Category: Education

A projector can be mounted anywhere in the school and benefits such as lightweight screens re safer than very heavy plasma TVs. A projector can be linked into the computer and hence lessons and training can be delivered repeatedly and also added to and improved upon as the content develops.

Rear projection is a fabulous concept in many schools. When the school hall is used for games, and also assembly, and plays on the stage the rear projection can be a solution which one would never assume unless they were advised. Instead of a projector being mounted in the hall and projected onto the stage or turned by climbing ladders so that it can be used to project at assemblies there is another solution.

A rear screen projector would simply be mounted on the stage ceiling and the images projected from behind onto the screen to the assembly in the hall. Equally it can easily be turned to project scenes onto the stage for plays. A truely versitile solution.

A digital visualiser is am amamzing and surpisingly affordable piece of kit. Any object can be placed onto the visualiser and projected onto any screen. It will also take images from a computer and projoct onto the screen. The picture being displayed can be zoomed in on. The images are so clear and high in quality that if you placed a circuit board onto the visualiser you can zoom in and examine the individual components. This ensures that everyone in the classroom is able to enjoy the learning experience. Like all audio visual systems it links into a computer system where images and text can be saved for future reference.

An interactive whiteboard comprises of literally a white board which is linked to a computer, or a computer network. Files and applications from the computer can be displayed on the whiteboard.

However here is the interactive part. What is displayed on the board can be changed. You can write, draw, and make notes directly onto the whiteboard using either finger or a special pen and your work is then saved onto the computer or laptop, that the white board is connected to. This can be saved for future reference, printed out, or e-mailed.

The benefits of audio visual in education are as follows:

It allows the pupils to learn together or collaboratively regardless of age, gender, or creed.

The display is much bigger than the usual computer or laptop screen and therefore can be easily seen be all members of the learning group

The audio visual systems support a whole range of multimedia from a wide range of sources. Images, videos, podcasts, photographs, sounds can all be used from a range of sources. The sources can include cameras, computer networks, DVD, Moodle platforms, and basically anything that can be digitised.

Learning via audio visual such as interactive whiteboards and visualisers can benefit students who learn from repetition, and need to see material repeated and for students who are absent, for those struggling learners. Brief instructional blocks can be recorded for review by students then they will see the exact presentation that occurred in the classroom with the teacher’s audio input.

The audio visual solution supports repetitive learning including the strategy adopted before examinations.

Lessons can continue over time as it is simple to pick up from where the last class ended.

The education establishment can improve performance of teaching based on the lessons learned and files saved on the audio visual products.

Future lessons can be improved upon regarding content for future pupils. This saves time and costs for the teachers and the establishment itself whether it is a school, college, university or commercial institute.

It is important if you decide to find a supplier that you use a fully trained installer who will be first and foremost fully aware of the health and safety aspects. This includes design, installation and commissioning the system. The system design is crucial as it should be designed around the demands of today but the anticipated needs of tomorrow. It needs to be scalable and from a company is insured qualified and experienced.

With the fast paced life, it has become difficult for everyone to pursue higher education as it involves great amount of time as investment apart from the huge fees the education institutions charge. The most effected ones are the female group as they leave their education mid-way and concentrate completely on raising family. Men, irrespective of situations pursue their education and look out for a prospering career. Online college education is one such opportunity for all those who would like to earn their degree while they earn. Yes, with different colleges offering the opportunity to study online, you can now earn the degree that you always wanted to have without sacrificing your daily activities. An online college classes does not ask for a person to attend classes. All you require is a computer with internet connection. You can then connect to the college through the website they provide with login details. The login details are provided to you once you have enrolled with the college. All the course materials are available to you in the website which you can download and study. All the faculty members are also available for assistance to clear all your doubts as and when you require. There are even chat room sessions where you can contact the faculty directly with different students present asking questions and clearing their doubts. There are many online college education providers who offer you online degree in different streams. You can choose the one among them and start your education. But, before you join any of these colleges, you will have to follow certain guidelines that will help you choose the best online college. The basic and the foremost important thing that you will have to check out is the accredited certificate. Accredited online college offers courses which are certified by the education department and the degree offered by them are valid. The second factor is the establishment year in which it has started as this will offer you complete access to library, faculty members, placement options, chat rooms to discuss subjects, online assignments etc unlike for an upcoming college which slowly develops the system. The best part of the accredited online college degree is that you can complete the course at your own pace and can write the examinations at your convenience.

The last few decades have seen unprecedented growth of the technology industry. Companies, especially multinational companies, are aggressively pursuing dreams of becoming global entities. Coupled with multiple sectors, which were unheard of earlier, are opening up all over the world and employment opportunities are springing up with hundreds of new jobs being created every day. With the growth of all businesses, technology has advanced and brought Internet access to each and every home. Mobile technology as well as broadband is able to keep you connected to the world at all times even while you are traveling to a remote part of the world. What does all this mean for all of us today? It means a whole new world of opportunity has opened up. These days we don’t need to spend twenty-one years of our life dedicated to education alone and miss out on other experiences. Today we can complete high school education and take on a job at any of the Multinational companies at entry levels. Further career growth can come out of completing higher education and acquiring required skill sets. This is where online college education courses come in handy. Instead of spending three to five years pursuing a course at bachelor degree level, you can continue to work and pursue online college education degree course from one of the accredited universities. Further more, one can take up Masters in any subject with the same route of a traditional college degree Online college education helps you complete your education while you continue to earn. It helps you to take up studies at your own pace and from the comfort of your homes. The course contents and syllabus remains the same as any regular course. Lecture notes and assignments can be downloaded online and submitted online. This eliminates the need to attend any practical sessions or workshops. Unlike correspondence courses, online college education degree is an interactive one where a virtual classroom can be set up. Every student is connected to his classmates and can interact with one another on chat. Faculty is available online to help anytime. Worried about finances? Online college education courses are eligible for easy finance schemes and scholarships. You can choose the option that suits you best. The ideal thing would be to check out if your employers have any schemes to sponsor employee education or provide education loans. Many corporations invest in their employees to upgrade their skill sets. Online college education from an accredited institution carries the same value as a normal university degree. Fast track options are available in certain courses enabling you to complete the course in shorter period of time. Many students are known to take up technical courses and pursue side by side their online college education course. No matter which technical diploma or certificate course you take up, basic degrees as a qualification adds value to your resume. You can follow this up with an online MBA degree course at some future point of time and plan a career path on the basis of your qualifications and experience.

Project Managers who aspire to take the PMP exam need to have 35 hours of documented training in the area of project management. However, there is some level of misunderstanding around just how they can achieve this. Many believe they must take specialized and expensive courses, and some are not aware that some of the training and education they already have may qualify. Others think they need to acquire a single 35 hour certificate. Here is a survey of the ways PMP aspirants can satisfy that requirement.

The Requirement
In the Project Management Professional (PMP) Credential Handbook, it states that the candidate must “Document 35 contact hours of project management education.” This requirement applies to all applicants, regardless of degree or project management experience level. So, just what must the candidate do to satisfy those “Contact Hours of Project Management Education”, where at least 35 contact hours of specific instruction addressed learning objectives in project
management?

Documenting Project Management Training and Education
The first step is to document all education hours regardless of when they were accrued. PM education hours for these purposes do not expire and do not need to be within any recent time frame. However, before submitting the application, the course work must already be completed. PMP Prep coursework does qualify, as it is project management oriented, but it would need to occur before the candidate actually submits the application. Note that “one contact hour is equivalent to one actual hour (60 minutes) of training or instruction received”, as per the PMI.

After documenting all hours, PMP candidates need “classify” content of the courses according to the PMBOK knowledge areas, including project quality, project scope, project schedule, project budget, project communications, project risk, project procurement, and project integration management. If all hours add up to 35 or more, the candidate has already satisfied the requirements. In many cases, the candidate will have either no hours or less than 35 hours of PM training, and they will need to fill that gap with additional project management training.

What Qualifies?
These educational requirements can be met by demonstrating the successful completion of courses, workshops, and training sessions offered by one or more of the following types of education providers:

A. PMI Registered Education Providers (R.E.P.s) – Pre-approved courses offered by PMI R.E.P.s. These can be classroom instruction, live instructor-lead training online, or pure online packaged courses that are available 24×7.

B. PMI Component organizations – PMI chapters, specific interest groups, colleges, or the PMI.

C. Employer/company-sponsored programs – as long as content can be logically mapped to the knowledge areas.

D. Training companies or consultants – as long as content can be logically mapped to the knowledge areas.

E. Distance-learning companies, including an end-of-course assessment – can include live instructor-lead training online, or pure online packaged courses that are available 24×7, as long as content can be logically mapped to the knowledge areas.

F. University/college academic and continuing education programs, as long as content can be logically mapped to the knowledge areas.

Note that one hour of classroom instruction equals one contact hour. Non-classroom instruction, such as online training, also must comply with the rule that one hour of classroom instruction equals one contact hour. Project Management podcasts can also satisfy all or a portion of the requirement. The important thing is to be able to provide complete and authoritative documentation of the training and education, such as certificates, tests, syllabus, course descriptions, and transcript to properly support your claim.

Here are some scenarios of what should qualify:

1. Completion of a 15 week university or college course on project management that met for three hours per week would qualify for 45 contact hours.

2. Completion of a university or college course that was approximately 50% on the subject of project management that met for two hours per week for 15 weeks would qualify for 50% x 30 contact hours, or 15 contact hours. The additional 20 contact hours could be earned with an 8 hour REP classroom training, and 12 hours of REP 24×7 online training.

3. Completion of a single REP classroom or online, 24×7 set of courses that add up to 35 hours or more.

4. Completion of some combination non-REP classroom project management training, live instructor-lead online project management training, online 24×7 project management training courses, or project management podcasts, as long as they are clearly documentable.

What does not satisfy the PMP Educational Requirements?
The following do not satisfy the education requirements:

1. PMI chapter meetings, unless spent conducting a learning activity

2. Self-study (e.g., reading books)

3. Degree program, such as MBA, in its entirety, but many of the classes within the program will apply and must be documented individually

Conclusion
There are many ways to satisfy the PMI requirement of 35 hours of project management training. Any training must be in the areas of project quality, project scope, project schedule, project budget, project communications, project risk, project procurement, and project integration management. The PMI rule is that one hour of training equals one of these contact hours. Applicants must be able to clearly document the training with proper proof. The final authority is the PMI, and the authoritative document is the Project Management Professional (PMP) Credential Handbook, which can be found at http://www.pmi.org/PDF/pdc_pmphandbook.pdf. Applicants should contact the PMI directly with any questions or concerns.

We all know how important money is in putting up a business. This is also true when it comes to schools. The structure of the schools building and the salaries of the instructors are just some of the things that one will have to worry about when financing an educational institution. In addition, you can use the cash that you have earned to further improve your organization. Now, when managing he budget of your institution especially for the colleges and universities, you can get help when you use the balanced scorecard in higher education.

When utilizing the balanced scorecard in higher education, you will need to perform three actions in order for you to maximize its capacities. The first thing that you have to do is to establish the goals that you would like to achieve or set our focus. Ask yourself: what it is that you want to attain in few years time or what would you like your organization to become after two years or so? These questions will lead you to determining your main focus in governing the institution.

Most superiors would like to gain increase in the numbers of students who graduate from their school each year while others want to focus on the growth in scholarships that they fund with private money. There are also others that target the decrease in financial obligations within most of the campuses. Whatever your goals are, you should be able to clearly define them so that you can determine how you can achieve them.

The next step is to provide a strategic plan that contains the actions that you need to perform in order to complete the goals. For instance, if your main objective is to be able to be able to encourage more students to study at your campus, you should be able to attract and sustain a high quality education environment for them. Aside from that, there should be a diverse student body that will represent the learners in various campuses in addition to the assurance that the students are provided with satisfying experience in acquiring education.

Lastly, you should be able to monitor the results that are displayed in the college BSC. Bear in mind that the balanced scorecard in higher education is not only for checking the behavior of the students or the finances of your organization but also the faculty members and how well the tasks are performed. Continuous improvement is also one of the goals here even in budget issues. This is because what happens now with the finances of the company can greatly affect what will happen tomorrow. This is why there is what we call the kaizen university which can be used together with the balanced scorecard in higher education.

Latest trends in distance education have changed the view point of many educationists who once considered it to be an ineffective training platform. Today, distance education looks beyond the traditional reference books and course end assessments. In fact, you will find that collaborative learning and interactive environments are integral parts of the teaching-learning pedagogy at leading distance education universities or institutes.

The S M U-DE advantage

When you search the names of top distance learning institutes or universities in India, you will find Sikkim Manipal University Distance Education (SMU-DE) topping the list of most searches. A peek into the SMU-DEs website will give you some startling revelations about the latest trends in distance learning. You will find that SMU-DE has redefined the meaning of distance education and helped thousands of students from every corner of India to get top quality distance education. SMU-DE has leveraged on the latest technological advancements to give the best education to its students. This distance learning university also provides a collaborative and interactive learning platform called EduNxt, which allows students to access a variety of learning resources.

S M U-D E supports learning

Many distance learning institutes provide learning materials to their students. SMU-DE not only provides learning materials, but it also supports learning. This distance learning university has a special student support team that keeps students well informed about the latest advancements and new initiatives of SMU-DE. With over 6,500 committed and qualified mentors, SMU-DE surely has the resources for holistic guidance on the courses. SMU-DE has over 725 Learning Centres in 310 towns, which have sprung up in short time duration.

The distance learning mode doesnt disrupt job continuity and equips working professionals with a professional degree, heading them towards steady career progress. Add to that, through a distance learning course employers get the benefit of using the existing workforce for expanded job-roles, without having to invest on induction and training.

Students on the other hand can seek early entry into the job industry and gain valuable work-experience, while studying in the distance learning mode.
The MBA has become a degree of choice for the talented Indian student. This change can be attributed to the Indian Government’s liberalization of the economic policy and encouragement given to the multinational companies to invest in India. There is a good scope for MBA graduates to occupy positions of prestige and responsibility, with attractive remuneration levels.

Distance learning education in India is no longer supplementary education. Working professionals can now reach out to the degree or diploma of their choice a craving that they would have buried in the past due to several reasons.