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
INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS
Monday, April 21, 2008
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
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
<