners. Not only do they have instant access to detailed and dynamic learning resources about a plethora of subjects online, but they can also harness this technology to create custom content for their own course. For example the WizIQ Recordor, a free Microsoft Powerpoint add-in, allows for recording slideshows with custom narrations even when you’re offline for sharing in the class.

With these tools, educators can simply let their learners access said content, sharing resources learners which learners can access after the class to ensure that learning is not restricted to the classroom. Give learners resources to analyze and understand, then start discussions in the classrooms. Step back and let learners interact and engage each other using peer-based learning, guiding them as and when required.

Empowering educators

Assessing learner performance is also a lot easier and intuitive for educators with online testing. Educators can give their learners regular assignments which learners can complete and submit for review whereas the online testing systems allow for the creation, scheduling and implementation of comprehensive multiple- choice-question (MCQ) tests which can be scheduled or proctored live, with educators having the ability to create tests that are comprehensive, instant, detailed and flexible.

Managing an unruly classroom often sent many educators clutching their throats to the doctor. What if they could simply address such concerns with the click of a mouse? Control the webcams and microphones of learners from your computer and grant learners permission to use other features of the online classroom when you choose to.

Along with all the above, the modern Virtual Classroom is the perfect setting for live learning environments with a host of features which enables educators to:

• Illustrate concepts using dynamic course content uploaded to the Content Library
• Showcase processes with the screensharing feature as well as the whiteboard
• Use up to 6 simultaneous video streams for video-chat, webinars and conferences
• Conduct audio chat with an unlimited number of attendees
• Inculcate social learning with the text chat feature
• Play and share videos with the Media Player
• Acknowledging learner requests as and when they happen in an organized fashion
• Grant permissions to learners to use their webcam and/or microphones
• Get real-time feedback using polls
• Foster team activities using Breakout Rooms
• Use an extensive array of teaching tools which they can even let learners access

Lead the Way

Empowering both educators and learners has become a lot easier with a digital academy at your disposal. Augment in-class learning with the advantages of online learning, all without having to worry about training employees, infrastructure maintenance costs, third-party software or the need for a constant IT support team. Get yourself a hassle-free, onestop solution called WizIQ.

WizIQ is an online learning platform which brings online educators and learners all of the above features and much more so that they can teach and learn without the restrictions they faced with traditional education. And that’s not all. With a global server network assuring no downtime, accessing, sharing and delivering high-quality, high-impact learning is now easier than ever.

With a dedicated support team available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, educators can always get assistance with any issue they are facing in using the platform promptly. No more costs on training employees, no more costs on setting up the required infrastructure. No more hassles, just pure learning. So join the learning revolution with WizIQ and get ready to experience the education of tomorrow, today.

For an onsite demo/workshop for your institute, any further inquiries/information or to get more detailed help feel free to get in touch with us at academics@wiziq.com or call Kalyan at +91-9915-701-494.