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Part 5

Hollywood, as well as Bollywood, often raise awareness on social issues like education. However, they tend to romantisize issues. Documentaries on the other hand better present the real concerns about these issues. Also documentaries often raise very interesting issues, in very interesting ways. Here are top documentaries on education. Hope you will enjoy!

Introduction

Flock of Dodos: The Evolution-Intelligent Design Circus  is a documentary film by American marine biologist  and filmmaker Randy Olson. It highlights the debate between proponents of the concept of intelligent design and the scientific consensus that supports evolution.

The documentary was first screened publicly on February 2, 2006 in Kansas, where much of the public controversy on intelligent design began, as well as the starting point of discussion in the documentary. Other public screenings followed in universities, including Harvard and the SUNY Stony Brook, marking the celebration of Charles Darwin's birthday.

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Part 4

Hollywood, as well as Bollywood, often raise awareness on social issues like education. However, they tend to romantisize issues. Documentaries on the other hand better present the real concerns about these issues. Also documentaries often raise very interesting issues, in very interesting ways. Here are top documentaries on education. Hope you will enjoy!

Introduction

The film focuses on Suwikrom "Per" Amaranon, a middle class Thai student in his senior year at Suankularb Wittayalai School in Bangkok, and his three friends, Big Show, Lung and Boat. They are depicted as average students, not especially studious but are still obedient of their parents and are hopeful of their prospects for getting into a university in Thailand.

The film follows the boys through one year, from May 2005 to May 2006. Documentarian Soraya Nagasuwan is never heard asking the boys questions, simply letting her camera crew follow the boys through their days at school, at home with their families or enjoying time off school while on a visit to the beach and attending a rock music festival.

In order to qualify for admission to a university faculty, students must take standardized tests. In Thailand these tests are the O-Net/A-Net exams. Minimum scores are needed in order to be admitted to certain universities and university faculties.

Coincidentally, the February 2006 exams that the boys took were hit with a scandal after the results were incorrectly reported. Approximately 300,000 students were affected by error, with many puzzled over receiving test results when they had not even taken the tests.

The boys weather the pressure of taking the exams and the erroneous reporting of the scores, however, and ultimately win their choice of disciplines and universities.

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Part 3

Hollywood, as well as Bollywood, often raise awareness on social issues like education. However, they tend to romantisize issues. Documentaries on the other hand better present the real concerns about these issues. Also documentaries often raise very interesting issues, in very interesting ways. Here are top documentaries on education. Hope you will enjoy!

Introduction

Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a 2008 independent documentary film, directed by Nathan Frankowski and hosted by Ben Stein. The film contends that the mainstream science establishment suppresses academics who believe they see evidence of intelligent design in nature and who criticize evidence supporting Darwinian evolution and the modern evolutionary synthesis as a mainstream conspiracy to keep God out of science laboratories and classrooms. The scientific theory of evolution is portrayed by the film as contributing to fascism, the Nazi Holocaust, communism, atheism, abortion, and eugenics. The film portrays intelligent design as motivated by science, rather than religion, though it does not give a detailed definition of the phrase or attempt to explain it on a scientific level. Other than briefly addressing issues of irreducible complexity, Expelled examines it as a political issue.

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Part 2

Hollywood, as well as Bollywood, often raise awareness on social issues like education. However, they tend to romantisize issues. Documentaries on the other hand better present the real concerns about these issues. Also documentaries often raise very interesting issues, in very interesting ways. Here are top documentaries on education. Hope you will enjoy!

Introduction

The Education of Shelby Knox is 2005  documentary film that tells the coming of age story about the public speaker and feminist, Shelby Knox, a teenage girl who joins a campaign for comprehensive sex education in the high schools of Lubbock, Texas. It was an official selection of the Sundance Film Festival in 2005 and aired on PBS’ P.O.V.  series that same year. It was directed and produced by Marion Lipschutz and Rose Rosenblatt.

Lubbock has some of the highest teen pregnancy and STD rates in the nation. The town's solution is a strict abstinence-only sex education curriculum in the public schools and a conservative preacher who urges kids to pledge abstinence until marriage.

Shelby Knox is a politically conservative, deeply religious, Southern Baptist teenager who joins the Lubbock Youth Commission, a group of high school students representing a youth voice in city government. When the teens confront Lubbock's sexual health crisis and campaign for comprehensive sex education, Shelby throws herself into the fight with missionary fervor, struggling to reconcile her newfound political beliefs with her conservative religious views. When the campaign broadens to include a fight for a gay-straight alliance, Shelby must confront her family and pastor in this coming-of-age story.

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Part 1

Hollywood, as well as Bollywood, often raise awareness on social issues like education. However, they tend to romantisize issues. Documentaries on the other hand better present the real concerns about these issues. Also documentaries often raise very interesting issues, in very interesting ways. Here are top documentaries on education. Hope you will enjoy!

Introduction

American Teen is a 2008 documentary film directed by Nanette Burstein (On the Ropes, The Kid Stays in the Picture) and produced by 57th & Irving. It competed in the Documentary Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Directing Award: Documentary. Following the Sundance Film Festival, the movie was picked up by Paramount Vantage and was released to general cinema July 25, 2008.

Much of the movie was filmed at Warsaw Community High School in Warsaw, Indiana. Director Nanette Burstein originally reviewed more than 100 different schools in the pre-production process, and ten schools replied, agreeing to participate. After she interviewed incoming seniors at all 10, she chose Warsaw.

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Smart Class is intiative to improve classroom experience. Due to costs involved it is not a solution for masses as it should be. However, there are many viable fully functional alternatives available. Whether it is for basic online content, peer learning, or holding a teleconference, here are some of the best Smart Class alternatives out there.

BigGyan

BigGyan, a product from iSilkRoute Software Technologies is the first cloud eLearning platform in the world. BigGyan enables education institutes and enterprises to provide eLearning to their students and employees. Some of the features of this platform include multimedia course content, forums, video conference, mobile learning, online Gradebook, attendance, parent portal. What sets BigGyan apart from other eLearning providers is that it is a complete eLearning solution. It has revolutionized eLearning by making eLearning as easy as eMail. As per the brand promise "Education Sexed Up", BigGyan aims to significantly change the way education is delivered.

Another good thing is, it is totally free.

Grockit

Grockit was created to improve the learning outcomes of students by applying the power of social networks, adaptive algorithms, and gaming mechanics to the process of learning and education.

Whether preparing for a standardized test such as the SAT, ACT, GMAT, GRE, LSAT, or MCAT or working toward mastering academic skills in Math, Reading, Science, or Social Science, Grockit students all over the world are choosing to study on Grockit.

Knewton

Knewton has developed the industry's most powerful adaptive learning engine, customizing educational content to meet the needs of each student. Whereas traditional classrooms and textbooks provide the same material to every student, Knewton dynamically matches lessons, videos, and practice problems to each student's ideal learning arc.

Today, Knewton's GMAT prep, LSAT prep, and SAT prep courses bring the brightest and most experienced teachers directly to students worldwide via a live and on-demand online video classroom. The Knewton platform will soon be open to publishers, corporations, and other organizations to power their educational content to help anyone on the planet learn more effectively.

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2tor

2tor supplies universities with the tools, expertise, capital, and global recruiting needed to compete in a space currently dominated by unexceptional programs. 2tor develops state-of-the-art technology platforms that enhance traditional offline curricula to create transformative instruction using the best educational and Web 2.0 technologies.

2tor also develops the human and support infrastructure needed “on the ground” and provides the vital—yet often-overlooked—logistical components of any online program, including comprehensive student support services from enrollment through graduation and beyond as well as practical learning experiences within distant communities around the country.

Interactyx

Interactyx worked with learning providers including prestigious educational institutions to develop engaging learning solutions.  By understanding the needs of students, knowledge-workers and consumers, Interactyx has been able to developed an eLearning solution – Topyx.  Topyx is taking eLearning to the next level, delivering a way to educate and learn that integrates the successful values of eLearning and new Web 2.0 technology for superior results for both educator and learner.

Interactyx solutions enable education institutions, corporate trainers, mentors and learning providers to affordably deliver top-quality eLearning that is learner focused.

BigGyan Cloud eLearning

Recently Santosh Bisen went to fifth innovative education forum held at Salvador (Courtesy, TOI), Brazil. His innovative teaching methods make him our teacher of the week.

Santosh Bisen teaches science at Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Chhatisgarh’s Durg district. Also a cartoonist, Bisen used his drawing skills to convert chapters into comic strips. “Convincing authorities to turn textbooks into comics was difficult. I spent my own money to design text-books. I also used cartoons in question papers,” he says. Students were thrilled with how simple science became and performance improved. “I used student’s names to frame questions,” he adds.

BigGyan Cloud eLearning

There are many pedagogic models that maybe used in eLearning initiatives.

1.         “Learning by doing” (Schank, 1997),

2.         “Problem based learning” (Barrows, 1994),

3.         “Case-based learning” (Lynn, 1996; Chen et al, 2006),

4.         “Learning by designing” (Naidu, Anderson, and Riddle, 2000)

5.         Mishra (2002) proposed an eclectic framework for designing web-based learning environments

6.         Sharma and Mishra (2007) presented another pedagogical framework for e-learning: Experience-Reflect-Interact-Construct (ERIC), where the system should provide learning experience to be accessed from anywhere, anytime through learning objects in different web-enabled formats (text, audio, video, animation, etc.), followed by working on learner reflection activity designed a priori. After performing the activity, the learner should be engaged in both ‘synchronous’ and ‘asynchronous’ interaction, leading to construction of his/her learning through group works, presentations, projects and other creative activities.

References

1.         Mishra, S. 2007. National Seminar on “Choice and Use of ICTs in ODL: Impacts, Strategies and Future Prospects”, 29-30 March 2007. http://learningindia.net/sm/BRAOU_2k7_sanjaya.pdf

2.         Schank, R. (1997). Virtual learning: A revolutionary approach to building a highly

skilled workforce. New York: McGraw-Hill.

3.         Barrows, H. S. (1994). Problem-Based Learning Applied to Medical Education. School of Medicine, Springfield, IL: Southern Illinois University.

4.         Lynn, L. E. (1996). What is the Case Method? A Guide and Casebook. Japan: the Foundation for Advanced Studies on International Development.

5.         Naidu, S., Anderson, J., & Riddle, M. (2000). The virtual print exhibition: A case of learning by designing. In Sims, R., O'Reilly & Sawkins, S. (Eds.) Learning to Choose: Choosing to Learn (Short Papers and Works in Progress) (pp. 109-114), Lismore, NSW: Southern Cross University Press.

6.         Mishra, S. (2002). A design framework for online learning environments, British Journal of Educational Technology, 33 (4), 493-496.

The Raj Mandir Cinema located in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India. During this course, students watched and analyzed several Indian films. (Image courtesy of Edward Mooney.)

Level: Undergraduate

Instructors: Prof. Arundhati Banerjee

Institute : MIT

Course Description

This course aims to provide an overview of Indian popular culture over the last two decades, through a variety of material such as popular fiction, music, television and Bombay cinema. The class will explore major themes and their representations in relation to current social and political issues. In particular, students will examine the elements of the formulaic "masala movie", music and melodrama, the ideas of nostalgia and incumbent change in youth culture, as well as shifting questions of gender and sexuality in popular fiction. During the course, students will look at some journalistic writing, advertising clips and political cartoons to understand the relation between the popular culture and the social imagery of a nation. This course is taught in English.

About MIT

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological research. MIT is one of two private land-grant universities and is also a sea-grant and space-grant university.

eLearning has become popular amongst educationists because of its inherent

advantages. Some of the are:

1.    Location and time independent delivery of course materials such as course notes, diagrams, reading list, etc.;

2.    Access to educational resources from outside the institution on a global and instant basis;

3.    Platform independent delivery, accessible through any computer with a simple browser interface;

4.    Ability to combine text, graphics and a limited amount of multimedia, enabling instructional designers to prepare quality learning materials;

5.    Increased and flexible interaction with student through e-mail and discussion forums;

6.    Quick and easy way to create, update and revise course materials through low-cost off-the-shelf software;

7.    Increased learner control through hypertext based presentation of information;

8.    Interactive and dynamic learning experience through online assessment tools, simulations and animated learning objects;

9.    Ability to serve a large number of students at a potentially reduced cost.

10. Opportunities for international, cross-cultural and collaborative learning; and

References

1.         Goldberg, M. W., Salari, S., & Swoboda, P. (1996). World Wide Web Course tool: An environment for building WWW-based courses, Computer Network and ISDN

System, 28, Retrieved on [1999/05/17] from WWW at http://www.webct.com/papers/p29/

2.         Starr, R. M. (1997). Delivery instruction on the World Wide Web: Overview and basic design principles, Educational Technology, 37 (3), 7-15

3.         McCormack, C., & Jones, D. (1998). Building a web-based education system, New York: Wiley Computer Publishing

4.         Weller, M.J. (2000). Creating a large-scale, third generation distance education course, Open Learning, 15 (3), 243-251.

5.         Bates, T. (2001). National strategies for e-learning in post-secondary education and training, Paris: UNESCO: IIEP

6.         Mishra, S. 2007. National Seminar on “Choice and Use of ICTs in ODL: Impacts, Strategies and Future Prospects”, 29-30 March 2007. http://learningindia.net/sm/BRAOU_2k7_sanjaya.pdf