Google Power

This week Google completed 15 years.

Can you imagine your life today without Google. From the name of a company it has become synonym to the word “Search”. Don’t you often hear the phrase “Let me Google it”.

Or have you heard the term “Google mom”. Actually it means that when you can’t find your stuff in the house, your mom can search (or Google) it for you.

But Google search is not simply typing your search word in the Google bar. There are lots of power features which can help you search the information more accurately instead of returning millions of less relevant results.

Go through this PPT to learn some of these, and Google power yourself :

Google advance features for power searching from Akhlesh Agarwal

10 Learnings from TED 2013 winner Dr. Sugata Mitra

Children learning themselves and teaching each other; unsupervised, self-organized, minimally invasive education; curiosity driven education; role of appreciation in self-motivated learning: these are the keywords that can be heard when you listen to TED 2013 winner Dr. Sugata Mitra and his wish of changing the future of education.

New Delhi, India: Where Dr. Mitra did his Master's and PhD, and also started the famous “Hole in the Wall” experiment while he was working with NIIT. People in New Delhi (various teachers, professors, thinkers, ex-colleagues from NIIT, and other corporates) got an opportunity to talk to him on April 6^th 2013 about his ideas which won him a million dollars in the TED Prize 2013.

Here are some excerpts and learnings:

1.       Power of admiration: Talking about his experiment “The granny cloud”, Sugata explained how a granny is able to encourage the child to try harder by simply admiring and appreciating a child’s little achievements.

2.       Power of collaboration and group learning: Sugata has been working on a concept called Self Organized Learning Environment (SOLE) for quite some time. This involves students being given a big question, and Then they search for the probable answer. If a student works alone, then there are chances that he/she will digress onto something else and lose focus of the main question. But if they are working in groups (3-4 students in a group is the ideal team size), then they collaborate and discuss; and even if they do digress a bit, they will come back to the main problem.

3.       Laggards in one discipline will be good in some other discipline: All children will not have the same interest and aptitude. If a child is not good in science then his natural interest might lie in some other subject. A teacher needs to help the child find his strength and encourage him to achieve goals in that area.

4.       Need to create space for experimentation: All of us agree that the age of rote learning is far gone. Children’s learning is most effective if they learn by experimenting by themselves. The Learning Environment should allow them to search for information, experiment and learn, instead of receiving pre-cooked knowledge from the teacher.

5.       8-12 is the best age to ignite curiosity and inculcate the practice of self learning in children. By the time children reach class 9^th or 10^th, the load of heavy text books and scary exams increase on children. Our education system (he was referring to the Indian education system, which may be very similar to that of other countries) does not give them the time or space to experiment and have fun after 9^th. So 8 to 12 years (approximately the age when they are about to reach class 9^th) is the best time to engage them in finding answers to big questions. Teachers need to promote inquisitiveness and revive curiosity in children.

6.       Engage the child, don’t supervise: to get the best results from children, a teacher needs to engage with them in a non-threatening environment. A child needs to feel comfortable expressing himself and trying things the way he/she wants to. This brings out the best creativity in the child.

7.       Kids love it if they know the topic is relevant and not fake: Sugata gave many examples of topics which were important in the Victorian era, but are not relevant in current times. Children are excited to discuss and learn those things which they feel are relevant to their life. (This I believe is very true, not only for children but to a greater degree in higher education)

8.       Teacher’s role is to encourage and not to teach: Sugata clarified that teachers will always be required and computers may never fully replace teachers, but in the current age where so much of knowledge is available on internet, the role of teachers needs to change in such a way where they encourage and guide children on how to find the solution instead of giving them the solution. This will also be useful for children when they join the modern workforce and will be required to solve problems themselves.

9.       The best of innovations happen when resources are limited: Sugata mentioned that rich schools already have the best resources: iPads for all students, self-sufficient labs and highly qualified teachers. His experiments, however, have been focused on underprivileged children in remote areas, who cannot get computers or good teachers. That is the section towards which the “Hole in the Wall” experiment was targeted.

10.   Peer assessment is more valuable than certification exam: This concept also emphasizes the importance of collaboration over learning alone. If children discuss and collaborate in groups, they actually develop better judgment about each other’s skills than any standard test can assess. The concept is being tried by many MOOCs, not because it is better, but because it is the only way to conduct assessment for a very large number of students. Sugata said that it’s his guess that peer assessment will replace standard written assessments in the future.

Akhlesh Agarwal 

Updates on EdTech and MOOCs

I had posted an introduction to MOOCs and some other presentations from Technology workshops at NIIIT University for faculty earlier (here).

This month in the technology workshop we coverd a little generic perspective on Edtech and MOOCs.

EdTech and MOOC updates from Akhlesh Agarwal

Slide 2: In the definition of Edtech from Wikipedia we can clearly see that EdTech is much more than just eLearning. And it should help improve the way we engage with students.

Slide 3: When I was trying to search some important technologies that are changing the way we teach and learn, then I see that MOOCs are being talked as the most important technology or concept. Further search on MOOCs shows that there is so much Buzz around them. While critics are also saying that they are being overhyped, but still they need a serious consideration by anybody in education world.

Slide 4: A quick look at four of the biggest MOOCs in the world today. If I compare some of the data about these MOOCs from the four month presentation (here), then I see that they have grown with unbelievable speed. E.g. Coursera has become double from 100 to 200+ courses in just 4 months.

Slide 5: The main highlight here is the point in the middle. If students get credit for the courses they have completed on MOOCs it will revolutionize the university education system and will have major financial changes. Some people have started talking about the meta-university concept, that will also gel with the MOOCs phenomena.

Slide 6: The news items that you can find on so many cases of funding from Gates and other foundation also firms up the belief that EdTech is getting serious attention from charity funds as well as venture funds.

Slide 7: In early days of elearning it was being promoted by elearning companies as “Anytime anywhere” learning. But why “pure elearning” never became successful was because too much flexibility resulted in “Never nowhere” Learning. MOOCs like coursera and such are blending the flexibility of elearning with the discipline of classroom learning because students are supposed to complete their study and submit assignments on defined time. This blending is one of the key factors for their success.

Slide 8: And MOOCs have something positive for all stakeholders from students to teachers to MOOC providers to universities who are not offering such MOOCs.

Slide 9: The social impact of these MOOCs is huge because of their Massive reach.

Slide 10: Predictions

Slide 11: Some good links for those educators who are starting with the EdTech.

Slide 12:  :)

Thanks

Akhlesh.agarwal@gmail.com

Why use EdTech tools

Long time back I remember seeing this poster in the library of my office. It said “If the hammer is the only tool you have, you tend to look at each problem as a nail”. I am sure you must have seen or heard this in many places. The point is that if you have more tools than just a hammer; say a screw driver, a drill, a spanner, a saw and so on, then you can be a better handyman than the one who just has a hammer. To further stretch the discussion if you have different sizes of screw drivers including the power screwdriver and same for drill machines etc etc, then you will not only be more effective but also more efficient.

Now lets take the same analogy to educational tools. Traditionally the main tool we have always seen in education is using chalk and blackboard by the teacher, and then a library for self study content for students. That worked quite well when I was in school.

But now as the problems around us are getting more and more complicated, the expectations from the education system are also increasing to handle new complexities, and more importantly bigger scales to teach a much larger set of students. So instead of using just traditional tools of blackboard and physical books, if a teacher can also use a host of edtech tools like powerpoint, videos, simulations, gaming, online quiz and so many other collaboration tools, then that teacher can be LOT more efficient and effective compared to the one who uses just backboard and physical books.

One important thing to note here is that addition of these tools is not replacing the old tools. So a blackboard and physical books will continue to be used in the education process, but usage of new tech tools gets added to the usage of old tools.

Also, while educational technology is providing these tools in the hand of the teacher. It has to be combined with the right pedagogy and training for teacher so that they can decide the right tool for the right problem and take the education delivery to the next scale. 

First step to tech enable your teaching learning processes.

Using digital content projected on a white screen for the class is becoming ubiquitous in most educational institutes now. Typically in K12 schools the multimedia content bundled with the projector and PC is the classroom is supplied by one of the private companies which supply so called “Smart” or “Interactive” content in various subjects for all classes typically from class 5th to class 12th. Subject teachers just “Play” the multimedia content in the classroom.

While ready-made content for higher-education/undergrad level courses is available from some vendors it has not picked up as much as K12. The practice in colleges and universities is that the content is prepared by the faculty member in form a Power-point presentation or PPT as it is popularly called.

Benefits: Using Power-point based digital content does provide several benefits to students as well as teachers.

• Teachers don’t have to write too much on blackboard, as most of the content is pre-written in PPT. It makes the class delivery more efficient where more topics can be covered in given number of lecture hours.
• Teachers can reuse the PPT across sessions, and enhance the PPT on a regular basis.
• Teachers can also merge multimedia objects taken from internet like images, videos etc. this makes the content a lot more effective where students can actually visualize the content for more effective learning.
• If PPT is made available to students then students can focus on understanding the content and listening to the faculty instead of just focusing on copying the content written on blackboard on to their notebooks.

In various research and surveys conducted in this area, it has been observed that students access the content provided by their teachers in the exam preparation period as one of the most important sources of study material.

Challenges in adapting the usage of digital content in classroom.

The investment required in hardware for using digital content is very simple: laptops for all faculty members and projectors in all classrooms. Considering that the cost of hardware is continuously coming down, this is not the biggest challenge for most educational institutes.

The bigger challenge is the change management on how to encourage faculty members to start using the technology and leave the good old practice of writing on the board. While one would think that younger faculty members would be naturally comfortable with using power point and other tools to create content in comparison to older faculty members. The reality is not so straight forward. Several young faculty members who has just completed their PhD may be as averse to using technology as their older counterparts.

Reasons cited by faculty for not using digital content can vary from technical to behavioral to just whimsical. Mostly these can be:

• If I share my content/PPT with students they can send to other college students? I will lose my content power. 
• Some other teacher will copy and start using my content. 
• Oh even the best institutes like IITs, use the blackboard. We don’t need to start using too much of technology. 
• I don’t know how to create and use Power-point. 

The solution for making faculty members comfortable with Power point is a slow and continuous training where they feel excited about the technology and don’t feel intimidated by the complexities of technology. Also it is important that they get recognition for creativity and using their own content. The initiative should be driven by senior management involvement so that the overall attempt to get everybody into using technology is a combination of push and pull effect to get best results.

Tech enable your teaching learning processes: But what processes?

In this age when everything from banking to shopping to purchasing tickets is getting a serious dose of technology, many Higher educational institutes are still using the same century old teaching learning methods. A professor comes in the classroom and delivers lecture. The lecture is accompanied by lot of writing on blackboard (or whiteboard these days). In between he/she gives some quizzes or assignments to students. Students submit their answers, on sheets of paper, and after a few days receive their marks. 

Though the method of study by students has undergone major changes. When you go to any college or university, you will find very few students in the library, queuing for issuing or returning books. This is because a lot of study material in form of scanned books or eBooks is downloaded on their laptops from various legal or illegal sites. Copyright issues in this digital age are a separate complexity in itself which we will discuss in future. 

In the K-12 schools, adaptation of technology tools has moved a little faster because of various products being pushed from companies like Educomp, NIIT, Everonn and so on. But in Hi Ed, the status is quite different. This is because professors in colleges and universities typically are used to bigger freedom for topics coverage, reference books and teaching styles. They do not like to use a readymade digital content made by some company. Many senior professors enjoy a celebrity status because they teach their subject with their own style and their own content. 

We all agree that usage of right technology increases efficiency and effectiveness of anything that we do. So it should be possible to apply technology to teching learning processes in our educational institutes. We can broadly categorize teaching learning processes in any institute in following 5 areas: 

1. Lecture by teacher.
2. Self study content like books.
3. Collaboration between teacher and students or with peer students.
4. Hands on practice using machines or equipment in lab.
5. Evaluation of student using different forms of quizzes, assignments and exams.

As you can see in the graphic below, Technology enabled tools can provide alternatives for all traditional processes. But nobody would recommend that any institute should start using all new technology processes and stop use of traditional processes.

While technology tools are a necessity to deliver elearning or distance learning facility for students. A blended approach of traditional methods mixed with technology tools is the best dose recommended for institutes running courses in physical classrooms.

The right blend of the two set of processes depends on many factors which need to be studies for the institute. Any such initiative also needs to be assisted with change management to orient faculty members to use technology in their teaching process. Technology training is an ongoing activity to make faculty members comfortable in using technology.

MOOCs are a win-win for everybody

MOOCs are getting more and more attention from everybody;  from students, to educators to universities to researchers. And they are becoming bigger and bigger.
Why? because they are beneficial to everybody:

And that is why there are interesting articles like this:


Nothing-can-stop-it
and

25-tips-for-a-better-mooc-experience