How to choose the best Education Management Software for Institutes

Educational institutes have the core objective to achieve the learning goals of students in the best possible way. In today’s world of competition, Institutes face lots of challenges in maintaining their academic standards and performing their day-to-day complex activities.There are many limitations in handling all these operations manually like redundancy of information, missed information or wrong information. To overcome these constraints, strategic planning and robust technology are required that can automate a plethora of all daily operations and streamline the workflow of the institute. Education Management Software (EMS) is the set of various modules that offers better and more efficient allocation and management of academic resources to empower student-centric learning in the institutes. With the help of EMS, institutes have changed their ways to handle administrative and non-administrative functions. Nevertheless, it is important to choose an EMS with the features that meet the requirements of an institute.

Here are some important capabilities to look out while selecting the Education Management Software:

1. Easy storage of data

There is massive amount of data generated for students and staff of the institute. The proper choice of EMS ensures to store the data and reports produced with the help of inbuilt analytic tools and dashboards. The ideal EMS should provide capability to access right information anytime and anywhere.

2. No hardware requirement

It is important to go for cloud-based EMS that can be customized to provide all kind of required information for the institutes. The major benefit of cloud technology is to avoid the need of maintenance and the associated staff that makes it a cost-effective approach.

3. Improvement in teaching-learning practices

To meet the standards of education, improvising the teaching and learning has become the need of the hour. It is important to enhance the creativity in the pedagogy to bridge the learning gaps. An EMS should be innovative enough to support creative content creation and delivery.

4. Handle paper-free non-academic operations

Many non-academic operations such as pre-admission, admission, fee collection etc. demands lot of time and efforts of the staff members. A perfect EMS should support all such activities in paper free mode and give results on a few clicks.

5. Secure and Effective Communication

The transparency of any system can be judged, by observing the secure information flow between the concerned members. The right EMS should provide a single dashboard view of the information for all stakeholders to check and track the progress of activities.

6. Mobile-friendly software

In the era of smart phones, a technology is incomplete if it can’t be accessed via smartphones. So, an EMS should be Mobile App friendly that can enable quick information access and action taken for easy and effective communication.

Conclusion: All Educational Institutes should invest in a user-friendly and comprehensive EMS to perform the required operations, timely and effectively so that the time and academic resources can be utilized in more productive output delivery and the staff can be free from doing the tedious tasks and can make the decisions in the right direction.

How Learning Management System (LMS) has become an Intelligent agent of E-learning through Pandemic

LMS is an acronym for Learning Management System. It is a software application for managing online teaching and learning.The massive hit of Covid-19 has made the students face the challenge of sudden closure of institutes for breaking the chain of virus spread. In such unanticipated situations LMS has proven a boon to education sector as switching to online education and use of digital space were the only options in front of administrators to avoid the undesired interruption of learning. LMS offers innovative content creation and delivery features in a user-friendly approach.

Here are some reasons, how LMS has empowered education system in these times of crisis:

· Non-stop and Interactive Learning: During COVID-19, when lockdown has been the protocol for safety, and traditional classroom learning has been switched to online learning. LMS facilitates interactive learning and also offers repository to save e-notes, assignments, research papers etc. It overcomes the limitation of classroom boundaries and provides 24*7 availability of study material to students for learning that bridges the learning gap more effectively.

· On-the-Go Learning: In the challenging time of Pandemic, smartphones assisted learning has proven a reliable way of learning that can be done anytime and from anywhere. LMS supports smartphone environment that makes the learning more accessible and interactive both for teachers and students.

· Lesson planning and management LMS offers a centralized digital platform to instructors for scheduling their lectures in advance and the same plan will be visible to students and top management that increases the transparency of the syllabus planning and coverage.

· Creativity in Content Creation and Delivery: LMS supports the creation and delivery of study material using various multi-media formats that enhances the creativity in education content and enables the classes to go beyond chalk-and-board through COVID-19 pandemic.

· Easy Tracking and Evaluation of Students’ Progress: LMS provides unified portal to instructors for uploading the assignments and for the students to submit their answers that makes assessment and record maintenance easy for teachers. In the light of lockdown due to COVID-19, it gets possible for the students and parents to regularly track the progress of students without visiting the institute.

iCloudEMS is a cloud-based platform to streamline all the administrative and non-administrative operations in various Colleges and Universities. It supports an innovative Learning Management System (LMS) that can create virtual classroom setting to enhance the creativity in teaching-learning practices. It is an intelligent and collaborative user-friendly interface that aims to furnish the requirements to model OBE in educational institutes and empowers student-centric learning. In nutshell a versatile LMS has proven a blessing in disguise and an Intelligent agent in the path of E-learning through global pandemic.

How Automation has brought revolution in the world of Education

In the present time, every industry is working to make the best of technology to ease their workflow and save the important time of administration in doing mundane and repetitive tasks. Digital transformation has offered the information accessibility anytime and from anywhere for efficient functioning of organization. Digitization paves the way of automation and automation has become an integrated part of our daily lives as well, we can see automation all around us like in our washing machines, dishwasher, refrigerators and may more, in education sector is no longer an exception in being digitized and automated.

Automation is the use of technology to minimize manual efforts in performing time-consuming and recurring assignments resulting in improvement of outcomes. The education model is made up of different stakeholders who are responsible for their associated academic and non-academic functions. Automation makes the best use of academic resources and gets most of the task paperless in the institute.

Here are the main points that make us realize, how automation has impacted the all the level of education sector and leads to the creation of an efficient and innovative world of education.

1. For the administrative staff

There are many non-academic activities at the administrative level which if becomes automated can drastically reduce the workload for the associated staff. Back-office activities include students’ registration, enrolment, fee collection and record, receipt generation etc. Such kind of tasks are labour-intensive, time consuming and paper based, but with the implementation of Artificial intelligence, machine learning and other automation technologies, the tasks at this level can be performed effortless with minimal human intervention which saves time and other important resources.

2. For the Instructors

The core objective of instructor is to teach and train the learners, but with the workload of other supporting daily activities like maintenance of attendance record, assignment grading, lecture scheduling etc. consumes their considerable time and effort. Today in the time of automation, all such tedious tasks can be performed in a few clicks of mouse and encourages the trainer to achieve more productive and meaningful academic outcomes.

3. For the Parents

Parents are important stakeholder of the education sector. Earlier it was a regular practice for the parents to visit the institute to keep check their wards’ performance, for his safety and many more concerns. Automation has benefitted their lives as well, now they are no longer required to visit institute for such regular tasks, digital platforms allow to connect them full-time with the institute and they can keep regular track of their children progress. Some advanced features like SMS alert on the absence of child boosts the security and relaxes the safety concern of the parents.

4. For the Students

In present time learning is no longer bounded to chalk-and-board classroom. With each passing day it is required to be more innovative and interactive. Students are no longer interested in being passive participant, they enjoy creative and interactive meaningful sessions. Automation has made all these things possible for learners. Now with the advancement of technology, students can easily connect with teachers regarding any feedback or query which bridges the learning gap more efficiently and improve the learning outcomes. Automation has enhanced the transparency of system, now students are always aware of their attendance, grades, lecture schedule and other academic activities. They can easily fetch the study content like e-notes, lecture videos, research papers etc by login on their academic platform which adds more value in gaining knowledge and skill.

Conclusion: The list of automation benefits in any sector can go on and on. Automation and digitization have transformed all sphere of life. Many complex and complicated problems can be easily solved today with just a few clicks of mouse. The contribution of automation in education sector is incredible and now it has become an inevitable part of teaching and non-teaching activities. It has positioned the stakeholders to make the best of their time and resources to bring revolutionary changes in the education system– for now and in the future.

Relevance of Outcome Based Education in the Advancement of Educational Quality

High quality education has become the basic need for this generation to survive, says iCloudEMS. Life is running with a frenetic pace and thus, adoption of new technology is the gateway to the bright future. High quality education aims at creating an effective teaching and learning environment that may bring about desired changes in the learners by equipping them with in-depth knowledge, sharpened skills and positive attributes. Educational institutes are implementing the model of Outcome-Based Education with the help of innovative technologies which provide managed services to ERP like iCloudEMS and impart wisdom, skills and values to the students to reach the acme of success.

Outcome – Based Education sets a new standard for learning which emphasises on outcomes or results more than accumulation of credits. The teachers are required to design some action plans or course outcomes for the students which they have to attain while acquiring the knowledge. After taking the exams in the form of tests, assignments, practicals and projects, students get evaluated and their results are mapped with the set course outcomes and in turn with program outcomes. Their results showcase their achievements and accomplishments in a specific course. The induction of India in the Washington Accord in 2014 with the permanent signatory status) is considered as a big step forward for the betterment of the higher education system in India. It means that an Indian graduate degree with NBA accreditation is valid in any one of the other countries who have signed the accord and so for Indian educational institutions, it has become compulsory to follow Outcome Based Education (OBE) model in order to get accredited and approved. 

The Outcome-Based Education model evaluates the growth or progress of the graduate on three important parameters as follows:

• Program Educational Objectives (PEO)
• Program Outcomes (PO)
• Course Outcomes (CO)
  

Program Educational Objectives (PEO) are extensive statements that describe the career and professional achievements which the program is targeting the students to accomplish. Similarly, Program Outcomes (POs) are the statements that describe what students are supposed to know and acquire while doing the graduation. They must reflect upon or meditate on Graduate attributes as described by the accrediting body for the ungraduated programs. Course Outcomes are the parameters on the basis of which students’ performance is evaluated for each course undertaken by them in every semester. 

Features of Outcome – Based Education System

• Student Centric: OBE provides a platform to the learners as per their ability as according to it every learner has varying capacity and grasping power.
  
• Clarity & Focus: Students and teachers work in one direction to achieve the targeted goals by mapping course outcomes and program outcomes.
  
• Creates Opportunities: Students get several chances to achieve the desired results. Their marks are purely measured on the outcomes. 
  
• Complete involvement: This is the compulsory and integral part of OBE as students are required to learn in order to develop understanding of the subjects and acquire the necessary skills. 
  

Traditional Educational System v/s Outcome-Based Education System 

The traditional or conventional education system has always been described as teacher-oriented, repeated curriculum oriented but most of the time the information is shared in only one direction which is teacher to student direction but in today’s scenario, it is not enough as it lacks many other multidimensional connections. This Conventional Education System has so many limitations like:

• This traditional classroom teaching lacks in promoting critical thinking skills and focuses on notes-based learning or memorizing the content. 
• Students become passive learners rather than active learners.
• The syllabus is followed only for the sake of completion and not for the outcomes.
• The students cannot learn innovative things and their knowledge is limited to the experience provided by the teachers. 
  

While on the other hand, Outcome – Based Education system offers so many benefits like:

• The designed modules are creative and flexible.
• They have a more problem-solving approach.
• Students’ interpersonal skills can be improved gradually.
• Students can adjust themselves with new technologies easily.
• OBE is devoted to the spontaneous learning process.
• It enhances and strengthens the decision making and management process of the institute. 
  

Challenges faced by the Institutions in the implementation of OBE:

Outcome-Based Education has made its appearance as a threat to the conventional method of teaching and learning. It targets to enhance the competency and it can grow with the help of educators who possess progressive and flexible mind-set. Institutions are adopting, planning and executing OBE but when it comes to the management of overall activities and data manually, there can be following challenges:

• Data collection & storage along with curriculum management may become a herculean task. 
• Maintenance of assessment cycle to achieve the desired goals is tough as well because it abides by the steps mentioned below: –
  

Step 1: Designing of assessment considering goals, outcomes, criteria, Bloom’s Taxonomy, and other standards like rubrics. 

Step 2: Sharing of outcomes, criteria and standards to keep things transparent. 

Step 3: Providing learning experiences through curriculum & teaching pedagogy.

Step 4: Collecting, Evaluating and Analysing the results of students’ learning.

Step 5: Interpreting the results to find the relevant gaps for the revision of teaching methodologies, curriculum, programs & outcomes. 

• Manual evaluations of the attainment of outcomes often come out to be erroneous which may affect the further processes like revision of the curriculum to fill the gaps, restructuring of COs in order to map with the POs. 
• The outcome mapping by analysing the overall attainment consumes a huge amount of energy and effort. 
  

Relevance of Outcome-Based Education System 

OBE is a crucial part of the education system in the era of globalization. It offers a cluster of skills which are required to deal with rapidly changing technologies. The result of the OBE produces transparent anticipation of the top-level product as students understand their own expectations and teachers also observe students’ understanding level and provide resources based on their analysis. OBE doesn’t suggest any specific teaching technique as educators aren’t bound to follow old conventional teaching methodologies. They can plan numerous activities for the assessment of the students and grade them on the basis of their understanding. Institutes are turning towards effective online examination which can be a reliable platform for authentic result generation which assures live proctoring and all. 

The structure of OBE encompasses creating, managing and aligning sets of competencies to learning resources, assessments & evaluations, analytical rubrics etc. to keep an eye on the performance. By associating with the unified hi-tech education management system, institutions can empower themselves by:

• Developing effective sets of course outcomes and storing them for the implementation.
• Reorienting curricular design by focusing on learning outcomes first rather than scheduling of time-structures.
• Managing high quality of learning resources, shareable contents, assignments, projects and other rubrics to assess the learning outcomes. 
• Assuring authentic examination procedures, errorless and transparent grade generation. 
• Maintaining the direct assessment & indirect assessment system and satisfying the four most important stakeholders i.e. Teachers, Students, Administration & Parents. 
  

To conclude, it can be said that the adoption of OBE by educational institutes is considered to be a great step forward for the achievement of excellence and ensures effective result outcomes so that quality of education can be maintained. 

Schedule a demo with us – https://www.icloudems.com/contact-us/

iCloudEMS Accreditation Management System

An Authentic Assistance to the Educational Institutions for getting Accreditation

In the recent years, Student learning outcomes have been given utmost importance and attention by implementing innovating techniques of assessment which can specify the expected attainment of knowledge, skills and attributes by the students after the completion of their graduation from their respective institutions. These learning objectives and outcomes are becoming the main gauge of higher education’s effectiveness and that’s why accreditation committees expect learning outcomes to be clearly defined, enunciated, evaluated, corroborated and used as a guide for future enhancement.

When any higher educational institute goes through a rigorous process to authenticate that it meets all the benchmarked educational standards then it is known as accreditation. There are integral and reputed accrediting bodies like NAAC, NBA, AICTE, UGC, AIU, DCI, NCTE, BCI, PCI, INC etc. that stage various criteria for the institutes to review their performance and to ensure their credibility to meet expected levels of quality.

Why is Accreditation important?

Accreditation impetuses all the educational institutions to meet the given criteria and maintain their teaching & learning standards so that they can establish a boosting accountability among the public and develop confidence in the aspiring students and their parents to place their trust considering the accreditation received by these institutes. To keep it simple, it can be said that accreditation generates accountability and confirms innovative and effective levels of quality education so that the students and their parents don’t nurture any doubt while taking admission.

Accreditation is important because:

-> It determines if an institute fulfils all the criteria to meet the standards of quality or not.

->It guides students to choose the apt institution for the betterment of their future career.

-> It helps the employers to identify the validity of programs accomplished by the candidates graduated from an institute.

-> It becomes an evidence for the employers of government and non-government companies so that they can hire the graduates determining their eligibility.

-> It helps the students to take various certificate exams for their skills enhancement and further studies.

-> It helps faculty members and staff as well to strengthen their experience portfolio as working in an accredited institute has its own glory and dignity.

-> It helps to set goals for the institutions for self-improvement and to be more futuristic.

The eligibility needs for accreditation vary according to the agencies which set them but they are, indeed, laborious and all inclusive. Common requirements include demonstration of institutional stability, educational programs that meet minimum standards, presence of high-quality faculty members, and integrity in communication efforts with the public and the accrediting commission in question.As accreditation focuses on inputs such as staffing, resources, curricula designing, content creation, evaluation of outcomes etc., it’s quite obvious that universities and colleges face many challenges to achieve the desired results.

These challenges can be:

1. Tedious & Time- consuming Paperwork
2. Collection & Maintenance of Students’ Records
3. Designing & Implementation of Syllabus, Lessons and other study resources
4. Identifying Curriculum gaps and upgrading them at regular intervals.
5. Tracking students’ performance and their results analysis
6. Course Assessment & Students’ Feedback Management
7. Storing Alumni information and maintaining contacts with them
8. Collecting details of university events & activities and their documentation
9. Budgeting & Financial Control

iCloudEMS offers its support by:

1. Simplifying the accreditation process by customizing the needs and requirements of the institutions

2. Automating your tasks by aligning them with reputed Accrediting & Governing bodies

3. Maintaining Outcome Based Education (OBE) system & generate effective results based on analytics

4. Generating authentic and accurate reports for the smooth auditing procedures.

5. Controlling the examination conduction and evaluation process to assure 100% genuine results.

6. Providing transparent portal for students’ feedback on the basis of which Faculty members’ performance can be assessed.

7. Offering Learning Management System (LMS) for proper scheduling of classes and their smooth execution.

8. Streamlining the process of uploading the course materials, videos, notes etc. for the students who can avail this opportunity anytime.

9. We operate on effective planning and regular assessment of students.

10. We manage the Fee payment, receipt generation and storing the data of every single student as even a minor manual error can create a big chaos.

11. We play a key role in bringing all the stakeholder …. students, teachers, administration, management and the parents on one digital platform where everything is clear and result-oriented.

In a nutshell, we can say that iCloudEMS assists you by automating tasks through the accreditation process with configurable workflow that is aligned with reputed accredited bodies and enables you to save your valuable time,efforts and resources. We help Educational Institutes in accomplishing the four major tasks which are required for getting accredited as follows:

1. Self-assessment: An institute should familiarize itself with the committee’s standards for the accreditation and then compare its work with them. If all the documents are authentic and updated, then a review report can be sent along with a formal request for the evaluation.

2. Review of the Documents: The accreditation body reviews the documents and gives its consent if they appear genuine and all correct.

3. Then there is on-site pre-assessment meeting and later on full-assessment as per the decisions taken by Accreditation body. During the entire evaluation process, everything should remain up to date as even a minor mistake can affect the grades given by the committee.

4. Finally, the committee grants accreditation after rigorous and strict inspection and evaluation of the provided data.

Accreditation Management System: Schedule a demo with us: https://www.icloudems.com/contact-us/

Choice based Credit system (CBCS): A Vision to redesign Education System

The University Grants Commission (UGC) has taken many initiatives from time to time, for the comprehensive development of the Higher Education System. With the introduction of New Education Policy (NEP) by The Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD), Govt. of India, CBCS has become the buzzword issued by UGC and followed by Higher Education Institutes (HEIs) that unwraps excellent opportunities to accomplish the learning outcomes of the education.

What is Choice based Credit system (CBCS)?

CBCS is a flexible methodology of learning. In accordance with the regulations of CBCS, students are free to choose their courses from the approved categories, incorporating core, elective or skill-based courses. CBCS pushes the envelope for holistic development of youth by showing them routeways to ability enhancement and skill development by learning the courses of their interest beyond the core subjects.

Need of Choice based Credit system (CBCS)

UGC has always aimed to bring equity, efficiency and academic excellence in the Higher Education System by taking innovative measures in continuous improvement of course curricula, pedagogical practices, examination and evaluation system. Our traditional evaluation system is based on the marks or percentage which obstructs the students’ learning in terms of their choice and mobility, which results in unconfident and under-skilled youth. So, it has become a fundamental necessity to develop a student-centric education strategy and adopt a world-wide followed evaluation system. In light of the present alarming situations, UGC proposed the implementation of CBCS in Universities and devised the practical solutions considering their flexibility and freedom in designing vital academic elements. CBCS will open up the gates of the global mobility and learning of students with best educational practices.

Advantages of Choice based Credit system (CBCS)

∙ CBCS provides a paradigm shift in the Education model from the teacher-centred to learner-centric.

∙ CBCS allows students to embark on the credits, they can put up with in a semester without any compulsion to earn the fix credits

∙ CBCS provides flexibility to students to learn inter-disciplinary, intra-disciplinary and skill-oriented subjects of their own choice and at their own pace

∙ CBCS brings global uniformity in the grading system where students are allowed to earn the combined credits of their chosen courses.

∙ CBCS empowers the worldwide education of students and eases their institutional transfer of credits, if someone chooses to study at different institutions at different times.

How iCloudEMS simplifies the implementation of Choice based Credit system (CBCS) in HEIs?

NEP has emphasised on the holistic development of a child and bridging the gap between academia and industry. So, the accurate implementation of CBCS has become the need of the hour for effective transformation of the Education system.

iCloudEMS assists the institutes in putting their efforts into practice towards methodical execution of CBCS guidelines with its following salient attributes:

• Interactive dashboards for the students to opt their desired core and elective subjects.
• Cloud platform to create and manage units of students to store their data and records in conjunction with their opted courses.
• Intelligent approach towards the effortless course and respective faculty allotment.
• Innovative credits assignment and calculation techniques for different course combinations.
• Computerization of imperative academic operations such as timetable generation, assignment uploading, attendance taking and many more.
• Endorsement of student-centric learning with its unique features to design and map learning outcomes with students’ performance.
  

iCloudEMS takes the utmost care of visionary requirements of HEIs and offers unified solutions to upgrade the institutes on par with global academic standards.

Schedule a demo with us — https://www.icloudems.com/contact-us/

Identifying the Challenges faced by Academics in the Educational Institutions due to Online Classes

With the advent of the online learning system, academics are facing problems and witnessing challenges as it has become compulsory to acquire IT skills for an effective teaching and learning system. Many distinguished researchers have opined that the internet offers a plethora of opportunities and assures flexibility for the learners if they try to explore its aspects and vast management system. In Online learning or education, students remain at home and use their home computers, laptops, mobiles etc. to attend classes. In the recent time of pandemic, online teaching and learning has become trendy as educational institutions aren’t left with any other choice but conduction of effective classes considering all the aspects of Outcome-based education system. Institutes are trying to fill the gaps and minimize the losses of students caused by this unfortunate pandemic but outcomes of online classes are posing some challenges for the learners as well as the educators. 

Challenges faced by the students due to online classes are:

• Adaptability: Students find it tough to get adapted to an online learning environment as they are accustomed to traditional classroom teaching. Due to this sudden change, they didn’t get time to prepare themselves and mould their mind-set accordingly. It becomes very difficult for them to focus in the class and understand the topics being taught 
  
• Technical Issues: Many students are not equipped with a high internet facility that is integral for online classes. Students, who live in interior or backward areas, face difficulties in attending continuous lectures for 5 to 6 hours. In addition to that, it is not necessary that all the students possess IT skills and they can get technical issues by themselves. They have to rely on others for their assistance so that they can attend the classes. Due to serious technical problems, students may face difficulty in downloading subject related information, clear videos, Examination question papers, etc.  
  
• Lack of Computer Knowledge: Acquiring computer knowledge and becoming techno-friendly is the need of the hour. There are many students who can’t work on basic computers with MS Word, Excel and PowerPoint and in case any technical issue arises, they are unable to resolve it. There are so many steps to be learnt before and while attending online classes like timely login, usage of appropriate icons, joining the class, answering in between, writing texts, understanding communication related apps and websites, creating and submitting work, communication with friends and teachers, browsing study materials etc.  
  
• Time Management: Online learning is completely new for everyone and demands intensive work. Students find it difficult to manage their time with online classes as they need a scheduled planner to organize their time in an effective way. Although online classes provide flexible timings, still there are possibilities that few students may face difficulties in adjusting to the time required for online classes. 
  
• Self-Motivation: Accepting the fact that your home has become your space of work is quite difficult for the students because they nurture new hopes and dreams related to university campus. Coming to college, attending classes, meeting friends, interacting with teachers etc. all play an integral role in personality building which is not possible by staying within the four walls of one’s home. 
  
• Lack in Communication: Students’ communication skills weaken during online classes as teachers give assignments based on reading and writing but what about speaking activities. During online classes, only few students interact with teachers and the rest remain silent for various reasons. They feel shy to communicate with their teachers and friends due to the new model of learning. It might happen due to lack of interest, poor technological skills with apps and video calls or unable to express themselves via live chats, emails or text messages.
  
• Need of Feedback: Every student requires feedback for their performance presented during the online learning process so that they can improve themselves. In traditional mode of teaching, teachers give regular feedbacks based on students’ class tests, semester exams, practical exams etc. but in online classes students hardly take efforts to go to their portals and see the suggestions and comments on their assignments and as a result it becomes difficult for them to understand the remarks and improve their performance by implementing the suggestions. 
  

Challenges faced by the teachers due to online classes are:

• Engagement of students: Keeping students engaged and interested in online classes is a big challenge for all the teachers. They tend to get distracted and lose focus mostly because teachers are unable to see each and every student onscreen at one time. Many students keep their videos off which creates a sense of dissatisfaction as teachers can’t know if all the students are understanding the topics or not. 
  
• Communication gap: The more detailed the syllabus, the easier to communicate to the students. Sometimes teachers are not given enough time for the preparation of content for their students. And also there are students who avoid communication with teachers during online learning. Online teaching is like communicating without body language, so students might misunderstand and can result in their poor performance. Sometimes students might ask for an extension for their work or give any excuse for the delay. 
  
• Assessment & Evaluation as assessment of students and their grading play a key role in the education system. In online learning, students are provided with MCQs which is still feasible but not actually effective. Real learning is measured by subjective questions for which teachers have to design questions based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and direct students to upload their answer sheet in the virtual classroom. But if that teacher teaches different subjects in different programs, it would be an uphill task for them to download all the answer sheets, evaluate them and then upload the marks. 
  
• Gaps in the Course Content created according to Outcome-based education system: Teachers are supposed to deliver the lectures, design activities, conduct assessments which can lead to outstanding results and successful mapping of Course outcomes with Program outcomes but there are few Program outcomes which require industrial exposure, practical knowledge etc. which are difficult to accomplish during online classes. Moreover, students won’t take such activities seriously and will try to finish them by copying from different resources as their focus will shift from self & skills improvement to getting passing marks. 
  

To conclude, we can say that it is high time for all the educational institutes to make an effort towards enhancing the efficacy of fully online and blended learning in order to achieve students’ learning outcomes. Many faculty members are unaware of the fact that online classes can result in effective learning gains in comparison to physical classroom teaching. Hence, they should be given proper training so that they can equip themselves with IT tools for creating innovative teaching activities for smooth functioning of classes. This is the reason, educational institutions are getting inclines towards ERP Software and iCloudEMS has emerged with its automated digitized products to manage the services of College & University ERP which can enhance student learning making class schedule management easier, fast uploading & downloading of assignments, projects etc., proctored online exams conduction etc.

New Education Policy (NEP): A Pledge to bring all round excellence in Higher Education

New Education Policy (NEP): A Pledge to bring all round excellence in Higher Education

Imparting high quality Education to an individual, shapes the bright future of the society, the nation and the world says iCloudEMS. The mission of our Indian Education system has always been the universal access to the best educational practices for comprehensive development goals on the subject of economic growth, civil rights, technology advancement, national integration, and cultural preservation.

With the expansion of the world’s knowledge sphere in the dimensions of latest technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and many more, it has become inevitable to produce a skilled workforce with multidisciplinary knowledge.

New Education Policy (NEP)-2020

Our current education system is lagging behind to cope with the fast pace of globalization and technology advancements. The Union Cabinet approved New Education Policy (NEP) 2020 with the vision to provide High quality Education to all irrespective of social and economic background. NEP paves the way towards scientific innovation and quality enhancement to make India, a knowledge superpower at global level.

Higher Education and NEP

Higher education has its significant role towards sustainable national and global progress. Our current Higher Education system lacks the ability enhancement and skill development of youth, and there has also been no changes in the Education policies for thirty-four years. So, empowering equity, efficiency and academic excellence in Higher Education has become the need of the hour.

On July,29th 2020, first education policy of 21st century was sanctioned under the aegis of The Union Cabinet chaired by the Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi to bring transformational reforms in Education sector. NEP 2020 replaces the current National Policy on Education (NPE), 1986 and focuses on the holistic, flexible, multidisciplinary culture in Higher Education to bring out the unique capabilities of individuals.

The major area of thrust in NEP 2020 is related to the interdisciplinary, flexible and tech-savvy ecosystem in Higher Education Institutes (HEIs). Following are the major reforms to be introduced in the present Higher Education System in line with new policy:

• Increase GER: The aim of NEP 2020 will be to escalate Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) in Higher Education including professional education from 26.3% (2018) to 50% by 2030.
• Quality Enhancement in Universities and Colleges: The major steps undertaken towards all round Quality Enhancement of HEIs include:
• Heading towards growing the number of multi-disciplinary HEIs with at least one in or near every district;
• Moving towards a more interdisciplinary undergraduate learning;
• Working towards faculty and institutional autonomy;
• Revision and Revamping of all vital elements including curricula, pedagogy, assessment, evaluation and student support
• Establishment of a central body titled as The National Research Foundation to seed and cultivate quality research culture in universities and colleges.
• Board of Governance. to govern Academic, administrative and financial autonomy of HEIs.
• Establishment of an Academic Bank of Credit to digitally store the earned credits of individual from different HEIs.
• A single ‘light but tight’ regulatory framework for HEIs to protect integrity, transparency and resource efficiency.
• Motivating Inclusion, Access and Equity through various innovative measures comprising open schooling, online education and Open Distance Learning and scholarship provision at private/philanthropic universities for needy students.
  
• Upgraded Institutional Structure
  

A multidisciplinary and vibrant Higher Education culture has been envisioned with large and well-resourced institutions. Transformation of HEIs into large multidisciplinary universities and colleges to end fragmentation that offer undergraduate and graduate programmes and aiming to have 3,000 or more students. Universities will allow a range of institutions from Research Intensive Universities, Teaching-intensive universities and Autonomous degree granting Colleges (ACs) that will offer high quality teaching, research, and community engagement. Affiliation system will be eased in upcoming years and autonomy to colleges will be granted through a transparent and stage-wise mechanism of graded accreditation will be granted Accreditation. Over a few years every college is expected to develop into either an Autonomous degree granting College, or a constituent college of a university.

• More focus towards Holistic development
  

Holistic Arts Education is at the centre of NEP 2020 for all-round development of students. To strengthen holistic development, the choice of students will be preferred in opting engaging courses by multidisciplinary universities and colleges. Curriculum, pedagogical practices, assessment and evaluation, all vital components of academics are revamped taking cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary thinking into account and for significantly less rote learning. Students will be provided internship opportunities with local industry, businesses, artists, crafts persons, villages and local communities, etc., to enhance their practical learning skills and for better employability options. Students will also be able to undergo research internships at any HEIs or research institutions.

• Internationalisation
  

With a multidisciplinary and flexible approach, NEP 2020 aims to increase students’ mobility at global level to study, transfer credits, or to do research at foreign institutions or vice versa. India is aimed to be promoted as a global study destination offering affordable premium education. High performing Indian Universities will therefore be encouraged to set up campuses in other countries and top foreign universities will be motivated to operate in India. A legislative structure will be composed for such universities and special dispensation regarding regulatory, governance, and content norms will be given to them on par with other autonomous institutions of India.

• Student Participation and Support
  

A large number of participation opportunities in sports, culture/arts clubs, eco-clubs, activity clubs, community service projects, etc will be offered to students at all levels. All HEIs will have to make sure of the high-quality medical facility along with a counselling system to handle stress and emotional disturbances. More efforts will be put to galvanize merit of students belonging to SC, ST, OBC, and other SEDGs. Private HEIs will be encouraged to offer considerable number of scholarships to their students

• Reframing Teacher Education:
  

Considering the significance of creating a team of motivated and energized faculty members, NEP gives equal importance to reframing teacher education also. To prioritize integrity and credibility necessary to meet the prestige level of the teaching profession, the regulatory system is empowered to pull the plug on inoperative teacher education institutions that are not capable of meeting fundamental educational requisites.

Additionally, by 2030, the 4-year multidisciplinary and integrated B. Ed will be made as a minimum degree qualification for school teachers.

• Professional Education
  

Professional Education will become an indispensable element of higher education and thus it must also involve multidisciplinary knowledge and research. The existing stand-alone professional education institutes such as technical universities, health science universities, legal and agricultural universities are envisioned to become multi-disciplinary institutions by 2030, either by introducing new departments or by evolving into clusters. The standards of professional skills viz. technical, health and legal education are to be reconstructed to meet the globally competitive challenges.

• Enkindling High Quality Research
  

NEP 2020 focuses on catalysing high quality research culture in HEIs of India to find the solutions of real-world challenges. National Research Foundation (NRF) will be set up as an apex body to support funding and recognizing outstanding research in institutes. It aims for the comprehensive initiatives to permeate through universities and higher education institutions across India. NRF aims to cultivate research environments at State Universities and other public institutions where to expand their research capabilities. NRF shall also empower research in all academic disciplines viz. science, technology, social sciences, arts, and humanities to enhance multidisciplinary research and innovation across India.

• Technology-driven Education
  

NEP 2020 includes various innovative measures to nurture the mutual relationship between Technology and Education. Extensive use of technology to improve teaching and learning practices is to be promoted that eliminates language barriers for better educational planning and management. National Educational Technology Forum (NETF), will be established as an autonomous body to enhance the intellectual and institutional capacities of technology use in teaching and learning by providing a platform to enhance technology-driven landscape in HEIs. New directions will be formulated for Research and Innovation to ensure the integrated educational technology in an active learning environment. The accessibility of wide variety software will be increased for both students and teachers at all levels. Schools and HEIs will be motivated to incorporate Technology-based education platforms, such as DIKSHA/SWAYAM for utilizing user-friendly and qualitative e-content at their own comfort.

• Online Education and Digital Education:
  

Preparedness for online and distance education in terms of digital content, infrastructure and capabilities as an alternative mode will be safeguarded to support uninterrupted learning through unprecedented situations of epidemics and pandemics when chalk-and-board model does not work.

• Restructuring Regulation Mechanism
  

Higher Education Commission of India (HECI) will be evolved as a central entity to promote the synergy among the four essential functions of regulation, accreditation, funding, and academic standard with independent bodies towards common goals. It will cover four dedicated verticals comprising National Higher Education Regulatory Council (NHERC) as a single point regulator at prime matters for the higher education sector including teacher education and excluding medical and legal education. Second is the ‘meta-accrediting body’, called the National Accreditation Council (NAC) for standard setting and supporting graded accreditation. Third vertical of HECI will be the Higher Education Grants Council (HEGC), which will consolidate funding and financing of higher education based on development plans and execution on the same to maintain transparency of the system. The fourth vertical of HECI will be the General Education Council (GEC), which will structure expected graduated attributes or learning outcomes for higher education programmes in sync with the National Skills Qualifications Framework (NSQF) working towards the skill enhancement in Higher Education.

The regulatory body will function through an unbiased involvement through technology for regulation & will have powers to chastise HEIs not compliant to guidelines.

• Promotion of Indian languages
  

More programmes in Higher education will be promoted to ensure the use of mother tongue/local language as a medium of instruction, and/or offer programmes bilingually, on account to improve GER and also to empower, usage, and vitality of all Indian languages.

• A National Mentoring Platform shall be created, with a large team senior/retired faculty who would be willing to facilitate short and long-term mentoring/professional support to teachers of colleges and universities
  

Some ground implementation challenges faced by HEIs in course of the implementation of NEP includes:

• Increasing GER demands the opening of HEIs at an exponential rate which is actually a herculean task.
• Redesigning of curriculum, which demands a number of trained faculty staff to understand the advanced pedagogical needs to deliver the required values.
• Supporting an inter-disciplinary system in HEIs calls for a cultural-shift from a traditional departmentalized paradigm to a multi-disciplinary one in all aspects.
• Digitization of campus is not a cake walk for the institutes in rural areas and requires a considerable time and investment of the resources.
• No fixed pathway or deadlines to bring uniformity in following the guidelines of New Education Policy nationwide.
  

The solution to overcome the above-mentioned challenges is to utilize the resources in creating a technology-enabled infrastructure to reform the educational framework. An integrated Education management system can help HEIs to enter in a digital era and cater the needs of all stakeholders while ensuring integrity, transparency and security of the system.

iCloudEMS is a market leader, offering a versatile cloud-based platform that provides unified solutions to furnish all the requirements to align the workflow in accordance to NEP regulations with its following key features:

• A web-based digital space to store massive data and records for quick and effortless access and process of required information.
• Innovative services to Empower the student-centric learning paradigm by designing and mapping learning outcomes with students’ performance.
• Smart solutions to perform imperative academic functions such as attendance record, timetable preparation, assignment uploading and many more with a couple of clicks only.
• Endorsement of opting and allotting desired courses and associated credits pursuant to holistic and multidisciplinary culture.
• Computerization of groundwork of regulatory exercises to save valuable time and efforts of the staff in performing repeated and tedious tasks.
• Student-lifecycle management system, to integrate the entire academic journey of all students on a dashboard.
• Interactive Learning management system to create engaging courses and delivery with modern teaching-learning practices.
• Online Classes and Examinations system to overcome classroom barriers and promising high-quality education even during critical situations.
• User-friendly and Easy to understand portal with full time training and assistance for the end users.
  

We are witnessing the power of technology in a global pandemic and now it’s the best time for the Education Institutes to invest in the digital empowerment of the campus. iCloudEMS can be a boon companion to improve the institutional management and streamline the institutional activities to upgrade the administrative and non-administrative standards with its cutting-edge technologies.

Various Challenges and Solutions to overcome them in using Learning Management System

In today’s world of technology, E-leaning has become an integrable organ of Education System and to reap the benefits of E-learning various versatile digital platforms have been developed, Learning Management System (LMS) is one of them.  LMS is a cloud-based technology that is designed to improvise pedagogy as it offers creativity and innovation in teaching and learning practices.

Despite the benefits of incorporating LMS in education system, there are some challenges or barriers faced by the institutes while implementing LMS. Here are some issues that are essential to recognize before implementation.

1. Training of Instructors

It is essential to provide complete training to the instructors before using the technology. An adequate training will increase confidence and comfort of the facilitator which can overcome the frustration and save the time for more important assignments. But the training provision is generally overlooked and instructors deal the issues themselves with hit and trail approaches.

2. Integration with traditional methods

A new technology is always developed to save the time and effort than that was consumed with the existing ones. But at many places, it has always observed that people like to stay with the hybrid approach. So, the teachers must be comfortable to use their own resources integrated with LMS to cater to personal requirements and save their precious time.

3. Management of Education content

In the era of remote learning the digital platform must be well-equipped with the features of organizing and distributing education content. So, the LMS to be used must be versatile in providing course content creation and distribution feature so that both teachers and students can share and access the information anytime and anywhere that can eliminate the limitation of face-to-face interaction for effective learning.

4. Interaction between Teacher and Students

An efficient learning platform is one that allows effective communication between teacher and students and bridges the learning gap. So, effective interaction is a common issue which is required to be considered to avoid undesired confusion and achievement of learning goals.

Solutions to prevent the Issues

The Challenges mentioned above are difficult to face for an institute but with the adequate planning and implementation we can go for right LMS and the experienced facilitators to serve the required purpose.  The following measures can be taken to avoid daunting experience of LMS in the institute

1. Proper Leadership

The implementation of LMS must be supported by proper leadership of the institute to ensure that  staff and students have access to right information and its understanding every time which can be beneficial for both students and teachers.

2. Knowledge of workflow

It is very important to be thoroughly aware of the workflow and work culture of the institute before implementing the LMS, to ensure the path of Blended Learning which can enable E-learning and also improvise the classroom setting using digital platform for course creation and delivery to adopt the hybrid system chosen by faculty member for their comfort and enhancement of their productivity in achieving their goals.

3. Features of Existing technology

The Institute must explore all the features of existing software before choosing and making use of new technology to ensure the best use LMS by either its sole implementation or integrating it with the existing one. By doing so, one can be benefitted with itsall capabilities and avoid any unnecessary issues caused by its limitations.

4. Provision of Training and Support Structure

The successful execution of technology is possible with its adequate training to users. So, there must be provision of support structure in an institute so that the adequate training of LMS can be offered to staff members. The information and training provision should always be available when required by staff members so that system can be benefitted with maximum understanding of the features and efficiencies of LMS.

Conclusion: With the growing use of information and technology, integration of software like LMS has become the need of the hour for education sector. There are many daunting challenges expected to be faced with the use of LMS but these can’t become the barrier in learning if the technology is implemented with proper planning and preparation as mentioned above.

How LMS is a resourceful pillar of learning in Higher Education System

The Education System in the 21^st century revolves around advanced core competencies including Critical Thinking, Creativity, Collaboration, Curiosity and Communication.  To work on all these skills, the major concerned area is Learning, Not only learning but self-paced, flexible, progressive and Life-long learning to meet the demands of Quality Assurance in Higher Education System (HES). The swift integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) has upgraded the academic standards to a different level in HES. Successful implementation of ICT in the form of some customized and innovative systems or software can enhance the Quality Education and enables the students towards the accomplishment of their learning goals.

Learning Management System (LMS) is one of the emerging education tools of ICT that can not only improve the creativity in classroom teaching-learning practices but also facilitate e-learning, catering to the 21^st century Education needs of learners and instructors.

Now let’s discuss the role of LMS in HES in detail:

The youth of 21st Century no longer enjoys the chalk and board model of education as the sole medium of learning. Thus to enhance students’ engagement HEIs are deploying more and more ICT resource based teaching and learning strategies. LMS is a web-based technology that can be leveraged for enriching creativity and students’ engagement in classroom learning, online learning or blended learning approach. It empowers instructors for planning, creating, delivery and evaluation of courses and makes the skill-based learning possible for students anytime, anywhere and at their own pace. The most common attributes of a higher education LMS comprise of:

• Cyberspace for all the stakeholders to access, process and track the course content and its completion status in accordance with their personal requirements.
• Digital calendar for planning the course schedule, assignment deadline, posting and sharing the same with students.
• Web-based communication medium for registration and access without any place and time constraints.
• Creative technology to modify the modules of courses when required and publishing the changes synchronically.
• User-friendly statistics reports for regular managing and monitoring of students’ attendance and performance.

iCloudEMS acclaims the proactive measures of Education System and offers a digital-driven environment to Higher Education Institutes (HEIS) to hit the mark with its advanced, comprehensive and versatile tech-savvy products. Learning Management System (LMS) is one of our advanced resources, it is a cloud-based system that emulsifies the following unique characteristics and has evolved as an essential service to reinforce teaching & learning conjointly with the New Education Skills parameters.

• Comprehensive learning settings to promote modern learning methods such as blended learning, flipped learning or rapid learning.
• Endorsement of multiple media formats in content to intensify the visualization and understanding of concept.
• Ingenious digitools to aligns the teaching and assessment in the framework of OBE and Bloom’s taxonomy.
• Cutting-edge features to promote skill-based education and student-centric learning approach.
• Multiple quizzes and feedback resources to fill the learning gap and enrich teaching strategies.
  

Every Stakeholder in the Institute has its own challenges towards the workflow management. Our personalized LMS solution automates numerous vital requirements with respect to each entity and makes the academics management a cake-walk for everyone.
For Faculty

• A single space to manage the creation and delivery of e-learning content, activities using multiple multimedia formats.
• Easy to set the milestones for tracking goals and students’ progress and in line with pre-established curriculum objectives.
• Designing and Executing Outcome Based learning adopting Outcome based Framework and Pedagogy.

For Students

• All-time access to study content and performance records to administer own learning at own pace at their own comfort.
• An interactive digital space to encourage peer and faculty interaction and involvement in learning activities.

For Parents

• Integrated elements make the curriculum structure and course management transparent to observe.
• Effective engagement in ward’ learning and regular tracking of his performance.

For Management

• Provides bird’s eye view of course coverage and planning for future for valuable feedback and recommendations.
• Enable to take well-informed decisions to save time and resources in training and development.

In a nutshell, it can be mentioned that the key concerns of HEIs are to create industry-ready youth by investing in creativity and constructive thinking according to the new axioms set by New Education Policy(NEP) and New Education Skills. NEP has emphasised the use of modern tools and services to digitally empower the institutions. iCloudEMS has always win its spurs as a digital companion in taking care of Continuous Quality Improvement in HEIs and a one stop solution for the institutional management with its break-through products such as Interactive LMS, Online Examination system, Accreditation management etc. that assist to align the  workflow compliant to 21^st century Education demands.