The innovative educator’s manifesto- what the next decade of learning looks like
Exploring the culture paradigm across AI, VoiceTech, and Blockchain in education
Can educational institutions really change in the way they function and think?
Today, students are more prepared than ever, even before they enter college. Not in terms of the subject (not always at least), but in terms of what they want to do and which college they choose to do their course in.
All thanks to the power of the internet. The internet today has enabled more learners to not only pick and choose what they want to learn but also how they want to learn it. Places like Lamda School allows students to learn how to code without having to pay anything upfront.
While political pressure and the cost of getting a degree, the trend is now shifting towards the core essence of learning. This quote from John Holt sums it all up:
“We can best help children learn, not by deciding what we think they should learn and think of ingenious ways to teach it to them, but by making the world, as far as we can, accessible to them, paying serious attention to what they do, answering their questions — if they have any — and helping them explore the things they are most interested in.” ― John Holt
Technology, at the outset, is driven by culture. John Holt’s quote highlights the true culture of education, which was blindsided for all these years by higher educational authorities. Now that students are more cognizant of what, where and how they want to learn- technology is now sitting at the sweet spot of helping students learn better.
In terms of technology- AI, VoiceTech and Blockchain- is it moving the needle in the education sector? Let’s take a look.
AI- the beast beneath the buzz
What does AI really help with both teachers and students? Let’s take a quick look at that first.
- Teachers collaborating with AI: As AI continues to mature, it is helping accelerate personalization, effectiveness in communication and automating admin tasks. All of this so teachers can find more time to provide better learning context and adapt lessons to each student’s IQ and pace.
- Leading the race of customized learning: While a teacher cannot individually teach each student of the class, and AI-driven machine can help students to help identify gaps in knowledge and give tailored challenges based on the learning pace. Carnegie Learning Inc provides 1-1 coaching on math for pre-K to college students. Another great example is Content Technologies Inc has developed a proprietary AI that creates educational content for secondary and higher education, and corporate training as well.
- Universal access, and learning outside of the classroom: Some of the best teachers of the world don’t speak every language that we know of. Language and geographical barriers are now a thing of the past. For students who miss out on class due to prolonged illness or are in a different continent altogether, AI makes the content accessible globally. Take a look at the Presentation Translator, which is a free plug-in that creates subtitles in real-time of what the teacher is explaining.
AI is especially booming in a country like India, all thanks to the robust startup culture.
Check out Embibe, which is using AI for personalized learning. Students often zone out or get bored during lectures and lessons, and so Embibe’s AI stack offers behavioral nudges by analyzing moods to help with progressive goal setting, so students can score better in tests and have impactful learning outcomes.
Bodhi AI is another interesting venture that is using AI to create courses into personalized learning goals and has gamified learning with fun challenges as well. Students who are looking to crack IIT-JEE, SSC, IAS, Railway entrance- this startup is worth checking out.
Lastly, Verzeo is another AI application that is helping students build in-demand skills from industry experts. Through AI technology, they’re offering virtual mentorships at key touchpoints across the course, in addition to vernacular language support.
“Alexa, what lessons are we learning today?”
Digital fluency in education is the need of the hour. The right balance is when technologies like these combine the best of both worlds; between traditional learning methods augmented by digital enhancements. This will increase the accessibility of courseware productivity for both students and teachers.
With over 150Mn Indian users likely to own a digital voice assistant by 2019 according to Accenture, startups are now bringing the realm of learning to voice, with emphasis on vernacular.
First, does voice technologies like Alexa and Google Assistant have any impact in higher education at all?
Arizona State University’s (ASU) engineering students will have Amazon Echo Dots in their dorms, so students can replace traditional Google searches with voice commands. Students in higher education have a lot of research to do, and manually searching for the right answer is time-consuming. Alexa is capable of answering based on the best searches in a jiffy, which Amazon and ASU think will change the way students learn.
Learning Matters’ has developed Tara, an NLP-powered, cloud-based virtual voice teacher that is trying to mitigate the nuances in people’s usage of English grammar. Tara is currently being used in two schools in the Kumbakonam district of Tamil Nadu, where it helps to deliver lessons to students in a fun, engaging manner.
Vokal is another edtech platform that uses voice to build a repository of online content. Think of it as a voice-based Quora. It allows users to ask questions using voice and converts it using speech-to-text while also getting subject matter experts like IITs, IAS professionals to answer the questions. It supports vernacular, but only Hindi for now.
While it is early to speak of the global acceptance of digital voice assistants in higher education, institutes should, however, start exploring options of providing touch-free information access and course assistance to students on campus.
Abu Dhabi announced the establishment with Mohamed bin Zayed University of Artificial Intelligence (MBZUAI), the first graduate level, research-based AI university in the world which will focus on the study of AI.
Block-chain goes to college
As you would’ve noticed thus far, education is becoming ‘decentralized’, which in other words simply means access to all. That was the prime highlight of case studies of startups that are leveraging AI and Voice Tech to transform the way they communicate lessons.
There are two noteworthy trends, which has led me to mention block chain culture in the edtech space. The first was the concept of decentralization of course ware to students across all geographies.
Second, is gamification– the foundations of which are peer-to-peer interactions. With the idea of fun challenges and leader boards seeping into quizzes and online tests, social interaction is going to be a key driver of the future of education.
Before we talk about how block chain is being implemented, let’s examine the need.
- Fraud detection: Think about the number of students who are victims of delayed correction process due to damage to transcripts, or leakage of question papers. This seriously derails the morale of students, in addition to hurting the university’s credibility. Block chain could help reduce the costs of fraud and also eliminate the need for manual verification of answer scripts and other critical documents.
- Storage of student records: Most institutes today are migrating to cloud servers and other infrastructure for storing historical data of students. This has proven to be costly, as expenses linearly rise with the amount of data to be stored. Also, the student can get lifetime ownership of his records.
Currently, the students may or may not have access to the student records of the institution. By any unfortunate incident, if the university collapses, the could be at risk of losing all his data. By having block chain in place, he will have permanent storage facilities of degrees and certifications, regardless of the institute staying in existence.
For example, MIT’s Digital Certificates Project has created an ecosystem for creating, sharing and verifying block chain-based educational certifications. Best, it’s open-source, which means your educational institute can start using it today.
Woolf University is a model for a block chain-based university that will allow any accredited higher educational institution to launch their courses and degree certifications online. Block chain will be used for ensuring all regulatory compliance and minimizing bureaucracy aspects of traditional university models.
Another noteworthy mention is Jalapeno Inventive, that encourages students to learn more about block chain while earning real cryptos along the way. What a way to incentivize students indeed!
In conclusion
Whether it is AI, ML, Blockchain or Voice, education has room for all. The prime drivers of new technology adoption within the sector are the need for removal of all high costs, bureaucracy, language, and geographical barriers.
The age of securing degrees and moving on with professional careers is now over. People want to learn and upskill themselves consistently, and this is possible largely due to the mobility advantages of smartphones and the connectedness the internet has been able to provide.
Presenting a strong business case as well, higher educational institutes could look to experiment; much like the case of the deployment of echo dots across ASU’s campus. With successful runs, it could enhance the credibility and preferential level for students looking to enroll in courses.
The A-Z of Accreditation in India: A complete guide that includes process, framework and its impact on the higher education system
An introduction to what accreditation is, and a list of governing bodies
India is a country with a very diverse educational system. Nowadays education/learnings are not restricted to colleges or universities. Numerous options like MOOCs, BOOTCAMPS, ISA’s and startup have come forward to bridge the existing gap between universities and the market. With the number of colleges increased in every state, it is important that certain things like community/alumni, placements & accreditation take the center stage. Getting a degree from an accreditated university can change your career path entirely.
Accreditation is a barometer of the quality of education and infrastructure that a higher educational institute will surely provide.
What does Accreditation mean:
Accreditation is a process of voluntary, non-governmental review of educational institutions and programs. Through accreditation, business schools provide stakeholders with the assurance that they:
- Guide educational delivery by a carefully constructed mission.
- Select and support students to produce outstanding graduates.
- Deliver degree programs with qualified faculty.
- Structure learning through relevant curricula.
- Contribute to knowledge through research and scholarship
Why accredit your programs?
In a competitive international market, students and industry are demanding more.
Accreditation of your programs can help you to:
- Attract the best students
- Provide students with a good foundation for professional registration
- Meet the demands of the industry
- Benchmark programs against other global programs.
Institutes ‘not accredited’ by 2030 by NAAC shall cease to exist or would be asked to merge, and would thus lose their identity forever.
Getting an accredited degree will mean that you will be a preferred candidate for other universities across the globe and future employers as well.
In India, getting accredited is mandatory for all post-secondary educational institutions, as without accreditation, no institute can award degrees or call themselves a center of learning in the first place. Here’s a concise list of the top accreditation bodies in India:
- AICTE (All India Council for Technical Education): All India Council for Technical Education is a national-level body dedicated to technical education under the Department of Higher Education, Ministry of Human Resource Development. It is responsible for the accreditation of graduate and post-graduate programs under specific categories. It also approves the formation of new institutions and courses along with specifying the intake capacity of these higher educational institutions in India.
- NBA (National Board of Accreditation): This was established under AICTE as an autonomous body for regular evaluation of technical institutions and programs according to the norms published by AICTE. Its main agenda is to keep track of the quality and relevance of the courses offered.
- ABET Inc: While this is a non-profit accreditation ISO 9001 certified body/organization that accredits college and university programs in applied and natural science, computing, engineering, and engineering technology. Based out of Baltimore, USA, it offers programmatic accreditation in India as well, apart from 22 other countries. Specifically, it is focused on evaluating an individual program of study, rather than the whole institution. ABET accreditation is achieved through a peer-review process.
- AACSB: AACSB International is a not-for-profit corporation devoted to the promotion and improvement of higher education in business administration and accreditation. Established in 1916, AACSB is the premier accrediting agency for bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degree programs in business administration and accounting. AACSB now holds international recognition by the ISO.
You may also check out a complete list of accreditation bodies in accreditated colleges in India here and here and here
Also check here a tete-tete with Dr Sharma Director of NAAC has to say about accreditation.
OBJECTIVES
The assessment and accreditation process:what universities need to know today
A. Overview
First, to set up a higher educational institute in India, these are the routes that candidates can take today:
- Private University: Out of the 29 states in India, only 20 have set up a regulatory framework to set up a private university. States like UP have a separate act for each university, while Rajasthan has both an umbrella act and a separate act for universities.Here is the complete list that allows the setup of a private university.
2. Deemed-to-be University: There are two types of institutions that are granted this status by the UGC Central Government: the general category of higher educational institutions and the de-novo category of institutions.
3. Affiliation with a Government University: Private colleges that are affiliated to a Government University like Visveswaraya Technical University (Karnataka) has the least amount of jurisdiction when it comes to administration and academics.
Higher education institutions that have recorded at least two batches of graduates or have existed for at least 6 years, are eligible for the accreditation process.
With respect to revised rules Institutes can now apply for NAAC any time of the year. Institutes were required to get accredited within 6 months of becoming eligible to apply.
In current times, any institute cannot afford to score a low grade and loathe in mediocrity for 5 long years in the case of NAAC and 3 years for the NBA.
As no accreditation is directly proportional to no new admissions, here’s what you should keep in mind
Preparations for the accreditation must, therefore, begin at least 3 years and more in advance to document every activity, process, practice, and initiative if the objective is to score a top grade.
It’s not a one-time activity as per SEQI’s rule an institute or a university needs to assign a team or a person to take care of the Accreditation duties and process.
There are two types of accreditation that bodies in India generally offer:
- Institutional accreditation: This is the type of accreditation that is granted when the institute exceeds the minimum standards of quality set by the accreditation body. For students, it helps determine the acceptable institutes for program enrollment.
2. Department accreditation: Here, individual departments also get to showcase their competence and reliability. While not all accreditation bodies support program/department accreditation, some do and it is worth looking into to further boost the credibility of your institution.
CRITERIAS
B. Overview of the NAAC process
Now that you’re aware of the different routes you can take to get accreditated, let’s take a look at the assessment process, enlisted by NAAC:
Broadly, let’s first categorize
- Eligibility criteria
- Units of assessment
- Criteria and weightages
- Grading
- Assessment outcome
1. Eligibility criteria
For private/ Deemed-to-be universities, they have to be recognized by the government/UGC for the accreditation process to take place. Additionally, these institutions must have regular students enrolled full-time, along with full-time teaching faculty. Research programs must also be available in the course curriculum. Lastly, the campus to be assessed and accreditated must be present within India.
For autonomous colleges/ Affiliated universities: If these affiliated colleges that are a part of a private/ Deemed-to-be university reporting to the UGC, will not be considered as separate entities for the purpose of accreditation. These representatives of these entities will be required to be present on the main campus at the time of accreditation. If these colleges are not affiliated to any university, then the programs offered must be recognized by a body like the AIU (Association of Indian Universities) or any other government agency.
2. Units of Assessment: As mentioned earlier, an institution can be assessed/ accredited depending on if it wants to pursue institution-wide accreditation or departmental accreditation.
3. Criteria and weightages: Normally, accreditation bodies categorize higher educational institutions into three types:
- University,
- Autonomous College and
- Affiliated colleges.
Based on this classification, they are assigned different weightages based on the organizational focused of the different higher educational institutions.
4. Grading: Higher educational institutions are graded based on 4 major grade criteria-
- A (Very good),
- B (Good),
- C (Satisfactory) and
- D (Unsatisfactory).
The assigned grade point is added with the assigned weight given to the institution under its respective category to calculate GPA and CGPA scores. This is the bit that determines the final assessment outcome.
5. Assessment outcomes: This is usually a combination of both quantitative and qualitative metrics. The final assessment document that is released will contain a peer team report which includes both description and recommendation. The second aspect of the final document will have a system-generated quality profile and the third part will be an institution-grade sheet that will have the final results inclusive of a student
As per new updates: Don’t forget to use the option to opt-out from quantitative metrics, equal to 50 weight points for inapplicable criteria, subject to certain riders
For further detailed information, here is a complete guide on ‘Regulatory Structure of Higher Education in India by the Centre for Civil Society’ that outlines every minute detail of the accreditation and assessment process for higher educational institutions.
PARAMETERS
iC. Overview of the ABET process
ABET process (for engineering institutes)
- Check your UG/PG program and have a name Engineering with it for EAC (Engineering Accreditation Commission) to accept.
- Before formally applying get more information from EAC on your questions.
- Prepare your Request for Evaluation (RFE). A separate RFE for each Commission depending on the Program being applied for.
- Get RFE approval from NBA before 31st Jan of the Calendar year selected for applying. Keep authority for degree-granting ready.
- Ensure RFE submitted by 31st January of the Calendar year, so selected and await acceptance. This would be uploaded on the ABET website.
- ABET assigns Team Chair to guide the institute.
- Submit fee as laid down on the ABET website.
- Submit SSR (comprising 7 criteria) to ABET HQ & Chair by July 01. Submit transcripts.
- The onsite review will be conducted by 3 ABET experts for 3 days.
- There is no Ranking or grade. It is Accredited/Not Accredited.
- The next review maybe after 6 years.
- Deans gave the evaluation by the Peer team to check for any error of fact.
For more information download here.
D. Overview of the process for AACSB
Here is the accreditation Process for Management Schools:
- If you intend to go for AACSB, be prepared for a long haul of engagements. It takes easily, 2 years and more for the process to complete, after a letter from IAC recommending initial accreditation is received. Hence start now.
- Submit eligibility application via accreditation with the non-refundable eligibility application fee, comprising no more than 35 pages (not including tables) at any time of the year.
- Institutes may submit a draft of eligibility application for preliminary review prior to formal application.
- After 3 months of acceptance of application a Mentor is assigned for 2 years who helps in preparing iSER. Institute needs to call for Mentor’s visit to the Institute. The visit of the Mentor is followed by the Institute submitting “Initial Self Assessment Report” (iSER) + background information + gap analysis + EE, of approximately 100 pages.
- After acceptance of iSER, there will be a transition from Mentor to Chair who enables the institute to submit final iSER after the recommendation of iSER is implemented.
- Contact System Manager for doubts, if any at accreditation or +18137696546.
The Eligibility application comprises of following 5 parts which are reviewed by the IAC and intimates deficiencies if any by uploading on the website:
- Institutional Contact Information.
- Background Information.
- AACSB Eligibility criteria
- Faculty composition and Research
- Engagement, Innovation, and Impact
You would be required to work on the following criteria (7 c above) for your eligibility application:
- Core values Guiding Principles:
- Criteria A: Ethical Behavior
- Criteria B: Collegiate Environment
- Criteria C: Commitment to corporate and social responsibility
- General Criteria:
- Criteria D: Accreditation Scope & AACSB membership
- Criteria E: Oversight, Sustainability, and Continuous Improvement.
- Criteria F: Policy on Continuous adherence to standards and integrity of submission to AACSB
- This will be followed by the Peer Review Team visit. The next review shall be after 5 years.
Source: AccreditationEdge
Stepwise process for NBA enclosed here
The next phase of establishing credibility: SEQI
SEQI stands for School Education Quality Index and was started by MHRD and NITI AYOG under the Government of India. Its main purpose is to evaluate the performance of states and union territories in the school education sector.
Establishing an index like this would school in the UTs to identify their strengths and weaknesses, along with ensuring course correction and policy interventions early on. SEQI is divided into 2 categories mainly:
- Outcomes: This includes teaching, infrastructure, and facility capabilities.
- Policies: This comprises of governance processes and structural reforms
SEQI as an index gives the highest weight to learning outcomes. On the flip side, this index also acts as a feedback to various education-based government initiatives and their implementation.
You can check out the SEQI site here. Additionally, if you want to see how other states have performed in the SEQI assessment, a detailed report can be accessed here.
BONUS: Download SEQI’s complete document and guide here (2019).
Here’s one visible impact that SEQI has brought about.
In a country like India, building a toilet for females and things like female menstruation were looked down upon for the longest time. With a survey conducted by NITI Ayog and the SEQI initiative, it brought to light that most primary and secondary schools did not have a girl’s toilet.
This infrastructure lackage can seriously harm a school’s credibility, and can further act as an excuse for many parents in the rural areas to not send their daughters to get an education.
What a thing like SEQI does is enforces a certain standard that can improve the educational experience for many aspiring students. While basic amenities will not directly impact a student’s test scores, it will surely make his/her life easier while studying.
Thus, according to a leading news outlet, NITI Ayog was proud to announce that more than 95% of schools across 7 UTs and 29 states have a girl’s toilet. United Nations India even tweeted about it here.
Accreditation Management System:
The major challenges faced by Education Institutes is the time and energy of the associated staff in repeated paperwork to collect and organize students’ data and records for several years. A myriad of activities are concerned with the preparation of Accreditation including Feedback, Assessments, Report generation and may more. An versatile Accreditation Management System simplifies these tasks with a few clicks only.
Benefits of Accreditation management system:
- Aligning the workflow in line with established guidelines/
- Automating a large number of important tasks.
- Synchronized review from higher authorities.
- Supporting Student-centric learning
- Powerful analytic and statistic reporting tools
In conclusion
The purpose of any assessment/ accreditation program or a composite index like SEQI is to not only set objective benchmarks but also to ensure annual improvements and encourage state-led innovations.
Consistency towards reaching a certain quality of education is the need of the hour for the Indian education system as a whole. While we may not reach the highest level overnight, incremental steps like these, which if followed diligently, will certainly take us there.
With SEQI, it is promising that out of 34 key indicators and 1000 points, the highest weight is given to learning outcomes, clocking at 600/1000 points. Keeping the grand scheme of things in focus, initiatives like these not only increase the communication between governments and schools but also within the school fraternity itself.
Consistency through collaboration is an inspiring way forward, and the results justify the existence of such initiatives themselves.