Asia’s First Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education
INDIA VOLUME 6 | ISSUE 12 | DECEMBER 2010 | ISSN 0973-4139 | `75 www.digitalLEARNING.in
Evaluating ’em at Every Step Comprehensive course assessment and evaluation tools
Community Radio for Education Radio technology for information dissemination
Competencybased Training at Philippines An interview with Dr Lorenzo Emanuel L Guillermo
Cubicalisation of knowledge hampers creativity Exclusive interview with Prof Yashpal
Thank You for making
November 20, 2010
The Claridges, New Delhi
A GRAND SUCCESS
l DAV Public School l MCD School Rohini Sector l Indraprastha International School, Dwarka l MCD School R K Rangwala l The Millennium School, Lucknow l K V NOIDA l Vidya Sanskar School l KV Hindan l DAV Public, School, Kailash Hills l Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gole Market l Bal Bharti, Pitampura l Blue Bells Group of Schools, Gurgaon l DAV, Pitampura l MCD School Lajpat Nagar l DPS Vasundara, Gazhiabad l Bhartiya Vidya Bhawan's Mehta Vidyalaya l SRC Capital Public School l Starex International School l KV BSF Chhawla l Shemford Group of Schools l MCD School Ambedkar Nagar l JM International School l KV NOIDA l East End Public School l Evergreen Public School l Nav Bharti Public School l Noddy Play School l Kasturi Ram International School l GD Goenka Public School, Dwarka l Arwachin International School l Manav Sthali School l Sachdeva Global School l Maxfort School l K R Mangalam World School,GK II l Modern International School l Bachpan Play School l MCD School Singhla l ST Mary'S School- Safdarjung Enclave l St Mary'S School- Dwarka l KV Tuglakabad l Sri Venkateshwar Int. School l DETA School l GuruHarkishan Public Schooll MCD School Preet Vihar Sector 3 l Meenakshi Public School l KV AGCR Colony l Kendriya Vidyalaya,Gole Market l Darbari Lal DAV Model School l Apeejay School, Pitampura l Green Fields School, Safdarjung Enclave l Balvantray Mehta Vidya Bhawan l MCD School Andrews Ganj l MCD School Sultanpur l Anguridevi Shersingh Memorial Academy l Richmondd Global School l Cambridge Foundation School l Jaipuria School, Vasundhara l Genesis Global School l Kothari International School l Harcourt Butler School l KV Faridabad-3.. l KV NTPC Badarpur l KV Delhi Cantt 3 l MCD School Shiv Nagar l The Delhi Public School Society l Shastri Model School l Gyan Sagar Public School l Gyan Jyoti Vidya Niketan l DPS Gurgaon l National Defence College l Shyama Prasad Vidyalaya,Lodhi Estate l Salwan Public School, Rajender Nagar l Kataria International School l D.P.S. R.K. Puram l Balconvent Public School l KVS Masjid Moth l KV Dwarka Sec-12 l KV Dwarka Sec-5 l Adarsheela Global School l K V SEC-2 R.K.Puram l Guru Nanak Public School l St Mary's School, Dwarka l Mount Carmel School,Dwarka l KV Sec-8 Rohini l Shiksha Bharti Public School l Amity International School l Jagat Convent Sr. Sec. School l Mount Abu Public School l Golden Star Modern School l Guru Nanak Public School,Pitam Pura l Hans Raj Smarak Senior Sec School l Holy Child Sr. Sec. School l MCD School Shalimar Bagh l KV Babugarh Cantt l MCD School Mangol Puri l KV Andrews Ganj l MCD School Pana Udyag l KV NFC Vigyan Viharl KV Gurgaon l MCD School Madanpura Ext l Presidium Schools l Khaitan Public School l KV Delhi Cantt No.2 KV Narera and many more .......
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Contents
Volume 6 issue 12 December 2010 issn 0973-4139
rni no. upeng/2008/25311
cover story
Evaluating ’em at Every Step A look at the CCE model to reform the existing examination based assessment system to a more holistic evaluation of students
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interview
event report
16 Prof Yash Pal, Space Scientist (ISRO), Former Chairman of UGC, Secretary, Department of Science & Technology
20 digitallearning School Education Conclave 2010
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Seema Jairath, Principal, DLF Public School, Sahibabad
23 Awards for Best in K12 Innovation, eCampus and Labs 47 Celebrating Open Schooling System
Dr Lorenzo Emanuel L Guillermo, Director, Technical Education & Skills Development Authority, Republic of the Philippines
http://www.facebook.com/group. php?gid=62935433920&v=wall http://twitter.com/dl_magazine
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49 Technology Intervention in MCD Schools development agenda
32 Community Radio for Education higher education
41 Efficient Governance Through Information Technology Log Off
50 Making of a knowledge superpower regular features
8 National News 9 International News 10 Corporate News
Visit www.digitallearning.in for news, interviews, resources and articles on ICT in education in India
editorial
Reforming K12 Education in India
Advisory Board Prof. Asha Kanwar, Vice President, Commonwealth of Learning Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen, CEO, Global eSchools & Communities Initiative (GeSCI)
School education today is undergoing huge transformations. The changes have been reflected in the diverse range of activities that schools are now entering into. New teaching patterns have adopted tools and techniques that promote engagement of students in the learning process and make the entire process more student friendly. The Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) system is an innovative and modern way of approaching the problems plaguing school education system today. The system which was earlier based on lecture methods will now encourage greater interaction between the teacher and the student and will give precedence to making education more joyful for learners. One of the key areas that CCE emphasises upon is on assessing the coscholastic achievements of students. This can have tremendous potential of not just highlighting the academic abilities but also inculcating life long skills, sporting abilities and social skills. In this respect we see the increasing acceptance and recognition being given to co-curricular activities and skills training for the students. As has been pointed by Prof Yashpal in his interview to digitalLEARNING, education cannot be imposed; it has to be assimilated through observations and experiments. The School Education Conclave 2010 has been our effort to find out what the stakeholders have to say about the current reforms and how it has brought about renovations in their daily functioning. The overall response from the stakeholders has been positive and encouraging, as the principals themselves know the importance of having student centered reforms. Although need to address some limitations like teacher training and teaching resources was also emphasised. The participation from the K-12 education community at the Conclave had been overwhelming and the deliberations were insightful and thought provoking. We seek to carry forward this initiative and forge a lasting relationship with the school education fraternity in achieving common objective of achieving better implementation of education reforms. The coming months will feature more such initiatives.
Shri Subhash C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Department School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India Prof. V N Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, Indira GandhiI National Open University (IGNOU)
Dr. Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@digitallearning.in
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news > india UIN project by UIDAI and IGNOU
A MoU was signed between Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for implementation of the Unique Identification Numbers (UID) project. According to the MoU, IGNOU will collaborate with the UIDAI in conduction proof of concept
(POC) studies; the university will also be a pilot to test the working of the technology and process of enrollment into the UID database and subsequently full roll-out of the UID project. The MOU was signed between UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani and IGNOU vice-chancellor VN Rajasekharan Pillai.
GSHSEB to support training of 600 teachers
The Gujarat Secondary and Higher Secondary Education Board (GSHSEB) has come up with a pilot drive to train 600 teachers in the state of Gujarat. The aim of the initiative was to improve the quality of education and
introduce advanced computerised teaching methods in classroom teaching. Under the project, instead of school principals who used to receive such training so far, teachers will undergo classroom reform training. Known as the ‘ICT Blended Design Learning Education Project’, the initiative will be implemented during the duration of November 22-27, on experimental basis in 60 schools of three districts -Vadodara, Anand and Surat.
KVS and US foundation sign MoU Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) and the United StatesIndia Educational Foundation (USIEF) signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for reinforcement of their relationship. This MOU was a part of the ongoing International Education Week (IEW) celebrations across India. USIEF executive Director Adam J Grotsky and KVS Joint Commissioner OM Prabhakaran signed the MoU for the promotion of educational and cultural exchanges between the two countries.
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41 students from SAARC nations felicitated by IGNOU Held in August 2010, the Olympiad took place at 102 centres in South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka, including 83 in India. A total of 4,384 students of the 11th grade participated. Out of these, 41 were selected for their outstanding performance. Twenty-nine prize winners were from India and 12 were from other SAARC nations. The winners received medals, awards, cash prizes and merit certificates. The function coincided with India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s 121st birthday, 25th anniversary of IGNOU and 65th anniversary of UNESCO.
UIDAI and HRD partner for education schemes
The Indian Human Resource Development Ministry has signed a MoU with Unique Identification Authority of India, realising the importance of Unique Identification Number. The partnership is to support education sector for better implementation of schemes, tracking student’s record and curbing menace of fake degrees. The proposed MoU would be helpful in tracking student’s mobility by creating an electronic registry of all students, right from primary/elementary level through secondary and higher education, as also between the institutions. The agreement was signed between Amit Khare, Joint Secretary, HRD Ministry and Anil Kachi, Deputy Director GeneraL, UIDAI.
IIM Kozhikode to partner with Chinese varsities According to some officials, soon Indian Institute of Management-Kozhikode will sign Memorandum of Understanding with top 10 Chinese universities. Recently, a tripartite agreement was signed by IIM-K with US’ Yale University. Debashish Chatterjee, IIM-K Director also mentioned that IIM-K was looking at other universities, beyond US, in the east. The institute presently has collaborations with 20-25 foreign universities which is likely to go up to 50 in a year’s time, said
Chatterjee, who recently returned after a four-day visit to China. The tripartite MoU entered between the Yale University, IIM-K and IIT-Kanpur, to launch the Yale India Leadership Programme, would expose university and academia leaders in India at the level of Vice Chancellors and Deans to the best practices of academic institutional management in the US.
news > international Masters in Special Education now at Abu Dhabi University
Students frisking allowed to British teachers
A new masters degree programme in special education has been launched at Abu Dhabi University (ADU), that aims at qualifying teachers to develop strategic plans in different areas of interest as well as to provide and lead professional development programmes in special education. Scheduled to be offered in 2011, the new programme is developed based on international standards from major universities in Michigan, Ohio and Florida, US, London Metropolitan University and others. It has also been reviewed and assessed by expert teams in the field from the US.
An application submitted by Mountain Province State Polytechnic College (MPSPC) was approved by the Commission on Higher Education (CHEd), for the electronic library (e-lib) connectivity which will allow students, faculty, and staff to have a wider avenue and greater access to the newest trends in the information and communication technology (ICT) industry. This project on e-library connection of the state-run higher education, is the first out of the eleven government funded projects that have been realised this year in connection with its pending application for accreditation of some of its courses. Dr Nieves A Dacyon, MPSPC president, said the e-library connection is a collaborative project of the National Library of the Philippines, University of the Philippines system, CHEd, Department of Science and Technology (DoST), and the higher education institution based in the province to boost its chances of being the third university in the Cordillera.
National ICT College of Education at Ghana Recently, a national Information and Communication Technology connectivity project was launched at Ghana, for Colleges of Education to ensure that teachers reappraise their methodologies to meet the learning needs of their students. This Government ICT connectivity project would
cover around 38 Colleges of Education (formerly Teacher Training Institutions), 37 Public Technical Institutes, 510 Public Senior High Schools, and 23,000 Public Basic Schools with computing infrastructure. Under this project the schools have been equipped with computers, printers, scanners, projectors
and servers. The project would significantly push forward the new, ICT policy of the government.
38% Teachers in Azerbaijan to pass ICT training says Education Minister It is expected that around 38 % of teachers in Azerbaijan will pass trainings on ICT in 2010, as described by the Azerbaijani Education Minister, Misir Mardanov, in his address at an international conference on ‘Economic development through education and technology’. He explained that in recent years the pan is to increase the figure to 67%, which implies that 114,000 teachers will pass trainings. In future it is being anticipated that multi-stage training will be sought for teachers.
Students frisking allowed to British teachers
Soon Britain is to roll out new rules according to which school teachers will be allowed to frisk students for mobile phones, electronic gadgets and even pornography and cigarettes in a bid to
prevent disruption in classrooms. The same would be inclusive highlights of an education White Paper that are to be published next week outlining the new rights for teachers to be able to search students for any item that can potentially interrupt lessons. Confiscation of mobile phones, MP3 players and other electronic gadgets will be allowed in case of need by the school staff. There are also included in the same plans to simplify rules on the use of physical force, giving teachers greater powers to take disruptive children out of classrooms without fear of legal action.
ACBF and Microsoft partner for capacity building The African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) and Microsoft met recently to formally sign a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between their two organisations. The aim of the collaboration is to join their formidable reputations and expertise to help co-ordinate various capacity building programmes across Africa. The target for both the parties is to focus on improvement of the public sector management for effectiveness of service delivery; enhancing national and regional capacity to manage ICT policy formulation and implementation in sub-Saharan Africa; and public sector oriented solutions development, all in line with the strategic orientations of the two organisations.
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news > CORPORATE Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited invests in CSR During the year of 2009-10, Kuthethurbased Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited (MRPL) invested INR 12.70 crore on educational initiatives under the umbrella of corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities. This was a huge jump in the amount allocated, considering that MRPL in 2008-09 spent `3.69 crore for the same. In the present fiscal year, within the first six months
MRPL spent `2 crore, with many CSR projects in the pipeline. It was reported by Lekshmi M Kumaran, Deputy General Manager (Corporate communications and CSR), MRPL that the objective of casting various CSR projects undertaken by the company, a subsidiary of ONGC is education and creation of basic infrastructure for the rehabilitation of project displaced families.
ViewSonic launches PJD7383i, interactive projector
ZICA gives wings to young dreamers for fulfilling career Zee Institute of Creative Arts (ZICA), one of the leading animation institutes in India, today announced its animation scholarship ‘Zee Scholarship’. This scholarship will serve as a gateway for students keen to make a career in the exciting and unbounded world of animation. Under this campaign ZICA will provide scholarship upto 100%, applicable in all ZICA centers across India. The scholarship would be based on first come – first serve basis. To qualify
ViewSonic India has announced the launch of new projector; PJD7383i in its already extensive projector range, directly targeting the education and training sectors. With a multitude of user-friendly features and a convenient classroom set up, the 3D-ready ViewSonic PJD7383i offers important additions to any interactive classroom environment. The interactive PJD7383i negates the need for costly interactive white boards as it allows you to write on any surface and teachers are able to write directly onto the projected image with the included interactive pen without the need for alignment or calibration. PJD7383i is easy to use.
for the scholarship students need to register at a ZICA centre and take a test, called the Creativity Test. Students will be awarded scholarship based on their performance in this test. Under this scholarship one can choose from an array of courses available at ZICA centres. Prabhanjan Chappar, Business Head, Youth, Zee Learn elaborated, ‘Today the industry of media and animation is at an all time boom.
`130 crore gathered for expansion by EdServ Softsystems EdServ Softsystems, an education and placement services company on Monday said it has raised `130 crore for its Pan-India expansion. Recently an issuance of `10 crore worth or equity warrants to a leading newspaper ‘Dainik Jagran’, was approved in a meeting of the audit committee of the company. S Giridharan, EdServ Chairman and CEO mentioned that `130 crore fund has been raised for business expansion. The entire exercise of raising funds involved dilution of around 33 lakh equity shares. With the funds raised, he said they were well funded for the Pan-India expansion, and confident of achieving revenues worth `150 crore and a net profit of `40 crore for the financial year 2011.
School of tomorrow aims to bring progressive change in school Education iDiscoveribrings forth the second edition of ‘School of Tomorrow’, an XSEED annual international conference on education to be held on December 7, 2010. It will be held simultaneously across New Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Chennai. XSEED, the flagship program from iDiscoveri, is a path-breaking and comprehensive solution for quality teaching and learning in K-12 schools, which now reaches over 400 schools across India. Eminent speakers like former President Dr A P J Abdul Kalam, Prof Peter Senge from MIT, Prof David Perkins from Harvard University, Gurcharan Das, author and ex- CEO P & G, would provide simple yet powerful and actionable vision for the schools of the future from an Indian and international perspective.
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$70M investment in Chaitanya by New Silk Route
Around `325 crore will be invested by the private equity $1.4 billion New Silk Route (NSR) in Hyderabad-based Sri Chaitanya Educational Group, known to be one of the country’s largest network of private schools and junior colleges. This has been noticed as the biggest foreign investment in India’s education section. Around 160 institutions are being run by Sri Chaitanya, mostly in Andhra Pradesh, including 116 schools and junior collages . The 25-year-old group had mandated Ernst & Young to raise funds after spurning buyout offer from a large southern corporate house with interest in education.
Educomp showcases Smartclass digital content Educomp Solutions today showcased the new Smartclass program now fully calibrated and aligned to the curriculum framework prescribed by ICSE board at the ASISC meet held at Powai, Mumbai. Educomp Smartclass is a digital initiative pioneered and invented by Educomp, India’s no 1 education company and has already been adopted by over 4500 progressive schools, five million students across 35000 classrooms in almost every district across India. Smartclass is transforming the way
teachers teach and students learn in schools. Over 300 Schools affiliated to the ICSE board have already adopted Smartclass.
`450 investment sought by CORE Projects CORE Projects and Technologies Ltd, a technology provider to educational institutions, recently disclosed that it is planning to open 30 schools, with an initial investment of `450 crore. These schools are to include some of the schools that are to offer an international baccalaureate curriculum. The plans are in line with the recent trend of for-profit companies from the so-called organised sector entering the business of education. Additionally the firm is bidding to set up 50 schools in partnership with the Rajasthan government, and wants to partner the Central government to establish more schools across India. With a specialty of implementing information and communication technology projects in educational institutes, the company is listed at the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), with a market valuation of more than `3,000 crore.
News Corp to acquire Edu Tech Co for $360 million A Brooklyn based education technology firm, News Corp, is to acquire 90% of Wireless Generation, for about $360 million (in cash) to expand its presence into the education technology sector. The company reported that on completion of the deal, Wireless Generation will be merged as a unity of News Corp and will be managed by the target company’s executives, including founder and CEO Larry Berger, who will retain a 10 percent interest. The Company is a key partner to New York City’s Department of Education on its Achievement Reporting and Innovation System (ARIS) as well as on the City’s School of One initiative, named by TIME Magazine as one of the Best Inventions of 2009. Established in 2000, Wireless Generation offers mobile and web software, data systems and professional services that allow teachers to use data to assess student progress and deliver individualised instruction. News Corp is home to Fox broadcast and cable networks, Twentieth Century Fox movie studio, and newspapers such as The Wall Street Journal.
Double profits in 3Q for Global Education Recently Global Education & Technology Group Ltd., a provider of education services including foreign language training and test prep, announced its third-quarter profits. It was mentioned that the profits nearly doubled on a boost in revenue. The company is based in Beijing and earned 24.6 million renminbi, ($3.7 million, or seven cents per American Depository Share), up from 12.6 million renminbi, a year prior. Revenue rose 47% to 127.8 renminbi ($19.1 million) from 86.8 million renminbi. The company launched its IPO in October.
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cover story
Evaluating ’em at Every Step
The broader perspective of education is to prepare students to become responsible and knowledgeable citizens for a resourceful and industrious life in a globalised world. In this context, it has become mandatory to reform and strengthen the educational system. Evaluation becomes a tool of ascertaining the level to which the educational system has succeeded in achieving its goals. The Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) model seeks to reform the existing examination based assessment system to a more holistic evaluation of students By Sheena Joseph
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C
ontinuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) is a tool that would enable children to review their own learning abilities. After every chapter, there will be a number of competencies listed for which the learner would answer in yes or no. The answers will be given to the class teacher. When the learner answers in the negative, then he/she will be given corrective coaching. When majority of the students answer in the negative, then the teacher can change the teaching methodology to suit student requirements. In a circular issued by the CBSE on Examination Reforms and Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) to all heads of CBSE institutions it has been reiterated that external examinations ‘are largely inappropriate for the ‘knowledge society’ of the 21st century and its need for innovative problem solvers’. Questions if not framed well, “call
“The implications of CCE is very encouraging. The creative teachers have appreciated the change, but few will always take longer to adapt to the reforms. Change is always welcome” Rekha Sharma
Principal, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan’s Mehta Vidyalaya
for rote memorisation and fail to test higher-order skills like reasoning and analysis, lateral thinking, creativity and judgment. External exams make no allowance for different types of learners and learning environments and induce an inordinate level of anxiety and stress.” The circular asserts that a reliable and functional school based evaluation system needs to be created that would cater to the holistic assessment of the learner, which would include co-scholastic area of life skills, attitudes and values, sports and games as well as co-curricular activities. The CCE system intends to tackle these issues through consistent and focused reforms in the examination system.
What is Evaluation?
“The teacher and the student become the key stakeholders in the CCE model. Formative assessments form the crux of CCE and we are coming up with a lot of resources for this” Vineet Joshi
Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)
Evaluation is a procedure for establishing how far the knowledge experiences are in reality creating the preferred outcomes. The NCERT is occupied in numerous activities linked to measurement and assessment in the area of examination reforms. The activities related to this are particularly aimed at creating and homogenising scientific tools for appraisal of a range of areas related to a student’s growth. As Vineet Joshi, Chairman, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) elaborates, “The teacher is the nodal point for the implementation of CCE, while at the same time, it needs to be emphasised that the reforms are being
implemented for the benefit of students. The teacher and the student become the key stakeholders in the CCE model. Formative assessments form the crux of CCE and we are coming up with a lot of resources for this. Summative assessment is something that teachers are already familiar with and includes end of term assessments. We are going to start training sessions specifically for formative assessments. We are also sensitising the parents on what to expect from CCE, because when parents realise that it is a supportive system, they will better be able to accommodate the entire process.”
Tests and Examinations Conventionally, schools have been using tests in evaluation programming to assess if the student has obtained certain process- and content-related knowledge. The focus of the tests is on the mission, goal, and objectives and permit useful projections of student behavior and learning. A well created and watchfully managed test which is adjudged by two or more evaluators for the definite purpose of ascertaining program strengths and weaknesses remains one of the most popular instruments for evaluating student achievements. Explaining the concepts of formative and summative assessments in the CCE context, Srikanth, Director and COO, Manipal K12 education points out that these are assessment tools used by
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“I want to complement CBSE for bringing such changes into the school education system. We have been having regular in-service teacher training to familiarise teachers with the same”
guidance so students take ownership of their portfolios. The balance of ‘teacher-selected’ versus ‘student-selected’ content in portfolio depends on the age and maturity of students. Teachers help students learn how to thoughtfully choose which items to include in their portfolios and provide students opportunities to thoughtfully remove items also.
Technologies for Evaluation Anubhuti Mehta
Principal, KV Sec 2, R K Puram
the teacher to continuously monitor student progress in a non threatening, supporting environment. “It involves regular descriptive feedback, a chance for the student to reflect on the performance, take advice and improve upon it,” he says. According to him, if used effectively it can improve student performance tremendously while raising the self-esteem of the child and reducing the workload of the teacher.
the design of the curriculum in all subject areas.” Portfolios are used by students to communicate development with parents and with teachers and peers throughout the year. They are intended to be student-managed with teacher
Portfolio Evaluation Portfolios used for evaluation are mostly exemplified by compilations of student work that display to the teachers and the student the improvement and accomplishment in stipulated areas. Portfolio assessment is a supportive appraisal tool as it permits the faculty to examine an entire scope of students’ work on a regular basis. The use of student portfolios also provides the faculty with the ability of determining the content and manages the quality of the assessed material. Describing how a teacher can have an effective medium of maintaining student portfolios in a classroom Srikanth explains, “Portfolios are a collection of the child’s work which is designed to demonstrate success, growth, higher order thinking, creativity and reflection. The portfolio is an exhibition of an active mind at work. Portfolios should celebrate student learning through the year, showing the development of the whole child, both within and outside
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“Portfolios should celebrate student learning through the year, showing the development of the child, both within and outside the design of the curriculum in all subject areas” Srikanth
Director and COO Manipal K12 Education
There are several technologies that can help in assisting schools in implementation of examination reforms under the CCE model. These include web based applications that empower schools to capture students’ details. Templates are available for activities on formative assessments and summative assessments with default descriptive indicators. There are options to customise them to the school requirements. Report Card Generation tools can prove to be useful for generation of student results. Once marks are entered, all other calculations, conversion to grades and formatting is done automatically. The teacher can select the descriptive indicators and print the report card. There are options to generate comprehensive reports for performance analysis, consolidated mark sheets and many more. Teachers may exercise the option to analyse challenging areas faced by the student and give feedback to student or parent through email or web portal. “The purpose of technology-assisted tools is to reduce the strain on today’s teachers, and to help them improve and optimise their teaching methods. With multimedia tools – animation or videos or diagrams – teachers can effortlessly explain complicated concepts in subjects like Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics. Also, these user-friendly tools enable them to customise their classroom sessions, teach fast or slow according to individual student’s learning pace, and assist them in creating an engaging and interesting classroom. Some of these tools also have pre-loaded lesson plans which furnish guidelines on
how to maximise student comprehension,” says Srikanth.
“Complete transformation from a traditional way of teaching to modern teaching styles will take some time, but once it gains ground, it will become an effective system”
Fitness and CCE According to recent surveys by AIIMS and Apollo group, 24% of all urban children are obese and nearly 36.58% of children across India are found to be unfit. With these disturbing statistics in mind, it is imperative that the management of different schools take urgent action to ensure that the future citizens are and remain healthy. CCE emphasises the importance of assessment of physical education apart from regular academics. Expressing his delight at the inclusion of fitness education in CCE, Akhil Ravi, Vice President (Sales) at India Khelo states, “Its heartening to see that the CBSE has taken some constructive steps in ensuring that children are taught the values of health and physical education.” These steps along with other development guidelines fall under the purview of
D S Negi
Principal, KV, Rohini
CCE norms stated by the CBSE. The CCE looks to assess the students based on basic understanding about health, physical fitness, sports knowledge and sports skill development, attitude development and participation in health and wellness club activities. IndiaKhelo, a company started by graduates from IITs in collaboration with Pediatricians, Olympic medalists, sports physiotherapists and dieticians has developed FitnessAIR, a physical fitness assessment and improvement program for children. With the new CCE guidelines where grading based on physical education has been introduced, Akhil hopes that schools, children and parents will take physical education and sports seriously.
The Challenges
“Its heartening to see that the CBSE has taken some constructive steps in ensuring that children are taught the values of health and physical education” Akhil Ravi
Vice President (Sales), India Khelo
Some teachers have pointed out that the CCE examination guidelines do not put adequate emphasis on the special educational needs of children. “I feel that CBSE has not given any guidelines specifically for the requirements of differently abled students,” says Meenakshi Chopra, CCE Coordinator of the Special Wing at Balwant Rai Mehta Vidya Bhavan. For example, if we take question papers, the subjects have been divided and given specific marking schemes, which cannot be modified. However, the CBSE has not stated how the questions can be adapted to student requirements. In the 19 provisions given by the CBSE for examination reforms, it has only mentioned that special or extra time will be
given to such children or an assistant invigilator from the school will be given to the student. Also, it has been briefly mentioned that for the visually challenged, exam questions papers will be in bigger letters. “These are the only provisions that are provided by the CBSE. Others such as the blind, autistic or the hearing impaired have diverse range of needs. Though the CBSE has stated all differently abled children can take part in the exams, no guidelines have been mentioned on how to modify the question papers according to requirements. Had there been any guidelines for that, we could have followed the same,” Chopra complains. Also with regard to the availability of teaching resources and textbooks, teachers have stated that for practical based subjects like home science, painting and IT, the CBSE publication department has not made books available nor are these widely available in the market. Without specific guidelines, teachers have to design activities on their own for these additional subjects, which take away a significant part of their time. Although, not free of limitations, the CCE model can be of immense significance in creating and institutionalising a learner centric education system in India. The operational and implementation challenges need to be taken care of by the provision of adequate teaching resources and training facilities. The new teaching-learning patterns envisaged by CCE will reap benefits in the long term. \\
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Interview
“Cubicalisation of Knowledge Hampers Creativity� A Physicist by training and educationalist by passion, Prof Yash Pal has served as distinguished space scientist with |SRO and also as the Secretary with the Department of Science and Technology. This former Chairman of UGC, is also the first Chairperson of the New Delhi-based Modern School and a recipient of the Padma Bhushan. In an interaction with Dr Ravi Gupta and Sheena Joseph, the man who has been steering the higher education reforms in the country talks about the current educational systems and what the country should do for driving innovations in India. Excerpt: 16
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Innovations happen only when people work together. Universities should promote in-house research and creativity and should not limit their actions to importing a few scientific equipments and ideas from Abroad ties but departments within universities should also become more autonomous. Universities are free to collaborate with each other and with other research institutions and industries in order to share resources and promote knowledge sharing. Innovations happen only when many people work together. Universities should not limit their actions to importing a few scientific equipments from abroad. It should promote inhouse research and creativity and not be limited to importing foreign ideas.
What are your ideas of promoting innovations in Indian education? Innovations have to grow in universities. Innovations cannot be sown by building infrastructure or by the use of high tech gadgets. It can come only from the beginning of a deep rooted understanding of scientific concepts and a sense of curiosity. Curiosity and freedom should be inculcated among students so that they learn and do what they naturally want to do. The first step in innovations is to make universities completely autonomous, so that students can pursue research on topics which they themselves choose and, in case the resources are inadequate, can seek resources from other universities. Not only universi-
With information and knowledge being available everywhere for students, especially through the media, how do you see its impact on education? It is true that in today’s time, distance communication and use of the internet is very crucial but if it completely eliminates the intimacy and engagement in learning, it becomes counter -productive. A mix of both face-to-face and distance learning has to be achieved. Proximate should not be killed. A lot of innovations have occurred with proximate and distance learning working together. We should use internet not for studying things that is already available in books. But in positively subverting education in such a way that its dimensionality increases, and promotes the discovery of new things and enables moving in different directions. Technology is what makes things look attractive and eyecatching, but it has to be used wisely. Science can be learnt well through observations and experiments. In addition if it completely eliminates the intimacy, then it proves to be counterproductive. I have always mentioned that Science can be learnt only from
observation and experiments. The rest is memory and not learning. The objective of school programmes should be to help children realise that there is science everywhere, be in the kitchen, the open sky, in bicycles, bullock carts, flying birds, trees, winds… if all our children start thinking like this, then probably people living in the country side would have bigger experimental laboratories than those living in the cities . The inherent purpose of this is to help create new ways of thinking and nurturing young minds towards creativity and experimentation. Do you think creativity has been promoted in school education system? The National Curriculum Framework which came into existence in 2005 was a major exercise in reforming school education. It said that knowledge is not something that cannot be delivered. True knowledge is that which is created by each person. It means that a learner has to be an activist and he will have to build knowledge through interaction and use of internet, books, and other mediums. The complexion and portrait of knowledge is different for different children and that is how it is supposed to be. Creativity gets destroyed if it gets mixed with the routine examination system. Imaginative thinking gets constricted through the abundance of coaching classes. Tutoring centres are the most creativity destroying institutions. They might churn out so called ‘clever minds’ who achieve distinction in their subjects, but ingenious ideas get bottled up in the process. I think there is some kind of collusion between the examination administrators and coaching institutes!
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The objective of school programmes should be to help children realise that there is science everywhere ‌ if all our children start thinking like this, then probably people living in the countryside would have bigger experimental laboratories than those living in the cities You are an active supporter of inter-disciplinary studies. Could you elaborate on this? While learning there should be an enormous amount of traffic between various disciplines. If knowledge is strictly compartmentalised between disciplines in such a way that there are steel walls between them, then there won’t be any innovation. Cubicalisation of knowledge hampers creativity. You should be able to go across different streams and study diverse subjects. New concepts emerge in the boundaries of each discipline and therefore, demarcating lines between different disciplines have to be porous. All innovations in ideas and technologies have come about because of the mingling of inter disciplinary knowledge. Indian Universities do not figure among the top universities of the world. How do you think quality can be promoted in higher education? Universities in India might not be in the top 100, but that would not mean there are no bright minds in these universities. The Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) is among the finest universities, although it does not figure among the top 10 universities. I would also say that the Jadavpur University is also a wonderful place. Universities should not restrict themselves to providing technical courses like engineering or biotechnology. These should also be space for an engineering student to take up subjects from humanities and linguistics. This would create a harmony among different subject domains, and also enable students to pursue their interest areas. Most of our industry research wings do not see the difference between creating technology and importing technology. These days it is easier to import technology than it was earlier. This impedes the creation and promotion of indigenous knowledge and talent. Importing technology only creates things that already exist. More encouragement should be given to creation and promotion of knowledge within the country.\\
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February 5, 2011 The Claridges, New Delhi
event report
digitallearning School Education Conclave 2010
Knowledge Sharing in K-12 Education The School Education Conclave 2010 was organized with the objective of sharing best practices in academic and institutional excellence and to discuss contemporary issues in K-12 education. It highlighted strategies and steps that will help carry forward the educational reforms in India By Sheena Joseph
T
he digitalLEARNING School Education Conclave provided a platform for senior leadership and management teams of various schools to share ideas and learn best ways for achieving institutional excellence and help them in preparing for the demands of the new era in education.
How to get the Education Reforms Rolling The inaugural session of the conclave enumerated the diverse measures be-
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ing taken to transform the current educational trends to a more learner centric approach. The current century is witnessing some of the greatest transformations in the field of education. Elaborating on the role of Intel in bringing about this transformation, Rajesh Gupta, Director–Sales & Marketing Group, Intel (South Asia) stated that education has been a very critical element in all activities of Intel. IT training activities of Intel in rural areas have enabled students to gain employment and the knowledge has also been used
to spread awareness on social issues. A sound base in education particularly at the primary level helps in economic development and in finding employment opportunities. Emerging and developing countries have different needs for education in terms of curriculum and methodology. For a very long time, the classroom approach has been followed, which has only promoted rote learning. However, the kind of exposure available outside the school includes diverse media including the internet, peer influence,
communities etc. There are far more influences being exerted on the child and therefore the paradigm needs to shift from that of teacher centric learning to a wider perspective of including the child’s surroundings. These can positively impact a students’ learning. The teacher plays a major role in the educational attainment of the student. It was highlighted during the session that Right to Education (RTE) is the most fundamental change in education since independence and this is what will bring about a transformation. The integrated element of curriculum and continuous assessment is necessary. Hey Math was started in the year 2000 fundamentally to address the problem of teacher shortage in Maths subjects, said Nirmala Sankaran, Cofounder & Managing Director, HeyMath. “Our strength is in building teaching capacity in Maths. Quality of a teacher can have a profound impact on the learning abilities of students. We have to establish how technology can be used creatively to improve teaching learning process.” Dr SS Jena, Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) elaborated that there is a strong paradigm shift taking place in the field of school education. The learning environment today has gone beyond the classroom. The process now is more learner centric with the role of the teacher being transformed from that of a mere instructor to a facilitator. The role of technology in this is crucial as it can be used not only within the classroom but also to take learning across boundaries. It is in the hands of the principals and teachers to create the next generation of skilled manpower. India is a country with the largest number of youth population, highlighted S C Khuntia, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development.“This is the time to exploit the demographic advantage and ensure that it does not turn into a demographic disaster.” Problems need to be turned into an opportunity. Every child should get proper education. Education needs to lead to employability. The ICT in School is a centrally sponsored scheme
where every student from class 9-12 will be imparted IT education so that they acquire certain IT competencies before they pass out of school.
Dr Mahendra Nagpal
Redefining Pedagogy and Constructivism: Role of Technology in Curriculum Development
Chairman, Education Committee, Municipal Corporation of Delhi
ICT enablement of education is going to change the paradigm of education. From a one way process, education would now become collaborative process. With diverse resources available, children now have to also learn the methodology of accessing resources. Use of ICT as a tool in the teaching learning process should also be for self learning. There is no end to learning when it comes to technology. Elaborating on the need to use diverse range of tools to supplement the learning process, S Regunathan, Former Chief Secretary-Delhi & Advisor, National Knowledge Commission highlighted that the teaching fraternity should realize that there is a tremendous need of transforming the mode of delivering of education today. Technology has an important role in curriculum development. “Traditional teaching methods need to be supplemented with technology based teaching. We want to make learning easy for all by providing teaching tools,” said Subrata Roy, Asst. Vice President, Next Education.
S C Khuntia
Joint Secretary, School Education Ministry of Human Resource Development
Dr S S Jena
Chairman, National Institute of Open Schooling
Meera Balachandran
Director, Educational Quality Foundation India
Redefining Pedagogy and Constructivism: Innovation and Technology in Capacity Building of Teachers.
Nirmala Sankaran
Education is seen as a tool that drives national development agenda. The creation of new education technologies and the increasing push towards integration of technology into education has increased the need for teacher education and training. The session highlighted the need for developing regional guiding principles that would enable the integration of ICT into education and simultaneously promote teacher professional development.
Co-founder & Managing Director, HeyMath
Rajesh Gupta
Director–Sales & Marketing Group, Intel (South Asia) digital LEARNING
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S Regunathan Advisor, National Knowledge Commission
Subrata Roy
Asst. Vice President, Next Education
Amit Gupta
CEO, S Chand Harcourt
Amol Arora
MD, Shemrock and Shemford Group of Schools
Sugat Jain
Director, Ratna Sagar
Prashant Pitti CEO, Fitness Air
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Professional development of the teacher was highlighted as a major step in education reforms. Introducing reforms should not alienate the teachers. Reforms will necessarily involve changes and adoption of newer elements. This would mandate teacher training in diverse fields. Technology creates a huge influence on children, and if teacher is not trained simultaneously, it would only create an imbalance. Tremendous efforts also need to be put in the continuous development of teacher in the use of ICT, since technology needs to be integrated into school education.
Shaping NextGen Schools: Towards Joyful Learning The session sought to establish how schools can adapt learning styles to make the teaching learning process more fruitful and joyous for the students. Speakers highlighted that school routine today has become more stressful for students, with kids even at the primary stage who reluctantly enter school gates carrying heavy school bags. The solution is to engage students in the learning process, not through banning home work, but by ensuring that the work assigned does not become a burden for them. Moreover, practical and demonstrations should be emphasised upon. The methodology of teaching should be such that it gives an opportunity to develop scientific temper and creativity to students. There has also been a strong need for lifelong learning skills to be inculcated through the education process. Continuously building self learning capacity is important. Gone are the days when the teaching pedagogy was fixed and the learners learnt what was given to them. Today, institutions offer what learners want to learn. The shift that is taking place particularly in the field of open and distance learning. Teachers will have to facilitate learning particularly in the field of school education. Reviewing the functional development programmes of teachers is essential. Strengthening classroom transactions by providing guidelines
on teaching patterns can include group work, activities and project work for students.
Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation The session on Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) witnessed discussions on the current challenges and teaching aspects related to the CCE model. Principals and panelists contributed to the discussions by putting forth their views on how it has been implemented in their schools. CCE involves learning through feedbacks from students and parents as well as teachers, said Dr Lalit Modak, Principal, Delhi Public School -Vasundara. It does not have rigid parameters. It has to be dependent on the requirements of the school. Teacher orientation to the procedures is important. Several methods of implementing CCE in schools were pointed out by Dr Modak including in house activity books that can be digitalized and made available within the school. Framework for various activities can be decided and teachers can adapt it accordingly. Equipping teachers and children in all the procedures is important. “CCE has given importance to the creation of report cards for fitness assessment of students. Physical activity can then be assessed through scientific procedures,� said Prashant Pitti, CEO, Fitness Air. For physical education, muscle stability, sporting abilities are analyzed. Simple rubrics are given to the sports teacher so that they can relate their daily sporting activities with CCE. Dr A K Sharma, Principal, Kendriya Vidyalaya, Gole Market explained some of the challenges in the implementation of CCE including the documentation pressures on the teachers owing to the large student strength, need for many more resources to aid in the creation of activities, and better training facilities for teachers. The School Education Conclave concluded with the awards ceremony to felicitate schools using ICTs effectively in the teaching learning process.\\
event report
Bal Bharti Public School
Awards for Best in K12 Innovation, eCampus and Labs
BGS International Public School
By Yukti Pahwa
Indraprastha International School
RPVV School
Tagore International School
The British School
Following the grand success of the school education conclave event on November 20, 2010 at New Delhi, awards were bestowed to the schools that have excelled in space of innovative pedagogy, best e-campus and ICT laboratories. The awardees were decided upon, after review of overwhelming amount of nominations received, by eminent jury of educationists. The selection criteria for choosing the best schools in the given field included factors such as the programme /innovation being fully operational for a minimum period of six months in the school at the time of application submission; the use of ICT/innovation having some practical outcomes that have improved teaching, learning, curriculum design, and/or assessment in schools; and so on.
There were three schools chosen as winners in each category and because all the initiatives were decided as eminent, all the three schools were given the same position, under three respective categories. School with Best Innovative Pedagogy • The British School • DL DAV School • Tagore International School School with Best eCampus • BGS International Public School • Indraprastha International School • Sanskriti School School with Best ICT Laboratory (Language/ Science/ Mathematics) • Bal Bharti Public School • Doon Public School • RPVV Rajniwas School
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CATEGORY I: INNOVATION IN PEDAGOGY ning and preparation for classes as also develop as professionals. Components: ICT enriched curriculum; interdisciplinary approach; online programmes for specific subjects for classes 6th to 10th, with a server based programme in others; provision of projectors and an LCDs in all classrooms in the middle and lower senior classes; interactive boards in the mathematics, social science and the EVS Laboratory; three computer labs; separate labs for teachers; personal laptops for teachers; wi-fi campus; and e-school management system. Impact: Amongst teachers there was improvement in areas of ICT skills; use of blended approach in teaching; effective evaluation of students’ learning; and improved lesson planning. Amongst students there has been an increase in easy understanding of concepts; independent learning, communication and higher order thinking skills; and improved ICT proficiency.
The British School DL DAV Model School Introduction: The pedagogy followed in the school is based on interactive learning, focusing on use of technology to enhance the delivery of subject contents to the students. Objective: To offer a whole gamut of modern educational technologies; to assume role of facilitator - to ‘explore’, ‘experience, ‘enlarge’ & evaluate; to generate a sense of creativity, innovation and enterprise amongst the students; and ‘to learn, relearn and unlearn’ or ‘to learn to learn’. Components: Interactive whiteboards (with software from ‘Class Teacher Solutions’); research centre; two multi-media labs; use of JIL (Bhartiya Vidya), CALComputer Aided Learning) Capsules; hi-tech library; computer labs; robotics club; Bridge an annual computer symposium; computers installed in all school departments; science and Math’s labs; and trained teaching personnel. Impact: Built confidence, generated
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motivation, curiosity and promoted better understanding of concepts; increased computer savvy attitude; increased awareness; increased effectiveness and retention for slow learners; increased information accessibility and transparency; and greater satisfaction amongst parents, students and teachers.
Tagore International School Introduction: ‘Empower teachers, engage students’, is the mission on which the school operates and believs in using ICT as a teaching learning tool to enrich the teaching learning process in the school. Objective: To integrate ICT in order to enrich and enhance the teaching learning process to raise students’ interest and level of understanding, making them independent learners and improving their performance; to make teachers improve the teaching methodologies; and focus on higher order plan-
Introduction: ICT is used to support all curriculum areas, collaborative and co-operative learning, and to develop higher order thinking skills in students. Objective: The objective is to develop and maintain anytime, anywhere learning, personalised learning, and flexible learning spaces. Components: Wireless campus and laptop access; interactive white boards; sharing teaching strategy with teaching staff around the world via the Promethean learning community; cross curricular approach to lessons; e-portfolios; curriculum mapping; personalising learning-moodle; CEM assessment; onsite training for existing and new staff; and robust bank of resources. Impact: Personalised learning experience, while addressing all kinds of learners and learning styles; support to SEN (Special Educational Needs) and EAL (English as a Second Language) students; heightened motivation and engagement; creativity; metacognition; critical thinking and problem solving; and self assessment and evaluation.
CATEGORY I I: SCHOOL WITH BEST eCAMPUS BGS International Public School Introduction: The school has set up a technology oriented e-campus. The idea behind it is to manage students’ database, provide technical support 24X7 with an interactive software and to be in touch with the students even after school hours. Objective: To have a real-time, automated, cost-effective, monitored for analysis of relevant data for various functional areas of school administration and management; student and parents’ interaction; knowledge management and student performance tracking and management at a single platform. Components: ICT enabled ‘User Manager’; inter- and intra- communication through modes such as websites and software for administration, academics and extra-curricular activities; daily eupdates; use of SMS technology and Hotmail messenger; online preview, student profile registration and management; eenabled syllabus and curriculum; online parent teacher meetings; maintenance of time table; and report centre. Impact: School has facilitated the collection and management of data at their points of origin and provides the right information and control to the right People. It has elevated the quality and efficiency standards to match the best in a global scenario.
Indraprastha International School Introduction: The school aims at comprehensive quality education .The school believes in imparting education and providing opportunities that promote social, cultural, mental, emotional and physical growth to every child. The school has contributed its mite to extend the child - centric quality education. The school has adopted the motto ‘Teach Each Child, Develop Whole Child’. Objective: The school believes in liberating the minds of students, thus collaborative learning along with new innovative teaching methods is the hallmark of this institution. To realise
the motto, the school introduced the project “e-GYAN”, an E-GYAN based programme to incorporate technical knowledge in their day to day life. The other objectives are to provide 24x7 upgraded knowledge, learning a convenient process, to create innovative and imaginative minds, to establish International Links with educational institutions to facilitate international learning opportunities for students and teachers through e-education, to participate in research activities with global institutions, to provide students about educational and career opportunities, and to interact globally via networking mediums like video conferencing. Components: Computer Aided Learning (CAL); smart/ interactive boards; IPIS e-software for maintaining attendance of the students and staff, result entry, report card generation according to new CCE format, circulars maintenance; payroll and fee management, transport management and students’ Database; school website keeping a track of academics, achievements, activites, admission and notices; robotics lab to implement AI (Artificial Intelligence), language laboratory; and computer based activities through ‘Mouseketeers’ – the computer club and use of teletyping software. Impact: Achievements including International School Award, membership with UKIERI (The U.K. India Education and Research Institute), organising and participation in national and international Olympiads.
Sanskriti School Introduction: Sanskriti’s vision includes an IT enabled school. Hence, provisions were made at the very beginning to provide for a growing IT infrastructure. Objective: Enhanced teaching/learning to empower the teacher to use technology to enhance their lesson and to deliver concepts with greater clarity; and to encourage the students to think and actively construct their knowledge on the basis of their individual understanding.
Components: All activities using Setchpad and graphic calculators; LAN cabling; focused computer training, strengthened by the Intel Teach to the Future training by INTEL; computer labs to double up as ICT labs in their free periods; exclusive Maths lab and a German language lab; one Audio Visual Room; the Biology, Physics, EVS, Psychology and other rooms have been enabled to impart ICT so that departments; and time-tables are continuously worked out to ensure all departments get minimum facilities usage. Impact: ICT at Sanskriti has facilitated the teachers by giving them a variety of learning tools that are multidisciplinary and multi-sensorial. This has facilitated in transforming classrooms into new rich, interactive, virtual learning environs with the help of internet, websites and knowledge blogs, educational software and assessment tools; developing the multiple intelligences in students by giving learners a fair opportunity to learn through their preferred medium - multimedia lessons; and keeping teachers abreast of latest developments in subject areas and the field of education through sharing of ideas, lesson plans, teaching strategies etc. ICT has encouraged students to think and actively construct their knowledge through specially designed interactive tasks on the basis of their individual understanding. This has facilitated learning collaboratively; creativity and interactive learning environment; presentations and projects and assessment as a part of the learning process.
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CATEGORY I I I: SCHOOL WITH BEST ICT ENABLED LAB (SCIENCE/ MATHEMATICS/ LANGUAGE)
Bal Bharati Public School, Pitampura Introduction: Classroom teaching can sometimes limit the teaching-learning process. The language lab in the school helps overcome this major hindrance by stimulating the interest of the learners and helping them learn the language in a better way. The lab lets the learners shed their inhibitions and makes them inquisitive. Objective: The main objective for initiating the language lab in school is keeping in view the concept of multiple intelligences. Language skills can be divided roughly into 4, which are - listening, speaking, reading and writing. The school wants to focus on all the four, also encompassing grammar and a little bit of vocabulary in the teaching-learning process. The aim is to also make teaching-learning process more interesting. And finally, the aim behind including ICT is for letting the students keep pace with the upcoming computer-savvy world. Components: To enhance the listening skills of the students they are taken to the lab where they get an opportunity to hear the stories through headphones individually. After listening to the stories and short comprehensions, they are given questionnaires wherein they are supposed to answer the question related to or based on the comprehension. Apart from this an oral activity is also undertaken which helps in empowering the child’s confidence, expression and
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vocabulary. The use of mike helps them overcome the stage fright answer confidently. A lot of grammar exercises are also undertaken as a part of listening and comprehension which make learning more of a fun activity. Impact: Students have started paying more attention to voice modulation and pronunciation; they have become aware of pronunciation, specifically like stress patterns, accents and differences in vowels and vowel glides; unconsciously and consciously they have started correcting themselves and others regarding correct pronunciations; students have become more focused in listening due to several listening activities; they have learnt to listen to relevant information and details, ignor-
ing the irrelevant ones; and a deeper concentration is developed which can be seen in their overall performance..
Doon Public School, Paschim Vihar Introduction: An environment for student-centric explorative (learning by doing). It is all about learning, verifying and visualising mathematical concepts in a ‘fun’ way. It inculcates learning through ‘Applied Reasoning’. This learner centered approach to math helps every child imagine, investigate and interact effectively. The multiple teaching and learning aids comprises technology applications, videos, manipulative and measuring instruments, tables, charts and so much more.
Objective: To impart quality education; to ensure the proper physical, mental and moral growth of the students, in tune with modern scientific temper; to enlarge the mental horizons and to broaden the outlook of the students through the inculcation of the Reading Habit and the Book Culture; to arouse in them the aesthetic sense; and to provide the students with opportunities (through a built in system of cocurricular activities ) to be innovative, independent and confident. Components: Digital display, manipulatives, nodes, GSP and support from NIIT team. Teachers are able to now implement the practicality behind mathematics. mathematics has now become fun learning for all the students. The biggest achievement has been the response of students. An average student has also learned more and perceived more. Impact: Improvement in performance of students; students are taking more initiative in learning mathematics; and teachers have got a tool by which they can explain concepts better to students.
Rajkiya Pratibha Vikas Vidyalaya, LC 1, Rajniwas Marg Introduction: HeyMath! Zone is created by converting the existing Math Lab or a classroom in the school into an attractive and cheerful informal learning environment. HeyMath! Zone complements the teaching process and supple-
ments text book information by introducing multiple sensory experiences in an otherwise black and white world of text books and black boards ‐ making learning a truly memorable experience for students. Objective: The objective of the HeyMath! Zone is to change the manner in which Maths is perceived by students and establish a unique differentiation for the school as a “center for learning Maths using multiple intelligences”. Additionally, to facilitate experiential learning and teaching through discovery and exploration; cater to multiple intelligences and learning styles; maximise learning value within a confined space through innovative and interactive activities; and provide an inclusive/ equitable platform to ensure that every
child is benefited. Components: e‐Lessons mapped to school’s exam board for classes one to ten; orientation and professional development sessions for teachers; laptop; projector; pull down screen; UPS; multimedia speakers; posters on various mathematics concepts such as big numbers, factors, symmetry, golden ratio, spatial dimensions, size comparison, etc. Impact: It has generated a lot of interest and enthusiasm amongst the students. Teachers find it easier to explain concepts that are otherwise difficult to explain in a conventional classroom environment, using ‘learn while you play’ techniques with the aid of various activities and manipulatives in the Math Zone.
Over 1,400 students participate in Delhi edition of TCS IT Wiz 2010
The TCS IT Wiz 2010 edition conducted and organised by Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), received an overwhelming participation in Delhi. It was a packed auditorium with over 1400 students from Delhi, Noida, Gurgaon School participating in the prelims of TCS IT Wiz - India’s largest tech quiz for schools held on Saturday at Dogra Hall, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. After the prelims and some grueling and intense round of quizzing Prem Pal Singh and Anshul from New Era Public School, Mayapuri walked away with the coveted winners trophy, along with a ThinkPad Lenovo laptop each, closely followed by Abhishek Gupta and Mrinal Mohit from Delhi Public School, Noida as Runners-up who received their trophy along with IdeaPad Netbook. Basant Gupta, Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs who was the chief guest on the occasion distributed the prizes along with Debashis Ghosh, Vice President & Head, TCS Delhi operations. The 6 Regional finalists also received an array of prizes from TCS ranging from backpacks, MP3 players, headphones, t-shirts and water sippers. Among the special prize for the Winners included dinner with N Chandrasekaran, CEO and MD of TCS during National Finals. The Regional rounds of TCS IT Wiz this year was held in Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Coimbatore, Pune, Kolkata, Bhubaneswar, Kochi, Lucknow. After Delhi and Mumbai edition the 12 regional winner will compete in the for TCS IT Wiz National Champion title at National Finals to be held in Chennai on December 18. TCS IT Wiz was open to school students studying from Class 8 – 12 (including PU students). The regional rounds of the quiz included rounds suhc as that on Autonomic Computing - The world of IT has seen change at every crossroad. It is also perhaps the only industry where change is so fast that one has to keep pace with it. This round will explore the knowledge of the contestants on how abreast they are with the IT world around them and the changes that have taken place. This round also featured a question asked by N Chandrasekaran, CEO & MD of TCS on a video link.
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Seema Jairath, Principal, DLF Public School, Sahibabad in conversation with Yukti Pahwa, shares that the school believes in striving to give every pupil the balanced learning, by blending Indian cultural values with the finest modern curriculum and follows the philosophy of ‘Looking Inwards to Excel Outwards’.
Learning with Soul What according to you are the challenges and opportunities that RTE presents to education sector? There is a huge dichotomy in India today. We need to reduce this gap that has developed in our society, that is, the inequities. RTE can be a mobilising tool for reducing this difference. But we also need to understand that there are lawyers and agencies in India such as
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media, who are very eagerly willing to attack the schools, if the schools raise the fees. It should be understood that if a school takes in 25% of children as students who come from disadvantaged group, it would need extra resource pool which has to be gathered from other 75% children. Therefore, if the fee is raised then acceptance is required from all - the parents, the regulatory bodies
and agencies such as media. For implementation of RTE it is important that commitment for it comes not only from school but also the whole society. Kindly share your opinion on the CBSE introduced grading system. The system has already begun to take shape with the first batch of results out this year. The difference that has come
up is in terms of increased confidence, amongst increased number of students who scored a good CGPA (Cumulative Grade Point Average), instead of any one student scoreing the highest marks, according to the conventional marking system. It has made students happier with themselves and with one another, without any ill-will amongst each other. There can be thousands of reasons even for the minutest difference in marks that students score. So, deciding that one can be the topper and not the other one who perhaps scored a few fractions less than the former, is incomprehensible. I, celebrate and welcome the grading system because it frees us as evaluators of certain biases that can come up while different teachers check papers. It is a fairer system. What do you opine about the role of ICT in school education? Initially people use to say that ICT can replace a teacher completely. That is not true, but it surely is a powerful tool to augment classroom teaching. And that is why the smart boards and the software that is being availed, helps teachers in numerous ways to make teaching multi-dimensional and interesting. Students from different walks of life, some linguistically strong, some intellectually strong, and so on, enjoy and participate more in presence of such multimedia equipments. Earlier teaching was confined to teacher teaching the textbook and students looking at the teacher. But today, nobody wants long drawn monotonous processes and ICT supports speeding up the process giving different variations and visual angles to lessons. ICT is used within classroom in a moderated manner. Moving beyond ICT, social networking sites or allowing children to have unsupervised access to Internet gives rise to problems. Social networking sites, specially are huge drain on children’s time, mind and energy. These facilities therefore, require supervision at school and home as well. Is your school ICT equipped? Yes, certainly. We have a multiple pronged approach. First of all, we have
ICT is used within classroom in a moderated manner. Moving beyond ICT, social networking sites or allowing children to have unsupervised access to Internet gives rise to problems software that teachers use. There are 15 smart boards in school, at various locations–some in classrooms, some in learning centres, the activity room, the science labs, the mathematics lab and library. Also, it is observed that students accept it far readily than teachers.
We also have programmes running for teachers every Saturday and teachers have been inducted into becoming more equipped with ICT. We also have induction programme for parents, where teachers communicate to parents using ICT tools, children make their presentations using the smart board, and so on. Beyond the above, we also provide voting pads with students. So whenever a question with options of answers, flashes on the interactive whiteboard (under the brand name of Promethean) the children can quickly vote their answers to the same. For instance, with help of such mechanism, within 30 minutes all students in class can give answers to test paper questions as they appear on board and also evaluate their own answers, with teacher having access to knowledge of what answer was given by which child in a systematic recorded fashion. This helps in saving time, it is cost effective, it makes evaluation efficient, and is uniform in terms of quality for all students. It supports the objective of evaluation – that is – not to prove learning but to improve learning. Do you think Public Private Partnership is viable for school education? What I understood by PPP was that state along with some private companies to see what can be facilitated with latter’s help in field of education. For instance, Hero Honda had started a school in some village but the school did not function well and none of the girl children attended the school. The reason was that there was no toilet for girls in the school and when they would go to the fields to ease themselves they would be teased by the boys. In such cases, the reason for a company to open schools in not to improve the education system but to increase its outreach, provide increased number of teachers, increase the number of students attending a school in a particular village, and so on. I don’t think they have a direct bearing on the quality of education or the policy discussion pertaining to education. \\
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Community Radio for Education Radio technology was developed in late nineteenth century and was used more often in early twentieth century. It has been a tool that is capable of delivering information to widespread geographic regions and is cost effective By Yukti Pahwa
R
adio is a cost-effective and has greater learning effect than textbooks or teacher education. Some of the educational advantages of using radio include improvement in quality and relevance, low cost and increase accessibility. The challenges that it presents include lack of dual interaction, lack of clarification, interruptions in transmissions, fixed pace for all and lack of space for reflection on content being taught. Radio is supportive of providing remedial tutorials; providing updates; presenting material in a manner that children can identify with emotions and outlook of the protagonist; and providing an alternate to TV programmes.
Community Radio Mainstream media is very vast and its approach is very generic and not suited to local needs of the people. Community radio’s are yet another tool which is used by the local communities who are the creators and disseminators of the information required by the local community. They produce and centre the information/ discussions on local issues. For running community radio training is provided to children/ adults and can be executed easily. It supports children to speak their mind, in line with Convention on the Rights of the Child. Community radio propagates not only knowledge but also sense of responsibility and morality amongst children. In December 2002, the Government of
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India approved a policy for the grant of licenses for setting up of Community Radio Stations to well established education institutions including the IITs and the IIMs. Later the government also included other civil societies such as NGOs and voluntary ‘non-profit’ organizations. Government has also prescribed principals and guidelines for setting up the community radio such as three years of compulsory experience of the non profit organisation in providing service to local community; including only those programmes for broadcast that are relevant to the educational development, social and cultural needs of the community; the civil society must be registered under societies’ act
or other relevant act. Government of India showed its keenness to open 4000 community radio 2008 stations. At present, All India Radio forms first tier; private FM form the second tier; and community radio forms that third tier. It is a form of empowerment given to the operators - that is community people at it aids them to voice their needs, desires and intentions. It involves community participation and ownership. It helps them to get education and entertainment in their own language and based on their manner of living, at low cost. In hands of children, it can help them give opportunity to be the decision makers and responsible for their act and gain an understanding that they can make
Media literacy comprises of demanding accountability from media. It implies understanding the process of transmitting information. It activates community members to participate and own the content they need and spread a difference. According to W Jayaweera, Director, Communication Development, UNESCO, Community Radio is not just about broadcast content; it is mostly about the process of community engagement. Community radio is about social skills, business skills, creativity, IT skills, local democracy, hard to reach groups, involvement of women and young people and involvement of hundreds of volunteers. Community Radio is about harnessing the tremendous potentials media can offer to engage people and change their lives. It is about ordinary people having a stake in the vast
broadcasting landscape and becoming responsible and accountable citizens.
Media Literacy Community Media Centers are the places where opportunities for operating media tools such as community radio are available. Such initiatives encourage the understanding of usage and effects of media over a community. It implies engagement of the local community people, giving them a stake in the dissemination of knowledge. Media literacy comprises of demanding accountability from media. It implies un-
derstanding the process of transmitting information. It activates community members to participate and own the content they need and spread. Awareness about media and its potential is another component of literacy. Government formulated policy at different times. In December 2002, the policy was formulated and revamped in 2006 with only difference being that initially only reputed educational institutes were allowed to operate community radio’s while lately, NGOs, CSOs of good repute have been allowed to operate on the same. For spreading awareness, workshops are being conducted to train not only adults but also children. Making a good Community Radio Station involves participation of community with only guidance from the external world. Its infrastructure involves a space and a building making a studio with transmission facilities. It involves regular recruitment of different people from community, who are trained to use the transmitter equipment and content that is being developed. Maintenance of studio and equipment used is of importance in order to avoid breakdown of transmissions, which is equal responsibility of each person in the community. Community Radio Forum and government agencies come forward to provide license and funds to provide for CRS. Any help from outside the community should be limited to provide for the hardware and training related to daily operations but not recurring expenses such as honorarium. According to provisions for the license, the programmes being broadcasted have to be preserved for six months for scrutiny at later stage. The CSR cannot be monitored from one place, however, violation of rules implies penalty for the community to pay. Free expression is a right that community enjoys but rules are to be followed by all. Even FM channels are not allowed to broadcast news and current affairs, whereas private TV channels are allowed to do so. Furthermore, com-
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Knowledge dissemination and awareness are the assumed advantages; with snatched play time and low attention span being the limitations of media tools munity radio technology is based on inexpensive technology comprising of equipment supported by CR policy and UNESCO.
Radio as a Potential ICT Tool Often it is said that multi-media help teachers and education system to go beyond talk and chalk method to impart knowledge in most suitable way. So the issues that rise alongside use of multi media are – replacement of teachers with multi-media, collaborative learning with both teachers and multi-media, and use of multi-media in situations where presence of teachers are difficult to attain. One of the major challenges in our country is lack of qualified teachers, especially in rolling out of laws such as Right to Free and Compulsory Education, 2009. With advent of Information and Communication Technology and media there is being seen a change in ‘shishya-guru’ tradition. It would be of value to see if
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media has potential of replacing the teachers/ providing equally competent environment of learning to students of varying ages. It provides students with pedagogical support, social and emotional development, and helps in bridging the ‘digital divide’ between the students from various sections of the society.
Literacy through Radio Central Institute of Educational technology (CIET) (a division under National Coucil of Educational Research and Training) has been working towards providing media literacy to children through use of radio, television and cyber media, individually and in combination to increase educational opportunities to students across domains. CIET provides media literacy to children by imparting knowledge of media analysis and hands on production of media. It provides them with training for producing programmes. CIET in collaboration with five SIETs of Hyderabad, Pune,
Bhubaneshwar, Ahmedabad and Lucknow, trained school going children in 2008-09 for making video programmes on issues of social justice and change. In another effort CIET to encourage the young talent introduced a new category for nomination in its 13th Annual children’s educational Audio–Video festival – Best Student Production.
Code of Conduct The organisation called the Concerned for the Working Children, have evolved a Media Code of Conduct to realise rights of children and making a paradigm shift in media’s approach to children as passive recipients of the adult domination to full partners in what is being presented through media. It has been prepared within Indian context. This Media Code of Conduct has been created on basis of three primary areas. First, children should be considered as producers of media, that is, they should be given freedom of expression and opinions; as users of media children’s access to media; right to information; children’s rights programming of content, Right to protection from harmful content” should be given special attention; and children as subjects of media that is children as subjects rather than objects of the media; right to protection from misrepresentation and stereotyping; and right to privacy, confidentiality and dignity. In India, print media and radio are two sources that are readily available to most of the adults and children. A study on use and impact of radio and print media can help in understanding of children’s understanding of society, community and themselves. Impact of education (formal/ non formal) of children on their interaction with print media and community radio can help in understanding subject matter in a better manner. Media is creating and propagating a ‘knowledge society’, with youth having maximum interaction with the emerging technologies of information and communication. Knowledge dissemination and awareness are the assumed advantages of media; and snatched play time of children, low attention span, and so on are the assumed limitations of media mediums.
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Some Work in Area of Community Radio Work in the area of community radio has been carried out with women and children in different states in India by various NGOs and international agencies such as that of United Nations. In December 2004, DHAN Foundation worked with Tsunami affected communities and used ICT as an intervention tool through the Village Information Centres (VIC) set up in villages. The foundation additionally, launched Community Radio Station Kalanjam Samuga Vanoli, set up at Vizhunthamavadi village of Keelaiyur Block in Nagapattinam District, Tamil Nadu. This center worked towards developing a media model which comprised of radio with video with web based technology. UNDP supported the programme with resources under its Tsunami Recovery Programme. The aim of this initiative
was to empower people to develop disaster management skills, strengthen their livelihood, promote and preserve their traditional knowledge and to help youth and students to prepare communication skills. The challenges that the foundation faced included license issues, imperative of making community educated about the designing and implementing of the media production – spending time and energy – leading to ownership, which is beyond community participation, involving women for media production in a society which was dominated by men, sustainability of the community radio station, and broadcasting issues. Dr K Thangraj, Chief Coordinator KONGU FM mentions, “Reaching out to the un-reached, community radio can be thought of as a medium providing voice to the voiceless, power to the powerless, through cleverly designed
Children are capable of handling issues that require responsibility and ownership, in addition to being least hesitant, when it comes to speaking their mind
and elegantly executed programmes. It has to address the real issues of the rural masses, their longings, feelings, expressions, joy and wisdom. It has to address and redress their sorrow, anguish and sufferings. It has ti help them establish their rights to information, development, communication, governance, decision making, participation, freedom of expression, employment and entitlement to land, health, education and security.” In India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has approved application of seven NGOs to set up community radio systems of about 140 appli-
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cants who applied for license from the Inter Ministerial Committee to set up community radio stations. These include The Society for Development Alternatives, New Delhi; Alternatives for India Development (AID), Chennai; Deccan Development Society (DDS), Hyderabad; Indian Society of Agri-Business Professionals (ISAP), New Delhi; Mannvikas Samajik Sansthan (MVSS), Satara, Maharashtra; The Energy Research Institute of India (TERI), New Delhi; and the Mysore Resettlement and Development Agency (MYRADA), Bangaluru. The aim for constructing these CRC was to hear the community, bridge digital divide amongst rural and urban population, encourage community participation and leadership skills, manage local issues especially related to women, to document the traditions and culture of the community, to promote editorial independence in creating and disseminating content from the government, communal and political parties, and to entertain the rural people. Children are capable of handling issues that require responsibility. They are capable of turning into radio jockeys. For instance child jockeys were introduced by Radio Choklate as a unique step in Oriya programming, known as Chhota Choklate. It is aired between four to five pm on weekdays by children in age group of 6-12 years. This include children jockey come and talk about his/ her area of interest and specialisation such as music, sports, fashion, masti, movie and stories. Similarly in April 2008, it was reported that Bihar government proposed a community radio project for schools, for which 11 highschools were selected from Patna and Nalanda. The main aim of the project was to spread socially relevant information across community, enhance local participation, aiding process of disaster management, sustaining local folk forms, employment of local youth and discouraging migration. The community radio center not only targets production of programmes made by children but also encourages overall personality of the children.\\
interview
“Competencybased Training is What Philippines offers...� Dr Lorenzo Emanuel L Guillermo, Director, Technical Education & Skills Development Authority, Republic of the Philippines speaks at length with digitalLEARNING team on the importance of the authority set up for the technical education and skill development in Philippines
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What are the origins of skill development in Philippines? Is it old or really starting now? Before 1994 it evolved as national manpower and youth council. In TESDA our main focus is core competency. Core competencies are units that are specific to a stream of a given sector. Competency assessment is the process of collecting evidences and making judgments whether or not a competency has been achieved. Assessment is not testing but gathering evidences. It depends upon orientation. After three months training, students are able to find jobs. The most important thing is that you must have competency. There are standard competency packages and programmes that we offer. Kindly elaborate upon the ICT scenario in Philippines? In Philippines, the state provides relevant, accessible, high quality, and efficient technical education and skills development to support the development of a high quality Filipino middle-level manpower; responsive to and in accordance with Philippine development goals and priorities. Technical Education and Skill Development Authority (TESDA) provides technical education and skill development to the young Filipinos. This authority cradles between department of labor & employment, and department of education. The congress of Philippines allocates budget for the implementation of programmes in education. We train the young Filipinos for the middle level manpower. Young Filipinos from the age 15 years can go to any TESDA office and apply for the scholarship Voucher. The national certificate that they earn is recognised globally. This is built on the fact that across country, competent standards are defined and evaluated in terms of a common platform. Our country, briefly, offers a competency-based training system. The State encourages active participation of various sectors, particularly private enterprises, being direct participants in and immediate beneficiaries of a trained and skilled workforce, in provid-
ing technical education and skills development opportunities.
der to perform the work described in the Competency Standards.
Please share with us experience pertaining to technical education in Philippines. The role of the government in employing youth is downsizing. The competency standard in TESDA is drastic and is determined by those in private sector. Normally, a person first gets a bachelor’s degree, then a master’s degree, and then a Ph D. But in the end, when they leave the university, they find themselves in the middle of jungle and with no opportunity. In technical education and training, it is reqruied that one identifies what skill has to be attainted, in accordance with respective interest. And that is what we foster through our training.
What do you opine about the need of soft skills for trained professionals? Soft skills imply communication, leadership and team work. The hard skills are for building competency. Many employers look for both hard and soft skills, in a middle level worker. Addition of the soft skills makes a lot of difference. An average technician can be better than a competent technician if he has better communication with the team or has a better set soft skills.
How TESDA is helpful for unemployed Filipino? In TESDA we prepare the unemployed people for the middle level manpower, especially for private sector enterprises. Encouragement for participation to private enterprises and our training framework helps us to follow a systematic approach. For example, if we take the field of automotive industry, the skills must be in the direction of competency requirements of the industry. for instance, if you are taking training in computer programming, you must have the required skills to process the desired programmes. With our national certificate trainind people can work anywhere.
What is the essence of technical education framwork you follow? Technical education refers to the education process designed at post-secondary and lower tertiary levels, officially recognised as non-degree programmes aimed at preparing technicians, paraprofessionals and other categories of middle-level workers by providing them with a broad range of general education, theoretical, scientific and technological studies. Skill development is the process through learner get opportunity the qualification for the range of jobs. Competency is designed as an integrated part of this framework. When you undergo training, the reqruied competencies are transferred to you and then you become competent and able to perform. But there are students who are not competent. Our objective is to make them competent internationally.
What is competency based training framework? Competency based training is based on curriculum developed from ‘Competency Standards’ defined by the Industry. Assessment is based on collection of evidence of the performance of work according to the industry required standards. Training Programmes are registered under the Unified TVET Programme Registration and Accreditation System. Competency Standards (CS) describe the work that is performed and CompetencyBased Curriculum (CBC) describes the training that a person needs to take in or-
Please throw some light on your certification levels? The levels that we have include the following. Level 1 is assistance i.e. routine jobs, and which is not related to decision making. Second is the technical level. This level involves some decision making process. Level 3 is for the supervisors who are to monitor a group of workers. Level 4 is for Managers. This is a brief outlook of our certification system. When we do evidence gathering, we observe checklist, question list, demonstration of work activity and portfolio. For evidence we seek authenticity,
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When one wants to pursue technical education, then he is issued a voucher by government sufficiency and validity. We also check the time during which it was acquired to see if the certification is recent or of distant past. There are various assessment programmes. After level three programme one gets registered only for units of competencies, not the whole programme. For example, in catering service, you may get registered in the unit that one provides room service and other is to provide link between beverage and kitchen service. But in higher education you have to comply with the number of units of general education, electives before you find permission for the final exams. This is the basic difference between technical and higher education. What are the goals and objective of TESDA for providing technical education and skill development? Main goal is to promote and strengthen the quality of technical education and
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skills development programmes to attain international competitiveness. We encourage critical and creative thinking by disseminating the scientific and technical knowledge base to the middle-level manpower development programmes under TESD. Other objectives are to recognise and encourage the complementary roles of public and private institutions in technical education, skills development and training systems; and to inculcate desirable values through the development of moral character with emphasis on work ethic, self-discipline, self-reliance and nationalism. We have four key tool or basic competencies – communication, teamwork, problem solving and planning. The common units of competency are skills and knowledge needed by all people working in a particular industry. Elective units of competency are additional skills and knowledge required by the individual or enterprise for work. For example, a driver may require additional skills in basic vehicle repairs and a plumber may require specialised skills in repairing valves that control the outlet temperature of water. What type of challenges you think India has in skill sector? There is hardly any problem with the workers, but there is a concern about the employers and establishments. They discourage workers to go for formal assessment. If workers do not have a formal certificate, they do not get opportunities. I, opine that radical revolution should come with technical education. The training in technical education and skill development is so significant that after training, a person can even open schools for plumbers, tailors, and so on, respectively. In a graduate class, discussions are held but when one goes to work they finds themselves in an estranged situation because the ethos of learning does not match with the practical knowledge. In technical education, the trainer evaluates the technology output of a candidate. For instance, if you are learning computer programming then
trainer can certify that you are a competent computer programmer, only if the text of programme fed by you has processed correct information. Is technical education beneficial for the youth who are not bright academically? A competent technical education is beneficial for those who are not able to excel academically or whose IQ level is low. I do not believe in the theory that those who have a low level of understanding can’t excel in technical education. Also, a competent technical worker is far better than a worker who is in high static incompetent surroundings and has no practical knowledge. In a competency based technical education, learning must take place in three domains- cognitive, affective and psycho-motor. Cognition is the thinking process, affective is related to feeling and attitude, and psycho-motor is related to neuro muscles and interaction of the mind. When you talk about the competency then these three components need to be established. First is knowledge evidence that he/she must know. Second is product evidence i.e. if he/she complies with industry procedures. And third is process evidence i.e. if he/she complies with industry. Please throw some light on your success ratio? Our success rate is very overwhelming. About 60 to 70% people who were trained, got jobs. Is government supporting the youth financially? The government has allocated budget for the training of unemployed and under-employed through scholarships. the government has a voucher system, for teh same. When one wants to pursue technical education, then he is issued a voucher. It’s cost is equal to `10,000. These people are also provided with transportation and lunch allowances. In global economic meltdown, Philippines was not affected at a large scale due to the above mentioned reasons. \\
higher education
Efficient Governance Through Information Technology The FTK-CIT at Jamia Millia Islamia University is continuously striving to provide better and modern IT services to students, research scholars, teaching staff, and non-teaching staff of the University. Management of internet, email system, Jamia’s Management Information System, website, and Campus Area Network are some of the popular services provided by the Centre By Prof Z H Khan
E
stablished in 1985 as a Computer Centre, it took more than fifteen years to transform the FTK-Centre for Information Technology to a modern Information Technology Centre. The end of the twentieth century saw amazing developments in ICT, which was echoed globally. In view of this and also keeping in view the changing role and additional responsibilities of the Computer Centre, it was renamed as Centre for Information Technology (CIT) in 2002. During the last ten years,
the Centre has come a long way to become the hub of IT services in the University. Regular IT training programmes, workshops and conferences conducted by the Centre have played a major role in capacity building of the University staff and also faculty members of other universities and colleges. Since 2003, the Centre is called as FTK-Centre for Information Technology (FTK-CIT), deriving its prefix from the name of the Chancellor of the University, Mr Fakhruddin T Khorakiwala, owing to his great
commitment and support for the Centre. Today FTK-CIT offers its services to the staff and students of the University through a campus area network of more than 3,500 nodes.
Activities of the Centre The activities performed by the Centre are very critical for the functioning of the University. Management of internet, email system, Jamia’s Management Information System (JMI-MIS), website, and Campus Area Network
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\\ higher education are some of the most useful and popular services being provided by the Centre. Apart from this, the Centre regularly conducts computer training programmes for office staff and faculty members for their capacity building. Organisation of workshops, conferences and extension lectures for faculty members, research scholars and students are another important activity of FTK-CIT. The Centre is also engaged in planning and research and sustainable development of IT within the University.
IT Infrastructure and Facilities The FTK-CIT is continuously striving to provide better and modern IT services to students, research scholars, teaching staff, and non-teaching staff of the University. Currently the Centre has several facilities including internet lab, multimedia training lab, network management lab, data centre, web management lab, MIS lab, software library etc.
Campus Area Network The first Local Area Network in Jamia was established in 1996 with 10-Mbps Optical Fibre Backbone, which was upgraded to 100-Mbps in the year 200203. Since then the network is continuously being expanded and now it covers all the buildings of the University including students’ hostels. The number of Internet nodes in the University is more than 3,500, connected through 169 switches. Also, WiFi connectivity has been provided in some important buildings of the University.
JMI-Management Information System The JMI-MIS has been developed to provide support for processing, storing and disseminating information for achieving efficiency and transparency in the University. The broad objectives of the system include to make the system efficient and transparent and to speed up the information dissemination process. It seeks to reduce data redundancy and achieve high-level integrity and consistency in the data. The JMI-MIS comprises of 18-modules providing software interfaces to
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Activities of FTK-CIT
JMI-Management Information System (MIS) has been developed to provide support for processing, storing and disseminating information for achieving efficiency and transparency in the University. capture transactional data of all operational level activities routinely performed in the University. It has comprehensive reporting facilities which aid data comprehension and analysis. The MIS became operational in 2003-2004 with implementation of students, faculty, payroll and GFA modules. Since then, its usage is constantly growing. The complete cycle of admission has been implemented along with its integration with the Payroll System and General Financial Accounting System. The salary, leave and all other details have also been automated through the MIS.
E-Governance through JMI-MIS To fulfil its primary objective of bringing efficiency and transparency in the functioning of the University, some of the facilities of the JMI-MIS have now been extended to all employees of the University, ranging from top executives to grade-IV staff. A huger array of information can now be generated by any employee through the self-service ac-
counts of MIS including personal profile, leave details, pay slip, pay bill register, PF loan balance, PF ledger for GPF, other income details, income tax calculation, Form 16, and PF ledger for CPF. The services are available on 24x7 basis.
Software Development The FTK-CIT also takes up such university-specific software development work on need basis that is not covered under MIS. During 2009-2010, the Centre developed several important software for monitoring and bringing efficiency in the university system.
File Tracking System The FTK-Centre for Information Technology has developed the File Tracking System (FTS) utility under its e-Governance initiative. The objective of the utility is to bring transparency, accountability and efficiency. The utility let users track their documents as they move through the administrative hierarchies. Comprehensive reporting facilities to enable file tracking have also been pro-
securing citizens through technology
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ties by developing IT skills and enhancing knowledge at all levels.
New Initiatives and Future Plan A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed jointly by Microsoft Corporation (India) Pvt. Ltd. (MCIPL) and Jamia Millia Islamia under which the MCPIL will start a number of programmes for faculty members, administration and students of the university including digital literacy, basic IT training for IT and non-IT faculty and dreamspark. A Training Session on “e-Presentation” (August 20-24, 2007)
vided. Authorised users can assess the utility from the Administration module of Jamia-MIS.
Complaint Management System To facilitate complaint recording and tracking the FTK-Centre for Information Technology has developed an online utility using Open Source LAMP tools. The utility can be accessed on Jamia’s intranet http://egov.jmi for making complaints/service requests related to hardware/software under annual maintenance contract.
Annual Reporting System The purpose of Annual Reporting System is to enable Jamia administration to define, collect and format annual report data received from various departments, offices and individual faculty members of the University. The web based utility has been developed using ASP.NET and has integration with the Jamia-MIS.
Web Services The Jamia Website was launched in November 2000 with 900 web pages. Since then the site has grown to more than 15,000 web pages. The site reflects the vibrant academic and administrative environment of the University to the outside world. There is also a facility for online tracking of admission re-
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sults, viz., Online Admission Tracking System (OATS). This facility is available through the following links: http://jmi. ac.in/admission/oats.htm, and http:// jmi.ac.in/admission/fet1/index.html. In addition, the website gives information about research, including the list of Ph.D. awardees, abstracts of their Ph.D. Theses, and research publications of faculty members and research students. A new web portal of the University is currently under development which will be more vibrant and interactive. It will be based on Web 2.0 and include interactive pages for forums, blogs and e-learning contents.
e-Learning Keeping in view the importance of eLearning, the Centre has taken initiatives in creating an e-Leaning environment in the University. As a first step toward this goal, a web server available at http://kwoledgegate.jmi is offering facilities to the teachers to post their teaching materials/supplementing notes for reference purposes.
New Web Portal of the University An agreement between the Indo Asian News Service (IANS) and Jamia Millia Islamia was executed on June 16, 2010. Under this agreement, IANS will develop a dynamic state-of-the-art web portal which would truly reflect Jamia’s vibrant academic environment and campus life. The portal will support Web2.0 technologies, such as RSS feeds, blogs, chats, podcasts etc. It will be securely integrated with payment gateway to enable Jamia to receive epayments for payment of prospectus & application forms fee and students’ tuition fee. The portal will further provide appropriate plug-ins to integrate with the existing Management Information System (MIS) of the University. Open Research Archive The archive is being set up to facilitate faculty members and research scholars to upload preprints of their publications, published research work, and PhD theses on the server, which will be accessible to all.\\
The Author is
Trainings Workshops The Centre has been regularly conducting training programmes, workshops and conferences for the students, faculty members and other staff of the University. The objectives of these programmes are to promote the use of ICT in academic and administrative activi-
Prof Z H Khan Director Centre for Information Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia
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event report
Celebrating Open Schooling System National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS), the largest Open Schooling system in the world, has been upscaling open schooling programme at national and state level through advocacy, consultancy and research support, providing quality assurance in open schooling and building capacity of open schooling functionaries. NIOS recently organised three day events to explore the understanding of research in open schooling through three different interventions By Gowri Diwaker
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In large, complex and pluralistic societies functioning in a liberal democratic framework, the concerns of the government has been to address the issues of marginalised minority communities and their treatment by the nation at large while ensuring sound socioeconomic developments. In the Indian context, all elected governments have made steady endeavours to address concerns of access, equity and justice for their marginalised minority. To this effect, National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) was established as an effective instrument of policy intervention by the state for inclusion of the deprived and marginalised community into the educational mainstream of India, more specifically in the light of the recommendations of Sachar Committee. Following the vision of Open and Distance Learning (ODL), NIOS has been working towards ‘inclusion’. NIOS organised three benchmark events in November, 2010 alongside celebrating their journey of 22 years.
Annual General Body Meeting of COMOSA Under the aegis of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL), Canada, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) organised the Annual General Body Meeting of the Commonwealth Open
Kiran Karnik delivering the NIOS Foundation Day lecture
Schooling Association (COMOSA) on November 21, 2010 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. In total, 25 participants mostly, the Open schooling Heads of Commonwealth countries, from Australia, Belize, Botswana, Bangladesh, Canada, Fiji, Ghana, Mozambique, Namibia, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Trinidad & Tobago, Zambia, India, South Africa , the NIOS and Indian State Open Schools participated in this Meet-
ing. Delivering his key note address on “Education for the 21st Century: Time for Open Schools to Raise their Game”, Sir John Daniel, President & CEO, Commonwealth of Learning said that for a large part of the world, the 21st Century belongs to Open School. “Secondary schooling for girls is the most powerful tool against climate change”, he said, implying that for every girl taught, it would help in population control, in the context of three contemporary
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Open Schooling’ with a discussion on ‘Institutional research on Distance Education (DE)/Open Schooling: Policy and Priorities.’
NIOS Foundation day
Vibha Puri Das, Secretary, Higher Education, GOI inaugurating the Pre-PCF6 Workshop
challenges in the education system, the others being universal primary education and teacher shortage. Sir John Daniel released the Logo of COMOSA and launched the website of COMOSA on this occasion. The COMOSA Journal for Open Schooling was also released by him. On this occasion, the NIOS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Open Polytechnic of New Zealand to strengthen and further develop the relations between them in the field of distance education upto predegree level and to work in the area of Vocational and Technical Education. Emphasising on the need for more and more collaboration between institutions of COMOSA, Frances Ferreira, Education Specialist, COL said that “Open Schooling has the capacity to deliver access to all levels of school education and vocational education”. S C Khuntia, Joint Secretary (School Education and Literacy), MHRD, said that “Collaborative efforts through COMOSA would help in the process of globalisation by exchange of best practices which could be conveniently adapted” in the context of the paradigm shift in education from classroom teaching to collaborative teaching. Welcoming the participants, Dr SS Jena, Chairman, NIOS said that the NIOS has grown to
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be placed in the centre stage of education and has become the first choice for many learners.
Pre-Pan Commonwealth Forum-6 Workshop The inaugural session of the Pre–PCF6 International Workshop held on 22nd November 2010 at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi was presided over by Vibha Puri Das, Secretary, Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India. Speaking on the occasion, Dr S S Jena emphasised on the need for Research in Open Schooling in order to contribute to the growth of Open Schooling in terms of access and quality, not only in India, but in all commonwealth countries. Ferreira shared her concern that despite having been on the ground for quite some time, Open Schools have yet to find a place in the research arena. The Chief Guest, Prof VN Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU stressed on the fact that education is successful only when it is sociological, contextual and it is in this sphere that educational research takes on a very important role, specially research in open schooling. Prof Santosh Panda, STRIDE, IGNOU, the workshop facilitator initiated the session on ‘Research in
The National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) celebrated its 22nd Foundation Day on 23 November 2010. To commemorate this, a Foundation Day Lecture was delivered by Kiran Karnik, Former President, NASSCOM on ‘Inclusive Education: Role of Media and Technology’ at the India Habitat Centre, New Delhi. “Inclusive education is the seed from which we should look at inclusivity”, Kiran Karnik said, pointing out the important role that technology and media have to play in narrowing differences to reach out to groups and individuals who may be left behind in the process of education. Dr SS Jena explained how NIOS had grown to become the largest open schooling system with a cumulative strength of 1.9 million and huge network of 4,000 study centres including those in NGO sectors for providing education at the basic education level. Speaking on the use of ICT for facilitation of NIOS learners, he mentioned about the introduction of 100% online admission and on-demand examination. Congratulating the NIOS on its Foundation Day, Frances Ferreira said that while open schools should provide a safety net for those who miss schools, they should not be seen as a second chance. She further said that open schools were an important medium to acquire education. She also pointed out that ICT integration in open schooling can enhance access. While referring to the importance of content for education, Sh Khuntia said that a good system should impart education by integrating entertainment and education using the latest technology. The lecture was concluded with the thought that ODL mode of ‘Educational Inclusion’ is most appropriate for strengthening a growing economy and society in equitable and just manner without precipitating social tension. \\
Event report
Technology Intervention in MCD Schools USAID supports technology intervention in MCD schools, which will be implemented by EDC in collaboration with Education Department, MCD By Juanita Kakoty
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he Model School Intervention in Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) schools was launched on 1 November 2010 at MCPS AG, Shalimar Bagh. MCPS AG is an MCD school in Rohini. The intervention is supported by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and will be implemented by Education Development Centre, Inc. (EDC) in collaboration with Education Department, MCD. The launch was attended by Mahendra Nagpal, Chairman MCD Education Committee; Bhupendra Gupta, Deputy Chairman MCD Education Committee; Madhumita Gupta, Director General (Development), USAID; principals of 19 MCD schools and one New Delhi Municipal Council (NDMC) school; representatives of EDC, USAID and other important personalities from MCD Education Committee. The intervention is to take place in 20 selected schools (19 MCD schools and one NDMC school) across Delhi. The launch showcased various T4 programs that included ICT educational tools which have been developed and tested in India by EDC and funded by USAID. The basic idea of the T4 program is to support teachers through technology. T4 educational tools are rich in pedagogical content and are in sync with the national curricula. Various T4 programs include Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI), Life Skills Video Series, Digital Library, etc. The event also launched RazorBee Teachers’ Aid - an easy to use, mobile, teacher-friendly device developed by
Bangalore-based Ariem Technologies. This device can be operated with a remote and empowers teachers to gather content from the Internet; allows teachers to create text or voice annotations on images and videos; use markers and arrange files. It can automatically create audio-visual presentations and can deliver the content on any existing display device like TV, projector, or a computer monitor. The highlight of this technology includes simple ways to search images, videos, articles, etc. from the Internet; multi-dimensional, multiformat presentation creation; and allows presentations to be preserved and shared online. As a part of the launch, there was a demonstration of the RazorBee Teachers’ Aid and the device was presented to all the principals invited from the selected 20 schools. USAID in collaboration with EDC has been harnessing technology for positive education-specific intervention in India since 2002. In collaboration with the Government of India, EDC telecasts
T4 educational videos on the EDUSAT satellite and broadcasts T4 educational radio programs on FM and short wave radio. T4 has close to 600 technologybased tools under its umbrella, a presence in eight states of India, and caters to 31 million students. The launch ended with demonstrations on how T4 tools are being used by teachers in classrooms across Delhi. The Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) tool was used as an effective example for training children in the English language. The children seemed full of curiosity and eagerness to follow the instructions being aired, aided by the teacher. This English learning program is broadcasted by Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) on Gyan Vani, the only FM channel in the country dedicated exclusively to education. The unique features of IRI include low-cost digitally produced interactive radio content that are locally designed and adapted; and use of stories, games and songs as techniques for learning. They also act as hands-on teacher training tools. The Model Intervention program, T4 tools and the RazorBee device have a common integrated message: include technology for teaching students but keep the teacher as central to the learning process. Hence, the emphasis is on designing technology-based programs that actively involve both teachers and students; on developing content through rigorous instructional design process; and on ensuring interactivity in the classroom.\\
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log off
Shubhendu Parth
Managing Editor, digital LEARNING
Making of a knowledge superpower Linking student data to UID will yield a goldmine of insights for MHRD, for educational policy making and regulation
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he education sector in India, particularly the higher education segment, is going through a very exciting phase. Not just is investment pouring in, the country’s ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) is driving major policy changes that would have a long term impact on the overall education sector in years to come. Sample this: While HRD minister Kapil Sibal recently indicated that India’s higher education enrolment will move up to 4.4 crore from the current 1.4 crore by 2020, a Ernst & YoungFICCI report suggests that the segment will grow nearly 13% annually during this period. The report also predicts that India’s higher education spend that is currently pegged at `46,200 crore, would grow at an average rate of 12.8% to cross `150,000 crore in the next 10 years. It also highlights that the country’s higher education system has the highest institution to student ratio—25,951 institutions for 1.36 crore students. Compare this with the world’s other two largest nations and we are in for a mega surprise; the US has just 6,700 institutions for over 1.78 crore stu-
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dents, while China has 4,000 higher education institutes that serve the needs of its 2.53 crore students. Interestingly, experts suggest that India still needs to set up 1,000 more universities to meet the needs of three crore students that it expects to enrol over the next decade. Going by the existing interest of private sector investments in the segment, and the doubts raised by the Centre itself in the case of the 44 “deemeed universities” earlier this year, the nation needs to put in place a stringent mechanism to monitor the performance of these institutions. The good news is that MHRD has already signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to bring in school children in its ambit and track their progress at every stage. While the primary objective of this arrangement is to make Aadhar number an identifier on all performance records—from mark sheets and merit certificates, to migration certificates—and help prospective employers and educational institutions to avoid fakes, the initiative will also enable the government
to create a strong tracking mechanism once these students join higher education institutions. In fact, smart data mining and analysis will also help the MHRD map the performance of each of these institutions—in terms of how their pass outs are getting placed and where, the specialisation and trends in each of these organisations—parameters that could help a central agency grade these institutes. The MoU will also help the government track dropouts and out-of-school children, and will be helpful in tracking the progress of underprivileged children as they are admitted through right to education. The initiative assumes further significance with the introduction of the Continuous Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE) that aims to change the existing examination system in schools, to a more holistic process-driven monitoring system that includes both summative and formative assessments. Link all these data to a central manpower repository, map it using a GIS platform and the country is on its way to set up a powerful human resources planning tool. \\