The State of Sourcing

When Kapil Sibal first started to make news with efforts to bring education to the forefront, he took pretty much every one by surprise. Hardly does education grab front page headlines in the newspapers. With 44 Universities set to lose their deemed status,  it is the status of more than 1 lakh students that is at stake now. Will they manage to pressurize the government into not doing anything? National Knowledge Commission and the Prof Yashpal-led Committee to Advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education have both recommended that ‘deemed to be university’ system be scrapped.

Considering that the repercussions of any university not functioning properly will be borne by the student community, its extremely important that their interests be held paramount. With universities running in 2-3 rooms, it is obvious that deemed university is a tag that many use for dubious purposes. The UGC has also added to the woes by providing the deemed university status to as many as 36 institutes in the last 5 years. Deemed is the now ‘doomed’… do you think?

Continue reading ‘'Deemed' – Not fit’ »

This is an oft repeated and clichéd way to refer appearing for and clearing the CAT exams. This time around it was more like ‘belling the ‘clawed’ CAT, where claws = online.

Assessments for admissions to some of India’s most prestigious management institutes, including the Indian Institute of Managements (IIMs) was mired in a controversy. As the exams moved online, problems hit from day one. Students complained of technical glitches that ranged from passwords not being accepted to screens going blank. Authorities were unavailable to help, and as usual, passed the buck, and as a result, many students are likely to lose out on a year.

I believe it would have been a bigger shock, had all of this passed without a hitch. This is of course not to say that these errors are acceptable. Students completely rely on this to chart the future course of their lives.

Continue reading ‘Belling the CAT-2009’ »

The failure of IGNOU’s online engineering entrance test made headlines. The reasons cited include sabotage by someone who was not given the contract (which I hope is not the case, way too easy!!), too many people logging onto the website at the designated time (shouldn’t this be anticipated), among others. Of course, we will know the truth once the Delhi Police cyber security cell completes its investigation.

For a university that has presence in over 34 countries, and caters to 1.8 million students, it is imperative to gradually adopt e-learning in a big way.  And online tests form a major part of it. Equally important is that it gets everything right, as issues like this really undermine the efforts and the people associated. Especially in developing countries which have only in the last few years considered experimenting with online learning alternatives, instances such as these serve as less than desirable examples, and might deter institutions from venturing online.

Continue reading ‘Online tests the way forward?’ »

The HRD ministry in India set up a 12-member ’round table on legal education’ this August, and with it, hopes to evolve a brand new approach to legal education in the country, in line with international standards. Among other issues such as encouraging the element of research, the board will recommend ways to improve curriculum design and delivery as well as current examination systems. As TOI reported, jurist N R Madhava Menon, a member of the round table commented, “The current pedagogy of lecture method does not impart skills to train a lawyer. Lawyers need skills for negotiations, intervention and other things that is needed internationally…”

This brings us to the question of how technology, ICT and yes, e-learning could be incorporated to enhance the system’s ‘curriculum design, delivery as well as the examination methods’. There has been little progress in bringing e-learning into the picture in law schools in the country. Fact of the matter is, even internationally, several renowned institutes have been experimenting with various technologies that would improve law students’ learning experiences. To illustrate, the Oxford Institute of Legal Practice has been using Moodle (an open source, self-service course management system) to introduce a range of e-learning elements such as webcasts, podcasts, chatting, MCQs, interactive materials, and of most importance to law schools, portfolios (to train lawyers and as a means of compiling evidence of post-qualification continuing professional development). Some of these functions worked, some didn’t and some are still being researched for future applicability to law students. What’s important is that a lot of investments  are being made (even by government bodies  such as the UK’s UKCLE) to test the boundaries for e-learning in the legal education context. Take a look at this presentation of an experiment by Glasgow Caledonian University in using SecondLife (a 3D virtual world) as a platform for enhancing students’ learning experiences!

Continue reading ‘L'e'gal makeover’ »

Over the last month, I’ve noticed two conflicting pieces of news in the learning sphere– while one e-learning network gets taken down in the US (Utah e-learning consortium), another one springs up in Canada (elearnnetwork.ca, Ontario).

Members from the Utah System of Higher Education state that massive budget cuts did not allow them to continue with hosting the network. Also, low response rates were an issue (only 200 students)…maybe the market wasn’t as big as estimated, one source commented. The network in Utah was aimed at helping rural students enroll in courses from multiple universities in the state.

Continue reading ‘Distance learning a “gimmick” for educational institutes?’ »