Category: For Parents

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A good teacher can really make a remarkable difference in the way students grasp the lessons and how they apply it in real life. Knowing the students and following the right teaching strategy is the key to help them have a productive learning experience. School life is the best phase of every child as it plays a crucial role in moulding them for their future life. Considering its importance, a good teacher should come up with good tactics to help them utilize the best out of their study life.

Not all student groups are the same and it is the role of the teacher to understand their pulse before applying a teaching method. Here are a few effective methods and techniques that can help to improve the student in his/her learning if applied in the right way:

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1. Desire method: This is one of the unique but most effective teaching strategies to grab student attention and interest. Rather than simply starting with a topic during the class hour, first you have to convey the benefits of learning the particular topic. By wisely applying the strategy, you as a teacher should succeed in invoking good interest in students about the topic. So the students would be eager to start the lesson and approach it with a curious mindset.

2. Active learning: The one sided lecture methods are no more fruitful to get the interest of the new generation students. They would better respond well to the active learning strategies. Don’t limit their learning hour to simple note taking and doing assignments. Give them opportunities to express their talents and have some fun time and make learning more enjoyable. Bringing visual tools and proposing age related activities can really make a difference in the way students express themselves.

3. Cooperative learning: Give them a chance to come out of their seats and interact with their peers and have a cooperative learning experience. This would help them to experience a team building activity. Group activities such as group projects and fun elements such as jigsaw approach can do the trick. Shared learning is equally important to self learning time as they would get new ideas and thoughts from other students.

4. Teach with VAK: The visual, audio, and kinaesthetic learning are three key areas that need to be focused to offer an optimal learning experience. This approach simply means giving opportunities for the students to see the knowledge, hear it and feel it to the core. Give them a chance to interact with the lessons rather than sitting passively during the lectures. Watching animated videos with subject relevance can cover the visual and hearing part and getting a chance to create a video or presentation themselves hit the kinaesthetic area too.

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5. Case method: This is a really effective teaching strategy that gives promising outcome. Rather than simply teaching a new topic, share with them a real life example with which they can connect it. This kind of teaching would help them to retain the information for a longer period in their memory. This would also help them to learn how to apply what they learn in real life and not simply study to score marks in exams.

6. Prompt feedbacks: Giving valuable and consistent feedbacks to student is equally important to teaching them new lessons. Prompt feedbacks would help them to know their level of understanding and gives them a chance to clarify on the difficult areas further. Such assessments can also help teachers to give them right directions in the right time so that they can excel better. However, they should make sure that they offer only constructive feedbacks and encourage them to perform better next time.

7. Time management: Teaching them how to manage their time efficiently is the key to successful classroom learning. Give them time bounded activities so that they can challenge themselves to complete a task within the stipulated time frame. This kind of basic classroom learning also teaches them the importance of prioritizing the time effectively in their life too.

8. Flipped classroom: Inverting your class approach has proved to be really effective for all types of classrooms. In this method, students are asked to prepare on the lessons before hand through video tutorials at home. So they can approach the lesson with a better understanding during the class hour. The class time can be used productively for doing some quality assignments or paper works. Teachers can give an additional support in the areas where they lack understanding.

9. Gamification: Learning through games approach is not only effective for elementary students but also for higher classes. When games are made a part of teaching, students would approach the lessons more lightly and this helps them to be closer with the subjects. Classroom games also take away the boredom of one sided lectures. Through competitive games, students can challenge their peers to score higher and motivate each other.

10. Brainstorming: It is good to include some brain storming sessions in the classroom when students can challenge their thinking process. Give them puzzles or interesting activities in which they need to apply their thought process. This would stimulate their brain and makes them active and energized to receive new lessons. Creative sessions can also be included which challenges their critical thinking and logical reasoning.

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11. Distributed practice: The study activities are supposed to be spread over the period which gives significant results. Students usually have a habit of rushing with the lessons when the deadlines for exams are nearing. This type of learning won’t do any good to retain the information in the memory for long. So teachers should encourage distributed practice in which they learn the subject throughout the term. Teachers can evaluate their learning with regular, weekly or monthly tests and mini exams.

12. Teacher student relation: Maintaining a good relationship with the student is important for a teacher to make his/her teaching method more effective. Students should be given a space where they can freely express their concerns and doubts without any inhibition. When teacher becomes a good friend, students would actively participate and engage in the learning session which gives productive results. Certain communication apps even help to bring parents virtually into classroom to make the learning phase more effective.

13. Online tools: Teachers can make use of the online tools to bring fun to the classroom and ensure engagement and maximum participation. The activities such as online quizzes or videos would bring up a dynamic and interactive classroom environment. Education apps are yet another tool they can bring in the classroom to make the overall setting lively. The right mix of social media in classroom settings can also help a lot to improve the collaboration and relationships.

14. Outdoor learning: Students would love it when they are taken out of the four walls of the classroom to spend some quality learning time outdoors. You can either choose a roof top setting or shade of a tree to let them interact with the nature and study. Taking them for field trips in a while can also do the trick to regain their interest for learning. Visiting a museum or library of relevance can help them to learn the subject with a deeper understanding.

15. Student ideas: The learning phase would be more productive only if there is a give and take policy between the teachers and students. Teachers should not be dominant with the strategies and it is important to welcome student ideas as and whenever needed. Give them a chance to come up with some brilliant or interesting ideas that would really lift their spirit of learning. Once others start valuing their ideas, students would take extra effort to think further on improving their thought process.

16. Practice testing: In addition to all these methods, the time invested for self learning counts the most. They should be given some practice tests on a regular basis when they can evaluate or assess themselves on the areas where they lack and need to improve. This can include practice problems, virtual flash cards and more. The self learning phase gives them the independence to take control over their learning and they can have a boost to their confidence level.

There are a lot more teaching techniques and strategies that give impressive results in improving the student learning. School authorities should also offer a helping hand in supporting teachers to implement advanced and creative strategies in classrooms. With the advancements in mobile technology and digital education, smart school software and education apps are taking an important role in student life. Parents also have equal responsibility in giving them a comfortable environment and productive support to help them have a pleasant learning phase.

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In recent times, education sector is one of those areas which have seen a good growth rate. We are not so far from the high-tech era where the classrooms will be filled with wearable technology as well as gadgets of the modern era. There is no doubt that these smartwatch apps and wearables will go a long way in bringing a revolution in the education sector. They are indeed useful in helping students get education in the best way possible. Moreover, it is highly different from the traditional studying habit which was followed few years back.

Coming to the present time, let us get to know more about these wearables and apps.

Read Also: How Wearable Technology Can Play a Vital Role in Education

1. Google glass and Reality Headsets

It is not always we get to see students paying full attention to the complete lecture. Some or the other point they will get missed. This is where Google glass comes handy.

Students can thus, record lectures and can replay later on numerous times to learn. This can be a remarkable tool while preparing for exams.

2. Duolingo

If you are someone who is into learning various languages, then Duolingo is the best for you. This is one of the famous apps made to learn popular languages on the go.

The app is made up of simple tasks which make the whole learning process very simple. Other than this, there are various games which nurture your knowledge for the particular language. The app is free and is available on Google Play Store.

3. Instapaper

Apple Watch is recently in the news for its versatility and is touted as one of the best wearables. Adding to it, the Instapaper on Apple Watch has reduced the burden of carrying bulky books to school and back. Now, all you have to do is to access as many articles as you want to use the Instapaper and convert them to speech simply by connecting to an iPhone. Your smartwatch has all the controls which help in listening the articles. Thus, modern day classroom is incomplete without this wearable.

You May Also LIke: Ways To Use Wearable Technology In Education

4. Muse

You must have heard of headbands used to listen music or watch videos. Talking about Muse, it is also a kind of headband, but is focused on determining the interest of the students on a certain topic. They behave like heart rate monitors and come with seven EEG sensors.

Muse helps teachers to determine the most effective way of teaching students based on their response. Other than this, it can also be utilized to judge the learning process and evaluate its progress from time to time.

5. Narrative Clip

Another wearable thing which can be worn to save yourself from all the distraction in the class. It is nothing but a small 8 MP camera with a video recorder, which optionally has Wi-Fi as well as Bluetooth.

The best part about this Narrative Clip is that it is designed to capture images as well as videos throughout the day. This comes handy, especially when you go on field trips and class events. You can also record lessons or classroom activities to view them later.

6. Lumosity

Take hold of your smartwatch as you have a new app which will drastically improve your memory and sharpen your attention skills. Lumosity is a smartwatch app which helps you to learn a new language in a very simple way. There are various languages in the app. Every time you look at your smartwatch, a new word pops up for you to learn and widen your knowledge. It is one of the famous apps which challenges your brain and is used by millions of people around the world.

Thus, learning experience is touching new heights with smartwatch apps and wearables. Starting from kids to adults, it has a lot to offer you.

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Learning has become more interesting and easier with the evolution of smart apps. there are smart apps especially created for preschoolers with special needs. These Smart apps for preschoolers make it easier for teachers to manage preschoolers with special needs.

Must Read: 5 Smart Tips for Parents to Buy School Apps for Kids

Here are some examples of smart apps for preschoolers with special needs:

1.Autism Core Skills

Autism Core Skills are a loaded app full of things such as smooth graphics, custom settings, easy to access content and data collection. This app grants a free trial opportunity to know whether it fits the needs of parents, teachers, therapists, and above all the needs of students.

2.Chill Outz

Chill Outz is a collection of five animated stories that provide regulation and relaxation techniques for children. Kids are able to learn strategies like body regulation and focused breathing by watching animals getting through the different tensed situation. This app helps to calm down and make children focused without much difficulty.

3.Birdhouse for Special Needs

Birdhouse app is used for tracking a childs diet, health and behavioral data along with scheduling as well as therapy information. Apart from this, the app allows to interact with Birdhouse via e-mail, offer feedback and create an icon from within an app.

4.Table It!

Table It app contains 34 editable sample tables and with that users are able to make unlimited number of tables for organizing any type of information desired. In addition to this, user can make a table schedule, make a data set in math, organize information from history class and create a table for entering personal information or their special interests. This particular app helps to inculcate creative ability in users.

5.MagnusCards

One must create a user account for getting started with this MagnusCards app. Here the child may require help from adults. After that, child can help Magnus collect Magnus Points which look like gold coins. More points will be gained whenever they complete more daily tasks.

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6.Autism Discovery Tool

Autism Discovery Tool ,this particular app helps to explore the senses and hence able to experience the ways by which people on all aspects of the autism might see the world. One can use this app as a tool for teaching acceptance, tolerance and understanding. It can also be a useful app for making discussions with kids regarding how differently they perceive the world.

7.ZyroMath City Count

ZyroMath City Count, this app makes counting easier for children aged between six to eight irrespective of their physical or cognitive inabilities. It is very much useful to parents and teachers as the app can switch custom settings for game play to accessory compatibility and can track progress for multiple users.

8. iDo Hygiene

iDo Hygiene app provides real-life images and videos of self care and hygiene routines aimed for pre-teen students with special needs. One of the specialties of this app is high customization and clear presentation of tasks.

9.Smart Steps Mobile

Smart Steps Mobile app helps teens as well as adults develop executive function skills and independent living in stressful situations. This app is especially made for child suffering from autism, developmental disabilities, intellectual disabilities, or Down syndrome.

10. Visual Supports

This app includes pictures, printed words, a combination of pictures and printed words, concrete items, etc. It helps children to develop abilities like proper understanding of spoken language, maintain attention and organize and sequence their environment.

Smart apps for preschoolers with special needs is a great aid to teachers as well as parents. It is a relatively difficult task to teach children with special needs. Here smart apps can become handy and it helps to develop a variety of skills in children.

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Every child is unique and they learn and develop at different rates and in different ways”- Beverley Hughes

Every child deserves the best possible start in their learning life. Early Year Foundation Stage(EYFS) provides support to children and helps to fully utilize their potential. Most children develop and learn during their early years. And the experiences they have between birth and age five have a remarkable impact on their future life.

Every child deserves a secure, good, safe and happy childhood. EYFS sets the standards for learning, growth, development and care of children from birth to five years old.

Must Read:

12 EYFS Activities For Children

There are seven areas of learning and development by which a child develop skills, gain knowledge and demonstrate their understanding. Usually children develop three areas first. Those areas are

1. Physical development

2. Personal, social and emotional development

3. Communication and language

Proper development of these areas are essential for healthy growth and to have a better future learning. As children grow, they need to develop in four specific areas. And those areas are literacy, mathematics, expressive arts and science, and understanding the world.

All these seven areas help to plan the child’s learning and activities. It is the responsibility of teachers in supporting and teaching children according to their unique needs.

A separate curriculum is designed for child in primary and secondary schools. Hence it is most suitable for young children only. It is designed in a very flexible manner so that staff can change it according to the unique needs and interests of the child. In EYFS framework, children learn by playing and exploring both indoors and outdoors. Each child develop their own skills according to their creativity, imagination and critical thinking.

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10 EYFS Activities To Improve Children’s Numerical Ability

How can Parents help their Child in Learning?

Learning and development actually begin at home itself. All the fun activities that are done at home have a vital role in the growth and development of the child. Learning done at home will have a long lasting effect on the child during their progress to schools. Even when the child is too young and unable to talk, never ignore them. Try to talk to them so that they could learn and understand new words, ideas and thus give them a motivation to speak. As a young learner, we should care to have at least some time with our child. Parents can do the following activities with their children:

  1. Sing and tell nursery rhymes
  2. Tell them about numbers, colors, letters and words when we go out
  3. Allow them an opportunity to cut out and stick pictures from magazines
  4. When we go out for supermarket tell them about different packaging shapes
  5. Show them how to plant seeds and water it
  6. Cook or bake together
  7. Explore the park and give them an opportunity to mingle with other children
  8. Try to read and share stories from good books

All these activities can greatly help children in their growth. It is better to seek some professional for knowing about different activities and books the child may enjoy at different ages. If the parents work together with caretakers or professionals, one will get a better result in their child’s development. They should exchange information and discuss things together that can provide benefits to the child. There should be a proper check and thus prepare a brief summary done by parents and teachers regarding the progress of the child at each age. This summary can help in the future learning and development of the child.

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Education is really crucial for the healthy mental development of children. To help achieve the best through education, EYFS syllabus is enabled in many schools.

But some children are left behind without any special reason. Most parents take the reason as laziness or negligence towards studies. But the fact is that, the child must be having some really serious learning disability.

Plenty of helps and advices arrive if education is difficult for your children. Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS) has got special guidance for teachers to identify children with special needs. Most parents are even unaware about special needs education.

If your child has more difficulties than most children of their age with their schoolwork, communication or behaviour, plenty of help and advice is at hand from specialists, teachers and voluntary organisations. No need to panic.

What does the term 'special educational needs' really mean?

It’s hard for children with learning disabilities to learn the same way as other children of their age. Hence they need special assistance during education. With the help of specialists, help will be provided to them.

Related Read: Special Education Web Sites for Teachers and Parent

Overview about the Needs

They need extra help in special areas like:

  • School Home Work
  • Reading and Writing
  • Understanding information
  • Expressing themselves
  • Making Friends
  • Properly Behaving
  • Organising

Approach to Special Educational Needs

Take a step by step approach if your child requires special education needs. The way children learns are different so are their needs.

Schools can make great contributions:

  1. Different way of teaching
  2. Extra help from adult
  3. Use of technology to make child engaged

Basic Principles for parents:

  1. If your child requires special need, talk to the teacher and make necessary arrangements to meet their broad, well-balanced and relevant education.
  2. Listen to the wishes of your child
  3. Don’t be an observer, indulge your child’s education

Getting Help is Important

Your child’s early years are crucial for their emotional, intellectual, social and physical development. Support can take a lot of forms, which includes:

  • Support from doctors, educational psychologists, and speech or language therapists.  Visits from these specialists can help in providing advice information.
  • Promoting play, communication and language development with the special training of parents.
  • Make it a point to spend more time with your children. Routine check up with doctor is important.

You may also like: 13 Websites Elementary School Teachers Should Follow

Always remember

To maintain a positive attitude: Positive attitude to any problem can create wonders. It’s a genuinely valuable tool.

Avoid Pity: Showing pity for your children is no less than disabling them. Don’t encourage pity.

You Are Not Alone: Parents might feel isolated after the diagnosis of the problem but that’s not the reality. There are many others fighting the same battle.

Find Assistance: Finding assistance for your problems helps you to deal with it better. Even if you belong to an isolated region, you can still find help.

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The use of smart cards began in the 1980s and since then the technology evolved at an exponential pace. Replacing the plastic cards with magnetic strips has provided the latest smart cards with durability of more than 10 years and increased security.
A smart card is nothing but a pocket sized plastic card with an embedded chip that is capable of processing data. Hence it is also called a mini-processor. Initially the contact smart cards were developed, which then gave way for contactless smart cards and now the industry is fast moving to hybrid cards. Smart cards are being commonly used for identification and authentication purposes (Example: Debit cards, credit cards).

Present day smart cards

  •  Earlier, computer data used to be stored in hard disks with the risk of device damage and data theft. With the use of a smart card, all these problems are taken care of, as accessing the smart cards without proper authentication is difficult.
  • At present, smart cards have a contact pad, which when comes in contact with a card reader, initiates data reading and recording. As soon as the contact pad comes in touch with the reader, an electrical connection is established.
  • Smart cards have stirred up massive changes in numerous fields. The most noted are in the school system. It has helped in ushering fluidity and transparency to transactions. Students have been saved from the burden of carrying cash in hand as smart cards are viable alternatives for them. Paying school fees, for canteen food, library books and so on has been made simple with the intervention of smart cards.
  • Smart cards are also widely used in the field of health care and banking. The records of patient or clients can be made and stored for future reference. Patient history or the transactions made by the customers in a bank can also be recorded, thereby avoiding the need for a hard copy.

Future of Smart Cards

  • Contactless smart cards use RFID to communicate with the reader. When in the proximity of the reader, the smart card-reader interface begins which allows data transfer.
  • As said before contactless smart cards are in production and have been accepted globally. But what the future holds is a hybrid smart card, one that combines contact and contactless technology of both the previous smart cards. These cards can serve multiple functions.
  • Biometric smart card shows a promising future as the security is enhanced to a great extent. Though the full potential of this technology has not been understood, research has shown that biometric smart cards are the way to go.
  • As a patient’s medical history can be recorded in a smart card, effort have been made to develop smart cards that stores entire hospital records in just one smart card.
  •  Smart cards of the future are also capable of providing secure logging into the organizational network and secure B2B commerce.
  • It can also be used for storing digital certificates, credentials and passwords and can even support encryption of sensitive data.
  • The most promising uses of smart cards in future seem to be in using it for developing traveller’s ID. This can hold information regarding the person who holds the card, his travel history and all other relevant data. This can be helpful in reducing hours of security check. Business travellers will be most benefitted as they are the ones who travel frequently.

It is clear that the use of smart cards could help in simplifying labour oriented works and helps in massive storage of data. It even doubles the safety when compared to the presently popular swipe cards. Moreover the integration of smart cards, biometrics and the development of hybrids can change the way we look at future of education, medical, banking, travel and many other fields.

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How do you usually recognize school-goers? Of course by their heavy back packs! Though school uniforms are not mandatory in many schools around the world, every school expects their students to carry huge piles of books with them.

Over the years, it has been found out that carrying heavy backpacks can cause major health issues in children. It is a fact that about 14,000 students are treated for injuries related to heavy back packs every year. Most of their complaints include pain in the neck, back and shoulder.

Disadvantages of backpacks

The use of heavy backs packs can affect the students in the following ways:

Major health issues

It has been found out that the use of backpacks over an extended period of time can affect the spine. Students are expected to carry the backpacks to school and on their way back to home. This, in most cases have led to children suffering from pain or numbness on the neck, shoulders and backs and it may sometimes affect the muscles, causing muscle imbalances.

Side effects

While carrying heavy backpacks, the body adapts in such a way that the weight is evenly distributed. This sometimes causes changes in the posture and coordination of a student’s body. Their overall posture or the curve of the body gets distorted due to continuous leaning and it may also lead to muscle imbalance resulting in strain, headaches, neck pain, arm pain and shoulder pain.

Tiredness

An entire school day is enough to make a student tired and having a heavy backpack adds to it. This can lead to health issues in students. To reduce such risks, it is often suggested that the students use backpacks that weigh less than 15% to 20% of their weight.

Though using a backpack with a waist strap or wheels are said to be a solution to the problem, they are not 100% useful.  The best solution one can go for is to embrace technology for educational needs. Replacing the books with tablets or laptops and lessons with school mobile apps not only relieves students off the physical issues but also makes learning more interesting for them.

Advantages of Introducing Technology in Learning

Apart from serving as a solution to health issues caused in students due to heavy backpacks, introducing technology in learning has advantages of its own.

Preparing students for the future

In this era, where everything is digitalized, it is necessary for the students to be exposed to the new developments in technology. A candidate is expected to have computer knowledge while applying for a job and hence, it becomes necessary for the students of today to be digitally literate to face the world tomorrow.

Sharing at your fingertips

How do teachers usually share notes with students? They write it down on the blackboard for the students to copy or dictate them for the students to write it down. But with technology in your hands, you can save the efforts by just sharing the notes via e-mail or through a website. The same method can be used by the students to share notes with each other. You no longer will have to worry about your friend not returning your notes in time.

Real-time performance evaluation

With lots of school mobile apps available, you can analyze the performance of your students real-time. You need not wait for the half-yearly or annual examinations to understand the potential of your students. This can help you in identifying the areas each of your students need support in and help them improve.

No more parent-teacher meeting chaos

Report cards and parent-teacher meeting can give you jitters, if you are a teacher. It takes months of efforts to evaluate mark sheets and to enter them in the report cards. The worst part is you have to meet every parent and give details of their child’s performance in school. It’s easier with technology though. There are various school mobile apps available with which you can assess your student’s performances. You can also send the reports to the parents instantly.

Learning becomes interesting

Learning goes the fun way with laptops and tablets replacing books and school mobile apps replacing lessons.  Most of the school mobile apps are in the form of games and students tend to enjoy while getting to learn new things for them. Also, you can award them virtually for their performances. This can motivate the students to have a healthy competition and to perform better.

Save money and time

Do you know that an average of $5 billion dollars is spent by students all over the world combined every year just for purchasing textbooks? Imagine how much money you can save just by opting for technology. You need not spend money on books, stationary items or lab equipments. By embracing technology, you are also benefitting the nature. Yes! You can save up to 2400 trees per day by going paperless.

Update syllabi annually

None of the education boards bother to update their syllabi every year and the reason? Doing it manually may take another year or more. This can affect the students as they miss the opportunity to know about the latest developments made in every field. But with technology, it is possible to update the syllabus on a daily basis and you no longer have to worry about having to buy new textbooks every year.

Go Global

Education through technology helps the students to learn beyond what is mentioned in the textbooks. They get an opportunity to connect to external educators, as well, thus helping them to expand their knowledge.

All these points prove how technology can benefit a student physically, mentally and socially. Also, opting for technology can make learning interesting for the students. Most of the schools around the globe have already adopted technology in learning. If you haven’t, it’s time you give a better learning experience to your students.

Apart from school mobile apps that aid teaching, there are numerous other applications and software available in the market that can help in the overall management of a school. GPS Vehicle Tracking System, RFID Student Tracking System, RFID School Management System, Time table Management Software, Parent Portal, School work force management system, Smart card solution for schools & colleges by Edsys, a company that offers educational solutions are some examples.

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My colleague was furious. He was swearing at the school representative over his cell phone. As I was looking at his actions with mild amusement, he slammed his phone on the work desk and kept muttering.

He saw I was looking at him, and told me, “The idiots at my kids’ school are saying they won’t be able to provide school bus service for today evening.” He paused for a moment and continued, “Now I am supposed to find someone to pick my child up in the 11th hour. And these guys say they are quality education service providers.”

The guy was fuming. It must be a serious issue. He went on, ranting at the school authorities. “It’s not like these people provide awesome education either.”

This incident forced me to think.

Do all these issues with school bus, canteens, library, etc count as part of an education institution’s quality or is it just the standard of the education provided that is counted as the criterion?

My mind, instead of answering this question, gave rise to several new questions, the most important being –

“who defines and sets the criteria for an education institution’s quality benchmark?”

Yes, obviously there are authorities who provide rankings for schools so that it is easy for parents to choose the better equipped or higher quality schools.

But if a school wanted to improve its quality, it won’t happen overnight. There should be proper planning with dedicated resources who work to improve the school’s standard.

So, what do you mean when you say standard or quality?

We can basically divide quality aspects into two –

(i)   Educational aspects –

  • The quality of teaching
  • Laboratory facilities
  • Language excellence
  • Emphasis on value education
  • Language excellence

(ii)  Non-educational aspects

  • Communication with parents
  • Cleanliness
  • Customer service
  • Safety & security
  • Recreational/extracurricular facilities
  • Working conditions and management of faculty

These would be the basic aspects to consider if an institution were to improve its quality by itself.

But who defines, judges and ensures the quality of education in schools?

Over the years, efforts have been made to answer this question, but in vain. To make judgments about the educational quality on students, educational program evaluations, students’ achievement tests, competency tests, teachers’ performance assessment etc can be done. However, an effective machinery to judge and define the quality standards in Indian schools is non-existent!

It is the duty of Human Resource Department to define roles for the existing responsibilities. The HR department should set who defines and who measures quality in an institution. But curiously, the HR department itself is auspicious by their absence in Indian schools.

Does it matter?

Does it really matter if Institutions strive for internal quality improvement or not? Most certainly, yes!

Unless a school strives to improve itself in both educational and non-educational factors, the reputation of the school gets affected gradually. And that is never a good thing in the hugely competitive education sector.

The absence of HR department in Indian schools might be attributed to it being viewed as an additional expense. But, is there an alternative method that can provide the benefits of an HR department while being pocket-friendly?

Technology might have an answer. Subscribe to our newsletter and stay tuned for further discussions.

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Aimed at providing valuable feedback to organizations, The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA), Dubai has completed its annual survey, which was carried out among 70000 principals, teachers, students and their parents from private schools in Dubai. This survey is expected to be beneficial in guiding community-building activities and informing education policies.

The survey comes in handy to choose feasible solutions for numerous problems ranging from parental anxiety over kids’ identity and development to designing stress-busting programs for teachers. In addition to these it aids in building awareness to adopt fun filled educational techniques.

2013 survey feedback help introduce new ideas

The positive impact created by the 2013 survey has made KHDA to send around 220,000 surveys this year. Around 110,000 people, including 67 principals, more than 7500 teachers, 90,000 parents and more than 15000 students have already been issued the first batch of the survey. According to Hind Al Mualla, Chief of Engagement, the feedback from last year’s survey helped KHDA introduce new concepts and ideas. He is also of the belief that Dubai’s education sector will improve significantly in the years to come providing high-quality learning experience for all students.

‘Parent Safaris’

As a result of the KHDA survey, informal meetings such as ‘Parent Safaris’ has been arranged for parents to opine about the educational system in Dubai and to make them aware about the services offered by KHDA. Also, the weekly school visit by KHDA team members facilitate them to meet and talk with principals, teachers and parents.

96% parents happy with the Parent/School contract

The KHDA survey revealed the effectiveness of its Parent/School contract which outlines the rights and responsibilities of students, parents and schools. According to the survey results, 96% of parents agreed that it is essential to have a legally-binding contract between them and the school.

93% students feel safe and secure

The contract makes it mandatory for schools to have an anti-bullying policy and student conduct rules which have been instrumental in lessening inappropriate behavior and instances of bullying. These actually helped schools to deal with bullying incidents and administering safety measures inside the school campus. According to the survey, 80% of students aged 15 and above were happy with the way their schools deal with bullying, 81% are of the view that they are treated fairly in their schools and 93% feel that they are safe and well-looked at the school.

Teachers get enough time to assess students

The teaching practices shared across Dubai’s schools incorporate ideas and articulate values. In the survey, 65% of teachers said that they were provided sufficient time to prepare teaching lessons and assess students. For teachers to manage their workday, sessions on stress management, teacher well-being etc. will be included in the latest What Works events.

Principal’s Playground

To develop the quality of education in Dubai, KHDA established a networking event called the Principal’s Playground for Dubai’s school principals where they can meet regularly and share their ideas. At present, 97% of school principals surveyed were satisfied with the educational system in Dubai.

Initiatives to meet the targets of the UAE National Agenda

In June, 101 principals from across Dubai’s private schools attended a special session to share and discuss about the educational system in Dubai. It was meant to figure out new ways in which schools can work together to achieve the education targets of the UAE National Agenda for 2021.

Posted on by Edsys

We know that GPS technology is finding more and more applications to improve our day to day activities. For example, there are various GPS enabled apps which can be of great help to us such as school bus tracking, parent portal and school mobile app which puts emphasis on the safety of students and allow parents to track their children’s whereabouts. The application of GPS technology is therefore not just limited to specific objectives like finding the right path when we are stuck in a place or searching the nearest restaurant. It can be used for more distinct things that we could ever dream of. Now we will see how GPS influence today’s social networking activities.

1. Helping hands for veterans

How do we make sure that veterans understand they have a peer network they can trust on in a time of need? Today, apps have been created using GPS technology, exclusively for veterans to prevent them from feeling alone and without deep pockets. There are a number of social media apps which can be used by veterans when they move to a new place and are looking for friends, to locate people nearby and to find a health care while traveling. The support network these apps create will help fend off the worst outcomes of loneliness and mental sickness and support veterans in a great way.

2. Follow your friends

Most of us want to follow our friends and dear ones, once they step out of their homes for a cup of coffee, a stroll up the street etc. We see their photos and wonder when they would be returning. For those of us who are connected with the new generation of social networking sites that uses satellite positioning technology, it is now easier as never before to see and monitor our best ones. We can view the location of our friends using GPS tracking apps and get in touch with them through the system.

Also Read: 27 Best GPS Tracking Apps for Android and iOS

3. Let customers find you

If you have a website for your local business, wouldn’t it be immense if prospective customers can easily find your location? This can be made feasible with Geo tagging. You can use this technology to let your customers know precisely where you are. There are plenty of unique ways that Geo tagging can benefit your online presence. If you are a little local business, then you can really benefit by labeling your business in all of your content. You will be able to reach people that are close by, so when they go over your content or website, they can effortlessly find your location!

4. Fun games

Have you ever wondered how you could facilitate kids in learning navigation skills using a compass and following coordinates? If you haven’t, it’s high time you should have known more about fun activities which are specifically designed for assisting children of all ages to play and learn with fun. The GPS enabled fun games allow kids to search or hide items and share their adventures online. It is an exciting way to help children learn about the world around them.

5. Tracking teens’ whereabouts

Teens love to publicize their whereabouts using location services. Many of us think that it is potentially risky for teens to put themselves on the map. But we can help our teens balance the social aspects they want with the safety protections they need with a number of downloadable location apps. Nowadays GPS tracking apps integrate features that cover a wide spectrum of capabilities from simple street directions for social networking safety. These programs help us to track our teens’ whereabouts and give alerts immediately when they arrive at or leave a place.

6. Monitoring people for enhancing security

Did you know? GPS enabled software is aiding governments and security professionals to track individuals via social media posts. Yes, the use of GPS tracking technology supports law enforcers to ensure security and monitor individuals to locations they frequent. Mobile phone calls and social media posts are monitored and linked to CCTV systems to deal with the homeland security thereby bringing security tracking to a new level!

7. Know your customers

GPS tracking technology is now used to track the behavior of customers to improve digital marketing campaigns. You can now collect location based data and a wealth of information regarding your customer’s shopping activity, behavior and preferences of buyers, length of time the customers spend for visiting your website etc. This helps you to improve your insights about the local market & the consuming behavior of your target customers.

8. Share your adventures live!

Share your adventures with others live (or afterwards) as you are doing them! Share it on a map with embedded photos, audio, videos, tweets and other media. You can create a map of your route live and share it with your friends. Each map you create can either be publicly visible to the world or only visible to you – even though you can set a default privacy setting, this can be altered for each map. Using these excellent outdoor GPS apps you can find people and interact with them, meet friends who live on the route, track friends using the map on your phone etc. It is an excellent way of improving your hiking experience!

9. Tracing trivial things

We often have an urge to let others know what we eat, drink and shop. Today a lot of social mapping apps allow us to trace the trivial things of daily life in even more minute detail. These apps are really appealing as it sends real-time recommendations on what to drink, eat and buy once we check into a location. The features of these social mapping apps include:

  • Simple privacy controls
  • Temporary sharing option
  • Parental restrictions
  • Locating family and friends easily

10. Sharing real-time road info

Ever wondered if you could join drivers in your area to share real-time traffic info? Well, now you can know! It would help you to outsmart traffic and improve daily commuting for everyone. Millions of drivers out on the roads jointly work towards a common goal to get everyone the best route to work and back, everyday. A number of social GPS apps help drivers to share real-time road info, including traffic, speed cams, police, accidents and many more with each other.

Advantages

  • Can navigate to the cheapest station on your route, report prices at the pump and save some gas money.
  • Can see other friends who are driving to your destination, when you connect to Facebook.
  • Can coordinate your friends’ arrival times when you pick up or meet up with them.
  • Can get alerts before you approach accidents, police, road hazards, traffic jams, etc. shared by other drivers in real-time.