Become a Mathlete with NIIT Nguru MathLab- Nationwide Impact Study shows that NIIT MathLab has a positive impact on students’ performance in mathematics
Five-time World Champion and NIIT Mind Champion Viswanathan Anand have unveiled the NIIT MathLab Impact study at an event organized in the capital. A breakthrough initiative based on NCERT curriculum, MathLab Plus by NIIT, a global leader in skills and talent development, aims at making the vital subject of mathematics simpler, easier and fun to learn for school students, resulting in improved performance and proficiency in math results.
The recent NIIT MathLab Impact study, conducted by one of the big four research agencies in 34 schools across 11 states in India to understand the impact of the MathLab both at the quantitative and qualitative levels, highlighted that 20 percent of children (and adults) suffer from math anxiety. It has been observed that after introduction of MathLab in schools there were multiple changes among the students as well as teachers, in their approach to Math. MathLab helps to increase interest in the subject, develop logical thinking, improves retention of concepts, decreases fear of math and builds up confidence among students through interactive and collaborative learning. The NIIT MathLab Impact study clearly shows that Class X students from MathLab using schools perform distinctly better in math than students not using MathLab.
The efficacy of MathLab was highlighted through a unique theatrical performance titled, Masti ki Math-Shala, wherein performers drew upon daily experiences to demonstrate the importance of math in every sphere of life. Real life situations were masterfully adapted to showcase the significance of mathematics and how NIIT MathLab Plus could help in making this difficult subject simple and fun. Leading academicians, principals, and teachers from top schools of Delhi and NCR were present during the performance.
On the occasion of the launch of NIIT MathLab Impact Study, GM Viswanathan Anand spoke on how the collaborative nature of MathLab Plus allows seamless integration of creativity, connectivity and problem solving for contextual learning. He shared his personal conviction on how any lesson that is learnt with enjoyment and engagement invariably leads to better results – whether in sports or as demonstrated in the NIIT MathLab Impact Study.
Speaking on the occasion, P Rajendran, executive director, NIIT Limited said, “It is our constant endeavor at NIIT, to make education more impactful, interactive and fun filled experience for teachers and students alike. To this end we decided to assess the impact of learning math with NIIT MathLab and the Impact Study results reiterate our belief that MathLab not only makes learning math fun, but also improves the fundamentals of mathematics through enhanced performance and proficiency.”
Five-time World Champion and NIIT Mind Champion Viswanathan Anand said, “With a vision to enable ‘schools of tomorrow’, NIIT’s MathLab Plus ensures that the students get a thorough grasp on the subject, thus laying a foundation to train students to think, analyze and articulate logically. I congratulate NIIT for its MathLab Impact Study that shows a definitive impact of MathLab on math performance across schools in India.”
NIIT Nguru MathLab Plus has been successfully implemented in more than 1500 schools, with over 8000 teachers using the product to teach mathematics to more than 5 lakh students.
MathLab Plus is all about learning, verifying and visualizing mathematical concepts in a ‘fun’ way through educational aids, interactive tools, computer interface, and guidance from teachers and NIIT experts. It inspires out of the box thinking and provides an opportunity to explore the valuable knowledge with classmates. With the help of MathLab Plus, teachers can make seemingly complex subjects, easy to understand.
MathLab Plus offers multiple teaching and learning aids comprising technology applications, videos, manipulative, measuring instruments, and tables and charts, to schools on the basis of three pillars of imagine, investigate, and interact.
About NIIT
Established in 1981, NIIT Limited, a global leader in skills and talent development, offers multi-disciplinary learning management and training delivery solutions to corporations, institutions, and individuals in over 40 countries. NIIT has three main lines of business across the globe- Corporate Learning Group, Skills and Careers Group, and School Learning Group.
NIIT’s learning and talent development solutions, have received widespread recognition globally. The company has been named among the Top 20 Training Outsourcing Companies for the past seven consecutive years by Training Industry, Inc. Further, leading Indian ICT journal Dataquest has conferred upon NIIT the ‘Top Training Company’ award successively for the past 20 years, since the inception of this category. NIIT Yuva Jyoti Ltd was recognized as the Best Vocational Education and Skill Development initiative at the World Education Summit, 2014.
In recognition of its people-centric policies, which foster an environment of growth and career development, NIIT has been ranked as the 4th Best Company to work for in India 2013-14, by Great Place to Work Institute.
Indian Institute of Management Indore (IIMI) is one of the distinguished elite B-schools in India. It is known for divulging top-notch management education and training amongst its students, and best known for teaching, research and industry interaction. As an initiative to connect researchers across the world, from the last six years, IIMI has been organising conferences on Excellence in Research and Education. These conferences provide academicians, doctoral students and research aspirants a platform to present their research paper and an opportunity to interact with the industry, research and education experts.
This year, the institute partnered with WizIQ, an online education platform, to live webcast the Technical Track 1 of the 6th International Conference on Excellence in Research and Education 2014 (CERE’ 2014). The conference was held on 8th-11th May 2014.
Webcasting is generally understood as the live video streaming of physical events all over the world via internet. With events like these where real-time collaboration is necessary, mere video streaming is not the perfect solution where the shared research cannot be visible in-sync for the online audience.
WizIQ’s Virtual Classroom comes as rescue in these scenarios, where the audio-video of the presenters is broadcasted live along with their presentations. Audiences do not just see the presenterbut also the content shared by the presenter, in real-time, from anywhere across the globe.
The online live sessions in Technical Track 1 were free and open for anyone to attend. To those who couldn’t attend live, recordings were shared to view via WizIQ’s URL link:http://go.wiziq.com/2rca
Interlude:
In the conference, the research papers were invited from almost all the avenues of knowledge, such as: Economics, Operation Management, Information System, Human Resource, Corporate Governance, Social Issues, Business Communication, etc
WizIQ made it possible for renowned researchers and academicians like Dr.SushilaSoriya, Dr. S.P. Rath, Dr. Mark. A. Sunderman, Dr.EvgenyRadetsky, Dr. Ronald W. Spahr and many other influential professors from across the world to share their knowledge and experience with their respective papers with the audience.
In his own words, Prof RanjeetNambudiri, the Chairperson of Fellow Programme in Management, IIM Indore, said, “We appreciate and recommend the efforts made by the team WizIQ as Online Education Partner for the conference.”
This successful endeavour opened new doors. The institute decided to offer selected research papers to a wider audience for ongoing debate and continuous learning as a MOOC on WizIQ. With the consent of the presenters/authors, IIMI gained the indemnifications of copyrights of their papers to create the MOOC. Thus, the research papers presented in the MOOC are the original papers presented in the CERE’ 2014.
The MOOC is again an open and free online course for anyone to attend. Anyone can join the MOOC by going to the following ULR link: http://go.wiziq.com/2ssk
Postlude:
On the whole, WizIQ is a one-stop destination for venue-based conferences, entirely online or hybrid conferences. As one of the leading and award winning online learning and teaching platforms, WizIQ also offers the best experience of attending seminars and conferences from home, office or anywhere.
All those educational institutes, organisations or individuals looking forward to conduct seminars or conference and wish to go online may contact Kalyan, mail at: kalyan@wiziq.com or call at: +91-9915-701-494
Across the world, there is a growing contradiction of rising unemployment rates and the shortage of skilled workforce. On the one hand, the educated unemployed are turning every job search engine upside down to look for a silver lining. On the other hand, employers increasingly find it difficult to identify the skilled youth with the right skills set who can be handed over the baton. Education system across the world continues to provide degree holders who have degrees but the requisite competence and skills are an area of concern. To make matters worse, the world order is defined by knowledge and skills in consonance with the 21st century. It is aptly articulated in Strategic and Implementation Framework for Skills Development in India by FICCI:
“Knowledge is the engine that drives the growth of an economy. In order to remain competitive, all countries and organizations have to attract human resources with new and innovative skills. However, availability of skilled manpower is becoming a challenge. The world is entering a phase, which is expected to witness an unparalleled shortage of skills. In developed countries, the ageing population and retirement of baby boomers will have a significant impact on countries’ capability to manage workforce quantity, quality and costs. Despite high unemployment rate, employers are facing difficulty in finding the right match for the jobs. According to the survey conduct by Manpower Group (US), one in three employers in the world is experiencing difficulty in filling job positions.”
This is the global scenario and skills crunch is a global issue. But in the case of a country that prides on its ‘demographic dividend’ and wishes to transform this ‘demographic dividend’ into the magical solution of economic crisis, it is a much greater challenge. India has long been touted as the youngest country in the world and its youth is deemed the treasure for the country. But when one studies the unemployment rates, it is alarming to learn about how Indian youths are also finding it difficult to participate in globalized world. One of the major barriers to their participation is their ability to articulate themselves in English. Where do we stand in this regard? The report further addresses the issue:
“On other hand, India has the distinct advantage of having one of the youngest populations in the world. The country has a very large pool of young Englishspeaking people and has the potential to meet the skill needs of other countries and also cater to its own demand for skilled manpower. Ironically, most industries in India are currently struggling with scarcity of skilled labor. Although more than 40 million people are registered in employment exchanges, 0.2 million people get jobs. This is because the current education system does not train young people in employable skills that will open up immediate employment opportunities for them. Today, a large section of India’s labor force has outdated skills. With current and expected economic growth, this challenge is going to only increase further, since more than 75% of new employment opportunities are expected to be skill-based.
However, to make this exercise a success, India has many lessons to learn and implement from international practices -as compared to 75% of Germany’s, 68% of UK’s skilled workforce, India can only account for 2%. Therefore, far-reaching and deep rooted reforms are urgently needed if it wants to emulate countries, whose vocational education and training systems has been successful.”
It has been believed for a very long time that India has the largest Englishspeaking pool in the world. But that may not be an accurate estimate as against the rising demand for the same. David Graddol explains:
“The rewards of investing in English depend in great measure on how many other countries are now teaching English to their youth. In China, elsewhere in Asia, in Latin America, across Europe and many other places, English is now seen as a new ‘basic skill’ which all children require if they are to fully participate in 21stcentury civil society.
India speaks English. At least that is what most of the world imagines. Only a few years ago, north America and Europe discovered that India could provide lowcost back office and call centre facilities. It looked as if India was finally able to ‘monetise’ its British colonial legacy. The English language appears to be the key ingredient in a new, IT-enabled, economy which is everywhere transforming Indian society. But as the Indian economy grows, exhausting its English-speaking ‘talent pool’, some people are beginning to think that perhaps not enough people in India speak English after all.”
To put it in perspective, David Graddol wrote this a few years back and the demand for English is accentuated even further in the past few years.
Station-e Digital Labs
Station-e is a chain of Digital labs, spread across the country and scientifically designed and customized to the core for proficiency in English at all levels. Station-e Language Lab is different as it is not 25 PCs stationed in cubicles but a cozy lab with flexi tools for listening and recording,
playing back the audio video files on the plazma TV and a host of technologydefined ways of learning. The course material provided to learners is designed by nationally acclaimed experts in the field and advanced technology is integrated into the activity-based and learner-centric modules of language learning.
In the language labs at Station-e, we have evolved a technology based model of language learning to address the diverse requirements of the scores of people who aspire to communicate in fluent English. Till now, Station-e has lent material shape to the dream of attaining communication proficiency of over 100000 learners across the 30 Centres in the country.
Dr Haresh Tank
Dr. Haresh Tank is Director, Station-e Language Lab. In the capacity of Director, he is in charge of conceptualizing and operationalizing initiatives with a special focus on Skills Development. He holds a doctorate in Statistics and is a noted Statistical Analyst. He was also nominated for Young Scientist Award. With a passion for teaching and contributing to the society, he continues to serve as Associate Professor in Statistics. As a Director, Station-e Language Lab, he has initiated several projects in the realm of Skills Development with Government and private companies. In addition, Dr. Tank is serving as Vice Chairman, CII, Western Gujarat Zonal Council.
Station-e as the New Model of Digital Labs
Station-e marks a new era in the realm of English training because it is a nongovernment initiative but also an effective and novel innovation. It is a new window that opens to the world of corporatization and professionalization of training and teaching of English. No longer can we afford to look up to the governments for the language training solutions; it is time to usher in corporate, NGOs and form public-private partnerships wherever need be. 19th century mindset, processes and solutions have not helped and will not help. We need 21st century solutions for 21st century demand for proficiency in English for the youngest country in the world. Station-e is a phenomenon, a landmark and a model of how to go about it. We have done our bit; we have led the way and shown the direction. The path to scientific way of language learning has been constructed by the concerted and sustained efforts by Station-e. In this world increasingly defined and re-defined soft skills such as communication skills, Station-e is a model of language training, designed in a customized way, devised with the ICT tools at their sophisticated best and delivered with human excellence. If implemented throughout India, Station-e model of Digital Labs cum Skills Development Centres can transform the skills development landscape in the country.
Introducing global teaching methods has become a necessity. Nirav Khambhati, CEO, Tata ClassEdge and Naveen Rajlani, CEO, VP & Business Head, Inside Services, Pearson India open a debate to the avid readers of digitalLearning
How do you look at the emerging technologies in this field? What can be the areas of improvement?
Nirav Khambhati, CEO, Tata ClassEdge:
Big data is rapidly changing the way we look at teaching and learning. The field of education science has been more theory driven than data driven so far. However, with massive open online courses (MOOCs) and other open learning platforms that are closely monitoring and collecting data on how students respond to different types of learning experiences, learnerexperience data is going to be a gamechanger in the design, development and delivery of technology-enabled educational solutions. Analytics-based adaptive learning that adapts learning experiences to suit the end user’s level of understanding and preferred ways of processing information will move teaching-learning from a one-size-fitsall approach.
At Tata ClassEdge we are constantly trying to build on our offerings by creating an ecosystem of like-mined people and partners in areas as diverse as computer education, authentic hands-on science learning, robotics and the like.
Naveen Rajlani, CEO, VP & Business Head, Inside Services, Pearson India
Naveen Rajlani, VP & Business Head – Inside Services, Pearson India:
With massive technological advancements and economic liberalization, the world is now becoming a global village. In a scenario like this, introducing global teaching methods has become a necessity. It is essential that students and teachers in India are able to think and function at par with their counterparts across the globe.
All the emerging technologies available in this digital field provide a great solution to the much awaited benefits of incorporating technology in education. The technology solutions available for schools in bits like Digital Classrooms, e-Books, Tablets & ERP help both teachers and students to innovate, recreate and give shape to their ideas. All of these solutions need to be integrated as one solution for schools to impart quality education and innovative answer to a complete learning solution.
One area of improvement is the need to integrate all kinds of learning tools, be it textbooks, digital aids or assessments into one integrated learning solution that helps teachers with reports on individual student performances so that they can identify gaps in learning and ensure better progress. Pearson is currently working towards addressing this concern and will be soon announcing the launch of an integrated learning product for the K-12 segment.
The main challenge is in winning over teachers to start using technology. However, we cannot blame teachers even if there is some resistance. It is to do with the fact that technology is ineffective if there is no thrust on how to use it to improve the learning outcomes
What are the opportunities and challenges faced by companies offering Technology based Instructional solutions? Nirav Khambhati:
The main challenge is in winning over teachers to start using technology. However, we cannot blame teachers even if there is some resistance. It is to do with the fact that technology is ineffective if there is no thrust on how to use it to improve the learning outcomes. If teachers see a clear benefit in using technology to enhance their teaching, the resistance automatically disappears.
Currently, most players use projectors and interactive whiteboards to display multimedia content in classrooms. From this passive display of content, we are witnessing a move towards students directly interacting with technology as in the use of virtual laboratories and immersive educational games. Tata ClassEdge offers both these solutions already. The other big opportunity is in gathering data on the way teachers and students use technology. The insights that can be derived by analyzing this data can serve as powerful tools in fine-tuning educational design. On this aspect again, Tata ClassEdge is sitting on a goldmine of usage data.
Soon when 3D printing, wearable technology, augmented reality and intelligent tutoring systems become more accessible, classrooms are bound to undergo a radical change from the way we see them today.
Naveen Rajlani:
One of the major problems faced by the smart classroom solution providers is encouraging teachers and education providers to use this technology in imparting education. The digital service providers need to ensure that teachers are able to utilize this technology to the maximum to gain benefits out of it. Unless the solutions offered are fully used in classrooms, school won’t be able to derive maximum benefit. Companies offering Digi- Classrooms will have to find out more and more ways to engage and encourage teachers to use this technology.
What distinguishes you from the competitors?
Nirav Khambhati:
At the heart of Tata ClassEdge lies its instructional design model — the multiple learning experiences model (M-LEx™) — that assists every teacher in preparing unique lesson plans suitable to his or her individual teaching style. The lesson plans include not just interactive multimedia, but also innovative multisensory activities that aim to enhance critical thinking, social interaction, communication skills and creativity in students. What is more, Tata ClassEdge has differentiated the content, designed for struggling learners and high achievers. This ensures equal opportunity for all students to learn according to their abilities and perform in class. Thanks to a large number of modularised teaching points developed for multiple state boards, CBSE and ICSE, the lesson plans can be mapped and sequenced exactly according to each school’s particular textbooks. This makes the system much easier for teachers to adopt.
One area of improvement is the need to integrate all kinds of learning tools, be it textbooks, digital aids or assessments into one integrated learning solution that helps teachers with reports on individual student performances so that they can identify gaps in learning and ensure better progress.
The multimedia included in lesson plans are short nuggets that help clarify difficult concepts using animations, interactivities, songs and engaging story-based formats. Almost all of the multimedia has been created inhouse, which makes it possible for Tata ClassEdge to update content or add new sections. A cloud-based architecture ensures continuous and near real time content updates in schools and enables tracking of usage of Tata ClassEdge in every classroom of every school.
Tata ClassEdge is not just about readyto- use lesson plans and multimedia. It also provides a platform for teachers to contribute open resources, create original lesson plans and collaborate with each other. The platform has been designed to develop a collaborative knowledge sharing community of teachers.
The 4 Cs maturity model indicates the maturity level of usage and how usage evolves over time.
Consumption: In the first few months or a year of usage of Tata ClassEdge, schools tend to use mainly the lesson plans and multimedia.
Contribution: Schools gradually contribute and share open resources using the Tata ClassEdge platform.
Creation: Teachers realise the potential of creating their own original resources and sharing them using the platform.
Collaboration: Teachers and schools collaborate with each other to share learnings, ideas and resources. This expands and deepens knowledge and communication at the community level and can have a much wider impact. This impact need not be restricted to curriculum but could be extended to a broader scope including social issues, community welfare and environmental issues in the area.
The success of Tata ClassEdge is not measured on financial criteria alone but more importantly on the number of students we are reaching out to in different segments of the society. Significant investments are poured in so that we remain best-in-class. Partnering with like-minded entities ensures crossfertilization of ideas and innovation.
Naveen Rajlani:
DigiClass is a complete classroom solution that comprises of hardware such as a CPU, interactive white board, UPS, server and speakers. The content, DigitAlly, is our patented, award winning software which contains animations, simulations, diagrams, 3D objects and much more. DigitAlly allows teachers to make changes and save it as their own copy. The ability to make changes to existing content, our continuous process of getting regular feedback from teachers and up gradation is what differentiates us from the rest. Our content is also customized as per the boards.
Over and above that recently Pearson has selected IBM as its strategic technology partner to deliver customized e-learning solutions to Schools across India. As part of the engagement, IBM is implementing Life Cycle Maintenance solution which will ensure IT operations are well maintained and function without any disruption. This includes supply, installation and maintenance of the IT infrastructure in these classrooms.
Please share new innovative tools for the Technology based Instructionalsolutions that are available with you for a more effective student-teacher engagement.
Nirav Khambhati:
Tata ClassEdge provides effective curriculum support to teachers through:
lesson plans mapped according to the sequence of chapters in textbooks
visually rich multimedia
worksheets that promote critical thinking
teaching strategies for teachers to use authentic hands-on experiences in classroom
In addition to this, we have LabEdge, which consists of interactive simulations and virtual tools to teach maths and science. GameEdge includes interactive group games to practice all subjects including science, maths social studies and grammar.
PlanEdge facilitates academic and assessment planning for the entire academic year and helps teachers track their progress on curriculum completion. PlanEdge also provides a grade book that conforms to the CCE requirements of CBSE. It also allows schools to capture the co-scholastic aspects of students.
TestEdge provides a high quality question bank with varying levels of difficulties, mapped to the Bloom’s Taxonomy of educational objectives. All the questions are mapped to the chapters and concepts covered in the textbooks followed by schools. Teachers can create formative and summative test papers using these questions. TestEdge also comes with a question authoring feature, which makes it possible for teachers to create customised test papers. We expect that these products will free teachers from a lot of the administrative work which can be better utilized for class preparation and interactions with students.
Naveen Rajlani,:
There are various kinds of technology that is being used to adopt innovative learning methods. At Pearson Schools, we provide endto- end education solutions in the K-12 segment, with a focus on technological innovations. We offer ICT enabled classroom solution, DigiClass and MX Touch Education devices to impart quality education to our students. The solution combines state-of-theart hardware with syllabus based, multimedia content. PowerSchool is a web-based student information system that enables educators to make timely decisions that impact student performance while creating a collaborative environment for parents, teachers and students to work together. Apart from using technology in education like ActiveTeach, which is an academically sound and comprehensive school curriculum with innovative teaching and learning resources, integrating technology with the syllabus Active Teach creates learner-friendly classroom environment. Students nowadays are using more technological tools to learn better, QR code readers and augmented reality applications like ActiveApp helps students to convert images from the textbook into digital resources and helping them make their own digital resources. We have the classroom Quiz, where the class can be divided into teams and the quiz is currently there from 5 grades onwards. This is very interactive for both student and teacher.
A digital learning programme in schools can greatly enhance the quality of education and provide learning which is more interactive, deploying visual and aural mediums to help students understand concepts and retain them for longer
How can a Technology based Instructional solution revolutionize the education sector in our country?
Nirav Khambhati:
Technology has made it easy to visualise difficult topics like the structure of an atom or the working of the digestive system. Teachers and students can manipulate values like temperature and pressure and see their effect on objects in a virtual laboratory. It helps teachers collaborate with each other and share best practices (for example, in a large chain school).
With better connectivity in schools, students and teachers can access some of the best content from prestigious universities across the world that is available free on the Internet. Technology also helps students connect with their peers across different parts of the country as well as the world. A socially networked world also fosters multiple learning communities and inspires interest in academic topics beyond the confines of textbooks and classrooms.
Naveen Rajlani:
ICT in education can be pivotal in transforming the face of Indian education. A digital learning programme in schools can greatly enhance the quality of education and provide learning which is more interactive, deploying visual and aural mediums to help students understand concepts and retain them for longer. By adopting ICT in education we can exponentially increase the quality of education accessible to the masses.
Smart Classrooms also bridges the gap between classrooms and outside world to large extent. It enables the teachers to explain the abstract concepts better. There is an issue of availability of quality teacher in many schools across India; the use of these solutions can help minimize that to some extent.
How indigenous is the digitization of the classroom and the textbooks? Is there any mechanism to Indianise the smart classroom so that the technology can fill the digital deficit in the country?
Nirav Khambhati:
Tata ClassEdge content is mapped to CBSE, ICSE and 22 state boards including Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and UP. Tata ClassEdge is also available in three regional languages viz. Hindi, Marathi and Gujarati. Tata ClassEdge is not only mapped to a specific curriculum but also to the textbooks followed by individual schools. Currently we have mapped our content to over 7,500textbooks across 400 publishers.
Also, if you look at the use of characters in Tata ClassEdge multimedia and worksheets, they represent the diversity of India. Many of the examples used are taken from Indian contexts and even the English version uses neutral Indian accent as opposed to British or American accents.
Naveen Rajlani:
At Pearson India, content is our core strength. We create and adapt local content that is designed around the curriculum and local needs.
Pratibha Kohli Principal, Maharaja Agrasen Model School
Pratibha Kohli Principal, Maharaja Agrasen Model School
The apt use of technology in the hands of the teacher helps abstract concepts become more tangible. Principal, Maharaja Agrasen Model School, Pratibha Kohli shares her views with Elets News Network.
The ICT has revolutionized the vistas of education and has taken the facets of education to a novel dynamic platform. It is impossible to alienate education from the mushrooming growth of digital revolution. The first interactive whiteboard was manufactured by SMART Technologies Inc. in 1991 and there has been no looking back since! IWB is a revolutionary teaching tool and has facilitated stimulating yet captivating teaching-learning environment in the closed confines of the classroom. The IWB has facilitated multifarious teaching-learning strategies as it is a very versatile tool in the hands of the educator.
The apt use of technology in the hands of the teacher helps abstract concepts become more tangible. IWB facilitates constructivist model of teaching and offers a meaningful intersection of technology and pedagogy. Further webbased IWB metamorphoses classroom dynamics in true sense, as geographically dispersed learners can interact in real time.
The optimum mix of visual and auditory learning experience has lead to better attendance of students across educational institutions as the lessons become more informative, interesting and appealing
Set of learners Yes, definitely. Students come with a variety of learning styles; visual, auditory, kinesthetic. IWB immensely facilitates multiple expressions in teaching, thus well amalgamating the varied learning styles of the learners. In fact, the inclusion of all these dimensions in teaching has a positive impact on pedagogy and helps promote effective teaching; thereby cementing the learning of concepts by students. The optimum mix of visual and auditory learning experience has lead to better attendance of students across educational institutions as the lessons become more informative, interesting and appealing.
IWB can very well facilitate learning in children with special needs (CWSN) too. Hearing impaired learners greatly benefit from IWB, since IWB has immense visual impact and if coupled with sign language, IWB is well suited to the needs of such learners. Visually impaired learners with some vision may benefit from the large fonts and bright colours of IWB. Moreover, it helps to capture the attention of learners with attention disorder.
Hassle or help IWB immensely helps the teacher and is a boon for her. The lessons can be easily customized to suit the aptitude and attitude of a learner or group of learners. It facilitates better planning of the lessons and better use of available resources so that the lessons are suited to the learner and also to the learning content. The use of technology helps the teacher to plan her lessons in a better manner. The teacher can use a variety of effects like, including pictures and video clips; adding sound effects for confluence of available digital technologies and make teaching effective. Notes can be made in digital ink, and can easily be updated later.
Using the internet, surfing websites and adding hyperlinks while teaching lessons can broaden the horizon of learning. Videoconferencing may be taken up. The use of IWB helps the teacher to put his/her creativity to an optimum level to make the lessons more appealing. The technology also helps the teacher to conduct online tests, opinion polls and help the teacher get instant feedback.
Word of caution The technology cannot teach, it is for the teachers to engage technology so as to enhance the learning experience of students. Alignment of digital content with prescribed curriculum is important. Also, information overdose through IWB may dishearten the average learner.
Global perspective While most of the developed countries are using IWBs extensively, in India, there is still a tremendous scope for incorporation of IWB in the education sector. The government should proactively consider introducing innovative digital solutions in the educational institutions to boost academic levels. The benefits of using IWB definitely outweigh the cost and bringing down the cost of installation of IWB would definitely help the cause of education.
We have ranked 250+ B Schools in the country based on year of establishment , infrastructure, placement, teaching pedagogy, faculty, foreign collaboration and research activities on a scale of AAAA to A, with AAAA being the highest rank on the scale. The public institutes have been ranked based on perception voting and the private institutes have been ranked based on analysis of available data. We have also listed promising institutes in some zones, which have the potential to be in the top league in future.
Ranking methodology Public Institutes:
We chose the best public Institutes and Institutes of National Importance in a transparent and democratic manner through public Voting.
We followed two steps Process:
Step 1: A List of Top 65 Government –aided (Institutes including IIMs, IITs, NITs and others) was prepared.
Step 2: We eliminated 15 institutes that received lowest number of votes, from list of 65 shortlisted institutes.
Based on Number of votes received by these institutes, we have declared the Top 50 Public B Schools. The Voting Conducted on popular social networking sites got any amazing response of 12,626 unique votes. Among the voters there were 9,975 students and Alumni; 1,037 teachers and academics; 839 people representing coaching centres and 775 undergraduates.
Private Institutes: To gather maximum available information about any institute and ensure its credibility, we followed a three step approach:
Step 1: We analyzed the past years ranking conducted by various organization in the country. We filtered the list to eliminate colleges not ranked by any organization in the previous ranking. Further those institutes which featured only once in any of these ranking were eliminated.
Step 2: We visited official website of 2,000+ institutes and private universities to get information such as Year of Establishment , Infrastructure, Placement, Teaching Pedagogy, Faculty, Foreign Collaboration and Research Activities. For UGC / AICTE affiliated institute, we got most of the information from the mandatory disclosure in their official website.
However, the challenge was that most institutes did not have the updated disclosure on their website.
We also studied the student reviews in some of the education portals to get a better understanding about Institution we have ranked.
Step 3: We also asked B Schools across the country to send us the filled Questionnaire in a given format. Only 217 institutes reverted with filled questionnaire in a given deadline.Simultaneaosly, we were able to gather complete Information of 1,250 odd colleges, out of the List of 3,000+ colleges that we had targeted.
Best B Schools in India Zone Wise B Schools detail
The parents realize the need for moving away from pure exam preparatory education to applying what they are learning. This can be achieved through digital and simulated lab environments. Sajeev Karuthody, Director, Edutech India, shares his views with Elets News Network
What do you think are the factors driving the market of digital laboratories in India? How good is the scope for its growth in the education sector?
Digital laboratory is a generic term and if we have to consider the use of digital technologies like computers, smart devices and other ICT platforms helping education, it is a no brainer that digital laboratories are a game changer in this space.
Digital laboratories according to Edutech, an organization in the forefront of using technology in education and training has three dimensions
a) Enhancing the current classroom based training using ICT and digital aids like computers in classrooms, Printers and Scanners for digitizing and reusing content, Audio visual aids for enhancing and reproducing classroom content etc. Few of the schools, colleges and universities have started using these tools; which are largely hardware in nature
b) E Learning: Digital labs are as good as the content or materials it uses. So instructionally and pedagogically sound content should be used in digital format. Ready to use off-the-shelf content or custom content can be used for specific learning outcomes and learning technologies like Learning Management System (LMS), Online assessment systems, lecture capture systems and collaboration tools are used for any time anywhere learning experience. These are largely software and digital interventions
c) Apply what you learn: These are digitally simulated lab environments that help you apply what you learn, practice and learn various concepts in arts and science and languages. For instance, digital language labs are great tool to learn and practice English and various other foreign languages.
How do you look at the emerging technologies in this field? What can be the areas of improvement?
Lab environments that facilitate effective use of digital technology to simulate an engaging and interactive experience in a simple and cost effective manner is the way forward. Gamification of elearning content, informal and social learning models, use of lecture capture tools will help generate good amount of institution specific content.
What are the opportunities and challenges faced by the companies offering digital labs?
Opportunities are plenty in this space. In view of Indian education system, the parents realize the need for moving away from pure exam preparatory education to applying what they are learning. This can be achieved through digital and simulated lab environments. As Indian education sector gears for this challenge there are enough rooms for various product and service providers in this space. Low cost of internet connectivity and computing devices like tablets will add to this process.
What are the strategies adopted by the vendors to promote their products?
Here in India, the vendors have an uphill task of educating the various stakeholders including decision makers, policy influencers, school systems, teachers, parents and students. Investing in the sustained marketing campaigns, participating in academic conferences, organizing workshops and articulating our thoughts through educational magazines like Digital Learning are some of the ways through which we build awareness.
What distinguishes you from the competitors?
As an organization, we complete twenty five years next year. Our speciality lies in identifying the best-of-breed-solutions from across the globe and introducing them in India after contextualizing their relevance, content, price and packaging to meet local market requirements. There are several Indian firms that take inspiration from western products and develop versions in a half-baked format ending up as a failure at the cost of time, energy and resources.
Former US President Lyndon B. Johnson famously said in 1964 that “the answer for all of our national problems, the answer for all the problems of the world, comes down, when you really analyze it, to one single word: education.”
Education is the foundation on which all of society is built and from which it will improve. With the many technological advancements in data sciences being used to better things like the procurement industry or reducing our car insurance premiums, isn’t it time we looked at what they can do for education?
There are essentially two areas where Big Data and data sciences can improve education systems – help the students or help the schools.
Helping Students
One thing we are working on right now is the ability to identify at-risk kids inside the educational system. We are doing this by tracking students’ past behaviour across an upwards of 75 different parameters; demerit points, disciplinary records, grades, attendance and so on. We look back at students with poor performance, or maybe who have evenbeen forced to leave the educational system, and apply machine learning in order to identify correlations in the data. By interrogating those correlations and assigning different weights to the various parameters, we can apply the findings to the general student population and identify, with as high as 90% accuracy, which kids are at-risk – enabling the school or parents to intercept things before they go wrong.
Without machine learning we simply wouldn’t know what attributes to look at or the importance of each. We could guess, of course, but with data science we are able to throw all of that data into the software and then watch as the correlations appear. It also allows us to see the probability of different outcomes– meaning that in a situation where we’ve identified multiple at-risk kids within a school, the school administration can focus their attention on the most susceptible first. That is powerful!
Helping Schools
There are loads of different ways to improve a school. If you ask the administrators, it’s with better control. If you ask parents, it’s better teachers. What Big Data and data science are allowing us to do is identify all of the characteristics that actually make a school successful, whether it is control, teachers, principals, standards or something else. Machine learning looks for the correlations between these attributes in high performing schools, assigning weights to each, and is then able to apply that insight to other schools, determining which are on the right path and which need change. In the old days, parents and administrators would have to rely on reports published annually to tell them the performance of their school. Now, with data available much more regularly, they can enact change, where needed, a lot sooner.
We can take that insight a step further and not only report on the overall performance of a school but the performance of each individual department. Maybe a school has an average overall performance, but is above average in maths and sciences. Why is that? Is it the teacher, the department head, the facilities? By possessing this level of granular insight, other schools can then make changes to improve their own departments.
Currently, Big Data is actually used very little in education. The majority of educational system worldwide is managed and implemented locally or regionally making it hard to gather significant amounts of data across a large number of schools. Thanks to our involvement in one national education project that covers 11 million students, teachers and parents, Xchanging has a particular advantage here. With this massive sample base, we are able to do more analysis in the education sector than any other organisation.
Another big difference with how we are able to approach the issue comes from our software capabilities and partners. Where most companies are only looking at either the students’ academic data or the schools’ administrative data, we are able to capture both. We can gather grades and academic performance along with things like their extracurricular activities and disciplinary points. By combining the academic side with the admin side, we are able to attain a holistic view of the performance of the teachers and students – and thenprovide actionable insight.
Big Data in education has the potential to greatly help both students and schools, but we’ve only just begun to scratch the surface. Imagine what this level of insight could mean for our kids going forward; better learning environments, bespoke curricula, increased safety, better fit between students and teachers, and more. It’s an extremely exciting application for Big Data and machine learning, and one that will affect us all. If LBJ is right, and education is the answer to all of the world’s problems, then we should be doing everything we can to make it better!
Become a Mathlete with NIIT Nguru MathLab- Nationwide Impact Study shows that NIIT MathLab has a positive impact on students’ performance in mathematics
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