Interactive whiteboard for less than Rs. 3,000!
We are sure you would have heard of all the commercial whiteboards available in the market that sell upwards of Rs. 50,000 each. Most of the schools and colleges who could afford them have probably purchased them already, or are in the process of purchasing them. For an educational institution, this is a very high investment considering that the number of whiteboards needed may be in double digits!
Online forum to solve problems of parents and principals
Parents often hold principals responsible for every decision of the school. Fee hike, corporal punishment or homework overload- Principals are supposed to be the culprits. Principals face the challenge to strike a balance between student interests and management needs. They have tough issues of their own and often nobody to help them resolve their problems. Now a group of Principals and psychiatrists have become active on an online forum where matters troubling them, as well as parents and students, are discussed.
How do you motivate a rural teacher to join and then continue?
In the meeting with the Principals at Nagpur, one particular "social" challenge by a Principal in a rural area got me stumped! How does she get teachers for her school and once she gets someone, how does she motivate them to perform? In the same breath she also confessed that it was not possible for the school to pay out very high salaries to the teachers, as the funds generated from student fees could barely be sufficient.
Footprint for higher education
With the world’s second largest population, more than 50% of which is below the age of 35 years, India is at a critical juncture where its population, if properly harnessed, has the potential to turn the nation into a hub of trained manpower.
Solar harvest
Stephen Sweeney informs about a new space platform that will capture solar energy and use lasers to beam it back to earth. A team from the University of Surrey, led by Stephen Sweeney, professor of physics and head of photonics, is working in partnership with a space technology organisation, EADS-Astrium to create a space platform that uses lasers to beam solar energy back to the earth.
Teaching and learning in government schools
A study on teaching and learning in government schools was conducted by ASER Centre in collaboration with MHRD, Unicef and Unesco, across five states.There were some very significant findings...
Using internet tools to make science learning fun
BT had recommended its members to get on social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to learn new things. Proving BT correct an NGO -Science Popularisation Association of Communicators and Educators (SPACE) is training over 300 teachers to use theses social networking sites to make science more easy to communicate and interesting .
Indian Students at NASA
Nearly 60 students from Himachal Pradesh get an opportunity to visit NASA next month. They will get to know about the world of space sciences, robotics and nuances involved in designing of space shuttle. Children also get a chance to visit Florida based Kennedy Research Centre, which is also a unit of NASA. They are scheduled to visit Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory also. Not only this, they also get to visit Hollywood Studios, Orlando, New York. A real opprtunity in true sense!
"I want to be an Astronaut"
Today morning, I got this twitter update from @NASA: "Less than 5 minutes until launch of three new space station crew members at 11:14pmET. Watch at http://www.nasa.gov/ntv" and I immediately clicked on the link to watch LIVE the successful launch of Expedition 29 in heavy snow to the International Space Station from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at India Time around 9 am!
While watching live launch on this Children's Day, I could imagine how happy Nehru would have been, if some of his beloved children dreaming of becoming an astronaut could have seen this launch in their schools! In today's world, it is fairly simple for teachers to beam events like these into their classrooms. For a child, nothing can be more motivating than watching the three space travellers LIVE in her class! The dreamy words "I want to be an astronaut" take an entirely new meaning, and give a sense of direction to the child.
Tips for using Social Networking to get your dream job!
An article by Priya Kapoor in The Economic Times throws some light on the way people are using social networking sites to get jobs. According to the Kelly Global Workforce Index 2011, which covered 97,000 people across 30 countries and 2,000 people in India, about 35% of the respondents in the country scoured social networking sites to seek job openings.
Some tips from the article on how to use these sites more effectively:
o Join specific interest groups that show your interests and specializations
o Keep an active profile by discussing and posting relevant stuff
o Get some good recommendations
o Be careful about what you do online!
World Bank aid to Madhya Pradesh for improving higher education
MP seems to have caught the World Bank’s attention to improve its higher education. The Rs. 350 cr assistance will be used in skills development. BT had reported a severe shortage in skilled manpower and this seems to be another step in the right direction. Teachers can take up a major role in making this change.
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Teachers @ Beyond Teaching
