Theme for NSM 2011

Dear Banerjee,

 

Here are few themes:

• Dynamic Digital Knowledge
• Digital Island
• Knowledge with Active Teach
• Grow up with Active Teach
• Learning with Active Teach
• Learning with active solutions

Regards

Suneelata

Treat yourself at a restaurant, spa, resort and much more with Rediff Deal ho jaye!

my entries for N.S.M THEME

Hi

 

Here are my entries for N.S.M theme.

 

 

1. Good resource matters

 

2 .Advantage Pearson

 

3. Pearson, seedbed of knowledge and learning

 

4. Credit life with Pearson advantage

 

5 Education; not received but achieved

 

 

Thanks

Arun Jumani

 

 

                      

 

 

School NSM 2011 Theme contest

Digitising GenNxt…

 

Regards,

Shilpi Dwivedi

 

Phone number

Dear all,

 

My new phone number is 09920558801. Please make a note.

 

Regards

Soumitri

Pearson Education

 

FW: Participate in School NSM 2011 Theme contest

My slogan

1. “ Learning Today . . . Leading Tomorrow ”  
2. “Pearsonification” – Creating a better tomorrow

 

Regards,
Amit Singh

People Development (Group) , Pearson India ,
Hand Phone: 91 9999 410 689 ; Fax: 9120 4190 350.
email:amit.singh@pearsoned.co.in ; www.pearson.com

 

School NSM 2011 Theme

Hi!

 

Here are my suggestions of school NSM theme 2011.

 

EDUCATION: the key to the world

 

Best,

Dilshad

Farewell

I am writing this while I am flying to Austin to attend a meeting related to my new job, and it is just sinking in that my time at the helm of our India business is over, and that I need to find new ways to define what I do, and what my professional dreams are. I also feel the urge to say something by way of farewell, even if that sounds a little arrogant. A lot of you were at the farewell party that was thrown for me (thank you for that! I have never had so many people say so many lovely things about me!) and so what follows is not new to you, since it is what I said in my little speech. But since many of you were not there, and since I was about sixteen drinks down by then and am not sure exactly what I said (I seem to recall rambling about death and music), here is the speech I wrote out for myself and meant to deliver.

Also, I figure I should do this via the blog, in the vain hope that it will get some people writing again! Ok, here goes:

"Its been such a long time since I announced my intention to leave that I bet many of you thought I was never going. Well I am. This week. Really. You can ask Rajni if you don't believe me. She's booked the ticket. One way. Via Austin, Texas for some reason, but it only takes me back to London, not Delhi.

Its been a little over 3 years since a head hunter called me and asked me if I would be interested in joining Pearson. And you know there's only one possible response to that - Pearson? What's that?! The company which owns Penguin? Wow! And the FT? Wow! And the Economist? Yes, but you're not going to handle any of those. You're going to manage the Education business. And somehow, that was even more exciting to me. After years of selling razor blades and luxury hotels, I was finally going to do something meaningful with my life.

So I came home and told my then 8 year old son about this. And he says, "Let me get this straight. No more holidays in Bali or 50% discounts at 360. Tell me why this is such a great job?!"

But it is the greatest job on earth. To be able to lead a team of some of the most talented, creative people I have known in trying to shape India's most respected Education brand? I have been truly blessed.

Many great companies struggle to develop one or two new products a year. They make a big song and dance about innovation. We create an average of two new products a day! And we do this while experimenting with different formats, technology products, training teachers in strange places. And making Pearson recognise (as Will Ethridge said when he was here) that India may be the most important place on earth in Pearson. This was my first time as a CEO, and I never realised what an all consuming job it is. For three years I have woken up thinking of Pearson, and gone to bed thinking of Pearson. But you made me successful, and I want to thank you for it.

And it feels strange to be walking away from all this just when it is getting seriously exciting. But I know four things:

1. I know that you have the talent and the vision and the teamwork such that this company can grow despite the leadership.

2. I know that the person we have selected as a successor is a great guy, and all his previous teams have enjoyed working with him.

3. I know that Rajni is still here to arrange his life for him, and make him do everything he needs to, no matter that he might want some time off. Thank you Rajni, you really are the key to my success.

4. And I know that I have made a lot of real friends here. And I know that I am still friends with the people I knew in school, and from college, and from business school, and from my first job in Lintas from 1986 when most of you had parents who were wishing that diaper had been invented. So I am sure that I will remain in touch with you, and that makes it easier to say good bye for now.

Goodbye. For now."

Vivek Govil

Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel

University World News, London published a Special Report on e-Books in Higher Education.

I am posting my article which appeared in this Special Report.

The full report can be accessed at http://www.universityworldnews.com/

GLOBAL: China and India to dominate education e-books Joseph Tryble*
12 December 2010
Issue: 151

China and India are positioned to take a lead in digital publishing including e-books for use in higher education, digitalising existing content or developing digital avatars of print textbooks with enhanced features which, for example, can show up scientific diagrams in greater detail.

China's digital publishing industry is booming with a mammoth US$12 billion output in 2009. It is propelled by large numbers of digital readers - over 40 companies are manufacturing e-readers in China, many of them offering similar functionality.

These companies are making a big push into the market or promoting their devices to publishers and content providers. Publishers in China have digitised a large amount of content to cater for their huge domestic audience.

The large storehouse of content is integrated with e-readers as free e-books, which helps to familiarise readers with screen reading. That is important because some in the industry believe that once students start to use e-readers, tempted by the free content, publishers can later charge for add-ons such as student assessment packages for course tutors.

Chinese textbook publishers are using the same standardised format, unlike the different standards hampering the e-book market elsewhere in the world, and they are delivering open access e-books to students through CERNET, China's Education and Research Network, accessed by most of the country's higher education institutions.

Although e-books are still in their infancy, the reading devices from China - some of them with multilingual functionality - are gaining popularity in Asia as the price per unit is very competitive. This will be important for the growing student market, which is price-sensitive but potentially very large.

Publishers and aggregators have started to source these cheaper e-readers and sell in local markets across the world. Their ePub compatibility gives them an advantage, so it is likely that Chinese devices will percolate to every corner of the world.

India's advantage is its ability to create digital content for a world audience. The technology and expertise for digitising in India is an attraction, with a strong talent pool that is digital-savvy but is also equipped with multimedia and animation skills -. The number of institutions in the country offering training in these skills has skyrocketed in recent years.

Many technology companies - big ones like Accenture, Tata Interactive, Aptara, and hundreds of startups and smaller players that have mushroomed in Pondicherry, Pune, Bangalore and the environs of New Delhi - are involved in digitising.

But rather than simply copying paper books, academic content from India is being produced with digital enhancements. Indian companies could transform this sector as many are already focusing on e-learning products and have resources in place to leapfrog from pre-press content specialists to full-scale digital publishing offering finished e-books in specific academic disciplines.

e-Books and higher education

e-Books for the higher education audience evolved with Project Gutenberg which provides free e-books and is the oldest digital library, now with 33,000 e-books in its collection. The initial focus was reference books and out of print titles. STM (science, technical and medical) and reference publishers initiated and digitised their current titles and backlists, with reference libraries an assured market for such endeavours.

Then online books available on a subscription basis, the '"cluster purchase'" of e-book collections and downloadable e-books entered the academic field, making access to e-books more convenient for researchers.

Another game changer in open access e-books is the free online textbook offerings of Flat World Knowledge, used by more than 40,000 students on more than 400 US college campuses. These compete with leading textbook publishers, but new options such as print-on-demand softcovers, audio books, chapters and self-print options are innovative.

e-Books are preferred by students because of the price advantage over the print version. On average, e-books are 50% to 60% cheaper than the print version. As textbook usage by students is generally limited to the period of their course, online textbooks sold on a subscription basis have started to gain some acceptance in the US.

Digital book rentals and chapter downloads are also being offered. In the United Kingdom Amil Tolia's start up Reference Tree is generating interest with its announcement that it will offer chapter-wise academic content online.

Universities understand the utility of using e-books as textbooks. Initiatives by the US-based company CourseSmart featuring the textbooks of major publishers have helped digital textbooks gain access across North America.

But a device that could transform the higher education space in the near future will be the Apple iPad. The launching of textbook apps could make the iPad a popular choice for students.

Digitised textbook content needs to be more widespread so that students have a digital option for every print textbook.

Winning over students

However, despite the publishing industry and aggregators' efforts to convert print buyers to digital, the average student still has an affinity for the printed book. Printed books outdo e-books in portability, ease of use, and as a gadget-free experience, while the price of e-readers is still considered high for the average student.

Adoption of digital books will increase proportionally with the decrease in price of e-readers. Devices from China and India are already being released with attractive price tags. The Bambook from Shanda Literature China and Wink from EC Media India are two attractively -priced products launched this year.

However the uptake rate of e-textbooks in emerging nations is currently bleak.

Korea has positioned itself as a leader in e-book usage and promotes their use, for example through the Korean Ministry of Education-sponsored Education & Research Information Service's (KERIS) eBook Consortium for Higher Education. KERIS has formed a consortium of over 70 universities to share access to more than 8,000 e-book titles. The Korean example can be emulated by many countries.

Content creation

Authors, editors, instructional designers and multimedia specialists need to understand students' requirements in creating digital content. These include students' need to annotate e-books and provide interactive links.

Simply putting PDF content on a digital device does not do justice to digital media. Enhanced Editions and Vooks, which combine video, internet links and text, are demonstrating new ways to produce digital content.

eTextbooks can be well integrated into undergraduate courses. Engineering and the sciences need illustrations and detailed photographs. Digital editions can accommodate greater detail and clarity than print versions, while micro zooming options can benefit biology students.

While e-textbooks can integrate features impossible to offer in print versions, the cost of development would make their cost significantly higher than for printed books.

Meanwhile the multitude of file formats of e-books is still a challenge, although ePub is evolving as a more popular format, thanks to the efforts of the International Digital Publisher's Forum (IDPF) - the trade and standards organisation dedicated to the development and promotion of electronic publishing - which has adopted it.

Off-shoring digital development to countries such as India, the Philippines and Sri Lanka can keep the development cost lower. As with the success of eTutoring in off-shore tutoring, e-publishing for education too will have a larger presence in India as Indian education specialists can help develop good value e-textbooks. The technical expertise, adaptability of the work force to new technologies and cost savings give the country an advantage in off-shoring digital content development.

The Chinese invented paper in 105 AD and pioneered printing too. China is now positioned to make the world read digitally. Similarly, India's ancient writings and epics in Sanskrit are a treasure house of knowledge. These emerging countries now have the potential to contribute to learning in the digital way.

* Joseph Tryble is based in Trivandrum, India, as zonal sales manager for the global publishers Pearson Education. The views expressed here are his own.

Joseph Tryble  @ Kerala

From

SHAKTI MALIK

Hony. Gen. Secretary

The Federation of Indian Publishers

16 December 2010

To

Pearson Education

7th Floor,

Knowledge Boulevard

A-8 (A) Sector 62

Noida 201 309 (UP)

SUBJECT: AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN BOOK PRODUCTION 2010

Dear Sirs,

We thank you for having sent your entries for the Awards for Excellence in Book Production 2010.

We are pleased to inform you that the following title(s) of your Publishing House has/have been selected for the Award:

TITLE	CATEGORY	PRIZE
Principles of Marketing	Textbooks: Colleges (English)	First

The ceremony for Awards for Excellence in Book Production will take place on 31 December 2010 at 4.00 p.m. in the Auditorium in Hall No. 8, at Pragati Maidan, New Delhi.

You are kindly requested to receive the Award personally. In case you are not in a position to attend, you may please depute your representative for the purpose. In that case, please intimate us the name of the representative who would be receiving the Award on your behalf. Kindly ensure that you or your representative reaches the Auditorium in Hall No. 8, Pragati Maidan, New Delhi, at 3.45 p.m. on 31 December 2010 positively.

Thanking you.

Yours faithfully,

SHAKTI MALIK

Learning English

Everywhere you go in India, you hear the need for English Language Teaching, and to the layperson (such as I), it appears to be a recent development. Consequently, I was amazed to read the excerpt below from Ramachandra Guha's fascinating new book "Makers of Modern India" (Penguin /Viking, 2010). It is by Syed Ahmed Khan ( the founder of Aligarh Muslim University), from 1882:

"Vernacular education is no more regarded as sufficient for our daily affairs of life. It is only of use to us in our private and domestic affairs, and no higher degree of proficiency than what is acquired in primary and middle vernacular schools is requisite for that purpose; nor is more wanted by the country. It is English education which is urgently needed by the country and by the people in their daily life. It will be useless to realise the truth of what I have said by any theoretical argument when we practically find so many proofs of it every day. We see that an ordinary shopkeeper, who is neither himself acquainted with English nor has any English knowing persons in his employment, feels it is [a] serious hindrance in the progress of his business. Even the itinerant pedlars and boxwalas, who go from door to dr selling their articles, keenly feel the necessity of knowing at least the English names of their commodities, and of being able to tell their prices in English. A gentleman who visits a merchant's or a chemist's shop to make necessary purchases , but is neither acquainted with English nor is accompanied by a person knowing that language, feels his position as one of real perplexity. In consequence of the facilities afforded for travelling, respectable men are often under the necessity of sending and receiving telegraphic messages, and their ignorance of English proves a serious hardship to them.

..The state of affairs has therefore been so altered during the last thirty years that a necessity for English education is as much felt as that for a Vernacular one..."

I found it astonishing that the argument is so unchanged over 128 years, with the possible need to replace the telegraphic message with e-mail. And still we debate...

Vivek

Sent from BlackBerry® on Airtel