Why Towards a Smart Campus.

In a fast and furiously evolving technology driven world, all players, individual and organizational, will find themselves among the least or less skilled. Re-skilling accompanied by a large measure of  de-skilling is important. One cannot be frozen in the past for individuals and organizations. If they do, there could be a Nokia moment. The competition will leave you behind. Samsung and Apple overtake you.

Dis-inter-mediation is here to stay: 

• Teachers by on line learning;
• Doctors by robotic , precision surgeons;
• Drivers by sensor driven cars;
• Bankers by on line banking;
• Mall employees by e tailers; 
• Book distributors by Amazon and Barnes & Noble or Flipkart. 

One has no place to hide .
The biggest item in the agenda then is a psychological bin: discard and relearn.
Therein is the importance of Smart Campus. Re-learning assumes import at the pace acceptable to the learner and a mode accessible.

 "A survey of 1,381 students (in the district)  showed nearly 74 percent were more engaged, and 89 percent agreed they could solve problems or create presentations by researching online " (Source: Blended 2.0 shifts learning in schools Next phase of tech-infused teaching model goes deeper on personalization and authenticity: 

 https://www.districtadministration.com/article/blended-20-shifts-learning) 

Blended Learning is here to stay within Smart Campuses accessible from homes. 

Recommended to read.

1.Lacking other meaningful data, university faculty devise their own teaching evaluation systems

http://oregonstate.edu/ua/ncs/archives/2016/aug/lacking-other-meaningful-data-university-faculty-devise-their-own-teaching-evaluat


2.

The Future Of Educational Technology: How Edtech Is Still Ignoring Its Biggest Market

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ciocentral/2016/08/23/the-future-of-educational-technology-how-edtech-is-still-ignoring-its-biggest-market/#35a05ed2640b

Back 2 School with Khan Academy : Blended Learning

Khan Academy has sent me a message which is worth sharing: ( it is useful information for students and parents.)

"As you  head back to school, there’s only one thing you need to know: you can learn anything. Khan Academy is here to be your personal tutor throughout the school year. We have thousands of videos, articles, and exercises to help you sharpen your skills anytime, anywhere, all for free. Here are some things you can learn on Khan Academy:

Advanced Placement & college prep AP Calculus AB AP US history AP Calculus BC AP Art history AP Physics 1 SAT AP Physics 2 College admissions AP Chemistry Math K-2nd grade Algebra I 3rd grade Geometry 4th grade Algebra II 5th grade Trigonometry 6th grade Statistics & probability 7th grade Calculus 8th grade Differential equations Arithmetic Linear algebra Pre-algebra Science & engineering Biology Health & medicine Physics Electrical engineering Chemistry Cosmology & astronomy Organic chemistry Computing Computer programming Computer animation Computer science Arts & humanities Art history US history Grammar World history Music Economics & finance Microeconomics Finance & capital markets Macroeconomics Entrepreneurship

Happy learning!"

Blended Learning : Lessons for Schools Intending to Change

"Every organisation must prepare to abandon

 everything it does"

Peter Drucker

Extracts On Learning from DC on Blended Learning:

“District of Columbia Public Schools (DCPS)[1] has developed three main blended learning initiatives over the past several years:

1. Since the 2013–14 school year, district and school leaders have redesigned 17 schools (10 elementary schools, four middle schools, and three high schools) to incorporate blended learning. Students who are introduced to blended learning in elementary school do not have to change instructional methods as they progress through schools.

2. Many schools not selected for redesigns are also using blended learning in a variety of grade levels and subject areas to meet their school-level academic goals.

3. High schools offer credit-recovery programs using the Enriched Virtual model of blended learning in which content is delivered online and students meet with highly qualified teachers in their content areas at least two or three times per week.

The district has made significant investments in online curriculum, network and wireless infrastructure, end-user devices, and professional development.

It has also established a dedicated team at the central office to research, implement, and evaluate blended learning. DCPS has recorded extensive and well-studied student gains in math and reading on district-wide assessments and the National Assessment of Educational Progress since implementing blended learning.

The redesigned elementary schools use the Station Rotation model of blended learning for math and reading, with some variation based on decisions made by school leaders. The redesigned middle school uses the Individual Rotation model of blended learning for math and has worked with New Classrooms to design and implement the blended model.

Across all schools (not just the blended schools), the district uses a variety of online curriculum products, including Lexia and myON for reading and ST Math, First in Math, and i-Ready for math. Science, social studies, and world languages classes also use online curriculum.

The district retrained its teacher evaluators, known as Master Educators, on evaluation techniques applicable to blended learning classrooms.

In elementary schools, students in reading and math classes rotate on a fixed schedule through three stations: one station is teacher-led small-group instruction, another is online learning, and a third is either independent practice or project-based learning.

In the redesigned middle school, all students have a laptop that allows them to move through online curriculum at their own pace, with support from a team of teachers. In addition to the redesigned schools, there are smaller blended-learning initiatives occurring in the district’s other schools that focus primarily on math and reading.  

It has also focused on identifying strategies that improve outcomes for the lowest performing students. The district has recorded student gains in math and reading since implementing blended learning.”

Source given in Footnote  

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[1] http://www.kpk12.com/wp-content/uploads/DCPS.pdf

Visualizing Internet of Things in Education:Autumn for Extant Teachers ?

• Student Centric Learning Management Systems will rule the realm of Internet of Things.  Students will learn with greater autonomy and will be on their own rather than be spoon fed. 
• Learning process would be driven by dashboard reflexes. Students would have access through a dashboard to all data that affect them.  
• Teachers will have a dashboard too. Manuals for teachers will set limits for dashboard usage; the role of on campus teacher will shrink. 
• Data from all connected IoT devices, including EI sensors, and student wearables will facilitate student technology solutions. 
• Skilled technological staff will extract, develop and provide solutions. Data analytics department will emerge as most important support service.
• The solutions will be useful to management of students even when they are off campus. There will be enhanced use of mobile technologies. Academic management, study process management and support services will be digitized and integrated. 
• Students will be reassured with 24/7 sensor driven personal attention.
• Applications will be developed to meet student needs ranging from knowledge doubts to mood swings to anxiety attacks. Apps might make learning game oriented.  They will offer personalized strategies to combat absorption apprehensions in students’ minds.
• Skill shortage of technology support providers will hit hard. There will be an influx of technology professionals in to the education industry. 
• Departments like language will 'wither away' to computer based learning. Extant language teachers may have to re-skill  or exit. Skills gap will  impact edu-thinking. As the industry transforms, EIs will realize they do  not really have all the data and analytics skills that are required.  
• Information would have a micro and a micro dimension. At the micro level it is each student and teacher; at macro level it will be aggregated data watched keenly for trends. 
• Armed with sets of voluminous data and analytics, research will emerge as more important than teaching. 

Internet of Things and Students

Sharing an informative article for school stakeholders from Tamara Chuang of the denverpost.com

Back to school with gadgets and other handy Internet of Things
http://www.denverpost.com/2016/08/22/back-to-school-technology-gadgets/

The Internet of Things: A teacher as a Displaced Person

A teacher could be a 'displaced person' (DP)  under the internet of things as he / she is incompatible with the new connected system.

1.  Customization incompatibility: Students need no face to face contact hours as students can tap online resources at their convenience. Computers do not ridicule, defer, or hurt. 
2. Time incompatibility: In IoT, the sensors will alert systems on any deviation from parameter. The system will have predictive abilities to suggest solutions in real time. Teachers cannot match such reflexes.  
3.  Cost incompatibility: Costs are saved by IoT platforms. Brick and mortar and human elements are relegated to robotic response systems as they have high marginal costs. In IoT, fixed investments are already made and capacity utilization brings down costs-  with every additional learner costs are spread.
4.  Memory incompatibility: A teacher cannot remember all the things that a robotic system can. In volume and content, the teacher is no match.
5. Analytical Incompatibility: Systems will analyse student records and initiate prompt corrective action.  The machines will be granular even as it is analytical using the Big Data it has at its command.
6. Perspective Incompatibility: The teacher cannot compete with the macro approach that is feasible.Subjectivity is reduced. They are subjective and oft carried away. Machines are impersonally efficient. 
7. Approach Incompatibility: Teachers use a broad brush approach which will be seen as a non – specialism, non- student centric. In the IoT approach, machines take over monitoring. approach. Continuous learning is possible. 
8. Record Keeping incompatibility. Electronic Student Records (ESR) will make it possible to react to data in rapid response system rendered feasible.  
9. Privacy incompatibility: Anonymity of internet should help the backward student raise queries and seek responses from the system and participants.
10. Technology Skill incompatibility. Teachers cannot acquire the technological skills needed to be in world of IoT in a short period. Students are more tech savvy than the average teacher. 

How Internet of Things ought to Change Education

• A strong connectivity infrastructure and security system to be in place. 
• System must connect and track all devices within the school premises.
• Inter-operability of devices within the school to be assured.
• Upkeep of school computer hardware must be for predictive purposes.
• Wearables on students to be monitored for academic improvement (wearables are to be with mutual agreement). 
• To use sensory devices on students for effective oversight over studies; teachers can respond to anxiety attacks in students immediately.
• Access sensory information to be on real time basis.   
• Big Data to be used to predict, improve student needs.
• To monitor security of academic records.
• Follow up of on line / mobile education.
• Set up a reliable local area network (LAN) connection.
• (A virtual private network (VPN) may be an option)
• Transitions between different networks must be carefully crafted to avoid data loss if and when device connections fail.
• Sensitive student data to be transmitted securely between devices.
• Ensure that data is properly encrypted.
• Multi-tiered authentication strategy to access data.
• Have safe controls on access.
• Assign zones of safety significance for security purposes.
• Secure texting.
• A centralized log-in procedure for network-connected devices.

The internet angst of the teacher

As technology evolves to the internet of things, human intervention might take a back seat. Depersonalized, customized, quality standardized, education of a higher order would be the norm. Class rooms may turn obsolete  or would be used occasionally just to assure a minimum number of face to face contact hours.
Big data and connectivity and sensors will drive the world.
The role of the teacher will shrink.
Students may welcome reduced lecturer roles as mobile applications or computer screens will not express displeasure of an annoying kind. Students can time and choose interventions of a studying kind at their will and pleasure.
Lecturers in all fields have to be computer engineers to some degree. Teachers who are not technologically proficient will be displaced persons. They have to be tech savvy to survive.
Quality manuals in education have to be technology based. The system must respond efficiently and promptly and without emotions.
Less of teachers, more of infrastructure. 

Building Teacher Skills in Emerging Economies-1

There is a worrisome perception among parents and other stakeholders about the declining quality of school education in emerging economies.  This is attributable to numerous factors but the more serious among faculty is a lack of adequate and contemporary post-entry training or continuous professional updating  for teachers.

Poor quality of  teachers means children are provided with weak inputs. Student learning is sub-optimal. Teachers may have the basic skills, but not much more. The cost of this failure to meet student needs on monetary and development and psychological angles could be substantial.  Thus investing in teachers'human resource development is the single most important challenge. 

There is a learning crisis at hand unless the teachers are adequately trained. There is need for focused attention on updating professional competences through technological intervention among teachers so that quality delivery of education is possible. 

Steps may include:

• Establish an IT based information system  to inventory skills of teachers. 
• Estimate demand and supply of skilled workforce in relation to education needs at a macro level and at the granular level.    
• Match supply with demand at granular level. Identify deficits and work towards rebuilding teacher competences. 
• Leverage modern technology to ensure  reaching out to teachers, particularly those needing scaling up in course content. 
• Technology to be leveraged for designing  and developing tech driven pedagogical techniques.
• An open platform for e-content on skill development of teachers to be aimed at. 
• Crowd source content for this platform from among the practitioners and experienced to keep costs low. Affordability has to be ensured. 
• High quality content aggregation by an expert team essential prior to release of content. 
• Teachers must utilize the contents of this platform through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) and virtual classrooms . 
• Have teacher innovation hubs at  regional and administrative unit levels. Learning has to be simultaneously decentralized. 
• The Internet of Things (IoT)—the networked connection of people, process, data, and things—must be exploited to become the Internet of Learning Things. 
• The target should be improvements in infrastructure / device availability which make  24/7 connectivity possible  for teachers to benefit and for the teachers to use techniques ranging from Cloud Computing to Big Data integration with the IoT 
• Ease of delivering content to be ensured. 

Note: This is the first of a series on Teacher Skill Building in Emerging Economies by the author. 

India: A Case Study- What ails its education ?

“Incredible India” swears by rich traditions and a historic legacy in education. Its myriad temples and forts are reflective of the great engineering education and reflective skills practised in the past. (Thanjavur Temple, Taj Mahal, Red Fort are all architectural marvels). Under monarchs and the imperialists,

Indians performed feats which made the world watch in some degree of awe (the Wonder that was India, as A L Bhasham would name it). Chinese travelers came to study in East India's Universities. However, over centuries, India seems to have lost the advantage. It has become a willing follower in education ceding positions to the new world. 

It reportedly is ranked 92 among 145 countries in education (http://www.prosperity.com/#!/) 

India’s rankings were rather low:

Prosperity                          99

Economy                           61

Entrepreneurship               94

Governance                       53

Health                               107

Safety                                114

Personal Freedom               79

Social Capital                   129

India is a young nation with more than 62% of its population in the working age group (15-59 years), and more than 54% of its total population below 25 years of age. The average age of the population in India by 2020 is estimated at 29 years as against 40 years in USA, 46 years in Europe and 47 years in Japan. 

However, of the workforce, only 4.69% has undergone formal skill training as compared to 68% in UK, 75% in Germany, 52% in USA, 80% in Japan and 96% in South Korea. 

How will Big Data help educational institutions?

• Students’ voluminous data are easily captured in all its volumes on an ongoing basis.
•  Data can be studied for the shortest time frame. Even intra-day analysis is possible. This shortens time to action. Prompt, proactive action is possible.  
• Study patterns of students can be documented and examined on a historic basis.
•  Predicting Student Performance. Rating them - Which students are slow in tasks assigned? Who are low performers and least performers?
• Drawing up a Risk Matrix for Cohorts.
• LP (Low Performing) student needing help some online help or offsite. 
• A student in classroom session or on online learning:  Is there disinterestedness, boredom visible?  Is there frustration creeping in?
• How often and in what manner do students use educational software? (Blackboard, EBSCO, Turn-it-in, any internal intranet?) When do they really submit; the pattern of submissions.
• What is the inventory of faculty skills?
• Predicting student progression. 
• What courses and pedagogical modes attract students?
• Which courses and pedagogical modes deter students?
• Patterns in enrollment.
• Deciphering patterns in student progression.
• Analysis of student dropout ratios and causative factors.
• Student retention trends.  
• Predictive models using this type of unconventional data to assess teaching risk. 
• Knowing and monitoring the opinion and attitude of the students and stakeholders as opinions, feelings and attitudes about the EI, as discussed on the world wide web.
• Developing a sentiment analysis tool to monitor student reflections.
• Monitoring social platforms and social media websites. Reconnaissance of the social sphere, including social networks, blogs, Facebook and twitter and other relevant sites.  
•  Leveraging on valuable feedback and insights to improve offerings and services.
• Student profiling to suit personalization.
• Data would reveal the student interests.
• Using student data for cluster analysis
• Student’s propensity towards a certain subject can be measured.
• Data from online usage- from cookies, URL and software metrics – could to identify which online channels the students are using and what they are using them for.  

A Student’s Worries

• Anxiety among students stems from 'the little known, vast unknown world'. 
• The student mind is a complex organism. 
• Incertitude travels at the swiftness of a horse and seldom gives any respite. 
• A thousand thoughts dart through simultaneously. 
• Some are encouraging, some are intensely disturbing. 
• It is an uncertain and volatile universe. 
• Parents seem ambiguous and learning is tedious.  
• Parental pressures are so overwhelming. 
• Life is from tuition to tuition.  
• It is 'rote' learning. 
• Cramming Up.
• Books turn hazy into irrelevant paragraphs. 

Concentrating on studies is difficult. 

The mobile phone is a friend, it ensures connectivity.