Make a habit of posting regularly in the blog. Write a topic and post it in different sections and thereby create a series. This increases the curiosity of the web visitors who turn to the blog for the interesting follow-ups. Write on controversial topics that arouse the interests of the web visitors. Try to blog out breaking news first. It increases the popularity and creates an authentic image in the web community. Use right keywords in the body content. The placement of the keywords in accurate density proves to be search engine friendly. It is very important to encourage comments of web visitors in your blog. Highlight the most relevant comments on the blog. Try to build a cordial relation with the web visitors so that they visit your blog over and over again.
Submit your blog in blog directories and the RSS feed in RSS directories respectively. It will be fruitful if you use the Ping-O-Matic service. Enter your blog name and its URL and select the directories according to choice. Any updates in your blog are automatically updated in the directories. The web visitors in these directories will able to access your contents. While designing your blog it necessary to make an email subscription button and form. This proves to be very user friendly. Try to comment on other blogs. This will introduce your blog in the blogger community. List your favorite blogs in the blog rolls. You must also try to list your blog in other blogs.
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Free real traffic
Most Search Engine Optimizers already know that Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) has great advantages on Optimizing web pages for the search engines but some may not be aware that most CSS Templates also helps the web masters in saving a lot of valuable time when designing a site. Some of the more popular free CSS template providers like oswd.org and csstemplates.net constantly uploads professional templates for the worldwide webmasteres. These templates come with standard and validate codes which not only helps in optimizing the site but also conforms to World Wide Web Consortium's (W3C) guidelines. One of the most significant advantages of using CSS templates to start off a website is that it increases the overall Text-to-Codes ratio. Some experienced Search Engine Optimizers believe that search engines favors the indexing of pages that have a high amount of content rather than codes. In addition, a page with high amount of HTML or Javascript codes is likely to create errors than a page with less codes. Therefore, CSS template helps greatly in this codes reduction to increase search engine optimization results. Another factor worth considering is the amount of time needed by the search engine bots to index a page. With the implementation of CSS, especially with the external style sheets, the file size will be much smaller than normal pages that use conventional tables design. It is to our advantages if search engine can index our pages in a shorter time. This not only saves us valuable bandwidth but also reduces the chance of encountering errors during indexing since now the file is smaller and more compact.
Post comments in other blogs. When you add a comment in a blog and when you add your blog´s URL a new backlinks is created, but try to post comments only in those somehow related to what your blog is about, don’t start posting in each blog you find out there. Contribute with the community, that´s what the blogging business is all about.Link Exchange. It is important that you exchange links only with related sites. If a site has nothing to do with your site a reciprocal backlink from it will serve little to no purpose. Post an entry and let people know that you are open for link exchanges.Join forums. And contribute posting comments, use your URL as your signature, try to participate in the hottest threads, don’t start posting comments without content just to get backlinks because it is probably that your entry will be deleted by a moderator.Link Baiting. If you don’t know what this means, it is when you write a controversial or a very interesting post or article that catches the attention of a large audience that wants to blog about that, this is going to generate automatic free backlinks. Write a creative post, this kind of links are very important because people are choosing to link to you, what gives your blog an extra value.Submit articles. If you know a lot about something write an article for free distribution, or for reprint, and submit it to free article directories.
Twitter is a social site based around the idea of 140 character messages, but it has grown to be much more than that.My relationship with Twitter has mutated over time. My opinion of the service has ranged from true believer, skeptic, objective critic, right up to now which I would describe as “cautious optimist“.It took a while for me to see any benefit in it but now I think it could be very useful to bloggers when used correctly.Do you use Twitter? Let me know in the comments. Follow me on Twitter now.If you are not using Twitter yet, there is a comprehensive guide here.The service is still developing, both technologically (it is often down or unreliable) and in the way people use it. There are three great non-social uses for Twitter that I can see:Inside scoop - Follow the right industry insiders and you get the news before any other channel. I have gotten access to information and beta accounts this way, can be very useful. Traffic - Drop a link with a good intro and you can see click throughs and comments as a result. Networking - I have stated many times how important networking is for bloggers, Twitter is a growing venue for this. Driving Traffic with TwitterTwitter is more and more being used as both a social medium and also as a way to drive traffic. You can see this in action by observing users who do it so well, people like Tamar, Chris Pirillo, Scoble and Steve Rubel.The key is to paste your link after a compelling headline. I find titles that either announce something intriguing or beg a response to work best, things people will have an opinion on. You can use Twitterfeed to post your RSS content to twitter automatically, or various plugins to Tweet as you post. Another traffic technique is to post Digg URLs to get your followers to vote!It is no good thinking you can drive loads of traffic to your blog if you only have five followers, you have to get out there and make some friends. See “networking” below.Twitter as a Back ChannelOriginally when I signed up I did the usual thing of following my friends. Thing is, I talk to my friends anyway. What I missed out on was what I find really beneficial now, finding stuff out as it happens and getting insights that I would miss otherwise.The key is to follow the right people. This can only be worked out through trial and error; follow people for a while and see what they produce.On a basic level I have been able to follow the key points from conferences I would not have been able to access, but at best there have been quotes and links that have kept me informed better than following 1000 feeds.Twitter NetworkingYou don’t just post and read on Twitter, you can discuss and make connections too.Be careful that you do not follow more Twitter users than you can handle, this kind of thing can really leach on your time. The way I have gathered contacts is by gradually following other peoples conversations and following who they reference. You will find a lot will follow you in return or if you reply to one of their comments.It is very important when replying to remember that your conversation is public, keep it interesting for those outside the conversation too by making it inclusive. Be clear in each “tweet” what it is you are talking about, don’t expect people to follow the whole thread, do not post too much in quick succession and don’t use shorthand or private jokes.To reply to another Twitter user you just include their @name in your Tweet. To see who replied to you there is a “replies” link.
Backflip : Backflip is a free service currently being run by volunteers. Backflip was started in 1999 by Netscape veterans Tim Hickman and Chris Misner. As a research tool, Backflip is clearly of value to the education community, and that community (or at least certain segments) has certainly embraced Backflip. A Google search of sites that contain the term “Backflip.com” results in numerous education-related links, including Teacher Tools. barksbookmarks : BARKS=BookmARKS is a website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. BibSonomy :BibSonomy is run by the Knowledge Data Engineering Group of the University of Kassel, Germany. Its specifically designed for researchers, in sharing bookmarks and bibliographies Blinklist :A social bookmarking site launched by Mindvalley. According to their site, they launch several web businesses a year and are focused in 3 areas. - Technology, media and Marketing. BlinkList does have a user friendly interface indicating that its being run well and efficiently. They also quote “fully profitable” on their site. Furthermore, you can label and comment about any web page on the Internet. Blipoo :Meet Blipoo, a social bookmarking site for “cool” people sharing “cool” stories. It claims to help bloggers drive more traffic to their blog because they allow self promotion.. BlogBookMark : Designed specifically for Blog hunters, BlogBookmark.com claims to have the hottest news, gossip, and blog chatter from around the web. I highly sugggest that mainstream bloggers bookmark their entires here. BlueDot : This basic social networking service allows users to save and share bookmarks. blurpalicious : Get Blurped! Not too different from other social bookmarks, but I love the tagline. Bmaccess : Social bookmarking with thumbs :) Bookkit : BookKit.com is an absolutely free web service designed to facilitate bookmark (favorites) management needs. BookMarkAll : Bookmarkall is an online bookmark community where users can create, organize and share their favorite web links online and access them anywhere. Bookmark-manager : Organizer for bookmarks, calendar, diary and knowledge. bookmarktracker : Free online storage, management, synchronizing and RSS sharing of your bookmarks. Bookmax : You can store your bookmarks and links to your favorite sites online and access them from wherever you are : basic Social Bookmarking. Buddymarks : The online personal, group and social bookmarks manager. Bukmark : Bukmark is a social bookmarking website. Chipmark :Another basic social bookmarking site. Citeulike : A free service to help academics to share, store, and organise the academic papers they are reading. Claimid : Manage your online identity. Although this is not a normal social bookmarking site, users can bookmark sites which reference their identity and build backlinks in this fashion. Clipclip : Clipclip allows you to save images and text, with a “bookmarklet”. Cloudytags : A unique word analyzer connects to your page, gets all the words and suggest you the real tags your site is showing to the world. Complore : Derived from com-(with,together) and explore-(search, research). As the name suggests, complore is a vision to connect people from diverse backgrounds Connectedy : Lets you establish a personal link directory online. As you surf the web, you collect links, categorize them in a way that makes sense to you. Connotea : Social bookmarking (for researchers). Contentpop : It has the latest Web 2.0 features such as social bookmarking, blogging & RSS. It also uses the word POP in the title which means it must be good. coRank : coRank is a site where you can share whatever you find interesting on the web with people who value your opinion Crowdfound : CrowdFound is essentially a social bookmarking website, but with a different vision in mind de.lirio.us : Store, share and tag your favourite links. Open source clone of del.icio.us with private bookmarking, tagging, blogging, and notes del.icio.us : THE social bookmarking site : It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links and to categorize those sites with keywords. Not to mention that if enough people save your site in a bookmark, it will make their popular page and send a lot of traffic. Delicious is owned by Yahoo and is a MUST for your social media and bookmarking strategy. Diigo : Social bookmarking on steroids. Digg : The social news site that changed the Internet, Digg is a high power authority and a listing in Digg for a site, even if it only has a couple of votes, will rank highly on Google and other search engines for certain terms. If your site is shared and voted upon on Digg, and makes the Digg homepage, you’ll get a lot of traffic and attention from other bloggers who read Digg. Dropjack : DropJack.com is a social content website and owned by the ExactSeek company. Easybm : Allows users to bookmark their frequently visited sites on their private page, allowing 1-click access to their favorite web sites. Enroll : Social bookmarking system based in India. ez4u : Social Bookmarking - Ez4u to Bookmark : “Ez4u to Organize Ez4u to Share with Others Ez4u to Remember” Favoor : Favoor is your personalized new start page. Collect your favorite internet addresses. Folkd : Folkd is a social web-service about pages, news, audios, videos and blogs. Freelink : Freelink.org provides free pages of links that you can access anywhere at anytime. Freezilla : FreeZilla claims to be the first Web 2.0 freebies and promotions social networking site. Fungow : Fungow was designed to help better organize and keep track of your bookmarks. Furl : Like Delicious, LookSmart’s Furl.net is one of the first social bookmarking sites and considered an authority by the major search engines. Listing your sites in Furl will lead to traffic from organic rankings and its popular page drives traffic. Gather : Gather is a place to contribute articles and content, blog, tag and connect with people who share your passions. (Plus you can link out from the articles in this authority site). Getboo : GetBoo.com is yet another free online bookmarking service which allows you to store, edit and retrieve your bookmarks from anywhere online. Google : Allows users to save and create bookmarks in their Google toolbar that can be accessed anywhere online. Google is getting more social by the day, so take advantage of their Google Bookamrks and citations, because one day they probably will have some kind of influence on external meta data considered by the Google ranking algortihm. Hanzoweb : Hanzoweb - Bookmark, tag & share knowledge online Hyperlinkomatic : Hyperlinkomatic - bookmark list manager. i89.us : i89.us offers a free service which allows you to save your favorite website/links at one location that can be accessed from anywhere. Icio : Danish Bookmarking engine. Ikeepbookmarks : Popup feature allows you to add links while surfing the web Iloggo : Simple web based bookmarking tool that you can use for attractively displaying your favorite websites on one page. Jigg : Jigg.in is a socializing community with the latest stories / news submitted by users and has a familiar name :) Kaboodle : Kaboodle is a 2.0 shopping community where people recommend and discover new things. Kinja : Kinja is a blog guide, collecting news and commentary from some of the best sites on the web. Lifelogger : “LifeLogger is a great way to keep things that matter to you alive and sparkling.” And worth considering in a bookmarking campaign. Lilsto : Lilisto lets you store, manage and find your favorite links (or bookmarks) and removes the need to maintain them through your browser. Linkagogo : Favorites and Social Bookmarking Application, its unique dynamic toolbars automatically adapt themselves. Linkarena : German Social Bookmarking site. Linksnarf : Social link sharing with groups of friends.
Listerlister :ListerLister is a social list building community where you can create, add to, and vote for both lists and the items added to them. Ma.gnolia.com : Like Furl and Delicious, anoter major bookmarking site which lets users organize bookmarks, search other people’s favorites and make friends and contacts. Markaboo : MarkaBoo is tool for saving websites, files, and notes from your browser, email or mobile phone. Marktd : Marktd is a reference & voting system that highlights marketing articles considered valuable by the marketing community. Memfrag : memFrag stores your favorites personal notes, making them globally accessible from any computer. Memotoo :Lets users centralize and share your personal data. Mister Wong : Mister Wong is a social bookmarking site that originated in Germany, and has since become a popular and widespread tool. Mixx : An up and coming bookmarking and social news sharing network which should rival Digg, Reddit and others, Mixx blends popular photos, videos and stories. Mobleo : Allows you to easily add, organize, and share your mobile phone bookmarks with your friends using your desktop computer. Multiply :Florida-based social network Multiply, which reports nearly 3 million users and $6 million in funding,opened its social bookmarking site recently and has done well. Definite authority :) Murl : My URLs is a free online bookmarks manager, think of it as a bookmarks community. MyBookmarks : MyBookmarks - access your bookmarks anytime, anywhere. Free productivity tool for business, student or personal use. Another popular bookmarking site. Myhq : Store your bookmarks in one central location. Fast, text-based, banner free! MyLinkVault : A free online bookmark manager. Other bookmark managers can be so clumsy to use - trying to rearrange your bookmarks can be slow and frustrating. mySiteVote : mySiteVote is a community where you can vote your favorite site/s and view how popular a site is. MyWebDesktop : A collaboration and communication tool, designed to be as generic and easy to use as a telephone and email. Newsvine : The mission of Newsvine is to bring together big and little media in a way which respects established journalism Newsweight :NewsWeight is a democratic news, information, and entertainment resource. Oyax : Oyax is a social bookmark manager which allows users to easily add sites you like to personal collection of links, categorize those sites with keywords. Philoi : Person-to-person link sharing community. Save bookmarks and share links with your friends. PlugIM : PlugIM is a user driven internet marketing community. Submit content, share articles, comment on projects and promote your favorites to the front page Propeller : Formaly known as Netscape, AOL’s Propeller has become a great social bookmarking news community tool which is considered an ultimate authority by Yahoo Search and passes link juice in its news story profiles. Propeller is also going to redesign very soon, which should be quite exciting. QuickieClick : QuickieClick is a second generation social bookmarking website with a visual twist. Rambhai : An Indian social bookmarking community RawSugar : A social search engine powered by user contributions. Its an online community, with over 130,000 URLs already tagged by their members. Reddit : Timely and shocking news oriented, Reddit stories are instantly voted upon and if liked by the community as a whole, can drive incredible traffic and users. Searchles : Owned by the DumbFind search engine, in my opinion Searchles is a much overlooked bookmarking tool and loved by Google, Yahoo and the other major search engines with its passing of link juice and high rankings for terms within search results themselves. Do not overlook Searchles. Segnalo : Italian Social bookmarking site. Simpy [late addition]: Social bookmarking & search, Simpy lets users “save, tag, search and share bookmarks, notes, groups and more.” Sitebar : A solution for people who use multiple browsers or computers and want to have their bookmarks available from anywhere without need to synchronize them Sitejot :Free online bookmark manager. Like every other social bookmarking site, it allows users to manage all of their bookmarks online in one convenient place. Sk*rt : sk*rt is a social media ranking platform of “pure goodness”, targeted towards women. Given the right story, Sk*rt can send A LOT of targeted traffic. Slashdot : The godfather of social news, SlashDot bookmarks are still quite powerful .. keep in mind the site has a heavy slant towards Linux and Open Source issues. SocialDanger : SocialDanger is a Web 2.0 open source content management system. Socialogs : A Digg-like Social Bookmarking Service. Sphinn : Very popular search marketing oriented social news and discussion site run via the Pligg system. Spotback : Spotback is a personalized rating system that recommends relevant content based on personal rating history using collaborative filtering Spurl : Another cherished bookmarking and tagging site, Spurl lets users keep online bookmarks & tags while offering full text searching, recommendations & storing of entire documents. Squidoo :Kind of spammed out, Squidoo is a 2.0 property which lets people and businesses set up a ‘lens’ which lists links, tags and relevant RSS feeds to different subjects. Startaid : I’ve noticed that StartAid bookmark pages rank highly in Google and other search engines. This basic bookmarking service allows users to describe, tag and categorize sites. StumbleUpon : Owned by eBay, StumbleUpon is an amazing blend of social bookmarking, voting, networking, web surfing, search and blogging. Best of all, StumbleUpon can send major traffic with its userbase of around 3 million users. Stylehive : The Stylehive is a collection of all the best products, brands, designers and stores discovered and tagged by the Hive community Syncone : SyncOne is an Internet aggregator of bookmarking and browsing. Tagfacts : Basic bookmarking and tagging, a social knowledge base. Taggly : Store, share and tag your favorite links. Tagne : TagNe.ws is user-submitted, community voted links and resources related to SEO, Blogging, RSS, Tagging, Internet Marketing and more. Tagtooga : Says that this bookmarking engine can be used to discover great sites difficult to find in Google/Yahoo by browsing categories. Tagza : A very young Social Bookmarking site mostly being used by Indian and Pakistani web masters. Technorati : Always changing and reinventing themselves, this recognized authority offers links to blogposts, tagging and a social bookmarking WTF section. Tedigo : Personal and social bookmarking in Spanish and English made simple. Thinkpocket : Lets users pocket websites you find valuable. It is a web service that aims to help store, organize and share your favorite sites Thoof : Thoof is a user generated news and information service that claims to learn about what users are interested in and delivers news that they care about. Totalpad : TotalPad is a new online news and article community where people are free to voice their opinions Urlex : With URLex system users are able to leave a comment regarding any internet link on any site. Possibly good for linking :) Uvouch : Another basic social bookmarking site, users can save their findings with one click, at one place and access it from anywhere. Vmark : An online bookmark and online favorites manager. Voteboat : VoteBoat is a user-controlled rating and voting site. Votelists : VoteLists lets users create a list of rankable items. Other can add items, comment on them, rate them and more! Vuju : Vuju allows user to submit/publish content which can be tagged and promoted. WeTogether : Social bookmarking site where people will have great opportunities to promote their own sites. Whitelinks : Securely store and quickly access favorite websites whenever connected to the Internet,: Wink : A social search engine where users can share results and answer questions. Users build profiles which can link out to bookmark pages or other web sites (hint hint).: Wirefan : Social bookmarking, news articles submission site.: Xilinus : Organize and manage bookmarks online.: Xlmark : xlmark is an easy social bookmarking site: Yahoo! Bookmarks: The MOST POPULAR social search and bookmarking service on the web. It’s similar to Delicious and something they launched before acquiring Delicious. Yahoo Bookmarks lets users store bookmarks using their Yahoo Toolbar and access them from any computer. Yattle: Bookmark Management and Mini-Blogging Service. Zlitt: Zlitt is a social bookmarking system which gives users the opportunity to share and tag favorite news, images and videos. Zurpy: Saves bookmarks, text clippings, images, files, and news feeds in one place.
Post comments in other blogs. When you add a comment in a blog and when you add your blog´s URL a new backlinks is created, but try to post comments only in those somehow related to what your blog is about, don’t start posting in each blog you find out there. Contribute with the community, that´s what the blogging business is all about.Link Exchange. It is important that you exchange links only with related sites. If a site has nothing to do with your site a reciprocal backlink from it will serve little to no purpose. Post an entry and let people know that you are open for link exchanges.Join forums. And contribute posting comments, use your URL as your signature, try to participate in the hottest threads, don’t start posting comments without content just to get backlinks because it is probably that your entry will be deleted by a moderator.Link Baiting. If you don’t know what this means, it is when you write a controversial or a very interesting post or article that catches the attention of a large audience that wants to blog about that, this is going to generate automatic free backlinks. Write a creative post, this kind of links are very important because people are choosing to link to you, what gives your blog an extra value.Submit articles. If you know a lot about something write an article for free distribution, or for reprint, and submit it to free article directories.
Twitter is a social site based around the idea of 140 character messages, but it has grown to be much more than that.My relationship with Twitter has mutated over time. My opinion of the service has ranged from true believer, skeptic, objective critic, right up to now which I would describe as “cautious optimist“.It took a while for me to see any benefit in it but now I think it could be very useful to bloggers when used correctly.Do you use Twitter? Let me know in the comments. Follow me on Twitter now.If you are not using Twitter yet, there is a comprehensive guide here.The service is still developing, both technologically (it is often down or unreliable) and in the way people use it. There are three great non-social uses for Twitter that I can see:Inside scoop - Follow the right industry insiders and you get the news before any other channel. I have gotten access to information and beta accounts this way, can be very useful. Traffic - Drop a link with a good intro and you can see click throughs and comments as a result. Networking - I have stated many times how important networking is for bloggers, Twitter is a growing venue for this. Driving Traffic with TwitterTwitter is more and more being used as both a social medium and also as a way to drive traffic. You can see this in action by observing users who do it so well, people like Tamar, Chris Pirillo, Scoble and Steve Rubel.The key is to paste your link after a compelling headline. I find titles that either announce something intriguing or beg a response to work best, things people will have an opinion on. You can use Twitterfeed to post your RSS content to twitter automatically, or various plugins to Tweet as you post. Another traffic technique is to post Digg URLs to get your followers to vote!It is no good thinking you can drive loads of traffic to your blog if you only have five followers, you have to get out there and make some friends. See “networking” below.Twitter as a Back ChannelOriginally when I signed up I did the usual thing of following my friends. Thing is, I talk to my friends anyway. What I missed out on was what I find really beneficial now, finding stuff out as it happens and getting insights that I would miss otherwise.The key is to follow the right people. This can only be worked out through trial and error; follow people for a while and see what they produce.On a basic level I have been able to follow the key points from conferences I would not have been able to access, but at best there have been quotes and links that have kept me informed better than following 1000 feeds.Twitter NetworkingYou don’t just post and read on Twitter, you can discuss and make connections too.Be careful that you do not follow more Twitter users than you can handle, this kind of thing can really leach on your time. The way I have gathered contacts is by gradually following other peoples conversations and following who they reference. You will find a lot will follow you in return or if you reply to one of their comments.It is very important when replying to remember that your conversation is public, keep it interesting for those outside the conversation too by making it inclusive. Be clear in each “tweet” what it is you are talking about, don’t expect people to follow the whole thread, do not post too much in quick succession and don’t use shorthand or private jokes.To reply to another Twitter user you just include their @name in your Tweet. To see who replied to you there is a “replies” link.
Backflip : Backflip is a free service currently being run by volunteers. Backflip was started in 1999 by Netscape veterans Tim Hickman and Chris Misner. As a research tool, Backflip is clearly of value to the education community, and that community (or at least certain segments) has certainly embraced Backflip. A Google search of sites that contain the term “Backflip.com” results in numerous education-related links, including Teacher Tools. barksbookmarks : BARKS=BookmARKS is a website that combines social bookmarking, blogging, RSS, and non-hierarchical editorial control. BibSonomy :BibSonomy is run by the Knowledge Data Engineering Group of the University of Kassel, Germany. Its specifically designed for researchers, in sharing bookmarks and bibliographies Blinklist :A social bookmarking site launched by Mindvalley. According to their site, they launch several web businesses a year and are focused in 3 areas. - Technology, media and Marketing. BlinkList does have a user friendly interface indicating that its being run well and efficiently. They also quote “fully profitable” on their site. Furthermore, you can label and comment about any web page on the Internet. Blipoo :Meet Blipoo, a social bookmarking site for “cool” people sharing “cool” stories. It claims to help bloggers drive more traffic to their blog because they allow self promotion.. BlogBookMark : Designed specifically for Blog hunters, BlogBookmark.com claims to have the hottest news, gossip, and blog chatter from around the web. I highly sugggest that mainstream bloggers bookmark their entires here. BlueDot : This basic social networking service allows users to save and share bookmarks. blurpalicious : Get Blurped! Not too different from other social bookmarks, but I love the tagline. Bmaccess : Social bookmarking with thumbs :) Bookkit : BookKit.com is an absolutely free web service designed to facilitate bookmark (favorites) management needs. BookMarkAll : Bookmarkall is an online bookmark community where users can create, organize and share their favorite web links online and access them anywhere. Bookmark-manager : Organizer for bookmarks, calendar, diary and knowledge. bookmarktracker : Free online storage, management, synchronizing and RSS sharing of your bookmarks. Bookmax : You can store your bookmarks and links to your favorite sites online and access them from wherever you are : basic Social Bookmarking. Buddymarks : The online personal, group and social bookmarks manager. Bukmark : Bukmark is a social bookmarking website. Chipmark :Another basic social bookmarking site. Citeulike : A free service to help academics to share, store, and organise the academic papers they are reading. Claimid : Manage your online identity. Although this is not a normal social bookmarking site, users can bookmark sites which reference their identity and build backlinks in this fashion. Clipclip : Clipclip allows you to save images and text, with a “bookmarklet”. Cloudytags : A unique word analyzer connects to your page, gets all the words and suggest you the real tags your site is showing to the world. Complore : Derived from com-(with,together) and explore-(search, research). As the name suggests, complore is a vision to connect people from diverse backgrounds Connectedy : Lets you establish a personal link directory online. As you surf the web, you collect links, categorize them in a way that makes sense to you. Connotea : Social bookmarking (for researchers). Contentpop : It has the latest Web 2.0 features such as social bookmarking, blogging & RSS. It also uses the word POP in the title which means it must be good. coRank : coRank is a site where you can share whatever you find interesting on the web with people who value your opinion Crowdfound : CrowdFound is essentially a social bookmarking website, but with a different vision in mind de.lirio.us : Store, share and tag your favourite links. Open source clone of del.icio.us with private bookmarking, tagging, blogging, and notes del.icio.us : THE social bookmarking site : It allows you to easily add sites you like to your personal collection of links and to categorize those sites with keywords. Not to mention that if enough people save your site in a bookmark, it will make their popular page and send a lot of traffic. Delicious is owned by Yahoo and is a MUST for your social media and bookmarking strategy. Diigo : Social bookmarking on steroids. Digg : The social news site that changed the Internet, Digg is a high power authority and a listing in Digg for a site, even if it only has a couple of votes, will rank highly on Google and other search engines for certain terms. If your site is shared and voted upon on Digg, and makes the Digg homepage, you’ll get a lot of traffic and attention from other bloggers who read Digg. Dropjack : DropJack.com is a social content website and owned by the ExactSeek company. Easybm : Allows users to bookmark their frequently visited sites on their private page, allowing 1-click access to their favorite web sites. Enroll : Social bookmarking system based in India. ez4u : Social Bookmarking - Ez4u to Bookmark : “Ez4u to Organize Ez4u to Share with Others Ez4u to Remember” Favoor : Favoor is your personalized new start page. Collect your favorite internet addresses. Folkd : Folkd is a social web-service about pages, news, audios, videos and blogs. Freelink : Freelink.org provides free pages of links that you can access anywhere at anytime. Freezilla : FreeZilla claims to be the first Web 2.0 freebies and promotions social networking site. Fungow : Fungow was designed to help better organize and keep track of your bookmarks. Furl : Like Delicious, LookSmart’s Furl.net is one of the first social bookmarking sites and considered an authority by the major search engines. Listing your sites in Furl will lead to traffic from organic rankings and its popular page drives traffic. Gather : Gather is a place to contribute articles and content, blog, tag and connect with people who share your passions. (Plus you can link out from the articles in this authority site). Getboo : GetBoo.com is yet another free online bookmarking service which allows you to store, edit and retrieve your bookmarks from anywhere online. Google : Allows users to save and create bookmarks in their Google toolbar that can be accessed anywhere online. Google is getting more social by the day, so take advantage of their Google Bookamrks and citations, because one day they probably will have some kind of influence on external meta data considered by the Google ranking algortihm. Hanzoweb : Hanzoweb - Bookmark, tag & share knowledge online Hyperlinkomatic : Hyperlinkomatic - bookmark list manager. i89.us : i89.us offers a free service which allows you to save your favorite website/links at one location that can be accessed from anywhere. Icio : Danish Bookmarking engine. Ikeepbookmarks : Popup feature allows you to add links while surfing the web Iloggo : Simple web based bookmarking tool that you can use for attractively displaying your favorite websites on one page. Jigg : Jigg.in is a socializing community with the latest stories / news submitted by users and has a familiar name :) Kaboodle : Kaboodle is a 2.0 shopping community where people recommend and discover new things. Kinja : Kinja is a blog guide, collecting news and commentary from some of the best sites on the web. Lifelogger : “LifeLogger is a great way to keep things that matter to you alive and sparkling.” And worth considering in a bookmarking campaign. Lilsto : Lilisto lets you store, manage and find your favorite links (or bookmarks) and removes the need to maintain them through your browser. Linkagogo : Favorites and Social Bookmarking Application, its unique dynamic toolbars automatically adapt themselves. Linkarena : German Social Bookmarking site. Linksnarf : Social link sharing with groups of friends.
Listerlister :ListerLister is a social list building community where you can create, add to, and vote for both lists and the items added to them. Ma.gnolia.com : Like Furl and Delicious, anoter major bookmarking site which lets users organize bookmarks, search other people’s favorites and make friends and contacts. Markaboo : MarkaBoo is tool for saving websites, files, and notes from your browser, email or mobile phone. Marktd : Marktd is a reference & voting system that highlights marketing articles considered valuable by the marketing community. Memfrag : memFrag stores your favorites personal notes, making them globally accessible from any computer. Memotoo :Lets users centralize and share your personal data. Mister Wong : Mister Wong is a social bookmarking site that originated in Germany, and has since become a popular and widespread tool. Mixx : An up and coming bookmarking and social news sharing network which should rival Digg, Reddit and others, Mixx blends popular photos, videos and stories. Mobleo : Allows you to easily add, organize, and share your mobile phone bookmarks with your friends using your desktop computer. Multiply :Florida-based social network Multiply, which reports nearly 3 million users and $6 million in funding,opened its social bookmarking site recently and has done well. Definite authority :) Murl : My URLs is a free online bookmarks manager, think of it as a bookmarks community. MyBookmarks : MyBookmarks - access your bookmarks anytime, anywhere. Free productivity tool for business, student or personal use. Another popular bookmarking site. Myhq : Store your bookmarks in one central location. Fast, text-based, banner free! MyLinkVault : A free online bookmark manager. Other bookmark managers can be so clumsy to use - trying to rearrange your bookmarks can be slow and frustrating. mySiteVote : mySiteVote is a community where you can vote your favorite site/s and view how popular a site is. MyWebDesktop : A collaboration and communication tool, designed to be as generic and easy to use as a telephone and email. Newsvine : The mission of Newsvine is to bring together big and little media in a way which respects established journalism Newsweight :NewsWeight is a democratic news, information, and entertainment resource. Oyax : Oyax is a social bookmark manager which allows users to easily add sites you like to personal collection of links, categorize those sites with keywords. Philoi : Person-to-person link sharing community. Save bookmarks and share links with your friends. PlugIM : PlugIM is a user driven internet marketing community. Submit content, share articles, comment on projects and promote your favorites to the front page Propeller : Formaly known as Netscape, AOL’s Propeller has become a great social bookmarking news community tool which is considered an ultimate authority by Yahoo Search and passes link juice in its news story profiles. Propeller is also going to redesign very soon, which should be quite exciting. QuickieClick : QuickieClick is a second generation social bookmarking website with a visual twist. Rambhai : An Indian social bookmarking community RawSugar : A social search engine powered by user contributions. Its an online community, with over 130,000 URLs already tagged by their members. Reddit : Timely and shocking news oriented, Reddit stories are instantly voted upon and if liked by the community as a whole, can drive incredible traffic and users. Searchles : Owned by the DumbFind search engine, in my opinion Searchles is a much overlooked bookmarking tool and loved by Google, Yahoo and the other major search engines with its passing of link juice and high rankings for terms within search results themselves. Do not overlook Searchles. Segnalo : Italian Social bookmarking site. Simpy [late addition]: Social bookmarking & search, Simpy lets users “save, tag, search and share bookmarks, notes, groups and more.” Sitebar : A solution for people who use multiple browsers or computers and want to have their bookmarks available from anywhere without need to synchronize them Sitejot :Free online bookmark manager. Like every other social bookmarking site, it allows users to manage all of their bookmarks online in one convenient place. Sk*rt : sk*rt is a social media ranking platform of “pure goodness”, targeted towards women. Given the right story, Sk*rt can send A LOT of targeted traffic. Slashdot : The godfather of social news, SlashDot bookmarks are still quite powerful .. keep in mind the site has a heavy slant towards Linux and Open Source issues. SocialDanger : SocialDanger is a Web 2.0 open source content management system. Socialogs : A Digg-like Social Bookmarking Service. Sphinn : Very popular search marketing oriented social news and discussion site run via the Pligg system. Spotback : Spotback is a personalized rating system that recommends relevant content based on personal rating history using collaborative filtering Spurl : Another cherished bookmarking and tagging site, Spurl lets users keep online bookmarks & tags while offering full text searching, recommendations & storing of entire documents. Squidoo :Kind of spammed out, Squidoo is a 2.0 property which lets people and businesses set up a ‘lens’ which lists links, tags and relevant RSS feeds to different subjects. Startaid : I’ve noticed that StartAid bookmark pages rank highly in Google and other search engines. This basic bookmarking service allows users to describe, tag and categorize sites. StumbleUpon : Owned by eBay, StumbleUpon is an amazing blend of social bookmarking, voting, networking, web surfing, search and blogging. Best of all, StumbleUpon can send major traffic with its userbase of around 3 million users. Stylehive : The Stylehive is a collection of all the best products, brands, designers and stores discovered and tagged by the Hive community Syncone : SyncOne is an Internet aggregator of bookmarking and browsing. Tagfacts : Basic bookmarking and tagging, a social knowledge base. Taggly : Store, share and tag your favorite links. Tagne : TagNe.ws is user-submitted, community voted links and resources related to SEO, Blogging, RSS, Tagging, Internet Marketing and more. Tagtooga : Says that this bookmarking engine can be used to discover great sites difficult to find in Google/Yahoo by browsing categories. Tagza : A very young Social Bookmarking site mostly being used by Indian and Pakistani web masters. Technorati : Always changing and reinventing themselves, this recognized authority offers links to blogposts, tagging and a social bookmarking WTF section. Tedigo : Personal and social bookmarking in Spanish and English made simple. Thinkpocket : Lets users pocket websites you find valuable. It is a web service that aims to help store, organize and share your favorite sites Thoof : Thoof is a user generated news and information service that claims to learn about what users are interested in and delivers news that they care about. Totalpad : TotalPad is a new online news and article community where people are free to voice their opinions Urlex : With URLex system users are able to leave a comment regarding any internet link on any site. Possibly good for linking :) Uvouch : Another basic social bookmarking site, users can save their findings with one click, at one place and access it from anywhere. Vmark : An online bookmark and online favorites manager. Voteboat : VoteBoat is a user-controlled rating and voting site. Votelists : VoteLists lets users create a list of rankable items. Other can add items, comment on them, rate them and more! Vuju : Vuju allows user to submit/publish content which can be tagged and promoted. WeTogether : Social bookmarking site where people will have great opportunities to promote their own sites. Whitelinks : Securely store and quickly access favorite websites whenever connected to the Internet,: Wink : A social search engine where users can share results and answer questions. Users build profiles which can link out to bookmark pages or other web sites (hint hint).: Wirefan : Social bookmarking, news articles submission site.: Xilinus : Organize and manage bookmarks online.: Xlmark : xlmark is an easy social bookmarking site: Yahoo! Bookmarks: The MOST POPULAR social search and bookmarking service on the web. It’s similar to Delicious and something they launched before acquiring Delicious. Yahoo Bookmarks lets users store bookmarks using their Yahoo Toolbar and access them from any computer. Yattle: Bookmark Management and Mini-Blogging Service. Zlitt: Zlitt is a social bookmarking system which gives users the opportunity to share and tag favorite news, images and videos. Zurpy: Saves bookmarks, text clippings, images, files, and news feeds in one place.
Exercise your brain
Lateral Thinking - Exercise your Brain
There are nine ears of corn in a plate at the kitchen. A healthy rat carries only three ears out each day because it can only consume that, how many days will it take to empty the plate?
a) 3
b) 6
c) 9
John sitting at a restaurent signals to the headwaiter in a restaurant, and says, "There's a fly in my tea." The waiter says, "No problem, sir. I will bring you a fresh cup of tea." A few minutes later John shouts, "Get the manager! This is the same cup of tea!"
How did he know?
a) he thought so
b) he added sugar in the previous cup
c) he added sugar to this cup
d) he was a diabetic
e) none of the above
Manish had a some magic powder with him, which he wished to sell. He sold half of this plus another half Kg more to Rajesh. Then he sold half of what was left and another half Kg more to Ramya. At this point Manish had one Kg left. How many Kgs did Manish have originally?
a) 5
b) 6
c) 7
d) 8
e) 9
Krishnan bought a second hand bike for Rs 6000/= and sold it to Rajan for Rs 8000/=. He later bought it back for Rs 10000/= and resold it for Rs 12000/=. Did Krishnan make any profit and if so how much?
a) Rs 0/=
b) Rs 2000/=
c) Rs 4000/=
Picture this - a bridge six kilometres long and strong enough to hold ten Tons , but not a gram more. A loaded transport truck weighing exactly ten Tons drives onto the bridge. At the mid pointt, a sparrow weighing 28 grams lands on the truck, did the bridge collapse?
Whats your logic?
a) Yes
b) No
Answer all these questions ( do lateral thinking) to arrive at solutions, ill post the answers in 7 days time.
There are nine ears of corn in a plate at the kitchen. A healthy rat carries only three ears out each day because it can only consume that, how many days will it take to empty the plate?
a) 3
b) 6
c) 9
John sitting at a restaurent signals to the headwaiter in a restaurant, and says, "There's a fly in my tea." The waiter says, "No problem, sir. I will bring you a fresh cup of tea." A few minutes later John shouts, "Get the manager! This is the same cup of tea!"
How did he know?
a) he thought so
b) he added sugar in the previous cup
c) he added sugar to this cup
d) he was a diabetic
e) none of the above
Manish had a some magic powder with him, which he wished to sell. He sold half of this plus another half Kg more to Rajesh. Then he sold half of what was left and another half Kg more to Ramya. At this point Manish had one Kg left. How many Kgs did Manish have originally?
a) 5
b) 6
c) 7
d) 8
e) 9
Krishnan bought a second hand bike for Rs 6000/= and sold it to Rajan for Rs 8000/=. He later bought it back for Rs 10000/= and resold it for Rs 12000/=. Did Krishnan make any profit and if so how much?
a) Rs 0/=
b) Rs 2000/=
c) Rs 4000/=
Picture this - a bridge six kilometres long and strong enough to hold ten Tons , but not a gram more. A loaded transport truck weighing exactly ten Tons drives onto the bridge. At the mid pointt, a sparrow weighing 28 grams lands on the truck, did the bridge collapse?
Whats your logic?
a) Yes
b) No
Answer all these questions ( do lateral thinking) to arrive at solutions, ill post the answers in 7 days time.
1923 act
Workmen Compensation Act 1923
WORKMEN 'S COMPENSATION ACT 1923
Workmen's Compensation Act 1923 is central legislation which provides for payment of compensation for injuries suffered by a workman in the course of and arising out of his employment according to the nature of injuries suffered and disability incurred, where death results from the injury, the amount of compensation is payable to the dependants of the workmen.APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONERAll the Deputy Labour Commissioner have been appointed as Commissioner under Workmen's Compensation Act. Where an employer is in default in paying the compensation due under this Act, within one month from the date it fell due, the Commissioner shalla) Direct that the employer in addition to the amount of arrears, pay simple interest there on at the rate of 12% per annum or on such higher rates.b) Commissioner has the power under the Act to impose penalty and the interest on the cleared amount as per the provision of the act.During the period 2002, 535 claims were made and upto September 2003, 633 claims have been decided by the Commissioners appointed under the Act.
Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923:
Provisions and ApplicabilityAs on March 06, 2007The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 is one of the important social security legislations. It aims at providing financial protection to workmen and their dependants in case of accidental injury by means of payment of compensation by the employers. This Act makes it obligatory for the employers brought within the ambit of the Act to furnish to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations annual returns containing statistics relating to the average number of workers covered under the Act, number of compensated accidents and the amount of compensation paid. Applicability of the Act The Act extends to the whole of India except the States/Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.The Act applies to workers employed in any capacity specified in Schedule II of the Act which includes Factories, Mines, Plantations, Mechanically Propelled Vehicles, Construction Work and certain other Hazardous Occupations and specified categories of Railway Servants. Main Provisions and Scope of the Act Under the Act, the State Governments are empowered to appoint Commissioners for Workmen's Compensation for (i) settlement of disputed claims, (ii) disposal of cases of injuries involving death, and (iii) revision of periodical payments. Sub-section (3) of Section 2 of the Act, empowers the State Governments to extend the scope of the Act to any class of persons whose occupations are considered hazardous after giving three months notice to be published in the Official Gazette. Similarly, under Section 3(3) of the Act, the State Governments are also empowered to add any other disease to the list mentioned in Parts A and B of Schedule – II and the Central Government in case of employment specified in Part C of Schedule III of the Act. Compensation In case of death the minimum amount of compensation fixed is Rs,. 80,000 and Rs. 90,000 in case of permanent total disablement. The existing wage ceiling for computation of maximum amount of compensation is Rs. 4000. The maximum amount of compensation payable is Rs. 4.56 lakh in the case of death and Rs. 5.48 lakh in the case of permanent total disablement.Workmen Compensation Act, 1923An Act to provide for the payment by certain classes of employers to their workmen of compensation for injury by accident.Whereas it is expedient to provide for the payment by certain classes of employers to their -workmen of compensation for injury by accident, it is hereby, enacted as follows.
PRELIMINARYSection 1:Short title, extent and commencement.(1) This Act may be called the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923.(2) It extends to the whole of India(3) It shall come into force on the first day of July, 1924.Section 2:Definitions.(1) In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,(a) ***(b) "Commissioner" means a Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation appointed under section 20;(c) "compensation" means compensation as provided for by this Act;(d) "dependant" means any of the following relatives of a deceased workman, namely:(i) a widow, a minor legitimate [5a] [or adopted] son, and unmarried legitimate [5a] [or adopted] daughter-, or a widowed mother; and(ii) if wholly dependent on the earnings of the workman at the time of his death, a son or a daughter who has attained the age of 18 years and who is infirm;(iii) if wholly or in part dependent on the earnings of the workman at the time of his death,(a) a widower,(b) a parent other than a widowed mother,(c) a minor illegitimate son, an unmarried illegitimate daughter or a daughter legitimate or illegitimate [6] [or adopted] if married and a minor or if widowed and a minor,(d) a minor brother or an unmarried sister or a widowed sister if a minor,(e) a widowed daughter-in-law,(f) a minor child of a pre-deceased son,(g) a minor child of a pre-deceased daughter where no parent of the child is alive, or(h) a paternal grandparent if no parent of the workman is alive.Explanation. -For the purposes of sub-clause (ii) and items and (g) of sub-clause (iii), references to a son, daughter or child include an adopted son, daughter or child respectively](e) "employer" includes any body of persons whether incorporated or not and any managing agent of an employer and the legal representative of a deceased employer, and, when the services of a workman are temporarily lent or let on hire to another person by the person with whom the workman has entered into a contract of service or apprenticeship, means such other person while the workman is working for him;(f) "managing agent" means any person appointed or acting as the representative of another person for the purpose of carrying on such other person's trade or business, but does not include an individual manager subordinate to an employer;(ff) "minor" means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years(g) "partial disablement" means, where the disablement is of a temporary nature, such disablement as reduces the earning capacity of a workman in any employment in which he was engaged at the time of the accident resulting in the disablement, and, where the disablement is of a permanent nature, such disablement as reduces his earning capacity in every employment which he was capable of undertaking at that time:Provided that every injury specified [in Part II of Schedule I] shall be deemed to result in permanent partial disablement;(h) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(i) "qualified medical practitioner" means any person registered [10] [* * *] under any [11] [Central Act, Provincial Act, or an Act of the Legislature of a [12] [State]] providing for the maintenance of a register of medical practitioners, or, in any area- where no such last-mentioned Act is in force, any person declared by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to be a qualified medical practitioner for the purposes of this Act;(j)***(k) "seaman" means any person forming part of the crew of any [***]ship, but does not include the master of [the] ship;(l) "total disablement" means such disablement, whether of a temporary or permanent nature, as incapacitates a workman for all work which he was capable of performing at the time of the accident resulting in such disablement :Provided that permanent total disablement shall be deemed to result from every injury specified in Part I of Schedule I or from any combination of injuries specified in Part II thereof where the aggregate percentage of the loss of earning capacity, as specified in the said Part II against those injuries, amounts to one hundred per cent or more](m) "wages" includes any privilege or benefit which is capable of being estimated in money, other than a traveling allowance or the value of any travelling concession or a contribution paid by the employer a workman towards any pension or provident fund or a sum paid to a workman to cover any special expenses entailed on him by the nature of his employment;(n) "workman" means any person [***] who is -(i) a railway servant as defined in [20] [Clause (34) of section 2 of the Railway Act, 1989 (24 of 1989)], not permanently employed in any administrative district or sub-division office of a railway and not employed in any such capacity as is specified in Schedule II, or(ia) (a) a master, seaman or other member of the crew of a ship,(b) a captain or other member of the crew of an aircraft,(c) a person recruited as drive, helper, mechanic, cleaner or in a other capacity in connection with a motor vehicle,(d) a person recruited for work abroad by a company, and who is employed outside India in any such capacity as is specified in Schedule II and the ship, aircraft or motor vehicle, or company, as case may be, is registered in India, or](ii) employed [***] [***] in any such capacity as is specified Schedule 11, whether the contract of employment was made before or after the passing this Act and whether such contract is expressed or implied, oral or in writing but does not include any person working in the capacity of a member of the Armed Forces of the Union] [* **]; and any reference to a workman who h been injured shall, where the workman is dead, include a reference to h dependants or any of them.(2) The exercise and performance of the powers and duties of a local authority of any department [26] [acting on behalf of the Government] shall, for the purpose of this Act, unless a contrary intention appears, be deemed to be the trade business of such authority or department.(3) The Central Government or the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, after giving not less than three months' notice of its intention so to do, may, by a like notification, add to Schedule II any class of persons employed in any occupation which it is satisfied is a hazardous occupation, and the provisions of this Act shall thereupon apply, in case of a notification by the Central Government, within the territories to which the Act extends, or, in the case of a notification by the State Government, within the State, to such classes of persons:Provided that in making addition, the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be, may direct that the provisions of this Act shall apply to such classes of persons in respect of specified injuries only.
WORKMEN 'S COMPENSATION ACT 1923
Workmen's Compensation Act 1923 is central legislation which provides for payment of compensation for injuries suffered by a workman in the course of and arising out of his employment according to the nature of injuries suffered and disability incurred, where death results from the injury, the amount of compensation is payable to the dependants of the workmen.APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONERAll the Deputy Labour Commissioner have been appointed as Commissioner under Workmen's Compensation Act. Where an employer is in default in paying the compensation due under this Act, within one month from the date it fell due, the Commissioner shalla) Direct that the employer in addition to the amount of arrears, pay simple interest there on at the rate of 12% per annum or on such higher rates.b) Commissioner has the power under the Act to impose penalty and the interest on the cleared amount as per the provision of the act.During the period 2002, 535 claims were made and upto September 2003, 633 claims have been decided by the Commissioners appointed under the Act.
Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923:
Provisions and ApplicabilityAs on March 06, 2007The Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923 is one of the important social security legislations. It aims at providing financial protection to workmen and their dependants in case of accidental injury by means of payment of compensation by the employers. This Act makes it obligatory for the employers brought within the ambit of the Act to furnish to the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations annual returns containing statistics relating to the average number of workers covered under the Act, number of compensated accidents and the amount of compensation paid. Applicability of the Act The Act extends to the whole of India except the States/Union Territories of Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Daman & Diu and Lakshadweep.The Act applies to workers employed in any capacity specified in Schedule II of the Act which includes Factories, Mines, Plantations, Mechanically Propelled Vehicles, Construction Work and certain other Hazardous Occupations and specified categories of Railway Servants. Main Provisions and Scope of the Act Under the Act, the State Governments are empowered to appoint Commissioners for Workmen's Compensation for (i) settlement of disputed claims, (ii) disposal of cases of injuries involving death, and (iii) revision of periodical payments. Sub-section (3) of Section 2 of the Act, empowers the State Governments to extend the scope of the Act to any class of persons whose occupations are considered hazardous after giving three months notice to be published in the Official Gazette. Similarly, under Section 3(3) of the Act, the State Governments are also empowered to add any other disease to the list mentioned in Parts A and B of Schedule – II and the Central Government in case of employment specified in Part C of Schedule III of the Act. Compensation In case of death the minimum amount of compensation fixed is Rs,. 80,000 and Rs. 90,000 in case of permanent total disablement. The existing wage ceiling for computation of maximum amount of compensation is Rs. 4000. The maximum amount of compensation payable is Rs. 4.56 lakh in the case of death and Rs. 5.48 lakh in the case of permanent total disablement.Workmen Compensation Act, 1923An Act to provide for the payment by certain classes of employers to their workmen of compensation for injury by accident.Whereas it is expedient to provide for the payment by certain classes of employers to their -workmen of compensation for injury by accident, it is hereby, enacted as follows.
PRELIMINARYSection 1:Short title, extent and commencement.(1) This Act may be called the Workmen's Compensation Act, 1923.(2) It extends to the whole of India(3) It shall come into force on the first day of July, 1924.Section 2:Definitions.(1) In this Act, unless there is anything repugnant in the subject or context,(a) ***(b) "Commissioner" means a Commissioner for Workmen's Compensation appointed under section 20;(c) "compensation" means compensation as provided for by this Act;(d) "dependant" means any of the following relatives of a deceased workman, namely:(i) a widow, a minor legitimate [5a] [or adopted] son, and unmarried legitimate [5a] [or adopted] daughter-, or a widowed mother; and(ii) if wholly dependent on the earnings of the workman at the time of his death, a son or a daughter who has attained the age of 18 years and who is infirm;(iii) if wholly or in part dependent on the earnings of the workman at the time of his death,(a) a widower,(b) a parent other than a widowed mother,(c) a minor illegitimate son, an unmarried illegitimate daughter or a daughter legitimate or illegitimate [6] [or adopted] if married and a minor or if widowed and a minor,(d) a minor brother or an unmarried sister or a widowed sister if a minor,(e) a widowed daughter-in-law,(f) a minor child of a pre-deceased son,(g) a minor child of a pre-deceased daughter where no parent of the child is alive, or(h) a paternal grandparent if no parent of the workman is alive.Explanation. -For the purposes of sub-clause (ii) and items and (g) of sub-clause (iii), references to a son, daughter or child include an adopted son, daughter or child respectively](e) "employer" includes any body of persons whether incorporated or not and any managing agent of an employer and the legal representative of a deceased employer, and, when the services of a workman are temporarily lent or let on hire to another person by the person with whom the workman has entered into a contract of service or apprenticeship, means such other person while the workman is working for him;(f) "managing agent" means any person appointed or acting as the representative of another person for the purpose of carrying on such other person's trade or business, but does not include an individual manager subordinate to an employer;(ff) "minor" means a person who has not attained the age of 18 years(g) "partial disablement" means, where the disablement is of a temporary nature, such disablement as reduces the earning capacity of a workman in any employment in which he was engaged at the time of the accident resulting in the disablement, and, where the disablement is of a permanent nature, such disablement as reduces his earning capacity in every employment which he was capable of undertaking at that time:Provided that every injury specified [in Part II of Schedule I] shall be deemed to result in permanent partial disablement;(h) "prescribed" means prescribed by rules made under this Act;(i) "qualified medical practitioner" means any person registered [10] [* * *] under any [11] [Central Act, Provincial Act, or an Act of the Legislature of a [12] [State]] providing for the maintenance of a register of medical practitioners, or, in any area- where no such last-mentioned Act is in force, any person declared by the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, to be a qualified medical practitioner for the purposes of this Act;(j)***(k) "seaman" means any person forming part of the crew of any [***]ship, but does not include the master of [the] ship;(l) "total disablement" means such disablement, whether of a temporary or permanent nature, as incapacitates a workman for all work which he was capable of performing at the time of the accident resulting in such disablement :Provided that permanent total disablement shall be deemed to result from every injury specified in Part I of Schedule I or from any combination of injuries specified in Part II thereof where the aggregate percentage of the loss of earning capacity, as specified in the said Part II against those injuries, amounts to one hundred per cent or more](m) "wages" includes any privilege or benefit which is capable of being estimated in money, other than a traveling allowance or the value of any travelling concession or a contribution paid by the employer a workman towards any pension or provident fund or a sum paid to a workman to cover any special expenses entailed on him by the nature of his employment;(n) "workman" means any person [***] who is -(i) a railway servant as defined in [20] [Clause (34) of section 2 of the Railway Act, 1989 (24 of 1989)], not permanently employed in any administrative district or sub-division office of a railway and not employed in any such capacity as is specified in Schedule II, or(ia) (a) a master, seaman or other member of the crew of a ship,(b) a captain or other member of the crew of an aircraft,(c) a person recruited as drive, helper, mechanic, cleaner or in a other capacity in connection with a motor vehicle,(d) a person recruited for work abroad by a company, and who is employed outside India in any such capacity as is specified in Schedule II and the ship, aircraft or motor vehicle, or company, as case may be, is registered in India, or](ii) employed [***] [***] in any such capacity as is specified Schedule 11, whether the contract of employment was made before or after the passing this Act and whether such contract is expressed or implied, oral or in writing but does not include any person working in the capacity of a member of the Armed Forces of the Union] [* **]; and any reference to a workman who h been injured shall, where the workman is dead, include a reference to h dependants or any of them.(2) The exercise and performance of the powers and duties of a local authority of any department [26] [acting on behalf of the Government] shall, for the purpose of this Act, unless a contrary intention appears, be deemed to be the trade business of such authority or department.(3) The Central Government or the State Government, by notification in the Official Gazette, after giving not less than three months' notice of its intention so to do, may, by a like notification, add to Schedule II any class of persons employed in any occupation which it is satisfied is a hazardous occupation, and the provisions of this Act shall thereupon apply, in case of a notification by the Central Government, within the territories to which the Act extends, or, in the case of a notification by the State Government, within the State, to such classes of persons:Provided that in making addition, the Central Government or the State Government, as the case may be, may direct that the provisions of this Act shall apply to such classes of persons in respect of specified injuries only.
About E-business
How important is e-commerce to SMEs in developing countries? How big is the SME e-business market?For SMEs in developing countries e-commerce poses the advantages of reduced information search costs and transactions costs (i.e., improving efficiency of operations-reducing time for payment, credit processing, and the like). Surveys show that information on the following is most valuable to SMEs: customers and markets, product design, process technology, and financing source and terms. The Internet and other ICTs facilitate access to this information. In addition, the Internet allows automatic packaging and distribution of information (including customized information) to specific target groups.However, there is doubt regarding whether there is enough information on the Web that is relevant and valuable for the average SME in a developing country that would make investment in Internet access feasible. Underlying this is the fact that most SMEs in developing countries cater to local markets and therefore rely heavily on local content and information. For this reason, there is a need to substantially increase the amount and quality of local content (including local language content) on the Internet to make it useful especially to low-income entrepreneurs.How is e-commerce useful to developing country entrepreneurs?There are at least five ways by which the Internet and e-commerce are useful for developing country entrepreneurs:1. It facilitates the access of artisans47 and SMEs to world markets.2. It facilitates the promotion and development of tourism of developing countries in a global scale.3.It facilitates the marketing of agricultural and tropical products in the global market. It provides avenues for firms in poorer countries to enter into B2B and B2G supply chains.4. It assists service-providing enterprises in developing countries by allowing them to operate more efficiently and directly provide specific services to customers globally.Developing country SMEs in the services sector have expanded their market with the increased ability to transact directly with overseas or international customers and to advertise their services. This is especially true for small operators of tourismrelated services. Tourism boards lend assistance in compiling lists of service providers by category in their Web sites.In addition, for SMEs in developing countries the Internet is a quick, easy, reliable and inexpensive means for acquiring online technical support and software tools and applications, lodging technical inquiries, requesting repairs, and ordering replacement parts or new tooling.The Internet is also instrumental in enabling SMEs in developing countries to join discussion groups with their peers across the globe who are engaged in the same business, and thereby share information, experiences and even solutions to specific technical problems. This is valuable especially to entrepreneurs who are geographically isolated from peers in the same business.What is the extent of ICT usage among SMEs in developing countries?Currently the Internet is most commonly used by SME firms in developing countries for communication and research; the Internet is least used for e-commerce. E-mail is considered an important means of communication. However, the extent of use is limited by the SMEs’ recognition of the importance of face-to-face interaction with their buyers and suppliers. The level of confidence of using e-mail for communication with both suppliers and buyers increases only after an initial face-to-face interaction.E-mail, therefore, becomes a means for maintaining a business relationship. It is typically the first step in e-commerce, as it allows a firm to access information and maintain communications with its suppliers and buyers. This can then lead to more advanced e-commerce activities.ICT usage patterns among SMEs in developing countries show a progression from the use of the Internet for communication (primarily e-mail) to use of the Internet for research and information search, to the development of Web sites with static information about a firm’s goods or services, and finally to use of the Internet for e-commerce.Many firms use the Internet to communicate with suppliers and customers only as a channel for maintaining business relationships. Once firms develop a certain level of confidence on the benefits of e-mail in the conduct of business transactions and the potential of creating sales from its use, they usually consider the option of developing their own Web site.Studies commissioned by The Asia Foundation on the extent of ICT use among SMEs in the Philippines, Thailand and Indonesia, show common use patterns, such as:1. wide use of the Internet for e-mail because of the recognized cost and efficiency benefits;2. use of Web sites more for promotion than for online sales or e-commerce, indicating that SMEs in these countries are still in the early stages of e-commerce;3. common use of the Internet for basic research; and4. inclination to engage more in offline transactions than in e-commerce because of security concerns.SMEs go through different stages in adopting e-commerce. They start with creating a Web site primarily to advertise and promote the company and its products and services. When these firms begin generating traffic, inquiries and, eventually, sales through their Web sites, they are likely to engage in e-commerce.In addition, many Web sites providing market and technical information, agronomic advice and risk management tools for SMEs (to coffee and tea farmers in developing countries, for example) have emerged.What are the obstacles, problems and issues faced by SMEs in their use of ICT in business or in engaging in e-commerce?According to recent surveys conducted in select Southeast Asian countries, the perceived external barriers to e-commerce include the unfavorable economic environment, the high cost of ICT, and security concerns. The internal barriers are poor internal communications infrastructure within SME firms, lack of ICT awareness and knowledge as well as inadequacy of ICT-capable and literate managers and workers, insufficient financial resources, and the perceived lack of relevance or value-added of ICTs to their business.In general, the main issues of concern that act as barriers to the increased uptake of information technology and e-commerce are the following:● Lack of awareness and understanding of the value of e-commerce. Most SMEs in developing countries have not taken up e-commerce or use the Internet because they fail to see the value of e-commerce to their businesses. Many think e-commerce is suited only to big companies and that it is an additional cost that will not bring any major returns on investment.● Lack of ICT knowledge and skills. People play a vital role in the development of e-commerce. However, technology literacy is still very limited in most developing countries. There is a shortage of skilled workers among SMEs, a key issue in moving forward with using information technology in business. There are also doubts about whether SMEs can indeed take advantage of the benefits of accessing the global market through the Internet, given their limited capabilities in design, distribution, marketing, and post-sale support. While the Internet can be useful in accessing international design expertise, SMEs are not confident that they can command a premium on the prices for their goods unless they offer product innovations. They can, however, capitalize on returns on the basis that they are the low cost providers. Furthermore, more often than not, the premium in design has already been captured- for example, in the textile products industry-by the branded fashion houses.SMEs doubt whether Web presence will facilitate their own brand recognition on aglobal scale.● Financial costs. Cost is a crucial issue. The initial investment for the adoption of a new technology is proportionately heavier for small than for large firms. The high cost of computers and Internet access is a barrier to the uptake of e-commerce. Faced with budgetary constraints, SMEs consider the additional costs of ICT spending as too big an investment without immediate returns.Many SMEs find marketing on the Internet expensive. Having a Web site is not equivalent to having a well-visited Web site. One reason is that there may be no critical mass of users. Another reason is the challenge of anonymity for SMEs. Because of the presence of numerous entrepreneurs in the Internet, it seems that brand recognition matters in order to be competitive. Moreover, it is not enough that a Web site is informative and user-friendly; it should also be updated frequently. Search engines must direct queries to the Web site, and news about the site must be broadly disseminated. Significantly, the experience of many OECD countries attests to the fact that the best e-marketing strategies are not better substitutes for the conventional form of media. One solution may be to encourage several SMEs to aggregate their information on a common Web site, which in turn would have the responsibility of building recognition/branding by hyperlinking or updating, for example.● Infrastructure. The national network/physical infrastructure of many developing countries is characterized by relatively low teledensity, a major barrier to e-commerce. There are also relatively few main phone lines for business use among SMEs.● Security. Ensuring security of payments and privacy of online transactions is key to the widespread acceptance and adoption of e-commerce. While theappropriate policies are in place to facilitate e-commerce, lack of trust is still a barrier to using the Internet to make online transactions. Moreover, credit card usage in many developing countries is still relatively low.Also, consumers are reluctant to use the Internet for conducting transactionswith SMEs due to the uncertainty of the SMEs’ return policy and use of data.● Other privacy- and security-related issues.57 While security is commonly used as the catch-all word for many different reasons why individuals and firms do not engage in extensive e-commerce and use of Internet-based technologies, there are other related reasons and unresolved issues, such as tax evasion, privacy and anonymity, fraud adjudication, and legal liability on credit cards. In many countries, cash is preferred not only for security reasons but also because of a desire for anonymity on the part of those engaged in tax evasion or those who simply do not want others to know where they are spending their money. Others worry that there is lack of legal protection against fraud (i.e., there is no provision for adjudicating fraud and there may be no legal limit on liability, say, for a lost or stolen credit card). It is necessary to distinguish these concerns from the general security concerns (i.e., transaction privacy, protection and security) since they may not be addressed by the employment of an effective encryption method (or other security measure).Is e-commerce helpful to the women sector? How has it helped in empowering women?In general, the Internet and e-commerce have empowered sectors previously discriminated against. The Guyanan experience can attest to this.Women have gained a foothold in many e-commerce areas. In B2C e-commerce, most success stories of women-empowered enterprises have to do with marketing unique products to consumers with disposable income. The consumers are found largely in developed countries, implying that there is a need for sufficient infrastructure for the delivery of products for the business to prosper and establish credibility.For example, if an enterprise can venture into producing digital goods such as music or software that can be transmitted electronically or if such goods can be distributed and/or delivered locally, then this is the option that is more feasible and practicable. Aside from the Guyanan experience, there are many more successful cases of ecommerce ventures that the women sector can emulate. Some concrete examples are: Tortasperu.com (http://www.tortasperu.com.pe), a business involving the marketing cakes in Peru run by women in several Peruvian cities; Ethiogift (http://ethiogift.com), involving Ethiopians buying sheep and other gifts over the Internet to deliver to their families in other parts of the country, thereby dispensing with the physical delivery of goods abroad; and the Rural Women’s Association of the Northern Province of South Africa, which uses the Web to advertise its chickens to rich clients in Pietersburg.While most of the examples involve B2C e-commerce, it must be noted that women are already engaged in wholesale distribution businesses in developing countries. Thus, they can begin to penetrate B2B or B2G markets.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Top 20 student financial aid-related websites
Student Aid on the Web: a Department of Education site featuring advice on financial aid and choosing schools
FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid: a step-by-step guide to applying for federal student aid online
National Student Loan Data System: database of school and college information, student loan resources and a financial aid glossaryStudent Alliance: an organization advocating for higher federal funding on student aid
Federal Student Aid: official forms and information on Federal Student Aid and similar loans
Sallie Mae: private lender for student loans, also offers student aid and college information
College Answer: a comprehensive guide to student loans from choosing a lender to graduation and closing
FedMoney: full official texts on federal student loans and other government loans
Students.gov: government student portal offering complete guides on student life, financial aid and choosing colleges
FinAid!: information, links and advice on student finance, including military aid and paperwork information
StaffordLoan.com: links and advice on the Stafford Loan, a deferred-payment financing scheme
NASSGAP - National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs: a group of student loan lenders offering free information and links on financial aid
Student-Loans.net: tutorials, links and resources on private student loans, including a loan calculator
Student Market: explains the different types of student aid and offers advice on choosing a loan
EDFUND: a leading resource for student loan guarantee services, student aid packages and school information
Student Aid Foundation: an independent women’s organization offering financial aid packages to the underprivileged
GoCollege: a complete guide to beginning college, including a section on financial aid
U.S. College Search: a free online resource for U.S. colleges and financial aid sources
Saystudent.com: a collection of student financing guides
College Board: planning guides and resources for student aid
FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid: a step-by-step guide to applying for federal student aid online
National Student Loan Data System: database of school and college information, student loan resources and a financial aid glossaryStudent Alliance: an organization advocating for higher federal funding on student aid
Federal Student Aid: official forms and information on Federal Student Aid and similar loans
Sallie Mae: private lender for student loans, also offers student aid and college information
College Answer: a comprehensive guide to student loans from choosing a lender to graduation and closing
FedMoney: full official texts on federal student loans and other government loans
Students.gov: government student portal offering complete guides on student life, financial aid and choosing colleges
FinAid!: information, links and advice on student finance, including military aid and paperwork information
StaffordLoan.com: links and advice on the Stafford Loan, a deferred-payment financing scheme
NASSGAP - National Association of State Student Grant and Aid Programs: a group of student loan lenders offering free information and links on financial aid
Student-Loans.net: tutorials, links and resources on private student loans, including a loan calculator
Student Market: explains the different types of student aid and offers advice on choosing a loan
EDFUND: a leading resource for student loan guarantee services, student aid packages and school information
Student Aid Foundation: an independent women’s organization offering financial aid packages to the underprivileged
GoCollege: a complete guide to beginning college, including a section on financial aid
U.S. College Search: a free online resource for U.S. colleges and financial aid sources
Saystudent.com: a collection of student financing guides
College Board: planning guides and resources for student aid
Advanced Thinking of a Student
Executive Summary of Rehman
TRIPLE 'I' MATRIC HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL
Executive summary:
This is not a new one for the peoples.All the cities,towns and even villages are having schools.
You may ask, what are you going to do specially in this school.I am going to introduce a new methodology of teaching.
What kind of teaching?
Today scientific research as shown as that the retention power of different types of Media keeps on differing.
RETENTION LEVELS OF DIFFERENT MEDIA
When you read any material - an average the retention is 10%
When you hear something - the retention is 20%
When you see something - the retention is 30%
When you hear and see simultaneously - the retention is 50%
The Research has been done.Therefore one can gets the maximum retention, when he utilizes all the three of his senses besides seeing, hearing and understanding.
In our school, we will use projectors to teach students visually.This will significantly increase the basic knowledge of the students.Schools pursuing these type of education is in cities only. So i have planned to start this type of school in villages and towns.
SCHOOL'S PROFILE
Name of the school : Triple 'I' Matric Higher Secondary School
Location : Bhuvanagiri
School's Theme : Valuable Education
Strength of the School : Around 3000
Total Estimation : 5 crores
Customers : Middle class and low class peoples
Question for Rehman...
Seems to be interesting...
Check on the government regulations before starting a school...
Lets see an exhaustive plan on the startup of the school....On your BP presentation..
TRIPLE 'I' MATRIC HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL
Executive summary:
This is not a new one for the peoples.All the cities,towns and even villages are having schools.
You may ask, what are you going to do specially in this school.I am going to introduce a new methodology of teaching.
What kind of teaching?
Today scientific research as shown as that the retention power of different types of Media keeps on differing.
RETENTION LEVELS OF DIFFERENT MEDIA
When you read any material - an average the retention is 10%
When you hear something - the retention is 20%
When you see something - the retention is 30%
When you hear and see simultaneously - the retention is 50%
The Research has been done.Therefore one can gets the maximum retention, when he utilizes all the three of his senses besides seeing, hearing and understanding.
In our school, we will use projectors to teach students visually.This will significantly increase the basic knowledge of the students.Schools pursuing these type of education is in cities only. So i have planned to start this type of school in villages and towns.
SCHOOL'S PROFILE
Name of the school : Triple 'I' Matric Higher Secondary School
Location : Bhuvanagiri
School's Theme : Valuable Education
Strength of the School : Around 3000
Total Estimation : 5 crores
Customers : Middle class and low class peoples
Question for Rehman...
Seems to be interesting...
Check on the government regulations before starting a school...
Lets see an exhaustive plan on the startup of the school....On your BP presentation..
The Meaning of Education
Recently, a university professor wrote a letter to the editor of the local newspaper. He commented that people shouldn't put too much weight on the recently released trends in SRA scores of the state's high school students. The professor went on to describe some of the unanswered questions about the nature and value of assessment. He mentioned that one of the problems with assessment was the ongoing disagreement on the very purpose of education.
A few days later, a scathing response was printed from a community member who questioned whether the University really wanted someone on their staff who didn't even know the purpose of education. Clearly, this person assumed that his definition of education was shared by all.
What is the meaning of education?
Webster defines education as the process of educating or teaching (now that's really useful, isn't it?) Educate is further defined as "to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of..." Thus, from these definitions, we might assume that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of students. Unfortunately, this definition offers little unless we further define words such as develop, knowledge, and character.
What is meant by knowledge?
Is it a body of information that exists "out there"—apart from the human thought processes that developed it? If we look at the standards and benchmarks that have been developed by many states—or at E. D. Hirsch's list of information needed for Cultural Literacy (1), we might assume this to be the definition of knowledge. However, there is considerable research leading others to believe that knowledge arises in the mind of an individual when that person interacts with an idea or experience.
This is hardly a new argument. In ancient Greece, Socrates argued that education was about drawing out what was already within the student. (As many of you know, the word education comes from the Latin e-ducere meaning "to lead out.") At the same time, the Sophists, a group of itinerant teachers, promised to give students the necessary knowledge and skills to gain positions with the city-state.
There is a dangerous tendency to assume that when people use the same words, they perceive a situation in the same way. This is rarely the case. Once one gets beyond a dictionary definition—a meaning that is often of little practical value—the meaning we assign to a word is a belief, not an absolute fact. Here are a couple of examples.
"The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together." ~Eric Hoffer"No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure." ~Emma Goldman"The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life-by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality.
The training he needs is theoretical, i.e., conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past-and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort." ~Ayn Rand"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think—rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men." ~Bill Beattie"The one real object of education is to leave a man in the condition of continually asking questions." ~Bishop Creighton"The central job of schools is to maximize the capacity of each student." ~Carol
Ann Tomlinson
These quotations demonstrate the diversity of beliefs about the purpose of education. How would you complete the statement, "The purpose of education is..."? If you ask five of your fellow teachers to complete that sentence, it is likely that you'll have five different statements. Some will place the focus on knowledge, some on the teacher, and others on the student. Yet people's beliefs in the purpose of education lie at the heart of their teaching behaviors.
Despite what the letter writer might have wished, there is no definition of education that is agreed upon by all, or even most, educators. The meanings they attach to the word are complex beliefs arising from their own values and experiences. To the extent that those beliefs differ, the experience of students in today's classrooms can never be the same. Worse, many educators have never been asked to state their beliefs—or even to reflect on what they believe. At the very least, teachers owe it to their students to bring their definitions into consciousness and examine them for validity.
Purposes and Functions
To make matters more complicated, theorists have made a distinction between the purpose of education and the functions of education.(2) A purpose is the fundamental goal of the process—an end to be achieved. Functions are other outcomes that may occur as a natural result of the process— byproducts or consequences of schooling. For example, some teachers believe that the transmission of knowledge is the primary purpose of education, while the transfer of knowledge from school to the real world is something that happens naturally as a consequence of possessing that knowledge—a function of education.
Because a purpose is an expressed goal, more effort is put into attaining it. Functions are assumed to occur without directed effort. For this reason it's valuable to figure out which outcomes you consider a fundamental purpose of education. Which of the following do you actually include in your planning?
Acquisition of information about the past and present: includes traditional disciplines such as literature, history, science, mathematics
Formation of healthy social and/orformal relationships among andbetween students, teachers, others
Capacity/ability to evaluate information and to predict future outcomes (decision-making)
Capacity/ability to seek out alternative solutions and evaluate them (problem solving)
Development of mental and physical skills: motor, thinking, communication, social, aesthetic
Knowledge of moral practices andethical standards acceptable by society/culture
Capacity/ability to recognize and evaluate different points of view
Respect: giving and receiving recognition as human beings
Indoctrination into the culture
Capacity/ability to live a fulfilling life
Capacity/ability to earn a living: career education
Sense of well-being: mental and physical health
Capacity/ability to be a good citizen
Capacity/ability to think creatively
Cultural appreciation: art, music, humanities
Understanding of human relations and motivations
Acquisition/clarification of values related to the physical environment
Acquisition/clarification of personal values
Self-realization/self-reflection: awareness of one’s abilities and goals
Self-esteem/self-efficacy
As Tom Peters reminds us, "What gets measured, gets done." Regardless of the high sounding rhetoric about the development of the total child, it is the content of assessments that largely drives education. How is the capacity/ability to think creatively assessed in today's schools? To what extent is the typical student recognized and given respect? How often are students given the opportunity to recognize and evaluate different points of view when multiple choice tests require a single 'correct' answer?
Teachers who hold a more humanistic view of the purpose of education often experience stress because the meaning they assign to education differs greatly from the meaning assigned by society or their institution. It is clear in listening to the language of education that its primary focus is on knowledge and teaching rather than on the learner. Students are expected to conform to schools rather than schools serving the needs of students.
Stopping to identify and agree upon a fundamental purpose or purposes of education is rare. One sees nebulous statements in school mission statements, but they are often of the "Mom, baseball, and apple pie" variety that offer little substance on which to build a school culture. Creating meaningful and lasting change in education is unlikely without revisiting this basic definition. At the very least, educators must be challenged to identify and reexamine their beliefs in the light of present knowledge.
It is time for the focus of education to shift from what's "out there—the curriculum, assessments, classroom arrangement, books, computers—to the fundamental assumptions about and definitions of education held by educators and policymakers. NASA did not send men to the moon by building on the chassis of a model T. In the same way, education cannot hope to move beyond its present state on the chassis of 18th century education
A few days later, a scathing response was printed from a community member who questioned whether the University really wanted someone on their staff who didn't even know the purpose of education. Clearly, this person assumed that his definition of education was shared by all.
What is the meaning of education?
Webster defines education as the process of educating or teaching (now that's really useful, isn't it?) Educate is further defined as "to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of..." Thus, from these definitions, we might assume that the purpose of education is to develop the knowledge, skill, or character of students. Unfortunately, this definition offers little unless we further define words such as develop, knowledge, and character.
What is meant by knowledge?
Is it a body of information that exists "out there"—apart from the human thought processes that developed it? If we look at the standards and benchmarks that have been developed by many states—or at E. D. Hirsch's list of information needed for Cultural Literacy (1), we might assume this to be the definition of knowledge. However, there is considerable research leading others to believe that knowledge arises in the mind of an individual when that person interacts with an idea or experience.
This is hardly a new argument. In ancient Greece, Socrates argued that education was about drawing out what was already within the student. (As many of you know, the word education comes from the Latin e-ducere meaning "to lead out.") At the same time, the Sophists, a group of itinerant teachers, promised to give students the necessary knowledge and skills to gain positions with the city-state.
There is a dangerous tendency to assume that when people use the same words, they perceive a situation in the same way. This is rarely the case. Once one gets beyond a dictionary definition—a meaning that is often of little practical value—the meaning we assign to a word is a belief, not an absolute fact. Here are a couple of examples.
"The central task of education is to implant a will and facility for learning; it should produce not learned but learning people. The truly human society is a learning society, where grandparents, parents, and children are students together." ~Eric Hoffer"No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure." ~Emma Goldman"The only purpose of education is to teach a student how to live his life-by developing his mind and equipping him to deal with reality.
The training he needs is theoretical, i.e., conceptual. He has to be taught to think, to understand, to integrate, to prove. He has to be taught the essentials of the knowledge discovered in the past-and he has to be equipped to acquire further knowledge by his own effort." ~Ayn Rand"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think—rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with the thoughts of other men." ~Bill Beattie"The one real object of education is to leave a man in the condition of continually asking questions." ~Bishop Creighton"The central job of schools is to maximize the capacity of each student." ~Carol
Ann Tomlinson
These quotations demonstrate the diversity of beliefs about the purpose of education. How would you complete the statement, "The purpose of education is..."? If you ask five of your fellow teachers to complete that sentence, it is likely that you'll have five different statements. Some will place the focus on knowledge, some on the teacher, and others on the student. Yet people's beliefs in the purpose of education lie at the heart of their teaching behaviors.
Despite what the letter writer might have wished, there is no definition of education that is agreed upon by all, or even most, educators. The meanings they attach to the word are complex beliefs arising from their own values and experiences. To the extent that those beliefs differ, the experience of students in today's classrooms can never be the same. Worse, many educators have never been asked to state their beliefs—or even to reflect on what they believe. At the very least, teachers owe it to their students to bring their definitions into consciousness and examine them for validity.
Purposes and Functions
To make matters more complicated, theorists have made a distinction between the purpose of education and the functions of education.(2) A purpose is the fundamental goal of the process—an end to be achieved. Functions are other outcomes that may occur as a natural result of the process— byproducts or consequences of schooling. For example, some teachers believe that the transmission of knowledge is the primary purpose of education, while the transfer of knowledge from school to the real world is something that happens naturally as a consequence of possessing that knowledge—a function of education.
Because a purpose is an expressed goal, more effort is put into attaining it. Functions are assumed to occur without directed effort. For this reason it's valuable to figure out which outcomes you consider a fundamental purpose of education. Which of the following do you actually include in your planning?
Acquisition of information about the past and present: includes traditional disciplines such as literature, history, science, mathematics
Formation of healthy social and/orformal relationships among andbetween students, teachers, others
Capacity/ability to evaluate information and to predict future outcomes (decision-making)
Capacity/ability to seek out alternative solutions and evaluate them (problem solving)
Development of mental and physical skills: motor, thinking, communication, social, aesthetic
Knowledge of moral practices andethical standards acceptable by society/culture
Capacity/ability to recognize and evaluate different points of view
Respect: giving and receiving recognition as human beings
Indoctrination into the culture
Capacity/ability to live a fulfilling life
Capacity/ability to earn a living: career education
Sense of well-being: mental and physical health
Capacity/ability to be a good citizen
Capacity/ability to think creatively
Cultural appreciation: art, music, humanities
Understanding of human relations and motivations
Acquisition/clarification of values related to the physical environment
Acquisition/clarification of personal values
Self-realization/self-reflection: awareness of one’s abilities and goals
Self-esteem/self-efficacy
As Tom Peters reminds us, "What gets measured, gets done." Regardless of the high sounding rhetoric about the development of the total child, it is the content of assessments that largely drives education. How is the capacity/ability to think creatively assessed in today's schools? To what extent is the typical student recognized and given respect? How often are students given the opportunity to recognize and evaluate different points of view when multiple choice tests require a single 'correct' answer?
Teachers who hold a more humanistic view of the purpose of education often experience stress because the meaning they assign to education differs greatly from the meaning assigned by society or their institution. It is clear in listening to the language of education that its primary focus is on knowledge and teaching rather than on the learner. Students are expected to conform to schools rather than schools serving the needs of students.
Stopping to identify and agree upon a fundamental purpose or purposes of education is rare. One sees nebulous statements in school mission statements, but they are often of the "Mom, baseball, and apple pie" variety that offer little substance on which to build a school culture. Creating meaningful and lasting change in education is unlikely without revisiting this basic definition. At the very least, educators must be challenged to identify and reexamine their beliefs in the light of present knowledge.
It is time for the focus of education to shift from what's "out there—the curriculum, assessments, classroom arrangement, books, computers—to the fundamental assumptions about and definitions of education held by educators and policymakers. NASA did not send men to the moon by building on the chassis of a model T. In the same way, education cannot hope to move beyond its present state on the chassis of 18th century education
Sunday, April 20, 2008
Future Teaching Method Of India
Computers in schools is no longer a new phenomenon in India. While a large number of schools are using computers to ?teach computers?, many upscale private schools have started utilising them to teach regular subjects like science, history, geography, mathematics etc. However, there is growing frustration that existing computer labs cannot accommodate both ?computer education? and ?computer-aided education? activities in schools. With limited budgets available to prove that computer-aided learning helps students understand regular subjects better, Indian educators have long debated the benefits of integration of technology in education.
So is the problem really with computers or the way teachers are using computers in schools? I believe it is the latter. In my view, Indian educators need to re-evaluate whether computers are ?information and knowledge objects? or ?objects-to-think-with?. This requires a powerful mindset shift from traditional views about computers in education. A computer as an ?object-to-think-with? can offer fundamentally new ways of learning and thinking within the student and teacher communities.
Seymour Papert, a protege of renowned educator Jean Piaget and the author of Mindstorms (1980), invented the Learning Theory of Constructionism. It was "grounded in the idea that people (including children) learn by actively constructing new knowledge, rather than having information ?poured? into their heads".
Based on this theory, almost 24 years ago, Papert forecasted the role of computers in education. "In many schools today, the phrase ?computer-aided instruction? means making the computer teach the child. One might say the computer is being used to program the child. In my vision, the child programs the computer and, in doing so, both acquires a sense of mastery over a piece of the most modern and powerful technology, and establishes intimate contact with some of the deepest ideas from science, from mathematics, and from the art of intellectual model building," he wrote in Mindstorms.
Most of us learn to understand our thought processes very late in life, after leaving school, college or even later. Now ICT (information communication technology) can offer this benefit to children in schools at a very young age; it can make children think in structured ways and over a period of time they learn to use these skills to master difficult concepts of maths, science and other subjects.
Let me offer the example of one of my classes at MIT Media Lab. As part of the course work, we were asked to download a children?s software program developed by MIT Media Lab and use it to generate some computer games.
Though this exercise seemed very simple for students from the American school system, it was a mind-numbing experience for me. As I struggled to make the program work, the computer forced me to visualise something I had never experienced throughout my entire life ? it made me project my thought process on the terminal. What I designed as a program and how I designed it translated into a visual representation of my mind at work! It made me ?think about thinking itself?. A revealingly sensational experience for a graduate of Indian academia. If this could happen to me so late in my life, then surely we can make it happen for millions of Indian children using computers in schools? I believe we can, and here?s how.
First and foremost, teachers need to stop transferring traditional teaching and learning pedagogies to the computer. Computer labs should be for ?learning? rather than ?teaching?, which means that instead of forcing knowledge upon students, by making them passively absorb multimedia content, teachers should encourage them to freely utilise ICT to undertake projects and assignments which make them think creatively. There are several programs that schools can download (at no cost) from the internet to undertake such activities. Among them: http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/; http://www.squeak. org/; http://www.kiddonet.com/ kiddonet/gelSparks/general.htm. Not only would these programs teach students to think cerebrally, they will prompt them to ?think about thinking?? a process wholly neglected by the Indian education system.
Secondly, schools need to start using projectors or compact media centres for teaching regular subjects through multimedia. A projector or a compact media centre is equivalent to the cost of four personal computers. By compromising on four PCs for a projector, schools can free up computer labs having 15-30 computers. There is little that kids need to interact while learning curriculum based topics on a computer. The additional free lab time available because of a projector can be used to make students undertake creative computer based projects that sharpen their critical thinking skills.
Thirdly, teachers need to re-focus their ?duties? on the computer. While making powerpoint presentations can be a great way to teach students, it is too much of an investment of precious teacher time. Such activities should be undertaken during long holidays or teachers must use ready-made multimedia content available off-the-shelf in the market. Computers should be used by teachers to sharpen their own thinking skills, and thereby, teaching skills.
Though no country yet has fully embraced Papert?s philosophy about computers in education, India can be the first. Because for a country with over 1 billion people, submerged in millions of problems, it is more germane for educators to cultivate minds that think, than students who score.
So is the problem really with computers or the way teachers are using computers in schools? I believe it is the latter. In my view, Indian educators need to re-evaluate whether computers are ?information and knowledge objects? or ?objects-to-think-with?. This requires a powerful mindset shift from traditional views about computers in education. A computer as an ?object-to-think-with? can offer fundamentally new ways of learning and thinking within the student and teacher communities.
Seymour Papert, a protege of renowned educator Jean Piaget and the author of Mindstorms (1980), invented the Learning Theory of Constructionism. It was "grounded in the idea that people (including children) learn by actively constructing new knowledge, rather than having information ?poured? into their heads".
Based on this theory, almost 24 years ago, Papert forecasted the role of computers in education. "In many schools today, the phrase ?computer-aided instruction? means making the computer teach the child. One might say the computer is being used to program the child. In my vision, the child programs the computer and, in doing so, both acquires a sense of mastery over a piece of the most modern and powerful technology, and establishes intimate contact with some of the deepest ideas from science, from mathematics, and from the art of intellectual model building," he wrote in Mindstorms.
Most of us learn to understand our thought processes very late in life, after leaving school, college or even later. Now ICT (information communication technology) can offer this benefit to children in schools at a very young age; it can make children think in structured ways and over a period of time they learn to use these skills to master difficult concepts of maths, science and other subjects.
Let me offer the example of one of my classes at MIT Media Lab. As part of the course work, we were asked to download a children?s software program developed by MIT Media Lab and use it to generate some computer games.
Though this exercise seemed very simple for students from the American school system, it was a mind-numbing experience for me. As I struggled to make the program work, the computer forced me to visualise something I had never experienced throughout my entire life ? it made me project my thought process on the terminal. What I designed as a program and how I designed it translated into a visual representation of my mind at work! It made me ?think about thinking itself?. A revealingly sensational experience for a graduate of Indian academia. If this could happen to me so late in my life, then surely we can make it happen for millions of Indian children using computers in schools? I believe we can, and here?s how.
First and foremost, teachers need to stop transferring traditional teaching and learning pedagogies to the computer. Computer labs should be for ?learning? rather than ?teaching?, which means that instead of forcing knowledge upon students, by making them passively absorb multimedia content, teachers should encourage them to freely utilise ICT to undertake projects and assignments which make them think creatively. There are several programs that schools can download (at no cost) from the internet to undertake such activities. Among them: http://education.mit.edu/starlogo/; http://www.squeak. org/; http://www.kiddonet.com/ kiddonet/gelSparks/general.htm. Not only would these programs teach students to think cerebrally, they will prompt them to ?think about thinking?? a process wholly neglected by the Indian education system.
Secondly, schools need to start using projectors or compact media centres for teaching regular subjects through multimedia. A projector or a compact media centre is equivalent to the cost of four personal computers. By compromising on four PCs for a projector, schools can free up computer labs having 15-30 computers. There is little that kids need to interact while learning curriculum based topics on a computer. The additional free lab time available because of a projector can be used to make students undertake creative computer based projects that sharpen their critical thinking skills.
Thirdly, teachers need to re-focus their ?duties? on the computer. While making powerpoint presentations can be a great way to teach students, it is too much of an investment of precious teacher time. Such activities should be undertaken during long holidays or teachers must use ready-made multimedia content available off-the-shelf in the market. Computers should be used by teachers to sharpen their own thinking skills, and thereby, teaching skills.
Though no country yet has fully embraced Papert?s philosophy about computers in education, India can be the first. Because for a country with over 1 billion people, submerged in millions of problems, it is more germane for educators to cultivate minds that think, than students who score.
Management Institutes in Gujarat
Changing economic conditions and intensification of global competition have given management education an increasingly central role in the success of individuals and corporations. Management education- on has spread in the last fifteen years in India. Management education, at this juncture, needs a critical examination as only developing talent can take India forward. This paper examines the issues that need to be addressed and a possible direction so that management education can be rejuvenated. The purpose of this paper is to engage all concerned in a serious discussion with a view to revamping management education in Gujarat as a prelude to better participation and viability in the global economy. This will need a quantum jump in managerial capability in all the economic spheres. The objective of the discussion is to introduce a series of major institutional initiatives for improving management education, including some issues that were raised earlier but are yet to be activated. It is the joint responsibility of Government, public sector and private firms and educators, to put management education on a new growth trajectory.
Numerous Systemic Issues
A number of committees have looked into management education in India in the past. This section attempts to identify the systemic issues faced by management education as identified by the earlier committees. Most of the problems identified by the committees continue to be there as no major corrective measures have been initiated, hence a revisit of the critical suggestions.
The Nanda Committee
Nanda Committee was the first committee that reviewed the working of the three Management Institutes of Management at Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Bangalore, to make recommendations for the promotion and development of management education in India. The Nanda Committee suggested a series of measures in 1981 for strengthening management education in India, viz.:
[1] Adequate funding for research to be provided without soliciting project funding. Consultancy research should cover both basic and applied types.
[2] IIMs should act as mother institutes and foster growth of other management Institutions in the country.
[3] There is urgent necessity to develop expertise in international management and offering of educational and training programme in international management.
[4] Government control should be progressively reduced as each institute becomes more and more self-reliant.
Management education has to be research based, and utility based, the institutes should become self reliant and the government must relinquish control over the years.
The Kurien Committee
Government of India appointed a second review committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. V Kurien in 1991, to look into the direction and functioning of the four institutes of management. The committee submitted its report in 1992. The salient recommendations were:
[1] The mission of the Institutes of Management to strengthen management in business, industry and commerce is still relevant. The mission statement however, needs to be expanded to emphasize the IIMs' commitment to public service and public management.
[2] The inter-relatedness of teaching, research and consultancy needs to be better emphasized for greater synergy. Choices in approving research and consultancy must be exercised to strengthen their interconnectedness and mutuality.
[3] There should be a much greater emphasis on the development of relevant teaching materials and research. Appropriate policies and rewards should be initiated to strengthen this aspect of IIMs functioning.
[4] The Government should take a flexible view in providing financial support to the different IIMs and encourage the institutes to vigorously pursue revenue generation, cost cutting, and fund rising efforts. The non plan maintenance grants may be provided as Block Grant for a period of five years.
[5] After the institutes have become financially self supporting with the creation of the corpus fund and the package of measures for augmenting its internal resources and cutting down cost, the government grants may be limited to programme considered high priority and of social relevance by government including the area of public system management.
Major issues of business education in Gujarat are discussed below:
Issue 1: Library Facilities
Library facilities are one of the important criteria for management schools any where around the world. Primary data shows that following practices done in the management schools of Gujarat
Government Management Schools:
Generally Government management schools concern with university institutions in Gujarat because most of Government management schools come under direct control of universities of Gujarat and Government of Gujarat.
Private Management Schools:
Another side private management schools concern with non university institutions but affiliated to university and don't have direct control of any universities of Gujarat
Issue 2: Computer Facilities
After introduction of Management Information System {MIS} topic in syllabus and compulsory paper of management students it becomes necessary to have an adequate computer facilities; category wise analysis given below.
Computer facilities for faculty members in Government Management Schools:
Generally government management school faculties hesitate to use the computer facilities because of poor level of computer literacy
Computer facilities for students in Government Management Schools:
Inadequate computer facilities provided in most of Government management schools in Gujarat because of faculty members don't have professional approach towards the students and students don't have any experience to get admission before joining MBA program.
Computer facilities for faculty members in Private Management Schools
Lack of computer facilities creates many problems in private management schools in Gujarat because of Managing Trustee and allied group believes in traditionalism
Computer facilities for students in Private Management Schools
Lack of computer facilities for students in private management schools in Gujarat because of Managing Trustee and allied group believed that MBA Program is not an engineering thing! But AICTE (All India Council of technical Education) defined Management education (MBA, PGDM, PGDBM etc) comes under definition of technical education
Issue 3: Internet lab Facilities
Sometimes few of orthodox founders of B-school's mentioned that B-school is not a technology school! Therefore don't ask for more computerization or computers and it create lots of problems in business education.
Issue 4: Ensuring Quality Faculty
The establishment of AICTE resulted in the sanctioning of a large number of B-Schools. While giving sanctions to a large number of institutions, AICTE was unable to create adequate machinery for the development and training of faculty to teach in management courses with an applied bias. As AICTE was unable to monitor the quality standards in the institutions, they stipulated in 1997 that from that year onwards, institutions would have to seek affiliation from a recognized university before they are given sanction to start a programme of study. The new requirement concerning university affiliation, the inadequacy of the monitoring systems and the shortage of faculty for teaching management resulted in the following conditions:
[1] Institutions engaged part-time faculty of individuals on contract who taught a course and in most cases, had little involvement either with the institution or the students
[2] New faculty members without any experience joined institutions on low salaries and carried a heavy teaching load. They had neither time nor the necessary background to take up research or development of teaching material. They gave lectures mainly drawn from textbook or materials from textbooks or materials based on their company experience.
[3] Except for the 10 % or so institutions which updated their programs and teaching technology, the quality of management remained substandard in the sense that they paid inadequate attention to application of knowledge, self awareness among students and development of problem solving, and decision making skills.
The two critical issues to be addressed are mechanisms for ensuring quality of faculty and making the learning student-centered. This requires faculty experienced in student centered learning and adequate library and computer support. The issue is to change the bottom rung of 70 % of the institutions that are located away from metros/cities.
Issue 5: Developing Material Relevant to the Indian Context
There is an increasing awareness that many of the ideas and concepts that have been effective in the countries of their origin have been less effective in India. While many industrialized countries have tested and adopted management practices that are in perfect harmony with their culture and tradition, India is yet to do this exercise through systematic research and study. For example, we do not have good cases or teaching material on managing ITES. The materials available are not specific or relevant to our context. There are no easy approaches for solving the issue of inadequacy of context specific material, but to develop an agenda for that, as developing material is a specialized and time consuming task.
Issue 6: Promoting a Research Traditions
The management institutions do not have a culture that is supportive of research. This problem existed even in (low ranked) B-Schools in US. Imbibing a research culture requires faculty with interest in research and a good library support system. A research culture needs a research community and a research agenda. Such a culture will be created only when it becomes an organizational priority and there is top commitment for building that. If the targets of B-Schools are predominantly monetary, a research culture will not emerge. It was been proposed that the enhanced support for research can be brought about in three ways, viz.:
[1] Certain themes that need special study in the next 5/7 years should be funded, and scholars should be invited to undertake research in those areas.
[2] Research granting procedure should be seriously reviewed to support individual project proposals and
[3] Encouraging institutions that have adequate support systems to start Ph.D. programs; the issue is how to make B-Schools create and support a research culture.
Issue 7: Embryonic an Accreditation System
As indicated in the earlier paper on accreditation, one of the emerging issues is to identify the process to be adopted for implementation of an accreditation system. Accreditation needs to be separated from recognition. The accreditation has to be fair, transparent, independent as well as ruthless. The accreditation process (indicated in the previous section) that is used by EFMD has been reported to be a widely accepted one. As accreditation process tends to become a political one, the issue is to evolve a method to insulate it from the political interference. Accreditation that uses benchmarks of various parameters could reduce subjectivity. The rapid growth in the number of management institutes requires a specialized body rather than the all– encompassing AICTE to carry out accreditation. A council exclusively for management education is needed, and the process of accreditation and recognition needs to be made separate. The accreditation process has to cover commerce education as well. In most other countries, management education covers this as well. This will ensure that management education has a broad base in India. All the degrees covering management commerce and accountancy should be under one agency.
Issue 8: Student Testing Service
This again is crucial as testing becomes the basis of input quality in management education. Many institutions have their own admission tests for which they usually charge fairly high fees. The issue is to ensure that admission and testing need to be segregated, as in the case of US. Evolving a national testing service and evolving a comprehensive testing system have to examine comprehensively. There seems to be no need to have so many tests and the proposed All India Council of Management Education would need to examine the possibility of reduction in the number of tests while at the same time ensuring that the quality of testing is not sacrificed for the sake of uniformity.
Issue 9: Developing Interaction with the Industry
Except in the case of the top ranked B-Schools, there are no mechanisms to forge close relationship between B-Schools and industry groups. Development of industry interaction is an evolutionary process. The main strength of top class B-Schools like Kellogg, Wharton, Sloan and Harvard is their strong relationship with industry through teaching, research, student placements, problem solving and case study preparation. As indicated in the first section of this paper top level B-schools continuously interact with major corporations. The recent example of BP setting up their learning centre adjacent to MIT, Cambridge shows that as competition increases, industry–B-School cooperation will go up. The issue in India is to make this happen in the case of the low ranked B-Schools in India. There has to be an institutional mechanism for developing liaison with industry in each B-School.
Numerous Systemic Issues
A number of committees have looked into management education in India in the past. This section attempts to identify the systemic issues faced by management education as identified by the earlier committees. Most of the problems identified by the committees continue to be there as no major corrective measures have been initiated, hence a revisit of the critical suggestions.
The Nanda Committee
Nanda Committee was the first committee that reviewed the working of the three Management Institutes of Management at Ahmedabad, Kolkata and Bangalore, to make recommendations for the promotion and development of management education in India. The Nanda Committee suggested a series of measures in 1981 for strengthening management education in India, viz.:
[1] Adequate funding for research to be provided without soliciting project funding. Consultancy research should cover both basic and applied types.
[2] IIMs should act as mother institutes and foster growth of other management Institutions in the country.
[3] There is urgent necessity to develop expertise in international management and offering of educational and training programme in international management.
[4] Government control should be progressively reduced as each institute becomes more and more self-reliant.
Management education has to be research based, and utility based, the institutes should become self reliant and the government must relinquish control over the years.
The Kurien Committee
Government of India appointed a second review committee under the Chairmanship of Mr. V Kurien in 1991, to look into the direction and functioning of the four institutes of management. The committee submitted its report in 1992. The salient recommendations were:
[1] The mission of the Institutes of Management to strengthen management in business, industry and commerce is still relevant. The mission statement however, needs to be expanded to emphasize the IIMs' commitment to public service and public management.
[2] The inter-relatedness of teaching, research and consultancy needs to be better emphasized for greater synergy. Choices in approving research and consultancy must be exercised to strengthen their interconnectedness and mutuality.
[3] There should be a much greater emphasis on the development of relevant teaching materials and research. Appropriate policies and rewards should be initiated to strengthen this aspect of IIMs functioning.
[4] The Government should take a flexible view in providing financial support to the different IIMs and encourage the institutes to vigorously pursue revenue generation, cost cutting, and fund rising efforts. The non plan maintenance grants may be provided as Block Grant for a period of five years.
[5] After the institutes have become financially self supporting with the creation of the corpus fund and the package of measures for augmenting its internal resources and cutting down cost, the government grants may be limited to programme considered high priority and of social relevance by government including the area of public system management.
Major issues of business education in Gujarat are discussed below:
Issue 1: Library Facilities
Library facilities are one of the important criteria for management schools any where around the world. Primary data shows that following practices done in the management schools of Gujarat
Government Management Schools:
Generally Government management schools concern with university institutions in Gujarat because most of Government management schools come under direct control of universities of Gujarat and Government of Gujarat.
Private Management Schools:
Another side private management schools concern with non university institutions but affiliated to university and don't have direct control of any universities of Gujarat
Issue 2: Computer Facilities
After introduction of Management Information System {MIS} topic in syllabus and compulsory paper of management students it becomes necessary to have an adequate computer facilities; category wise analysis given below.
Computer facilities for faculty members in Government Management Schools:
Generally government management school faculties hesitate to use the computer facilities because of poor level of computer literacy
Computer facilities for students in Government Management Schools:
Inadequate computer facilities provided in most of Government management schools in Gujarat because of faculty members don't have professional approach towards the students and students don't have any experience to get admission before joining MBA program.
Computer facilities for faculty members in Private Management Schools
Lack of computer facilities creates many problems in private management schools in Gujarat because of Managing Trustee and allied group believes in traditionalism
Computer facilities for students in Private Management Schools
Lack of computer facilities for students in private management schools in Gujarat because of Managing Trustee and allied group believed that MBA Program is not an engineering thing! But AICTE (All India Council of technical Education) defined Management education (MBA, PGDM, PGDBM etc) comes under definition of technical education
Issue 3: Internet lab Facilities
Sometimes few of orthodox founders of B-school's mentioned that B-school is not a technology school! Therefore don't ask for more computerization or computers and it create lots of problems in business education.
Issue 4: Ensuring Quality Faculty
The establishment of AICTE resulted in the sanctioning of a large number of B-Schools. While giving sanctions to a large number of institutions, AICTE was unable to create adequate machinery for the development and training of faculty to teach in management courses with an applied bias. As AICTE was unable to monitor the quality standards in the institutions, they stipulated in 1997 that from that year onwards, institutions would have to seek affiliation from a recognized university before they are given sanction to start a programme of study. The new requirement concerning university affiliation, the inadequacy of the monitoring systems and the shortage of faculty for teaching management resulted in the following conditions:
[1] Institutions engaged part-time faculty of individuals on contract who taught a course and in most cases, had little involvement either with the institution or the students
[2] New faculty members without any experience joined institutions on low salaries and carried a heavy teaching load. They had neither time nor the necessary background to take up research or development of teaching material. They gave lectures mainly drawn from textbook or materials from textbooks or materials based on their company experience.
[3] Except for the 10 % or so institutions which updated their programs and teaching technology, the quality of management remained substandard in the sense that they paid inadequate attention to application of knowledge, self awareness among students and development of problem solving, and decision making skills.
The two critical issues to be addressed are mechanisms for ensuring quality of faculty and making the learning student-centered. This requires faculty experienced in student centered learning and adequate library and computer support. The issue is to change the bottom rung of 70 % of the institutions that are located away from metros/cities.
Issue 5: Developing Material Relevant to the Indian Context
There is an increasing awareness that many of the ideas and concepts that have been effective in the countries of their origin have been less effective in India. While many industrialized countries have tested and adopted management practices that are in perfect harmony with their culture and tradition, India is yet to do this exercise through systematic research and study. For example, we do not have good cases or teaching material on managing ITES. The materials available are not specific or relevant to our context. There are no easy approaches for solving the issue of inadequacy of context specific material, but to develop an agenda for that, as developing material is a specialized and time consuming task.
Issue 6: Promoting a Research Traditions
The management institutions do not have a culture that is supportive of research. This problem existed even in (low ranked) B-Schools in US. Imbibing a research culture requires faculty with interest in research and a good library support system. A research culture needs a research community and a research agenda. Such a culture will be created only when it becomes an organizational priority and there is top commitment for building that. If the targets of B-Schools are predominantly monetary, a research culture will not emerge. It was been proposed that the enhanced support for research can be brought about in three ways, viz.:
[1] Certain themes that need special study in the next 5/7 years should be funded, and scholars should be invited to undertake research in those areas.
[2] Research granting procedure should be seriously reviewed to support individual project proposals and
[3] Encouraging institutions that have adequate support systems to start Ph.D. programs; the issue is how to make B-Schools create and support a research culture.
Issue 7: Embryonic an Accreditation System
As indicated in the earlier paper on accreditation, one of the emerging issues is to identify the process to be adopted for implementation of an accreditation system. Accreditation needs to be separated from recognition. The accreditation has to be fair, transparent, independent as well as ruthless. The accreditation process (indicated in the previous section) that is used by EFMD has been reported to be a widely accepted one. As accreditation process tends to become a political one, the issue is to evolve a method to insulate it from the political interference. Accreditation that uses benchmarks of various parameters could reduce subjectivity. The rapid growth in the number of management institutes requires a specialized body rather than the all– encompassing AICTE to carry out accreditation. A council exclusively for management education is needed, and the process of accreditation and recognition needs to be made separate. The accreditation process has to cover commerce education as well. In most other countries, management education covers this as well. This will ensure that management education has a broad base in India. All the degrees covering management commerce and accountancy should be under one agency.
Issue 8: Student Testing Service
This again is crucial as testing becomes the basis of input quality in management education. Many institutions have their own admission tests for which they usually charge fairly high fees. The issue is to ensure that admission and testing need to be segregated, as in the case of US. Evolving a national testing service and evolving a comprehensive testing system have to examine comprehensively. There seems to be no need to have so many tests and the proposed All India Council of Management Education would need to examine the possibility of reduction in the number of tests while at the same time ensuring that the quality of testing is not sacrificed for the sake of uniformity.
Issue 9: Developing Interaction with the Industry
Except in the case of the top ranked B-Schools, there are no mechanisms to forge close relationship between B-Schools and industry groups. Development of industry interaction is an evolutionary process. The main strength of top class B-Schools like Kellogg, Wharton, Sloan and Harvard is their strong relationship with industry through teaching, research, student placements, problem solving and case study preparation. As indicated in the first section of this paper top level B-schools continuously interact with major corporations. The recent example of BP setting up their learning centre adjacent to MIT, Cambridge shows that as competition increases, industry–B-School cooperation will go up. The issue in India is to make this happen in the case of the low ranked B-Schools in India. There has to be an institutional mechanism for developing liaison with industry in each B-School.
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Goal of Triple"I"
Aim of Triple"I":
Visual Teaching to improve their Retention power.
Provide holistic and Progressive education in tune with the latest developments in Education.
Enable children to appreciate and imbibe our rich cultural heritage and values.
Acquire "Learning to Learn" skills through unique and innovative teaching methods.
Develop a spirit of community and Service Mindedness.
Different thinking skills, good communicative abilities and high self-esteem.
Nurture and promote talent in sports and all co-curricular activities.
Achieve all of the above with right ambience, state of the art infrastructure and highly motivated, well trained faculty, whose professional skills are constantly enhanced.
Visual Teaching to improve their Retention power.
Provide holistic and Progressive education in tune with the latest developments in Education.
Enable children to appreciate and imbibe our rich cultural heritage and values.
Acquire "Learning to Learn" skills through unique and innovative teaching methods.
Develop a spirit of community and Service Mindedness.
Different thinking skills, good communicative abilities and high self-esteem.
Nurture and promote talent in sports and all co-curricular activities.
Achieve all of the above with right ambience, state of the art infrastructure and highly motivated, well trained faculty, whose professional skills are constantly enhanced.
Student psychology
According to Encyclopedia Americana
Volume No:9, Ref. 707
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:
It is concerned with finding and applying principles and techniques that promote efficiency in instruction. Because its primary focus is on curriculum objectives and instructional methods, educational psychology is much concern with the principles of learning. However, efficient learning also depends on a satisfactory "learning climate" that takes into consideration the learners physical, social and mental well being, his motives, attitudes and values, his personality characteristics, his unique abilities, consequently educational psychologists try to use information about all these matters, So that the student may realize his potential morefully then he could without such assistance. Educational psychology releis on the scientific method to find and apply knowledge in these areas, it is regarded as an applied science.
Volume No:9, Ref. 707
EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY:
It is concerned with finding and applying principles and techniques that promote efficiency in instruction. Because its primary focus is on curriculum objectives and instructional methods, educational psychology is much concern with the principles of learning. However, efficient learning also depends on a satisfactory "learning climate" that takes into consideration the learners physical, social and mental well being, his motives, attitudes and values, his personality characteristics, his unique abilities, consequently educational psychologists try to use information about all these matters, So that the student may realize his potential morefully then he could without such assistance. Educational psychology releis on the scientific method to find and apply knowledge in these areas, it is regarded as an applied science.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
DEFINITION OF SCHOOL
SCHOOL
S is for Sincerity
C is for Capacity
H is for Honesty
O is for Obedience
O is for Orderliness
L is for Learning
S is for Sincerity
C is for Capacity
H is for Honesty
O is for Obedience
O is for Orderliness
L is for Learning
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