Unleashing your Inner Creativity

Unleashing your inner creativity from Leona Sharon

Learning the Modern Social way

Education achieves Top Priority for Needs for Innovation in Business

Education deserves credit for all the innovation it brings into an individual’s life. The key to success lies in the hands of education. The business world plays a major role in the global economy and improving the economic scenario of the world. The business leader’s aim was to give a new dimension to education hence they are working on creating new policies that can be implemented in the academic podium.

Lately it was found out that the “GE’s annual Innovation Barometer” was targeting a change and newness in the academic surrounding. Some of the changes that they are working on are as follows:

• Schools and colleges should support industrial culture by tying up with business organisations. This way at the earliest students will get fair ideas about business tactics and will able to implement innovative ideas when working in business firm in the future.

• Another thing that the survey pointed out is the business sector did not have faith in the education system as its rank went down drastically over the last one year, though it was found that the US business professional’s belief in the education system had increased.

• Tech-friendly schools that were introduced recently are supported by the business oriented organisations and companies. For example the “Academy for Software engineering” was established by the support of “Union Square Venture’s Fred Wilson”. Even different other local industries helped in creating these tech schools.

• Schools which are sponsored by the corporate world have their own critic and they feel that students will be more mechanical in their learning and will not give any space to practical learning. They will not use their brain for critical analysis and academic learning will simply be a waste as they will not be able to implement any of it in their life.

• It has also been said that this kind of implementation is not always a success as in the early years this kind of attempt had failed to create any kind of impact in the business firm neither did any good to the educational zone.

GE survey has made all the effort to look into the pros and cons of the relation between business and education. It has indeed taken up all the responsibility to give a new dimension and innovation to the business sector.

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Ethics as a Subject should be Incorporated as an Important part of every Syllabus

Ethics, also known as moral philosophy, is a branch of philosophy that involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong conduct. The term comes from the Greek word ethos, which means "character". Ethics is a complement to Aesthetics in the philosophy field of Axiology. In philosophy, ethics studies the moral behavior in humans, and how one should act.

Ethics and Morals: Timeless and Universal? (Photo credit: stephenccwu)

Michael taught ethics to a group of carpenters at a part time college for certain duration. When his wife and mother in law came to know about this, they were quite amused. His mother in law stated that they were the correct group to be taught ethics. In fact, his wife’s colleagues were eager to know whether anyone cleared this course. Everyone seemed to be amazed at this.

But instead of being amazed at the situation, we should be actually worried. Carpenters are not the only one to be taught this subject. There are many others who need to learn ethics. Businessman as a group are often believed to be involved in unethical practices which they tend to justify on the basis that they are only doing business as if they are doing a part of their job. Then ideally there should not be any difference between them and criminals.

If we consider politicians then the situation will be clearer. Politicians are often considered as unethical as they often tend to get involved in malpractices just to stay in office or get elected. They don’t shy away from lying, pandering to the lowest common denominator to achieve their means or spending the tax payer’s money to meet their own requirements.

While some people don’t care about right and wrong, good or bad, most people fail to differentiate it and many who can are reluctant to take adequate measures. The concept of ethics needs to clear from the school level when a child’s mind is fresh and they are eager o learn new things.

Yet we see, most of the K12 schools don’t think it necessary to incorporate “ethics” as a subject matter of study in their syllabus. They think that teaching about obedience, laws and rules and moral characteristics are enough. Even most business schools only impart classes on business laws and practices. In spite of so many nationwide scandals, and corporate malpractices highlighted in the national and local newspapers yet business schools have not incorporated ethics as a subject matter.

What majority of us, fails to realize is that ethics is not the study of what is socially or legally correct, accepted or tolerated. Ethics is actually the study of what is right and wrong i.e. it is the sense of discovering and implementing reasonable general principles that helps us to decide what to do and what not to do.

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Future of Online Learning in 2013

The craze for studying through distance learning is desired by majority of the students who are high school graduates. They are looking forward to pursue their undergraduate courses through online distance mode. They know the superior benefits of these courses and how it will have a positive impact in their future. Every year the academic pedagogy tries to bring about a renovation in the system so that the students can benefit from the education they acquire.

                                                               Source: writepass.co.uk via Leona on Pinterest

It has been estimated that soon online learning would budge into mainstream curriculum as the growth of fusion learning that will include innovative technologies becomes the important base of the education podium and later could lead it to a high ranking position. Some of the researchers believe that 2013 could be promising for the online learning education system. Some of the points that they would want to highlight are as follows:

• About 18 years back online learning had been introduced when it was hardly given much importance as traditional way of acquiring education was considered the best form of learning. But now it is on the way to become a priority for the interested aspirants.
  
  
• Hybrid learning is becoming central to education as it combines both campus and online learning. This enhances the education standard and quality and hence students become more enriched with skill and knowledge.
  
  
• The online learning system is going to follow a distinct strategy to implement new methods of learning for the students. The researchers are mainly targeting on making it the base for higher education so that people can study the flexible way.
  
  
• Some of the online learning resources basically target at technical support, marketing and course design so they are not really created in-house. Their basic aim is to contract out so that this system of learning is available for all kinds of students.
  
  
• This system of learning provides open text books to the learners as students get all learning materials with just a click of their button.
  
  
• Students can make use of all kinds of e learning tools which includes tablets, kindles, mobiles and iPads.
  
  
• The online course is highly flexible that reduces the long term course expenses yet look after the learner’s tasks which includes assignments and projects.
  
  
• Overseas students can obtain international degrees through this mode of learning.

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Is Technology Oriented Learning A Boon or Bane? from Ivy Dian

Free Online Course Providers in the US and UK

E-learning short courses (Photo credit: London College of Fashion short courses)

With time the educational domain has come up with new innovative ways of learning. Online mode of learning has become the modern trend in most of the countries. But the most reputed among them are the UK and US online learning providers. From the past one decade they are providing the best kind of education to the students from all over the world.

UK is mainly known for their Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) podium which has been credited for the excellent education it provides to the candidates worldwide. But you cannot look down upon the US online learning platforms that offer the same kind of high quality academic facility to the students. It therefore gets pretty difficult for the individuals to decide where it would be best for them to do their online degree courses.

education online (Photo credit: Sean MacEntee)

Coursera the US online learning contributor is no less in power as millions of students enrol for their higher studies. The faculty of this online educational organization comes up with the most standard form of learning for the students that allows them to earn the best recognized degree. These days students are more relied on the online programs as it is the most convenient and feasible way of completing higher education.

Moreover it is evident that it has become very necessary that people are well qualified for good jobs but studying in good universities in colleges in the UK and US is very expensive. The creation of these online learning plinths has given education the form of simplicity and hence the aspirants can learn with ease from some of the most recognised universities and colleges in the UK and US.

Another British based online learning podium popular among the people of UK and Western Europe is Futurelearn. The people here prefer doing their online course from this arena as it provides one of the best kind of education to the students online. It has also been found that more than 2000,000 aspirants from all over the world have registered for the popular courses given by the institutions in Coursera. However the three most popular online learning providers in the US are

• edX
  
  
• Udacity
  
  
• Coursera

The online learning arenas are therefore rising in demand among the aspirants as it is the most feasible form of education for the students. Online education has now become an integral part of the academic platform.

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Education should be Customized according to Student Needs

It is evident that in the current age students are loaded with study pressure whether it is in schools or colleges. They have to devote at least 8 hours of time to studies. The educational organizations are always facing a stiff competition and this is the main reason why students are struggling with their books.

The educational faculty must look into the needs of the students and make sure that learning is convenient for them. The courses must be designed in such a manner that it must suit the needs of the students. It is really necessary to make it sure that whatever is being taught to them can be put to practical use and provide them true knowledge.

It should be noted that America is specifically known for the values, traditions and legitimate basics. The Americans believe that educating their children is their prime priority. It is education that gives the individual a true identity and makes him a learned man to have a bright future.

The 21^st century education is very much depended on the global economic condition. The economic ups and downs do hamper the educational system in the country. In the 19^th century there was free public education but now it is the age of technology and one has access to the internet and all other educational facilities so learning is much easier.

Schools must take steps to reform the old traditional ways of imparting education to the students, the monotonous way of learning does not help students to improve their art of learning instead reduces their energy to put their full effort in learning. The students tend to lose interest in the subjects that are being taught to them.

Schools are vulnerable to face economic troubles and that pulls down the whole academic status of the schools. Most of the public schools are susceptible to such situations and they have poor ratings in terms of learning that is why majority of the parents send their children to charter schools. These schools follow a systemic method of providing lessons to the students.

Research shows that there are around six charter schools in the country that provides the best kind of education to the students and fulfill the needs of the children. They strictly stick to the education policy to give a smooth edge to the learning system.

Proper Education is a Boon or a Bane?

Education is an integral part of our Lives. The society assigns a stature to a person on the basis of one’s educational qualification. Moreover educated youth helps to contribute to the country’s economy and bring about an overall development of the country. Otherwise the government of all the different countries wouldn't have bothered to take corrective measures to eradicate illiteracy.

                                                                Source: coaching-blog.com via Leona on Pinterest

But the growing tuition fees, poor faculty and diminishing career prospects is a matter of concern because if tuition fees goes on rising like this then very few families will be able to afford a proper education for their children. Hardly 1 out 2 kids will be able to complete their education that too a mere undergraduate course. Few weeks back an article was circulated on Facebook, the social networking site on the decadence of higher education.

"The adjunct crisis (of many decades) makes the New York Times," tweeted Karen Kelsky, an anthropologist who runs The Professor Is In, a service where graduate students pay for advice on how to game the job market. The article depicts a bleak world of impoverished professors, diminishing career prospects and subpar courses providing "less educational quality to the students who need it most".

{Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/12/20121223122216817378.html}

The most interesting factor is, this article was originally published in 2007, but few failed to realize that it was an old article because the situation has changed so less that it did not catch anyone’s attention only.

If we observe carefully, America is marked by an overwhelming debt and erosion of opportunity. The remuneration of college president is rising day by day, schools and colleges are spending huge amounts of money on infrastructure development but the salary packages of faculty members is not so great and in order to pursue higher education the students are applying for loans as they cannot afford the tuition fees.

However MOOCs - massive online open courses, an alternative to traditional learning offers online course which are not only affordable but also derails the equal access to knowledge.

Robert Oprisko, the author of the study, argues that institutional prestige has trumped individual merit. "It's about access. It's about class," he says. "Access" in higher education means the ability to supplement the meager funding offered on merit with personal resources. For wealthy students, attending a funded programme in an expensive city is easy. For the rest of the population, it means taking on debt - debt that new statistics reveal is disproportionately held by disadvantaged groups.

The National Science Foundation Research shows 31.8 percent of white PhDs had "no definite commitment for employment or postdoctoral study", this was true for 40.5 percent of black PhDs, 39.6 percent of Asian PhDs, and 39.6 percent of Hispanic PhDs.

{Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2012/12/20121223122216817378.html}

If this system prevails, soon the American education system will collapse because students who are taking loans will take 15 years to repay it and by then their children will be of the right age to go to college, but the question remains “Will They?”

After the Cuisine, Chinese Language is also gaining World Wide Recognition

American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages stated that Chinese language is rapidly becoming one of the most learned languages in the world. As a result the demand for learning Chinese as second language has tripled over the years.

As it is a Universal fact, that kids pick up things quickly whether it is learning a new language or learning to play a new instrument, parents are emphasizing that Chinese as a medium of Language learning should be introduced in schools as early as possible.

Madeline Spring, Director of Confucius Institute at the US Arizona State University shares this belief, saying that she really wants to not only building a Confucius Institute at university level, but also a pipeline for students.

"We are really trying to build a pipeline of students, so we want students to start as early as we can get them. And we want them to continue improving, so we don't want them just continuing to take Chinese, we want them to continuing to learn to perform in Chinese. And I think that's a key we want to think about when we think about articulation."

Moreover Madeline Spring also highlighted that the Confucius Institute provides scholarship programs to kids. They have a Collegiate Scholars Program where the high school kids can avail the benefits of college credit for the classes conducted at the institute.

Confucius Institutes are non-profit public institutions, usually jointly established by universities of host country-China and a foreign college, serve as a platform to promote Chinese language and culture worldwide.

Donna Wiseman, Director of Confucius Institute at US University of Maryland, the Washington D.C area, states that their 5 Confucius Classrooms have already imparted lessons in Chinese language to more than 1000 pre-k to 12^th grade school students.

Moreover, the institute recently organized a trip to China for the school students of Paint Branch elementary school, located in the neighborhood of US University of Maryland in order to awaken the child’s interest and curiosity level regarding Chinese Language along with their culture.

"When you talk to them after they return, you can see that a light has been turned on with them that they will never ever think about international travel of being a part of Chinese language and culture is something that they could achieve. And it's a very fulfilling activity to sit and listen to them describe how they feel about travel after their trip in China."