Altilab2005 - Distance Education Blog

I previously posted on a seminar on persistent social learning.

An archive of the session is available here.

Though Engineering is a discipline that requires hands-on training and practice, using expensive equipment and facilities. An Engineering degree via correspondence is  essentially not worth the piece of the paper it is written on - If you Just want a Degree, then go for it.....

There are very few Universities provide distance education for Engineering Under Graduate Courses

The Institution of Engineers (India), IGNOU and SRM University?institutes offering Engineering Courses in Distance Education Mode - Click here for details
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I'm delighted to say that the programme for the Learning Technologies Conference 2008 is now out.

 We have a great set of speakers, with keynotes from learning visionaries Jay Cross, Nigel Paine (former BBC head of L&D) and Dr Itiel Dror. There will be much more on our keynotes in a later posting.

The conference programme divides into three tracks: Learning Technology, Effective Learning and Learning for Performance. These pretty much match the 'what', 'how' and 'why' that I talked about in October's Inside Learning Technologies magazine article. (To get on the magazine mailing list, register here.)

Expect more postings on the Learning Technologies Conference 2008 in the coming weeks.

ANNA UNIVERSITY CHENNAI, CHENNAI – 600 025
CENTRE FOR DISTANCE EDUCATION

dated : 17.11.2007

MBA

(4 Semester)
SPECIALIZATION

• General Management
• Technology Management
• Financial Services Management
• Retail Management
• Health Services Management
• Human Resources Management

MCA

(6 Semesters)
EMPHASIZING

• Call Centre Management
• E – Learning
• Health Care
• Trading and Equity Management
• Banking Technology

M.Sc.

(4 Semesters)
BRANCHES

• Computer Science
• Computer Technology
• Information Technology
• Software Engineering

 Check out Complete Details - Anna University Distance Education 2008 Admission Notice

For good or bad, everyone has a view about students.  What though, of views about universities – why do they exist; what should their purpose be?  So what do you think a university should do, or be? Is its primary purpose to be a training ground for the workplace?  Should universities aim to transform the self or to transfer knowledge – or a bit of both?

Chances are you’ll see universities as having a role to play in developing students’ skills.  However, what are the key skills that a graduate should have?  How important is it for graduates to be widely read; to question assumptions; to think critically or creatively; to argue logically and well; to be sceptical; to be able to themselves well in words and in writing?  What exactly are ‘the skills for the 21^st Century’?   

Thanks to former Learning Technologies speaker Charles Jennings of Reuters for this thought-provoking clip.

Joining a home-school association, while not a required step in beginning to educate our children at home, can be a help. Associations act as a support and a source of information. Joining a group can also be a way to just stay in touch with other families who home-school. A lot of us look to these groups as a place to meet like minded families, and to socialize with other adults after putting in a full week with the kids.

There are a plethora of virtual or distance associations (mailing lists, blogs, print magazines and newsletters) that many of us join, but when it comes to a group that has a (more or less) local physical address, and organizes meetings or social gatherings, usually our choice will be limited by our geography. In Quebec right now, we choose from three main groups: ACPEQ, AQED and HSLDA.

ACPEQ is the Association chrétienne de parents-éducateurs du Québec (Association of Christian Parent-Educators of Quebec.) The web site is accessible in both English and French, and the association is open to all Quebec home educators regardless of language or religious affiliation. They offer a great deal of information on their site about getting started as a home-schooling family, and offer their interpretation of our legal obligations when it comes to notifying school boards, evaluations, etc. ACPEQ has joined forces with HSLDA to represent home-schooling families before the Quebec ministry of education (MELS.) The legal information regarding parental obligations is pretty much word for word from the HSLDA web site.

Membership in ACPEQ, at the time of writing, is $20/family/year. Because ACPEQ is affiliated with HSLDA, members receive a $15 discount for membership or renewal fees with HSLDA. Also included are a quarterly newsletter and discounts with some educational suppliers.

AQED is the Association québécoise pour l'éducation à domicile (Quebec Association for Home-based Education.) While their web site tends to have much more French content than English, it is possible to toggle some of the displays to English for ease of navigation. The site has fewer pages of documentation, and tends to be much more a place to explore forums and post notices. There are, however, documents that can be downloaded both by visitors and members. Join the forum to post comments, even if you are not a member of AQED.

AQED is a secular association - currently the only secular choice at this level for people in Quebec. It has a legal committee whose members provide informaton and general legal advice that allows a member to stay current with laws and policies. The legal committee also lobbies on behalf of home-schooling families. While AQED has ties with other associations in North America and Europe, they seem to be very independent of other groups. They prefer to debate issues internally, and also make documents/information available in order for members to formulate their own personal opinions.

Membership in AQED is currently $30/family/year, running from April to March. It includes discounts with suppliers like Guérin and Indigo-Chapters, as well as a newsletter and access to the members-only portion of the web site. There is a yearly curriculum fair/symposium that offers a day camp for the kids too. Costs for the symposium are not included in the membership fee.

HSLDA is the Home School Legal Defence Association of Canada (there is a related American association, as well.) This is a national group, rather than a provincial one. It will serve you if you live anywhere in Canada and home school your children. The group employs practicing lawyers, and many people think of membership as a legal insurance policy. If a member requires legal representation for issues relating to their home school, HSLDA will supply assistance at no extra cost. They can send lawyer's letters, give advice over the telephone (they are known for rapid replies,) and even represent members in legal proceedings.

Membership in HSLDA is currently $125/family/year, payable by cheque, money order or credit card. For those who prefer, a membership can be paid two years at a time, or the fee can be split into twelve monthly payments pre-authorized on a credit card or bank account. Aside from the legal services offered on a case by case basis, HSLDA also produces a newsletter and lobbies at the provincial & federal level. Their web site offers information on laws in all provinces and territories, as well as articles that may be of interest. My main beef with this site is that it is optimized for use with Internet Explorer only and is poorly rendered in other browsers such as Firefox, making large tracts of text illegible.

HSLDA is a Christian association, and it publically represents that viewpoint. It has lobbied for maintaining section 43 of the Criminal Code concerning spanking by parents, teachers & caregivers, which some feel is too vague to protect either children or parents. Executive Director Paul Faris is a signatory to a document that opposes euthanasia. HSLDA "has joined with REAL Women of Canada, Canada Family Action Coalition, and Focus on the Family to form the Coalition for Family Autonomy (CFA) and intervene in the case" against same sex marriage, based on concerns that legalizing these unions would lead to home-schoolers having to teach tolerance for homosexuality.

Some folks agree with their viewpoint wholeheartedly. Of those who do not, a good many have said that although they don't always agree with the stances HSLDA takes they feel it is an important service to have. HSLDA is open to all home educators regardless of faith, but makes no secret of the fact that they will act based on their Christian beliefs. Either way, there are a great number of home educators who feel a need for the type of services they provide.

Another caveat when it comes to HSLDA: the legal services you think you will receive from them as part of your membership may either not be provided, or may cost extra. HSLDA generally will not represent members in custody battles, for example (this is a frequent issue for divorced or separated parents whose former spouses disagree with their choice to home-school.)

They may not represent a member, or will charge additional fees, if any legal matter had already arisen before membership was approved (this is a process that takes upwards of a month.)

Word is that they have not until now accepted to help members from Quebec with the question of the eligibility certificate that permits a student to be educated in English and to confer that same privilege upon siblings or their future children. This may change in the near future, as HSLDA looks further into the certificate's relevance to home-schooling.

So, the choice is yours! Take the time to look around, ask questions of other home educators, and contemplate your needs and values. Some people will find one group with whom they feel comfortable. Some are members of all three.

Besides these three associations there are a number of more local groups, often referred to as support groups. I won't look at these for the time being, though a separate entry may come along later! But I did want to say that often, membership in a support group will give a discount when applying membership in one of the larger associations. So always remember to ask about group affiliations!

Best of luck!
Ruby

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I have binders for all sorts of things. Medical records, recipes - sweet and savoury, Christmas planning, Household management, School planning, School records, Finances. Just about anything really.

White binders can get boring and I could never quickly locate a binder so I have started to decorate my binders. I thought I would be able to use scrapbooking paper as inserts but there really isn't a great range of designs out there. For instance, no food ones that would suit my sweet and savoury recipe binders. So instead I am using quilting fabrics. At this stage I just cover the outside of the book then use card on the inside to cover over the cut edges. It looks neat enough for my liking. I am wondering about the whole ribbons, buttons, patches idea but I am concerned they will get wrecked with the whole being put on the bookshelf and being pulled out again.

The kids each chose a fabric and I am covering their school binder in that fabric and a small photo album that holds index cards with their daily tasks.

I am not going to write on each binder as I am the sort of person who can get tired of a certain colour or theme so I am going to just decorate binders with fabrics that appeal at any one time and then swap them around if I get bored. At least now my shelves will look a lot more colourful. lol

Here are some places that helped me with covering my binders.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7BCsk8jBQB0

http://reviews.ebay.com/How-To-Put-Together-A-Household-Orgainizer_W0QQugidZ10000000001520436?ssPageName=BUYGD:CAT:-1:LISTINGS:3

http://www.geocities.com/beadfettish/projectsjune.html

This last one was a bit over the top for decorations for my tastes but her folding technique for the fabric on the inside corners was very useful.

I have had fun decorating them and it really does help me find the binder I want in my sometimes visually cluttered world.

Best
CV

Someone found my blog by searching for home management binder and ironically, although I have one, I have never actually posted about it. I first got onto the idea of a home management binder from Flylady and then developed the idea of using binders for just about anything from Cindy Rushton.

I have set my Home binder with the following sections: Calendar (not used often as I now carry a diary although I do have a page of annual events that is good with birthdays for the family and things like carpet cleaning, major bills and dentist check-ups noted), Household routines (which includes my monthly rotation of cleaning duties), Contacts (first page is always emergency contacts and quick reference contacts like the real estate), Finances and Projects.

Projects is one of my favourite areas. I have a page for each room in the house and then one for Household and one for Personal. For example I have a reading room in this house so on it's page I have listed to sort the books into order and paint the bookshelves. In my bedroom I have find a side table lamp with a pretty shade, make the top of my dresser pretty, design and build a wardrobe. It is fun to dream and plan on these pages. And when I do get a little money for my birthday or Christmas this is often where I go to look for ideas for spending it.

I must admit that it varies in how much I refer to my binder. For me it can become just another piece of visual clutter but every so often I give it a good clean out and rearrange it to fit my current circumstances. I use a 38mm 3 ring binder as I find they come out on special each school year for students and I like how the pages sit better in a 3 ring binder than how they tend to fall in a 2 ring binder.

Due to Cindy's influence I also use these binders for school planning, keeping the kids' school work together (at this stage one binder each), favourite recipes, and medical records. My dh is not a well person and I download information off the net about his condition regularly like insulin resistance and obesity. We keep copies of all his doctor's referrals in there and his test results too. I am hoping that over time I can get a better picture of what is going on with his health and we can help him to get better.

And then yesterday I started a new one. We have to tell the government fortnightly our income as we don't receive full benefits if we have done casual work. I am printing off the bank statements and writing notes all over them with the pays and the allowances left for various things like clothing and school. This will help me keep better track of things if they decide they need to audit our declarations. My husband just laughed when he saw me pulling out the 3ring punch and a binder.

Best
CV

Perfect title for the "D" week. . .

Today is just one of those days. . .you know the type, dreary and cold and you just want to lay in bed and read.

We had friends over this afternoon. All the kids were getting rowdy and I was seeing myself popping a whole heck of a lot of Tylenol if I didn't get the noise level controlled fairly quickly.

So, I asked them if they wanted to "do school".

Tealc was all over it! (He loves school.) Jackson looked at me slackjawed like how dare I suggest such a thing to guests. Our friends eyed me rather suspiciously. . .(They are homeschooled too, and maybe that's why they were willing to give it a chance -- or maybe they still just don't know me well enough?)

Then, I explained that we could make dream catchers, and proceeded out the door. I had 4 bodies tear past me on the stairs and beat me to the table!

I think, all-in-all, they had a good time. I believe they got a bit frustrated at me as I wasn't moving fast enough, but Hey! I'm only one person. Plus, this was a spur of the moment thing, so I was truly not prepared

*SNORT* -- like I EVER am!!!

The General took this week off. I think the "pretense" is to spend more time with his family, (ie, that's what everyone at work thinks and he's not denying it). However, he's been working his tail off trying to finish off the windows he installed this spring. The molding around them that is. That man does beautiful work! I tell you, if I could somehow figure out how to keep him home and still get paid, our home would be awesome!

Well, my computer doesn't like working in this weather either, and I keep getting connection "failure" warnings, so I'm going to attempt to post this and then start dinner.