Top 5 Education Trends in 2013

So the world didn’t end, and now we’re all excited to pop open the champagne, eat way too much food, and ring.

Despite the number 13’s unlucky reputation, we’re all super excited for 2013. Not only internally, where we here at Noodle are working hard to improve our product and give our users a top-of-the-line educational experience, but big changes are also happening externally in the education field.

So we’ve put together a list of the Top five trends in education that we’re most excited to see in 2013.

1. Social media will play an even bigger role
Social media has made its way into most sectors, from advertising to sports to the entertainment industry. So naturally, it was bound to become popular in the education field sooner or later. From student-created YouTube videos to SMS marketing to professors creating classroom focused blogs and Facebook pages, both teachers and students will continue to benefit from social media inside the classroom. Although social media has become increasingly popular in the past year or two, in 2013 we’re expecting it to make an even bigger splash in the classroom.

2. More universities will offer online learning
From free podcasts and online learning tutorials, the internet has made it possible for people to push their educational boundaries and access some of the best resources from the comfort of their own home. Now in addition to paid online classes and degree programs, some universities are even offering free non-credit online courses. Top schools like University of California – Berkeley, Johns Hopkins University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Stanford University are currently offering free courses, and we only expect to see this trend grow in the coming year. Noodle has also jumped on the online learning bandwagon, with a collection of over 450,000 free online learning materials, available to our users anytime, anywhere.

3. The MOOC trend will carry on
What’s a MOOC you might ask? No it's not a character from Dr. Seuss. It actually stands for “Massive Open Online Course” and has been all the rage in the ed tech sector since the term was coined in 2008. MOOCs are revolutionizing the way students learn, and this trend is making its impact across the globe. These courses are typically free, and only require a computer and, of course, the internet. For the new year, there is even talk that MOOCs will become a mechanism for students to receive official college credit. Currently the MOOC methods reach nearly 200 countries in 44 different languages, and have 4,500 testing centers around the world.

4. A better job market for college graduates
The recession might not be completely over, but upcoming college graduates can (hopefully) look forward to a less stressful job hunt than their predecessors. According to a survey conducted by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), employers said they expect to hire 9.5% more graduates from the class of 2012 than they did from the previous graduating class. And students getting their degree in one of the STEM fields (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), will be especially valuable to employers hiring in the new year. So to the class of 2013, take this as a sign to brush up on your interview skills, update your LinkedIn profile and score your dream job in 2013!

5. Game-based learning will gain popularity
Who doesn’t love a good game? Game-based learning (GBL) is becoming increasingly popular inside classroom walls, as teachers become more and more familiar with the process and its many benefits. GBL can be anything from learning simulations, to serious games, to using video games in the classroom. It’s understandable that parents might be skeptical (“Video games at school? Seriously?”) But GBL is designed to balance gameplay with subject matter, and help students retain and apply what they’ve learned in the real world. Although it’s still in the early phases, in 2013 we’re sure to see games being used more frequently in the learning process.

This article originally appeared on Noodle.org

UK faces Desperate Shortage of Science and Maths Teachers

More than 100,000 secondary school pupils will be taught maths and science by teachers untrained in the subjects because of a chronic shortage of new recruits, education experts will warn today.

They predict the shortfall in expertise will discourage sixth-formers from studying the disciplines – which have been identified by the Education Secretary Michael Gove as “national strategic priorities” – at A-level.

Research by Professor John Howson of Oxford Brookes University and Datafor Education, which specialises in analysing recruitment trends, has revealed that up to 30 per cent of maths places on PGCE teacher training courses due to start in September remain unfilled, potentially leaving schools 700 recruits short next year. There is a similar problem with physics, where courses have attracted 386 fewer recruits than in 2012, while other key subject areas such as modern foreign languages and English are in a similar position.

Chris Waterman, co-author of the research, said that every missing maths teacher meant 150 secondary school pupils would be taught the subject by a non-specialist, putting 100,000 pupils at risk of receiving their education from someone who has no specialist maths training.

Professor Howson explained that when the jobs market is improving – as it appears to be at present, albeit slowly – potential candidates often turn their backs on the teaching profession.

He said: “The Government got complacent after the recession [in 2010]. Secondary school rolls were falling so we didn’t need so many teachers; we were coming to the end of the high spot of teacher retirements and we had all those people who wanted to come into teaching because there weren’t any others jobs available. The danger, though, was that this wasn’t going to go on.

“We’ve now had successive years when public sector wages have been held down, and regular stories about the problems facing the profession.  No wonder graduates in the Stem (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects are accepting jobs elsewhere. That was always the risk.”

The way in which the top candidates are recruited has also undergone significant change in the past year, with fewer entering teacher training institutions and more being recruited directly by schools.

Professor Howson’s research is based on published recruitment figures for PGCE courses, plus data on the number of teachers recruited directly by schools from the Department for Education’s website.

It shows the number recruited in maths has fallen by 709, physics by 386, design technology by 350, chemistry by 345 and English by 343. English was one of the subjects that over-recruited last year, meaning the 343 shortfall left it just 113 teachers short of its recruitment target for 2012.

By contrast history courses have recruited 75 more candidates in 2013 than the year before, which is 170 more than 2012’s target.  The number of primary school recruits has risen from 20,760 to 23,380, coinciding with a bulge in the birth rate which has meant that the sector needs extra staff.

Brian Lightman, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “We’re very concerned about [the shortage of maths and science recruits]. The sort of feedback we’ve got from our heads is that recruitment directly to schools has been very, very patchy across the country.”

Under the new arrangements, schools can either recruit trainees or take on salaried staff who are aiming to switch careers, but Mr Lightman said the calibre of some of those seeking to switch was “very variable”.

“We’re seeing big gaps in recruitment – particularly in the Stem subjects,” he added.  “It’s a very big cause for concern considering their importance for the future of the economy and it means that some schools have got difficulties in filling places now.

“One would hope much of this would be about teething troubles that can be resolved.” A spokesman for the Department for Education said that new School Direct scheme – under which teachers train on the job – was “proving extremely popular”.

“By May, around 22,500 people had applied for 10,000 places and applications continue to rise,” he said.

“Of course it is right that headteachers are selective and choose only the brightest graduates best suited to their schools.”

Case study: If you haven’t mastered maths, doors close

Carol Vorderman chaired a report on SATs tests for the Education Secretary Michael Gove in 2011

You wouldn’t want me teaching your child PE or music as I’m pretty useless at both and by the same reasoning I guess you wouldn’t want your sons or daughters to be taught maths by their PE teachers. Or music teachers, or whoever.

Maths has to be taught in a very clear way and cannot be fudged. When taught brilliantly, maths is easy and beautiful. With maths you need a deeper understanding. Mathematics is not just any old subject, it is a language, it’s the language of commerce, industry, finance, science, engineering, the internet, communication and all technology. It’s such an important subject that a First World society cannot afford to teach it to any other standard than first class. Understanding it opens so many doors. But equally, if you don’t understand it, doors will slam shut. But the problems in teaching maths lie much deeper than just a shortage of trainees. Part of the problem is that almost all of those people going into primary school training, as shown by Professor Adrian Smith’s 2006 inquiry, gave up maths at 16.

In a report I chaired for Michael Gove, we found that of those children who achieved Level 4 in their SAT tests aged 11 – Level 4 is the government target – just over half went on to achieve their GCSE at grade C or better. Of those who failed to get Level 4, almost all of them failed. In other words, if you are on the mathematical scrapheap by the age of 11, there you are likely to remain. Secondary school is having little effect on the outcome for these children. My concern is that the potential shortage of qualified maths teachers at secondary level can only compound these problems.

But perhaps the biggest problem is our society’s attitude to maths. It is regarded as  “too hard for me” or “geeky”. This is very much a British malaise. We undervalue maths at our peril.

Six Technology Challenges Facing Education

By David Nagel

Despite increasingly widespread adoption of technologies in virtually every aspect of K-12 education, significant challenges are preventing widespread effective implementation. According to researchers, though some of those challenges are systemic and some related to the technologies themselves, teachers and education leaders share in the blame as well.

"The NMC Horizon Report: 2013 K-12 Edition," put together by the New Media Consortium as part of the Horizon Project, identifies key emerging issues in education technology using primary and secondary research and input from an advisory board comprising "internationally recognized practitioners and experts" in ed tech. Among those issues are challenges that represent significant constraints on the adoption of technology in education.

In past reports, those challenges have centered largely on reluctance on the part of administrators and teachers, lack of preparation, and lack of support or funding. This year's findings followed largely along those lines as well, though some new challenges were identified as well.

Challenge 1: professional development. Key among all challenges is the lack of adequate, ongoing professional development for teachers who are required to integrate new technologies into their classrooms yet who are unprepared or unable to understand new technologies.

"All too often, when schools mandate the use of a specific technology, teachers are left without the tools (and often skills) to effectively integrate the new capabilities into their teaching methods," according to the report. "The results are that the new investments are underutilized, not used at all, or used in a way that mimics an old process rather than innovating new processes that may be more engaging for students."

Challenge 2: resistance to change. Resistance to technology comes in many forms, but one of the key resistance challenges identified in the report is "comfort with the status quo." According to the researchers, teachers and school leaders often see technological experimentation as outside the scope of their job descriptions.

Challenge 3: MOOCs and other new models for schooling. New in this year's report, new models for teaching and learning are providing "unprecedented competition to traditional models of schooling." In particular, the MOOC (massive open online course) - probably the hottest topic in higher education right now - was identified as being "at the forefront" of discussions about new modes of delivering K-12 education.

"K-12 institutions are latecomers to distance education in most cases, but competition from specialized charter schools and for-profit providers has called attention to the needs of today's students, especially those at risk," according to the report.

Challenge 4: Delivering informal learning. Related to challenge 3, rigid lecture-and-test models of learning are failing to challenge students to experiment and engage in informal learning. But, according to the report, opportunities for such informal learning can be found in non-traditional classroom models, such as flipped classrooms, which allow for a blending of formal and informal learning.

Challenge 5: Failures of personalized learning. According to the report, there's a gap between the vision of delivering personalized, differentiated instruction and the technologies available to make this possible. So while K-12 teachers seem to see the need for personalized learning, they aren't being given the tools they need to accomplish it, or adequate tools simply don't exist.

Challenge 6: Failure to use technology to deliver effective formative assessments. The report noted: "Assessment is an important driver for educational practice and change, and over the last years we have seen a welcome rise in the use of formative assessment in educational practice. However, there is still an assessment gap in how changes in curricula and new skill demands are implemented in education; schools do not always make necessary adjustments in assessment practices as a consequence of these changes. Simple applications of digital media tools, like webcams that allow non-disruptive peer observation, offer considerable promise in giving teachers timely feedback they can use."

DU Launches New E-Learning Online Portal

New Delhi: To enable Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based educationin the varsity, Delhi University (DU) has introduced e-classes for its students, which have been uploaded on its online portal.

A one-day workshop on the launch of the e-classes was held recently in which almost 40 teachers from various colleges under the university participated. During the course of the workshop, the teachers present were familiarized about the process of registering on the online portal. 

These teachers would be called DU e-learning portal coordinators and will work as a link between DU's Institute of Life Long Learning (ILLL) and DU colleges. 

DU Vice Chancellor Deepak Pental inaugurated the workshop and spoke at length about the importance of ICT in higher education. "ICT is extremely important in higher education and can help in answering many problems that affect the quality of education that is being imparted in the university," he said.

He further added that the e-classes being started by the varsity would help in empowering teachers to handle the teacher-student interactions in an efficient manner.

Calling the initiative to introduce e-classes the most significant feature of the DUonline portal, ILLL Director A.K. Bakshi said that the interactivity aspect of the e-classes is a new feature that will benefit both students as well as teachers. 

He explained that as teachers have only 50-55 minutes to teach per class, several doubts ands questions which students might have remain unanswered. The online e-classes will now enable students to ask and clear their doubts and also to hold healthy online discussions which can continue for as long as the students want.

The e-learning portal started by DU has several interactive media features available free of charge in four sections, viz-a-viz, e-lessons, e-labs, e-quizzes and e-lectures. The newly introduced e-classes would only be available to DU students who have joined the portal by contacting their e-learning portal coordinator. 

The facility to join the portals would also be made available to teachers and students from the postgraduate department.

Online education with customized scheduling tips

For all you students who ever thought that school studies are boring, online education can be a real refresher! Online education will not only jazz up your studies but will also ensure that your learning in all subjects is concrete and your concepts are thoroughly tested for a great performance in school.

Online education is not only beneficial for school students but also for working professionals who wish to pursue a degree/diploma course but have been unable to do so because of paucity of time and other constraints. These working professionals can now choose to pursue an online Bachelors or Masters program without worrying much about problems like lack of time, high costs involved etc.

Benefits of Online Education

Here are a few advantages of studying online.

• Online education gives students the flexibility to study anytime & anywhere. All that a student requires is a computer and an internet connection. With these two things in place students can start surfing their way through a plethora of study content that is made available online by a variety of websites.
• Studying from black and white books can often make the entire studying experience mundane. Students can make their studies interesting by referring to the multimedia enriched study content that is available as a part of the online courses by various e-learning websites. These real life/ 2D/ 3D videos & animations can add the much required life to their studies and help can understand content through enticing visual & verbal cues.
• Unlike tuition centres that charge a hefty sum of money from students, online education websites offer high quality study content to the students at a nominal price. Usually, students can register at these websites absolutely free of cost and can also access a limited range of study content for their class at no charge. 

Free study videos from the web

Not only do these online education websites provide curriculum aligned study content for CBSE, ICSE, Maharashtra, Karnataka & Tamil Nadu state boards but also offer a pool of interesting videos from the web. These videos have been arranged chapter-wise so that students can access and learn from these videos without much hassle. Students can view these videos absolutely free of cost by just registering at these online education websites.

Online education is not just about studies!

Apart from study content, online educational websites also have a lot of other things to offer. Students can take online personality tests, aptitude test & interest test to get insights on their strengths & weaknesses. Students can also try their hand at interesting games & puzzles available at these websites that will help them learn about Indian history, prominent mathematicians, etc.

I am positive that after reading this article, all you students out there will be convinced to give online education a shot. Happy surfing!

Distance Education Takes You From Where You Are Now To Where You Want To Be

Distance education classes can be a great idea for professionals who want to earn an advanced degree but don't have time to attend school. Online classes meet whenever you're free. You usually do not have to be online at any certain time and can set your own study schedule as long as you meet class deadlines. These special classes have become very popular because of their convenience.

One thing you want to consider is whether the degree you're opting for requires hands-on learning. It might be hard to get the best veterinary assistant schooling without actually working physically with animals. However a degree such as English represents just one of the ideal areas of online study.

Be sure the school you sign up for is accredited by a national board. If it isn't, your degree may not qualify when you go to get a job. Of course the school isn't going to tell you they are not accredited, so do some digging on your own first.

The professors are another consideration. What is their education requirement? Are they PhDs? Are they forerunners in their field? Find out who you will be studying with and don't just assume the professors must be ok. Check it out so you will feel comfortable. And don't be afraid to ask all the questions you like. A good school will be happy to help you get answers to them all.

Find out if there are any hidden fees. Does the upfront cost cover everything? Since you're not an on campus student, you should not have to pay the same fees as a college student does. There's no ID necessary and certainly no activities fee. So be sure you check out the bill carefully. A good school will not try to sneak in hidden fees under the radar.

Be sure you read the entire curriculum for your particular program. Do you have the necessary base knowledge to succeed in the path you've chosen? If you need a few more courses before you feel confident leaping into a new degree, take some basics first.

Be sure that you'll be able to keep up with the assignments. If your job forces you to be at work until eight at night and you have an hour's commute home, don't plan on doing five hours of homework. You'll be beat and it's unrealistic to push yourself that hard every night. With a proper amount of upfront research distance education can facilitate all your top business and personal goals.

Mastering Mathematics - Fractions Are Key - Part II

In order to master mathematics, you definitely need to master fractions. These appear in every single aspect of this discipline, from algebra to calculus to engineering to related fields like physics. Fractions present a lot of trouble to students, yet most of these problems can be easily resolved if the right approach is taken. Here in Part II, we examine some other techniques necessary to master this area.

Equivalent fractions are nothing more than fractions that have the same value. Thus 1/2, 2/4, and 3/6 are all equivalent fractions. Equivalent fractions have the same value but have different numerators and denominators from the other fractions to which they are equivalent. There are infinitely many equivalent fractions to 1/2, let us say. Each of these can be derived by multiplying 1/2 by 1 in disguised form. What we mean by 1 in disguised form is a fraction which has the same numerator as denominator. Thus 2/2, 3/3, 4/4...etc. are all 1 in disguised form. Remember: 1 is the multiplicative identity, and thus no matter what we multiply by 1 does not have its value changed.

Equivalent fractions come in very handy when we add or subtract fractions, because this operation requires that we have the same denominator. Thus if adding 1/2 and 3/8, we need to convert the 1/2 into an equivalent fraction with 8 as its denominator. We simply ask ourselves what we need to multiply 2 by to get 8. The answer is easy and is 4. Thus we use 4/4, 1 in disguised form to multiply and convert 1/2 into the equivalent fraction 4/8. We can then add 4/8 and 3/8 to get 7/8.

Reducing fractions is another important aspect to mastering these numbers. Reducing fractions allows us to deal with fractions in lowest terms. This is important because in mathematics we always want our answers in the most simplified form and reducing fractions permits this. Mathematics is complicated as it is, thus providing the most simple form is always important. Could you imagine how much more complicated this field would be if we did not do this? At any rate, simplifying fractions simply requires that we factor out the GCF (Greatest Common Factor) from both numerator and denominator and canceling. The GCF is the largest factor common to both numerator and denominator. For example, 20/25 can be reduced to 4/5 because the GCF of both 20 and 25 is 5. Thus we write 20/25 = (4x5)/(5x5) and cancel the 5 to get 4/5. Similarly for 38/57, we can express this as (19x2)/(19x3) and cancel the 19 to get 2/3. Obviously, it is easier to work with smaller numbers than larger ones, as many times we use the results of one operation for further operations. Thus 2/3 is easier to work with than 38/57, and thus the reason for reducing fractions becomes evident.

Another important aspect of fractions is multiplying and dividing them. This is probably one of the easiest operations involving fractions because we need not concern ourselves with common denominators. To multiply two fractions, we simply multiply the numerators and then the denominators. It should be pointed out that we should first try to reduce the fractions so that our end result is in lowest terms. Doing this first, also simplifies the multiplications. For example, (38/57)x(20/25) is easier to do if we first reduce each fraction as mentioned above to 2/3 and 4/5, respectively. We then multiply 2x4 and 3x5 to get 8/15 as our answer, and this is in lowest terms. If you do not simplify first, you are looking at multiplying 38x20 and 57x25, which are harder multiplications than the ones we did.

Dividing fractions is really no different than multiplying them, with one exception. Before we do the multiplication, we invert the numerator and denominator of the second fraction. We then simply multiply. Thus (9/15)/(8/16) is the same as (9/15)x 16/8). Let's reduce and multiply. We have (3/5)x(2/1) = 6/5.

Mastering these techniques will give you the edge in conquering fractions. Use these articles and the techniques laid out therein to overcome any problems you might have had with these stubborn mathematical entities. You will soon realize that fractions are actually quite fun to work with.

Joe is a prolific writer of self-help and educational material and is the creator and author of over a dozen books and ebooks which have been read throughout the world. He is a former teacher of high school and college mathematics and has recently returned as a professor of mathematics at a local community college in New Jersey.

Joe propagates his Wiz Kid Teaching Philosophy through his writings and lectures and loves to turn "math-haters" into "math-lovers."

The Benefits Of Enrolling In Online Colleges

Time has a way of getting past us and while some attend college directly after graduating from high school, there are many who put off going back to school until "later". However, life does not always allow a "later" to come easily especially when working, marriage, children and possibly a mortgage enters the picture. Luckily, there is an alternative to physically attending a brick and mortar school. Online colleges offer several benefits to students who opt to use this type of education source.

Probably the most attractive advantage for many who choose to attend online colleges is the flexibility. Whatever your particular area of study, you are afforded the opportunity to take as many or as little courses as you need. If your schedule only allows you to study at two o'clock in the morning, this is completely feasible with online classes. And with a right of entry to all of your school work and lessons through an online forum, you are able to access anything you need as long as you have a computer with an internet connection. Having a flexible schedule not only pertains to when you take the course, but also the speed of which you complete it. This is pertinent to those with other important obligations like a job or family that requires daily attention.

Another attractive feature of enrolling in online colleges is the specialty options offered by these types of higher institutions. As colleges online are practically a database of learning tools and information, there is practically no limit to the kind of education you can receive. All you have to do is find an institution that offers the specific field of study you are interested in. Everyone can benefit from a higher degree in their particular area of interest and taking specialty courses from accredited institutes can easily facilitate your personal quest for knowledge.

Cost of a college education through a brick and mortar institution has risen dramatically over the past five years. Not only are you responsible for your tuition, books and other learning materials, you also have to take care of housing, transportation to and from school and food as well as other bills. It is easy to see so many college graduates are extremely deep in debt. The fiscal beauty of online colleges is how doable it is financially for a majority of students. In many cases, the degrees earned through a brick and mortar school are exactly the same as one earned through completely online courses.

Online education

How about studying the most difficult concepts in Physics of the luxury of sitting in your cozy room? Sounds interesting! If this entices you enough to try your hand at online education, hold on! You will be happy to know that this is only one of the several benefits of online education. There is a lot that online education has to offer to school students in terms of the quality and quantity of subject specific study content and a host of other related benefits. 

To elucidate on the benefits of online education to all you students in school out there studying under various boards such as CBSE, ICSE, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Matriculation Board, here are a few points.

• The anywhere, anytime factor! Unlike tuition classes which have fixed hours, students can study online anytime, as per their own convenience. All that a student needs is a computer and an internet connection. Once the necessary hardware components are in place, students can start surfing their way through the plethora of information available online. The advantage of round-the-clock availability of interesting study content has indeed made more students get inclined towards this medium in addition to using other conventional study mediums and methods such as books.
• A Student-centric teaching approach! Unlink the regular classroom teaching at schools and tuition centres, the online education follows an approach that is more student-centric rather than being teacher- oriented. Students not only have a say in the timing of their study schedules but are also equipped with the power to decide their own pace of learning. While studying online, students are under no pressure whatsoever to complete their studies within a stipulated time period. Online education is especially a boon for students tend to learn at a pace slower than most others in the class, as they can take as much time to understand and learn a concept well as they wish to. While studying online students need not feel shy in asking questions and wanting to read the said study material over and over again.
• Involvement of multiple media! Studying from simple black and white text is no more a compulsion for students studying under CBSE, ICSE, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu Matriculation board. Online education offers a lot of interesting and innovative methods in teaching concepts to these school students. Apart from the regular study material, students can study using videos, animations, multimedia enriched puzzles etc. There are various websites that provide curriculum aligned study content for these boards using multiple media that can make studies very interesting and learning easy.
• Low cost! With very low cost involved, online education will not burn a hole in the pockets of students. Unlike study courses at tuition centers that involve a hefty monthly or a yearly fee, online education is a comparatively low cost affair. Apart from the subscription costs, there is no significant cost involved in studying online. Studying using online education, students can save a lot of money and time that is saved in doing away with unnecessary commuting to and fro schools, colleges, tuition centers etc.

I am positive that all these benefits of online education will help you understand and use this medium better and will also help you with your studies in school.

Online education

Online education is often considered as the ‘Gen Y’ way of studying. For Generation Y, online is fast becoming the popular way to study. With broadband connection penetrating to the farthest destinations, the internet is truly going places! Online education attempts to counter the problem of poor quality of education and absentee teachers in schools, right at the outset. However, in spite of numerous benefits of online education, many are still unaware about the scope and benefits of this virtual world of online education.

For all you students out there here is a list of a few benefits of online education. I am sure that these benefits will draw you towards this medium and will also help you make your studying effective.

• The fist and foremost benefit of online education is the ‘anytime-anywhere’ advantage that sit has to offer. With online education, students can now choose to prepare their own study schedules and study as per their own convenience. Gone are the days when students had no option but to regularly attend their classes at tuition centres or schools so as to complete their syllabus within the stipulated time period. With online education, students can now choose to set their schedule sheets.
• Apart from study schedules, online education also enables students to stay in control of their study pace. Online education is a boon for both slow and fast learners. Slow learners can go through their study lessons as many times as they wish to, whereas fast learners can look forward to umpteen practice tests and revisions to further solidify their learning.
• Online education has an added advantage for students studying under the international boards. Finding a good tutor or quality study material is not always an easy task for the Indians studying under the various Indian educational boards outside India. With quality online education coming into play, students can be sure of complete and stress-free study content that will help make scoring great marks in exams easy.
• Online education imparts instructions using a variety of mediums thereby making studies interesting and engaging. Students now can study by reading online study material in text form and support it with video explanations of various concepts using real life/ 2D/ 3D videos and animations. Curriculum aligned puzzles and a variety of online and offline tests that give you instant results are some of the other benefits of online education.  Thus, use of multiple media helps make studies very interesting and learning easy.
• Students can get themselves hooked to online education without burning a hole in their pockets. Apart from low subscription costs, there is significantly no additional or hidden cost involved in online education. By studying online, students can save a lot of money and time by doing away with unnecessary expenses incurred while commuting to and from schools, colleges, tuition centers etc.

I am confident that by now students must realized the benefits of online education. So all you students out there, the next time you face any difficulty while studying, just log on to the internet and surf you way through online solutions.

K-12 Education

K-12 education refers to the primary and secondary education that a student obtains during his schooling. K-12 education is an abbreviated term used for education from kindergarten to twelfth. The term K-12 education per se is relatively new to India and is generally more commonly used in western countries like United States of America, Canada etc and in parts of Australia. With technology transcending borders, the term K-12 education is fast gaining popularity in other parts of the world as well, with minor/ no modifications. In some countries the term has been replaced with PK-12 or P-12 that means prekindergarten to twelfth or preschool to twelfth. Whatever nomenclature any country adopts, the concept of K-12 education primarily revolves around the education imparted in the school.

K-12 education scenario in India
The constitution of India guarantees a free and compulsory education to all till the age of 14 years.  Imparting quality K-12 education to the largest possible student population across the country has always been a ‘top of mind’ issue for the government. A step forward in this direction has been the amendment of the Right to Education act that make this right stricter than before. Under the Right to Education act, 2009 private schools shall admit at least 25% students from poor families and no seats under this quota shall be left vacant. Through this amendment, government has attempted to ensure that the ideal of free and compulsory education is achieved in the true sense.

Online content provider for K-12 students

Students studying in schools can enrich their studies with the help of curriculum aligned videos and animations made available on he internet by a lot of websites. These videos and animations not only add the much required zing to the monotonous study regime followed by students, but also help them learn beyond what is taught in the books. These videos and animations are supported with quality study material and a variety of tests that help make learning thorough and effective.

The study material available at such websites is in easy-to -read language that makes understanding of concepts easy and quick. After going through the study material, students can also try their hands at curriculum-based interactive puzzles. These interactive puzzles not only raise the involvement of students in their learning process but also help assess their understanding of concepts in the chapter/subject. After going through the chapter, students can check their knowledge levels by practicing from chapter-wise and full-course model tests. This will help students get a clear picture of their weak and strong areas and will allow them to channelize their efforts in topics that require more attention. Once through with preparing for exams, students can also refer to end-of-chapter revision notes for those quick revision sessions before exams.

Conclusion
Studying in the right manner and using the correct tools to prepare for exams determines the extent to which students can achieve success during the K-12 years. It is also advisable for students to have a concrete understanding of core concepts so as to be sure of a high scoring academic ride.

Elearning: Studying in the Digital age

Change has become the order of the day to keep pace with our fast, stressful and competitive lifestyle. So, as an important component of our life, even education in the 21st century is acquiring a new form - from traditional learning to technology driven elearning. With the advent of Internet in every home, learning has become more web-oriented. New-age digital formats of study modules are very much attention grabbing and learner centric.  Further, elearning is becoming popular option for home study support as it amalgamates the fields of online learning, web-based training, technology-delivered instruction and distance learning.

With changing times, the convergence of Internet and learning has facilitated an individualized, comprehensive, dynamic learning content in real time. Elearning is designed keeping in focus the individual requirement and convenience. It is fast becoming the preferred choice for self-learning by a majority of youngsters as it provides, economical, flexible and anywhere, anytime study support. The unique and accessible features of elearning make it a preferred option for Gen Z. Furthermore; it provides the edge required to score extra marks in exams and climb the ladder of success.

Elearning offers interactive online learning supports in the form of chat rooms, forums, online class, online bulletin boards, live virtual class to name a few. Various educational sites give anxious students round the clock after school study support to help them with their queries and homework thus maintaining continuity in the learning process. In addition, study support via online tutoring enables the learners to put forth more specific questions and get the simple explanations of complex queries immediately. Elearning has definite benefits over traditional private tuitions. It offers flexibility of time and saves cost of travelling incurred in private tuitions.

Students can study directly with subject experts in Live Virtual Class and avail study help anytime, anywhere. It gives students the freedom to select their own subject, topic on their preferred date and time. This gives them instant access to subject experts and one-on-one personalized attention to help them with the problem concepts. The online tutor is available 24x7 to assist the students with school assignments and answer their queries. Elearning saves students from the trouble of mugging up answers as this new integrated approach to studies aims at learning with the help of visual representation that lead to a better and in-depth understanding of the subject.

Online study aids like Smart Learning Modules, which are graphical and pictorial presentations of chapters, increase the attention span of the students and make the complex concepts easier. Other learning modules like Mindmaps enable students to get a better understanding of complex topics. Mindmaps give a logical and hierarchical presentation of chapters in flowcharts, which help in increased retention and a better grasp of the idea.

Increasingly used in all websites of similar nature, these learning mechanism tools are appreciated globally for their advantageous attributes, which eventually help in better understanding of the concept to students with varied mental abilities. Along with self-learning, even the classroom teaching pattern is evolving. The universally adapted model of classroom teaching is being actively blended with Elearning technology to make learning a more fruitful experience.

CBSE: Effortless Move Towards Improving Results

Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) is one of the most recognized boards of school education in India. It holds an important place simply because of the endless efforts put forward towards imparting a common education system in a vast country like India. The center has evolved a common standard for all across the country and is trying its level best to help education keep pace with the changing world without compromising on quality.

CBSE results (Central Board of Secondary Education) are declared every year in the last days of May. The CBSE board results are mostly declared in 2-3 phases for class X and XII. These phases are according to the 8 regions of Ajmer, Chennai, Allahabad, Delhi, Guwahati, Punchkula, Patna and Bhubaneshwar. As the dates for result announcement comes nearer, the anxiety level among students also reaches its peak, witnessing more sweaty palms. Not only the students but also even their parents face the same situation. In India, CBSE results are considered extremely vital. Not only does the entire future of the student depends on the marks obtained in these exams but these also help in maintaining the social identity of a student.

So in a way, board exam results prove to be a boon for some while at the same time they might be a curse for others. Afterall, this is the only evaluation system in the world, which echoes in social circuits too.

Keeping in mind the many social beliefs, the changing economic scenario in the country and driven especially with a view to avoid any future supply scarcity, the center has introduced a new grading system to evaluate the Xth CBSE results. This year the board will hold the standardized tests as the ritual goes but will give grades instead of marks. The evaluation will be done on the basis of continuous evaluation of students on a 9-point grading system instead of just one year-end exam. Sounds heaven, isn’t it?

CBSE has also explored a new way to give quality tag to schools, based on their results. The major reason for taking this step is that the affiliated schools come in contact with the Board at the time of initial affiliation, upgradation or renewal of affiliation only. But once the affiliation is complete, there is hardly any quality check on these schools. The only indicators would be CBSE class Xth results and CBSE class XIIth results, which were highlighted by schools individually and differently.

Therefore, an Expert Advisory Committee (EAC) will be constituted by the Board, which will choose agencies to assess and accredit the schools based on the criteria and fees approved by CBSE. In case a school is not satisfied with its assessment, the Board will only act as an appellate body.

The standards for accreditation will be a research-based set of practices and concepts that provides guidance to schools on all aspects of education such as academic, civic and social. The standards will be reviewed and revised periodically, and will include surveys of all member schools, feedback by schools which have undergone an accreditation visit, appraisal, relevant educational literature and in-depth discussions at the Board level.

CBSE’s online study program has also proved to be a miracle for students in the history of Indian education. With these online study materials and instant learning packages, students can study anywhere, anytime. It has made learning so interesting, simpler and convenient. With the help of these online services, students can also improve their CBSE exam results, which is the ultimate goal for any student.

These online study websites dedicated towards promoting CBSE have features like, solved board papers, practice papers, model test papers, online assessment facility and many more options, which can help a student immensely to score better in exams.

All in all, it is an answer to the questions of all those people, preparing for their Xth and XIIth exams, about how to get good results in CBSE exams.

Extramarks - About the Author:

Extramarks brings students, teachers and parents together on a single platform to ensure that a child excels academically. To know more about online education, cbse results, online class, school education support, CBSE, ICSE, e learning and etutorial, log on to www.extramarks.com