Category: News

Millions of Indians are mourning the demise of beloved former President, Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam. Did you know that United Nations Organization (U.N.O) had declared his birthday (October 15^th) as “World Students Day“. It was back in 2010 that United Nations had decided to honour this great man.

[Read: Google Bids Farewell to APJ]

It is an honour that the man rightly deserves. He wasn’t just the people’s president, but an inspirational personality who also was a teacher, scientist, author, professor and policy-maker [Read: Indian Education Framework Needs to Change Completely: Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam]. Despite having such great qualities, the most endearing feature of his personality was his simplicity.

Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam was born on 15 October 1931 in Rameshwaram, Madras Presidency, British India.  He worked with DRDO and ISRO as an aeronautical engineer. Famously known as Missile Man of India,  Dr.APJ Abdul Kalam  played major role in India’s Ballistic Missiles development. He also played a vital part in the 1998 when India tested its nuclear weapons. From 2002 to 2007, he served term as the 11^th President of India.

This gem of a man has also authored numerous books, the most popular of them being Wings of Fire, India 2020 and Ignited Minds.

Besides these roles, he was an inspiration to students and youth of the country. Perhaps rightly, his last conscious moments was spent in front of students at IIM Shillong. His was a life largely spent learning and teaching. United Nations Organization (U.N.O) couldn’t have honoured the great man in a better way. During his lifetime, the Indian government had honoured him with the Padma Bhushan in 1981, the Padma Vibhushan in 1990 and the Bharat Ratna in 1997 for his work with ISRO and DRDO and his role as a scientific advisor to the Indian government.

KHDA, Knowledge and Human Development Authority, a government of Dubai undertaking has now reiterated the importance of Parent-Teacher Communication for the growth and development of students.

School is the second home of children, majority of their day is spent at the school. But, it is a fact that not all children belong to the same circumstances. Some students might have problems at home that school teachers may not be aware of. These problems can easily affect the studies of students.

KHDA

The responsibility of regular private school inspections in Dubai is upon KHDA, which is authorised by the government of Dubai. Ratings are allotted to the schools considering various factors. KHDA is a third party that stands between parents and schools but aims only in the development of education. Weekly school visits are conducted to identify areas for improvement.

KHDA always encourages concepts that can change education and schools for the better. The importance of powerful parent-teacher relationships are not ignored by the organization as well. KHDA finds it really important to maintain a healthy relationship between the parents and the teacher for the steady development of a student.

RFID student tracking system provides security for children from any external harm, while Timetable Management System ensures better service for teachers. But what makes education worth it? No doubt, it is a good teacher who can understand the needs of her children.

Importance of Parent-Teacher Communication

Productive communication helps to understand situations better. Problem solving is possible with appropriate communication. Students can boost themselves if there is strong and powerful communication between parents and teachers. Communication throughout the academic year serves encouragement and support for the students. It allows parents, teachers and students to work together for development and success.

Parents can provide guidelines to the teachers regarding the strengths and weaknesses of their children and the best way to approach them for teaching.  Students whose parents actively and without fail participates in the education of their children, tend to perform much better and maintains a better attitude towards school and its environment.

Here are some tips to help teachers establish a healthy partnership with parents in order to support students in a better way.

Tips for Effective Parent and Teacher Communication

• Rather than the explaining the inappropriate behaviour of the student, concentrate more on sending a note home saying how the day of the child went
• Don’t send junk mail to the parent. The message must be clear with personal note. Highlighting the important part can save the time of the parents
• Not all parents of the students are well educated. Teachers must maintain a simple and familiar language while communicating to the parents.
• Parents and teachers can wish each other personally while dropping or picking up children
• At least once in every semester, teacher must contact parents
• Parent- teacher meetings can encourage the relationship between them
• There  must be allotted time for each parent during parents- teachers meeting
• Parents must be updated about the child’s daily activities and progress
• If child is disturbed by any personal problems, teachers must be informed as soon as possible
• Observe children in the class and do not fail to contact the parent if there is any character disorder in the child
• Teachers should always remain flexible, adjusting to new ideas and strategies
• Parents should be made comfortable during the meetings. The duration of the meeting must be reported early to the parents
• Start the beginning and end of the academic year sharing something positive about the student
• Working together to solve the problems of children is the most effective way of solving them
• Parents should respond to the notes of the children
• Manage the academic year with Timetable Management Software that can helps teachers to concentrate more on students

Ways in which teachers can stay connected with the parents of their students

1. Newsletters for parents
2. Open house at the end of every month
3. Curriculum gathering
4. Home visits (if possible)
5. Phone calls
6. E-mails
7. Special day celebrations  (Parents day, children’s day etc)
8. PTA meetings
9. Websites for school
10. Special workshop for parents
11. Parent Portal

Testimonies of teachers who maintains a very healthy relationship with the parents;

“I was so hesitant to call John’s (my grade 5 student) parent. But the call had amazing effects on John later. It was great. His parents thanked me for calling them and solving John’s problem at class which was his fear for teachers. The method is really effective” – Miss Grace (Teacher, Grade 5)

 “I would say the most effect way of educating is only possible after knowing how they should be educated. Having a healthy relation with is the most effective way according to me and I strongly recommend the same” – Miss Alice (Teacher, Grade 8)

 “To know the child inside out should be the first task of a good teacher, educating is the next”- Mrs Beatrix (Teacher, Grade 7)

 Also Read : 21 Meditation Apps to Relieve Stress in Students

If you think the only application of GPS apps are the ones that offer basic driving directions and similar uses, think again. For example, application of real time GPS in school bus tracking and parent portal drives operational efficiencies and allows parents to track personalized information about their children. GPS technology is now in everything from cell phones to shipping containers, boosting productivity across a wide swath of economy including construction, mining, farming, etc. Now, let’s have a look at some GPS applications which will surprise you.

Tractors plow the field

We often buy nuts, berries, vegetables, fruits etc from the grocery shops frequently, but we usually never think about the difficulties farmers face in growing these crops. Driving a tractor is a complex operation unlike driving a car. It’s a tiresome job where you need to watch your gauges and tires, listen to the engine etc. But GPS enabled self-steering tractors make it easy for farmers to plow the field in ideal rows, day or night all by itself. Using satellite signals for guidance the tractor could assist farmers in easing the monotony of endless plowing. It’s such a wonderful thing to help farmers boost efficiency.

Wildlife/pet tracking

Many of us use GPS to track and find our friends or family, prevent getting lost and reach our final destination when on a journey. The effectiveness of parent portal and school bus tracking devices, for instance compel parents to rely more on GPS tracking technology nowadays. For them, it’s replaced maps as the simplest way to navigate, but it is not just helpful for mapping and tracking – GPS is now being used to understand the movement and behavior of different groups of animals.

• A radio receiver is placed on an animal to pick up signals from special satellites.
• The receiver calculates the location and movement of the animal and sent the data to another set of satellites which then sends the data to the people.

So if you have ever wondered why your pet cat often sneaks into your neighbor’s home or why sheep move to the center of a flock when threatened by a predator or why cattle often graze in a particular manner in their local area, you can now find all the details regarding these using this technology.

Catching criminals

We often hear stories of policemen who encounter dangerous situations while chasing culprits who escape in cars after committing severe offenses. However, with GPS Tracking bullets, police can put a stop to high-speed car chases. GPS tracking bullets increase the likelihood of catching the culprit who is fleeing in a vehicle as well as stop potentially deadly vehicle accidents.

How it works?

GPS tracker in bullets is attached to vehicles so that the speed and location of the vehicle can be monitored from a remote location. Police use a real-time map of the vehicle to track it and chase the vehicle using the GPS location data. They wait patiently to see where the trail takes them, thereby avoiding dangerous high-speed chases and increasing the possibility of catching the criminals once they slow down the vehicle.

It’s a high-tech solution to hamper an old-fashioned escape.

Tracking football players’ performance

There are several football players who even after putting their best efforts encounter disappointments and fail to correct their mistakes while playing the game. There are situations where the coach tries to monitor the performance of the player accurately but in vain. Well, no more chaos. It’s now easier than ever to track and monitor the performance of football players using GPS tracking technology.

Benefits

• Provides an enormous amount of information, including the speed, distance and dynamics of a player during a game.
• Helps coaches in monitoring the players, thereby helping them to take relevant measures to build up the overall performance of the team.
• Reflects a great percentage of the competitiveness of football players on the field.

Preventing vehicle theft

Your vehicle is precious to you. That goes without saying – its your hard earned money. Whether it’s the vehicle itself or the valuables within it, your vehicle is as much an aim for thieves as it ever was. Statistics show that nearly 36,000 vehicles, which amount to Rs.115 crore, are stolen in India every year. This means that your vehicle and its contents are not as safe as you might think. So how do you keep your vehicle from getting stolen? By employing GPS tracking devices! It can prevent attempts at theft.

GPS tracking devices will alert you the minute your vehicle is stolen and you can track it in real time on a map, with your phone or computer .You can track every movement of your vehicle, its speed, location and the history of the vehicle traveled so far at any point of time. It can share data about the journey, as well as alert dear ones in case of a crash. So no more worries! Protect your vehicle, and increase your chances of recovering your vehicle if it is stolen.

Safe hiking

Hiking is a healthy, affordable and fun activity that is open to anyone. We all can get the most out of a hiking trip and it can be one vacation that we remember years down the road and tell our friends about. However, hikes can turn out to be dangerous. Even though you are an experienced hiker, sometimes you might get lost in the wild, whether it’s getting left behind, wandering away from camp, getting injured or trapped etc. In that case, the only perfect way to let others know where you are is through GPS tracking!

There are many GPS Tracking devices that come with long battery life and other related features necessary for a hiking trip. It helps you by showing where you are and finding a way out and broadcasts live signals to other people so that they can find you. So, before your next hiking or camping trip, ensure that you are equipped with a GPS tracker and make your hiking a whole lot safer!

Driverless cars have been a sci-fi lover’s dream for a long time. There is something inherently cool with the idea of travelling in a driverless car. When Google finally made self driving cars a reality, their design was completely different from the kind we see in Hollywood sci-fi movies. Maybe due to this, these cars did not evoke a positive response from the public. However, the Internet giant used the cars for collecting data for its street view maps.

Slowly, more and more people became impressed with Google’s effort. As of April 2014, the team of Google’s self driving cars has covered close to 700,000 autonomous miles (1.1 million km) in open road. Most of this has been in California where Google has created a virtual road map for its cars. Despite that it is an impressive feat.

The Secret of Google’s Self Driving Cars

So, what is the technology that made Google’s autonomous cars possible? The answer is around us. Most of the technology is already in cars that are on the road such as automatic breaking and parallel parking seen in some of the latest model cars. Some cars even have advanced cruise control that helps to keep the car inside the lane mark. The technology behind Google’s self driving cars when viewed individually is more evolutionary than revolutionary.

An assortment of sensors is used to generate a map of the surrounding area and compare it with the map in Google’s database. By doing this, the car is able to understand the original path and identify the new objects (people, other vehicles and more) for easier navigation. The major or most interesting among the eight different sensors used in these self driving cars is named Lidar. It is a rotating sensor placed at the roof top which helps build 3D maps at a distance of 200m continuously by the use of 32/64 lasers. The car also has a set up that monitors other motorists and pedestrians using a standard camera.

Role of GPS Technology

You might be familiar with GPS technology which helps in geo-location in your smartphone. A more sophisticated version of the same used in Google’s autonomous cars. GPS technology is quite popular as it is used in several applications such as vehicle tracking systems and school bus tracking systems apart from smart devices. In Google’s cars, a GPS aerial is mounted at the rear for location information. But these cars also feature gyroscopes, altimeters and a tachometer in them to avoid even a minute miscalculation of cars’ positions.

Mishaps

Despite the technology involved, there has been couple of accidents that involved the search giant’s driverless cars. The first one occurred back in 2011 near the company’s headquarters in California. Another time, a self driving car from the Google stable was rear ended at a traffic light. But Google clarified that both the cars were being driven manually when the incidents occurred.

Commercialization and recent developments

Google doesn’t have plans to commercialize driverless cars immediately. But there have been some recent developments such as Nevada becoming the first US district to make autonomous cars legal and UK allowing driverless cars in its roads from 2015. These might prompt Google to bring the autonomous cars on the roads faster than expected.

Recently it was confirmed that Google’s self driving cars are designed to exceed the speed limit by almost 10 Kms/hr in order to keep up with other cars if they exceed the speed limit. Thus it’s pretty clear that these cars are very close to being commercialized. Also, Google recently announced plans for 100 self-driving car prototypes

Hurdles faced by Driverless cars

But there are some hurdles that Google and other promoters of the technology need to tackle before full commercialization. One is the legal implications and the other is the general public’s attitude towards cars without drivers.

It might even take a generation before people become comfortable with the idea of travelling in cars that have no drivers. While the time frame is uncertain, most developed nations are sure about one thing – that autonomous vehicles are the future.

Facts about Google’s Self Driving Car Prototypes

• They run 100% on electricity. Talk about a greener future!
• When fully charged, these cars will be able to run for 100 miles
• You can use your smart phone to summon these cars
• It is not confirmed at the moment, but these cars may not have pedals and steering wheels
• Google’s Self Driving prototypes use a complex mechanism which uses radars, lasers and sensors other than GPS systems for navigation
• These cars won’t be manufactured commercially. Google would probably partner with a car manufacturer to bring this technology to the market
• car crashes are due to driver errors According to experts, driverless cars can reduce the number of accidents that happen on road. Reason? Most reports point out that more than 85% of. So, autonomous cars while unable to completely eliminate crashes; will reduce the rate of accidents drastically.
• If commercialized, driverless cars will lead to a massive rewriting of traffic rules