The Future of Teaching and Learning Will Always Need the Humanities

Study of humanities was relevant in the past and is equally relevant in the present. The study of humanities is the unavoidable discipline and it is beyond any argument that study of humanities will remain equally important in the future too. The fact is our world is shrinking day by day due to the prominence of scientific inventions and the dominance of information technology. But there is no science in this world which is not for humanity or which does not remain inclined to the needs of humanity.

The term ‘humanities’ has been derived from the Latin word ‘Humanus’. In Latin the word signifies human, who also means “cultured’ and “refined’ too. Irrespective of any linguistic assertion human beings do possess tenderness, kindness and rationality. All these latent qualities bring forth different connotations being carried by the vehicles of beliefs, values, environments and experiences.

All these qualities contribute to the refinement of the basic qualities of a human being. So the thought and belief about the study of humanities has the power of “walking an extra mile in some other’s moccasins”. The illustration of this quotation is, if you are literate in ‘humanities’ you can market your product more than those who are not. No body will deny that cross-cultural understanding will be powerful booty to make use of it in this global village. That is why teaching and learning will always need the humanities, in a substantial way.  
   
Humanities constitute many variables. By studying humanities we become closer to many horizons that our life can offer through the profoundness of literature, philosophy, art, music and history. So, any solid grounding to any / many of these studies followed by its perseverance enriches our existence. Any nation can be politically liberal or conservative, independent studies of humanities can lead the people towards better thought processes. It also enables one to catapult the general synthesis of rational of happenings of things.

Business world is grateful to teaching and learning humanities
The need of teaching and learning humanities is more prevalent in this virtual world. The more you are exposed to the world, the more you need to learn many languages and foreign cultures. Every country is expanding its business throughout the world. The product may be a simple “pin” or the “powerful medicinal or defense product”, hence knowing or not knowing the local language or local culture will make the difference. Since the vendors are many, the aptness of marketing will be seen through the deal. There are many countries that do not use a single language as the medium of correspondence, rather they oblige and prefer those who come under their language or cultural folds. Japanese audience will love the Japanese speaking vendors. Spanish speaking countries compel the English speaking businessmen to become closer in the language they prefer to. Many such examples can be sited when, albeit many resources, the business world need the support of humanities.    

Even if there is no obligatory part involved as above, your business can only grow in this global environment if you can communicate freely and frankly with your business partners across thee world. Here comes the benevolence of humanities.

Education and Research world is grateful to teaching and learning humanities
Other than business world, scholars / scientists / researchers and such luminaries do not want to be called as ‘awkward social geek’ due to their linguistic problems. They feel relieved if and when they can communicate their ideas to the wider audience. A few may contradict the idea and argue that why the luminaries need the orientations of humanities?

The answer is simple, teaching and learning humanitieswill introduce us to the ideas and thoughts to the specialist and outside world where we can enjoy our relevance, attain new directions and also increase our creativity. If a society is to be successful, it has to be assorted with the refined integration of generosity, compassion, civility, charity, altruisms where the characteristics of emphasized and evaluated humanities make its presence felt.

Read on: How can you establish the relevance of studying humanities for today and also for future
About PracTutor
Started in April -2012, PracTutor (www.practutor.com) is an adaptive learning platform to help students excel in Math and English. PracTutor is part of emPower Training Solutions (www.empowerbpo.com) that has been providing online compliance solutions to 100+ healthcare practices and hospitals since the last 4 years.
To learn more about PracTutor follow us at:
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Digital Learning Day aims to change education’s direction

Program organizers launch 'Project 24,' which gives districts a customized digital learning plan; a Massive Open Online Course for educators to learn about ed tech; and more

Throughout the rest of February, educators are encouraged to capture digital learning in action.


With an overwhelming 25,000 educators participating in Digital eLearning Day on Feb. 6, ed-tech supporters used technology-based projects, lessons, and enthusiasm to mark what they called a perfect time to launch a national digital learning campaign.

“Every day should be Digital Learning Day,” said Karen Cator, director of the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Educational Technology. “Access to technology has become as important to learning as access to a library, yet teachers remain the critical link between students and the content.”

Cator said teachers are setting expectations for multiple “revision cycles” of student productions, made possible with “professional tools for writing, composing music, creating video documentaries, and design.”

“They are learning along with their students and modeling good questioning and internet research strategies, assigning more complex and challenging projects, and facilitating communication and collaboration even across borders,” she said.

“The president and I are convinced that with technology, we have an extraordinary opportunity to expand educational excellence and equity, and personalize the experience for students,” said Education Secretary Arne Duncan, who attended Digital Learning Day in Washington, D.C.

Mr. Donovan’s class at Jamestown Elementary in Arlington, Va., presented their favorite apps during Discovery Education’s webinar celebrating Digital Learning Day.

Along with teachers, students, and parents representing all 50 states, Digital Learning Day garnered support from nearly 50 national partners and 25 corporate partners.

Efforts included:

• Facebook worked with a range of stakeholders to develop resources and tools to help educators understand how to use social media inside and outside of the classroom.

• KnowledgeWorks’ World of Learning blog featured essays about the benefits and opportunities of digital and blended learning. Throughout the year, Principal Erin Frew of Cleveland’s West New Tech High School (who also works for KnowledgeWork’s New Tech Network) will be an expert resource for Digital Learning Day’s toolkit to help teachers in specific subject areas.

• The National Council of Teachers of English released a Framework for 21st-Century Curriculum and Assessment that recognizes that to be 21st-century literate, students must become proficient with the technology tools and use them to create and manage information, build meaningful relationships with others so they can inquire and work together, reflect on their own work processes and products, critically evaluate the multimedia sources and tools they use, and use these sources and tools ethically.

• American Graduate: Let’s Make It Happen, a multi-year initiative of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, featured its Classroom Resources on the Digital Learning Day website. Classroom Resources connects teachers, parents, and students with easy navigation to the best of public media’s educational resources targeted to middle and high school youth.

• The National School Boards Association will be hosting its annual series of Technology Site Visits this spring to provide school leaders and educators with an in-depth look at the policies and practices that support digital learning.

• Global Kids, an in-school and after-school New York City youth program, had high school students learn about game design skills and global issues using the online platform Gamestar Mechanic. These students became expert mentors and will lead workshops across the city and enroll youth in the National STEM Video Game Design Challenge.

• The Alliance for Excellent Education (AEE), which hosts Digital Learning Day, is offering Digital Learning: Lessons in Action, which incorporates multiple strategies with digital learning, such as collaboration, personalized learning, project-based learning, flipped classrooms, virtual access to experts, and simulations.

Perhaps most noteworthy, AEE has more than 250 school districts, representing approximately 2.5 million students across 42 states, participating in its groundbreaking new initiative, called Project 24, which will help school districts plan for, and effectively use, technology and digital learning.

The “24” in Project 24 represents the next 24 months, a time during which the nation’s education landscape will change greatly as states and districts face numerous challenges—including the need to implement college- and career-ready standards for all students; use online assessments to gauge comprehension and learning; push for greater system and classroom innovation; deal with shrinking budgets; and contend with demands of states’ waivers from key provisions of the No Child Left Behind Act.

To participate, a school district must (1) sign up at www.all4ed.org/project24; (2) assemble a team composed of the district superintendent or a representative, a district curriculum leader, the district technology director, and a district professional development leader; and (3) take the free self-assessment. Upon completion of the self-assessment, a confidential, customized report will be generated for each district.

“With Project 24’s self-assessment tool, district leaders can frame their vision for student learning, begin to recognize the various aspects of the system that need to be addressed, and specify how technology can help align these efforts to achieve higher college- and career-ready standards,” said Bob Wise, AEE president and former governor of West Virginia. “It will help district leaders move beyond counting computers and internet connections to analyzing how they can integrate technology into their instructional plans.”

Partnering with other national membership organizations, the Alliance has identified a framework with seven major components that will provide education leaders in states and school districts with tools to make good decisions about how technology aligns with the goals and visions for their students. The framework will provide assistance to districts on (1) academic supports, (2) budget and resources, (3) curriculum and instruction, (4) data and assessments, (5) professional learning, (6) technology and infrastructure, and (7) use of time.

In conjunction with the Friday Institute for Educational Innovation at North Carolina State University, AEE has developed a Massive Online Open Course for Educators (MOOC-E), called “The Digital Learning Transition in K–12 Schools: A Planning MOOC for Educators.” The six-week course is designed to provide a new type of learning experience for education leaders, one that will help them identify the potential of technology-enabled learning opportunities for the district, including its leaders, teachers, and students. The course will kick off on April 8.

More information on Project 24 is available at www.all4ed.org/project24.
Want to get even more involved? Throughout the rest of February, educators are encouraged to capture digital learning in action. Enhance and share your photo using the Instagram photo app, and tag it using #DLDay and @digitallearningday. Remember to review Instagram’s policies, and be sure that any students included in your photo have necessary waivers. Digital Learning Day will post the best photos on its website, and there might even be prizes for the best photos at the end of the month. Learn more here.

Three Useful Tips for Integrating Videos in e-Learning Courses

There is a very famous quote which goes, “Show, don’t tell”. Taking this principle into account, there is a need for an interactive learning model wherein students can learn through videos and images. E-learning courses try to follow this principle so that students can learn in an unconventional manner but retain major part of the learning. E-learning developers are circumspect to use videos/images in the e-learning courses. But if the tips given in this article are taken seriously, then you can create amazing content with the help of videos in e-learning courses. Let us look at these tips:

• Videos should be used to depict behavioral skills: There are times when it is very difficult to explain things to students especially when you want to teach them about body language and other soft skills. In such scenarios, videos can be best option. These skills need to be seen to understand rather than reading them. Moreover; videos make the content very attractive and visually appealing especially if the course requires practice to master.
• Videos should be short and to the point: Always bear in mind that your target audience does not have the patience to see a full length feature film. It is always advisable to break the length of the video to less than 3 minutes. Try to keep the introductory video short, so that it captures viewer’s attention. If you wish to integrate audio podcasts to the content it usually can be of a maximum 10 minutes. But it has been observed that viewers normally tune off from the content after initial couple of minutes. Hence, the success formula for integrating videos is shorter is better.
• Videos should integrate different social media tools to make it interactive:  Give an option to the audience to offer feedback or post a comment on your videos. This will make them think about various suggestions and questions that they have on that particular video. You can also add questions and quizzes on the basis of the video content. If you integrate various social media tools to the video it will make it easier for the viewers to post the questions to their colleagues and get relevant answers to the questions. They can even taken the help of experts to learn more about that subject.

About PracTutor
Started in April -2012, PracTutor (www.practutor.com) is an adaptive learning platform to help students excel in Math and English. PracTutor is part of emPower Training Solutions (www.empowerbpo.com) that has been providing online compliance solutions to 100+ healthcare practices and hospitals since the last 4 years.
To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor
PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
http://www.practutor.com
Contact:
Hardik Parikh, Co-founder and CEO
12806 Townepark Way,
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
Direct (502) 400-9374
Email: hardik@practutor.com
Twitter: @hardikvparikh
Blog: http://hardik.practutor.com

3 Activities That Boosts the Working Memory in Children

Children are the future of human mankind. Hence; it is very important to boost the working memory, which is an integral part of brain development process for children. In this article; we look at different activities which can boost the working memory in children.

A well known scholar once said “A good memory is like a bagful of gold.” Therefore it is very important to build the + memory of children in their formative years. Working memory stores crucial information, while other material which is taught in schools forms the foundation for complex skills and knowledge. Children are very innocent in their early days. Hence, they can retain lot of information in their brains. A child who has poor working memory will find it extremely difficult to take on activities and face problems in learning. A recent research claims that memory deficits, if not found in early childhood can lead to extreme conditions; that can affect the academic performance of the child.
Let us now see different activities that can boost the working memory in children:

• Kim’s game: This is a very popular game played by young kids that provides memory building exercises for them. It contains various selections of objects and number of words. These things are displayed to the child and then the objects are covered up. Kids then have to determine which item has been removed. This game can be played with different sets of objects.
• Repetition: This activity ensures that children retain information for both short term and long term memories. It consists of reciting times tables, test questions and regularly viewing vocabulary cards. Study shows that with regular retrieval practice the child’s memory can be increased substantially.
• Number and letter sequences: If you want to teach your child a foreign language then number and letter sequences is a very probable answer. It comprises of short number sequence and then gradually builds up digit by digit. The child then gets a minute to revise it after which the number sequence is removed completely. The child then has to recall as much of the sequence as they can. This process is repeated for letters.

About PracTutor
Started in April -2012, PracTutor (www.practutor.com) is an adaptive learning platform to help students excel in Math and English. PracTutor is part of emPower Training Solutions (www.empowerbpo.com) that has been providing online compliance solutions to 100+ healthcare practices and hospitals since the last 4 years.
To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor
PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
http://www.practutor.com
Contact:
Hardik Parikh, Co-founder and CEO
12806 Townepark Way,
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
Direct (502) 400-9374
Email: hardik@practutor.com
Twitter: @hardikvparikh
Blog: http://hardik.practutor.com

Points that distinguish thriving e-learners from successful classroom students

There has always been a huge debate over classroom education and e-learning courses. In this blog; I have tried to integrate some points that distinguish between thriving e-learners from successful classroom students.

Initially online education was regarded as a burden; because you had to research a lot on decent courses on internet and then enroll them. But with times, technology has evolved; and now we are seeing e-learning courses everywhere. In fact there is no restriction of age group to enroll for online education. Now this is great news for people who wish to be learners throughout their lives irrespective of their age. Now even K-12 students are using e-learning courses to make their creativity sound. This is a welcome change and there is many more to come in near future. But what are the distinguishing points that make e-learners different from successful classroom students? This blog will answer this question by providing some valid points of difference between both these teaching mechanisms. In the end you will be able to be answer the question whether online education is better than classroom education or vice versa? So let me start off with the points:

• Personal responsibility: As far as classroom teaching is concerned the personal responsibility of the students’ lies with the ability of doing the things that are explained in the class by the teacher; nothing more or less. Whereas; in case of e-learning students have to take charge over their learning. They cannot depend on anyone to explain them what to do next. They need to complete their task on time without any supervision, facilitate the work by submitting it to the teachers hence; there is more personal responsibility in e-learning courses than in classroom learning.  

• Guidance and direction: In a typical e-learning course the student will wait for the teacher’s guidance to complete the task but will not entirely depend on it. But in classroom education, students have been taught to follow what has been taught in a rigid manner. There is no scope for improvisation.  Good self direction is a very important component in education and learning. I have also emphasized this point several times in my blogs that self learning is the best learning. Hence; e-learning courses are a step ahead as they make students independent and think creatively while resolving the problem which is quite impossible in classroom education.

• Working independently vs. in group: Now this is a big point. Because as you know in e-learning courses the scope of doing group activities is minimal. You can interact with each other by organizing an online discussion forum but that personal touch of one-on-one interaction is missing from e-learning courses. Moreover, the time factor is also an important component and the students have to achieve their goals in specified period set up by the tutor. Whereas; in classroom education teachers can use this as an opportunity to make students work in group. This also makes them cover up each other’s weaknesses and built on their strengths. Hence; in terms of group activities class room education is far better than e-learning.

From the points mentioned above; we can say that e-learning has a key role in the future of education section. Hence; there is no way to confirm that classroom education is better than e-learning courses. But this is a huge debate which will never end. I would like to conclude this blog by inferring a quote from Arthur C. Clarke,

“Any teacher that can be replaced by a machine….should be!”

If you wish to share more points with us that distinguish between thriving e-learners and successful classroom students; then follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://hardik.practutor.com. We will be glad to receive your feedback.

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way

Louisville, KY 40243-2311

United States

http://www.practutor.com

4 Classic Way to Study Without Being Distracted

In this age of 21st Century Learning; students often find it difficult to concentrate on studies due to various external factors. But when it comes to tests students have to start preparing for it as soon as possible. They have to avoid being distracted and concentrate on their studies. Let us look at various ways through which students can study without being distracted:

• Study outdoors: Take the necessary study material and go outside. Do not take the computer with you. I find it extremely convenient to read, write and study outside without any difference of TV, music or internet.
• Make use of paper: Paper is far less distracting than computers. If you wish to study typed it is advisable to print them and then study avoiding the computer. This will help you to study without any deviation that comes from pop-ups in the computer.
• Keep a check-list ready and write things down: When you get distracted the best thing to do is to write things down so that it gets registered in your brain. This will help in getting a focused approach on the priority tasks so that it is not left out to be completed.
• Take some free time out: Sometimes it is better to take out some leisure time. It helps in getting things sorted out and increases the concentration when you go back to study. You can concentrate a bit harder once you have had some fun time.

Enchanted learning has become of prime importance in recent times. We are already seeing students striving to get their best while attempting a quiz or test. Hence; it becomes very important for teachers and parents to see that students are not distracted from the studies.
To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://www.practutor.com

Different Perspectives on Quality of Online Tutoring

Online tutoring has become an integral part of education in the 21st century. In this article; we have discussed about different perspectives on quality of online tutoring.

I have read a lot of things written about online tutoring. Interestingly, I found that quality is one of the most important components of online tutoring. It is very important for the designers to formulate the course pattern in such a manner that the learning objective of the student is met. Let me first discuss about the definition of quality in perspective of online tutoring.

“Online tutoring is apt for individual based learning aptitude, personality and pace of the learning while imparting knowledge, skills and application. So quality of an online course can be measured in terms of knowledge gained by the students and how they can apply problem solving techniques to it.”

FACTORS AFFECTING QUALITY

Quality of online tutoring cannot be evaluated on the basis of information grasped by the students as each and every student has their own grasping power. Hence, there are different factors which determine the quality of online tutoring:

• Quality of the tutor: The role of tutor has a very crucial role by making the content personalized in such a manner that the students do not miss one-on-one teaching. The other criteria which makes the quality aspect an unsurpassable component of online tutoring is the ability of the tutor to engage the children by introducing novelty in the course pattern and provide exciting opportunities to the students to study their favorite subjects. The tutor should have a firm grip on the subject that they are teaching along with proper training of accents so that they can teach students from around the globe.

The major implications for the quality aspect of the tutor include:

• Online course providers should recruit only those tutors who are academically strong in the subject knowledge and teaching skills
• Provide systematic training to the tutors to an alien audience to build their online tutoring skills

• Process control: Online tutoring is a person-to-person service. In order to develop proper synchronization between tutors and students a robust quality monitoring mechanism needs to be developed ensuring quality. Real-time monitoring helps in ensuring quality. Having a centralized teaching facility and tutors helps in building and maintaining quality tutoring.      
• Quality of the content: Content covers up lots of things like teaching material, books, notes and exercises. Since the focus of online tutoring is on personalization different approaches need to be implemented for different students. It is always to take a pre-enrollment test before the student enrolls for the course. This will make the online tutors the strong and weak points of the students and they can then design customized course according to the intelligence quotient of the student.
• Technology and infrastructure: Technology and infrastructure have a key role in designing the course design. If the technology and infrastructure is not apt then it is impossible to design the online course. The voice conferencing software, whiteboard etc. should be reliable and should not lead to wastage of time so that there is smooth functioning of sessions.

To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://www.practutor.com

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States
http://www.practutor.com

ONLINE TUTORING TO BE OR NOT TO BE

Tutoring – to be or not to be

It is always fun to have a healthy discussion on a hot topic because it brings about the best information on the subject matter. So, I read lots of articles on the subject “What is the relevance of tutoring in the 21st Century Education? Does it really serve the purpose of providing quality assistance to students?” The research showed that day-by-day the number of class sizes in schools are increasing which makes it tougher for the students to get personalized attendance from the teachers. Although technology has made things easier for us, students have become the ultimate sufferers because of the trend. I have seen students hooked on to computers for a long period of time to do their homework, to access chat rooms, instant messengers, games and more. With that the admissions in schools and colleges have become competitive. Students now have to get specialized knowledge in addition to regular studies to stay competitive and keep maintaining their grades. Moreover, parents have also become busier. We are already seeing both parents of children working to maintain the house. This adds up to the pressure and shows how the current generations of students are facing problems to cope up with the students.

Even if a student is struggling to get the right grades in schools and colleges, it is not their fault. Tutoring is not meant to replace classrooms but it is an augmented facility which helps the students to get proper guidance which is now missing in classroom education. A classroom is the basic foundation on which the house i.e., student’s career stands. But if you do not have a good structure i.e., proper guidance, come winter it would show up cracks. Hence; it is very important to have a good structure so that all the cracks in the foundation are filled. I found some interesting facts which provide enough evidence to showcase the real need for tutoring in the 21st century education:

• Provides personalized, one-on-one attention
• Gives a chance to students to clarify doubts and ask relevant questions
• Builds confidence and develops study skills in students
• Provides growth opportunities to students

I also researched a lot to understand the key characteristics that define a good tutor. Let us look at these characteristics:

• Enjoys working with children and build good rapport with the child
• Should be kind, understanding, patient and fair
• Should be able to teach alternative methods for better learning of the children
• Should be able to initiate customized plan for each child so that there is personal growth in each child
• Should have a workman kind of spirit i.e., They should be punctual, dependable and steady

The next step was to understand the role of tutors in the lives of students. An interesting quote from Helen Keller came across while I was researching on the topic. It read “The only thing worse than being blind is having sight but no vision.”  This quote is absolutely true. Without proper guidance and instruction, children will lose focus and concentration. The most astonishing detail that I found while researching on the importance of tutors in the lives of students was that even in the most comprehensive schools in USA (even government schools) the teaching quality was poor. The teachers would spend the entire first term on complex numbers, the next two terms on the next four topics leaving the last three topics to be rushed in the last few weeks of the exams. One of the prime reasons for this is low expectation from teachers for the students. The most depressing thing is that teachers were going through the motion and completing the course for the sake of it without imparting proper guidance to the students.

You can get relevant details on the topic by copying and pasting this URL on a separate browser:

http://www.duxcollege.com.au/importance-of-tutoring-i-64.html

Let us shift our focus to tutors and understand how they can play a significant role in the lives of students:

• Understanding the expectations of the student from the course deliverable
• Determining the type of content relevant for good preparation for exams and using it in the best possible manner for the student
• Providing proper feedback to the students after assessing their results
• The need for closely following the curriculum followed at schools including examination patterns
• Providing alternate methods to students in case they do not understand the orthodox method of teaching
• Discussing the progress of the student with the teachers and parents

So, we can say that a tutor is someone who has a central part in the education of the students. They are the ones who stand as a pillar between teachers and parents and intervene with either of them to get the best results for the students.  But tutors also have their own share of problems. They need to deal with a predicament of providing assistance to students or doing the work for them. Normally we find that tutors have also been teachers hence; it becomes very difficult for them to change their attitude. When you are working as a tutor you have to develop the perception that students are not reading on their own. They find it difficult to grasp the subjects in classroom atmosphere. The accountability factor also is higher in comparison to teachers. While teachers do not directly share the burden of each and every student, tutors have to not only help the students in their day-to-day assignments but also solve the concerns of the students personally through a step-by-step process. This way student can get the desired attendance from the tutors and are able to excel in their studies.

I suppose now you have a clear idea of the importance of tutors in the lives of students in 21st century education. You can also go through the following URLs to get more information on this subject:

http://www.anokaramsey.edu/en/resources/Success/TutoringSrvcs/becometutor/TutorTraining/M1-Role.aspx
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3292071/
https://expattutor.wordpress.com/2012/03/03/each-tutors-most-crucial-dilemma/

The next topic of discussion was the role of parents in enhancing the education of the students. Parents are role-models for the students. Students adopt the characteristics of parents sub-consciously. Hence; it is the moral responsibility of the parents to take care of the tutoring business of their children. In an interesting article on “Better tutors vs. better parents: recent PISA study”, OECD conducted several exams as a part of their Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) testing the knowledge of 15 years old students on the basis of science and math problem-solving techniques. The results found that parents who are more focused on their child’s education play a key role in the student’s achievement. There were two findings of the studies which included:

• 15-year-old students whose parents often read books with them during their first year of primary school show markedly higher scores in PISA tests than students whose parents read with them infrequently or none at all.
• The performance advantage among students whose parents read to them in their early school years is evident regardless of the family’s socio-economic background; and parents’ engagement with their 15-year-old kids is strongly associated with better performance in PISA tests.

This goes to show that good parental actions towards child’s learning at home can boost their confidence. It also helps them in taking tutoring lessons seriously. To learn more about the role of parents in their child’s academic achievements copy and paste the URL on a separate browser:

http://www.zimbio.com/NY+Caregivers+Net/articles/zPR-Pkn_rZW/Better+tutors+vs+better+parents+recent+PISA
http://www.independent.co.uk/student/magazines/home-help-parents-play-a-vital-role-in-learning-395323.html
http://grupsderecerca.uab.cat/grai/en/content/parents-tutoring

So, in short we can say that both parents and tutors have an equal importance in helping the students excel in their studies with flying colors.

In the next blog, I will discuss about private tutoring and how it is affecting the performance of students.
To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://hardik.practutor.com

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States
http://www.practutor.com

3 Progressive Methods to Make e-Learning a Running Success

E-learning has taken over the globally. Students are now able to learn without any limitations of geographies and continents. In this article; we look at different methods which make e-learning a running success.

Students are often skeptical about enrolling for e-learning courses. Often the case is, that students are concerned about the kind of help that they can get from the external teachers when they enroll for the courses. The other concern for the students is to stay self motivated for the entire duration of the course. Parents are also concerned whether their children are actually learning from these courses. Hence, there is a need for a feedback mechanism through which parents can reach the teachers through online access and discuss about the progress of their children. It has to be a three-way process where the parents learn about their child’s progress through external teachers. Let us now look at different progressive methods which make e-learning a running success:

• Take regular guidance from your teachers: E-learning courses provide variety of options to the students. It is very important for the students to take use of the guidance from the external teachers. You can ask relevant questions through email and clarify your doubts. You can even call the teachers. Teachers are always available 24 x 7 to help you on assignments and solve your problems.
• Meeting deadlines for projects: You should be able to meet all the deadlines for the projects just like the traditional educational setting. Projects will have a deadline to be met otherwise you will not get credit for the courses.
• Basic requirement of computer knowledge: E-learning courses are conducted through computers. Hence, it is very important to have the basic knowledge of computers. If you can send emails then taking an online class should not be a problem for you. The courses are designed in such a manner that the students can easily access their favorite topics in courses immediately.

To learn more about PracTutor follow us at: http://www.facebook.com/PracTutor, http://hardik.practutor.com

PracTutor
12806 Townepark Way
Louisville, KY 40243-2311
United States
http://www.practutor.com