DE Resource Group Meeting

A DE resource Group Meeting was held in RNIASE Cuttack on the 16th of August. 11 teachers attended the meeting. A similar meeting was held in DPIASE, Berhampur, on the 10th of September 2011 and 7 teachers attended the meeting. In both the cases the teachers, were selected from  the Secondary and Upper Primary Schools, based on their performance, on the output indicators. The basic objective behind having these meetings is to motivate the star performers and provide them with that extra touch - in the form of additional resources, softwares etc. which will help them in becoming leaders as far as technology integration in teaching learning is concerned, in their specific districts. They will be those identified group of resource persons, who can be used by the government, while planning any ICT related programs in the state or the district as such. They can be easily a part of any state team engaged in designing, implementing, monitoring and evaluating ICT  interventions.

DE Team Outing

Recently the Orissa DE Team had an outing and visited Kenduli, the birthplace of Jayadeva, the famous poet and author of "Geeta Govinda." 

Kenduli is located at a distance of 25 kms from Bhubaneshwar, and the drive is through exquisite natural surroundings. For around 10 kms the drive is alongside River Kuakhai.

MAST SEMINAR NEW DELHI

A national seminar on the market aligned skills program, was organized by the livelihoods team of American India Foundation, on the 3rd of August, 2011 in India Habitat Centre New Delhi. The focus basically was on skilling the unskilled in India. The key note speaker was Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam, who really enlightened the audience with his erudition, which was reflected in his speech. His entire speech is of course available on his website - www.abdulkalam.com

There were a host of other speakers which included the CEO of Team Lease and HR head of Cafe Coffee Day, who made the sessions enjoyable with their wit, humor and knowledge. The most enjoyable and motivating of the sessions happened to be an interaction with selected mast alumni, who are pursuing successful careers after having overcome many odds in life.

Cuttack, Kendrapada, Ganjam and Gajapati DSCM

The first DSCM for Cuttack, Ganjam, Gajaptia and Kendrapada, districts were held on the 16th, 29th and the 30th of September respectively.

Sambalpur and Bargarh DSCM

The first district level steering committee meeting for Sambalpur and Bargarh were held on the 16th and the 23rd of July respectively. The meeting was chaired by the Inspector of School, Sambalpur and Bargarh and a review of the DE Program at the school level was carried out. All the headmasters of the respective DE schools of both the districts attended the meeting.

SAMBALPUR AND BARGARH JULY 2011 DSCM

Stewart School

American India Foundation has set up a state of the art technology center in Stewart School Bhubaneshwar and will be implementing two of its signature programs as mentioned below, for the academic year 2011-2013. The center has been set up with a generous grant of the Jain brothers (Arun Jain and Ajit Jain - Stewart School alumni) - sons of Mr. CB Jain, a retired IAS officer belonging to the Orissa cadre and has been christened as "Pushpa and CB Jain Centre for Technology." It is interesting to note that Mr. Ajit Jain is Head Insurance in the Berkshire Hathaway Group of Warren Buffet and is reputed to be the second in line of importance after Mr. Buffet himself. The technology centre was formally inaugurated on the 5th of July by Shri Pyarimohan Mohapatra, Hon'ble Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha.

Advanced Corporate Programs for Stewart School, Bhubaneswar

 Connected Classroom

 Adobe Youth Voices

Connected Classroom

Connected Classroom has an ability to stimulate learning on multiple levels, technology can enhance the classroom experience for both teachers and students. The highlights of the program are as below:

Provide Purpose-Built Technology

Equipping teachers and students of all ages with technology designed just for them is one feature of the Connected Classroom. The Latitude™ 2100 netbook is designed to meet the technology needs of students from primary to secondary schools, and is suitable for any classroom environment. It also offers a broad range of notebooks in the Latitude E Series family, powered by Intel^® Core™2 Duo Processors, for more complex applications. Ideal for teachers, the Latitude XT2 Tablet is an ultra-portable, high-performance device. With a multi-touch screen and pen, it allows for greater teacher-student interaction.

Address Multiple Learning Styles

Using multimedia technology to provide visual, auditory and kinesthetic experiences, teachers can significantly increase their students’ understanding and retention of lessons. Interactive whiteboards, projectors and audio systems help teachers differentiate instruction for multiple learning styles, individualize lessons for each student’s needs and encourage students to collaborate and communicate their ideas through technology.

 Assess Student Progress

Teachers are able to encourage participation and track student progress through response systems designed to help engage and actively assess student performance. These systems can also be used to encourage critical thinking and problem solving by enabling students to create questions as part of the learning process.

 Enable Everywhere Learning

Extending the classroom beyond its four walls is another feature of the Connected Classroom. From any device, it can assist in providing access to rich content from any device so that students can access learning material anytime, anywhere — from the classroom to the kitchen table.

Adobe Youth Voices

Adobe Youth Voices is a program with three guiding principles: Engage, Enhance, Exhibit

Engaging young people in exciting and meaningful new ways, Adobe Youth Voices provides an unparalleled opportunity for middle school and high school youth to communicate their concerns, aspirations, and vision. Young people, who may have been feeling disengaged, learn how to think creatively, communicate effectively, and work collaboratively — all critically important skills that can help them attain a competitive edge in school, their careers, and life.

Enhancing educators' skills and resources, the program provides comprehensive professional development in teaching strategies that incorporate cutting-edge digital tools. Those who work with youth can learn new ways to encourage the use of 21st century communications skills in telling stories that make a real impact.

Exhibiting participants' work is a key element of the Adobe Youth Voices program. The program provides youth with forums in which to share their vision and voice for a public purpose — via traveling art exhibits, film screenings, festivals, Internet, publications and through other local and global venues.

In India, American India Foundation is the partner for implementing Adobe Youth Voices in 46 sites (Government, Aided & NGO run schools) in Delhi & NCR, Bangalore, Hyderabad and Orissa.

Adobe Youth Voices portal help collaborate educators & youth to other partner sites and prove an        online platform to share thought & work around the globe.

Review-cum-Refresher for Teacher Trainees - RNIASE and PMIASE

Review cum Refresher workshop for selected teacher trainees of Cuttack, Kendrapada, Sambalpur and Bargarh district were held on 27th and 28th June, 2011 at RNIASE Cuttack and PMIASE, Sambalpur respectively. The workshop mainly focused designing lesson plan integrating EDUKIT. An overall discussion on the annual work plan prepared for monitoring the school teachers at the school level was made.