How A School In The Kingdom of Bahrain May Hold Keys To The Future

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=E._Alana_James]E. Alana James

As mentioned in a previous article, the world's education systems are challenged to transform themselves to meet the needs of the knowledge economy. For world economic growth their graduates need to be able to get jobs or start their own businesses. There may be validity in the idea that education needs to remain somewhat separate from the needs of business, otherwise we have schools becoming little more than factories that turn out that people required by industry. At the same time the products that education graduate are people, and people want to have jobs and employment as well as to enjoy not mere survival but also the luxuries that they see others enjoying. This is the second in a series of articles on the challenges and potential changes that face education in the 21st century.

The obvious direct approach to preparing people of all ages for new work, is to teach them that work. This has led educators to see education in two tracks: one the academic that teaches students to think, process ideas, problem solve and to be scientific. The other, alternate track was vocationally driven. This often implied a somehow "less than" status to vocational work. Students were slotted to go one way or the other. The modern world is less compartmentalized than that, and seeing vocation or academics as two separate ways of being will no longer function. The modern employee or entrepreneur is required to maintain many of the same skills as the academic. Everyone needs to research information, organize it to meet the needs of their particular context, publish it in digital and non-digital formats, and be prepared to engage in active debate on the ideas they are working with. This is as true for a group of tradespeople as it is for professors, managers, business owners. The disconnect is that while some of these skills may develop during group work or project-based learning, most of the world still learns in classrooms with rows of desks, a teacher at the front, and students madly scribbling notes preparing themselves to regurgitate the content being handed to them when it comes time to take a test.

What would a school look like if we started over? The answer to that question is being addressed in the Kingdom of Bahrain by their new Polytechnic University. This article briefly discusses those ideas in the hopes that they are interesting to others and that they start a debate about new possibilities that are can be employed to transform education.

Bahrain Polytechnic University

All good action research starts with delving into current circumstances and understanding what is needed, perhaps that is the reason I like Bahrain Polytechnic so much. They started to design a program by conducting a series of interviews with human relations department to find out what they expected from the graduates they hired. Their findings demonstrated that the current perception of employers was that 49% of college graduates did not have the soft skills they needed (i.e. teamwork communication and problem-solving), 44% did not have the requisite language, math, or vocational skills that were needed, and 42% did not have an understanding of professional conduct or were not properly motivated to do good work. This puts a heavy burden on employers because their recruiting and training process is expensive and if almost 50% of the people they hire do not have the basics, they are inclined to go out of country for their recruiting.

Using the interview process the design team for Bahrain Polytechnic then decided that they needed a curriculum that embedded these skills in the curriculum not just as an add-on or byproduct of the educational process. They concluded that traditional context and knowledge-based education must change and rapidly. This is not easy, it has a lot of things pushing against it. For instance, when you're starting something new people don't have confidence that you know what you're doing, especially if what you're doing implies that what they are doing is not good enough. Also there is a difficulty in finding staff through who will carry through on your vision, because, after all, your vision is new and likely to be misinterpreted. Finally, the facilities that you inherit from other models are, by definition, outmoded and get in the way of what you were trying to accomplish.

In spite of these challenges Bahrain Polytechnic has come up with three sets of skills, or types of growth, that will be overlaid and worked on concurrently throughout the students tenure at the University. There will of course be the academic studies, but alongside direct instruction will be employ-ability skills, and a continuously developing self-knowledge profile. In other words, these students will be continuously evaluated on their attitude, their delivery, and the coherency between those and how they see themselves. Marvelous!

Educators will say things like, "that all sounds great but how are you can measure it?" Although this is still a work in progress, Bahrain Polytechnic has made great strides in answering that question. Still two years away from their first graduating class, they see their graduates having three transcripts that they will bring to future employers. The first provides an overview of the range of achievement levels on academic content, the same as provided by universities worldwide. The second is what they call an employ-ability profile in which the student has had to demonstrate and been continually assessed by staff on what are considered the soft skills of communication, teamwork, problem solving, initiative and enterprise, planning and organization, self-management, learning and technology. Those same skills are evaluated by the students themselves in their self-knowledge profile. Then all three are graphically laid over one another in order to give the employer a visual representation of the whole person who is applying for the job.

How is this done? Through a curriculum that builds on the foundation program of strong English skills, the ability to research, use of information technology and math. The degrees offered are bachelors or diplomas in: visual design, international logistics management, information and communications technology, business, office management, web media, and engineering technology. They are just starting the process of design for the new campus, where the architecture of the buildings they inhabit will help rather than hinder their mission through wide-open spaces, easy places to meet, an atmosphere that promotes project work 24/7 etc. It was my pleasure to be able to sit in on their discussion with the architect, and that alone should dramatically increase the ability to think creatively, as the students will no longer be contained in rows of boxes. Their campus fits with the lifestyle engendered by digital natives, who jump easily between social, organizational, and project design work.

This article looked into an innovative solution to the problems addressed in previous writing about the apparent disconnect between education graduates and the needs of the employers who will hire them. Even as a start-up, this university has good management and solid backing from the Kingdom of Bahrain. At this points it looks as thought there is every likelihood that it will fulfill its mission. I said elsewhere, it is easier to start fresh in some instances such as when you are making dramatic change, then to refit existing structures. Future articles in this series will look into the ways and means in which action research can help when education and policy are faced with a "refit" rather than start over is good process.

If you are a student, a parent, an educator or any other type of concerned party who is interested in the future of education, you may want to look into the range resources available on: [http://www.futureofeducationproject.net]http://www.futureofeducationproject.net. Register and we will keep you in touch with new ideas as they develop. Dr. E. Alana James, writes on and facilitates participatory action research studies where people research their own particular dilemma is an effective way to address complex issues that otherwise can cause despair. Through PAR, local adaptations can be implemented and evaluated simultaneously. This strategy allows for a world of individuals to work together through the net to re-design education.

Other works on action research for personal and professional innovation can be found on Alana's personal site at http://www.reinventinglife.org

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-A-School-In-The-Kingdom-of-Bahrain-May-Hold-Keys-To-The-Future&id=5198725] How A School In The Kingdom of Bahrain May Hold Keys To The Future

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Using Action Research To Change The Future Of Education

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=E._Alana_James]E. Alana James

Learning in online environments is no longer a new idea. Around the world, in classrooms and in homes children and adults of all ages are learning in both structured and non-structured environments online. People from three to 73 are successful online learners. People who predict disruptive innovations have said that by the year 2025 over 50% of all the education in the world will be done through computers.

Changes present problems. If you change too early the new idea may prove to be a bust and there you are, having invested in an idea that quickly deteriorated. I remember the man in charge of technology at Columbia telling my class in the early 90's that online learning was not paying off - putting the content materials up online was too costly and too quickly out of date to ever be profitable. Of course you know now that these challenges were overcome. Universities with online platforms are the fastest growing anywhere in the world, and online schools for younger children are quickly gaining in importance, especially for children who live in remote areas, speak a language different from the country in which they live or who have difficulties socially with other students.

This article discusses how action research might be used to help parents, educators or concerned citizens design the successful integration of "new paradigms" of educational ideas (online or other), materials and content with traditional schooling- making the ideas of change within education less of a trauma and more of a seamless, integrated process. As I have written in other articles, it often seems challenging to average people to take on ideas that come from research, nonetheless the three steps in action research of discovery, action and reflection will seem familiar as indeed they are. What may be new will the unique blend of how they interact in the process to make seemingly difficult things become simple. This allows us to move ahead and make changes in your educational design that may not have previously been considered.

Discovery

During the discovery phase you learn about the attributes of both the paradigm or model that you are currently using and the one that you are considering for adoption. To use the redesign of schools as an example you might ask the following questions then go to the web, other people, professional journals and books, etc to find a range of ideas as answers. Notice that in the following list you look for both the positive and the remaining outliers who still may not be served by the known models.


What type of student learns best online? In the classroom? In a blended environment?
What type of student is not likely to learn in any of these?
What are the implementation costs of each model? Who pays?
How do these costs amortize over time? How does that compare to how the content becomes outdated?


Armed with answers to these and other questions that you feel are important for schools in your community, you set up a graphic organizer to help guide your decisions as to what changes you want to make to improve your schools. Across the top of your table you put the styles of education (both those that you are doing and those that you are considering). Down the left edge you list the attributes you are looking for in your ideal educational type. The end result will look like many lists that you may come across comparing the features on a product - and just like when shopping you chose the model that best suits your needs.

Measurable Action

As you were listing the attributes of your current schools against the ideals you were interested in striving for you were also establishing a baseline of what you currently do and don't have. Armed, with solid ideas of what is working elsewhere that you want for your own community you are now ready to take the first actions toward making change. Remember three things are almost always true about change: it takes longer, costs more and is more frustrating to implement that we think will be true when we start - that is where the second two steps take of action research help.

In the measurable action step you keep good records and twice a week you jot down what you have done and what the results were. As an example for a school reform project you likely need more partners to help you succeed. The first actions may include going to see important people, discussing your ideas and the discoveries you made in the discovery section. Before you leave you will ask for their help. Twice a week (often enough you won't forget the details) you make note of what you did and the outcomes. Pretty soon you will see patterns in the responses you get and you will refine what it is you are doing, also increasing the likelihood of success.

Your bi-weekly notes give you some advantages: First they keep you on track, making it hard for a week to go by and nothing happens. Second, you find success faster because your note-taking ensures you notice the details that help. Third, you lose your fear of trying new strategies as they all become just more data about what worked and what didn't. Finally, and without necessarily noticing it your notes will give you a sense of satisfaction that you have really tackled this hard problem and are making progress.

Reflection

It is likely that your ideas will not completely change education as you know it in your area. Our systems are doggedly conservative because all the people involved come with their own history of how things were done before now, defaulting to that easily. The more complex the system, and education is one of the most complex and the harder for sweeping change to take hold in a sustainable fashion. That doesn't mean your reform steps won't make a great impact, only that but both your new ideas and those that you want to replace will live side by side.

What is required is for leaders to be able to do this type of analysis in order to bring new ideas to their organizations without losing the stability created by the more familiar ones.

Would you like to learn more about how your voice can make a difference to the future of education? If you are a student, a parent, an educator or any other type of concerned party who may want to pursue the conversation or host strategy meetings with others, join the network by registering with http://www.futureofeducationproject.net and we will keep you in touch with the group as it grows. Dr. E. Alana James, writes on and facilitates participatory action research studies where people research their own particular dilemma is an effective way to address complex issues that otherwise can cause despair. Through PAR, local adaptations can be implemented and evaluated simultaneously. This strategy allows for a world of individuals to work together through the net to re-design education.

Other works on action research for personal and professional innovation can be found on Alana's personal site at [http://www.reinventinglife.org]http://www.reinventinglife.org.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Using-Action-Research-To-Change-The-Future-Of-Education&id=5160217] Using Action Research To Change The Future Of Education

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Education For the 21st Century AKA The Hub Proposal

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Phil_Wagner]Phil Wagner and Patrick Yurick

Creating a Hybrid Learning Community

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.

What might a 21st-century community look in which students direct their own education? In this world, the following scenario could take place: a student, engrossed in his favorite video game, puts down his gaming console and decides that he has an innovative idea for a new game of his own. From the convenience of his home computer he signs on to his profile at his school website and posts a bulletin within the "projects" section of the school's online network. His bulletin states the reasons why his video game idea is innovative and what kind of people he needs to help him bring his idea to fruition. After a few hours, seven other students have shown an interest in his idea and want to join him in the endeavor. The intended critical mass of interested parties having been reached, they must now seek out the relevant information and processes to make the project happen.

The group is assigned a teacher/mentor that will aid them in facilitating the achievement of their goal. A meeting time is set and the interested parties meet up in a conference room located at the online school's Hub complex. The Hub Complex is a state of the art building that acts as a meeting ground for the physical aspects of project based learning. In some rooms there are students working on massive science projects while in other rooms students are studying the fine arts related to current cultural topics. The video game designing student has contacted fellow classmates in the carpool list, but due to no one traveling to the Hub at the time he had to travel via public transit.

With notes scribbled on whiteboards and paper, the student's initial idea is fleshed out. It is determined that computer programming, graphic design, and physics are crucial aspects of the forthcoming project and, while the students have some experience in graphic design, their first challenge is that they lack the requisite programming skills. The group decides to sign up for a programming session where other groups are learning the tools necessary to write video game code. A student with a strong interest in the visual aspect of the project works with a student from another group to walk through an online tutorial in game graphic design. The project continues with the mentor acting as consultant, ensuring that the students are not getting overwhelmed and are finding the resources they need. When the video game is completed, the students reflect with the mentor on what was the most difficult part of the project. It may be determined that the project would have gone much more smoothly if a tutorial on some particular facet of the process had been made available to them. This would have saved some time on trial and error and unnecessary difficulties. The group works to publish documentation wherein their reflections won't just benefit their own future project endeavors, but will also serve as an available resource to future student projects and other users around the world.

How do we achieve this vision while working to simultaneously ensure that our students are well educated and allowed to pursue their passions? Perhaps the Internet is the answer public education has been looking for. Over the past decade, online schools and universities have opened at radically increasing rates while many colleges are adopting some form of hybrid online/traditional classrooms to facilitate learning. In the traditional classroom, students interact with other students and teachers, an interaction which creates a relationship that can be treasured for a lifetime. Online lectures and textbooks are still lectures and textbooks, which can be very difficult and confusing. Without another person to help us and without challenging projects that require human interaction the online classroom will be devoid of the life naturally attained within the traditional classroom. Lectures and textbook based learning is why the current form of "online schooling" will never be completely successful. Project based learning with a human face to face component must be included in this new online paradigm in order to facilitate personal and meaningful engagement of students.

One of the principles that our public education system is founded on is the idea that a well-informed citizenry remain strong, free, constantly interactive and capable of diverse thinking. Educating to diverse communication standards (both new and old) is vital to strengthening the community of a multi-cultural society. It is becoming increasingly apparent as we move further into the twenty-first century that education should dovetail with rapidly evolving practices in contemporary communications. In fact, institutional policies are reacting to this demand across the United States. (1) Public education must be flexible enough to follow communities within its structure no matter where they exist. Online education becomes inevitable in this scenario because, as it has become the popular means of mass communication, it has also begun to supplant and augment the traditional loci of communities world-wide. The modern classroom has become the Internet, and vice-versa. Because of the limitless potential of human interaction made possible by the numerous technologies we find at our disposal in the twenty-first century, communities based on instantaneous communication have formed within a new frontier that exists worldwide. Public education, if it is to stay relevant to the needs of the modern community, needs to find its place at the forefront of this frontier.

Online communities have replaced geographical ones. While many are unable to name one of their neighbors, they connect daily with hundreds or thousands of like-minded people for various reasons. These communities are in place, yet education has not effectively found a way to harness these connections for meaningful learning-even while meaningful learning is taking place within them all along! As public educators work to discern and define the function of the K-12 classroom in this new era of communication, they must strive to meet the demands brought forth by new and ever-emerging technologies while still working to create a school that will-above and beyond all things-facilitate learning for the K-12 student. But moving towards a methodology which no longer focuses strictly on the "traditional" means of communication does not mean that teachers need to abandon their basic instinct, viz. to learn we need to interact physically with one another. The traditional concept of a school as being a place where students come together to learn in the same physical environment is not a concept that should be abandoned. Rather, public educators need to change their preconceptions of how and when students come together to learn so that their education can support this new type of technology driven classroom.

Since very early in American history, educators have worked to ensure that all students are prepared and well rounded. Every year more and more people are choosing to enter a college or university; choosing to go beyond their required education in order to receive training in areas about which they are passionate. Yet, in the last couple of decades we have seen technology explode onto the scene, permanently changing the way we live, interact, and learn. While schools have worked hard to ensure that students are equipped with the tools needed in today's society, we can always ask: is technology being used its fullest extent? The above scenario, in which students utilize available technologies to the fullest extent in order to complete a complex project, outlines a possible situation in which students, rather than simply making use of technology to absorb disjointed and only marginally useful facts, employ such technology to learn and develop within a tightly-knit community.

Is it possible to envision a world where an online student body is able to complete a project that they are interested in while still obtaining the skills and facts necessary to fall in line with the National Standards of Education? How can schools stay in touch with the world if they are not part of the mainstream student communities of the 21st century? All humans have a natural inclination towards learning; whether learning to walk, read a book, or to take a car apart and put it back together again. It is the responsibility of public educational institutions to mentor these natural motivations and to encourage a productive and collaborative society. Can this be successfully achieved and supported within the confines of a hybrid school? If public educators are to rise to the challenges of our times, the answer must invariably be, "yes."

The Internet has become the unofficial 21st century method for learning. Almost anything can be learned by simply watching a YouTube video or following along on someone else's blog. News is transmitted instantaneously throughout the world creating an almost unlimited supply of information for almost any need. However, when we look in the classroom, we find information continuing to be disseminated in the same way it has been for centuries. Where information comes out of the Internet like a waterfall, students are asked to sit for eight hours a day and move through information at a trickle. This is why public education needs to follow the community, especially when the community is obviously shouting that it knows where it wants to be.

So how do we tap into those communities? If there is one thing that has truly kept the fire of learning alive, it has been the library. Imagine a super-library, a kind of K-12 learning center that has been built to be alive and able to act a resource for an online community. A place that would support a kind of project-based learning that could be facilitated anywhere there was an Internet connection. This online school Hub would be filled with teachers and experts who could be present both physically present and virtually for students to interact with no matter where they are. This place would also serve as an easy meeting place for the physically interactive parts of project-based learning that are required of its online student body.

We propose that this Hub be the school that actively engages with the 21st century community structures. This high tech Hub facility will be a place where teachers no longer become the gatekeepers of a rigid grading system, but rather start acting as mentors and facilitators within a complex hive of student activity. Why this hub would be successful as a base for an online/virtual school is because it would enable what public education has been seeking to accomplish all along - it would allow students to naturally gravitate to the school out of the want for learning. The basic idea is that human beings learn while uncomfortable, i.e. in new situations where they are forced to be alert. If students were able to first engage with a school from a comfortable place it is our theory that these students would in turn be not only motivated to come to school they will be drawn to it. A "Hey, what's going on here?" attitude will be fostered when a student is able to observe the classroom before entering it.

It is of our opinion that if a High School were to utilize new technologies to expand the classroom and support its communication between all parties involved the result would be a class that is no longer confined by the walls of one room. The classroom could then become earth and the world we live in would become the teacher. This "free from physical constraints" classroom would be populated with students who are able to communicate anywhere that they can receive Internet bandwidth. Projects could take place in the African bush or in a coffee shop in Bern, Switzerland.

As we move into the future of learning the question of how to combine truly personalized education and online learning becomes self-evident. There are many more conversations that must come up to answer this, but none can arise until we have a core understanding as a community of what we are trying to achieve and what we are trying to teach as educators.

1) For a detailed elaboration of this phenomenon, see John Watson, Butch Gemin, and Jennifer Ryan. "Keeping the Pace with K-12 Online learning: A Review of State-Level Policy and Practice." Rev. of K-12 Online Learning. Nov. 2008: 1-163.

Phil Wagner - Math/Physics/Robotics Teacher

Patrick Yurick - Graphic Design Teacher and Founder of the Graphic Novel Project.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Education-For-the-21st-Century-AKA-The-Hub-Proposal&id=4904802] Education For the 21st Century AKA The Hub Proposal

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Father, give me back the hands of Dita.. .... ...

Create all of which have become parents or expectant parents and .... Remember .... Upset of any kind, let us not overreact ... As parents, we ought to look after each other we act specifically on the problem child is still small because they still do not understand.

Here is the true story called "Father, give me back the hands of Dita ... ... ..."

A husband and wife - like other couples in big cities leave their children cared for while working housemaid. This couples only child, a beautiful woman aged three and a half years. He was alone at home and often left assistants for busy working in the kitchen.
Play him with swing-top cradle swing in which his father purchased, or pick flowers and others in his yard.

One day he saw a nail rust. And he crossed the floor where her father's car was parked, but since the floor is made of marble, the streaks are not visible. She tried again on a new car his father. Yes ... because the car was dark colored, so his writing is clear. Moreover, these children were scribbled in accordance with his creativity.

That day my father and mother motor into the workplace because he wanted to avoid the jams. Having the right car is full strokes so he switched to the left of the car. Made a picture of mother and father, their own image, painting chickens, cats and others to follow his imagination. The incident took place without fully realizing the maid of the house.

When I got home late, troubled couples that year saw a new car purchased with installment payments that are still the old hull. The father who had not yet entered into this house continues to scream, "who's this job!" ....
Housemaid who was struck by a scream and it ran out. He also beristighfar. Flushed face scared after seeing the face of ruthless master. Once again the hard questions submitted to him, he kept saying 'I do not know .. sir. "" You're home all day, what pot are you doing? "Snapped the wife again.

The child who hears his father's voice, suddenly ran out of room. With full pampered she said "Dita's father who makes the picture .. beautiful ... is not it! "she said as she hugged her father with spoiled as usual. The father who had lost patience took a small twig from a tree in front of his house, struck again to keep her child's palm. The child who does not understand what what crying in pain, pain and fear. Satisfied hitting the palm of the hand, dad is also hitting the back of his hand. While the mother was just silence, as though blessing and is satisfied with the punishment imposed.

Housemaid during free, have no notion what hrs do for a long time ... The father pounded his right hand and then replace his left hand. After the father went into the house followed by the mother, the maid holding the little boy, took him to the room.

He was shocked at the palm of the hand and back hand of the little boy who hurt and bleed. Maid was bathing the child. While douse it with water, she began to cry. The boy was also arrested painful screaming when the wound was exposed to water. Then the maid to sleep little boy. The father had left the child sleeping with a maid. The next day, the child's hands were swollen. Maid complained to her employer. "Apply the medication alone!" Answered the father of the child.

Home from work, she did not notice the little boy who spent time in the maid's room. The father is reportedly willing to give lessons to his son. Three days passed, the father has never visited his son while the mother was too, although every day asked the maid. "Dita fever, ma'am" ... aides said succinctly. "Love Panadol drink it," replied the mother. Before the mother entered the bedroom he visited the room attendants. As seen in the arms of his son Dita housemaid, she closed the back door of the room attendants. Sign fourth day, housemaid tells her master that Dita's body temperature is too hot. "This afternoon we'll take it to the clinic. 5:00 am ready "said his employer was. Until the time the child is already weak brought to the clinic. The doctor directed that he be brought to the hospital because the situation is serious trouble. After several days of inpatient care doctor called the father and the mother of the child. "There are no options .." said the doctor who suggested that the boy's hands cut off because the pain was too severe. "It's been festering, for the sake of saving his life, both hands should be cut from the elbow down" said the doctor. The father and mother were hit by lightning like to hear those words. It seemed the world stopped spinning, but what can be said anymore.

Wailed the mother embracing the child. With a heavy heart and tears melted his wife, the father shook his hand signed letter of approval from the surgery. Exit from the surgery, after the drug was injected up, the child crying in pain. He was also surprised to see his hands wrapped in white gauze. He looked at her mother and father face. Then to the maid's face. He frowned at them all cry. In the torment of pain, the child's voice in tears. "Daddy .. ... Dita's mother would not do it anymore .... Dita o'clock father did not want anymore. Dita would not mean more ... Dita dear father .. dear mother. ", he said repeatedly failed to make the mother hold grief. "Dita is also Mbok Narti dear .." he looked at the faces housemaid, while making the woman screamed hysterically.

"Daddy .. Dita hand it back. For what is taken .. Dita promise ill will repeat it again! Dita how to eat later? ... How Dita want to play later? ... Dita promise ill be writing in the car again, "he said repeatedly.
Seemed to come off the heart of the mother heard her son's words. She cried as hard as the strong but the fate that had occurred no man can resist. Rice has become porridge. In the end it was a beautiful child to continue his life without both hands and he still does not understand why his remains should be cut even have to apologize.


The story above is a reflection and learning to become successful parents. The story above dikutif of Facebook friends a message delivery "1000 GRANTS ARTICLES Sympathetic Islami Corps Ajengan Ubed Galmasi"

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Mobile Learning - In the Beginning, There Was the Abacus

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Vidya_Varadarajan]Vidya Varadarajan

"Math is hard. Math is complicated. Math is boring."

Fortunately or unfortunately, math is important. Mathematics is the most widely used subject in almost every career, and often high paying jobs demand someone who can "do the math".

According to 2007 Department of Education statistics, only 31% of eighth graders score at or above "proficient" level on standardized math tests. In some school districts, high-school-algebra failure rates approach 50%.

From the very first abacus, the teaching and learning of mathematics has always been a challenge. Over the last two decades educational 'technologists' have developed and studied uses of computers specifically for mathematics education. The necessity of a handheld device for mathematical uses has been in development for the past few decades.

The recent past saw advanced calculators created by a few leading makers, like Casio and Texas Instrument, which were designed to provide specific applications for mathematics learning.

Similarly, TI's handheld mathematical PDAs offered solutions to many challenges such as helping teachers know which students had trouble with which mathematical concept in "real time", and enabling students to independently experiment and explore concepts as they are taught.

The availability of a ubiquitous technology like m-learning can play an effective part in teaching and learning of mathematics.

In the rel=nofollow [http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/140/cellphonometry.html?page=0%2C0]article, "Cellphonometry: Can Kids Really Learn Math From Smartphones?" the writer details how schools are successfully partnering with mobile-phone companies to help kids conquer math. The results speak for themselves.

Similarly, an experiment conducted by the National Taiwan Normal University indicated that mobile learning improves students' ability to connect the dots between mathematical theories and practical problem solving, as well as their attitude towards learning math.

The reason conventional math is considered tedious is often because lessons are taught as static numbers on a page. Math itself is an interactive subject, and students need to be able to visualize and grasp math concepts to understand them. Mobile learning enables just that.

By including video examples of data collection, animated graphs and packaging math lessons with unique embedded media, mobile learning lets students maximise the interactive nature of technology to effectively communicate what is otherwise a hard subject to learn.

Read more about rel=nofollow [http://www.mobl21.com/mobile-education-in-action/]Mobile learning in Mathematics

Sources:

"Mobile phones in Education: the case of mathematics", by Michal Yerushalmy & Oshrat Ben-Zaken

"Constructing Mathematic Paths in a Mobile Learning Environment", National Taiwan Normal University, Lin-Jung Wu, Kao-En Chang, Hsien-Sheng Hsiao, and Yao-Ting Sung

Vidya Varadarajan is an experienced blogger and writes on mobile learning, among other things.

For similar articles on mobile learning visit: http://www.mobl21.com/blog

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Mobile-Learning---In-the-Beginning,-There-Was-the-Abacus&id=4655278] Mobile Learning - In the Beginning, There Was the Abacus

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Political Correctness is Reducing All Genius Level Thinkers Into Silence - How Pathetic!

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lance_Winslow]Lance Winslow

As many of you know, I run a think tank, and there's nothing too spectacular about that considering there must be some 500 think tanks around the world, and someone has to run each one of them. However, there is something I've noticed within our think tank, and that is if we let too many politically correct individuals into our groups, at whatever level. And, we have a significant problem because they disallow folks to speak their mind, otherwise they chastise for using improper politically correct phrases, thus, no one listens to their brilliance, and eventually they stop talking.

The reality is with all brilliance comes with some baggage, and we as a society and civilization have to deal with that if we wish to come up with the best solutions, as inevitably they will come from someone who thinks slightly differently than the rest of us. However, if we reduce all geniuses and genius Level thinking into silence, making it very hard to express themselves without making a small verbal slip of political correctness, that we defeat the purpose of thinking at all.

But personally, I think we are doing the same thing in our schools, and yes we expect all of our children to do rote memorization, and we call that learning, really, and why bother memorizing any of that stuff, it's all on Google. Kids are not stupid, they know where to find information, and asking them for the information and testing them on it doesn't make much sense, unless you make it open-book test and allow them to ask their personal tech device to go online and put the answer in the right column, or check out the right multiple choice answer.

Still, if we allow them to use the Internet to find all the answers, that is to okay, but it still just teaches them to give us the answers we are looking for, and to use a search engine by typing the right Question into a little box, and yes, it is important to ask the right questions, but is that really teaching them to think?

And we either use rote memorization and try to catch them for cheating or we have them go find the right answer and put it into a space, all so they can get a grade and go home for the end of the day. How does this help learning - how does this teach people to think. Now then, I use this example because I have been absolutely adamant in chastising The World Future Society, yes, I admit it, I am a member. It seems that many people in The World Future Society are extremely leaning left in their political thinking, almost to the point that I could call them straight out socialists.

And here we have the problem again, if everyone has to think the same, in the same politically correct motive, to be in that group, then there is no out-of-the-box thinking, all they've done is expanded the box, made more rules, and silenced the true geniuses within their group, if there are any, which I really haven't found any, though, I'll admit there are a couple, who do hang around that grouping of futurists.

But I would suspect most of the real geniuses, well they are merely a member of the group to soak up information, and because it may be one of the only group that stands for forward thinking, and innovating towards our future. Even if the resultant is nothing to write home about.

Personally, I refuse to be drown in political correctness, I am a genius, and I'm not afraid to say it. And I refuse to be silenced, and maybe you can tell by my almost 21,000 articles online. What have you written today? Do you have a single original thought? Well if you do, I'd sure like to talk to you, and let's skip the political correctness, we don't do that in our think tank.

Lance Winslow is the Founder of the Online Think Tank, a diverse group of achievers, experts, innovators, entrepreneurs, thinkers, futurists, academics, dreamers, leaders, and general all around brilliant minds. Lance Winslow hopes you've enjoyed today's discussion and topic. http://www.WorldThinkTank.net - Have an important subject to discuss, contact Lance Winslow.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Political-Correctness-is-Reducing-All-Genius-Level-Thinkers-Into-Silence---How-Pathetic!&id=4881880] Political Correctness is Reducing All Genius Level Thinkers Into Silence - How Pathetic!

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Changing Trend in Management Education

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Mukesh_Maheshwari]Mukesh Maheshwari

The entire society and humane life both have changed considerably since that a few years back. Information Technology has increased the pace of development and we have developed hundreds time more in last few years than we had in hundreds of years earlier. Everything has changed tremendously including morals, ethics and significance. So is true for education patterns and traditions. Here is what management education in India lacks most and what needs to be done to develop successful global entrepreneurs.

Earlier students were forced to concentrate and mug up what was written academic books and were forced to take exam on that knowledge only. Anything done on personal observations, skills and knowledge was out of curriculum and worth not considering for awarding ranks. They system was certainly flawed and deterred natural development of children and marred their ideation abilities. Consequently people were living within limited scope and had no access to the things, views, knowledge, and realities beyond their orbit.

With the advent of Information Technology, and most importantly Internet has changed the whole picture and has redefined the meanings and standards both. Today, students are encouraged to realize their own potential of achieving success in the field they may feel inclined to. The world is open at your disposals and only sky is the limit. Results are obvious, even young students are doing wonders in the world.

The same change has been introduced in professional level of education, like management studies. Students are provided internship and practical exposure of the situation, but to a limited extent only. Therefore they are still unable to emerge fully confident even after completion of their degrees and diploma programs. In fact, the things should have been upside down.

These professional courses should be more on real life industrial exposures and less on literature. The reason is the speed by which the world is changing. Teaching from the books written years before would not be inducing a practical approach and realistic behaviour in students. They need to be made aware about the current business scenarios with direct exposure to industrial affairs.

There are some institutes which have identified this deficiency of the existing management courses and, in order to make its students more competitive in global environment, has introduced Academia Industrial Interface in its curriculum, wherein the institute involves industry into education process of its students. They invite representatives of leading industries and share their real life experiences and current and emerging requirements from new age employees and professionals. The institute provides extended opportunities to its students to work in organizations on internship for a longer period than usual. The concept has clicked and more and more of its students are achieving success in jobs and businesses both.

The article goes to suggest all aspirants of management careers to choose such an institute / college which offers Academia Industry Interface in its curriculum for better future prospects.

IMI Imparts world class management education in Indore, Central India. This is one of the fastest growing management institute in India, and is the only institute in India having a Management Lab within its campus. Institute offers excellent infrastructure, and education facilities to all its national and international students. [http://www.imi.ac.in]Indore Management Institute, by virtue of its teaching and training excellence, has been awarded the opportunity to run MBA in Pharmaceutical studies in the region. IMI is currently accepting admissions in MBA, BBA, PGDM, B.Com and B. Sc for the coming session.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Changing-Trend-in-Management-Education&id=4474660] Changing Trend in Management Education

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How to Quickly Put a Stop to Bullying in Your Classroom

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Jennifer_Dobson]Jennifer Dobson

As an educator, you have a duty to protect your students while they are in your care, and unfortunately, this oftentimes means protecting them from each other. Bullying is prevalent in schools today, and many schools, in fact, have a huge problem with it. Bullies can make other student's lives completely miserable, causing them to dread coming to school where they are faced with jabs and taunts that are both physical and mental or emotional in nature. Students who are victimized by bullies often expend a great deal of their energy worrying about being bullied and afraid of the bully than focusing on their studies. And deep emotional scars from bullying can carry over into their adult lives, hampering their ability to become productive, confident, and mentally-healthy individuals. Sadly, many victims of bullies pay the ultimate price by committing suicide.

Forms of Bullying

Bullying can take two basic forms, and often goes well beyond a simple case of playground arguments. And although physical bullying is the most evident and readily obvious form of bullying, emotional bullying involves taunts and teasing that can be even more detrimental than the fear of physical harm, or the physical harm itself. And with the new face of communication, bullying can also be pulled off in midair via harassing and mean text messages and forwards. Recognizing bullying is the fundamental part of stopping it.

Signs of Bullying

It is important to watch for signs of bullying in your students, especially since many kids are apprehensive to discuss the bullying because they are ashamed, afraid, or both. And most students won't report incidences of bullying among their peers because of the fear of being labeled as a "snitch", or that the bully will seek revenge against them. The three most common signs of bullying include the unexpected and abrupt appearance of scratches, scrapes, bruises or cuts, unexplainable and sudden reluctance to go to school, and emotional withdrawal.

Steps to Take to Fight Bullying

If you find discover that a student in your school is being bullied, the first step that must be taken is to notify the principle or disciplinary figure at your school. Talk to the child who has been bullied, and assure him or her that it is not their fault. (The fact of the matter is that a bully is usually an insecure person that takes out his or her insecurities on someone who is perceived as being weaker than they are). Encourage the student that is being bullied to cooperate with school officials, and talk to the child's parents about the bullying incidence(s). Keeping an open dialogue is important, and it is also important that violence is not countered by more violence, which simply perpetuates a cycle. Hopefully, with watchful supervision, bullying can be controlled or eliminated in our school systems, but it literally does "take a village" to counter the problem. Toleration of bullying has gone on unchecked for a long time in many areas of the country and in many schools, but that trend is reversing. Many states now have legal ramifications for bullying. As an example, the Commonwealth of Kentucky recently passed the Golden Rule Act (HB 91) that makes bullying punishable by law, with charges ranging from harassment to harassing communication. Physical bullying can be considered as an assault.

As an educator, you can be the eyes and ears that can turn bullying around and make schools safer for everyone in attendance.

Jennifer Dobson invites you to take a look at her favorite online store for teachers, MPM School Supplies. On the site you'll find all kinds of great products including everything from classroom decorations like [http://www.mpmschoolsupplies.com/c-512-classroom-banners.aspx]classroom banners and [http://www.mpmschoolsupplies.com/c-548-classroom-charts.aspx]classroom charts to educational toys. Visit today and save 10% on your first order!

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Quickly-Put-a-Stop-to-Bullying-in-Your-Classroom&id=4487488] How to Quickly Put a Stop to Bullying in Your Classroom

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Explore a Bright Future For Your Child - Top Careers in 2020

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Isa_Kain]Isa Kain

As another year of rapid change passes and the shadow of recession lifts slowly, a slew of new careers are waiting to be explored in the new decade. How is it going to unfold for your children who will stand at important crossroads in 2020? What kind of career options will they have? As we grow into an information-driven society and technology advances, Generation 2020 will find itself caught in a brain race. The youth of the future are likely to consider becoming space architects or genetic counsellors, careers that we can only dream of at this point in time.

Lets take a look at some careers of the future.

1. Healthcare:

Healthcare involves the diagnoses, treatment and care of people, whether newly born, terminally ill or the elderly. The scope of this field has remarkably evolved over the last few years due to increasing investments, growing hospital chains, changing lifestyles and longer life spans. Apart from the traditional areas of medical practice (physicians, dentists, ophthalmologists, cardiologists etc.), careers such as hospital administrators, health technologists and technicians and medical research will see a surge in the long term. Nursing as a profession, will also evolve owing especially to rising numbers of the aged population striving for a better life. The latest additions to the series of upcoming careers in this field are those in brain analysis and genetic counselling.

2. Wealth-care:

Though the finance sector was badly hit by the recession, the clouds have slowly begun to shift and make way for new vistas. Individual earnings are on the rise and so is their willingness to take risks with their money. That being the case, there is a need for professionals who understand, explain, save and multiply their money for them. This opens up doors to careers in financial/investment advisory, risk management, wealth management, and corporate finance.

3. Engineering

With boundless innovation in technology, careers unheard of until now are being touted as options for the new generation. Move over computers and telecommunication engineers, your children will specialise in fields such as robotics, teleportation, simulation and space tourism.

4. Education:

Education is another field where investments are pouring in. Also, it is gradually taking a global as well as commercial avatar. As more foreign universities collaborate with Indian educational institutes and organisations, the latter have begun to move towards organised recruitment processes. Apart from the traditional positions such as chancellors and vice-chancellors, positions such as CEO and COO are also making way into the system.

As teaching methods continue to reform, the 'e' word has already made its way into teaching methods. Thus educational content developers will gain increasing importance in the years to come.

5. IT:

An intelligent network has become a necessity for any setup. Therefore web and system analysts, designers and developers will continue to remain in demand and will be required to undertake increasingly complex profiles. So will software designers and developers, web consultants and information mangers. Also, parallel programming is a relatively new career, likely to become popular in the years to come.

6. Green Jobs:

The pressure of demand on depleting resources is only likely to increase manifold in the future. In such a scenario, we will need people who can come to our rescue; people who specialise in 'resource recycling' and 'intelligent infrastructure'. So when your children grow up, you may see them working on jobs involving renewable energy, biogas, solar and wind power systems, environmental products and services and so on. Other areas include research and development, manufacturing, consulting, energy generation, energy efficient buildings and construction and project design and implementation. Sustainable environment-related fields are expected to lure future job seekers in huge proportions, akin to what IT did a decade ago.

7. Biotechnology Jobs:

Another sector likely to see high growth is biotechnology, which will also create several jobs in the fields of manufacturing, sales, research, development and so on. Careers options in this area include drug discovery, cell therapy and tissue engineering, bio-informatics, clinical research, intellectual property, bio-analytical chemistry, plant engineering etc.

8. Agriculture and other Agriculture-based careers:

Despite making progress in several sectors, agriculture continues to be an important source of income in India. The advent of agricultural technology is expected to foster growth in agriculture and other agriculture-based sectors. There is and will continue to be ample scope for making successful careers in flower farming, spices processing, pharmaceutics, dairy, fruit and vegetable, meat and fish and other food processing sectors. Also, several job seekers are expected to opt for the relatively less explored organic food and beverages industry.

9. Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is fast becoming popular and offers plenty of career options in fields as varied as medicine, engineering, cosmetics, computer hardware and software, robotics, defence, research and development and so on.

10. Other Opportunities:

a) Experimental Petrologist: These are people who study the evolution and formation of rocks on other planets.

b) Realizer: A realizer creates real versions of virtual objects.

c) Weather Modification Police: These people supervise over those who produce iodine induced rainfall from passing clouds. They are responsible for controlling the iodine quantities used for weather modification.

d) Unplugging: This is a mental health professional responsible to help wean people from excess technology dependence.

These are the promises that the future holds for children of today. It seems like a difficult path to tread, but then it always is and cannot be any different. One thing is for sure though, given the immense scope for exploring a wide array of career choices, providing your child the space for self exploration is imperative.

Also the future of your child, education and success depends on how well you plan today.
Be prepared and everything will fall into place.

One such device that can help you get started is the [http://www.educationisinsurance.com]Aviva Educost, which enables you to calculate the cost of future education and know the amount you would need to invest today for achieving required corpus.

Thanks & Regards,

Isa Kain, [http://www.educationisinsurance.com]Education in India

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Explore-a-Bright-Future-For-Your-Child---Top-Careers-in-2020&id=4014157] Explore a Bright Future For Your Child - Top Careers in 2020

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How to Teach the Children of Our Future

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Craig_Dean]Craig Dean

Schools are now faced with the need to offer careers support advice and teach skills for the future. We are preparing children for job opportunities that have not yet been created. Many of my friends are now working within web design and other IT jobs which were certainly not taught within the classroom 15 years ago. As globalisation allows markets to operate internationally, communications have improved significantly. Many of the pupils we teach today will be working alongside other global communities as part of their everyday working experiences.

We only have to look at the way in which the leading political parties within the UK are communicating with potential electorates in the upcoming General Election, and you will see that Global Social Networks are central to effective communications.

How often do people in full time employment, part time employment or even temporary employment work solely as an individual? Would you want to work in an environment without social interaction on a daily basis?

With this in mind, I wish you to consider some of the activities you may plan into your lessons, and how long, over a period of a week, pupils spend working on a task individually. Allowing the pupils you are offering careers support to and teaching to work independently, in silence, on a regular basis, for long periods of time is not conducive to preparing those individuals for future job opportunities whether in full time employment, part time employment or temporary employment.

Pupils need to develop their 'group work skills' and pupils regardless of academic ability really struggle with many aspects of team work. Indeed I know many adults that were denied the employment support they needed and are now uncomfortable in this role. I often wonder how this may have affected their own employment success.

Here I am going to suggest ways that you can embed some simple support structures within the classroom to enable the pupils to work with others, feel a sense of challenge and excitement within an inclusive, and not isolated or intimidating environment. I must go on to say that you must not deviate too far from the structures as it may make them less effective in terms of the employment support you are trying to deliver.

Employment Support - Rally Robin

This involves pupils taking turns in partners sharing information. Pupil one says a word or an offers an idea, then pupil two, then back to one again, and so on. This structure is ideal for getting pupils to think about a new topic, it can also be ideal as an assessment tool to start a lesson recapping what they remember about the previous lesson, or as a overall topic revision tool. This is great for self and peer assessment whilst remaining fun.

Employment Support - Round Robin

This structure is similar to Rally Robin, but involves students taking turns in a team, sharing information verbally. The information can also be shared by passing a piece of paper around the team and pupils adding a different idea each time. You can decide which style is more suitable for your pupils careers support.

Employment Support - Numbered Heads

Teacher poses a question, think time is given. When each pupil has given their individual choices they will show their team they are ready with a "thumbs up". Teacher then says "heads together". Pupils get off their seats and lean into the centre of the table to decide upon their chosen answer. When they all know the answer they sit down. When all teams are sat down you can tell that the whole class is ready. You can use a variety of techniques to choose a spokesperson from a spinner, to smallest shoe size, longest hair etc. The pupil from each team must pick up the whiteboard and pen on their table and write the answer and stand up. This must be done in silence. Give a signal and each team shows you their answer at the same time. A team point can be awarded for each right answer.

So how do structures help pupils to develop skills within full time employment, part time employment or temporary employment? Well it is quite simple. These structures enable he pupils to bring creativity to the table, to listen to other people's opinions, to contribute to decision making, and to work under pressure. These certainly are skills required in the workplace that I can identify with...how about you?

My name is Craig Dean and I have been massively successful in the recruitment industry for over 15 years and am considered as a specialist in acquiring real job opportunities for "go getters". I have successfully assisted thousands of people just like you in securing full time employment, part time employment, temporary employment and even working from home placements across all sectors. I invite you to read my articles and blogs for further advice at http://www.employmentsupport.net

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-to-Teach-the-Children-of-Our-Future&id=4083085] How to Teach the Children of Our Future

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The 3 Idiots of the Education System

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sudhakar_Ram]Sudhakar Ram

"I am beginning to suspect all elaborate and special systems of education. They seem to me to be built up on the supposition that every child is a kind of idiot who must be taught to think". ~ Anne Sullivan.

I was conducting a Discover Your True Calling workshop at IIM, Indore last week. I had the afternoon free and decided to see the much acclaimed, high-grossing Bollywood movie - "3 Idiots". I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, largely because it is a complete indictment of our education system. The message was strikingly similar to the theme of my workshop.

The film is about three students who do not really fit into the prestigious engineering college and are considered idiots by their professor. However, the movie clearly shows who the three real idiots are - the educational system, the teachers and the parents. Reflecting on the movie on the flight back to Mumbai, I realized that any real change in education is possible only by transforming these three constituencies.

Idiot #1 - The Education System:

Our current system is performance-oriented rather than mastery-oriented. The emphasis on examinations forces students to learn by rote. They focus on scoring high marks rather than investing the time and energy to understand the subject in depth. A system where true geniuses like Einstein and Ramanujan are considered poor students really needs its head examined. In the movie, this is brilliantly brought out by Aamir Khan playing Rancho - the truly outstanding engineer who goes beyond the book to gain mastery.

Idiot #2 - The Teachers:

Our current system of pedagogy is faculty-led and follows a fixed curriculum. The average teacher assumes that there is one right answer and that (s)he knows the answer. It is the rare teacher who has the ability to facilitate rather than teach, to nurture rather than preach and to support students who stray from the well-trodden path in search of creative ways to learn. Boman Irani as Viru Sahastrabuddhe does a superb job of bringing to life a dogmatic, highly competitive, over-confident college professor - the antithesis of an ideal teacher in every way.

Idiot #3 - The Parents:

When India's HRD Minister Kapil Sibal suggested scrapping of the 10th grade exams, parents were the first to stand up against the proposal. Parents want their children to be at the top of their classes, get admitted to the best colleges and follow traditional career options - engineering, medicine, management and the like.

Parents rarely encourage their children to discover their true passions and pursue mastery rather than mediocrity. The movie's middle class Quereshis, who want their son to be an engineer, and the poorer Rastogis, who see education as a way out of poverty, are typical of today's Indian parents. They would probably be the toughest nut to crack.

The 21st century calls for talented people who are masters in their chosen fields of work. It calls for collaboration among passionate individuals, from different disciplines, to address the truly challenging issues and opportunities that the world presents. The current assembly-line approach to education falls severely short. We are not equipping our children to succeed in their world. The appeal of the movie is universal and obvious.

But what will it take for all three of the constituencies above, as well as the student community to rally around to a new educational order? Please share your perspectives. We need to work together to bring about transformation in this vital area of our society.

Committed to transformation on all fronts, Sudhakar Ram has written articles on transforming India, corporate governance, financial markets and governments. He believes that we have the potential to create a sustainable world and live in harmony with our environment. However, this would require a fundamental shift in our mindsets - the "constructs" that drive our attitudes and actions. [http://www.thenewconstructs.com/]The New Constructs is his initiative to leverage Connected Intelligence in realizing the Connected Age. Please share. Stay active, stay engaged.

Sudhakar Ram is Chairman and Co-Founder of [http://www.mastek.com/]Mastek a leading IT solutions company specializing in providing IT platforms and applications for large and complex transformation programs like the London Congestion Charging Scheme, and the National Health Service in the UK.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-3-Idiots-of-the-Education-System&id=3627067] The 3 Idiots of the Education System

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Mass Education Vs True Calling

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Sudhakar_Ram]Sudhakar Ram

"A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be" ~ Abraham Maslow

We were having an argument, but it was one of those arguments you can have with a l friend - polite, yet spirited. My friend is a great guy who has dedicated his life to teaching reading, math and science to government school children in Tamil Nadu. He has had a positive impact on thousands of kids over the last decade. But I was putting him on the spot.

"Why are you trying to make everyone an IIT aspirant" I asked him. "Are there not other careers which may be more in line with their natural talents?"

"Yes, there are other possible careers for many kids," he conceded. "But their parents and peer groups value math and science most. They are afraid their child is dumb if he or she doesn't score good marks in these subjects. I've got to concentrate on math and science to build self-worth in the child." I was still thinking about this later that day when my wife Girija and I visited my mother. We got chatting with the housekeeper, whose 12-year-old son is in 7th grade in a nearby government school.

The housekeeper complained that her son, although standing 4th in his class, got his highest marks in English and Math, which he liked, while barely achieving pass marks in the other subjects like science, social science and Tamil. She wanted him to go to college, but the boy did not seem very interested in academics; he was more interested in working with on carpentry and other crafts.

I recalled our conversation with Panchayat President Elango about the youth in Kuthambakkam village, and how so many of their parents view education as some kind of a passport to upward mobility. And, in some cases, it is. However, many villages are having problems with youths who fail 10th grade public exams - and then think themselves too good for farm work or other manual labor but cannot get better jobs. These youth tend to hang about as wastrels, living off their parents and falling prey to any corrupting influence in the village.

I am convinced that every human being on earth is born with innate gifts and talents. With effort and guidance, everyone can discover his or her own calling - we each have our own path to excel and make a mark in this world. Unfortunately, our education system interferes with this process with its "one size fits all" approach.

Further, society and economies create their own complications, especially in India, by glorifying and rewarding certain vocations more than others. It's sad: the further one is from producing something useful to the world, the more the person earns. Thus a person who produces goods and services is worth 'x". The person who markets and creates a business out of these goods and services earns '10x'. And the person who provides the financial inputs to this venture earns '100x'!

The question we need to ask ourselves - and argue, cordially, with our friends and family - is whether this distortion of value needs to persist in the Connected Age - with its reduced asymmetry of information and opportunities. Will the New Age bring new opportunities to pursue one's true calling and make a good living by doing so, rather than having to pursue specific professions purely for the money, but with no joy?

Will our education system be able to honor the individuality and uniqueness of every one of us, and nurture it rather than lock us to the lowest common denominator under the pretext of leaving no child behind? These are questions that I'd like us to discuss, politely and rationally, as a community.

Sudhakar Ram is Chairman and Co-Founder of [http://www.mastek.com/]Mastek, a leading IT solutions company specializing in providing IT platforms and applications for large and complex transformation programs like the London Congestion Charging Scheme, and the National Health Service in the UK. He believes that we have the potential to create a sustainable world and live in harmony with our environment. However, this would require a fundamental shift in our mindsets - the "constructs" that drive our attitudes and actions. [http://www.thenewconstructs.com/]The New Constructs is an initiative to promote independence in all facets of life in our journey to create an interdependent, connected world. How are you progressing through your life? What suggestions do you have for the rest of us in our lifetime journeys? Please share. Stay active, stay engaged.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Mass-Education-Vs-True-Calling&id=3888233] Mass Education Vs True Calling

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The Future of Educational Technology and Education 3.0

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Steve_McClard]Steve McClard

Thinking of what education might look like in the next decade, one quickly realizes that the trends in technology are leaving a large number of our students behind. We no longer live in an age of visible movement when it comes to progress and innovation. Today is an age of exponential change. New and ever-improving technologies are popping up every day and in every corner of society.

Educating the best and the brightest in this brave new world will take a new and improved educational paradigm. Allowing our educational tools to age in the corner of the classroom will be the mistake that may cost us our future. Throwing away masses of children to inequitable access will ensure that we languish at the bottom of the global pool of employable workers for decades to come.

The New Toolbox

I was at an auction a few years ago and noticed a few old woodworking tools that I thought I could use. For a few bucks, I was able to snag an assortment of hand tools that may have been in someone's toolbox for a generation or more. As the next decade passed, I used these tools in my shop for a wide variety of projects until my projects outgrew these old, dull tools. My woodworking creations continued to improve as did my skills and artistry. I quickly discovered that using improved tools would translate into improved craftsmanship. As any woodworker will tell you, new tools require new skills.

Woodworking is a great metaphor for shaping and molding students. There is simply no good substitute for a sharp tool. If you want to build the best projects possible, you need to use the best tools possible. Thinking in terms of the next decade for our country, we will be sorely disappointed in our projects if we fail to improve our tools.

Over the course of the next few days, I will attempt to paint a picture of how technology will shape the way we educate students in the next decade. I will attempt to show the amazing possibilities that lay before us if we will simply walk through the doorway of opportunity that is open to us.

My main focus in this series of articles will be this idea: Transforming the student from being a passenger to becoming a "user." You may be wondering what I mean by this. Let me explain.

Ask yourself what it means to be a "user." A user is not simply a person who uses. For the student, being a user should involve using the latest technology in a free and autonomous manner. This new-found freedom will allow the student to become an active participant in his/her education instead of a passive passenger. No other time in history have we been so able to make this a reality.

In our current technological society, being a user also means being tracked. Tracking has become a major part of our daily lives and is precisely the engine that should drive our educational process for the foreseeable future. Tracking a student means having the ability to target education toward weaknesses and strengths. The ability to accurately customize curriculum to the individual has been the holy grail of educational philosophy for many years. This golden age of technological development may soon enable this dream to become a reality.

Current educational curriculum and individual assessment is arbitrary at best. Being able to accurately asses a student can only be achieved by using modern tracking and database technologies. The means by which we can make this a reality is readily available and only needs to be taken off the shelf to be used. If Congress is looking for a shovel-ready project, this may be the one.

Imagine a world where every child has a tablet computer with ready access to the App of virtual photographic memory (internet). Further, imagine that every student can access all the knowledge of humankind freely at any moment in time. Continue to imagine a world where a misspelled word brings up a spelling challenge application instead of an auto correction. Try to contemplate what it would mean for a teacher to have a database of every misspelled word, every misunderstood concept or every missed equation for each of their students. Try to envision a teacher with the ability to customize the experience of the individual "user" with minimal effort. Imagine the curriculum being automatically targeted to the user through an intuitive educational platform that knows every strength and each unique weakness. I could go on, but I think you get the point.

The company that makes this standard available to the educational community will be the company that shapes the future of humankind. Will it be Google, Apple, Microsoft, or some other yet unknown pioneer?

Continuing from the thoughts in my last post, I would like to elaborate on the idea of the student as a user of a new standardized educational platform. It is obvious to me that the future of education will always mirror our everyday lives in one way or another. If you examine how technology has influenced your daily life already, you begin to put together a snapshot of what it will mean to be educated in the next decade.

In the last few hundred years, most individuals would consider an education as something you receive. You often hear the question asked, "Where did you receive your education?" As we proceed through the next decade, education will slowly move away from reception and toward being custom designed for the individual user. New technology will not only allow us to receive an education, but also develop an education. The question we might ask in 10 years is, "How did you develop your education?" The question of where will still be important, but the how of the matter will be the focus that defines the individual.

To make this a reality we will need a standardized platform from which to develop a student's unique education. This standardized platform will allow us to tailor a custom curriculum that will be matched to talents, interests and life goals. For the educator, a standardized platform will create a way to assist the student in discovering a true purpose in life through a unique educational experience. The basics of reading, writing and arithmetic will not be taught as much as they will be discovered and used. Learning will become a reciprocal experience between the teacher, the student and the machine.

Under a standardized platform, each of these three participants will have a role to play. The teacher will be the facilitator, assisting the development of the curriculum and inspiring the direction the student takes. The student will be the user, gathering resources, skills and knowledge in an efficient and measured sequence. The machine will do the work of data gathering and analysis, which will assist the teacher and student in refining the curriculum. This data gathering work of the machine will also free the teacher from the burden of record-keeping and tedious tasks that currently distract from the real job of teaching and learning.

Under a standardized system, grade level will be far less important. Achievement and progression will be measured by accomplishment and intelligence as a benchmark for success. The question of failure or success will be irrelevant and replaced with a standard and consistent measurement of potential and overall intelligence. Information will no longer be missed but continually rehearsed and monitored for retention by the machine.

In our current educational paradigm, the teacher is in charge of arbitrarily constructing curriculum. This approach to curriculum development is based on inexperience in some cases, outdated materials, inadequate funding and a shortage of time. Measuring the success of a specific curriculum is currently impossible. With a standardized system, comparisons of curricular success can be made across the entire spectrum of education and then continually reformulated and enhanced by the machine.

Sadly, teachers today are bogged down with an assortment of mind-numbing tasks that would be better suited to an off-the-shelf automated system. Tasks such as data tracking, reporting and record keeping are currently accomplished manually. These tasks could easily be delegated to an intuitive database. Developing a standard to follow would eliminate these tasks and free the teacher to do their main job of teaching students.

Education 3.0

Throughout history, man has sought to pass on knowledge to the next generation. This process started with oral tradition, storytelling and writing. With the advent of the printing press, knowledge and information slowly became available to the masses. The amount of information that could be gained by one human in a lifetime was severely limited by his access to printed materials and wealth. The majority of learning was gained through observation and imitation. We can call this Education 1.0.

Education 2.0 starts around the late eighteen hundreds with universal literacy movements throughout newly industrialized regions of the world. Improvements in education slowly transitioned from apprenticeship to formal education and training. Despite our movements toward universal education, access to knowledge and opportunity continues to be inequitable throughout the world. Even with the arrival of the computer revolution, access to the tools of learning continues to define the learner.

The next decade may mark the moment in history when all men are granted equal access to the greatest treasure a soul can possess. I use the word may in the last sentence because there is the chance that we will miss this golden opportunity. Access to Education 3.0 will only be gained through investment and universal standardization. If we continue to divert wealth toward fruitless goals and corporate greed, this opportunity will be lost or hopelessly delayed.

Education 3.0, when it arrives, will be the age of universal enlightenment. Platforms for education and learning will slowly standardize and become globally accessible and affordable. The poorest to the wealthiest will have access to the machine that runs the platform.

The thought on your mind at this point is most likely wondering what machine I keep referring to. The machine in question is the one we have been so busy teaching and training since roughly 1969. You've probably guessed it by now that I am referring to the internet. The great cloud of knowledge that we call the internet is precisely the mechanism that we will use to build the platform of Education 3.0. When the platform is finally in place, the decade to follow will see the greatest amount of wealth, discoveries and use of human potential that we have witnessed during our time on this earth. The only question that remains to be answered is the point at which I will leave this series of articles.

When will we allow the user to use the machine to its potential?

Stephen McClard has been the Director of Bands at Bolivar High School since 2002. Mr. McClard graduated from Southeast Missouri State University in 1990. He started his teaching career in Southeast Missouri before moving to Illinois where he taught band for 8 years.

Mr. McClard's bands have consistently received superior ratings at contest as well as many other awards and accolades. Since 2002, the band has traveled twice to Chicago, where they won 1st place class 4A and 1st place overall at the Midwest Music In the Parks Festival. The band also traveled to Cincinnati in 2006, receiving the same honors. In 2006, Mr. McClard was named by SBO Magazine as one of the 50 Directors Who Make a Difference. In 2006, 2008 and 2009, Bolivar RI School district was named one of the "Best 100 Communities for Music Education" in America by the American Music Conference. Mr. McClard was previously featured on the cover of the 2003 issue of SBO Magazine for his work with music technology.

In addition to his career in education, Mr. McClard maintains an online woodworking business and is a 3rd generation piano technician. His woodworking creations include custom bass guitars, which have sold all over the world and one-of-a-kind computer desks made from old pianos. His piano desks have been featured in magazines such as Business 2.0 and Piano Technicians Journal and in many other newspapers and television news features.

His first book, The Superior Educator, A Calm and Assertive Approach to Classroom Management and Large Group Motivation, is available on Amazon as well as other book outlets.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?The-Future-of-Educational-Technology-and-Education-3.0&id=3639988] The Future of Educational Technology and Education 3.0

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Why Teach Art?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Lois_Dewitt]Lois Dewitt

Thinking Skills

An article written by Ellen Winner and Lois Hetland for the Boston Globe in 2007 promotes creativity in learning: "There is, however, a very good reason to teach arts in schools, and it's not the one that arts supporters tend to fall back on. In a recent study of several art classes in Boston-area schools, we found that arts programs teach a specific set of thinking skills rarely addressed elsewhere in the curriculum - and that far from being irrelevant in a test-driven education system, arts education is becoming even more important as standardized tests like the MCAS exert a narrowing influence over what schools teach."

And why shouldn't they? Dr. Betty Edwards, best-selling author of "Drawing On The Right Side Of The Brain," advocates the use of our right brain hemisphere and has written great coursework that reveals are inherent underdevelopment of this side of the brain. Most educational programs, established in the United States back in the 1800's, site a preference for left hemispherical instruction. Understandably, we were still essentially agricultural at the time, and steadily emerging to play a major part in the Industrial Revolution. Whatever music, drama and art instruction existed in the one room schoolhouse, soon migrated to larger and larger classrooms where the early technology of manufacturing in the New World was a bright glow on the future horizons of American young people.

Space Race

Into the 1900's, those artful programs diminished. The "Space Race" and Sputnik, launched an all-out emphasis on Science and Math learning and changed school curriculums forever. With the realization that America, in the 1980's and 1990's was fast become a service and technology oriented nation, our manufacturing industries diminished and a New Age of Technology changed the future glow for school children. Again, in public and private schools across the nation, the importance of that left hemisphere, so amply delineated by Dr. Betty Edwards as the time-counter, the data finder, the logician, the number-cruncher, the financier, the worker of charts and graphs would again dictate what our schools taught our youth.

Rich Creative Thinking

What we haven't quite figured out yet is that most scientific, mathematical, legal, financial positions require creativity and that great progress has been made in these areas by "thinking outside the box." For that matter, creative thinking enhances any part of our lives. How?

When we receive information, if we are basically trained in the American educational system, we process it as data, that is, it represents dates, times, charts, factors, elements that regulate our lives in monetary, fiduciary, fact-oriented ways. This is our perceptual reality. Indeed, the best trained to process this data have a good chance of doing well in our culture. Could creativity make us better? Yes, because, with the emphasis on just one hemisphere of our brain, we don't really have the whole picture. We are not cognitive to all of the options that our wonderful brains can render. Therefore, we are severely limited: economically, culturally, politically and spiritually.

The Total Brain

Developing our total brains, more the cerebral scenario of ancient Western culture, is still alive and well in many cultures today. But as the global economy spreads the word, educational patterns lean towards left hemisphere education. Will we ultimately inherit a global, lop-sided perspective, severely limiting our brain capacities in favor of the left and retarding the use of the right? In the future, will bear offspring that are limited that way?

Sci-Fi?

This prospect is dismal and hopefully, just science fiction. If we chose to, via cultural choices, cut off the very rich resources of the right side, are children and future children will inherit a two-dimensional world which stifles creativity, shuns invention and creative research, blocks poetry, the theatre, and artists endeavors and, ultimately, cuts off a very powerful resource. It could be that the world will suffer for our restrictions on creative thinking.

Here is my challenge. Learn your right side! You will become stronger, better equipped to deal with what the world has to offer and, if at first, you are uncomfortable, well, go ahead, jump into to the hot tub of creativity.

Lois's website offering free online art classes and many art resources, includes a gallery of her own paintings and pastels, as well as her videos demonstrating a wide variety of skills and techniques in the lessons: http://www.free-online-art-classes.com

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Why-Teach-Art?&id=3639891] Why Teach Art?

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Technology in the Classroom - Six Easy, Inexpensive Ways to Use Technology in Your Curriculum

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=James_Guilford]James Guilford

Educators worldwide have been issued the same challenge: integrate technology into your curriculum. Still, teachers are hard pressed to find concrete suggestions for using technology. Never fear. There are many ideas on this page. What follows are six easy ways to integrate tech into your curriculum. These suggestions will make your tech use organic to your classroom and user-friendly for you and your students.

1. Appoint an Expert. During readings and discussions, appoint a student as the class librarian. This student can use a computer to access online encyclopedias, dictionaries, author websites, and other references. As unknown references come up, have the librarian do quick research and then report back while the class moves forward. This is a great way to increase understanding without interrupting the flow of the class.

2. Add Commentary. Have students submit writing assignments to you as email attachments. Then, use the Comment function in Microsoft Word to post responses on student writing. Save each draft to create an electronic portfolio for each student. You can refer to this portfolio in parent conferences, specialist meetings, and student meetings. You can also use these comments to help with your progress report writing.

3. Go Over Their Heads. Use an overhead projector or an LCD projector instead of handouts. This is especially useful for pop quizzes, directions to activities, or short whole-group reading passages. Using an overhead projector instead of paper is a great start towards a greener classroom.

4. Refer to the Text. Use text messaging to send quick reminders. Imagine a text to students about important projects or homework assignments. Imagine a text to parents reminding them about permission slips or parent-teacher meetings. Texting is greener, quicker, and more reliable than paper notices.

5. Fan the Flames. Start a Facebook fan page. Use this page to post discussion questions and website links. This page can also be used to initiate conversations about books or current events related to themes and activities in your class.

6. Add Hype with Skype. Skype is an Internet service that offers free calling and video conferencing between computers. Imagine facilitating a discussion with students from a school across the country-or across the globe-about a novel or a current event. Many authors offer free or inexpensive online book chats. Use Skype to bring experts into the classroom without the hassle or expense of airfare, hotels, cabs, or other scheduling nightmares.

Integrating technology in the classroom need not be frustrating or gratuitous. Moreover, using technology does not require that you teach at a school with millions in endowment or Ivy-League-level resources. The above strategies will help you incorporate tech into your classroom in ways that are easy, valuable, and inexpensive.

ONLINE BOOK CHATS AND FREE ONLINE RESOURCES

James Guilford is the author of the young-adult novel, THE PENCIL TEST. Have an Online Book Chat (OBC) with James Guilford. With an Online Book Chat, you can easily integrate technology. Moreover, you can give your students an in-depth understanding of the novel, the writing process, and the life of a writer. Visit http://www.jamesguilford.com/speaking__workshops for more information. Find more free resources for parents, teachers, and home schools on the author's website.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?Technology-in-the-Classroom---Six-Easy,-Inexpensive-Ways-to-Use-Technology-in-Your-Curriculum&id=3577453] Technology in the Classroom - Six Easy, Inexpensive Ways to Use Technology in Your Curriculum

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How Do You Imagine Your Ideal School?

By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Zoltan_Cserei]Zoltan Cserei

Have you ever thought about why you are going to school? I mean, literally thought about it and not just the "damn, it's school time again" things:D Through our lifetime, we change our environment several times, we move house, change jobs, partners, and we do change school. These changes are always subject of hard decisions, and we all see the pros and cons of these, having an ideal of where we would like to end up. Let's talk about this. How do You imagine your ideal school?

Opinions vary. Some say that a school should present classic, sometimes inclement values; that a school should be a gauge for regularity, for precision set in stone. Others vote for a vibrant student life, full of parties and different events. From another point of view, some people prefer following the curriculum strictly and work hard for obtaining as good marks as possible, while others don't care as much about following the set out layout and rather engage in different activities. This is not just a question of the individual, the school is also responsible for providing its students with enough good opportunities. I consider myself lucky regarding my schooling so far: I have quite good academical results, and also like to participate in leisure time activities provided by our school and our youth council. I am proud to be able to learn where I do. Education is an important aspect of our lives, and no phase from kindergarten until university can be accentuated enough. There's no country in the world where the educational system doesn't receive heaps of critique, and just like the hundreds of journalists who don't have anything better to write about, I also have a strong opinion on how schooling should work, and what is not right. So, how do you imagine your ideal educational system? Let me share what I think. All the ideas may not apply to your country as well, because many things differ from country to country, however, I believe that most of what I'm going to say apply everywhere.

Freedom To Work On Your Own Projects

Everyone has to follow the curriculum to some measure, because a pinch of knowledge from every area is a great help in a deeper understanding of life. However, the value of the mastery of a given subject is unquestionable and insuperable. I believe that the knowledge acquired through everyday classes is enough to develop a very good skill in almost any given area. On the other hand, when you are given the choice libré to work on a subject that you really like, and you can dig deeper: now that's a totally different story. Last weekend one of my friends and I participated in a youth scientific research conference, where we presented our research about the causes and results of changes in tale telling habits and the negative side effects of violent cartoons. It was wonderful for me, even if I don't intend to become a sociologist or psychologist or anything similar (at the moment architecture seems the most compelling to me), it was still an experience full of new knowledge and ideas. I believe that anyone should be given the opportunity and also the support to be able to do serious research during school time (even before college).

Freedom To Learn According To Your Personality

We have specialized schools everywhere, art classes, social sciences, sciences of nature, information technology, and so on.. however, even if we have this choice to continue our studies in an environment tailored to our needs, some evident problems still arise. I'm talking about rating. It doesn't matter whether it's done using letters or numbers, percentage, or the devil knows what else, the result is always the same: students are classified and measured. How do you measure a man? I don't have the answer. But I don't think that if my thermodynamics test result is higher than my buddy's than he should feel like he is an inferior man. Okay, we are different, some are better regarding academic knowledge than others. However, the latter are not given a frigging chance of self-confidence, no one tells them that maybe their values are to be found elsewhere (everyone is valorous). I'm talking of the unmeasurable values: human kindness, self-sacrifice, imagination, practicality and so on. Some people excel at these areas of life, and these people are stigmatized as useless in school. We are different personalities, and deploy a whole range of different values. I'm not saying that anyone with a kind smile should be respected even if he or she has a strong belief regarding to equality of two plus two to five. I'm just saying that the focus should be rather put on learning and acquiring new ideas and becoming wiser in a way instead of creating a hierarchy of people according to their thermodynamics test.

We Need The Instinct To Learn

As a result of this wretched evaluation system, our instinct to learn new things has been largely eradicated. It would be great to have guidelines on what to read, in which direction to develop yourself, however, no one should be given so much compulsory reading that she doesn't have the time to read what she's interested in. Curiosity is among our biggest weapons. By overburdening ourselves, it might fade a little, thus lowering our appetite for fresh knowledge. I don't take compulsory tasks too seriously in school - I never did, and this is not an advice everyone should follow - but I try to always rank high on any activity (competitions, conferences, cultural events, etc.) that is outside of the rigid frames of robotic classes. What do you think, what is more important: to gate all the A++ marks and learn everything you're told to learn word by word, or to get active and climb the tree of knowledge, using the guides you were given in school.

Zoli Cserei is the author of [http://www.simplywilldo.com]Simply Will Do a thought-provoking blog about simplicity, productivity and greatness of life, providing useful tips and deep thoughts.

Article Source: [http://EzineArticles.com/?How-Do-You-Imagine-Your-Ideal-School?&id=3488822] How Do You Imagine Your Ideal School?

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