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

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