Month: November 2014

The burgeoning of computing and networking technologies in the education field opens up a new world of virtual learning integrating work lives into our homes. Educational software abet in blending the work and home environment thereby helping to structure our lives on our own. The field of educational technology is a gradual movement with advances manifesting in the 20^th century. The use of media for teaching purposes is traced back to the introduction of educational films and Sidney Pressey’s mechanical teaching machines in 1900’s and 1920’s.

Now let’s have a look on how it has progressed moderately…

1940

Flight simulators were developed using analog computers for generating onboard instrument data.It re-creates aircraft flight and the environment for design, pilot training and other purposes.Flight simulation is used for the design and development of the aircraft, flight training and research into aircraft characteristics. The first known flight simulation device was to help pilots fly the Antoinette monoplane. The Antoinette used two wheels, one for roll and one for pitch. The pitch wheel operated in a natural sense whereas the roll wheel did not (It continued till the “invention” of the “joystick”)

1943

Type 19 synthetic radar trainer was built

1960

PLATO system has been developed at the University of Illinois

1963

IBM partnered with Stanford University to develop the first CAI elementary school curriculum in California and Mississipi

1967

IBM Partnership developed materials and marketed it to schools through CCC (Computer Curriculum Corporation) which is known as Pearson Education Technologies today

1972

Introduction of PLATO IV system which features primitive sound generation, bitmap graphics etc.

1975

Altair 8800 ,the microcomputer based on the Intel 8080 CPU created a change in software industry.Altair put everything on removable cards when it was developed.It made the motherboard very simple and acted as a connector between cards

Altair and Bill Gates

Bill Gates saw an ad for the Altair 8800 in the Popular Electronics Magazine. Foreseeing the future of Altair, he called up Altair and talked about a programming language suitable for 8800.What Gates told was not true because he didn’t have any programming language for Altair! Altair’s problem was that in order to program it, you needed to flip the front panel switches that inputs 8080 instructional code- A tiresome job indeed ! Later Gates developed a programming language that allows you to type in code to instruct Altair 8800 do what you want. The programming language is called BASIC !

Do you know what the funniest part was?

Bill Gates developed this without an Altair 8800 ! He used his PDP-10 to write a simple 8800 emulator. After finishing BASIC he hurried to Altair on paper tape for testing. The words “Altair BASIC” popped up and it was enough for Altair! Allen and Gates co-founded Microsoft in Albuquerque, New Mexico, in 1975 and started marketing a BASIC Programming language interpreter.

Early 1980s

Several new companies and non-profit organizations were created with the availability of Apple ii, Commodore PET ,Commodore VIC-20,Commodore 64.Companies like The Learning Company, Broderbund etc developed a range of titles for personal computers during this period.

1990s

First half

• Advancement in computer hardware technology paved way for development in educational software
• Educational programs incorporated sound and multimedia graphics thereby enhancing the educational system
• Several digital encyclopedias were released as Multimedia application CD-ROMS

Second half

• New methods emerged with the spread of internet
• Computers and Internet were made affordable in this period creating effective virtual learning environments

FURTHER DEVELOPMENTS

• Blackboard Inc.,a developer of education software began as a consulting firm which contracts to the non-profit IMS Global Learning Consortium
• The company provides communication, mobile, education, and commerce software and related services to clients including corporations, education providers and government organizations
• In 1998,the company offered its first product, a course management software
• In April 2010 it released its latest version, Blackboard Learn 9.1, a learning management system that provides a content management system for centralized control over course content , a community and portal system for communication, a learning system for course delivery and management for institutions and a system to record and analyze student assessment results
• Blackboard became a public company in 2004.It continued its operation publicly until Providence Equity Partners purchased the company in 2011
• In 2011 the firm launched Course Sites, a free version of its Blackboard Learn for which it provides hosting and support
• Chamilo open-source VLE, which is a fork of Dokeos was released publicly in 2010
• OLAT 7 which implements important standards like REST API, IMS Global Basic LTI, IMS QTI 2.1 was released in 2010
• Teletaleem, a Live Classroom service has been released by Comcept Pvt Ltd in 2011

EDUCATION APPS : EMERGING TRENDS

Be it entertainment, publishing or games ,apps have made their presence felt across diverse fields. The proliferation of education apps have created a difference in the industry attracting big investments and generating lucrative acquisitions. Thousands of mobile apps influence students and they find it interesting and entertaining. Hundreds of apps are particularly used by kids for educational purpose. So,the question is “Do they really improve learning?”

Some interesting points which provides basis for answering this are as follows :

• 38% of all the children who are under 8 years of age have started using mobile phones
• 57% of the children use tablets for educational apps according to Nelsen’s survey
• In the iTunes store’s education category,80 % of the best selling paid apps are targeted towards children

So what will be the biggest trends around apps and brands that are creating them? Here are a few thoughts.

Tablets into classrooms

2014 pushes the initiatives to get tablets into classrooms from android devices to iPads. Even though a lot of children are having it at home,there are many who don’t have access to these. In order to bridge the gap schools will be instrumental in aiding those students who are left on the other side of the digital divide.

Marketing Educational Apps

Developers are redoubling their efforts to make educational apps aiming to market their products. Interestingly enough schools, educational institutions and teachers find it difficult to choose the right app which suits the existing curriculum.

Apps created by children

Stories about 13 year olds who have created new apps have delighted the world. Using diverse tools and schemes children are studying
to code all over the world !

“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world”

-Nelson Mandela

To be educated is important and if it is provided with better facilities, students will be more capable of facing the future with confidence. Like every field, education sector is also in the path of advancement. Most of the schools have embraced technology to provide a better learning experience to the students. There are certain tools available in the market for that, which aid the overall management of a school and also aids in teaching. Here is a list of such tools by Edsys that can help in providing better education:

RFID Student Tracking System

This tool is a solution to all your problems regarding student safety. Equally useful to parents and school authorities, the RFID Student Tracking System requires the students to swipe their RFID cards on the card readers installed in school buses. The parents and school authorities thus get notified via SMS about the whereabouts of the students. In this era, where news of kidnappings, school bus accidents and kids suffocated to death in school vans can be heard almost every day, RFID Student Tracking System can prove to be a boon to you.

GPS Vehicle Tracking System

Similar to the RFID Student Tracking System to some extent, GPS Vehicle Tracking System addresses student safety concerns, as well. The only difference is that GPS Vehicle tracking System is meant to track the whereabouts of the school bus. With the help of GPS Vehicle Tracking System, you can get information about the location of the school bus, unscheduled bus stops, over speeding and the distance covered by the performance. It is also possible to track the performance of school bus drivers. Routing and planning can be made easy with GPS Vehicle Tracking system, where it can be done automatically, with minor corrections from your side, if any.

School Mobile Apps

Application of technology in education isn’t anything new these days. Many schools around the world have already opted for gadgets to books and school mobile apps to lessons. In fact, school mobile apps have made learning more interesting. Unlike the traditional learning techniques, school mobile apps have lessons in the form of games. It is also possible to analyze the performance of students real-time and help them improve, thus providing a better learning experience to students.

RFID School Management System

In most schools, the teachers and other staff in the school mark their attendance by signing an attendance register. But that is not effective to the fullest. You may not know whether they were late to work or if their signatures have been forged beforehand. Also, you find it difficult to identify among the hardworking staff and those who are not. RFID School Management System is one solution that can give answers to all your questions regarding school management. In RFID School Management System,  the employees can login using biometric systems thus recording their time. This comes in handy while calculating payroll as you are able to obtain the working hours of every employee of the school.

School Work Force Management System

School Work Force Management System, which is similar to the RFID School Management System in terms of purpose it serves. It is impossible to monitor the activities of all employees in a manual workforce management system. Also, to calculate the number of leaves during payroll calculation is a tedious task. In School Work Force Management, the school staff can enter their day to day activities apart from their daily attendance, which can help in evaluating their performances. Also, their talents and weak points can be recognized and their abilities can be used to the benefit of the school to the fullest.

Timetable Management Software

Manual timetable management can give you nightmares at times. Some employee may take an unplanned leave and there, the effort you put to prepare time table for the whole day goes down the drain. Using timetable management software can help you in such situations. It helps in generating timetables automatically that too for the entire school, considering all the limitations and the requirements, making your job lot easier. It stores all leave records which can be used while calculating payroll.

Smart Cards for Schools

Smart cards for schools will be of great use to students and parents. With smart cards, students can purchase food and beverages from school canteen, purchase stationary items from the school provision store and they can swipe this card in the library to enter and borrow books. Sometimes, parents panic when asked for information such as roll number and class of their kids at the fee collection counters in schools. It is lot easier now with smart cards for schools. It has all necessary details of students stored in it, which the parents can use to pay fees. It is also possible to top up the smart cards at the fee collection counters.

Parent Portal

Parent portal would be of great use to parents who are always anxious about their children’s safety and performance. Parents can login to Parent Portal through laptops, desktops or any other devices and there, they have their child’s activities in school at their fingertips. You need not attend parent-teachers meeting anymore. Teachers and parents can constantly connect each other through Parent Portal. Teachers can also share the student’s performance results and study materials through Parent Portal. This also helps the teachers to understand the areas their students need support in and help them improve their performance. Parent Portal also enables online fee payment and gives a glimpse of an entire year’s academic schedule to the parents. Parents can also create separate profile for each of their kids. Parents can use SchoolApp, which is a mobile application for Parent Portal to know about the whereabouts and performance of their child even while travelling.

It is important that every educational institute adapt to the changes happening in the educational sector each passing day. This helps the students in keeping themselves updated and prepares them to face the future with confidence.

Applicant Tracking Systems are useful tools that save money and time. They increase the overall efficiency of recruiting processes in education institutes, making the hiring process easier as never before.However, educational institutions need to consider many things before choosing the right Applicant Tracking System that streamlines the process of recruiting and hiring in a simple manner.

Here are 9 simple things to remember while choosing an Applicant Tracking System (ATS)

1) Easy Integration

Integrating ATS with other systems is based on the size of your institution. Large institutions often integrate with multiple systems and small institutions integrate it with a website. So before picking an ATS it’s essential to know whether it provides resources to integrate the system in an easy manner.

2) Performance

You can’t lose qualified candidates or opportunities due to the slow performance of your ATS. The performance of the system is very important in attracting prospective candidates. The effectiveness of recruitment service to education institutes can be analyzed by evaluating the system performance.

3) Ease of use

Using an ATS that requires minimum training will save your money and time.But you should check whether the system is easy to implement and maintain.

4) Candidate experience

If applicants have to go through a lengthy process while they use your applicant tracking system they will find it frustrating and leave your site. So if you don’t want to lose prospective candidates, your ATS must enhance the experience of applicants through simple processes once they log in to your site.

5) Social media recruiting

The power of social media and social networks is measureless in today’s world. Your recruiting process is incomplete if you do not make use of social networking sites. You may discover top talent in these social platforms; therefore, it’s necessary to integrate your ATS with social networking sites. Sharing jobs on social media helps you to attract the best applicants you are looking for.

6) Quick and accurate candidate search

The ability to easily search and screen through the numerous applications that your institution receives requires effective management of your applicant data. You should check whether your ATS is capable enough to provide quick search functionality and resume filtering capabilities to make searching more accurate.

7) Employee referrals

Employee referral is the most effective program to source individuals having high quality and talent. Most educational institutions lack the facility to get employees engaged in the referral and selection process. You can choose an ATS which integrates the capabilities of employee referral so that referral information can be shared through it easily and quickly.

8) Better quality of hires

High quality talent can be tapped by leveraging centralized applicant tracking. A good-quality ATS helps you to organize critical information and provides information regarding the candidate qualities which your organization demands. This also helps you to organize a targeted recruiting strategy.

9) Improving overall efficiency

If you select the right ATS, it can centralize the recruiting activities from job applications to employee referrals. Benefits include the following:

• Recruiters can search the details of prospective candidates easily
• Applicants can quickly apply for their desired job positions
• Improves communication among the recruiting team by facilitating them to add notes and comments about candidates
• It acts as an efficient reporting tool

From work force management software to payroll management software, there is a means to meet the day to day activities of your school in a more reliable way. Having software to help boost the effectiveness of your school management saves your time and money as well as improves the administrative procedures of your school.

For example, in the past, school authorities informed their job openings through newspaper advertisements, posters etc. But things have changed. We are aware of the fact that those days are long gone. So, what should school management be using to keep up with the changing times and select the right candidates? The answer to that question is simple: School authorities and recruiters should be using recruiting software that make the whole process of recruiting fast, cost-effective and simple.

Today, recruitment software has become more efficient and intuitive than ever before, providing recruitment service to educational institutions in a more dependable manner.

Here are 7 key advantages for school managements using Recruiting Software:

1) Efficient postings

In order to attract prospective candidates for your institution, you need to make your posting unique. For that, you are not forced to post open positions on a job board. Instead if you have a branded career website, it will compel teachers and other staff to work for you.

Quick tip: Using a unique website for hiring, you can customize the process of recruiting. It helps you to gain custom work flows and applications and aid you in the web design of your careers page.

2) Better Applications

You can always purchase a template for some job positions or can draft an application for several job positions. An opening for each job post requires a specific application process. So, to customize the applications according to your need, recruiting software can be used which will help you complete the application process in a more accurate manner.

Quick tip: You can choose standard applications to customize it for the requirement of each job position. Your institutional specifications along with their expertise in the basics will create a targeted application.

3) All-hours access

Passing around the word that your school is hiring can be a challenge, particularly when you are a smaller school. You can start with email signatures and social media and can access recruiting software anywhere anytime.

Quick tip: Connect with high-quality teachers and other staff faster. You can respond to qualified teachers quicker and let other members of the recruiting team view the progress of the hiring process.

4) Better collaboration

With easy-to-use recruiting software, recruitment team members of your school can work together anytime as compared to the traditional recruiting process. Here, recruiters can jointly take decisions and facilitate conversations regarding the hiring process of an applicant.

Quick tip: The facility that allows multiple users to access the information regarding the same applicant lets you get updates about the applicant.

5) Mobility

You’ll spend time responding to work-related e-mails while sitting down at home to catch your favorite evening show just like you’d be accepting calls from your child’s school while you’re sitting at your office desk. As a recruiter, being able to move perfectly between your mobile phone, work computer and laptop is a must when it comes to getting the job done – and you’ll only get that kind of flexibility with web-based recruiting software.

Quick tip: You can access your phones, tablets or devices to enhance the process of recruitment, teachers’ training program, assessments, performance management and so on.

6) Easy Updates

Recruiting process itself is time consuming and complex. With recruiting software it’s easy for you to keep up-to-date records of every job order and applicant.

Quick tip: Web-based recruitment software saves your time by updating automatically, without interrupting the activities of school management.

7) Cost-effective

Investing in Recruitment software is the perfect way to carry out the process of recruitment more quickly and cost-effectively.

Quick tip: You can use keyword matching technology and other related features to hire the right person in a cost-effective manner.

So regardless of the type of educational institution to which you are engaged, finding the right web-based software is what you need to save your institution’s money and time. It not only makes your job easier but also facilitates in developing a unique school culture. For example, payroll management software helps you calculate payroll, incorporate it with timesheet systems and so on. As such, recruitment software provides recruitment service to your educational institution thereby providing high-quality recruitment service and making you realize your school’s development opportunities.