How tech is changing US classrooms

BOSTON: From online courses to kid-friendly laptops and virtual teachers, technology is spreading in America's classrooms, reducing the need for textbooks, notepads, paper and in some cases even the schools themselves.

Just ask 11-year-old Jemella Chambers. She is one of 650 students who receive an Apple Inc laptop each day at a state-funded school in Boston. From the second row of her classroom, she taps out math assignments on animated education software that she likens to a video game.

"It's comfortable," she said of Scholastic Corp's FASTT Math software in which she and other students compete for high scores by completing mathematical equations. "This makes me learn better. It's like playing a game," she said.

Education experts say her school, the Lilla G Frederick Pilot Middle School in Boston, offers a glimpse into the future. It has no textbooks. Students receive laptops at the start of each day, returning them at the end. Teachers and students maintain blogs. Staff and parents chat on instant messaging software. Assignments are submitted through electronic "drop boxes" on the school's website.

"The dog ate my homework" is no excuse here. The experiment at Frederick began two years ago at cost of about $2 million, but last year was the first in which all 7th and 8th grade students received laptops.

Classwork is done in Google Inc's free applications like Google Docs, or Apple's iMovie and specialised educational software like FASTT Math.

"Why would we ever buy a book when we can buy a computer? Textbooks are often obsolete before they are even printed," said Debra Socia, principal of the school in Dorchester, a tough Boston district prone to crime and poor schools. There is, however, one concession to the past: a library stocked with novels.

“It's a powerful, powerful experience," added Socia. Average attendance climbed to 94 per cent from 92 per cent; discipline referrals fell 30 per cent. And parents are more engaged, she said. "Any family can chat online with teacher and say 'hey, we're having this problem'.”

Unlike traditional schools, Frederick's students work at vastly different levels in the same classroom. Children with special needs rub shoulders with high performers. Computers track a range of aptitude levels, allowing teachers to tailor their teaching to their students' weakest areas, Socia said.

Surge in online courses
The Internet is also a catalyst for change. US enrollment in online virtual classes reached the 1 million mark last year, 22 times the level seen in 2000, according to the North American Council for Online Learning, an industry body. That's only the beginning, said Michael Horn, co-author of "Disrupting Class: How Disruptive Innovation Will Change the Way the World Learns".

"Our projections show that 50 per cent of high school courses will be taught online by 2013. It's about one percent right now," said Horn, executive director of education at Innosight Institute, a nonprofit think tank in Massachusetts.

K12 Inc, which provides online curriculum and educational services in 17 US states, has seen student enrollment rise 57 per cent from last year to 41,000 full-time students, said its chief executive, Ron Packard. Much of the growth is in publicly funded virtual charter schools.

"Because it is a public school, the state funds the education similar to what they would in a brick and mortar school, but we get on average about 70 per cent of the dollars," Packard told Reuters.

"We don't usually get capital dollars, or bond issue dollars. Sometimes we don't get local dollars. So on average it works out 70 per cent of the per pupil spending that an average school in the state would receive," he said. "We're getting the kids who the local school is not working for. And the spectrum goes from extreme special education to extremely gifted kids," he said.

US investment bank Morgan Stanley says K12 and similar companies look set to capture an increasing share of the $550 billion publicly funded US education market for children aged from about 5 to 18 as more US states adopt virtual schools.

Virginia-based K12 recently opened an office in Dubai to expand overseas. Packard says he expects strong offshore demand for American primary and secondary education tailored for foreign nationals who want to enter US universities.

Apex Learning Inc, based in Bellevue, Washington, is seeing a similar surge in demand. It started in 1997 by offering online advanced-placement courses to parents and individual schools but now sells an array of online classes for entire school districts and state departments of education.

"Over the last two years in particular we have seen very, very significant growth in the interest and demand for our type of digital curriculum," Apex chief executive Cheryl Vedoe said in a telephone interview.

Apex enrollments rose 50 per cent to 300,000 in 2006-2007, and likely grew at the same pace last year, she said. "Where we see the greatest growth today is actually in brick and mortar high schools for programmes for students who are not succeeding in the existing programmes," she added.

Online tutoring is also expanding rapidly. Bangalore-based TutorVista, which launched online US services in 2005, estimates its average global growth in active students at 22 per cent a month -- all taught by "e-tutors" mostly in India.

Horn expects demand for teachers to fall and virtual schools to boost achievement in a US education system where only two-thirds of teenagers graduate from high school -- a proportion that slides to 50 per cent for black Americans and Hispanics, according to government statistics. "You deliver education at lower cost, but you will actually improve the amount of time that a teacher can spend with each student because they are no longer delivering one-size-fits-all lesson plans," he said. "They can actually roam around."

(Indiatimes dt. 8.7.2008)

Hefty salary hikes turn a thing of the past

Bangalore, July 7 Ask and it shall be yours, was the motto in the recruitment industry last year. The days of mind-boggling salary hikes for lateral moves seems to be over, say recruiters across the country.

Increment in salaries of people who switched jobs in 2006-07 rose 80-100 per cent in IT/ITES, retail and real estate sectors. This figure has now taken a beating with a few companies capping hikes at 15-20 per cent.

“Some IT companies have even gone down to as low as 12-18 per cent for mid-to-senior management positions,” says Ms Nirupama, V.G, Managing Director, Ad Astra Consultants, a Bangalore-based recruitment firm.

A leading retail firm which lured potential employees with 100-120 per cent hikes to their current salaries is now offering not more than 30-40 per cent even for top level positions, says a Bangalore-based recruiter.

Hiring slowdown

Mr Gautam Sinha, CEO, TVA Infotech, rationalises the sudden downturn and attributes it to companies going slow in hiring. “Earlier IT companies operated on a tight schedule and were ready to pay any price for talent. Now they can afford to wait for the right candidate rather than give in to the whims and fancies of a demanding candidate. This is also because there is a drastic cut in the hiring numbers in the industry.”

There is a general change in expectations of both the companies and the candidates, agrees Mr K Lakshmikanth, Managing Director, Headhunters India. In his opinion, premium on salary for laterals has fallen from 25-30 per cent last year to about 10 per cent this year.

Wary of switches

Employees too are wary of job switches this year, and therefore hiring predictability has increased. “While about 30-40 per cent of the candidates who took up offers last year did not join, this year the number of no-shows has come down to 10 per cent,” says Ms Nirupama.

Salary hikes offered are also directly linked to the criticality of the talent and the size of the talent pool in the area. Mr E Balaji, Chief Operating Officer, Ma Foi says even salaries that were upwards of 30 per cent last year have fallen to 15 per cent this year.

CXO expectations too have been tempered and global search firms like EMA Partners now advise executives to look for long-term gains rather than short-term compensation benefits. “Salary is not the absolute decision maker today, top leadership is now looking at autonomy and contribution to business,” according to Mr K. Sudarshan, Managing Partner at EMA.

Sharp fall in campus recruitments

There is a 15-20 per cent drop in campus recruitment from second tier engineering colleges in Tamil Nadu this year. According to officials in-charge of placement, such as Mr S. Ganapathy of SRM Engineering College, recruiting companies attribute the decline to the recession in the US as well as “poor quality” of students.

This year, companies have stringent qualification norms for reduced intake of students to offset the 30-40 per cent buffer (of students) created from last year’s recruitment, said an official of a leading software company. Much of the campus recruitment happens in June; students join the companies next year.

Also seen is a drop in the number of companies visiting the campus this year, said Mr Ganapathy. In June only six companies visited the college compared to 30 last year. Out of the 1,800 students, only half of them were placed this year during the first month of recruitment compared with 1,200 last year. Tata Consultancy Services took 441 students compared with 538 last year, he said.

Infosys did not go to SRM this year. A few companies, including Keane, postponed their visits.

Crescent Engineering College saw a 15 per cent drop in placements. In the last couple of years companies took a number of ‘non-performers,’ but axed them later. This year only the best are being recruited, says the college’s placement officer, Mr Mohamed Tajudeen. Only half of the 423 students got placements. TCS recruited 115 students compared with 185 last year. However, Infosys increased its number to 105 this year from 70 last year, he said.

Quality check

There was a 20 per cent drop in campus recruitment at Kumaraguru College of Technology, Coimbatore. Out of the 630 students 374 got placements. Only 13 companies visited the campus this year compared with 18 last year, said its placement officer Prof D. Lakshmanan. “Only quality students get opportunity,” he said.

“It is time for testing the quality of students,” said Prof B.T. Maran, Placement Officer, SSN group of institutions promoted by Mr Shiv Nadar of HCL Group. The college placed 85 per cent of its students in various companies, including Cognizant that took 246 students (highest in private engineering college) and Infosys that took 92 students. HCL took only 13 students as against 60 last year, he said.

Students passing out of newer relevant courses like bio-technology and microbiology are becoming sought after. With healthcare and life-sciences becoming a key industry segment for large IT and BPO companies, students passing out of these courses are being lapped up, according to an official of a US-based software company.

This year more multinational companies such as Accenture and Capgemini are visiting premier campuses. In fact, Accenture has got a slot ahead of Infosys at Anna University, he said.

No meaning in another meeting, says Left

NEW DELHI: The four major Left parties on Monday reacted angrily to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s statement from Japan that the UPA government would move the International Atomic Energy Agency “very soon.” to seal the safeguards agreement.

They said there was “no meaning” in holding yet another meeting of the United Progressive Alliance-Left panel on the civilian nuclear deal.

Dr. Singh’s statement came shortly after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in a letter to the Left parties, said a “draft report” of the committee was ready and it could be considered at a meeting of the panel on July 10.

“The CPI(M), CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc are meeting on Tuesday and we will give our reaction to Dr. Singh’s statement and Mr. Mukherjee’s proposal at that time,” CPI(M) general secretary Prakash Karat told Hindu The.

We will go to IAEA very soon: Manmohan

“Once we decide, the U.S. will have to fulfil its promises”

Sapporo (JAPAN): Hinting that the government was ready to take the next step on the nuclear deal, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said that he expects to rally international support from countries, including China and Australia, when he meets their leaders separately on the margins of the G8 summit at Toyako on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido over the next two days.

“Once we take the decision to go to the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) for an agreement, the United States will have to fulfil its promises. There is the July 2005 statement in which the U.S. has publicly stated they will help us to get through the IAEA and the NSG (Nuclear Suppliers Group). I hope they will do their work,” he said.

While he declined to indicate a timeline for taking the agreement to the IAEA — he said he could not reveal that while he was on a foreign trip — he noted the government “will, very soon.”

Dr. Singh flew into Sapporo on Monday evening after an eight and a half hour flight from New Delhi, seeming quite pleased with the way his government had been able to prise out enough domestic political support for the deal over the past week. “I don’t foresee an election before time,” he said confidently in response to a question whether he anticipated they would be held any earlier than April next year.

He seemed equally hopeful of winning international approval for the nuclear deal.

The Prime Minister will, in fact, be working overtime on Wednesday starting at 5 a.m. to drive two hours and 20 minutes from his Sapporo hotel to meet U.S. President George Bush at the G8 summit hotel at Toyako. He will later meet leaders of Russia, China, Australia, Canada, Mexico, Korea and Indonesia, countries which are either on the board of the IAEA or members of the influential NSG, whose approval India needs before it can hope for international nuclear cooperation.

It is not clear how many members of the NSG are still not persuaded to make an exception for India. International commerce in nuclear supplies has been limited so far to countries that have signed the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty. But Dr. Singh appeared confident of securing their approval.

He said he would reinforce efforts to impress upon the global leaders about the civil nuclear deal that goes before the IAEA and the NSG. “We obviously seek the support of the world community in both these fora,” he said. “Fortunately, we have the support of the major powers, the U.S., Russia, France and Britain.”

Answering a question specifically on China, he said, “I have discussed it with the Chinese leaders on more than one occasion. I cannot say that I have a firm assurance but I have a strong feeling that when the matter comes before the relevant fora, China will not be a problem.”

Sources indicated that the government may wait for another meeting of the UPA-Left coordination group before heading to the IAEA.