Monthly Archives: August 2022

Teaching And Learning History Using Skills Progression

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Teaching and learning history: using skills progression

History teachers pay lip service to learning historical skills. In reality we are either vague about it or what we mean is examination technique, how to write short essays and answer source questions to trigger the mark scheme. Ive always told classes that I have two missions in life. First and most important to make them excellent historians. Second, easier and less important, to get them top grades.

The problem arises because examinations are muddled about what theyre trying to assess. Questions that are supposed to test skill with historical sources in fact depend largely either on memory or on textual analysis. Essays that are supposed to test understanding of cause in fact test the basics of essay structure.

How do you structure good teaching and learning to turn students into historians? You do it by breaking down the skills they need for history and teaching them progressively. Starting on day one, when they arrive in the school at 11 or 13. Its actually quite simple. First they need to understand inference, reading on the surface and beneath, no brain and brain. Second they need to be able to sequence, get things in the right order and understand why it matters. If they can infer and sequence you can teach cause. You can teach long/possible, short/probable and trigger. Later you can teach categories of cause. Then you can combine the two. By now you are beyond whats necessary for GCSE and even A level. I teach all this (and much more) by the time theyre 14.

Once and only once they understand inference, sequence and cause they can examine sources. They read beneath the surface and ask why a source came to be written. It fits into the bigger pattern. Theres much more to be said here for example about why we should not be using primary and secondary any more. But thats for another time.

Now what the history teacher does is to take each of these skills inference, sequence, cause and source and revisits it each year in KS3. Each year you move on, building on what was done before. You find ways to teach topics at the beginning of the school year that concentrate on inference. Of course you will use sources all along, but you will only concentrate exclusively on learning how to use them in topics you study during the spring term. I find I use the summer term to teach other skills, such as using a whole archive of sources, or local history. And of course revision.

Progress the discrete skills through KS3 and you have thinking, articulate historians more than ready to sail through GCSE and A level. Now you can explore examinations syllabuses in depth. You can also teach examination technique without confusing it with being historians. Result.

Current Status Of Distance Learning Education In India

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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.

Where learning is fun

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Read the original article here… The under-construction building of Witty International School located at Malad, Mumbai, treads the progressive path of knowledge sharing via a fluid design sensibility-

Copy: The project was challenging right from the word -go’ because Shailesh Veera and Meetali Kamath Nerurkar from Spirit Architecture & Interiors had to design two levels within the basement area.

-We proposed a strong design to mollify the lack of natural light and ventilation,- informs Shailesh. Working with a visionary like Dr. Vinay Jain, the client, Shailesh also had to rise up to his client’s ambitious plans of setting a benchmark for Indian school design.

Inspired by fiction and fantasy films like Avataar and Journey to the Center of the Earth, discovering -worlds within worlds’ became the pivot around which lateral and corollary ideas emerged.

For example, the library becomes the epicenter for fluidity in design, where a waterfall surrounding a double height column, asymmetrical ceiling patterns and lighting etc, takes the theme forward; metaphorically, so does the flow of information, transparency, sharing, adjusting etc.

With a variegated material palette such as Bottichino Italian marble; vitrified and vinyl tiles; carpets; digitally printed wall and door panels; acrylic solid surfaces, painted spaces; laminates; embossed acrylic words and quotes; glass films on railing etc. – there is a huge diversity that adds on elements of the unconventional.

Shailesh has cleverly managed to weave in sustainability through diverse spaces/elements by doubling up their original function thereby making them a potential tool for education. For instance, columns form a backdrop for a waterfall or become an in-your-face vehicle for informative 3D posters; a glass railing educates through the -Great Indian Timeline’ graphic; multi-coloured Olympic rings used as a lighting feature herald a subtle message on winning, thus inviting students to explore new perspectives on learning.

Even though only the 8th to 12th standard is functional at present as the entire school is yet-to-be constructed, the design manages to evoke curiosity among the student fraternity. And yes, it does rise up to its intent of progressive building design.

Ways Parents can Promote Learning

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As a parent, you serve multiple roles – chauffeur, housekeeper, breadwinner, counselor, role model. When it comes to your child’s education, you may wonder what you can do to promote learning- especially if you don’t feel confident in all subject areas. However, you don’t need a degree in education to enhance your child’s educational experience. With these simple ideas, you can make a positive contribution by creating a supportive structure and environment for him/her to allow for optimum learning:

1. Build your child’s frustration tolerance level: Children who persevere learn how to be resilient in the classroom: a -can-do- attitude goes a long way when being asked to solve a challenging math problem, complete a complicated science lab, or write a term paper. At home, you can foster the ability to persist in the face of adversity by not always stepping in at the first signs of discomfort. Encouraging your child with supportive comments such as, -I know you can do this,- or -I have confidence that you can figure this out,- allows your child to grapple with the situation and problem-solve in new ways to come up with solutions. Of course, if your child is having a complete meltdown, you may need to step in – but only to provide just enough support to get him/her back into a frame of mind to tackle the problem. Once your child weathers the -storm-, he or she will feel empowered and develop a sense of efficacy that would not occur if someone else instantly came to the rescue.

2. Be a stress reducer: Even as you help build your child’s frustration tolerance, you also don’t want to be a constant creator of frustrating scenarios. There is a delicate balance, and your role also needs be that of a listener – one who is supportive and empathetic about your child’s feelings. Really listen to your son or daughter, and don’t accept -fine- as the answer to the question, -How was your day?- Without being a nag, probe a bit more, and when your child does express sadness, anxiety, or anger, be there for your child. This doesn’t mean that you enable him or her and try to make the problems disappear, though: sometimes simply allowing your child to vent is enough. At other times, you can collaborate and devise a game plan to tackle a challenging situation. And in extreme cases, you may need to advocate for your child (for example, if your child is being bullied).

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Using Digital Age To Unlock Learning

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Most of the time we are evaluating teachers and professors and are judging their ways of teaching to get answers regarding the performance of teachers. But the question is that whether this is the right approach? Is evaluating teacher’s performance the right way to judge educational standard?

No, in doing so we ignoring one major participant, students, they are the major part of the evaluation and they need to be assessed as well with the evaluation of the teacher. Evaluating any one person is not justifiable because both have to be judged to have a fair evaluation. So once decided that students learning is the key to the evaluation, how can we enhance this learning with the help of technology.

The role of technology, internet, has been immense when comes to learning. Internet provides the link between world of knowledge and students. There is a pool of information on internet in the form of web, and anyone can access it if they have computer and internet. Many organizations such as CFY provide computers to households that have children in 6 grade and above. In addition to this to further facilitate students and their parents , as this technology is comparatively new to both the young and old generations , the organization CFY has this programmed named Power My Learning. In this program students and parents are given web based training so that they can make use of the web and the information it hold. This is a very strong step towards not only strengthening the basics of students and making parents familiar with the new technology but also making students familiar with the searching skills. This training is useful when later in college or university life you are given course work that requires detail research. When students don’t have strong searching skills then they tend to suffer and usually are seeking help from coursework writing service since they are not able to do the research on their own.

Digital age provided many platform of learning for students, such as there are many social platforms that provide students with the technology to improve their learning. One such learning is pinterest, which provides a digital board to both students and teachers, where they can post material from web and can discuss that. This is one form of learning, sometimes students find other forms of learning such as visual to be more attractive and easy to learn. You tube provides many such videos where digital age is being used to unlock learning. This form of learning increases student’s attention and make it easier for the teachers to make students learn things and concepts.