digital LEARNING SEPTEMBER 2012

Asia’s premier Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education

volume 8

I issue 09 I September 2012 I ISSN 0973-4139 I ` 75

corporate diary p-70

knowledge exchange

ahead

Academia speak p-101

digitalLEARNING Magazine

& the way

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Contents

ISSN 0973-4139

volume 08 issue 09 September 2012

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E Ahamed Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Government of India

Dr Sunil Nawaratne Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Government of Sri Lanka

N K Sinha Additional Secretary (TEL), Technical Education, Department of Secondary & Higher

Prof Parvin Sinclair Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

Subodh Kant Sahay Minister of Tourism, Government of India

inaugural session

66 Exploring New frontiers and Innovations in Teacher Education

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Conclave of Global Leaders in Education

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Industry Faces Challenge of Employability

69 Innovation in Universities

Dr Theophilus Mooko, Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Republic of Botswana

corporate diary

16

Bringing Diversity to the Classroom

70

Dr Pascal Chazot, Member of Parliament in France for French Overseas; President, National Commission of Employment and Training, France

Creating Personalised Learning Space in Schools

18

Sri Lanka is Set to Become a Global Education Hub

Dr Sunil Nawaratne, Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Government of Sri Lanka

20 India’s Education Goals, Developments and Achievements

Shigeru Aoyagi, Director and UNESCO Representative to India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka

22 Faculty Shortage is a Cause of Concern

Prof V S Ramamurthy, Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and Former Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India

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Fostering innovation in education

30

excellence, inclusion and outreach

38

Technology Tools for student Comprehension

42 Assistive Technology and Life Skills 46

Navyug Mohnot, CEO, QAI

71 Reforms in Medical Education:

Opportunities and Challengesa

75

eCreating Opportunities through Strategic Investments

76 Pre Schools 80 Emerging Trends in Higher Education and Assessments

86 Vocationalising Education and Skill Development

88 Technology Enabled Campus Infrastructure

94 Leveraging Private Sector for Education

Guest article

Education

98 Veena Raizada, Director Academics, Next Education India Pvt Ltd

Creating Personalised Learning Space in Schools

104 Girish Bhandari, Co-founder, Mosaic Network (India) Pvt Ltd

51 Contextual Education Practices

academia speak

57

101 Dr Sanjay B Choradia, CMD, Suryadutta Group of Institutions

4

Tools to Promote Student Engagement

education.eletsonline.com

Asia’s premier Monthly Magazine on ICT in Education Volume

08

Issue 09

September 2012

President: Dr M P Narayanan

Partner publications

Editor-in-Chief: Dr Ravi Gupta consulting editor: Ashis Sanyal Advisory Board Prof. Asha Kanwar, Vice President, Commonwealth of Learning

Dr. Jyrki Pulkkinen, CEO, Global eSchools & Communities Initiative (GeSCI)

Subhash Chandra Khuntia, Principal Secretary to Government, Public Works Department, Government of Karnataka

Prof. V N Rajasekharan Pillai Ex-Vice Chancellor, Indira GandhiI National Open University (IGNOU)

Prof S S Mantha, Chai rman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

Prof Parvin Sinclair, Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

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EDITORIAL

The Challenges for ICT in Education Today, more than a decade into the 21st century, we live in world where there is unparalleled surge in the usage of ICT. However, despite all the technological advancements, we have not been able to end the prevalence of social and economic inequality, and poverty continues to be widespread. Now education is having the primary focus from the government and the private sector. This is because education is being seen a crucial tool for promoting economic and social development.

With its ability to transcend space and time, and provide education on an anywhere, anytime basis, solutions from ICT are proving to be the great enabling factor in enhancing the scope of education.

Recently we had the World Education Summit 2012 (WES), in New Delhi. The event was a fantastic success. During the course of the two day event, a range of eminent speakers from around the world expressed their opinions on the current state of how ICT is being used in education and how it can bring better learning outcomes. One important point to emerge from the World Education Summit 2012 was that while everyone agrees about the great potential of ICT in education, the challenge we face today lies mostly in turning this potential into actual results.

Many of the eminent speakers at the event raised the issues of infrastructure deficit and lack of adequate training of teachers.

In this issue of digitalLEARNING, we have presented a summary of the views expressed by several speakers at the World Education Summit 2012. There are a range of voices, many from India, few from other countries. The views are from corporate world, political leadership, government officials, leaders of schools and higher education institutions, and thought leaders. In fact, I would like to say that this issue of digitalLEARNING is timeless. It will never go out of date. This is because of the wide spectrum of the debate that we have endeavoured to package within the pages of this issue.

In going through the material you get to hear about many novel ideas on how ICT can engineer transformation in educational practices by providing better educational content and more effective teaching systems. On 15-16 November, 2012, we are having the eINDIA event at Hyderabad. As always, the two day eINDIA event will have a range of vibrant sessions on education. I hope to see you at eINDIA, where we can join hands for finding ways of dealing with myriad challenges that lie in the path of ICT implementation in education.

Dr. Ravi Gupta Editor-in-Chief Ravi.Gupta@elets.in

digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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guest editorial

Education as a vehicle of happiness Happiness should be the aim of education and a good education should contribute significantly to personal and collective happiness. Children and even adults learn the best when they are happy. Education translated to knowledge brings happiness to the lives because of a higher understanding of life itself. Knowledge should lead to truth and truthful living and hence education which is the first step in the journey of knowledge for life and learning is so important in every child’s future. As children we must have read a shanti (peace) mantra from Rigveda that reads

¬ ok Ä~ es eulfi~jrf"k~BfrkA euks es okpfi~jrf"k~Bfre~A vkofjkohj~e ,/fosnl~; e vk.khl~Fk%A '~kjqra es ek i~jgklhjusuk/h rsukgksjkr~jku~lan/ke~;`ra onf"k;kefA lr~;a onf"k~;kefA ru~ekeorqA rn~od~rkeorqA vorq eke~A vorq od~rkje~AA ¬ 'kku~rf% 'kku~rf% Let my speech reflect my mind. Let my mind be reflect my speech. Let the almighty reveal Himself to me. Let my mind and speech enable me to understand Truth of the scriptures.

Let me hear the truth that does not desert me. Let me spend all my time in the pursuit of truth. Let me think Truth. Let me speak Truth and let Truth protect me and the teacher and then let peace prevail against evil and peace be to this world. This is the essence of knowledge and our learning for it is truly said of truth that you don’t have to remember what you said having spoken truth.

Education and learning is not about earning degrees. It is the ability to understand Nature, understand life and acquire an insight to our existence. In an unobtrusive way, we need to ask questions about this knowledge itself. We need not be satisfied with all the descriptions and the pictures that we build on top of our knowledge. Beneath this show of pictures and descriptions, we should ask what we really know and then ask what happiness is; beneath all the desired objects through which we pursue happiness, or run away from it.

We need to lead by example in the need to pursue knowledge and here Chandogya Upanishad tells us of an allegory through which Svetaketu, a young man, the son of sage Uddalaka and the grandson of sage Aruni, represents the etrnal seeker of knowledge. The Upanishad entails the journey of Svetaketu from ignorance to knowledge of the self and truth. The allegory takes us through the journey of Education transcending the boundaries of ignorance leading us to knowledge and learning.

India, with 1.22 billion people is the second most populous country in the world, representing almost 17.31 percent of the world's population and with the population growth rate at 1.58 percent, India is predicted to have more than 1.53 billion people by the end of 2030.

More than 50 percent of India's current population is below the age of 25 and over 65 percent below the age of 35. About 72.2 percent of the population lives in some 638,000 villages and the rest 27.8 percent in about 5,480 towns and urban agglomerations. Though the literacy rate of India as per 2001 Population Census is 65.38 percent, the Gross enrolment ratio (GER) is abysmally small pegged at around 20 percent.

India’s official poverty rate stands at 29.8 percent or close to 350 million people using 2010 population figures, down from around 37.2 percent or 400 million previously with the number of people living in absolute poverty in India having decreased by 12.5 percent between 2004-2005 and 2009-2010. These are still massive figures by any standards to contend with.

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guest editorial

The only redemption out of this malaise is education and consequent happiness quotient that brings in prosperity to people of this Country. Human beings can distinguish between good and bad because of their consciousness, and when in trouble they can find a way out because of the education and consequent understanding they imbibe of life. No one likes to live in misery and suffering and we have a duty to our children, to make their lives fill with happiness.

Despite growing investment in education, 25 percent of its population is still illiterate with a 20 percent GER. In this overall context we need More Universities, More colleges and even more schools. Infrastructure apart which needs huge investments, we need to create enabling mechanisms for our children to reach schools and colleges.

We as a country need to support the initiatives of Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) in its endeavor to raise the quality of life for its children. As Aristotle said “those who educate children well are more to be honored than parents, for these only gave life, these the art of living well” The Right of children to Free and Compulsory Education Act that came into force from April 1 2010 is a singularly distinguished service that has been done to the children of this Country. Every child in the age group of 6-14 years will be provided 8 years of elementary education in an age appropriate classroom in the vicinity of his / her neighborhood.

In providing a universal entitlement to education, a right that is recognized as a human right at-least there now is a way forward. In addition to these access to education provisions, the right to education encompasses the obligation to rule out discrimination at all levels of the educational system, to set minimum standards and to improve quality of education.

In a world of massive disparities and uneven competition all around, values inculcated in our children would do them a world of good and it is time we revisited our school education to include robust value systems in the growing years of a child. This of course will have to be supplemented by the family, friends, peers and society to build great citizens.

There cannot be a bigger curse than being in poverty. To overcome poverty and consequent inability to pursue education, a financial model that includes banks and private players in addition to the Government’s efforts in creating a corpus to provide long term soft loans needs to be put in place on a priority basis. Like Derek Bok an American Educator said, If you think education is expensive, try ignorance. The choice is ours.

Access and affordable quality education being so important to growth needs to be viewed in the light of mandatory accreditation of our Universities, Institutions colleges and even our schools. The day we are able to provide affordable quality education to all our children this Country would be able to compete in a highly globalised world on its own terms notwithstanding the happiness quotient since happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn't know you left open. Like the Native American saying goes, “Tell me and I'll forget. Show me, and I may not remember. Involve me, and I'll understand." Knowledge and learning required to understand life would automatically follow. The Nation would be richer with the efforts.

Prof S S Mantha Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

digitalLEARNING / September 2012

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event report

Conclave of Global Leaders in Education

T

he World Education Summit, 2011 was a fantastic success and the 2nd Edition of the World Education Summit (WES) 2012, achieved success on an even grander scale. The world’s premier platform on education thought leadership was held at Le Meridian, New Delhi, on 23rd and 24th July.

The World Education Summit (WES) 2012 was jointly organised by All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE); Centre for Science, Development and Media Studies (www. csdms.in); and Elets Technomedia Pvt. Ltd. (www.elets.in). The Summit is being co-organised by Directorate General of Employment and Training (DGET); Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India; National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS); National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT); United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO); Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS).

The event witnessed the largest gathering of education leaders from across the globe. The summit witnessed engrossing deliberations on a range of issues related to the education sector in India. The most of the eminent names in the educational eco-system were there to present their views.

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E Ahamed, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Government of India inaugurating World Education Expo 2012

World Education Summit 2012 Highlights 156 Nominations • 42 Award Winners • More than 1,80,000 online voters for World Education Awards • 280 Schools • 190 Higher Education Institutes • 15 Participating countries • 19 Sessions with more than 115 speakers • More than 50 exhibitors and sponsors • More than

1200

delegates •

Inaugural Session

Innovation Central With panchayats playing a significant role in education, there is strengthening of democracy in the country

E Ahamed, Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Government of India

T

he education policy in this country stands on three pillars – access, inclusiveness and the quality. In my concerned view, technology could play a very major role in meeting the challenges on all these fronts. The 12th Five-Year Plan envisages to promote several projects that will maximise the potential of access, equity and quality in our education system.

There were only 20 universities and 500 colleges with 0.1 million students when India gained independence. Now, we have 611 universities and university level institutions and 31,324 colleges as on August 2011 making it one of the largest education systems of India. We have also been devoted to ensuring that

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even the deprived sections of the society are able to reap the benefits of higher education.

The Right to Education Act, which binds the State governments to provide school in every neighbourhood has now become a major force in helping us tackle the issue of access to quality education.

De-centralisation has been opted as the best possible method for effective implementation of this Act. Being consistent to the 73rd and the 74th amendments of the Constitution of India, the Panchayats have now been given the responsibility of managing the school system. As decided, the school management committee shall comprise of 75 percent of local community members. Today it is the state governments are supposed to provide most of the funding needed for education. Since independence, it is the central government that has assumed the cost of educational development through the system of Five Year Plans.

Education is vital for human resource development and empowerment. While the Government is committed to providing primary education and certain facilities/subsidies for higher education, given the higher cost involved in the establishment of higher education institutes, we are witnessing the entry of private sector to run educational institutions.

The immediate task is to find the solutions for teacher availability, especially in the rural areas and to fill in the

gap of five lakh teachers that the country is in need of. Technology can play an extremely enabling role in providing access to mentors all over the world.

Similar challenges exist in the higher education sector also. According to a report presented to UN by the UGC, India currently has only half of the required strength of faculty for higher education. It needs around 3 lakh more professors. The Indian Institutes of Technology and the National Institutes of Technology face faculty shortage of 30-35 percent. The central universities face at least 30 percent shortage of teachers.

To meet these challenges, the Government of India has proposed to launch a National Mission on Teachers. This mission will address comprehensively all issues related to teachers’ training, teachers’ preparation and the professional development. This will be the major thrust area of action during the 12th Five-Year Plan.

In the past couple of years many colleges and universities have been actively engaged in integrating technology in teaching and learning. The institutions must make necessary human and financial investments, as well as faculty investments for existing and future faculty. When it comes to new technology, there are challenges galore. The teachers who are used to traditional teaching methodologies have to be trained to use the new system. But new educational technologies are the wave of the future, and it is in our best interests to imbibe it to the fullest extent.

Inaugural Session

Industry Faces Challenge of Employability The rising number of young people who are forced to remain out of work for long periods is indicative of a deeper malaise in the work programme

Dr Theophilus Mooko Deputy Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Education and Skills Development, Republic of Botswana

T

o make the most out of knowledge economy, we need a sustainable economic model that ensures fair distribution and efficient allocation of resources. It is imperative that our economic growth maintains a healthy balance with our ecosystem.

Internet and computer technologies are now essential tools of production that have expanded value creation capability from corporations and industrial complexes to individuals and networks.

Application of ICT- based learning cycle brings more efficiency to the deployment of physical resources. The trend of increasing transparency of information and greater citizen participation also shapes the methodologies for a feedback system for a sustainable economy. The

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calibration mechanism for the Lisbon vision must include consistent, relevant, and comparable indicators that allow a high degree of participation and usefulness to a wide variety of users.

Youth unemployment across the globe has risen alarmingly. The rising number of young people who are forced to remain out of work for long periods is indicative of a deeper malaise in the work programme. In most countries, particularly in Africa, we have a challenge of (discourse) mismatch. We have been able to produce lot of graduates, most whom are now out in the streets. The challenge that we face today is to find a way of ensuring that we are able to not only deal with the current problem but also avoid similar situations in future.

Massive poverty and obscene inequality are terrible scourges of our times. Economic growth will not reduce poverty, improve equality and produce jobs unless it is inclusive. Inclusive growth is also essential for the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The globalisation process, when properly managed, becomes an important ingredient for inclusive growth. There are also issues related to environmental sustainability. We talk about globalisation, but there are certain issues that make it difficult for certain communities to participate in the global economy.

View from Botswana I come from a very small country called Botswana, where the population is only 2 million, and yet there is high youth

unemployment. We are trying our best to work with our partners, to address this particular problem. Botswana has, since independence in 1966, maintained a stable democracy. A stable government and an expanding economy have made possible, a steady growth in the education system. Educational skills development needs to be demand driven and this means that we need a shift in the relationship between government and industry, between institutions and industry, so that we see the industry playing more prominent role in the development and delivery of programmes.

Today, in Botswana, we are able to access partnerships with some of the Indian universities, some programmes that are offered in this country. And, we believe that we need to see more, open up more partnerships and collaboration in different areas. Educational developments in Botswana can be attributed to two policies based on the findings of the Presidential Commissions of 1976 and 1993. The first National Policy on Education was adopted in 1977 and it focused on increasing access to education.

Finally, I want to emphasise on the importance of indigenous learning systems. Distance learning remains the only viable option for reaching out to dispersed groups of teachers in remote areas. Additionally, it is cost-effective and convenient for learners who cannot leave their work to study on full-time programmes.

Our Government has played its part by investing adequate financial resources for the creation of the Botswana College of Distance and Open Learning.

Hopefully this will lead to our youth gaining the capability of accessing better employment opportunities.

Inaugural Session

Bringing Diversity to the Classroom I

Dr Pascal Chazot Member of Parliament in France for French Overseas; President, National Commission of Employment and Training, France

Diversity in the classroom is the best possible asset

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n 1988, I had spent a day in Paris with a very famous director Steven Spielberg. He wanted to persue a course in cinema and prepare for his Bachelors. But the University found that he was not qualified enough for that course. And now after 25 years, the same university has awarded him an honorary degree in cinematography. This clearly shows how the education system runs. So basically the problem is total inadequacy between the real world and the education system. We have to change the system, to make it good enough for the needs of the real world.

Because we are basically looking at human beings, and through education we are contributing to society, to a human world.

Components of change When we say that we need to change, what are the main components of this change? Basically when you talk about education, often we look at the big picture, the numbers and the figures are important especially in India, where we have hundreds of millions of students. However, instead of looking at large masses, we have to distil education down to one human being, one child who has grown around the years.

To understand education, we should really remember this child, and do everything possible for this child. As far as I am concerned, I consider that education is what is happening in the classroom, the methodology, the relationship between the teacher and the child. This is very important. And it goes through from preprimary level to the high school level. I think that is the most important factor because basically we are looking at the development of human being.

Textbooks, memorising, and content centric education are totally obsolete in today’s

context. Content is available in any of the instruments like iPad, tablets of other make or mobile phone. You have all the contents that you need for your work. I don’t think you need to memorise anything. There is some other knowledge, which is much more important.

There is knowledge that helps us develop the skill, the one that allows us to grow, to succeed in life and basically be happy in life. So that is why when we look at necessary change in education, we look at the change in methodology, the change in the pedagogy, on what is happening inside the classroom.

Learning can be easy I have spent lots of time trying to teach my cat to speak French, it never spoke French.

But to my daughter I never taught anything, but she learnt Hindi, because we are in India, she learnt Gujarati, she also learnt French, because I talk to her in French, she learnt English, because we are communicating in English. So we need education that is exponential, we need education that is useful.

The system has to change, we need to find solution. The immensity of the problem needs immensity of solution. In order to progress, we need to have contradiction, debate, different ideas and that is why we need diversity. Diversity in the classroom is the biggest possible asset in education. It was a crazy idea back in 1998; today in 2012, it has become a national reality. Right to Education has been voted by both the houses of the Indian Parliament and it is progressing slowly because there is lot of resistance, but the idea is going on. And I think that was a very important step ahead.

Creating lot of networks, collaboration is very important. In my work in the National Commission of Employment and Training, travelling is extensive. We have to also look at this possibility of exchange between different countries, different communities, different paths, accepting the different systems of education, giving value to them. I think sharing, collaboration and putting networks into place are the key to holistic development.

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Inaugural Session

Sri Lanka is Set to Become a Global Education Hub

W

e have the vision to turn Sri Lanka into Asiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hub of cost effective and quality education.

The people of the country, and its leaders understand very well, that without comprehensive knowledge in every vertical, the country will be unable to achieve its long term development goals. The key to prosperity lies in human capital development, and higher education plays a bigger role.

Improving the quality of graduates Dr Sunil Nawaratne Secretary, Ministry of Higher Education, Government of Sri Lanka

Young population needs to be endowed with knowledge of Modern Science

Sri Lanka intends to have top-class higher education institutes, which are devoted to enriching society by producing a long line of highly educated graduates. The universities must have understanding of the needs of the global industry to inculcate the job winning skills in their graduates. Currently, the country is working on a mission of upgrading 7 out of its 15 universities into world class universities.

We also aim to come up with educational

policies to ensure that 100 percent of the graduates are employable.

Most important skills The most important skills and capabilities required while recruiting new graduates are communication skills, team work, integrity, intellectual ability and confidence.

While the students are being taught in the college, it is also important to incorporate these skills in them. A programme of leadership skill development has been introduced at certain universities, under which the students are given three weeks of training to mould their mindsets and inculcate in them leadership skills and other skills.

To improve IT and communication skills, English and IT training is given to all students before they enter the university. A professional graduate programme has been introduced wherein students doing their graduation can obtain professional qualifications like accounting, smart chartered, marketing or human resource management, etc. while they are completing their graduation in the university itself. To develop globally accepted graduates, we have introduced a KSAM model. KSAM stands for Knowledge, Skills, Attitude and Mindset.

Inspiring Innovation Shaping Vision

15 - 16 November 2012, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

eINDIA.eletsonline.com 18

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100+ Sponsors & Exhibitors 4000+ Delegates and visitors 50+ Award categories 3600 sqm exhibition space

Inaugural Session

India’s Education Goals, Developments and Achievements

U

Shigeru Aoyagi Director and UNESCO Representative to India, Bhutan, Maldives and Sri Lanka

The issue of gender equality in education is not being adequately addressed

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NESCO is dedicated to pursuing the goal of promoting education amongst every section of the society. The organisation is as focussed in India as in other parts of the globe. In India there are as many as 300 million people who cannot read and write and yet we are discussing ICT, access to the computer, mobile phones and the high budget gadgets.

For the progress of education it is important that we have a sustainable development programme, which can enable larger sections of the population to pursue quality education. The education for sustainable development will end in the year 2014 and ‘Education for all’, which is a Millennium Development Goal to be achieved by 2015. Looking at these deadlines and obligations, UNESCO has organised a very interesting regional meeting to reflect on the status of ‘Education for All’ programme.

Many reflections and deliberations were held to access the shape of education in the coming years especially by the year 2015 and further on. One of the most interesting discussions had to do with how we can utilise ICT for education. The second important discussion was on non-formalisation of formal education. India, for instance, enjoys a high enrolment ratio of 97 percent, but the retention rate is only 69 percent. This means that more than 30 percent of the enrolled kids will become drop-outs. Why? It was discussed that the quality of the teacher is the most important factor when it comes to addressing this drop-out issue and the low attendance ratio.

The universalisation of primary education in India will be completely achieved by the end of 2015. However, the issue of gender

equality in education is not being adequately addressed. The education system has only 0.87 percent of girls against boys. These are major challenges that need to be addressed in order to bring about advancements in the education system in the country.

Future developments Shri Kapil Sibal, the Honourable Minister in Indian Government, and Irina Bokova, the Director General UNESCO, have signed an agreement on 9th July 2012, to establish a new UNESCO institute in Delhi. This institute will be named Mahatma Gandhi Institute of Education for Peace and Sustainable Development. Education for peace and sustainable development will be a very critical area for education in the coming years. In Sri Lanka, a ten year National Action Plan for education for sustainable development has been launched.

All these encouraging events are addressing the requirements of the future generation.

India will also organise, chair and host a meet by inviting the ministers from 9 countries to debate and reflect on what kind of tasks are required for fulfilling ‘Education for All’ goals. The theme of this ‘E9 ministerial meeting’, which will have representatives from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Brazil, Mexico, Egypt, Sri Lanka and others, is ‘Inclusive Quality Education’. Prof Mantha talked about National Qualification Framework for Vocational Training which is in line with non-formalisation of formal education system and addresses the learners’ needs in terms of place, time and pace. This flexibility will be one of the key factors that can lead to a paradigm shift in education.

Improvements in education system need not only the efforts from supplier’s side, it also needs a thorough study of the needs and demands of the market. The bottom line is that the approach which is focused on delivering learner-oriented and need based learning will give most beneficent outcomes as far as the agenda of furthering education is concerned.

Inaugural Session

Faculty Shortage is a Cause of Concern When the leftovers are entering the teaching career, you know what will happen to education of your children

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e are standing on the threshold of a knowledge dominated era. Trained human resource holds the key, not only for national development and business competitiveness, but also for national security. The biggest challenge, to be faced by the educationists in the coming years is faculty shortage.

Education stands on three pillars: students, teachers and educational infrastructure. If there are no students, you do not have to worry about education. Most of the western world is facing the problem of decreasing number of students—they are not getting enough students.

Excellent infrastructure but no takers The western world have built a very enviable educational infrastructure during the last 100 years. The big educational institutions have infrastructures which are unbeatable. But, if there is shortage of teachers and students, infrastructure will sit idle. Excellent infrastructure will be converted into a nice educational museum; there won’t be education in those buildings. Unfortunately, if there is a shortage of students today, it will lead to shortage of faculty tomorrow, because today’s students are teachers of tomorrow.

India is in a different bracket. It does not have shortage of students. But, the challenge is to ensure that everyone receives education. We do have a problem with infrastructure; we know that the

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number of colleges, universities, and schools are not enough. The government of India has taken very ambitious steps particularly in the last few years; major initiatives have been taken to build the additional infrastructure. But you can’t have a good university only on the basis of brick and mortar constructions, you also need a good faculty. The existing institutions have around 30-40 percent faculty shortage.

The way ahead Teachers of the 2020 are already in the schools; they will not be created in 2019.

If we don’t train them to be a good teacher, we will not get good teachers. Quality teachers can’t be created instantaneously. More than a decade of work is needed to mould someone into a quality teacher.

Talented individuals have to be encouraged to take up teaching as a profession.

Opportunities for students are increasing in emerging areas of technology. Salary for teachers is still lesser than what is being offered in other jobs.

Not only is there a monetary disincentive to being a teacher, there are social pressures too. Indian parents don’t want to see their son as a teacher; they want him to be a CEO and have a rather plush lifestyle.

When the leftovers are entering the teaching career, you know what will happen to the education of your children. We have to create an enabling

Prof V S Ramamurthy Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) and Former Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, Government of India

atmosphere, where good quality students can be inspired into taking up the teaching career. The US has a similar challenge in the field of Research and Development (R & D). An ambitious programme by the Department of Science & Technology tries to identify close to hundred thousand students who are academically good. These students are then encouraged to take up higher education and then move into the field of R&D. Our country also needs to identify good quality students who can be a good teacher. These students must be encouraged to opt for the teaching profession.

Unless we can improve the quality of our teachers, the state of Indian education system cannot be improved.

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Fostering innovation in education

Future Belongs to People with Original Ideas Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development

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plethora of untapped opportunities stare back at our faces from every direction. It is pretty clear to most of us that India and many other developing countries are grossly under-invested in education. This will matter enormously as human numbers and appetites crest in the next few decades.

Due to rapid transformation in school education, changing the patterns of teaching and learning have become a primary need. In today’s highly competitive world, children have to be endowed with the ability of developing original ideas. The educational process must facilitate and encourage such students.

The future belongs to those who have original ideas.

Ideas and innovations, it is said emerge not out of luck but out of mankind’s need. Be it the wheel, Facebook, Hotmail or the cell phone, each and every innovation that we take for granted in our life has begun its journey with the identification of a particular need in the society.

Teachers and school leaders, who bravely grasp emerging opportunities, will be able to re-imagine their teaching methodologies and will be in a better position to serve their pupils. However, we have not prepared ourselves for the rate of change or the consequences of change.

India’s demographic dividend Much has been said recently about India’s demographic dividend. The fact is that a vast majority of our country’s population is in the age bracket of 15 to 34 years. High number of youth means that the country can grow more rapidly, than most other countries, including China.

China, because of its ‘one-child’ policy over the past several decades will soon begin ageing and, as a result the country might become less competitive. In the next 10 years, the nature of education will change. People across the globe are communicating with each other seamlessly, universities are collaborating digitally. Due to the Internet, now there is no territorial boundaries to hold back the mind. We are working on the concept of a meta-university, which should hopefully be in place in the next academic session.

When India’s average age is about twenty nine in the year 2020, the average age of the rest of the world particularly the developed country would be much higher. For instance, in

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Dr Narendra Jadhav Member, Planning Commission Government of India

USA the average age will be 36 years in 2020. In China, the average age will be 37 years by the year 2020, the average age of western Europe will be 42 years and the average age of Japan will be 48 years. It is obvious that India has a tremendous advantage in terms of having large and growing young population. In the age group of 10 to 35 years, we have 563 million people, and in the age group of 10 to 19 years, we have 225 million people.

The anomaly of jobless growth The ‘talent gap’ explains the anomaly of rising growth and relatively lesser amount of fall in employment. But there is another factor that might be behind this slowing rate of employment. This factor might have something to do with the system of contract employment in our factories. The use of temporary labour is taking a toll on regular fixed employment.

Skills and knowledge are the driving forces of economic growth and social development for any country. For the economy to grow at 8 to 9 percent, it is required that the secondary and tertiary sectors grow at 10 percent to 11 percent, assuming agriculture grows at 4 percent. In such a scenario, it is obvious that a large portion of the workforce will migrate from the primary sector (agriculture) to the secondary and tertiary sectors.

Fostering Innovations in Education

Implementing Technology is Critical We have to strive to make knowledge-based society a reality so that incidences of digital divide vanish from society

HE Dr A K Jugessur High Commissioner of Mauritius

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evelopment of education is of critical importance for ensuring societal transformation. Every generation of thinkers, has considered

education to be a fulcrum for change.

The 21st century faces many new challenges. These challenges can only be resolved when the educational institutions develop the capacity to operate in a knowledge driven society. Knowledge lies in transforming teachers from a content, transmission mode into mediators of knowledge.

Students no longer have only teachers and schools as primary source of information. Information is now becoming accessible to all through TV, Radio, Newspapers, DVDs, Internet, and Mobile Technologies.

However, we also need to keep in mind that in the field of education, even more important than the technology is

the implementation of the technology.

It is important that we plan a process.

Countries should carefully choose the model to expand the education. What has worked in other locations may not necessarily be suitable in our own developing nations.

Training of our teachers is as important as having latest computers, because it is the teachers who are going to teach the students.

The teachers have to be empowered and given the means to successfully implement a digitisation process. Miracles cannot be expected from the existing education system, if teachers are not fully trained, and the basic infrastructure like electricity is not here.

Innovations for a Brighter Future Better education leads not only to higher individual incomes, it also contributes to a nation’s long-term economic growth

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ow we have access to a range of new technologies that offer fantastic creative opportunities to teachers who wish to use innovative ways for furthering learning outcomes. The school leaders are open to new ideas, they are positively keen to foster the dynamism and creativity in the learning process.

There exists vast untapped potential for fast forwarding progress by getting another billion or two of today’s bright minds hooked into the networks that are already allowing ideas to flow in novel ways.

Today innovation is not really restricted to organisations, and it is not restricted to countries, it actually flows down towards students through the medium of an unstoppable digital river. However, the advancements in technology are so incredibly fast that we cannot always be assured of a positive outcome. It is easy to be led astray in a world that is full of so many devices and solutions. Perhaps, it is true that in advancing the way our

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Ashutosh Chadha, Director, Corporate Affairs Group, South Asia, Intel society in particular has, we have backed ourselves in a corner in more ways than one. We have to relook at the innovations in our education system.

The power of education The rapid growth of China, India, Brazil and other emerging powers has dramatically altered the complexion of the global economy in recent years. Better education leads not only to higher in-

dividual income, it is also a necessary, although not always sufficient, precondition for long-term economic growth.

The tech sector plays a leading role in the economic boom of the nations. It fuels the Internet and the many technologies associated with it. Likewise, the subsequent ‘tech bust’ is identified as a key contributor to the national recession.

The production of high-tech goods represents a significant component of GDP. We generally assume that the level of education in the society is a determining factor in the level of advancement, but the empirical evidence for the same does not exist. The connection between education and material prosperity can be regarded as hazy, at the most. The success of knowledge based systems lies in the quality and extent of the knowledge available to the system. Acquiring and validating large groups of consistent, correlated knowledge, is not a trivial task to achieve.

Fostering Innovations in Education

Education Sector Should be Open to Innovation and Change Innovation needs organised chaos for fostering change

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nnovation is something that leads to the creation of new ways of life.

It inspires us to transform our mental makeup and create values.

We need to have an ecosystem, which can act as a principle catalyst for fostering rapid innovation. These innovations are the fountainhead of large scale successful institutions. India faces unique challenges in the field of education like in the board school education, vocational education and higher education.

These problems can only be addressed through our own ecosystem for innovation. The innovations must be allowed to grow from ideas to implementation.

If we take into context the post industrial knowledge economy, the most critical factors that drive these economies towards a sustainable future is research innovation and entrepreneurship. Innovation therefore reposes heavy responsibilities on the educational sector of the economy for fostering innovative research and reaching newer frontiers of knowledge.

The need of the hour is fostering of an innovative culture that facilitates meeting the educational needs and goals for a sustainable economic development. Innovation needs organised chaos and this means that we need not have a top down instructional mode, rather a

Sushma Berlia, President, Apeejay Stya & Svran Group and Chancellor Apeejay Stya University system of broad guidelines and the freedom to apply oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind will lead to best results. The performance has to be measured by flexible tools, plans and goals.

Innovative Learning Solutions are Key to Better Learning The problem in education today is lack of integrated and holistic approach

Sucheta B Phadke, Senior Vice President, Core Education & Technologies Ltd

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hile speaking about fostering innovation in education, we should look at the challenges that are being faced by the education system. These challenges are due to limited infrastructure, shortage

of teachers and quality of teaching.

The dropout rate of students is alarming and at the same time we have millions of youth who want quality education which can help them in getting employment.

On one hand there are new ways of teaching with digital classrooms and on the other hand there is poorly designed content for this technology. The problem here is of a lack of integrated and holistic approach for changing pedagogy to epedagogy.

The human element in learning is always going to be around, but we have to look at blended models of learning in an integrated fashion to be able to inspire minds and transform lives.

Learning can happen in students when we promote curiosity, problem solving, critical thinking, high order

thinking and collaborative learning. So the question we need to ask is how can we create collaborative learning platforms for teachers and students? How are we going to blend technology with hands on learning to help the children practice efficiently? How can we enhance the learning delivery through innovative access to devices?

Children are inquisitive by nature, but instead of feeding them formulas and killing their creativity, the learning solution design should be innovative enough to facilitate building of skills for observation, comparison, expression, interest, imagination, reasoning, clarity of thoughts, and freedom of expression.

The teacher has to act as facilitator and friend to help the child in discovering his or her potential for creativity. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Fostering Innovations in Education

The Leaders of Change in Education Tablets facilitate personalised learning, by enabling students to access information in a quick and seamless manner

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ishTel, a young and dynamic company aiming to bridge the technological gap in the education industry, is the maker of IRA tablet. Today, IRA is being regarded as a worthy product for donning the mantle of Aakash 2, the government’s low cost computer project. For WishTel, the journey from building prototypes to commercial models has been very exciting.

Today the company possesses in-depth expertise and experience with real time embedded systems and development

tools. It is fully capable of building an ecosystem of highly integrated hardware and software for Tablet PCs and multimedia boxes.

We have implemented a pilot project on digital education in Maharashtra.

This project is giving us an overview of how implementation of tablets in schools actually works at the ground level. It is a pathshala where we have implemented this project. Here, many students had the first time experience with an entire digital eco system.

Milind Shah, CEO, WishTel

Tablets facilitate personalised learning, as they enable students to access information in a quick and seamless manner.

excellence, inclusion and outreach

Inclusion and Excellence Should Go Hand in Hand On the inclusion part, we have 19 percent of outreach in higher education

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ndia faces massive challenges regarding inclusion and outreach. In North-East, there are more than 60 percent of the teachers are untrained.

We started digital courses and teacher training programmes in partnership with IGNOU and other agencies to address this huge degree of untrained teachers. These initiatives need expansion with infrastructure and capacity.

On the inclusion part, we have 19 percent of outreach in higher education. However, developed countries have 30-35 percent. Need for ICT and various courses are very critical. It cannot be also denied that having learnt these courses, still there is a need for good teachers, and good supplementation.

It is very important that we have an access to many of the journals for free and that can be provided centrally. To-

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day, eBooks and journals can be proved as a strong way to expand the horizon of education. Therefore, knowledge about these journals is very important.

With respect to school education there is a huge challenge of GER (Gross Enrolment Ratio), which we have been trying to address. In every state, there is a huge number of out of school children. For them, ICT is not the solution as it is a question of financial resource and their challenges are of different nature.

These challenges should be addressed differently and they should be brought under the ambit of formal education.

At the same time, it is also important to improve the quality of education.

That part is a massive causality today. In our enthusiasm of expanding the outreach, we have opened large number of technical and engineering colleges. But

B K Chaturvedi, Member, Planning Commission in many of these institutions, the equipment, labs, and other facilities are temporary in nature and also the teachers.

This is a great cause of worry. We have to expand, but simultaneously keep an eye on these institutions.

Today, ICT has become a very crucial component. More and more books are available in the ‘e’ form. The department should make it as easily accessible as possible. So that more and more people are able to use this knowledge.

Excellence, Inclusion and outreach

Addressing Quality in Education We have overtaken USA, when it comes to number of students in higher education

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his year is very crucial in terms of planning our next five years.

As the 12th five year plan is being implemented, we must also look back at the experiences of the 11th five year plan.

Our ministry conducted a higher education survey, which was the first ever institution based survey, in which we got data from almost 400 universities.

We have information on almost about 30 percent of the 30,000 odd colleges.

Based on that, we conclude that we are on course as far as GER is concerned.

Now we can say that we have overtaken USA in terms of number of students in higher education sector. USA has 19.5 million students in higher education; whereas India has already crossed the 20 million mark. China is the number one.

India’s achievement of this milestone, primarily was possible because of the rate at which our economy was growing. There

Ashok Thakur, Secretary, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India was demand for jobs and students opted to go. However, the not so glamorous part is that the quality of most graduates and engineers we produce is poor. So all our efforts in the 12th five year plan by and large will go towards addressing the issue of quality. We spend about three per cent of our GDP whereas it should ideally be

about six percent. Out of this 1.12 percent we spend on higher education, the target should be more than 1.50 percent.

The 11th five year plan recorded a nine times increase in the budget allocation, something that was never done before.

We made eight more IITs on the top of the existing seven, we made seven more IIMs against the six IIMs that we already have. In the 12th five year plan, we need to build up on this value. To address faculty development we have to propose a national teachers’ mission and we plan to spend the sizeable amount of money on it. Sixth pay commission has greatly improved the salary of the teaching community As a whole, we now want to build further on that and while doing this we will engage all the institutions, we intend to engage not only the premier institutions like IITs, IIMs, but all the universities.

Technology can Serve Millions The huge information gap between the employers and students needs to be bridged

Sandeep Aneja, Managing Director, Kaizen Private Equity

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ducation is revolutionising very fast. We have achieved a lot, and we can achieve even more by embracing technology in education. It is understood that most people don’t understand technology or don’t have ac-

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cess to it. However, the growth in companies in India that provide test, tutoring and other online services is mindboggling to us as investors.

India can not only catch up with the Western world, it can even beat the advanced countries in the digital space. For instance, there is a company called Coursera in which Stanford Professors have uploaded a lot of their courses online and made them entirely free. Hundreds and thousands of students signed up. If you take the same course in a normal brick and mortar university, it will take you decades to serve that many students. With digital technology, you can serve a hundred thousand students in a matter of hours.

An online course like that of Coursera allows one to not only test the attitude of a student, but also test their ana-

lytical ability by monitoring the pace at which one is learning.

About a million students pass out from engineering colleges and IITs each year. 85 percent of them wait for 9 to 10 months to bag a job. On the other hand, employers are also in search for employable talent. There are jobs. There are people. But there is huge information gap between employers and students.

This gap needs to be bridged as soon as possible.

It is time for us to embrace the global digital revolution in education and catch up with the rest of the world. And India has a chance to not only catch up, but also beat the world in that space. We have to take the digital path, because India cannot afford to build enough brick and mortar institutions.

Excellence, Inclusion and Outreach

Indian Talent Shoud not go Waste The huge information gap between the employers and students needs to be bridged

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e are deliberating on excellence, inclusion and outreach to arrive at strategies for steering the education sector. But what other improvements can we make once the targets related to Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) are achieved?

The fact is that unless quality of the higher education is enhanced, gains from higher GER will be rather limited.

So how do we tackle these problems?

In 2009, a sum of one billion dollars was sanctioned for the National Mission on Education through ICT. The aim of the mission was to look at those who cannot be a part of the inclusion even through the digital resource.

Low cost access to devices is given to students who lack the financial resources for procuring them on their own. The government of India also has some-

thing similar to Coursera that many of us have not even heard of. The National Program on Technology Enhance and Learning (NPTEL) has 1, 200 semester courses across various engineering disciplines. Professors from Indian Institute of Technology and Indian Institute of Science and various other engineering colleges have developed the content.

We have been doing our silent contribution using Indian tax payersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; money.

SHAKSHAT portals are providing free educational content to everyone.

The cardinal principle of National Mission on Education through ICT is to provide free content to every learner and to see that Indian talent does not go waste.

To ensure efficient learning, we strive to integrate efficient pedagogy and outcome-based learning into the contents.

N K Sinha, Additional Secretary (TEL), Technical Education, Department of Secondary & Higher We want to give our students (in higher education domain) a plethora of choices of learning various subject modules. We need to motivate them through continuous evaluation. Once talent has been identified in a particular area, the students have to be handed over to special mentor groups for further training.

The Decade of Innovations Now, the government also believes that innovation is the latest currency of economic power

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he challenges that India faces, today, are unique to the world. Huge divide exists in different parts of the country in terms of GER, and quality, etc. For instance, on the one hand there is 50 percent GER in regular urbanised group, while on the other, in remote areas there is a no question of GER as there are no institutions. Similarly, we have IITs which are accepted worldwide for employment; but on the flip side we have colleges and schools that do not have basic facilities. There is an urgent need to reconcile these disparities.

There is a pre-conceived notion that inclusion can only be attained at the expense quality. Excellence and strategies of bringing equity and inclusion have to compromise with quality. While we aim to achieve excellence but it should not be at the cost of the rural student, who does not have access to resources. These are

formidable challenges, which need to be overcome.

Today India has become land of destination. Many foreign universities are setting up campuses in India. Again there is a policy dilemma on granting permission on the set up of foreign universities in India.

Further, as far as research and development and innovations are concerned, this decade has been declared as the decade of innovation. Now, the government also believes that innovation is the latest currency of economic power. India will become an emerging superpower if it really exploits the potential that exists. India would be the world leader in research and development and innovation. In ICT, there are a lot of approaches that the government is adopting and. ICT is certainly one of the most important and crucial factors that add to quality. We must utilise the ICT tools that are available at our command

R P Sissodia, Joint Secretary, Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource and ensure that the education sector utilises ICT solutions. However, it is also important to note that ICT or eLearning is not a substitute or replacement of quality classroom learning. It only enhances the teaching-learning process and supplements the quality. It does not supplant the whole education system. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Excellence, Inclusion and Outreach

Open and Distance Learning is a Viable Solution for the Country Of around 13 lakh teachers across the country, many are only partially trained, and yet they continue to teach as we face shortage of teachers

can leverage different methods of open and distance learning, which we really have to. In a country like this that is the only answer. Some universities care about quality, some universities donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t. So how do we monitor that carefully?

One has to go to the field and live with the people in the rural areas. Most educators have not done this.

If you look at national curricular framework that the NCERT is developing, you will find that we are opting for a very constructivist way of learning and teaching in a classroom. This kind of a system represents a sea change in the way think. But making it part of the school education system is a key challenge. The teachers, the teacher educators, the parents, the administrators, understand the requirements of constructivism. , This method of teaching grants more time to the learner to deal with each concept in his or her own way. But the system also requires flexibility of a certain kind. It requires an individualisation of the process in which the education is being imparted.

Changing the education system Prof Parvin Sinclair, Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT)

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very one of us had at least one teacher who we can look up to; this could be the teacher who ignited our minds with the desire of learning. We have to ensure that every child in the country has access to such teachers. The Right to Education Act was introduced in 2010. We could have been close to achieving the goal of universal education, if we had access to good quality teachers.

Lack of teacher training Of the around 13 lakh teachers across the country, many are not properly trained for teaching. Despite not being fully trained for the profession, they are doing it because we are in need of teachers. There are several malpractices in the system.

The semi-trained and un-trained people are hired with the thought that they will catch up with time and that catching up rarely happens. We have come up with the teacher education scheme of 630 crores which is far short of what we need. We

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It is imperative to bring changes in the way we provide learning to our students. Open learning allows that, but it requires a certain background, a certain maturity, a certain framework of thinking and working.

We also need to understand that if vocational education is only for profession, or is it for something more. Most of us have noticed that the world is becoming less humanist. So does that have something to do with the quality of our education and kind of areas that are left out in even professional education space? For instance, liberal arts are left out completely and so is a subject like moral science.

Inclusion is also very crucial. When the RTE Act was first framed we left out the disability sector, which was corrected subsequently. However, it needs a lot more thinking, doing and caring by all concerned. It is so inspiring to see people, who are eager to get into the educational mainstream. They positively want to be a part of everything. We need to look at some ways of bringing them in. Each of us is disabled in some way or the other. Education is for living, for sharing, for growing, for culture, and for civilisation. We simply canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t afford to put it aside.

Excellence, Inclusion and Outreach

Blended Learning is not Blind Learning Blended learning is not a panacea for every school related issue

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ur new generation are ‘digital natives.’ Most of the time teachers come to class for their own learning rather than teaching. If we can’t empathise with the concept of this kind of learning, then we are not in tune with today’s world. Teaching has become Teaching 2.0, instead of Teaching 1.0.

Teaching 2.0 is a situation where we enlighten everyone who is involved in the process of learning and teaching at the same time. That is the new paradigm that we have brought in through blended learning.

Blended learning is important, but it is not the panacea to all school related issues. We need to understand that blended learning is not blind learning.

It requires massive effort from everyone involved in the organisation and there are certain ingredients without which you cannot make a nice dish.

We already have everyone on board - teachers, students and others. What else do we need here? The answer to this question is quite simple. We need a good policy from the government to ensure that our teachers have access to all the latest tools that they need to bring about an improvement in the quality of our education.

At UNESCO, we work on three different levels - we work on policy level to resolve challenges through certain legislative policy measures; we also provide all kinds of resources; we provide

Alisher Umarov, Programme Specialist for Education, UNESCO New Delhi Cluster Office for Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Maldives and Sri Lanka certain best examples from around the world. Finally we work by setting up better standards that entities working in the education space can follow.

Technology Tools for student Comprehension

Technology Driven Classrooms We should look at technology from the angle of improvements that it can bring inside classrooms

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echnology helps us in more optimal achievement of learning goals. Students in a class have different skill sets and technology should help us reach out to all children in learning and understanding the concepts.

The challenge today is that we look at technology just as hardware. Instead, we should be looking at technology from the angle of improvements that it can bring inside the classrooms While we deliberate on the important question of what we are going to teach, we should also ask ourselves why do we really teach Science or any other subject. We teach Science with the intention of imparting the knowledge of the real world to the child. The child is instinctively curious about the environment and Science helps him develop

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Poonam Singh Jamwal, CMO, Extramarks a sense of reasoning. So science is all about ideas, concepts, and theories that are being used to interpret the world. As Einstein once said, “Science should be taught by forming connections between reality and physical theory”.

At Extramarks, we have taken a twofold philosophy. One is that there should be hierarchical learning from simple to complex and secondly we should be able to relate the classroom to the real world outside.In the course on skeleton, we teach children about the bones, number of bones there are in body etc. We need to teach him about -how he is standing, how he is working, what is giving him structure and how his bones work together. In Extramarks, we introduce an idea in the classroom, and then it is thoroughly explained by the animation part. In the classroom, teachers often find it difficult to explain different concepts to the students with the traditional chalk and board systems. Technology makes the courseware more accessible to the students and they are able to visualise the content in form of animation and videos.

Technology Tools for Student Comprehension

Technology to help Children Blossom Focus has to shift from teacher-centric to child-centric methods of teaching

Sudha Goyal, Principal, Scottish High International School

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or best educational outcomes, teaching should comprise of a healthy mixture of traditional teaching methodology and the latest technological systems. A teacher, a fa-

cilitator, has a wide variety of technological tools at his or her disposal.

Video games can help activate critical thinking skills and problem solving skills. Focus has to shift on improving the instructional methods. From the teacher-centric approach change has to happen in the passive transfer of knowledge. In student-centric approach change is needed in engaging the students actively in learning with methods best suited to them. The best way to achieve this is to have a clear descriptive and feedback mechanism for students.

The different learning needs of students have to be taken into consideration and assessments have to take place to facilitate thinking of high order.

Through technology students can expe-

rience the lessons and pick up the best for his understanding and learning.

With incorporation of right technology, we can transform a typical teachercentric classroom into a place where problems get solved. A number of curriculum related developments are taking place in this regard, but for maximum benefits we need to have professional development of teachers so that they are able to keep pace with the changing times.

Teaching is a continuous learning process and to keep this process running smoothly, an innovative system of partnerships has to be developed.

Perhaps,we can have a system of partnership between schools and universities for exchange of information regarding the advanced learning processes.

Tracking Performance of Students The Learnsmartâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s application maps the progress of a student and highlights the strengths and also the weaknesses

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he knowledge that reaches the students comes through various avenues. It comes through content providers, through schools, teachers, tutorials, parents, and E-learning websites. With there being such diversity of resources, there is the need for an application that can intelligently assess the conceptual understanding/comprehension in the subject.

It is in this area that Learnsmart India Pvt Ltd has taken the market by storm.

Its cutting-edge application, 24x7guru. com, is based on the belief that once a student gains understanding of a concept, he or she is less likely to forget.

Hence, the emphasis of education should be on facilitating understanding, rather than on rote learning.

Web based assessment 24x7guru.com is a web-based assess-

ment application that enables a student to take tests as per the course curriculum: chapter-wise, periodic and customised! Students can take these tests at their convenience and from any browser. The application is parameterized in terms of complexity levels and it provides a new set of questions each time a student attempts to answer. The scalability is scientifically designed and is aimed at drilling down conceptual comprehension as well as functional and relative clarity amongst students.

The portal comes with objective-type questions and it can offer instant results, which are embellished with analytical feedback to track diverse aspects of the performance of the child. The application maps the progress, duly highlighting the strengths and also the areas of improvement. Students can take tests as per the course curriculum: chapter-

K S Muraldihar, CMD, Learnsmart India wise, periodic and customised. The application is parameterised in terms of complexity levels and provides a new set of questions each time a student attempts to answer. The scalability is scientifically designed and is aimed at drilling down conceptual comprehension and clarity amongst students. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Technology Tools for Student Comprehension

The Alpha and Omega of Education Many constraints continue to stymie our efforts for delivering education to the right people at the right time

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ducation is the primary key to economic development and human welfare. It brings competitive advantage to any nation in a globalised world where economic competition is intense.

Kothari Education Commission rightly believes that national reconstruction can only happen through the efforts of those who have benefitted from quality education in our schools and colleges. Also, the quality of education and its contribution to national development will be influenced most significantly by the competence and character of teachers. However, the Commission has discovered that the teacher education system in the country is too weak to produce such influential and competent teachers.

With India progressing every second our education system lies in ruins. It

B K Tripathi, Joint Director, National Council of Educational Research and Training (NCERT) hardly matters if we understand a given topic, but there should not be any gaffe in penning it down. The education system that we follow does not entertain creativity and innovation. From the source of the education providers to the receivers, none have their hearts poured in their work. Today, education is not a

matter of choice, but a subject of compromise. Higher education is becoming a major driver of economic competitiveness in an increasingly knowledge-driven global economy. The imperative for countries to improve employment skills calls for quality teaching within educational institutions.

Quality teaching must be thought of dynamically, in light of contextual shifts in education environment. Studies are becoming internationalised, and higher education sector is being asked to contribute to new areas (such as innovation, civic and regional development) in order to produce an appropriately skilled workforce to meet the challenges of 21st century.

The institutions need to develop innovative approaches for measuring the impact of their support on quality teaching.

Improving Education through ICT Efficient campus management solutions are effective for better administration of institutions

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CT based management services play a very vital role in transforming the delivery of education. The main goal of GLOPORE IMS is to bring about an improvement in the education space, by providing infrastructure, management and services.

GLOPORE IMS has a sizeable presence in various educational institutions across India. The company is setting up 35000 digital classrooms in both urban and rural areas of India. The aim of the company is to ensure effective learning by students across India by setting up and managing the IT infrastructure in any institution.

GLOPORE IMS also works with training and exam providers like NSCIT. The company prepares and organises tests like NAAC and NACTECH for Degree and Engineering colleges. This helps the students

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find employment based on these tests.

GLOPORE IMS also has a lot of training and certification programmes for financial institutions.

The company also works with many ERP solution providers to help international universities in transforming their digital content, setting up of online libraries and being online 24 hours a day.

The company is an end to end transformation partner for these universities.

GLOPORE IMS works with schools, education content providers and e-learning companies and helps them in focussing on their core competences like government policy making, innovations and effective solutions for education and student relationship management.

GLOPORE IMS works in partnership with a company called Talisma, which is

Satish Kumar, Founder, Chairman and CEO, GLOPORE IMS a CRM software provider. The company takes into account the needs of different schools before implementing the entire ERP system. Such well-researched deployment of ERP only adds to the efficiency of the institutions.

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Assistive Technology and Life Skills Education

Education for Life is Presidium’s Mantra Development of qualities like courage and emotional strength are necessary for creation of confident citizens

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other’s Pride has a vast network of schools and we have a lot of experience in child education. We have learnt that the main purpose of a child’s education is to be able to make him a happy individual.

The child should be successful and powerful in his endeavours and should contribute to the society and the nation.

Education should inspire and motivate children, so that they can become future leaders of our country. We inspire the children to change their signatures to autographs to encourage them to become successful entrepreneurs who can create employment for others. At Presidium, we believe that ‘education for life’ has three main components: academics, talent and life skills.

Many schools pay a lot of attention to academics, but the focus has to

Sudha Gupta, Chairperson, Presidium Group of Schools

shift from rote learning to experimental learning. To foster future leaders, we have to make life skills like vision , mission, passion, commitment, courage, decision making, dealing with problem and dealing with failures are part of our education.

Children should be taught the skill of being courageous, so that they can deal with the most difficult problems without fear. India has a growing rate of suicides because children are not capable of handling failures. Children have to be taught to be emotionally strong so that they can take success and failures in their stride.

Teachers and parents are equal partners in child’s development and we have to develop healthy parenting environment by conducting seminars and workshops for them. At Mother’s Pride we train and guide our teachers to nurture the children to be confident and courageous and make them the facilitators of the child’s progress.

It is only when parents and teachers become experts in life skills, that they will be able to set the proper example in front of the children.

Smart Tools for Education There exists an immense opportunity for providing skill-based education through the use of cutting edge technological systems

Shankar Iyer, BDM-Education, Microsoft

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mployment of latest technology tools has become a sine qua non for the the education sector, especially in the wake of growing technological literacy in the nation. ICT is a

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great enabler; it leads to vast improvements in the quality of the education being provided by an educational institution, whether private or government. Twitter is redefining the way we communicate, tablets are redefining the way we read, and the internet, well, it has radically transformed just about everything.

Sometimes students can get distracted by the temptations of the digital world. Now the teachers can help them stay on course through our SMART programme. The SMART programme allows teachers to choose which websites and applications the students must have access to, and if you need to get everyone’s attention, you can lock all the stu-

dent computer screens with the push of a button. With this programme, you can organise small groups of students and guide them through the process of collaborative education. With this software, it’s easy to promote learning at the level of an individual, a small-group and even the entire class.

Today, education in the developing world faces the acute challenge of keeping more children enrolled in school, while simultaneously ensuring that there is improvement in learning outcomes. The bottom line is that today there exists an immense opportunity for providing skills based education through the use of cutting edge technological systems.

Assistive Technology and Life Skills Education

Assistive Technology to Help People with Disabilities Assistive technology is must for making inclusive education a reality

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oday when we talk about technology, we are forgetting about people with disability. Our perception should be to consider the ways to develop assistive technology for making inclusive education a reality. We introduce so many things, but when we do not look at its accessibility then the work is half done. We have to look at education with the holistic approach, for making vocational training a part of the curriculum. We should have structured sports and cultural activities for the disabled children.

The philosophy of inclusive education rests on the idea of providing equal opportunities to everyone, regardless of the fact that the person is with or without disability. In life skills education, we need appropriate policies that will lead to development of resources, training, support services, reasonable accommodation, holistic approach and a barrier free environment. We need the involvement

Dr Uma Tuli, Founder, Amar Jyoti School of parents, as well as learners, teachers, decision makers and advocates.

We need interactive and fun-filled class rooms. The curriculum has to be flexible enough to reduce academic pressure on students. We have to develop teaching materials with technology assistive devices, linkages between pre schools and primary education, provision of adequate resources and leverages.

Today, even CBSE allows assistive devices like talking calculators, computers, talking pens and many other concessions at the time of examination for the children with disabilities. The skill development doesn’t end with just leading a life of skills; it is many things put together. This is something which we need to understand. We have to promote the usage of technology, training of trainers should be organised on a regular basis. There have to be several concessions and reforms in the examination system. Sensitisation at the university level should be done to include disabled children in the stream.

Media should highlight the potential of Person with Disabilities and create the necessary public awareness. The bottom line is that we should not underestimate the power of touch, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment and the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential of turning a life around.

That is what education is all about.

Making Life Easier Not every teacher is capable of taking care of the needs of special children

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ssistive Learning Technology makes life easy for person with disability.

The term ‘Assistive’ means something that provides assistance. The Assistive Technology in the context of education refers to any piece of equipment, or system that is used to increase, maintain or improve functional capabilities of individuals with disabilities. India faces a massive scarcity of such solutions.

Problems addressed by Assistive Technology Assistive Technology can address many type of learning difficulties. A student who has difficulty in writing can compose a school report by dictating it and having it converted to text by special software. A child who struggles with the subject of mathematics can use a hand-held calculator to keep scores while playing a game with a friend. And a teenager with dyslexia may benefit from Assistive Technologies that will read aloud his employer’s online training manual. In fact, there are Assistive Technology tools to help students with almost every type of learning disability.

Dr Dheeraj Mehrotra, VP-Academic Training, Next Education digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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assistive Technology and life skills education

Emerging Landscape in Assistive Technology A few minor changes in a classroom can make a huge difference

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ducation has a two-fold function to perform in the life of man and in society: the first is utility and the second is culture. Education must enable a man to become more efficient, to achieve with increasing facility the legitimate goals of his life.

The teacher should provide clearly structured small-group activities that encourage everyone to participate. These techniques incorporate varied learning preferences and styles of participation and help create learning environments accessible to all students. Care does need to be taken to make sure that such groups do not reproduce the social dynamics of the classroom on a smaller scale and so, for best results, the teacher must not only form groups consciously, but must also monitor group work carefully.

No two students are same and ev-

ery student learns differently. In assessing each student’s learning patterns and individual skills, the teacher should be able to develop techniques to help all types of students, master their classwork, homework, and overall educational skills. Through assistive technology software and devices, organisational skills, and study skills, we can best help students to customise their learning on an individual basis.

The benefits of an inclusive classroom environment are truly immeasurable.

To design this kind of environment, you don’t need to completely revamp your classroom. Instead, a few minor changes can make a huge difference.

The classroom is a microcosm of the external community, and the way we conduct our classes says something about how we conceive of proper human

Anuradha Sen, Head- Training, Shiv Nadar Schools relationships. In the classroom, students learn how to treat each other and prepare for life. Intelligence is not enough. Intelligence plus character--that is the goal of true education. The complete education gives one not only power of concentration, but also the worthy objectives upon which to concentrate.

Education Through Personal Touch Degrees can give you good jobs, but they will not give you life skills

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he foremost task for any preadolescent is to learn the basic skills necessary to nurture. Unfortunately most of us fail to learn such skills even after reaching adulthood.

The training for a child must start from the beginning, when he is still under the care of his parents.

Most families are nuclear families, where both parents are working, and they don’t have much time to spare for their children. It is not a question of family values, it is just that we are becoming more workaholic. We live in two separate cultural worlds, one encompassing the workplace and one encompassing home and family.

In such a situation, the entire burden of training the child comes on the shoulders of teachers. We have to teach them

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Neelam Wallia, Principal, Maheshwari Public School to grow up into brilliant and productive future citizens of the country. Every small thing that a teacher does can have an impact on the future of the child. Cultural training of children needs more time and effort. Passing on the collective knowledge of past generations to future

generations is one of the noblest callings in the world. Someone has to make efforts to teach young people, the basic facts, the valuable skills, and the wisdom that has come to us from past generations.

We say that character education is a way of doing everything in the school. It’s not one particular programme or focus; it’s everything we do that influences the kind of human beings students become.

Kids everywhere face the same issues, the same challenges, and the same realities.

Perhaps the youngsters from more privileged backgrounds are in better position to struggle because they’ve had better nurturing, they have better role models, wider opportunities, and the like.

Degrees can give you good jobs, degrees can give you a very good pay package, but it cannot give you life skills.

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Creating Personalised Learning Space in Schools

Paradigm Shift in Teaching Teachers, parents and students have to be made equal partners in personalised learning

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n India, where classrooms have 50 children, providing personalised and differentiated learning is a huge challenge for the teachers. For personalised learning to happen, the childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s needs and aspirations have to be considered. Learning has to be made relevant, meaningful and authentic for the learner. The ownership of learning has to shift from teachers and parents to the children.

In R N Podar School, we have implemented differentiated learning by using flipped classrooms. We have collaborated with Khan Academy and the students can watch free videos at their own space and time. The students then engage in interaction, discussion and activities pertaining to the concept in the classroom. The performance of the teachers and students is monitored through the

dashboard. In flipped classrooms, the teacher engages herself in meaningful, relevant and authentic activities with the students.

The challenges faced in flipped classrooms is that teachers do not trust the children to come prepared with the lessons and teachers are also not used to being questioned in the classrooms. A different approach of holding discussions and planning activities has to be done before hand. The children have to be made equal partners in this learning process where they come prepared by going through the videos.

ICT plays a major role in the new learning process as teachers are now making their own videos and sharing them with the children. A major paradigm shift has to happen in the way of teaching and

Avnita Bir, Principal, R N Podar School, Mumbai teachers, parents and students have to be made equal partners in the learning process. This pilot project is a proof of the fact that we have been successful in making our students responsible and mature with high order thinking.

Personalised Learning has Many Challenges e-Pedagogy is a concept to which most teachers are still resistant

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hen we look at the implementation of personalised learning in our schools, one thing becomes crystal clear â&#x20AC;&#x201C; there are far too many challenges in the path of implementing digital teaching techniques in our classrooms.

Everybody is trying to find their own unique solution for personalised learning. Some of these solutions include teaching concepts like flip classroom and inverted classroom. Attempt is also being made to ensure that every child studies at his/her own pace with his/her own device.

In order to gain a better insight into the present scenario in education we need to discover the answers to few important questions.

The first question is - with person-

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Shweta Khurana, Head K12 Education, Corporate Affairs Group, South Asia, Intel alised learning will our schools look any different from how they look today?

The second question is - What are the ways by which teachers can bring about the much needed change in the way they teach and in the way students

learn? The third question is - Will the teaching-learning process change by itself? After all, e-Pedagogy is a term to which most teachers are still resistant, so how can they be vehicles for creation of a personalised learning atmosphere at the institutions.

What role does ICT really play in the concept of personalised learning and how effective can it be as a tool to ensuring that you have a perfect learning environment at schools. We also need to ask ourselves about the best ways of transforming learning environment at schools?

It is the quest to find the right answers to this questions that will enable us to see the light at the end of the tunnel and hopefully a better system of education will come into being.

Creating Personalised Learning Space in Schools

Children have ‘Space’ but they don’t Know How to Use it Train the students, teach them technologies, they will be quicker, they will be faster and they will be with the world

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o quote an Indian mother staying abroad, “As parents, we are living in their world; they are not living in ours.” We need to understand that a child’s world is full of technology.

We have to accept the child’s world as it is. We cannot expect them to adapt to our world.

To understand the real meaning of the term ‘space,’ and also to have a better insight into the world of a technology obsessed child, I paid a visit to the Zurich International School. It is an IB school in Zurich. It is a ‘green’ school that does not use paper; everything is online including the home work.

After interacting with the Principals, students, teachers and parents there, I realised that in India, we are neither ready, nor we do have infrastructure, and we certainly lack the mindset to fully

accept this personalised space concept.

At primary level, teachers and students maintain blogs. Teachers constantly update their blogs with their plan for the day. Students have their homework on blogs.

At senior or middle schools abroad, the main focus was on mastering and not on achievement. In India, we simply tell him what to learn and how to learn it and how to re-produce it in the examination.

CBSE has mandated one smart class for every school affiliated to the board. All applications in Higher Education would have to go online. In fact, they did their pilot this year. To increase the reach in rural areas, CBSE made hubs where people can go and do their stuffs online.

Indian students have the space, they just do not know of how to use it. Educa-

Dr Mala Mehra, Principal, Hoerner College, Lucknow, UP tors need to train students on time and space management. I personally feel that once they have access to the right kind of education, the children of today will be able to grow up into great assets for society.

Shortcoming of Our Education System Free laptops for each child is useless in areas where there is no electricity and internet connectivity

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substantial chunk of India’s population comprises of young folks, who are in need of quality education. Teachers in India have to be patient in their approach as they are the potters who mould our future generation. India is a fast developing superpower, but 69 percent schools do not have uninterrupted power supply, many schools do not even have tables and chairs.

In education, we talk of critical thinking, branding, solution providers and much else. Even in modern schools

A N Jha, One Laptop Per Child (OLPC)

in urban areas, where the smart boards have been installed, we are not having the desired educational outcomes. This is because the smart boards are preprogrammed and they leave no scope for creativity.

Today’s children are unable to develop their intellect as they are over endowed with technology and they are obsessed with scoring grades in their examinations. A case can surely be made out for the government to intervene and enact some measures to reform our education system. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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advertorial

Swami Parmanand College of Engineering & Technology

Swami Parmanand Group of Colleges win World Education Public Choice Award for Best Innovation by Engineering Institute

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unjab state is a hub of industries which requires motivated and hardworking technocrats. Most of the Engineering colleges exist in urban areas. Seth Nand Lal Bajaj Educational & Charitable Society which was already running Haryana Engineering College, Jagadhri since 1998, thought to establish an engineering college in rural area. Swami Parmanand College of Engineering & Technology (SPCET) was established By Seth Nand Lal Bajaj Educational & Charitable Society in the year 2004 to make a reality of the thought.

The College is now in the ninth year of operations having four branches in Engineering alongwith a Postgraduate in Business Administration. Seth Nand Lal Bajaj Educational and Charitable Society is headed by Sh. Inderjeet Bajaj and has the following members. i) Sh. Anil Verma, Sr. Vice President ii) Sh. Yashwant K. Mittal, Treasurer iii) Sh. Atul Mittal, Secretary iv) Smt. Indu Bajaj, Member v) Smt. Rani Verma, Member vi) Sh. Aman Bajaj, Member.

The college is located at a distance of 25 kms from Chandigarh & Panchkula, 6 kms from Lalru 10 kms from Dera Bassi and 18 kms from Ambala.

It is spread over 35.5 acres of land in the backdrop of Shivalik Hills with lush

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green, pollution free and eco friendly environment and planned land caping.

The College has a built up area of more than 13 lakh square feet including college buildings, labs, Computer Center, Workshop, Wi-Fi campus & boys and girls hostels. The college has spacious and well furnished building comprising fully air conditioned lecture halls, tutorial rooms, drawing halls, Library, separate hostels for boys and girls, Workshop, state of the art labs of the College, gensets for power back up and many other facilities. College transport is available from Chandigarh, Mohali, Panchkula, Ambala, Patiala. College has a separate Training & Placement Facility. 70 percent of the passed out students have already been placed in reputed companies with around Package of Rupees 3.5 lakh.

Seeing the popularity of SPCET, the society started Swami Paramanand Polytechnic in nearby Campus from 2007. which has six branches& another engineering college SPEC with four branches in engineering. Now the Society is running satisfactorily a group of three colleges known as Swami Parmanand Group of Colleges. The colleges are already approved by AICTE and affiliated to PTU, Jalandhar The Polytechnic is affiliated with PSBTE Chandigarh.

Swami Parmanand Group of Colleges is an established group of institutes with unique blend of Professional and Academic excellence with commitment to impart quality education to the students enabling them to meet various Challenges of Professional life, National as well as International levels. During a sort but glorious period, the group of colleges has been awarded the following International and National awards during last two years.

1. International Intellectual Achievement Award by Global Achiever Foundation.

2. Best upcoming Engg. College from Punjab awarded by India Achieve Podium.

3. Best Public Choice award for ICT enabled Higher Education Institute of the year 2011 by World Summit.

4. India Leadership Award for Education Excellence by India Economic Development & Research Association to our Treasurer Sh. Y.K. Mittal 5. Best ICT enabled Higher Education institute of the year 2011 by e-India 6. Education Excellence Award 2012 for Best Upcoming Private Institution for Professional Course in Mohali Distt. Punjab by Big Research Brands Academy.

7. India Education Excellence Award for Best Upcoming Engineering Institute in Punjab by Survey Conducted by Time Research Media Pvt. Ltd, New Delhi.

8. Best Principal Performance Award, to the Principal in 2012 by Global Achievers Foundation, New Delhi.

The result of the colleges are the Best in PTU as every year two to three students are coming in merit list. Our motto is to produce highly motivated technocrats who are prepared to meet the challenge of the Global business environment.

Creating Personalised Learning Space in Schools

Effective Learning Outcomes We need a student-centred, skills-based, enquiry-oriented personalised mode of learning

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uring the last few years, the world has witnessed many new advances in Science and Technology. Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children are not expected to do their learning by the same process through which we were taught; today the classrooms are more technology oriented. New approaches towards education have been taken.

The gravest challenge in Indian education system is that education in India is adult-centred. We are following a rather content-based, exam-oriented one sided model of teaching. We need a student-centred, skills-based, enquiryoriented personalised model of learning.

Technology is nothing but a tool. It delivers within the confines of the learning space, be it personalised learning or holistic learning. For maximum benefits, the entire school has to be space for personalised learning. You canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just

Janajit Ray, Principal, Yadavindra Public School, Mohali, Punjab segregate one area as the space of personalised learning.

We have tradition of learning in this country. The word, Gyan, which means knowledge, is derived from the term Jigyasa, or curiosity. We have to start with a question. But what are we doing in schools? We are programming answers into kids. We are expecting the kids to go

and parrot the knowledge. We are not doing anything to turn them into creative thinkers.

The human personality is the most basic thing for personalised learning. We must understand that whether something is being verbalised today or not, learning has always been a personal process. It has never been anything else.

There are various aspects, or dimensions of the body, mind and the spirit.

In order to achieve effective learning outcomes, we have to develop a system of moulding the entire personality of the child. The child has to be fully engaged in the learning process. His or her mind, body and spirit must be able to empathise with the learning. To ensure a comfort zone for students, there should be one teacher for 10 to 15 students. This can only be done, if we have a proper tutorial system.

Impact of IT on Modern Education We cannot go about preparing children, when the teachers themselves are not prepared, and the management is undecided about having a change in the school

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young child coming to school is under tremendous pressure, there is pressure from teachers, parents and peer groups.

We talk of providing space for learning to a child. But what type of space are we talking about? Are we talking about physical space, virtual space, or the space in which he can think on his own?

The modern schools have to apply innovative methods while educating the children. We need to ensure that the children are prepared enough for making the transition from traditional thinking schools to personalised creative schools. A child cannot be granted space overnight; it has to be done

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through a slow and gradual process. If we try to rush through this, we will not have the right kind of outcome.

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s child is also supposed to be an original thinker; he cannot only live on the thought provided by the teacher.

He gains his knowledge from many different sources. Teacher is not the only provider of knowledge. Nowadays we are seeing a huge impact of IT in the schools. What we really need to figure out is whether the space can be utilised to support learning and meet the needs of a range of learners.

We need to prepare the school management, the staff, and then children.

We cannot go about preparing children,

Jagpreet Singh, Principal, The Punjab Public School, Patiala, Punjab when the teachers themselves are not prepared, and the management is undecided about having a change in the school.

Contextual Education Practices

Addressing Challenges in Secondary School Education Teachers of good quality can revolutionise education

Dr C Chandramohan, Sr Adviser, Planning Commission, Government of India

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ndia has a large educational framework of primary and village schools.

A total of 95 million children have enrolled in schools. There is a substantial decline in the social and regional gaps in education.

The first issue is of lack of quality

education. The other drawback is that although students have enrolled yet they are not progressing into the system so there is a significant drop out rate. With 8.9 million children out of school, good basic elementary education has to be achieved.

In Secondary Education, demand has increased significantly and only a few states like UP, West Bengal, Maharashtra and Gujarat have a strong private sector participation in schools and higher education.

Secondary education cannot be achieved without full partnership with the private sector. The next step is to ensure the quality of teachers. The major problem is that we have about two lakh secondary school teachers who are not fully trained.

Teaching has to be seen as a specialised profession which requires knowledge and skill. Teacher Education Scheme has been operational for the last two decades, but

nothing much has come out of it.

Pre-service teachersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; training has to be heavily invested in. About 600 universities have come up and eight more IITs and IIMs have been added but the quality of education in these institutions has significantly dropped.

Universities are of huge size, but they are unmanageable at the micro level. Education today means reading thick books, whereas the curriculum has to change and things have to be broken down to small specs for better understanding. The primary aim of education is to provide generic and cognitive skills to the students.

With the expansion of higher education institutes, we have to consider inclusion and quality in its wake.

Digital learning solutions are uniquely capable of bringing quality and inclusion to the education space.

Education for Sustainable Development Education for sustainable development should focus on key issues like climate change, disasters reduction, biodiversity, poverty reduction, sustainable consumption, etc.

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any years have passed since the United Nations launched the decade of education for sustainable development during the years 2005 to 2014. Now we are at the last two years of that decade. The UN General Assembly has designated UNESCO as a lead agency to promote the initiative of education for sustainable development.

The vision for this decade (20052014) was to ensure that everyone in the world had the opportunity of benefitting from quality education. Everyone should be able to learn values and master new skills. Now the question to the educators

is â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Have we been successful in providing equal educational opportunities to all?

Education for sustainable development should focus on key issues like climate change, disasters reduction, biodiversity , poverty reduction, sustainable consumption, etc. This requires farreaching changes in the way education is practiced today. The Tony Blair Faith Foundation is devoted to contributing its mite in promoting cultural and religious empathy in the world. The Foundation is currently active in 19 countries.

The Face to Faith programme from the Tony Blair Foundation is focussed on schools. It engages students from dif-

Simmi Kher, Coordinator-India, Tony Blair Faith Foundation ferent faiths into a meaningful dialogue.

The aim of the exercise is to enable students to develop connections with rest of the world. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Contextual Education Practices

Educators Have to Provide Value Education to Students The teacher plays the role of a mentor who is tasked with the responsibility of moulding the life of children India has come a long way in terms of education. The nation has now started making a discernible mark on the international education space. However, lot of work still needs to be done to improve the state of education even further. There are numerous arguments about the quality of education that we provide to our children. There is an ongoing debate about the specific manual that should be followed while imparting education to the students. The quality of education cannot be enhanced until we look at the broader picture and thoroughly understand the meaning of the word education.

The teacher should be dedicated. He or she should be focussed on discover-

Grace Pinto, Managing Director, Ryan Group of Schools ing new and better ways of imparting knowledge. Faith in God is also essential.

Teachers need to understand that they are the authors of the lives of the children

who are placed in their hands. The teachers should be ready to transform the society, they should not be selfish or obsessed with their own personal goals.

Education is present in all activities of life. It is present in the mind, in the working culture and the attitude of the educators. The quality of education has to be such that it succeeds in inculcating values in children, so that they become better human beings.

The important thing to consider in education is that children should not be dropped out, left out or pushed out from the education system. The children should be given ample opportunities to flourish in this education system without any prejudice.

Initiatives by the British Council English training helps people find self prosperity in this global community

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ritish Council is a government body dedicated to the promotion of cultural understanding and education. The society also imparts training in English and Arts. The British government invests in creation of cultural understanding through education.

British council trains people in English to help them be a part of the global community, and to find self sustainability and self prosperity in this global world.

British Council began working specifically for the school sector around year 2002-03. At that time the Council was working on students and teacher exchange programme, but soon this had to be supplemented by professional development programme which helped students understand the culture of other countries.

The Council also does whole school accreditation awards called the Inter-

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Rittika C Parruck, Assistant Director Schools-India, British Council national School Awards. These awards are a bench marking scheme that rates or rewards schools on the basis of how much cross border experience they gift their children through the curriculum that they are delivering.

Children learn best if they are having fun, so we tried to gear all the programs

to make learning intercultural skills as enjoyable as possible. The Council is trying to develop learning framework for using games for teaching analytical skills and scientific skills.

The Council has devised very basic ICT training workshop for the government school teachers at a certain level.

It does a lot of experimental work on the cutting edge technology where computer games can drive the child’s own learning and how teachers can support them in this service. A lot of work has been done in creating physical education resources and the physical education card called the ‘tech card’ which the CBSE now uses. Sports can also be used to teach the children true values.

The British Council has a lot to offer when it comes to the promotion of a sustainable development agenda in the field of education.

ORGANISERS

host partner

CO-ORGANISERS

Directorate General of Employment & Training Ministry of Labour & Employment Government of India

Programme Chair

Prof S S Mantha Chairman, All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE)

15 - 16 November 2012, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

100+ Sponsors & Exhibitors 4000+ Delegates and visitors 50+ Award categories 3600 sqm exhibition space

awards Rush your Nominations Today!

Such events lead to the germination of new ideas for creation of healthcare and education solutions that are more affordable and effective

The vision roadmap that we have carved for the state of Gujarat certainly gets reflected in various thematic conferences under the umbrella of eINDIA

A P J Abdul Kalam, Former President of India

Narendra Modi, Honâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;ble Chief Minister, Gujarat

This is a wonderful platform where we can hold discussions on a multipronged strategy for meeting the challenges that lie in the ICT space Kapil Sibbal, Minister of Human Resource Development & Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Government of India

Inspiring Innovation Shaping Vision eINDIA education awards categories Private Sector • Best Use of Technology for STEM Education

• Best ICT Enabled Higher Education Institute/ University of the year • Best Use of Technology to Promote

• Best Interactive Solution Providers • Best Tablet Providers • Best Use of Technology in Teaching and Learning Practices

Industry-Academia Interface

Teaching-Learning Practices • Best ICT Project by Private School in Andhra Pradesh • And more....

• Best Use of Technology for Open and Distance Learning • And more...

Vocational and Skills Training • Best Use of Technology for

• And more..

Vocational Education and Skills K-12 Awards

Training

Higher Education Awards

• Best Use of Technology in Schools

• Best Use of Technology in

• Best ICT Enabled School

Teaching-Learning Practices

• Best Use of Technology in

• Best PPP Project in Vocational Education and Skills Training • And more...

A Snapshot of Eminent Speakers @ Elets Events D Purandeswari Minister of State, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India

Dr Narendra Jadhav, Member, Planning Commission & Member, National Advisory Council, Government of India

Prof V S Ramamurthy Director, National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS)

Hansmukh Adhia Secretary, Education Executive Chairman, Gujarat Knowledge Society Government of Gujarat

Dr S S Jena Chairman National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS)

Prof Sudhir K Jain Director, IIT Gandhinagar

Dr Veera Gupta Secretary, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE)

Grace Pinto Managing Director, Ryan Group of Schools

Sudha Gupta Chairperson, Presidium Group of Schools

Register now!

For programme details

book your space today!

For Exhibition and Sponsorship

limited seats available

Sheena Joseph Cherian +91-8860651644 sheena@elets.in

Fahim Haque, +91-8860651632 fahim@elets.in

Khabirul Islam M: +91-8860635836 khabirul@elets.co.in

eINDIA.eletsonline.com

Contextual Education Practices

The Human Touch Value based education is a system that will not only lead us to discovering good profession, it will also instil in us a sense of purpose

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ducation is the vehicle of knowledge, self-preservation and success. Education not only gives us a platform to succeed, it also provides us with qualities like strength, character and self respect. The greatest gift education gives us is the knowledge of unconditional love and a set of values.

These values include the simple difference between right and wrong, a belief in God, the importance of hard work and self respect. Education is a continuous learning experience; we learn from people, we learn from success and failures, we learn from leaders and followers, and we manage to grow up to be the person we are meant to be.

The Vivekananda International Foundation (VIF) is a New Delhi-based think tank set up with the collaborative efforts

of India’s leading security experts, diplomats, industrialists and philanthropists under the aegis of the Vivekananda Kendra.

VIF strives to bring together the best minds in India to ideate on key national and international issues; promote initiatives that further the cause of peace and global harmony; monitor social, economic and political trends that have a bearing on India’s unity and integrity; analyse the causes for social and ethnic conflicts leading to extremism and offer policy alternatives; interact with civil society and offer institutional support for exchange of ideas and interaction among conflicting groups; critique public policy and the working of democratic institutions and constitutional bodies; and evolve

Mukul Kanitkar, Secretary, Vivekananda International Foundation

benchmarks for good governance and efficiency in public institutions.

These are objectives that fall under a broad head called `nation-building’ and often come within the purview of universities and institutions of higher learning. Unfortunately, for reasons best known to those who manage them, these academic bodies have not been able to attend to these tasks. This neglect, it seems, is in some way responsible for the perceived failure of representative bodies and the prevailing inefficiency in the government sector.

Digital Education is a Game Changer in Rural Schools Determination and innovation can lead to vast improvements in education

Monica Mehan, Principal, DAV, Khera Khurd

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e have the story of a DAV school in the rural outskirts of Khera Khurd that was on the verge of being shut down, but it

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revived itself by facing challenges head on. It brings to light the fact that limited resources and finances cannot deter a school from making progress. The major challenge is to see the students who are way below the poverty line as an excellent human resource with least TV and computer distractions.

The school’s tag line was changed to: connecting pathways from rural to global. Children were made to sing prayers in English to encourage them to develop global awareness and also improve their pronunciation. The school also took the step of joining hands with the Faith to Face programme so that video conferencing could be done in school.

The school also took to ICT for improving its quality of education. Finances were a major concern and various ways were found to innovatively use the resources to its full capacity without any financial burden. Teachers created blogs and uploaded syllabus for the students to access. On the mandate of CBSE, they launched a website which too was free of cost.

Many innovative ideas were also implemented - like using open software for creating worksheets, Skype for interacting with other DAV schools and usage of YouTube for finding information on chapters and projects. The bottom line is that with determination all kinds of obstacles can be overcome.

Tools to Promote Student Engagement

Student Engagement is Key to Progress in Learning Teaching modes, learning practices and components used to communicate learning are pillars of blended learning

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lended learning, multimedia content, supportive teaching tools, are the tools for promoting student engagement in classrooms.

There is a need to further strengthen these systems of learning. We need to get the students fully engaged with the learning process.

Different learners have different requirements and therefore, they have different learning styles. There are kinaesthetic learners, visual learners, auditory learners and read and write learners. To engage students of different learning capabilities, there is the need to facilitate student engagement

Kartikay Saini, Chairman, Scottish High International School through active learning, multimedia, online learning, problem based learning and so on.

Any exercise of developing the learning environment must entail a combination of learning strategies like face to face learning and digital multi media. The key points in blended learning are teaching modes, learning practices and environment created by the instructor and the components he uses to communicate things.

Online, mobile and face to face learning are part and parcel of blended learning, which can lead to active learners, accountability of learners as well as teachers, team playing and transforming a student to a learner. The principle point of blended learning is the real time assessment of students.

Active 3D to Help Students Understand Better With the use of multimedia, we ensure that the conceptual understanding is much better

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earning today is more studentcentred and from that perspective our first challenge is to ensure that the student understands the concepts and thereafter to develop the broad content for CBSE, ICSE or any other board. Each student has a different IQ level and each teacher also has a unique style of teaching.

Teachers these days are involved in the assessment of students, both formative and summative. With the use of different tools created by Pearson, accomplishing these assessments has become handier for teachers and the teaching time in classrooms have gone up. Pearson ensures that the real time teaching in classroom is lot more as compared to the time one spends in these assessment tasks. We also have various levels of Teachers Training Certification Programmes.

Pearson engages teachers with more than 20 years of experience for content development. We customise the entire ebook according to the choice of a particular school and then provide what is suitable to them. While creating content, we make sure that it is made by Indian teachers, and is geared to be useful to the Indian teachers. The language is not British accent or US accent, it is Indian English.

With the help of active 3D, students understand a subject much better. So if we are talking about human heart, human ear and cuboids that one can see literally on the screen, then one has to change the values and rotate to see how it will look like. Earlier, students would just mug up everything, write the exam and forget it.

Use of multimedia ensures enhanced conceptual understanding about the subject.

Pearson aims to reduce the weight

Pawan Arora, Sr Vice President, ICT Sales, Pearson Education Services from a studentâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s back by ensuring that whatever is taught on the whiteboard is there on the tabs. Pearson is also planning to launch cloud-based contents, wherein a student can access the work which is done by other students and teachers across the globe. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Teaching Tools to Promote Student Engagement

An Organic Shift in the Education Process A readymade curriculum cannot fulfil the requirements of all

Revathi Srinivasan, Director - Education and Principal, Smt Sulochanadevi Singhania School

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hildren are capable of learning through a process that involves curiosity and enjoyment. Teach-

ers are not expected to behave like potters, whose work involves the following of certain set norms, rules and regulations. The role of a teacher is more like that of a gardener who imparts integrated experience to the children.

There has to be an organic shift in the way we conduct the education of a child.

The teaching and learning process has to be diverse, so that children get to enjoy a broader spectrum of experiences.

Teaching has gone through a paradigm shift from knowledge and discipline to competence building and values.

During the journey of life, children require certain traits like skills, intellect and

social awareness. The times are changing and children have to evolve into individuals who can compete with themselves to continuously improve their performance.

Education has to move from being competitive and individualistic to being moralistic so that education moves from pressure to pleasure.

Children have different learning capabilities and a readymade curriculum cannot fulfil the requirements of all.

Schools must work with teachers to create content which is digital and blended.

Online assessment solutions must be utilised by schools to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of students.

Teachers Should Trigger the Sense of Curiosity Pythagoras theorem can be taught with various real life examples

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oday’s generation of children in the age group of 4 to 6 years are quite close to technology. They don’t need any formal classes or training for learning the basic tricks of operating high-tech devices.

The important thing is that it is not school education that has made children conversant with latest technology; they have mastered the art due to their own curiosity. So if we really want our children to learn something, we should try to trigger their sense of curiosity.

Let’s take the example of History.

During our school days, History used to be a license to go off to sleep when the period started. But, the same history can be made interesting. A teacher can take the students out of the classroom to teach them excavations of Mohen-

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jodaro. The teacher can make it more interesting by grounding various items in the sandpit at the school playground.

The children would keep finding new items as they dug the sandpit. By using this strategy, the teacher can easily explain what excavation is all about.

Difficult topics like Pythagoras theorem can be taught with various real life examples.

Students, these days, are enamoured by devices like tablet, iPhone, etc. But teachers are phobic of such devices, because they are not used to technology.

But, if they want to be effective in the modern classrooms, the teachers have to develop empathy for technology.

There is a thin line between an ordinary teacher and a good teacher. After gaining an understanding the chal-

Kalpesh Bordawekar, General Manager, Mexus Education Pvt Ltd lenges that are being faced by today’s teachers, students, and parents , Mexus has developed digital content solutions that make use of concepts like robotics, hydraulics, etc. The aim of these solutions is to address various challenges that teachers face in their classrooms.

teaching tools to promote student engagement

Blended Learning: The New Horizon Blended learning leads to a much more efficient system of education

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lended learning is a concept where there is a complete reversal of the learning process. The concept of the classrooms gets flipped. The child is no more a passive listener in the class, rather he is an active participant. The style of teaching in class first and then following it up at home is the general norm, but with blended learning the teacher has to record her lesson without audience.

Imagine teaching in an empty room, recording the lesson and posting it to the students. The student learns and understands at home and comes back to you and challenges you. So, blended learning is two forms of teaching and learning. The first form comprises of face to face learning and second comprises of technology like mobile, satellite TV, video conferencing, etc.

The aim of the bended learning is to create a generation of students who are

in tune with today’s realities. This form of education seeks to create independent learners; it challenges the teachers because you already have very brilliant audience in the classroom. Blended learning creates a lot of learning engagement to make sure that the concept gets understood by the child at the end.

In the current education system, Children are not allowed to think out of the box and teachers just share information and dump it on the children.

The process should be reversed so that blended learning provides practical opportunities for learner and teachers to make learning independent, useful, sustainable and evergreen.

It is planned; purposeful management of student learning and making sure that you enhance the experiences of learning in classrooms. When you use animation, video and sound with this flipped class-

Dr Vandana Lulla, Director, Podar International School room, the child can be anywhere. He does not need the teachers presence at all times.

He has to rely on his own mind. This automatically leads to an improvement in the quality of the learning environment.

This style of teaching facilitates the creation of active learns and gets rid of passive learning.

Focus on Concepts, Skills will Follow Educators are not focussing on the child’s innate capability of learning on his own

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omputer Science is considered to be a skill based subject in schools.

In 2006, a team of professors from IIT Bombay started a research on the subject of, “How to Teach Computer Science in Schools.” Following the interesting facts that emerged out of the research, we thought of creating a model curriculum around our research.

We talk about tablets and digital education, but what about the actual use of technology? If we look at the current scenario, children at a very young age are exposed to technology. But educators are not using the innate capacity of a child to learn on his own. Instead we

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Rupesh Kumar Shah, CEO, InOpen Technologies tell them to do it and we miss out on telling them how to do it. With the popular-

ity of Internet, there is a lot of content available. Computer Masti started by IIT Bombay has a very sound and constructivist curriculum.

Besides applications, the content focuses on thinking skills, stepwise thinking, and logical reasoning. It helps the child to develop the capacity of clear thinking. It also helps in the execution of day-to-day tasks by using technology in a step wise manner.

The content is being used by almost 3 lakh students across 125 schools. The bottom line is that if we focus on building concepts in Computer Science, learning and skills will automatically follow.

Best Innovation by Private University

Apeejay

Advertorial

Stya University www.university.apeejay.edu Project Website: www.university.apeejay.edu/index.php/unique-academic-system

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peejay Stya University has adopted a dedicated liberal education approach designed to foster independence and interdependence, look to the past and to the future, develop national identity and global citizenship, promote unity and diversity, cultivate moral and intellectual virtue, address urgent social problems and timeless human dilemmas, help students understand the world and motivate them to change it, inculcate respect for eternal verities and nurture a spirit of skepticism, lead to personal introspection and promote social action, concerned with transmission of knowledge and advancement of knowledge.

It is elitist and aristocratic and at the same time egalitarian and democratic, it is preparatory and an end in itself, an introduction to different disciplines and interdisciplinary, preparation for specialisation and a counter balance to specialisation.

The universities provides a supportive and nurturing environment that produces young renaissance men and women who would be the leaders of today and tomorrow. Redefining academic freedom and linking to market dynamics in the university allows its students to choose their fields of study-customise their schedule and alter their programmes right up to the later semesters, based on their individual interests. Each course is carefully selected and vetted, and is revisited regularly in sync with the changing market dynamics based on â&#x20AC;&#x153;mark to marketâ&#x20AC;? approach. With a flexible/international credit system/grading system at its core, students choose between 12 and 18 credits per semester

Apeejay Satya University wins Jury Choice Award for Best Innovation by Private University

Achievements 1. Indiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first Liberal Arts Research Based Meta University providing holistic education.

2. Unique academic system that encompasses the three interdisciplinary pillars of Technology, Research and Liberal Arts.

3. Established Apeejay Center of Excellence and conducted Design and Innovation Workshop jointly with MIT Media Labs USA. 4. Established Student Centric Academic System with flexible credit based curriculum.

5. Strong Industry-Academia Interface involving experts from industry and making students industry ready.

out of wide basket of more than 100 courses through specially designed shopping period where the faculty introduce/market the courses to the students supported by focused counseling sessions and have no restriction on taking different and more advanced classes.

There are mandatory degree requirements laid down along with set of liberal arts courses covering eleven tracks

namely-basic science and mathematics, engineering, Social sciences and Humanities. The strong interface with the industry facilitates students start working on live industrial/research projects at an early stage .The students are free to explore varied domains which in turn widens their horizon and inculcates a holistic approach leading to innovation and solutions to real world problems. digitalLEARNING digitalLEARNING / september / august 2012

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Exploring New frontiers and Innovations in Teacher Education

Teachers are the ‘Fulcrum’ of Education In the digitised, highly integrated, multimedia enabled classrooms of today, we are perhaps confused about the exact role of the teacher

Lt Col A Sekhar, Principal, Atul Vidyalaya, Gujarat

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ach time we talk about education, we talk about the students, the digital technologies, the parents, and many other important stakeholders. However, the truth is that be it in schools or even in colleges, it is the teacher who is the fulcrum of the entire education ecosystem. Perhaps we are not giving adequate importance to the teachers. This is a big mistake that we seem to be making.

Today we have a situation where a technology giant like South Korea is introducing over a lakh robotic teachers into their pre-school’s curriculum. Does this mean that teachers are on way of becoming extinct species? Are they going to lose their jobs? In the digitised, highly integrated, multimedia enabled classrooms of today, we are perhaps confused about the exact role of the teacher? If she exists, then how and where?

I purposefully use the term ‘she’ because 80 percent of the teachers in India are women. They are mothers, they are daughters, they are daughters-in-law, and at the same time, they are teachers. Amidst all these responsibilities and highly fast-paced life, where do they have time to innovate, to look at teaching in terms of gizmos and big time thought processes that we are talking about?

The need of the hour is to enhance the role of teachers in the teaching process. We have to provide them better education and better tools to enable them to bring further improvement in the teaching-learning process.

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Need for Immense Innovation in Teacher Education Teacher has to innovate to be more effective inside the classroom

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here cannot be any denying about the important role that teachers play in the education process. A teacher inspires a child to develop a new kind of outlook and even connectivity with the society.

We believe that a teacher has to be very well prepared before he or she enters into a school for teaching. Keeping in mind that today there has been a paradigm shift in the way we approach education, a teacher has to innovate to be more effective inside the classroom. The teacher has to encourage the children to explore and discover answers on their own.

After the normal school hours, the children usually have some extra classes for doing homework, or for mastering arts like guitar playing, etc. The teacher must understand that the child has to undergo lot of stress in the classroom, so he or she might not be able to focus. Teachers should be trained to do brain mapping or mind mapping. If the teacher is well aware of mind mapping, probably she would handle her class very well. She will be able to tell what are the likes and dislikes of the student. She will be able to deliver her lecture on each topic in a proper manner.

In India, due to infrastructure related constraints, we can’t avoid the situation where there is only one teacher for forty students. It is very important for a teacher to grab the attention of each and every child. This can only be done with micro level planning. Every level needs a different teaching and learning style. We need to make sure that the teacher understands the different learning styles of children.

Sudha Singh, Principal, Ryan International School, Greater Noida

Exploring New frontiers and Innovations in Teacher Education

Creating Better Educational Environment for Dyslexic Children Early identification of dyslexia can help children improve their logical and learning skills

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he world of dyslexic children is quite complex. An innovative system for screening has to be in place for empowering the teachers to quantify the problems being faced by such children. Teachers can evaluate the strength and weaknesses of the dyslexic children through these screenings and can teach the children in ways that will lead to best possible results.

Dyslexia is a specific learning disability that mainly affects the development of literacy and language related skills.

The dyslexic children often have problems in putting the words together, they are unable to spell or write. The wonderful news is that appropriate teaching can bring about an improvement in the logical skills, spelling, and also the confidence of the dyslexic children. But the bad news is that with lack of support, the child experiences continuous failure and the problems become intense and

generalised. A cost effective solution has to be made to help the children in improving skills.

Our aim is to identify problems before the children fail. All the screening tests for dyslexia are done by school teachers who are working on the basis of systems that have been developed with an eye on Indian realities. So, itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s being specially developed for India by professionals like teachers, psychologists and special educationists. It helps schools to offer an inclusive learning environment where there exists a support system to facilitate the learning of every child.

As the testing methodologies also dwell on reading, spelling and writing skills the test leads to earlier identification of problems. It also provides a cost effective solution. The screening allows the teachers to see just how the term works under the developed profile and why the child is anxious.

Dr Angela Fawcett, Prof Emeritus, Swansea University, UK, Vice President, British

We hope that DSTJ India will facilitate policy making that will eventually make it mandatory for children with dyslexia to be included in the traditional classroom learning with adequate support and concessions across all states and national boards.

Co-operative Learning Helps the Children Learn life Skills Teacher participation is must for students to benefit from innovative learning methods

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ow we are having lot of innovations in teacher education.

Such innovations are happening not only because of the social and economical changes, but also due to changes in social interrelationship, change in childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s aspirations and social mobility. Important developments are happening in the field of pedagogy and we now have lot of new learning tools at our disposal.

The major shift that has happened in content based learning is that the concept of maintaining silence in the classrooms has gone. Educational research

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Payam Shoghi, Principal, Riverdale International Residential School, Pune has shown that some amount of discussion and noise in the class is important

for learning to be effective. Innovation has to begin from the way classes are conducted. The way teachers are helping to improve the relationship among the students lays the foundation of cooperative learning.

Cooperative learning has two aspects.

One is getting children to get together and work on a particular task together which they enjoy thoroughly so that the output is good. The second requirement is that their relationship should remain intact. The children have to learn to cooperate with other children and they have to improve their relationships.

Innovation in Universities

Web Based System for Addressing Skills Shortage Technology has to be such that it is understood by all rural and urban students

Elizabeth Shirley, Director, IIITM, Kerala

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CT has led to the development of many impressive tools for improvement in the quality of education.

The concept of e-learning is already taking root, but it is not wholly successful.

Our countryâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s educators and professors face a challenge in changing the mindset of people towards ICT.

The curriculum has remained the same over the years, but the transformation has happened in the learning methods of education. India is a developing country, but to develop into a superpower, we need to have a world class education system. To strengthen the education of our country we have to invest in research. The faculty has time only for examinations and evaluation of answer sheets, but no time is given to them for research. Educators and policy makers have to think out of the box and transform the conventional education system.

Our system of education must reach out to all the 700 billion people in India, both in urban and rural areas. ICT plays an important role in this endeavour. There are a number of ICT tools and products, but their ultimate success rests on the simplicity of their design

and also on the IT literacy of the students in rural and urban areas.

India has a shortage of 5 lakh skilled workers and to address this problem, adaptive web based education system has to be implemented.

This is activity based learning and focus shifts from static to active learning.

To further change the style of education, multimedia and assistive technology has to be adopted for better learning.

All children play video games. We have to devote ourselves to designing computer games which help the child learn while playing. Digital learning with different levels has to be built in the games, so that the child can learn according to his capability.

A number of changes have to be made in our education system to make it efficient and effective for India to become a super power.

Why are We Lagging Behind?

Role of the government in higher education is coming down

Dr C Raj Kumar, Vice Chancellor, O P Jindal Global University

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ne of the most fundamental challenges that we face in India is related to the lack of quality

in higher education. Quality is the most significant issue in our universities. We need to be worried about the fact that not even a single university from India is one of the top 200 universities of the world.

When Universities from China, Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Taipei, and Japan figure in the list of top universities, why are we lagging behind?

There is lack of innovation in our universities. The existing legal and regulatory framework of higher education does not provide opportunities for establishment of this innovation in universities. Even our own limited experience of engaging and interacting with students across the country shows that there are very few people seriously interested in academia.

We also know that the public sector in India is not in a position to fund higher education. If we look at the data of last several decades, it becomes clear that the role of the government and public sector in the higher education space is coming down significantly. The private sector is expected to expand and fill the gap. Unfortunately, the private sector is unable to contribute its mite due to various reasons.

A vast majority of private sector initiatives in the field of higher education turn out to be of mediocre, commercial and profit making nature. The government needs to take a hard look at the higher education sector and enact suitable reform measures. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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interviewdiary corporate corporate diary

Is it Time That “For Profit Organisations” Must Be Allowed in the Education Space Private sector can work with the government to create a strong base of human capital that will facilitate India’s growth story

By Navyug Mohnot, CEO, QAI

Author’s Profile

Navyug Mohnot is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi. Navyug went to the University of Rochester, USA, on fellowship for a Ph.D programme. He pioneered the concept of Operational Excellence through process improvements and contributed to growth of the IT industry. Under Navyug’s stewardship, QAI has grown from a single location entity to a trans-global organization with offices all over the world. It has also gone on to become the thought leader in this space.

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We need to re-assess the role of private sector in delivering education in India. Private sector can play an invaluable role in augmenting education needs of a vast country, such as India. There has been wholesome discussion on the subject of enhancing the role of private sector in the educational industry. The debate seems to be stuck on the merits of “for profit” organizations to operate as educational entities, and the governance policies if so permitted.

We can learn from the models of private sector participation that have been deployed in the developed the world.

We need to find a model that will work suitably in India.

Moreover, the critical need is also to induct technology which can act as a great enabler in the delivery and assessment of education. Typically the best technological systems are efficiently implemented by the private sector. In summary we urgently need dialog and actions for closing the gap between the industry and the educational establishment.

It is interesting to note that, India has the largest number of educational institutions in the world and there is a huge opportunity to improve the quality of education and align it to the needs of the industry. In adult literacy, India ranks at 128 in the world. In the human development index, India ranks in the 100’s.

The Governments target is to have India’s GER to be 30 percent by 2020. This is a huge ask. Today, over 35 percent of our population is below the age of 20. When the rest of the developed world will be faced with an ageing population, India will have predominance of youth in its population. By 2020, it is expected that India will have the largest working population age in the world.

The next five to ten years are going to be very critical from a global competitiveness point of view for India. We need to bring vast improvements into our economy. This can only happen if we are able to bring about seminal improvements in our system of education.

Creating Personalised Learning Space in Schools

Reforms in Medical Education

Opportunities

and Challenges

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hile the World Education Summit was able to bring together most of the eminent names of education eco-system, the special session on Reforms in Medical Education: Opportunities and Challenges was equally successful in bringing together healthcare stalwarts like Dr Shakti Gupta, HOD, Hospital Administration and Medical Superintendent, RP Center of Ophthalmic Sciences, Dr Balasubramanyam, Domain Consultant: Medical E-learning, Professor –Department of Anatomy, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore, Prof Manisha Jindal, Professor of Physiology, Convener Medical Education Unit, School of Medical Sciences, Sharda University, Dr Tarun Seem, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Office of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi, Prof Tapan Kumar Jena, School of Health Sciences, IGNOU and the Chair of the session Dr Girdhar J Gyani, Past Secretary General, Quality Council of India and currently Advisor, National Accreditation Board for Hospitals & Healthcare services (NABH). The session witnessed huge footfalls and gifted many takeaways to the attendees. The following were the broad areas of discussion: • Dearth of human resource and colleges in the healthcare sector • Role of Government as well as private sector to provide further impetus to medical education • Lack of quality institutes for medicine • Benefits of ICT-enabled learning modules in medical education • Need for a comprehensive policy to address the acute shortage of human resources in healthcare • The urgent need of reform in medical education

“We want to bring some good doctors from private healthcare space, want them to contribute in medical education, so that the transformation can happen although it will take some years to see the impact” Dr Girdhar J Gyani, Past Secretary General, Quality Council of India & Currently Advisor NABH “Content of the training programmes (for doctors) need to be changed in connascence with our changing needs,” Dr Shakti Gupta, HOD, Hospital Administration and Medical Superintendent, RP Center of Ophthalmic Sciences

“The state of medical education in India is more of a wishful thinking rather than building blocks for holistic healthcare” Dr Balasubramanyam, Domain Consultant: Medical E-learning, Professor –Department of Anatomy, St. John’s Medical College, Bangalore

“Self directed learning should be introduced in medical education” Prof Manisha Jindal, Prof of Physiology, Convener Medical Education Unit, School of Medical Sciences, Sharda University

‘Simulation is an important medical education tool,’ Dr Tarun Seem, Additional Commissioner of Income Tax, Office of Chief Commissioner of Income Tax, New Delhi

“There is no organised medical education and a mismatch prevails in thoughts and sought” Prof Tapan Kumar Jena, School of Health Sciences, IGNOU

digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Project Advertorial Update

Best Innovation in Global Collaborative Learning

Ryan’s

Comparative Study of Problems on Climate Change Across Continents Head of Organisation: Grace Pinto www.lo-net2.de, www.greencontributor.com, www.ryaninternational.org

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yan International Group of Institutions in association with www.greencontributor.com started this programme in 2010.

The Project was about one of the key issues facing mankind today – Climate Change. It involved students from three continents collaborating and studying issues relating to this and debating them.

Students of Grade XI from three countries – India, USA and Germany came together for this project. The project involved studying climate change and its practical impact. The key idea was to sensitise students to look at global problems from various perspectives. People with different background & intents will look at issues from their unique perspectives, which can make them hard to solve. The project involved studying issues, discussing/debating them, understanding differing perspectives/concepts of cooperation and brainstorming for solutions. The project involved bringing all of these into an educational setting.

The main intent of initiating this program was to empower students and help them understand that everyone has something to contribute. This model empowers students to discover their unique perspectives, appreciate the others points of views and learn the art of collaboration. It gives an opportunity to students to search for real solutions to real problems that can have a positive impact in many communities.

Objective The focus of the project was to help students come to a realization people have differing points of view. This is primarily the result of one’s unique personality, influences, culture, peer group, upbringing, media etc. The points of view are clearly influenced by the culture and social groups.

In the case of the chosen topic, “climate change “for example, divergence in approaches became apparent, which were mainly due to different interests of the different states. This is evident and especially striking even at international conferences like the one recently held at Copenhagen.

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Innovations in the Programme • • • • • • • • • •

Global collaboration Student initiated research Online discussion of issues Usage of platform – lo-net2.de Usage of video conferencing Reflexive determination of standpoints Distributed global research model Joint Action Plans & deployment Field research blended with secondary research Cultural Value Orientation

Achievements • Project is part of the Agenda at International Geographical Summit 2012 under “Global Point of View” • Independent Research by students • Unique online platform developed for interaction • Research across 3 continents used for the project • Use of multimedia in the collaboration process

Grace Pinto receives Public Choice award for Best Innovation in Global Collaborative Learning for Ryan International Group of Institutions

Creating Opportunities through Strategic Investments

Is the Business Capable of Growing?

Indian Angel Network has been looking into the education industry or the last seven years. The potential of this industry seems to have been underestimated, because the size of the industry is really big, and there is tremendous scope for growth.

Right now the major investors are addressing just 20 percent of the total market, which is based in bigger cities. But the tier 2 and 3 towns and the rural areas are completely untapped.

There are lot of challenges in investing in smaller towns and rural areas, but the returns on good investments can be manifold. So we are trying to work out Social Impact Investment plan to ensure that

investments can take place in the bottom of the pyramid in a relatively risk free way.

While funding education start-ups, we first of all take into account the expertise of the team that is heading the start-up. Are they capable enough? Then we take into account the scalability factor. Is the business capable of growing?

The third parameter focuses on the issue of processes. There should be innovation in the processes rather in the products alone. There is no point in bringing innovation to the products if the processes canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be replicated in different parts of the country. The bottom line is that we take a very comprehensive view of the organisation before deploying our investments.

Public Private Partnerships are Much Needed

Challenges of Finding Investors

Arvind Mathur Chairman, Private Equity Pro Partners In education there are so many projects that have been financed through private equity. Today education represents a great opportunity for investors. Private Equity is there to fund all kinds of educational needs. The modern market offers us diverse ways of raising money.

Many transactions have taken place in the education sector where exists have been provided through the M& A (merger and acquisition) route. This is a great thing. Because if you are an entrepreneur, you can start a small education company, with the hope that in three to five years, you will be able to sell the business at a hefty profit.

There are lots of challenges in finding investors in education. In India, Education considered as a non-profit making sector. For profit entities like partners firm, cooperative, private limited companies investments is not a challenge. But with Education which is formed under entities like society, trusts and sec-25 companies finding investor is a real challenge.

Investor or VC funds can not invest in trust or society because they cannot reap out benefits out of them.

Seema Jhingan, Partner, Lex Counsel

Vikaram Upadhyay Board Member, Indian Angel Network

3Ps of Investment

Ujjwal Singh, Partner, Indus Balaji Private Equity Education Fund

Indus Balaji is the second education fund in the country. The partners in the company are from different domains of education. Therefore, we understand education in a complete manner. We have done five investments. Our investmentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; priorities revolve around three Ps. The first P is People. The next P is about Product. Third important P is Process. Most of the small companies struggle to find best manpower in the country. We are the costliest country in the world in terms of cost of manpower.

Entrepreneurs are struggling to hire right kind of manpower at right price. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Pre Schools

Happy Children Make a Great Country Children have to be taught the basic tenets of culture and religion from the pre-school stage

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he childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s basic need to be happy in life is not understood by pre schools, as they are unable to comprehend the nature of a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s mind. There is a big discrepancy between what is taught by parents at home and what gets taught by the teachers.

This gap between home-education and school-education is meant to be bridged in the pre-schools.

Children who go through pre-schools have higher literacy and good grades.

They are able to get better livelihood, commit lesser crimes according to the survey that has been conducted. So investment in good pre-schools is a sound economic investment in the future of the society. In India good play schools have now started opening in all the

big and small cities and towns. A good play school is expected to teach help the child in developing good motor skill, language, social interactions, spiritual awareness and much else.

The curriculum of a play school is different from what we have in usual schools.

Because play schools are focussed on helping the child develop basic life skills like running, jumping, calling etc.

Today the children are socially aware because of internet, mobiles, HD and 3-D. We have to make our children aware of our culture. The most important thing to teach a child in pre-school is religion. With religious knowledge, the child will become capable of differentiating between good and bad. Children have to be taught the basic tenets

Rohit Sahu, Chairman Sapphire International School of culture and religion from the preschool stage.

A playschool is mostly about keeping a child happy. A major study shows that pre-schools have become regimented.

The truth is that regimented preschools are not that conducive for a childâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s overall growth and development.

Poor Health Conditions cannot Lead to Healthy Students Children need to be healthy not just physically, but also mentally

I Jitender Nagpal, Programme Director- Expression India, Institute of Child Development & Adolescent Mental Health, Moolchand Medicity

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ndia has a high percentage of children who do not have access to basic facilities.

According to some estimates 42 percent of children, that is about 200 million children, go to bed without having two square meals a day.

Due to our weak infrastructure we are far behind than some of the South African countries when it comes to child welfare. It is time our paediatricians realised the gravity of the situation. They need to develop new systems for enhancing the welfare of children.

Our children need to be healthy not just physically, but also mentally. They should be given access to quality education. Everything must be done to ensure the all round development of our youngsters who are the future of the country.

Pre Schools

Zero Pressure of Learning

Changing Principles of Pre Schools

In order to achieve stress free environment for children, continuous interaction between parents and teachers is a must

Pre-schools: from being a centre for rote learning to being a place for a child to be happy

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umi Education is an Organisation that cares deeply about teaching and learning and has created wonderful Pre- Primary Curriculums for schools. For all those who are associated with Rumi, the experience of building and implementing these programmes has been a rather joyful one.

A number of new ideas have been uncovered in this journey.

The most important idea uncovered is that we need to teach certain specific things to the children. We do serious disservice to children by focussing purely on academics rather than on the process through which learning is delivered at schools.

With increased aspirations and continuous competition to outperform, the child cannot be given stress free environment to blossom. We need series of interactions between parents and teachers for bringing maximum possible value to the child.

The direct impact of well adjusted and productive adults on society and economy is well documented. As educators we have to consciously create opportunities to generate feeling of well being in the children through the designing of child centric curriculum.

The process can only be facilitated through the active participation of parents and teachers in the process. There is a need of continuous excellence in teaching learning process.

Teachers have to be thoroughly trained in delivering materials in a consistent and standardised manner to insure better learning outcomes.The content has to be internalised, it must be thoroughly understood by the teachers to enable them to properly deliver the same to the students.

Schools and teachers must also include activity based learning as much possible while delivering the curriculum.

Sharbari Purkayastha, Head of Products, Rumi Education (P) Ltd

Amol Arora, MD, Shemrock Group of Schools

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hemrock Pre-schools have been around for 23 years and have seen 2 lakh children graduate. Good playschools play the important role of shaping the todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s children into good adult citizens of tomorrow.

When the first Shemrock preschool was opened, the classroom concept was swapped with open areas for different play activities and storytelling. The children were free to explore and learn with colourful interiors and rote learning was abjured. The formal school admissions have gone through a paradigm shift in 20 years and no written test is now taken which helps the child to be free from the clutches of written work at such a tender age. Colourful interiors and hassle free learning has helped children be happy and burden free.

The perceptions of parents have also gone through a change and pre schools are now considered necessary for providing the child with a happy environment for his holistic development. Pre-schools also help the child in social development and peer learning. Language skills are picked up from peers at a faster rate in schools.

With increasing awareness among parents and availability of better technologies, the infrastructure of Pre-schools has seen a positive shift. Better teaching aids, interactive white boards and child centric approach has revolutionised the concept of pre schools. The smaller towns are now ready for new concept in playschools, so now is the time to revise the core curriculum.

With more quality Pre-schools opening their doors to children, the role of a preschool will change. It will turn into a place that is more social and community centric as opposed to a knowledge provider.

digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Pre Schools

Guarding the Health of Children for a Bright Future Due to heavy school bags children suffer from backache

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ealth is not only absence of disease; rather it is also a state of complete physical, mental and social well being. The health of the preschools children should include monitoring of physical growth and also a process of continuous health check-ups through a qualified paediatrician.

Hygiene is another important concept. Children have to be inculcated the values of hand washing, clean uniforms, clean nails, etc.

Vaccination is another preventive measure in healthcare. Eye check up once in the first five years helps to pick up many abnormalities which hamper the performance of the child. De-worming of children has to be done, as it reduces the problem of anaemia in children. The child should not be burdened with writing at an early stage as the hand muscles have yet not developed and it causes permanent handwriting problems.

Todayâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s child has to go through overburdened school bags, congested school buses, enormous amount of homework and sometimes physical punishments too. Lighter bags can be achieved by segregating the books and using sheets, which can be compiled at home so that books donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t have to be carried. There should be a system of no homework and examinations for students till class 5 and no second languages.

Due to heavy school bags children suffer from backache. Children have to be taught the proper technique of carrying bags with both straps at proper centre. Proper transportation is also needed. Safety of children is of utmost importance has to be looked into.

Classrooms should be illuminated and ventilated for the child to read and write without difficulty. Proper playgrounds, verandas before classes and enough doors and windows in the

Dr A S Vasudev, Executive Director Indian Academy of Pediatrics classrooms should be made mandatory. Schools have about one urinal for 60 students and these are unclean and unhygienic to use. Schools should have separate toilets for both genders and also ensure daily toilet cleaning to be made compulsory.

Teachers, parents, regulatory authorities and school management have to work together to find child friendly school initiatives to ensure that the child gets great school learning experience where he wants to come even on holidays.

awards 15 - 16 November 2012, Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India

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Rush your Nominations Today!

Emerging Trends in Higher Education and Assessments

Skill Development is a National Priority

Suman Bose, Country Managing Director & VP, Siemens Industry Software India Pvt Ltd

In India, Siemens has over 25-27 thousand people, but it still finds it difficult to hire the right set of resources that are important for growth and development.

The challenge is missed opportunity: the missed opportunity of forming capital. If China can be the manufacturing hub of the world, nothing stops India from being the knowledge hub. It is necessary that the education that is being provided in our academic circles should be relevant to the industry.

Localisation of education is important. But at the same time, the globalisation of education cannot be ignored; we can always draw important inferences from the educational initiatives that are being implemented in advanced countries. However, advanced countries are facing the issue of ageing population, whereas India has a very large young population. The Indian youth should be given advanced skills in global context to make India a knowledge economy.

Proper System is Needed to Liberalise Education Major areas of Indian economy have been liberalised during the post 1991 period, but education has not seen any major liberalisation. Government policies for the education sector continue to be quite rigid. The regulatory structure is too cumbersome and universities find it difficult to navigate.

In spite of capacity building in technical education, still there is a 20 to 30 percent shortage of students. There are no takers so there are enrolment related challenges in front of institutions. Therefore, understanding the gap is critical. Institute should be created such that they cater to the need of students of today.

Dr Parag Kalkar, Director, Singhad Institute

Online Exams are Safer than Pen and Paper By 2020, Indian will have 47 million people ready for the job market, provided they are trained properly. If we compare with other countries, this estimate is lesser by around 15 million. It can be seen from two perspectives. India will have those people without jobs or people with opportunities across the globe.

In India, the total enrolment has grown to 16 million in 2011 from 8 million in 2001. Simultaneously, the investment has also gone up and the number of institutions has also gone up. It means that we are getting more educated people in the system. If we give right input, we will get enough people taking up those opportunities across the globe. Now, we have e-Commerce coming in education. The examinations are also moving online. Initially, there were some question marks as some of the online exam systems did not perform well. People were skeptical. But today many prestigious exams are conducted online.

There is a myth that online examinations are not secure, but online exams are safer than paper and pencil test. In the traditional mode of examination question papers are vulnerable due to various touch points. It is always better to make use of technology for making examination secure and robust. We need to

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Nagendran S, Executive Vice President, MeritTrac

pick the right service provider who has been a specialist in testing and assessment and look for examination delivery rather than software delivery.

8th

emerging trends in higher education and assessments

Assessment in Higher Education is Tough A business can be assessed on basis of profits that it makes, but in higher education we don’t have such parameters

D Prof Rameshwar Rao, Vice Chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University

emand for higher education is increasing not only in India, but in every other developing country. As developing countries are home to a very large young population, there is lot of demand for adult education and professional courses. While demand keeps on growing, the traditional institutions in these countries are failing to keep up with the demand.

The developing nations need to make lot of new investments in the education space in order to bring about an improvement in their educational outcomes. Quality in higher education ba-

sically signifies a certain level of excellence. There is a difference in the way we assess quality in the education sector.

A business can be assessed on basis of profits that it makes, but in higher education we don’t have such parameters.

How would you prepare the students to take admission in M Tech or in any other professional course? How do you prepare the students to take GRE or to become IAS officers?

Even though globalisation is welcome phenomenon to a large extent, the developing countries need to be careful about the motivations of foreign universities.

India Needs Fresh Thinking to Boost Higher Education Higher education cannot flower without there being a solid base of lower levels of education

Dr Kripa Shankar, Vice Chancellor, Gautam Buddh Technical University

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irst of all, we need to understand the meaning of higher education.

Higher education normally refers to a degree that is above the usual crop of Bachelor degrees. The focus has to be

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on Master’s degrees and PhD’s. Today we are having a rather vibrant display of bachelor’s degree, the case can certainly be made that commercialization has crept into the under graduate programmes.

Our under graduate education has become a business like affair. We do have access to private universities, online education and ICT applications, but this does not match the purpose and scope of higher education. In under graduate programmes, creative thinking is in the form of online lectures and notes prepared by someone else. The higher education programmes have to be more innovative to keep pace with the graduate programmes. The scenario for employability of students after higher education is quite lacklustre. Efforts have to be made to bring about an improvement.

The higher education space needs lot of fresh thinking. We can’t have students spending another 5 or 10 years of their life in education, when they have already been studying for years.

A good higher education programme will naturally demand the fundamental revision of the education from the elementary level onwards. Higher education cannot flower without there being a solid base of lower levels of education.

Higher education must not be conducted only with the aim of getting better jobs. Higher education should not be left in private hands; it has to be supported by the government, as building higher education institutions is a capital intensive activity. Perhaps we need to have a national policy on higher education that is funded by the public money.

Emerging Trends in Higher Education and Assessments

Achieving Global Standards in Education The hour is to have a technological solution for holistic engineering practice and system

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ducation institutions, particularly those in engineering sector, constantly face the challenge of upgrading their infrastructure to meet global standards. But many of the technical universities and institutions are unable to bring about the requisite improvements, and they turn into sort of degree shops. The fall in quality of academic research is a direct result of the low calibre of our institutions.

The balance of economic and financial power is gradually but steadily shifting towards Asia. It is high time our educational institutions made some concerted attempts to focus on higher education. They should attempt to enhance their skill levels by developing key national and international partnership based on the synergistic

Dr Francis C Peter, Vice Chancellor, Dr K N Modi University power of industry, government and academia. Such partnerships will be based on academic integrity, diversity of students and faculty, enhancements of the institutionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s core mission, and also on factors related to national interest. The success, of

course, will depend on the physical, intellectual, and academic infrastructure that the institutions already have.

The measurable parameter is obviously the employability and productivity in terms of social relevance in meeting the national goals and objectives. The academic process should bear the burden of the scrutiny of quality, integrity, adherence to rules, regulations and time table and adhocracy of supporting infrastructure. In short, for achieving the above, we have to adopt a mandate to ensure coordinated development, through proper planning and administration.

The need of the hour is to have a technological solution for holistic engineering practice and system in place in all our institutions.

Higher Education Needs to Align Itself with Industry There is a lot of job opportunities provided the graduate students have the requisite skills sets

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he emerging trends in higher education should be aligned to the broader trends in the industry, because it is in the industry that the students will look for jobs once they finish their graduation. Just as the industry faces several challenges, our universities also face challenges. These challenges are not aligned to each other, but in an ideal world, they should have been.

The way the students acquire knowledge, the way they learn, the way they communicate in the industry has become digital now. The digital life is further fuelling the process of globalisation. Globalisation means access to global talents, access to newer products and services and so on.

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Deepankar Bhattacharya, Sr Manager, India Education Programmes, AutoDesk Then there is the issue of infrastructure management. Millions and trillions of dollars are being spent in the emerging economies for creating new infrastructure.

The challenges of globalisation, infrastructure and much else cannot be addressed in a simplistic manner. There is a need for new ideas and approaches in the education.

In the design sector, we are looking at emerging technologies like building information modelling, digital prototyping, sustainable design and digitals entertainment creation. So, if we look at the architecture, engineering and construction industry, things like building information modelling is the need of our hour. If we look at the manufacturing industry, digital prototyping is the drift.

There is a vast potential for growth in the animation industry and therefore, massive requirement of talent.

40 EXPERIENCE: 40 years delivering education technology and services

2,300 CUSTOMERS: 2,300 institutions from 40 countries around the world

13,500 COMMUNITY: 13,500 customers share best practices at regional user groups

20,000 COLLABORATION: 20,000 customers participate in a vibrant online community

1,000 ADVISORY BODIES: 1,000 customers provide direction about products and services

9 SOLUTION CENTRES: 9 global solution centers for addressing localized needs

www.ellucian.in

Ellucian: 40 Years of Success in Delivering Exceptional Education Technology Solutions and Services Ellucian delivers sound, strategic guidance and a broad portfolio of powerful technology solutions to help educational institutions provide exceptional service for their constituents.

Collaboration: It’s in our DNA

At Ellucian, our commitment to deliver innovative, flexible technology solutions is informed by the collective insight of 2,300 customer institutions in 40 countries around the world. Engaging closely with our customer community to learn how we can move forward together, we encourage collaboration through a variety of channels: Leadership in Education Community. Ellucian works actively with the education community, taking a leadership role with associations and policy boards to further the academic enterprise. We sponsor research, provide advice and counsel, and invest in programs and initiatives that deliver value across higher education.

The Commons, Ellucian’s community site. In this interactive environment, 20,000 customers, partners, and employees share experiences, ask questions, find answers, and build a collaborative and informed community.

The Community Source Initiative, a software development model driven by the wisdom of customers who use Ellucian solutions every day. The Initiative provides a forum where Ellucian customers discuss mutual interests and collaborate to address issues or problems they face. Their ideas, peer-reviewed to ensure quality, help shape enhancements in the technology and functionality of Ellucian’s baseline solutions.

Shared Code Repository. In the spirit of open sourcing, Ellucian maintains a wellregarded Shared Code Repository, where institutions can share “as is” code they have developed. An effective incubator for new thinking, this friendly, supportive collaborative has more than 1,500 registered participants.

Code Camps. To support our many customers who love to talk code, we help Ellucian customers organize informal gatherings of developers to tackle specific problems.

Flexible and fun, code camps are a different way for developers—or budding software engineers—to develop code, network with other developers, share tips and tricks, and learn more about today’s and tomorrow’s technologies.

Customer meetings. Through global user group meetings, Ellucian engages over 13,000 customers face-to-face who share information and best practices.

Ellucian: The Power of Collaboration

Ultimately, the power of Ellucian’s collaboration with its customers translates into new ideas and solutions—tools that help our customer institutions navigate successfully in a world where technologies are quickly reshaping how people learn and new platforms for delivering higher education are emerging rapidly.

We invite you to join our community. We welcome your insights, and the opportunity to show you how Ellucian can help you strengthen your institution and the learning experience it delivers.

Vocationalising Education and Skill Development

The Ailments in Indian Vocational Education Children should be encouraged to develop skills

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ocational Education focuses on imparting some specific job related skills to the students. Vocational training is not part of higher education, it stands somewhere between schools and higher education depending upon the case and the need of the job.

In school education, we do not nurture and help the children, instead we kill the creativity of the child by setting rules for everything. Right from Kindergarten, teachers take complete control of the child’s mind. Instead of allowing the child to develop his own brand of creativity, the teachers fill him up with their own ideas.

It should come as no surprise that after some amount of this kind of training, the

child starts following a prescribed way of doing things. Creativity is the fountainhead of any skill. Skills will not develop in children, if they are not allowed to showcase their talents from childhood.

In India, our engineers do not get to open and rebuild things, so problem solving approach is never developed.

The students are great on paper, but hands on knowledge is missing and students don’t have the courage to join bits and pieces and learn in the process.

Another important change that needs to be implemented is that our system of education should focus more on enabling students to develop right kind of skills, rather than on simply awarding degrees.

Diplomas should be given to students who have acquired a specific

Prof Sandeep Sancheti, Director, NITK Surathkal skill. Students who have higher skill set should be given degrees. There should be a modular structure where entry is given to vocational education based skills. When a specific skill set is prescribed, then even 12th exams will not be necessary and people with skills will be given lateral entry.

Our Universities Need Quality Research Facilities The number of universities is important, but even more important is the quality of education

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n 1854, East India Company established three universities in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras and today India is home to 600 universities” Today youth in India want to study at premier institutions; even these institutions face a major drawback in their research facilities. There has been a steep fall in the ranking of India’s educational institutions year after year, while the ranking of universities in other countries keeps rising.

The students in India are quite capable, they are making a mark everywhere in the world. But the problem of engineering students in India is that they have no practical knowledge due

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to poor facilities for research in the institutions where they are being trained.

Indian students tend to shy away from the practical problems.

India has a rich tradition in education, but no new innovations in education have happened after the burning of Nalanda University in 12th century. In 1854, East India Company established three universities in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras and today India is home to 600 universities.

The number of universities is important, but even more important is the quality of education that they provide. We need to look at the structure of our universities and devise a system

Akshai Aggarwal, Vice Chancellor, Gujarat Technological University that is suitable for doing thorough research. We don’t have to blindly create more replicas of the IITs, we can try to evolve some other models also.

Technology Enabled Campus Infrastructure

Access, Equity and Quality in Education We should take advantage of technology to unleash the strength of our universities

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echnology holds the key to the future of education. Technology has a great potential to strengthen universities. A lot of educational activities can be conducted more efficiently once we start using the latest innovations. Technology is a tool which is used to face the challenges in education sector.

To meet the needs of access, equity, quality and the shortage of faculty, universities are increasingly depending upon the technological tools.

BITS has increased the student strength from 3,500 in the year 2000 to 10,500 in 2010. This is an increase of 300 percent. They have around 18,000 working professionals who are pursuing their continuing education and earning degrees both at bachelorsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; and mastersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; level. Admissions are conducted by

computer based online system called BITSAT (BITS Admission Test).

The tests are conducted at 20 different centres over a period of one month.

1.15 lakhs people appeared for this admission test for 2100 seats in across three Indian campuses. All registration processes, timetables and integrated learning programmes for working professionals are delivered through online systems.

Unless innovative ways are developed, universities will lose their importance and many virtual universities will takeover. In the virtual world students have the freedom to learn at leisure and the new consultant will be an invisible professor available in some offices with computer. Things are going to change and proper research should help education and technology

Prof V S Rao, Director, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad Campus enabled services in every university.

The role of teacher cannot be diminished and these technologies are going to supplement the teacher. We should take the advantages of the technology that is available and unleash the strength of our universities.

Taking Indian Education to New Heights With right use of ICT, education can become a much more enjoyable experience for the teachers as well as students

I Prof Dilip K Bandyopadhyay, Vice Chancellor, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University

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ndia faces a major deficiency of teachers, especially in the state universities, where 40 percent posts are lying vacant. The syllabus in these universities is not getting covered and the examinations are losing their value rapidly.

Today, we are on the brink of a revolution in the education technology. India has taken many bold steps in implementing the National Mission of Education through ICT by bringing technology to classroom teaching.

One important intervention has been in the area of creating digital content, providing the connectivity and the access devices. Such a system enables anyone from

the university to access content through a range of net-connected devices.

The major benefit of such learning methods is that students have an opportunity to learn 24 hours a day and all 365 days a week. The issues of place and time fade away.

Keeping content in the online space is one thing, and helping students understand it is something quite different. The teachers have to act as the mentors and facilitators. They must help the students understand the content thoroughly.

With right use of ICT, education can become a much more enjoyable experience for the teachers as well as students.

Technology Enabled Campus Infrastructure

Meta-university will Promote Effective Learning Open access movement in higher education is the key for emergence of meta-university

D

uring the last 15-20 years new developments on the technological front have brought about major changes in the way we approach education.

Campus infrastructure is not only about physical boundary. It consists of manpower, faculty, student and staff along with physical infrastructures like the buildings, labs, classrooms hostels, housings, and other technological tools embedded into the system. We have features like teachinglearning platforms through video conferencing, virtual classrooms, and much else.

As far as the manpower is concerned, faculty shortage is the most challenging task that we are faced with. Faculty doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t drop down to us from tree tops; it takes decades of training to create an effective

teacher. A good teacher who can face the challenges of higher education must be imbued with the six Cs: Competence, Creativity, Confidence, Caring, Collaborations and Communication. Unfortunately, most of the PhDs and teachers that are available these days are not employable because of the poor quality.

Nowadays most university campuses are ICT enabled. They are equipped with, intranet and internet. With the emergence of the National Knowledge Network one GBPS connectivity is available. Online access to books, journals, periodicals, and the learning management system which make the campus more efficient are coming up.

Meta-university will promote collaborative and multidisciplinary learning

Dr K K Dwivedi, Vice Chancellor, Apeejay Stya University through the use of National Knowledge Network. The availability of open courseware and the emergence of open access movement in higher education is the key for emergence for meta-university.

Awareness is the Biggest Ailment of Higher Education Unless people know how to use technology, it is useless to create new technological solutions for education

Dr Pankaj Mittal, Vice Chancellor, BPS Mahila Vishwavidyalaya

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igher education system faces the problem of Expansion, Equity and Excellence. But the biggest problem of all is the problem of

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awareness. Plethoras of technologies are available, but very few people know how to use it.

When we talk of Expansion, we talk about escalating the GER to 21 percent from the current 12 percent by end of the 12th Five Year Plan. The best way of increasing the ratio is by increasing the number of universities and colleges. We can also try to increase the intake capacity of the existing institutions. Public-Private Partnerships can be engineered. However, our government lacks the financial strength to increase the number of institutions or improve the quality of education being offered in the existing institutions.

Distance education is a viable option.

Ther is a lot of divide in our country:

divide between rich and poor; rural and urban; male-female divide and so on.

Technology is a great equaliser. It brings together people from different sections of the society.

Quality of teachers is the first and foremost thing that determines the quality of education. The issue of quality of teachers can be addressed by technology; we can have video lectures from the best teachers.

If we want to convert our demographic dividend to knowledge power, we have to market our education and technology to spread awareness. Unless people know how to use technology, it is useless to create new technological solutions for education.

Advertorial

Technolgy @

Accurate Institute of Management and Technology, Greater Noida Awarded Best eCampus At World Education Summit 2012 tomised. The ICT infra of the classroom includes a ceiling mounted projector, along with an interactive device is installed in classroom, with a CPU equipped with digital content and audio-visual resources. By utilising technology inter alia faculty members are able to share, add or edit content with other teacher.

Teachers can create question papers. The institute has introduced complete E set up in all areas of activities including Lab, Library, Classroom teaching, monitoring of attendance, evaluation system, etc.

Poonam Sharma, Group Director, Accurate Institute of Management and Technology receives Jury choice award for the Best eCampus

All the activities at the campus of Accurate Institute of Management and Technology are thoroughly managed using latest e-Technologies. The institute has designed programmes, which equips professors with skills to integrate technology into the curriculum.

With India becoming one of the fastest growing economies in the globe, the demand for industrially and technically skilled professionals are increasing. The objective is to keep pace with the current Technology so that our student are well equipped with modern technology.

e-Classroom Classrooms lessons are very well cus-

ERP System and Social Media The Instituteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s library is managed by ERP System efficiently. Simulation games are also being promoted by the institue. In the past we had actively supported much such initiative in association of some other professional bodies like AIMA. Recently AIMA has associated with the institute to organise simulation games and we are one of the main sponsor of the event. Accurate is also the exclusive venue sponsor in the North India. The institute have also used various social media like Facebook and Linkedin to establish good and meaningful networking and effective communication.

digitalLEARNING digitalLEARNING / september / august 2012

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Conference Corner

Subodh Kant Sahay, Minister of Tourism, Government of India

Sudhir K Jain, Director, IIT Gandhi Nagar

In India, we are very shy of recognising excellence. We need to become bolder in identifying talent.

The good work being done in the education sector by people in the country needs to be recognised and awarded. The system of awarding talent has to be fair and transparent.

The Indian civilization has made many seminal contributions in education to the world. The Nalanda University, which existed almost 2000 years ago, is still regarded by the historians as one of the worldâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s first great universities. Modern India must work hard to recapture the greatness that was once there in our education system.

We have to create many new world class universities for educating our youth.

Indian institutions are not there in the top 200 position of any of the survey, despite the fact that the country is home to large number of universities and millions of students. Research publication and patent filing is not up to the mark. There is an urgent need for us to develop a new model for fostering creativity and research.

The system has to be revolutionised, a drastic change is required. Research activities can enhance the image of the college or university.

It is right time to think about having innovations in our universities.

Dr RSK Lakhshmana Prabhu, Managing Director, PSNA College of Engineering Technology

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HE Prasad Kariyawasam, High Commissioner for Sri Lanka to India

It is important that we should start thinking about the reasons due to which our education system has started failing, despite the fact that India had very lofty standards of education during the ancient era. Great advances in education had been made in the times of Ashoka and Buddha. In this modern day and age, it is important to find out the reasons that why our children receive better education in the Western countries and not in our own countries.

We need more innovation in the education sector. It is only through innovation that we can improve the state of our education.

Leveraging Private Sector for Education

Private Sector Participation in Education Has to be Encouraged An enormous amount of work has been done by private sector and the government sector in the field of education, but we are missing the common ground from where the achievements of one sector can be used by the other for further improving educational outcomes.

The government is trying to provide the infrastructure, but how to use that infrastructure is a problem. It is possible that we can make a much better use of the educational infrastructure once there is private sector participation. The Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya Vidyalaya are great model schools, but the government cannot replicate these schools beyond a particular number. This is where private sector partici-

pation is necessary.

The other area where we face problems is when a university wants to connect all its colleges through e-learning and want to have a good faculty development program.

This cannot be achieved because they have to use content developed by national mission on ICT. The best faculty makes this content, but still the content might not be useful to students in other colleges. The fact is that any programme for creation of good educational content can only give successful results if it has active participation from private sector.

Companies like Microsoft and Intel have done excellent work for bringing ICT into schools.

Amit Gupta CEO, S Chand Group

Faculty Must be Empowered for Reaching out to the Students

Vivek Agarwal, CEO, Liqvid In the education sector, many companies have sold ICT solutions to various schools. Technology is seen as a hardware and software but what that software or hardware does to the learner, is completely missing. In e-Learning industry, we have these three balls metric. We call it: Content, Technology and Services. Services go toward making technology and content can work together to make learning effective and that is our ultimate objective.

The How do we make learners learn better? This is a big challenge for the private sector. We have a number of teachers but the quality of teachers is a problem. This problem

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can be addressed through technology. We need to innovate and figure out what works by broadening the definition of ICT. The missing pieces in the puzzle of ICT indicate that we do not focus enough on the faculty.

If we do not empower the faculty, then we cannot reach out to the students. We do not have infrastructure to reach the students directly yet.

Even in U.S., much of the training and learning happens inside the classroom. Yet all the products and systems are designed for self study. The big challenge for us is to figure out how to make technology which helps the learner learn better.

Enough technology is available, but the application of technology is missing. We are talking about mobile and tablets but we have to see how it can affect the learning process. Technology does not have a limitation. Its limitation is only in the form of insufficient bandwidth or computing power. There are lots of products available in the market for the learner, but we have to figure out how they work for the learner.

So we have to focus on application of technology and figure out how to evaluate the quality. This is a big challenge.

Enabling Children to Learn Higher education doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t simply mean generating employment; it is much more than that. It is about inspiring people with a new vision; it is about educating people to develop new skills; it is about enabling people to support themselves and take the mission forward.

Partnerships are not only about profit making.

It is about building confidence in the education system. It is about enhancement of education.

And this is the right time to achieve this target. This is the time when we are talking of advancements in the system. Adminis-

Leveraging Private Sector for Education

Every Citizen has the Right to Acquire Education India, with its plurality and paradoxes, never ceases to fascinate. The growth of the Indian economy in the recent past and the compulsion to sustain such a growth, is now forcing the Indian government to accelerate the process of developing all the branches of Indian education system.

The present day education system has deviated from the traditional system that was prevalent in India. Many career alternatives, which were not formerly regarded as popular options, are now being pursued by students. Upcoming

options like e-learning and distance education programmes are serving wonderfully by enabling the less advantaged segment of the society to access quality education.

The recent sling is that knowledge even at the elementary level is not acquired with the intention of extracting jobs, but to build a satisfying career. Lot of efforts are being put to make education easier and enjoyable. But one challenge still remains: We have not been able to cover the entire population under ambit of the literacy.

More than the 70 percent of the recruitment companies use aptitude test to evaluate candidates during the recruitment process, so it is advisable that Aptitude Education should be made compulsory at the school level. It is Aptitude Education that prepares students for the actual competition that they have to face right after the completion of their intermediate examination.

The private education sector suffers from drawbacks like quality, fee structure, governance model, affordability

Gaurav Singh Chauhan Manager (Managing Directorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Office), Mahendra Educational Pvt Ltd and so on. The private sector players in education space have to make many new efforts to rid our education system of the drawbacks.

Children can Create Great Content

Seema Parihar, Joint Director, Developing Countries Research Centre, University of Delhi trators should have strong responsibility. They should be the ones to showcase data and that can be possible only by speeding up the process by which education is imparted.

People enter the education system as they consider it to be a place where they can think freely. They should be given that freedom to think.

Sumeet Mehta, CEO, Zee Learn Ltd

Education sector in India is divided between academia and the industry, between public and private and between old and the young. We canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t change the education sector without involving the parents and children in the process.

The role of the private sector in transforming education is important. Private sector has to transform content so that it empowers the country. Currently we have

many discrepancies in the education sector in terms of quality of education and demand and supply of institutions.

When it comes to education, lot of new funds would be required to bridge the gap between demand and supply. Private sector can be a good source of funds for the education space.

However, the government looks at private sector with doubt.

Regulatory hurdles have been created to prevent the private sector from blossoming in the education space.

The private sector should not focus only on their own profits, because then they will not be able to make progress in a field like education, which many regard as being completely altruistic. When the education in a private institution is not good and the employability of the students who graduate is not there, then these institutions are bound to close down.

digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Special Feature

Revolutionising Education through Skills Development in Schools

Dr Haresh Tank Director, Station-e Language Lab

A

cross the world, concerns of education resonate with same intensity. While the competition has grown manifold, the quality of education has come under question. Students memorise books full of data, but basic skills/subjects that village schools used to impart well such as Mathematics and Language Skills are worrying the educationists today. The education debate over the quality has led to the advent of a whole new jargon, but how much of that has made things clear to us is yet to be discovered. We may think that we

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have arrived at a logical destination, but in the second decade of the 21st century, we can longer take anything for granted, especially in the aspect of education. In fact, in the century known as Knowledge Century, we must most rigorously apply ourselves to seeking clarity regarding the foundational notions of skills development, education and the experience they create in combination.

When one considers the education scenario in India, the situation becomes even more complicated because there are as many layers to the quality of education, as one can imagine- government schools, private schools, rural schools, urban schools, etc. What the sample list reflects is the wide spectrum of educational experience. Amidst all of this, teaching/training of language skills, particularly English is yet another complex piece of the puzzle. While the urban schools encourage and almost convert students to English, majority of students in India study in government schools and they find it extremely challenging to graduate to English. What this means is that this lot of students then go to higher education institutions in their quest of employment and better life. However, they lag behind and find themselves inadequate to compete at the highest level due to lack of proficiency in English. It happens because they are too late in realising that the best time to learn and master language skills up to the level of proficiency was sometime in school.

Governments come and go, planning commission continues to churn policy papers, but the core of the issue of employability lies unaddressed that it is in

schools that we have to initiate our best practices of training students as far as soft skills are concerned. Thanks to the efforts of some of the organisations and experts in the domain of education, there is a growing recognition of the fact that schools are the best possible place to train students for communication skills and other soft skills. Modern educationists have now come to believe that by merely working at the level of higher education is not sufficient because a learnerâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s learning habits are formed much earlier in school, particularly at the primary level.

These insights are quite unsettling when one looks at the education policy and scenario in India as the thrust seems to be prominently on higher education, and primary and secondary education still await the kind of attention it needs.

To illustrate the point a little more clearly, it is unscientific to teach soft skills, such as communication skills at the undergraduate and post graduate levels because the language habits of a learner are best formed at the school level. Keeping this view, when one considers that we establish language labs and worry for their market-oriented skills only when the learner is at the UG/PG level, it seems that we are way too late in

Special Feature

â&#x20AC;&#x153;To address the issues of training of language skills and other soft skills, digital classroom at the school level is the most effective tool at our disposalâ&#x20AC;? establishing our language labs and initiating our soft skills programmes.

To address the issues of training of language skills and other soft skills, digital classrooms at the school level are the most futuristic and effective tools at our disposal. First and foremost, it creates the 21st century space for the language learning for digital natives who have to grow up and claim their rightful place in the world. Secondly, as far as language teaching is concerned, a welcome change will be brought about as the outmoded methods of lecture and

blackboard-chalk-duster are rested for a while, as language learning in digital classroom is entirely activity-based and learner-centric. Learners get to learn language skills and other soft skills through the method. Language learning, if it has to, acquire material shape, has to mould itself to this form. To put it simply, digital classroom would usher in the era of ICTempowered mode of language learning.

Thirdly, digital classroom would provide a competent platform for training of communication skills and other soft skills through activity-based learning practices-something that is still an elusive ideal in the teacher-centric, lectureheavy classrooms of the country. On the whole, a digital classroom, as elucidated above, will lay the foundation of some of the most fruitful learning and pedagogical practices for higher education in terms of skills training such as communication proficiency. For instance, if digital classroom is implemented at school level, higher education will never have to worry about training graduates for communication proficiency or any other employment-enhancing skills.

It would equip learners at school level with such fine language skills that they would be confident beings, independent

enough to explore the uncharted terrains of knowledge through soft skills.

They would also be confident and skilled enough to go anywhere in the country for higher education, appear in entrance exams and face interviews. Digital Classroom is one-stop solution to all that plagues higher education in terms of employability concerns in terms of soft skills training and raising the bar of education in general in the country.

Hence, it is to the credit of our concerted endeavours that we have researched over the years and worked out the school model of soft skills and particularly language proficiency. Our model incorporates establishment of digital classroom for the school initiating language skills from Std 6th leading up to Std. 12th. This should be a process spread up to Std 12th in the graded manner. Like the classes of sports, music and drawing, the school timetable must have classes for language proficiency from class 6th to class 12th. This digital classroom is equipped with highly advanced audio-visual aids and training modules on various soft skills with a thrust on language proficiency. With the best of the training modules for digital classroom, highly advanced technology employed to train the students in a digital environment of language learning and activity-based learning practices make the school model of digital classroom the ideal way of transforming education and create a digital connect in the education which has been conceptualised for years and has not materialised so far. Digital classroom would do what all our efforts of revolutionising education have not been able to do- it will liberate language training and soft skills training from the shackles of age-old learning and pedagogical practices and empower the learners for the 21st century experience of language learning and equip them with the 21st century skills.

For the youngest country in the world to soar to glory, we need to make sure the younger generation does not lag behind in terms of communication proficiency and other soft skills. Integrating language proficiency and other soft skills in the form of a digital classroom at the school level is not a choice that we have the opportunity to make but it is rather a compulsion, while the clock is ticking away. digitalLEARNING / september 2012

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Guest Article

Teachers are the

Backbone of

Education System

By Veena Raizada, Director Academics, Next Education India Pvt Ltd

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Because of the fact that the teachers hold the key to brighter future, the teaching profession is poised for a big leap 98

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he paradigm shift in education over last few decades, calls for a change from the traditional methods of schooling to one that will enrich the learning process and empower the learners for the most critical exam called life.

School education in the techno-savvy world of today has become a complex subject. School architectural designs need to focus on provision of learning spaces, platforms for experimental, exploring and experiential learning, and classroom technologies that create innovative and interactive learning environments. Curriculum designs are increasingly becoming customised to enhance individual learning. The success of this continuum will continue to be a huge challenge unless we are supported by the core force of ‘Quality Teachers.’

Almost a decade back, in the international PISA assessments in 2000, Finland emerged on the top with a high level of academic achievement. Educationists and policy makers in education all across the globe were surprised to witness the “Finnish Miracle,” as it came to be called. And it led to many researchers devoting themselves to .

“In examining the sources of Finland’s dramatic rise to the top, researchers discovered that one key element that has impacted Finland’s success above all others is the availability of excellent teachers. Teachers are the main reason Finland now leads the international pack in literacy, science, and math.”(Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education ~ Research Brief-Sep2010) Teachers are the backbone of an edu-

cation system. The way the teachers do their teaching has a seminal influence on what the students learn. The role of the teachers and their competency in transactional processes of educational curriculum remain crucial to an effective outcome of learning.

Emphasising the need for quality teachers, UNESCO report-2009 (on projecting the demand for teachers to meet the goals of Universal Primary Education by 2015) clearly states that “Without adequate numbers of professionally qualified teachers, including female teachers, who are deployed in the right places, well-remunerated and motivated, adequately supported and proficient in local languages, we cannot offer the world’s children quality education.”

Since time immemorial, teachers’ role in effective learning has been recognised.

Several decades ago, the Education Commission of India (1964-66) accepted the influence of teachers, with this set of powerful words: “No system can rise above the status of its teachers…” Preparing the students of today for tomorrow is a huge responsibility of the educators. With technology growing exponentially and changing the world around us, the future remains unpredictable.

There have been numerous efforts for improving teacher education, yet a lot needs to be done. The emerging complexity of global economic, social and environmental challenges is creating demands for an education framework that would will the children of today to be innovative, creative and skilled citizens of tomorrow.

Hence, the paramount need of the present times is indeed “quality teachers.”

Product Launch

Pearson Launches

Screening Test

for Dyslexia to Empower School Teachers

P

earson Clinical and Talent Assessment, a division of Pearson has launched the India edition of their flagship screening test for the Indian market, DST-J India (Dyslexia Screening Test – Junior, India Edition) for school teachers, special educators and psychologists across schools in India.

The DST-J India is a revolutionary

istered by general school teachers, unlike most other psychological tests used in the school system that can be used by special educators or psychologists only.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Angela Fawcett, Vice President, British Dyslexia Association, Emeritus Professor, Swansea University, UK and author, Pearson Clinical & Talent Assessment stated, “The

Also present during the launch was Dr Nitin Anand who spearheaded the India standardization project for the DST-J India optimistic about the role of the DST-J India in the school system in India, Dr Anand stated, “The DSTJIndia is a watershed in developing assessments for the Indian school system.

The DST-J India will ensure children

psychological screening test to identify children at risk for Dyslexia, which was launched at the World Education Summit 2012, New Delhi. The DST-J India is poised to change the way schools identify children with learning disabilities and create an inclusive learning environment for all children. The DST-J India was developed from leading scientific research by Pearson Clinical & Talent Assessment that is changing the way children and adults learn in India. This test is unique because it can be admin-

DST-J is globally recognised as the most successful and effective screening tool for dyslexia and other learning difficulties, which lead to failure and distress for up to 20 percent of children across the world.

It empowers teachers to identify academic problems before children fail, and helps them to learn. The DST-J India will transform the future of children in India who are struggling to learn, thus allowing them to express their strengths and overcome their weaknesses. I am delighted to bring this test to India!”

who have so far been disadvantaged in traditional classrooms due to their learning disabilities, will be identified at an early age for this condition. Early identification is essential to offer timely support to such children and positively alter their learning trajectory. The DST-J India is an outcome of an extensive scientific study carried out across eleven cities of India and represent’s Pearson’s commitment to provide high-quality assessments for education, psychology and allied fields.”

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academia speak

We hope to improve the overall standard of education in the neglected sections of society A distinguished educationist, who has made exemplary contribution in the field of education, Dr Sanjay B Choradia, CMD, Suryadutta Group of Institutions, has plans to use education as a tool for empowering the disadvantaged sections of the society. In this interview, Choradia shares his passion to create a knowledge society Tell us about the courses offered by your institute?

We are primarily looking at the skills and vocational courses. When we started our group in 1999, our philosophy was to offer education to all, irrespective of their caste, financial status and economic background. Today there is a big gap between those who are educated and those who are un-educated. The Indian government does not have a policy to cater to the educational needs of those who could not take regular education at the right age and due to various constraints.

So we have decided to bring the marginalised people into mainstream education space. Many of these people are into minor jobs where they barely eke out a living. They work on daily wages. In order to improve their status in the society, we have designed courses that specifically cater to the needs of these low-income groups and senior citizens. This will help them to upgrade themselves by acquiring new skills. New job opportunities

will open for them. They will also have the chance to become entrepreneurs.

What made you decide to stress on the vocational courses?

Our vocation and life skills courses are designed to encourage students to upgrade their skill sets and become a more productive member of the society. The vision behind these courses is to bring more strength into the life and work of those who exist at the lower strata of society.

Today, in many cities we will see that the children are highly educated; however, the parents never got the opportunity to learn.

Our aim is to include them as lifelong learners and enable them to get acquainted with latest technology such as computers. We have conducted many workshops for the auto rickshaw drivers and daily wage workers on computers and English to help them upgrade their skills and knowledge in their workplace. We hope to improve the overall standards of education in the neglected sections of society.

What are your expectations from the government?

The government should introduce many channels of formal education for those who belong to the low-income groups in society. This will help in creating a good balance in the society. Knowledge can be provided in the form of skills, it does not necessarily have to be just degree or certificate printed on paper. We have a boutique of courses for students and working professionals. The evening classes are held for the working professionals and they can avail of all the infrastructure and educational resources available at the institute. This is a great opportunity for educational institutes to make the most of their infrastructure and accommodate more learners . The government has many scheme designed for school and higher education for regular education, we as corporate players in the education field can contribute to the society by creating new ways of gaining knowledge.

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Winners Best Innovation in Pedagogical Practices (Public Choice): Rumi Education Pvt. Ltd.

Best Training Provider for working professionals (Jury Choice): Mother`s Pride

Best Innovation in pedagogical practices (Jury Choice): Excelsoft Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Best eCampus (Jury Choice ): Accurate Institute of Management and Technology

Best eSchool (Jury Choice): Lilavatibai Podar Senior Secondary School School, Mumbai

Best Government sector initiative in education (Jury Choice): Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education and Intel Technology Pvt. Ltd.

Best innovation by engineering institute (Jury Choice): MIT Pune`s Maharashtra Academy of Engineering

Best Innovation by management institute (Jury Choice): Shanti Business sshool

Best innovation by private university (Jury Choice): Apeejay Satya University

Best Innovation in global Collaborative Learning-Higher Education (Jury Choice): Cisco Networking Academy

Best innovation in global collaborative learning-School Education (Jury Choice): The Orchid School, Pune

Best innovation in pre school & special needs education (Jury Choice): Shri Ram Global Pre school

Best innovation in Vocational Education and skills Training (Jury Choice) Aptech Limited and TRRAIN Foundation

Best interactive solution provider (Jury Choice): NIIT Limited

Best Multimedia Content for K12 education (Jury Choice) Extramarks Education Pvt. Ltd

Best Public-Private Partnership in the field of Vocational education and skills training (Jury Choice): KVTSDC, DET and iRize

Best Tablet provider in education (Jury Choice): Educomp Child Care Pvt. Ltd.

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Best Technology Solution for Higher Education Institute (Jury Choice) Winzest Edutech Pvt. Ltd.

Best innovation in open and distance learning for K-12 and higher education (Jury Choice): Mahatma Gandhi University

Best innovation on Teaching, Learning Technology (Public Choice): Pearson Education Service

Best multimedia content for K12 education (Public Choice): Next Education Pvt. Ltd

Best eCampus (Public Choice): Suresh Gyan Vihar University

Best eSchool (Public Choice): DAV Public School

Best Government sector initiative in education (Public Choice): IIT Bombay

Best innovation by engineering institute (Public Choice): Swami Parmanand Group of Colleges

Best Innovation by management institute (Public Choice): Maharaja College of Management, Udaipur

Best innovation by private university (Public Choice): O.P. Jindal Global University

Best innovation in education-startup (Public Choice): k-Kampus Edutrainment

Best Innovation in global Collaborative Learning - Higher Education (Public Choice): Lovely Professional University

Best innovation in global collaborative learning - School Education (Public Choice): Ryan International Group of Institution

Best innovation in Vocational Education and skills Training (Public Choice): Brainwave Education Consultants

Best interective solution provider (Public Choice): Microsoft Corporation india Pvt. Ltd

Best Public-Private Partnership in the field of Vocational education and skills training (Public Choice): Mahatma Gandhi International School

Best Technology Solution for Higher Education Institute (Public Choice): Marksman Tecnologies Pvt. Ltd.

Best test preparation, evaluation and assessment tool provider (Public Choice): Mahendra Educational Pvt Ltd

Best Training Provider to working professionals (Public Choice): Apex Foundation & CMJ University

Best innovation in open and distance learning for K-12 and higher education (Public Choice): University of Colombo, Institute for Agro-technology & Rural Sciences

Best interective solution provider (Special Jury Choice): Mexus Education Pvt Ltd

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guest article

Applying Evaluation to Improve Learning Outcomes

Scaling up to Small Schools to a Million Students

By Girish Bhandari, Co-founder, Mosaic Network (India) Pvt Ltd

What would it take to change the lives of children in India…not one by one, through heroic interventions and occasional miracles, but in big numbers, and in a way that could be replicated nationwide!

I

t is becoming increasingly clear that student performance can be improved if evaluation aims to assess individual students learning with the goal to inform teachers on how to individualise their interactions with each student. The challenge however is twofold. First, it is resource intensive to design and/or select appropriate assessments that not only highlight differences in learning needs and achievements of students, but are also sensitive to the context of diverse learning goals.

Second, it is not always straightforward to provide results from evaluations through these assessments to the teachers in a timely manner such that the teachers can use these results to have informed decisions at individual student basis. Several models have been developed and implemented that address these challenges, especially for the high risk students.

As a global company with Indian roots we would like to contribute towards making a positive change for the

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Indian youth. Having 12 years of experience in America’s, Europe and in some underdeveloped countries in Africa and Asia in applying technology towards evaluating and enhancing the impact of services in the fields of education, social science research and implementation of education based community collaborative, we are strongly committed to an all-around “social change” in India towards global environment, stronger communities and evidence-based social programmes. And for this goal, we, in partnership with other companies working in future technologies; investors that are supporting e-learning, as well as both private and educational research institutes, are interested in making a positive contribution to the development of effective Assessment platform, Employment Skills and English language in various regions across the country.

Our 4Q Learning framework is being used in with a goal to use evaluation as a scale up tool to improve learning outcomes of a million students and beyond.

Through various pilots, lessons learned in the past three years in India, and our plans to implement this model will highlight how timely access of targeted

evaluation results in the hands of teachers can significantly improve individual student performance. With our evaluation platform embedded in day to day practice, teachers can customize their lessons to each student on a day-to-day basis with an end goal of better learning outcomes. Our pilot efforts in India highlight the effectiveness of the 4Q approach across multiple cultural and linguistic contexts.

Our project delivers multiple levels of bi-lingual lessons based on standard language learning frameworks, with contents customized to adapt to local needs. The unique element of this project is that it relies on technology to deliver training content and real-time evaluation results to ensure quality outcomes for individual students. Our project integrates technology and evaluation to positively impact the language and communication skills of more than one million students over the next two years.

We at Mosaic believe that using technology and very simple personalised services will help in closing the knowledge and opportunity gap between rural and urban India and change the lives of our children.

Best Innovation in Vocational Education and Skills Training

Thought

Web and Flexilearn

by Brainwave Education Consultants

Advertorial

B

rainwave education wins the accolade at the World Education Summit 2012 for best innovation in Vocational Education and Skills Training for its Thoughweb and Flexilearn programme. The self modulated program have been specially designed by Brainwave to facilitate the psychological enhancements of people of all ages and professions to uplift one’s psyche so as to hone out the best of skills meant for presentations, interview preparations and public speaking.

Since, last 12 years the company has been training professionals, students, and job seekers for the public speaking.

The objectives of the programme are to hone the talent for public speaking. To train people on how to present oneself effectively. The programme intended to extract life skill with self help. It also aims to induce the right moral values through motivational speaking.

Achievements of the programme • Above 10,000 students trained since last 10 years • Jawans are ready for the S.S.B interview and group discussions • Interview cracking has become far easier • Adolescents feel more comfortable in the classroom • Teacher student relationship has become more conducive and friendly

Brainwave Education Consultants win Public Choice Award for Best innovation in Vocational Education and skills Training

Contact for Motivational speaking, Corporate training, Psychological assistance, Career counselling, Psychometeric tests for students, job seekers and professionals, Mobile 09814645252

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digitalLEARNING / august 2012

Special Feature

NIIT

NIIT Nguru’s Interactive Classrooms @ Home

T

he present scenario in most educational environments where teaching is imparted through conventional means focuses on memory based short term information accumulation and not on the construction of knowledge. As a result, students are not learning through understanding and they find it difficult to tackle questions that appear to vary from those typically found in the textbooks given in the class.

NIIT brings unique learning solution “Interactive Classrooms @ Home” for the new age learners to make learning engaging and meaningful and also to overcome the current challenges.

It is the first ‘cloud campus solution’ which is built keeping in mind these central ideas: • Children already have varying degrees of access to technology. Since technology has already entered the schools, now it must be put to better use at homes to teach better and enhance student performance.

• Children need to be taught 21st century skills.

• With parents as co-teachers, they play a pivotal role in their child’s education through technology.

• Collaboration, communities and social learning networks are the way forward in the field of education.

Advantages of Interactive Classrooms @ Home •

•

•

Technology enabled learning, simulations, 3D animations and interactive models replace rote learning and dull home lessons.

Completely mapped to the school syllabus and daily lessons, Interactive Classrooms @ Home allows students to access lessons, notes, take practice tests, submit assignments and collaborate with peers, all while sitting at home.

This Hybrid model aids students to

106 education.eletsonline.com

Challenges Faced by Schools School Management • Connecting with all stakeholders on a single platform • Adoption of appropriate teaching and learning methodologies, which will provide a meaningful and enriching experience for teachers and students.

Students • Comprehending the subject • Recalling all concepts taught • Self-assessment • Developing an interest for the subject • Understanding real life application of the concept learnt.

•

develop questioning skills and also provides Experiential, Cognitive and Personalised learning.

Parents can now be co-teachers and play a more pivotal role in their child’s education. The child’s progress and learning can be monitored

A Research study affirmed the fact that students can benefit from the flexibility and regular access to course materials provided by online education

Teachers • Time constraints • Making the subject equally comprehensive for all students • Pressure to score high results Parents • Not equipped to contribute actively in the child’s overall education.

• Do not have access to learning resources to provide support at home or assess the understanding of child.

• Unable to stay in constant touch with the child’s academic progress.

on a regular basis. A better connect with the school and the teacher is possible through Interactive Classrooms @ Home.

• The NCF 2005 has recommended that schools be converted to ICT rich environments. However teachers and schools should not be mere users of technology, instead they should be able to co-create content, adopt their own teaching styles, and collaborate with the entire teaching community in order to learn and contribute to the large repository of knowledge and experience available on the World Wide Web and all this is made possible by “Interactive Classrooms @ Home.”

NIIT Nguru’s Interactive Classrooms @ Home (the solution which made learning possible at home through the advanced Cloud Technology) has been awarded “Best Interactive Solution Providers” award in World Education Awards 2012.