Google Tips and Tricks Every Student Should Know

Whether you're a student in college (or earlier) or a lifelong learner, Google is an essential tool for learning. Here are a few tips for using Google search and other apps more effectively to further your education...


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e- learning and its advantages and disadvantages

Man is a life-long learner. Learning is the gaining or acquiring of a skill or knowledge in something by study , experience or being taught. Learning can be facilitated by direct means by personally attending classes conducted in the academic institutions or by indirect means such as distance learning. Distance education is the method of study in which lectures are broadcast or lessons are conducted by correspondence without the students needing to attend a school or college. The amazing development of IT has opened up new possibilities for providing education. There are various terms that are used in providing instructional methods using ICT in education, e – learning, virtual classroom and some others. The online education refers to teaching and learning method mediated by a computer system of a place which may be different from learner personal computer system. The e learning takes a broader view wherein various technologies are involved in the design, delivering and managing instructions using computers. Basically, the concept which was initiated with the term web based training is a particular method of developing technology for instruction. If not only involves the process of designing, delivering of instructions in different platforms and managing instructions, but also the developing technologies of training, authoring and managing content.

Bernard Luskin,  the pioneer of E-learning regards `e’ in e-learning as exciting, energetic, enthusiastic, emotional, extended and educational. E-learning is internet-enabled learning. It is a store house of education, information, communication, training, knowledge and performance management.

In the digital education environment, libraries are challenged to integrate and expose their services and content into the e-learning system, as well as take on new duties, such as creating content and managing digital repositories.

  

The key benefits of e-learning

 1.      Increased quality and value of learning achieved through greater student access and

combination of appropriate supporting content, learner collaboration and interaction, and on-line support

2.      Increased reach and flexibility enabling learners to engage in the learning process

anytime, anyplace and on a just-in-time basis

3.      Decreased cost of learning delivery, and reduced travel, subsistence costs and time away from the job

4.      Increased flexibility and ability to respond to evolving business requirements with rapid roll-out of new and organisational-specific learning to a distributed audience.

Synchronous and asynchronous

            Synchronous learning involves the exchange of ideas and information with one or more participants during the same period of time. A face-to-face discussion is an example of synchronous communications. In e-learning environments, examples of synchronous communications include online real-time live teacher instruction and feedback, or chat rooms or virtual classrooms where everyone is online and working collaboratively at the same time.

            Asynchronous learning may use technologies such as email, blogs, wikis, and discussion boards, as well as web-supported textbooks, hypertext documents, audio video courses, and social networking using web 2.0. At the professional educational level, training may include virtual operating rooms. Asynchronous learning is particularly beneficial for students who have health problems or have child care responsibilities and regularly leaving the home to attend lectures is difficult. They have the opportunity to complete their work in a low stress environment and within a more flexible timeframe.

Models of e-learning

Models of e-learning describe where technology plays a specific role in supporting learning. These can be described both at the level of pedagogical principles and at the level of detailed practice in implementing those principles.

Presentation model

In this asynchronous model, information is presented one-way to the learner via text, graphics and sound. It is a demonstration, a simulation, a story or a movie.

Interactive model

The interactive model takes presentation of materials a step further by requiring users to interact directly with the material. This can be as simple as clicking buttons to navigate themselves through the course content or more involved such as answering test questions, running experiments, or connecting objects and concepts. A biology class, for example, might have a learner use the mouse to build an endocrine systems in a blank human body.

A chemistry class might have the learner experiment with mixing chemicals with polymers in a simulated environment.

This model might have more impact on learning, as learners become directly involved in material. Learners make active choices, navigating their own path and understanding the building blocks of their studies.

Collaboration model

The collaboration model encourages the social aspect of learning, as it creates online communities which share information and discourse, or complete collaborative work and projects.

Message boards, for instance, foster an archived knowledge base of a community of practice. It allows multiple topics with threads that can be collapsible or expandable, demonstrating an easy way to organize the discourse. Document repositories allow a central database to store and documents, offering excellent accessibility to course materials, or for peers to

file-share when working on a collaborative project.

Requirements of e learning in academic libraries

As a part of e-learning an academic library must provide the services to its students and staff from remote access which include:

1, New acquisitions to indicate newly acquired materials for each department.

2. View your patron record to see materials borrowed by an individual customer with an option to renew the borrowed materials without visiting the library.

3. Request for materials that are borrowed by another user. Upon return of the material,

communication is sent to the user who made the request to come and borrow the material.

4. Users can suggest additional items that the library should acquire based on their need. The request can be made online.

5. Materials placed on reserve by lecturers for specific courses.

6. E-mail communication is provided through the system to enable a two way communication

between the user and the library.

7) Online charges and fines are made available to users.

8) Searching for past examination papers by faculty, department and course numbers providing access to full text.

Advantages of e-learning

·         Class work can be scheduled around personal and professional work.

·         Reduces travel cost and time to and from school.

·         Learners may have the option to select learning materials that meets their level of knowledge and interest.

·         Learners can study wherever they have access to a computer and Internet.

·         Self-paced learning modules allow learners to work at their own pace.

·         Flexibility to join discussions in the bulletin board threaded discussion areas at any hour, or visit with classmates and instructors remotely in chat rooms.

·         Different learning styles are addressed and facilitation of learning occurs through varied activities.

·         Development of computer and Internet skills that are transferable to other facets of learner's lives.

·         Successfully completing online or computer-based courses builds self-knowledge and self-confidence and encourages students to take responsibility for their learning

Disadvantages of e-learning :

·         Unmotivated learners or those with poor study habits may fall behind.

·         Lack of familiar structure and routine may take getting used to students may feel isolated or miss social interaction.

·         Instructor may not always be available on demand. Slow or unreliable Internet connections can be frustrating.

·         Managing learning software can involve a learning curve. Some courses such as traditional hands-on courses can be difficult to simulate.

How Americans Value Public Libraries in Their Communities

Americans strongly value the role of public libraries in their communities, both for providing access to materials and resources and for promoting literacy and improving the overall quality of life. Most Americans say they have only had positive experiences at public libraries, and value a range of library resources and services.

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Recent Trends in Digital Image Processing

DIGITALLY ADVANCED

R Srivaramangai, head, department of information technology, University of Mumbai, on the recent trends in digital image processing

 

The world has witnessed a major change in the way computing systems are used, especially to process images. Digital image processing (DIP) is a prominent area of research in the field of information technology that helps process digital images captured through various modalities using computing algorithms.

Image processing has been revolutionised, thanks to its versatile applications and scalability. It not only helps enhance images for better human interpretation, but also allows processing images for storage and retrieval to be used for different representations and analysis. DIP techniques are generally versatile, reliable, and accurate and have the additional benefit of being easier to implement than analog forms.

DIP observes size, colour, shape and texture of objects under consideration to gain detailed insights about an image. Basic domain knowledge is an important aspect when studying DIP. Image processing methods are numerous and varied, and are used as reuired in different fields. Techniques that were once computationally prohibitive are now becoming easily accessible because of DIP.

The application of DIP pervades through various domains such as medicine and biology, multimedia, robotics, remote sensing, bio-metrics, etc. Off late, DIP is also being used in the above mentioned areas for the following functions:

l To analyse the gene expressions of the DNA microarray images

2. Development of powerful algorithms for analysing multimedia data from digital evidences to take decisions in information forensics

3. DIP plays an important role in the medical field. The prominent areas where DIP is extensively used are in the diagnosis and detection of various diseases using images obtained through x-rays, CT-scan, MRI, PET scan, etc

4. Archaeologists are approaching computer scientists to help them develop their findings through excavations using archived photographs

5. Remote sensing is a major area where image processing plays a crucial role in predicting natural calamities as well as in day-to-day weather and climatic conditions

A number of researches have been conducted and applications are developed, based on these research reports, to combine DIP with other fields of computer science such as genetic algorithms, neural networks and fuzzy systems, etc. It is important for students and professionals in the field of DIP to conduct further research that will help create an adaptable and resilient technology paving the way for a new, easy and cost effective method of decision making based on digital images. 

— As told to Anishaa Sahijwala

Source | Times of India | 20 January 2014

Digital archive failure hits First World War commemorations

The failure of the Government’s digital archive programme is putting at risk a cornerstone project that is part of centenary commemorations of New Zealand’s involvement in World War One, Labour’s Associate Arts, Culture and Heritage Spokesperson Grant Robertson says.

“In December it was revealed the Government’s flagship $12 million digital archive programme had failed and was to be canned.

“One of the results of this is that a project to make the diaries, personnel and other records of New Zealand World War One veterans searchable online by the time the commemorations start is in jeopardy.

“A new tool to ‘ingest’ the data was to be developed as part of the digital archive programme. That is now not happening, and I have been told the existing tool could take up to four years to make the records searchable.

“The searchable records have been described as the ‘cornerstone’ of a number of the centenary projects, and were announced by the Minister with great fanfare last August.

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Is DNA the key to saving digital data?

Are we sliding into a dark age of information? True, there are some three thousand billion billion bytes of recorded digital information on the planet, and the figure is rapidly rising.

However, most of this will be lost to future generations as we use ephemeral recording media and soon-to-be-obsolete storage devices, and rely on software whose business models depend on planned obsolescence and compulsory upgrades.

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The Evolving Role of University Libraries

Martha Bedard joined UConn as vice provost of University Libraries in October. A Massachusetts native, she graduated from Fitchburg State College with a bachelor’s degree in English and earned a library degree from Simmons Graduate School of Library and Information Science. She says her career trajectory began when she moved from public libraries to a position at Harvard’s Medical School Library, where she discovered she loved working with patrons in a very specialized setting. That realization led her to the directorship of a small hospital library and later to a larger academic medical library, both in Massachusetts.

Growing weary of New England’s winters, she headed south to warmer climes and to several leadership positions at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, and later at Texas A&M University. In Texas, she was selected for a fellowship in the Association of Research Libraries’ first Leadership Program, an extensive two-year initiative that exposed her to the workings of several large research libraries. She was appointed as dean of university libraries at the University of New Mexico in 2007, a position she held until she came to UConn. 

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Texas library offers glimpse of bookless future

Texas has seen the future of the public library, and it looks a lot like an Apple Store: Rows of glossy iMacs beckon. iPads mounted on a tangerine-colored bar invite readers. And hundreds of other tablets stand ready for checkout to anyone with a borrowing card.

Even the librarians imitate Apple's dress code, wearing matching shirts and that standard-bearer of geek-chic, the hoodie. But this $2.3 million library might be most notable for what it does not have — any actual books.

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Another Q&A App Launches. U Jelly?

Jelly is a new app that lets you share pictures of objects you cannot identify. People you know are then asked to identify the objects for you. Is this an inefficient, narcissism-enabling way of obtaining information, or yet another revolutionary killer app? At what point should your library get on board?

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Is this the golden age of public libraries?

While many are quick to point to technology and a shifting digital age as the end of books and libraries, -

more than ever, public libraries are becoming a vital hub of civic engagement for communities as societies grapple with a number of social challenges and public policy solutions. 

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While many are quick to point to technology and a shifting digital age as the end of books and libraries, - See more at: http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/58045/could-this-be-the-golden-age-of-public-libraries/

While many are quick to point to technology and a shifting digital age as the end of books and libraries, more than ever, public libraries are becoming a vital hub of civic engagement for communities as societies grapple with a number of social challenges and public policy solutions. - See more at: http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/58045/could-this-be-the-golden-age-of-public-libraries/

While many are quick to point to technology and a shifting digital age as the end of books and libraries, more than ever, public libraries are becoming a vital hub of civic engagement for communities as societies grapple with a number of social challenges and public policy solutions. - See more at: http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/58045/could-this-be-the-golden-age-of-public-libraries/

While many are quick to point to technology and a shifting digital age as the end of books and libraries, more than ever, public libraries are becoming a vital hub of civic engagement for communities as societies grapple with a number of social challenges and public policy solutions. - See more at: http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/58045/could-this-be-the-golden-age-of-public-libraries/

While many are quick to point to technology and a shifting digital age as the end of books and libraries, more than ever, public libraries are becoming a vital hub of civic engagement for communities as societies grapple with a number of social challenges and public policy solutions. - See more at: http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/58045/could-this-be-the-golden-age-of-public-libraries/

While many are quick to point to technology and a shifting digital age as the end of books and libraries, more than ever, public libraries are becoming a vital hub of civic engagement for communities as societies grapple with a number of social challenges and public policy solutions. - See more at: http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/58045/could-this-be-the-golden-age-of-public-libraries/

While many are quick to point to technology and a shifting digital age as the end of books and libraries, more than ever, public libraries are becoming a vital hub of civic engagement for communities as societies grapple with a number of social challenges and public policy solutions. - See more at: http://news.usc.edu/#!/article/58045/could-this-be-the-golden-age-of-public-libraries/