ACCREDITOR
IAO
International Issue
Latest from The World of Educational Accreditation
MAIN STORY:
Events in Focus
CREATING A
CULTURE OF INNOVATION The Reinvention of Education
IAO’s Evaluation Commission Visits
Q&A Session With Fit Per Form Center & Mr. Rudy Sleiman
In Conversation with Prof. Ashok Kumar Satpathy
IAO Evaluation Commission Member
TECHNOLOGY CORNER
HOT TOPIC
FROM THE IAO’S DESK
Cyber Security - Getting Started in Privacy Seven Things to Know About Cloud Security?
Putting Learning to Test The Educated Blogger
IAO's Membership Services
Page 25 -26
Page 12 - 16
Page 23
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Editorial Editorial
EDITORIAL EDITORIAL NOTE NOTE As we write this, our Muslim members throughout the world would have celebrated their religious event of Eid-ul-Fitr, so here’s wishing all our community members a very blessed Eid. We hope that you had a happy and peaceful day! This event is celebrated after Muslims spend a whole month fasting. This month brings us a message of changing ourselves and focus on adapting new and good habits to succeed. These teachings do not only apply in our personal lives but remain effective in every walk of life – whether professional, corporate or any other. Today’s higher education is also posed by numerous threats that can be overcome by practicing new techniques and strategies. Corporate world of today is highly competitive and to make your students stand out from the crowd, the education providers need to reinvent their education systems. They need to upgrade their academic processes that will provide such learning opportunities to their students that will help them develop a specialized skill set and a portfolio of experiences, skills, and projects that show mastery. But how can the institutions do it? That’s what our cover story talks about. Higher education is faced by major security problems too. To address this, the current issue discusses the cyber security – how and why institutions can ensure data protection in the global world; and cloud computing technology that is beneficial to the institutions by restricting access to authorized users and maintaining the integrity of data. Apart from this, we have also discussed how frequent assessments enhance students’ learning and information retention. The students learning can also be improved by utilizing social media, which is discussed in our story titled “The educated blogger”. Last but not least, you can always find information about IAO's latest happenings and a Q&A session to provide insights into educational accreditation industry. Hope you enjoy your read as much as we did while putting it all together. We are declaring an ‘open-door’ policy here. We invite our readers to contact us with ideas, comments and criticism, whatever will help us keep IAO ACCREDITOR the respected industry resource it has become. Visit us online at www.iao.org. We look forward to meeting you. Sincerely, IAO Chancellor Sincerely,
Jeff Wright Editor-in-chief j.wright@iaoaccreditor.com
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Contents
Featured in this issue
Main Story 18 Creating A Culture of Innovation
Events In Focus 06 IAO’s Evaluation Commission’s Visit to: Desh Bhagat University Archana Hair & Beauty Academy Springles Pre-School HR Global
Interview 09 Conversation with Fit Per Form and Mr. Rudy Sleiman
Hot Topic 12 Putting Learning to Test 16 The Educated Blogger
IAO Accreditor
Contents
Feedback 27 Letters to the Editor
Technology Corner 25 Cyber Security - Getting Started in Privacy 26 Seven Things to Know About Cloud Security/ Why Cloud Services?
Q&A 21 In Conversation with Prof. Ashok Kumar Satpathy
From the IAO's Desk 23 IAO's Membership Services
Editorial 02
Brief Word from the Editor
IAO Accreditor
Events in Focus
Events in Focus IAO’s Evaluation Commission’s Visit Desh Bhagat University
Commission Member views the Computer Labs
In Talks with Dept. Head
With the Officials in the Sitting Area
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IAO Commission Member arrives at Desh Bhagat University
Visits the Reading Hall
Views the Attractions
Events in Focus
IAO’s Evaluation Commission’s Visit Archana Hair & Beauty Academy
IAO Commission Member with the Head
State of the Art Salon
Hard at Training
Meeting Area for the Trainers
An Archanian at Work
Proud Team after a Day's Work
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Events in Focus
IAO’s Evaluation Commission’s Visit Springles Pre-School
IAO Commission Member with Teachers and Head of the Nursery
Gym For Staying Active
IAO Member With The Head
IAO Accreditor
Beautyful classrooms with state of the art teaching facilities
Beautiful Play Area for Kids
Kids Friendly Toilets
Events in Focus
IAO’s Evaluation Commission’s Visit HR Global
Impressive university premises
Commission member signing the site visit documents
A large and well-stocked library
SNGCE’s state-of-the-art computer laboratory
Spacious classroom
The modern Engineering Unit at SNGCE
IAO Accreditor
Interview
IAO In Conversation with
Mr. Rudy Sleiman from Fit Per Form Personal Profile
Q:
Could you please walk us through your academic background and achievements? You extensive and varied experience can be a source of inspiration for many; please share the highlights and milestones of your professional journey.
A:
I would rather expand on the professional path rather than the academic background, as the latter is an ongoing compilation of degrees, certifications, and diplomas from various and prestigious academia. My humble success story rests more on the 'personal' aspects, in terms of always to get more (experience and knowledge) in order to be able to give (even) more. I focused on building experience and learning to deal with people, through a result-driven approach, which broadened my human skills and allowed to make good on my academic and professional experience. Starting as a part time personal trainer in a local gym, I built experience, reputation, and gathered enough cash to start my own business after more than 10 years of exhausting work. Now I am the owner/ manager of my own facility, providing services, education, and experience to students and education professionals, and… the work is even more exhausting.The fact that I am doing something that I love to do sweetens that aspect, as the reward comes in daily small bits through satisfied clients, students, professionals, etc. If I were to give advice for others who may follow suit, I would stress on the importance of acquiring knowledge, putting it into practice, maintaining high standards in all aspects of your professional and personal life, and most importantly, make sure you enjoy the journey… and make it enjoyable to others around you.
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Experience
Q:
Coming in as the Owner, what are some of your long- and short-term goals for the education system at the Institute?
A:
There’s nothing more rewarding than the genuine gratitude of satisfied personal training clients, whether they’re professional athletes or simply looking to be in better shape and health. By giving trainers the tools and knowledge they need to accomplish their jobs, I hope to both do more of that, and instill a structured approach to that industry whereby scientific methods and ethical guidelines will permeate to and self-impose themselves upon the largest number of trainers. If I can act as a catalyst and enabler to that professional mindset, and somehow impose through result-driven practice by well trained professionals, then I would consider it a job done.
Q:
What's the most surprising thing you've run into thus far in your role?
A:
The large number of people looking forward to proper certification and a solid education is a good surprise. Not all have the required academic background, which sometimes causes problems, but their willingness to do whatever it takes is definitely a good point. A bad surprise often comes in the form of ‘negative’ advice by MDs, as most of them lack the required fitness and nutrition-specific knowledge, causing dissonance
Interview (because of their ‘credibility’) on conflict issues both with trainers and clients.
Q:
What do you think your biggest challenges will be as the Director?
A:
Currently, the very diverse background of trainers and their varied personalities makes it difficult to level the learning field and their coaching capacities. The only way around this is to ‘build’ them up from scratch, encourage them to do more, learn more, and experience more, in a gradual manner. Me being always present for them and helping them to resolve their problems constitutes both a ‘technical support’ service from my side, and a moral support one for them as trainers gathering experience. It is a time consuming effort which is nevertheless critical, as it allows me, in a form of continued education, to keep track of them, and them to… stay on track.
Q:
Educationists are advised to share their experience and learning. What way of information-dissemination would you say is most effective for this purpose?
A:
Hippocrates started sharing (and advising all to do the same) medical logbooks in ancient Greece, taking medicine into science and away from ‘Divine will.’ Our information-sharing and dissemination are still relatively weak, but we will definitely benefit from both ‘in the flesh’ experience sharing and information sharing through cyberspace, such as through the use of blogs, forums, etc. I hope this will soon become a widespread method towards that purpose, especially since the boundaries of space and time will not hinder information sharing.
Q:
In the wake of hiking tuition fee, do you predict a decline in overall enrollment in higher education institutes/universities?
A:
In Lebanon, a common joke is that anyone attending private university will requires many years just to pay back tuition fees. Still, we have an ever larger number of universities, and an even larger number of students, and a three years graduate degree is not given much credit anymore. Either way, what I notice from my side of things is the ever larger number of people looking for a carrier in health and fitness, and the evenly increasing demand for such professionals. Society has become health and fitness conscious, and more people are required to make that happen.
Q:
In the recent times it has been observed that many students are opting for non-traditional methods of education, like distance learning, etc. Do these alternative methods produce equally competent graduates?
A:
In my personal opinion, which is based upon live experiences I have witnessed with such trainers, any distance learning without hands-on training (even then, experience is required) can only lead to theory laden ‘virtual’ trainers with no appreciation for even the basics, such as proper posture, intensity levels, session volume, etc. and I will not even mention the particulars of a training session: athlete’s condition, moral, etc. The actual physical ‘proximity’ experience tells you things that even the most graphic demonstration videos cannot convey. As such, these are best limited to additional information for experienced trainers, demonstration purposes, and the like.
Interests & Opinions
Q:
What is your philosophy for effective teaching methodology?
A:
Most of my teaching is still one-on-one, which allows me to work around the above mentioned disparity in trainers’ levels. As with any teaching effort, I make sure the basics are well understood and practiced, for a solid foundation, then build gradually on that depending on the trainer’s capacity to absorb and practice each new ‘layer’ of knowledge. Putting teachings into practice and actual demonstrations are a very effective way to really anchor newly learned theories. Actual case studies from my own and extremely extensive and varied log of clients also provide real references for demonstration purposes.
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Interview Q:
What, in your opinion, is the perceived value of accreditation for:
Q:
Highlight and discuss any such educationist or education provider or accreditation body that in your view has played a pivotal role in the world of education in recent times.
A:
While it’s in another field altogether, a friend of mine once mentioned CALL, which stands for Center for Army Lessons Learned. It is an official web site through which the military share in-filed experiences so that their peers can benefit and go about their missions better prepared and… safer.
- Education Providers - Students
A:
Given the amount of cheap licenses available on the internet, the often but not always misguiding ‘word of mouth’, the lack of a common and credible academic referencing system, accreditation plays a crucial role in sending a powerful message for both education providers and students. This message is a clear “we know what we’re doing” which will instill a feeling of confidence in that most critical thing trainers are trusted with, the trainees’ health and performance. Erasing any doubt on the methods used and instilling confidence are primary imperatives which accreditation can help materialize. The perceived value for students is more or less the same as with education professionals, and it lies in the added credibility that accreditation brings. This is all the more critical in a world where cheap and easy certifications can be obtained for little effort and little money, often without any actual 'physical' participation. Having the accreditation puts the '1' in front of the many other numbers (certificates) which the uninitiated may otherwise equate to '0'.
Q:
Do you think IAO’s international accreditation has made a difference in the world of education? If so, how?
A:
As mentioned above, having an IAO accreditation is a catalyst for trust and confidence with all partners. The high standards imposed are a testimony of the accredited entity’s credentials, experience, and professionalism. The IAO stands out amongst all others similar organizations because of its thorough selection and qualification criteria.
Q:
Do you think technological advancement has proven to be of assistance in effective learning for students or is it more of a distraction?
A:
Technological advancements are tools. Nothing more. Depending on their usage, they can turn out to be experience and learning multipliers, or a gimmick leading to a situation of unfunded professional claims.
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Ending Note
Q:
What do you do in your spare time, assuming you have any?
A:
Assuming my ‘permanent learning process’ is not free time, then the little spare time that I have is shared between my family and close friends.
Q:
Thank you for taking the time to answer a few questions for IAO Accreditor. Do you have any parting words of wisdom for educationists and students?
A:
“Culture” in its broad sense is the key to human development. The more we learn, the more we share, the better and the “higher” off we are. Let’s never forget that.
I hope to instill a structured approach to that industry whereby scientific methods and ethical guidelines will permeate to and self-impose themselves upon the largest number of trainers. If I can act as a catalyst and enabler to that professional mindset, and somehow impose through result-driven practice by well trained professionals, then I would consider it a job done.
Hot Topic
1
Putting Learning to Test
An Art That Still Needs Perfection
C
ollege students have a hard time remembering what they’ve learned, and their poor retention rate has been well documented. In a 1980 study, 1,220 college students were re-tested seven years after they had taken a two-semester economics course. On average, when compared with a group that had not even taken the course, they scored only 9.8 percent higher on course content.
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This conclusion initiated the research in the science of learning; an emerging field that has come about as public policy and mandated high-stakes testing has focused attention on learning outcomes. In this field, scientists seek to identify instructional conditions that promote robust student learning—specifically, learning that is retained for long durations, transfers to novel situations, or serves as a foundation for future learning. Researchers have confirmed that testing—a form of practice—produces better recall than repeated study and simple review sessions. It affirms that testing is not a neutral event. Students who follow the study-test-test-test pattern had superior long-term recall of content when compared with students who follow the study-study-study-test or study-test-study-test sequences. Furthermore, both study-test-study-test and study-test-test-test models yield much better results than models where students study and are tested, and then no longer have to study or be tested on content that already has been tested. In short, practice made perfect: Students who are repeatedly tested on the full material do best of all.
Hot Topic So how does faculty create tests that truly assess what students are learning? Research in testing, learning, and assessment suggests these nine strategies for improving learning— before and after a test.
Give Frequent Assignments
Carefully Design The Test
Ask The Right Questions
Professors should give students meaningful assignments that require them to work with the material that will be covered in an exam. When students have to outline, apply, and synthesize information, they learn better than they do when they simply read or re-read material.
Professors should make sure that questions are worded clearly and that one question does not give away the answer to another. Constructing a test takes advanced skill, patience, and more time than many professors expect. Faculty need to plan their test content and questions just as carefully as they plan the outlines or frameworks they use for teaching.
Tests should require students to use their problem-solving and reasoning skills. Faculty should avoid simple recall questions such as what or when; instead, they should pose thoughtprovoking questions built around why, how, and what if. Such questions require students to work more actively with the material—which is a form of practice. As such, it leads to better retention
Faculty should make it clear at all levels—from course and syllabus to chapter and classroom—what crucial skills they expect students to learn.
Test Relevant Skills
Prepare The Right Tests
Students who follow the study-test-test-test pattern had superior long-term recall of content when compared with students who follow the study-study-study-test or study-test-study-test sequences.
A test is only valid if its questions are built around knowledge the professor has communicated to students and expects them to have mastered. It’s easy to develop a poor test that has numerous questions addressing relatively obscure points, especially if the professor is drawing questions from an item bank—but that doesn’t help students with long-term retention of key concepts.
Learning is enhanced when students must generate answers instead of simply recognizing answers that are provided. That’s why essay tests with open-ended questions are better than most multiple-choice or true-false tests. Properly constructed multiplechoice questions can assess skills almost as well, but those questions are harder to write and generally aren’t found in abundance in test banks
Emphasize Practical Applications It’s easier for students to remember concepts when they’re related to practical applications than when they’re presented as abstractions. Therefore, in most courses, theory should be kept to a minimum, used only to help students understand key issues. Of course, this depends on the students’ needs. Once students understand one application, they can more readily see how it applies in similar instances, which allows them to transfer what they’ve learned to novel situations. Such transfer of knowledge, from generalized principles to specific situations, is at the heart of all learning. Identify Critical Skills
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Hot Topic
Assess Frequently Frequent testing enhances both short-term and long-term learning and encourages students to study continuously throughout the semester. Assessments come in many forms, including quizzes, class presentations, and critiques. As previously mentioned, cumulative content tests—exams that include what has been mastered along with new material—are more effective than non-overlapping assessments of separate content.
Provide Timely Feedback Frequent assessments not only measure how much students are learning, but also reveal precisely what they are learning. If testing shows that there are portions of the material that students haven’t learned—or haven’t learned well— those portions can be re-taught, perhaps in a different way. It’s an enormous mistake to give students their corrected tests and allow them to glance at their results only briefly before turning the papers back in. Students should be able to keep these assessments so they can review their past errors—and retain the right answers over the long term.
For true learning, it’s better for professors to test early, test often—and test everything. As the term progresses, faculty should treat each test like a practice final.
Dale Carnegie taught us that if we want to remember names, we must say them often. Mark Twain taught us how to expand our vocabularies: “Use a new word correctly three times, and it’s yours.” Similarly, it’s a generally held belief that people learn a language more easily if they immerse themselves in it and speak it daily, instead of just reading a textbook. Testing has the same effect—it encourages long-term retention of information. Unfortunately, in many classroom situations, testing often is viewed as a nuisance to both faculty and students that takes away from instruction time. The typical college paradigm promotes minimal testing—usually just a midterm and a final—and students often put off studying until the last minute. They obtain better grades than they would have if they hadn’t studied at all, and they feel confident that they’ve mastered the subject matter. However, these are superficial, short-term gains, and they come at the expense of long-term learning and retention.
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Hot Topic
2
The Educated Blogger
The Internet continues to generate new applications that not only foster individual expression, but also cohesive community development. Current research in computer–mediated communication (CMC) environments such as chat rooms, newsgroups, and multi–user domains (MUDs) have revealed interesting trends in the way individual identity is presented, language is used and interactions have transpired. One of the latest developments in CMC is the weblog, or "blog." Blogs are personal journals made up of chronological entries, not unlike a paper diary. The features of a blog include instant publishing of text or graphics to the Web without sophisticated technical knowledge, ways for people to provide comments or feedback to each blog post, the opportunity to archive past blog posts by date, and hyperlinks to other bloggers. These features not only distinguish blogs from other forms of CMC, they provide new opportunities for people to present and express themselves online. Adolescents make up a large part of the community of bloggers, often referred to as the blogosphere. Perseus Development Corporation, for instance, finds 51.5 percent of all blogs are being developed and maintained by ages 13–19. A similar study finds that 40.4 percent of blog authors are under age 20. A visit to the statistics page of Livejournal.com, one of the most popular blog–hosted Web sites, discloses the largest distribution of blog authors also falls below age 20. Because blogs seem so popular with the youth, it is hard to ignore the implications for educational technology. Can blogs enhance learning environments? Can they be used in
classroom settings? This articles presents that blogs can be an important addition to educational technology initiatives because they promote literacy through storytelling, allow collaborative learning, provide anytime–anywhere access, and remain fungible across academic disciplines.
Blogs in The Classroom Weblogs are an excellent way to fuse educational technology and storytelling inside the classroom and beyond school walls. Because their format is similar to a personal diary, where recounting tales and autobiographical events is prevalent, blogs provide an arena where self–expression and creativity are encouraged. Its linkages to other bloggers establish the same peer–group relationships found in non-virtual worlds. Its "underdetermined" design, where a system is engaging, yet intuitive and easy to learn, makes it equitable for many age groups and both genders and simple for teachers to implement. Being situated within the Internet allows bloggers to access their blogs anywhere and anytime an Internet connection is available, an opportunity for learning to continue outside the classroom. Blogs are both individualistic and collaborative. Blogs promote self–expression, a place where the author can develop highly personalized content. Yet blogs connect with an online community — bloggers can comment and give feedback to other bloggers, and they can link to fellow bloggers,
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Hot Topic creating an interwoven, dynamic organization. In the classroom, students can have a personal space to read and write alongside a communal one, where ideas are shared, questions are asked and answered, and social cohesion is developed. Blogs can be multidisciplinary. Because reading and writing can be used in a variety of academic contexts, blogs are fungible across disciplines. Storytelling should not be relegated to language arts alone — students can express their perceptions on any number of subjects. A science class, for instance, can give rise to an exchange of lessons learned after a scientific experiment. A discussion of fundamental concepts in mathematics could help students understand the logic behind the formula. Non–fictional stories can help students to situate themselves in a particular historical or humanities context. A global blog could truly introduce students to international culture or politics. In short, any discipline can use blogs to approach a style of meta–learning, where concepts or contexts are discussed and articulated in both a personalized and group exchange, and ideas are built on previous educational content.
Examples Of Blogs In Practice Will Richardson’s weblogg–ed.com collects information and dialogue on implementing weblogs in the classroom. Richardson, a teacher at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in New Jersey, uses blogs for both a journalism class and a literature class. In the journalism class, students collect news stories to write about and then edit each other’s work. In the literature class, students comment and critique class readings. For Richardson, blogs allow his students to be more aware of their writing and their audience. J.H. House Elementary School in Conyers, Georgia uses a blog to encourage writing for third–graders. The teachers use to blog to spotlight select writings of children. Buckman Arts Magnet Elementary School in Portland, Oregon uses blogs to create a portal for all classrooms. The blog links among each teacher, showcasing photographs, student artwork and classroom news.
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The Galileo Academy of Science and Technology sponsors a Li–Blog–ary, where research, reading and writing is promoted using blog software. Li–Blog–ary staff finds blogs to be an effective tool in promoting literacy because of the effortless deployment and maintenance issues of blogs, as well as the focus on content, collaboration and documentation of completed tasks. The Entry Year Teacher/Mentor Blog, uses blog to "document, reflect, plan, mentor, analyze and to communicate “between new teachers and mentors, providing guidance and support. There are daily discussions, advice for lesson planning, or preparing for certification exams, and even ways to save time. Users find this blog to not only be an effective form of communication, but also an excellent way to archive knowledge, creating an institutional history. In the above examples, the flexibility and scalability of blogs quickly emerge. Blogs are not limited to individual classes or even entire schools, resonating the power of building online communities. Blogs can be used to promote reading and writing, to showcase the work of students or to exchange ideas among students, teachers or school administrators. In sum, blogs exemplify that online content creation is only limited by the creativity of its users. The characteristics of weblogs such as the personal space it provides and the linkages with an online community create an excellent computer–mediated communication context for individual expressions and collaborative interactions in the form of storytelling and dialogue. Ease–of–use and anytime–anywhere access make blogs an excellent tool for educators. It’s easy for bloggers to understand and easy for teachers to implement. It offers an environment where learning is not limited to the classroom; authors can access their blogs when an Internet connection is available. Finally, it’s fungible across disciplines — it can be advantageous in the science class as it is in the creative writing class. Many scholars expect the blogosphere to grow. Even current predictions at the size, from one million to almost five million demonstrate the importance of studying blogs alongside other computer–mediated communication (CMC) contexts, especially with consideration of the ways in which children and adolescents are using the Internet, and the ways in which school administrators, policy–makers and educators can harness CMC to promote learning.
Main Story
CREATING
A CULTURE OF INNOVATION
AIMING FOR
HIGHE ASSESSME
SCORE AT I
In a world where knowledge is available with a few clicks of the mouse, colleges and universities must find new ways to give students the skills to succeed. Fundamentally, the skills that matter most today are the capacity
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to be innovative and to be a creative problem solver. There's a whole subset of skills underneath that: the ability to think critically, the ability to take initiative, the ability to persist and persevere, the ability to work in a team, the ability to communicate
effectively. All of these are critical elements of being a successful innovator in the 21st century. The capacity to innovate as an individual is the job skill that's not going to go away. The specialized skills students need in certain areas, whether it's engineering or
Main Story whatever, may change and evolve, but the core set of competencies is the only thing that's going to ensure employment for students moving forward.
learning experiences and not through the traditional motion methods.
To prepare students for these job skills, the education providers should rethink their role in this era: they need to restructure themselves, but how? They can't teach students to apply knowledge in the lecture format, in an auditorium of 200 people; nor can they confine learning to the classroom or the campus. There will have to be many more opportunities for them to do work-based internships for academic credit, as well as service-learning and travel-learning kinds of experiences. Institutions and universities that aren't able to take on these strategic sorts of questions are simply not going to survive.
MOOCs have commoditized knowledge. It has enabled students to get degrees without ever leaving their computer screens. So educational universities and institutes need to think about what their "value added" is going to be. What's the value added of paying all that money in tuition, of attending school in person? Colleges are either going to figure this out or go bankrupt.
Reinventing The Education System Higher education is known for being slow to change, so a good way for institutions to start moving in the right direction is to provide students with learning opportunities that will help them develop a portfolio of experiences, skills, and projects that show skill and mastery. So, it is the students that are going to have to push their own education forward by seeking out
Can MOOCs be utilized?
Role of Teachers Though the students can get the knowledge they need from resources such as MOOCs, the classrooms also need to become a place to learn life skills. This is where the role of teacher comes in. The 21st century teachers need not only to be teachers rather a performance coach, i.e. not merely to transmit content knowledge but to help students think about how to use that knowledge to answer new questions, solve new problems, and create new knowledge. Flipped Classroom Model The flipped classroom model was pioneered by Salman Khan who enabled high-quality content transmission via the
Internet. The model states that competitive advantage today for an individual is not knowing more content than the person next to them-because that person will find the content they need in a "just in time" learning sequence in the process of answering a question. So a flipped classroom only has value to the extent that the teacher is really focused on helping young people think about how to use and apply that knowledge. The challenge is that many teachers don't know how to do that—they haven't been taught in those ways. They've sat in classrooms and listened to lectures, and they know how to give lectures; but they don’t know how to be a good coach. Technology Considerations Every institution needs to explore new technologies while moving forward by considering the resources and processes that are available to them. Thus far, the main role of technology in the classroom has been to stream content and to reinforce the professor at the front of the room as a transmitter of content. But now, the really interesting and important applications of technology are not to improve the consumption of content, but rather to enable and empower the creation of content--that is a fundamental crossroads for technology moving forward.
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Q&A
Professor Ashok Kumar Satpathy do you think policies contribute towards a Q: How school admission process? Can you give any suggestions for enhancement of student admission and retention in educational Institutes? of proper policy and implementation in an A: Formulation effective manner is the key to success. Success is neither an accident nor a chance to achieve. Rather it is acquired through strong determination and hard work. The growth of a school depends upon the strength of the students, rather than the “quality Input” for a healthy society and healthy nation. School is the foundation of an educational pillar and it needs to be strengthened at the grassroots level. The existing admission process is theoretical. To get entry into a school a child has to memorize certain texts to qualify for the admission for which the entire course work is being done by the parents. In long run such a student tries to escape from the school first, then from the society and ultimately from life. It is true that every seed has a capacity to grow into a tree. Simultaneously it is also true that every seed does not become a tree. What are the essential parameters to make a seed to
become a tree? The most appropriate answer is the “Fertile Land”. This fertile land is nothing but certain beliefs associated with our nourishment and upbringing, ultimately the thoughts and Attitude. Hence in my opinion creativity based admission process can enhance the student admission as a quality Input and involvement of such quality students into the curriculum is the best way for retention in educational Institutions. can accreditation from a renowned agency Q: How such as IAO contribute to an educational Institution’s success? How can it help an institute achieve higher standards in education? of an educational institution is its quality output, A: Success the so called “Product” having wide scope of employability. The success of an Institution is earmarked when it attains the competitive advantage resulting into higher standards in education. Higher standard in education? What does it mean? Is it the product that is sold in the market with an eye-catching package? Answer is obviously not. Rather the Institution should develop a process to build up a good “humane” that can bring the standards of education in innovative skills mainly in the field of research and development.
Send us your questions at: qasession@iaoaccreditor.com 21 IAO Accreditor
Q&A The evaluation process of IAO passes through a valid system. It mainly focuses on the academics which is the core competency of an educational Institution. The evaluation of syllabus, credentials of individual faculties, teaching pedagogy,
1. Involve the student from their core of heart and not by pressure
do you define an effective teaching process? Q: How Do you think that a healthy student-faculty
2. Share knowledge and experience individually and group wise
relationship can contribute to an environment that is more conducive to learning? Teaching process means effective communicaA: Effective tion. The major problem in educational institutions throughout the world is that the student is not ready to read and the teacher is not ready to teach, means there is lack of communication and lack of involvement. Sharing is the only solution to resolve the issue. An effective teaching process can be developed through a series of steps as mentioned below: 1. Identifying the need of the student, his taste, preferences, liking and disliking 2. A deep study about the upbringing, value, culture of the students 3. Identifying factors like age, friend circle, attitude which restrains the child from normal involvement in study. iv) Making performance-based groups for example A, B, C etc. student can only be identified by a teacher through his sincere involvement. Once the inferiority complex of a student is eliminated he will definitely become an asset and a good student not only in his/her studies but also in his/her behavior. 4. Introduce a seating arrangement according to the grades. 5. After a month conduct another test and based on the test result, reshuffle the Groups as well as the seating arrangement. This will motivate the students to get higher grades so they can be placed in the respective groups and seats. 6. Identify the weaker students and increase their strength through counseling. 7. Repeat the process monthly till the end of Semester Exam.
The following tools may be used to make the process more effective.
3. Activity-based learning methods where the students can get real-life experience The role of a teacher should not be limited to classroom teaching or contents of syllabus. The teacher should play the role of a father, mother, friend and guide. The need of the student can only be identified by a teacher through his sincere involvement. Once the inferiority complex of a student is eliminated he will definitely become an asset and a good student not only in his/her studies but also in his/her behavior. you please explain how a graduate from an Q: Can accredited online university has improved their employment prospects? the entire globe is inter-connected through the web A: Now and internet. The employment opportunity is vast because the global accreditation has given him a wider coverage to interact with other accredited institutions generating ample scope of employment. The IAO has launched a series of benefits for its accredited Institutions. Students’ exchange, grant of scholarships, foreign aid, launching of new programme are the unique features for online University graduates. As the degree is not confined to a particular territory like the traditional university an online university degree holder can gain employment anywhere in the world.
The role of a teacher should not be limited to classroom teaching or contents of syllabus. The teacher should play the role of a father, mother, friend and guide.
Send us your questions at: qasession@iaoaccreditor.com 22 IAO Accreditor
Upfront
FROM
THE IAO’S
DESK
IAO's Membership Services Becoming IAO’s accredited member not only provides you an opportunity to enrich the lives of your students by delivering quality education but you will also become a part of a community of almost 10,000 educational institutes. By becoming our member you will have access to a variety of benefits that are exclusively available for our members only. Once our member, you will receive a Membership Certificate & Seal that your institute can use to promote on several mediums including your website, official documents and marketing collaterals. IAO’s staff will also work with you continuously to improve your reputation and standing in the world of academia locally and internationally. Via IAO’s free career services, discounted created services, access to exclusive web-series and much more that you can see below that will enable you to enhance your University’s overall image in no time!
23 IAO Accreditor
Upfront
Increase Student Enrollments & Retention We understand how important it is for institutes to retain and increase their student base. To help you in this regard, we make accessible to our members an exclusive 12 part web-series "Retain And Increase Your Student Enrollments By 100%". Created by renowned educators, the series consisting of informative guides will be your step by step guide on ways to reach out to more potential students in your region, increase your enrollments and retain your student base.
Creative services at discounted prices In collaboration with a leading design and creative agency, IAO offers a variety of creative services to its member Institutes at discounted rates. Whether you want a logo, website or digital and print collateral be rest assured you will get designs that will best meet the requirements of your Institute and help you reach ultimate goals.
Access to IAO Publications and Events IAO members get a free subscription to IAO regional and international publications of IAO. These include but are not limited to newsletters, brochures, magazines and quality standards manuals. As an IAO Member, you will be eligible to participate in IAO's global events being held frequently in different parts of the world, absolutely free of cost.
Free Career Services for your Students When you become our member, professional advancement of your students becomes our responsibility. Our careers services are designed to support your graduating students build the best possible career locally and internationally. Our complimentary career services worth $2500 include free of cost resume writing services. Written by professional writers, we guarantee our resumes will help your students get their dream jobs.
Promotion on IAO Mediums Once a member, your Institute will be listed amongst our member Institutes, which will act as an added advantage for your Institute and you can use it to promote yourself on international forums. Additionally, we will also further promote your institute on our official blog, monthly magazine, web-news and social mediums including Facebook, LinkedIn and many others.
Discount on IAO’s Products and Services As an IAO member you become eligible for discounts on various IAO’s products and services including reduced candidacy and accreditation fee. You also get the opportunity to advertise in our events and regional and international publications at comparatively lower prices and much more.
24 IAO Accreditor
Technology Corner
Cyber Security Getting Started in Privacy The higher education sector plays an important role in the cyber security of America. Through its core mission of teaching and learning, higher education is the main source of future leaders, innovators, and the technical workforce. Through research, higher education is the basic source of much of our new knowledge and future technologies. Colleges and universities also operate some of the world's largest collections of computers and high-speed networks. On one end the education technologies have made life easier, however, these advancements in technology pose serious threats to the education industry too. The educational institutions need to focus on strategies, policies, and other tools that will assist institutions of higher education to prevent, detect, and respond to vulnerabilities that threaten college and university computers and networks. The universities should have IT practitioners at their campuses that should develop publications, presentations from information security conferences, case studies, examples of processes, procedures, and forms used by various other institutions, toolkits, hot topics, and references to a wide variety of other materials from numerous sources.They should provide practical approaches to preventing, detecting, and responding to security problems in a wide range of higher education environments. They are expected to design online service by keeping the college and university’s systems and processes in mind, balancing the education provider’s need for security with the need for an open, collaborative networking environment.Also, because one of the overarching concerns in college and university information technology (IT) departments is a lack of resources, an effort should be made to provide low-cost solutions. They are responsible for information security in colleges and universities and also teach information technology staff who implement and manage security measures. Recognizing that many institutions have initiated or are in the process of developing IT security programs and policies, an effort should be made to present practices that are useful at each
stage of the developmental process. As a community-driven, community-serving project, it is important for this initiative to incorporate experiences and perspectives from many different institutions. They are expected to design online service by keeping the college and university’s systems and processes in mind, balancing the education provider’s need for security with the need for an open, collaborative networking environment.Also, because one of the overarching concerns in college and university information technology (IT) departments is a lack of resources, an effort should be made to provide low-cost solutions. They are responsible for information security in colleges and universities and also teach information technology staff who implement and manage security measures. Recognizing that many institutions have initiated or are in the process of developing IT security programs and policies, an effort should be made to present practices that are useful at each stage of the developmental process. As a community-driven, community-serving project, it is important for this initiative to incorporate experiences and perspectives from many different institutions. The Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC) is working to improve information security, data protection, and privacy programs across the higher education sector through its volunteers and focused partnerships with government, industry and other academic organizations. Established by EDUCAUSE and Internet2 in July 2000, the Higher Education Information Security Council (HEISC) mission is to improve information security, data protection, and privacy programs across the higher education sector through its working groups of volunteers and professional EDUCAUSE staff that coordinate activities and collaborate with partners from government, industry, and other academic organizations. Through the annual Security Professionals Conference and other EDUCAUSE conferences and websites, HEISC actively develops and promotes leadership; awareness and understanding; effective practices and policies; and solutions for the protection of critical data, IT assets, and infrastructures.
25 IAO Accreditor
Technology Corner
Seven Things to Know About Cloud Security What Is It? Cloud computing provides numerous benefits for colleges and universities. By moving storage, processing, applications, or other IT infrastructure and services to the cloud, institutions enjoy increased reliability and flexibility, with lower or more transparent costs. Information security depends on three principles of confidentiality (who has access), integrity (correctness of information),and availability (ability to access information and services at appropriate times), and they take on new significance in cloud computing. How Does It Work? Cloud security involves the same fundamental issues as any computer security program: restricting access to authorized users, maintaining the integrity of data, and ensuring the availability of data and services. Cloud computing typically uses server virtualization, and if the virtualization isn’t secure, data from one segment of a server could “escape” into another area. Frequency and reliability of data backups are important, as is the recoverability of data in the event of a glitch or data loss. Institutions must rely on cloud providers to meet a certain level of availability, despite downtime for system maintenance, upgrades, or power outages. The long-term viability of the cloud provider is another aspect—institutions should have contingency plans if a cloud provider goes out of business, merges with another company, or otherwise ceases to provide contracted services. Who’s Doing It? In the past few years, companies have emerged that add a layer of security onto cloud services, and in some cases, cloud providers have acquired these companies and incorporated the technologies into their products and services. At institutions where concerns about cloud security cannot be addressed by commercial cloud providers, private clouds might be an alternative. Why Is It Significant? Cloud services are a defining characteristic of the next era of computing. Information systems cover a spectrum of requirements—from total protection to complete opennessand internal risk assessments are the means by which an organization evaluates the trade-offs and decides what level of security is acceptable and appropriate.
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What Are The Downsides? Since security considerations are more complex in a cloud environment, the likelihood rises that users of these IT services will see decreased flexibility. In some cases, many vendors lack experience with such issues. The time and expense required to effectively mitigate the security risks of cloud computing will offset some of the benefits that it offers. Where Is It Going? Colleges and universities have deep concerns about the loss of control in cloud computing, and concern about security is one of the factors limiting greater adoption. Contract terms, liability provisions, indemnification, and exit strategies are vital. Cloud providers need to be more transparent with their processes and need to evolve to meet the needs of institutions with unique or more stringent security requirements. What Are The Implications For Higher Education? Ongoing economic difficulties and increased pressure on IT departments to provide robust services create an incentive for colleges and universities to pursue cloud computing. Higher education has a special concern for intellectual property, and a cloud provider’s policy about ownership of IP might contradict institutional requirements. Cloud security is at least as much about policy as about technology. Whether in a private cloud with other institutions or contracting for commercial cloud services, colleges and universities must develop policies for how IT systems function in each institution’s context. These policies might also include security requirements for cases when individual faculty or departments obtain cloud services without oversight from central IT authority.
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It is praiseworthy to mention here that IAO stands its ground for ensuring that academic entities not only offer high quality education, career and student services. This is evident from the article “Preparing students for success”. I want to thank IAO for suggesting the areas that institutions should work upon to prepare students for working in the corporate sector. This surely represents IAO’s mission of committing to providing high quality education across the world. If the institutions practice the focused areas presented by IAO, I am sure that they will enjoy global reputation among education providers, students and employers. And most important of all, they will receive IAO’s recommendation reports to further strengthen their institutional& academic autonomy. - Jade Sason
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Disclaimer: IAO ACCREDITOR Magazine makes no warranties or representations of any kind concerning the accuracy or suitability of the information contained in this magazine for any purpose. All such information is provided "as is" and with specific disclaimer of any warranties of merchantability, fitness for purpose, title and/or non-infringement. The opinions and writings of all authors in this magazine are merely an expression of the author's own thoughts, knowledge or information that they have gathered for publication in this magazine. IAO ACCREDITOR does not endorse such authors nor represent that their writings are accurate or suitable for any purpose or practice whatsoever. The publisher, authors and contributors reserve their rights in regard to copyright of their work in the IAO ACCREDITOR Magazine. No part of this work covered by the copyright may be reproduced or copied in any form or by any means without the written consent of the publisher. While every effort has been made to ensure that information is correct at the time of going to print, IAO ACCREDITOR cannot be held responsible for the outcome of any action or decision based on the information contained in this publication. It is advisable that no person, organization or party should rely or in any way act upon any part of the contents of this publication whether that information is sourced from the website, magazine or related product without first obtaining the advice of a fully qualified person.
LETTERS IAO’s Accredited Institutes Shine In the World We are avid readers of IAO’s Globally Accredited Education Providers as it keeps us up-to-date on the IAO’s recently joined members so we can decide on which educational institute to chose for our higher studies when going abroad. And it also gives us the satisfaction of knowing that global corporate employers will accept our degrees. - Kavita Kaur & Friends
Reinventing Education The IAO’s people very aptly put the article on MOOC’s. It is true that today’s student is an informed and technologically advanced individual, which has increased the popularity of MOOC’s. Students also prefer MOOC’s as they offer flexibility, so it enables them to better manage their professional and personal lives. - Thaís Rodrigues Pereira
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