news
world
Shrawan Kumar gets Canada’s highest civilian award A scientist of Indian origin has been given Canada’s highest civilian award - the Order of Canada. Recently, Shrawan Kumar was honoured for his three decades of pioneering research on workplace injury and the spine at the University of Alberta. Alumnus of Allahabad University, Kumar did his masters in zoology. After his higher studies in Britain, he worked from 1971 to 1973 at the All-India Institute of Medical Sciences where he set up the first biomechanics laboratory. Before landing in Canada in 1974, he was an assistant director at the Central Labour Institute in Mumbai. Being one of the 57 prominent Canadians who have been bestowed with the nation’s highest civilian award for their excellence in various fields, Kumar has been honoured for contributions to the field of rehabilitation ergonomics, in Canada and abroad.
Free laptops to the Poorer students In order to bridge the digital gap between the students from poor and the rich backgrounds, a scheme has been introduced in UK. This scheme aims to give free laptops to pupils from poor backgrounds is being rolled out to 270,000 families in England. The £300m Home Access scheme, first announced by Prime Minister Gordon Brown in 2008, has been piloted in two local areas. The scheme allows some of the most in need children, those in care and from the poorest homes, to apply for a grant for a free laptop and broadband connection. It was reported through a recent study from the Institute of Fiscal Studies that access to a laptop at home could lead to a two grade improvement in one subject at GCSE. This first scheme, which formed part of the Home Computing Initiative, involved firms leasing out free computers to their employees in return to tax breaks.
BETT 2010 to have Stone Group as IT Research Group The results of the research completed by the education sector IT specialist Stone Group, will be launched on first day of BETT 2010. The technology provider Stone Group has recently completed a market research study into the use of IT within education. The results of the research by the education sector IT specialist will be presented as a white paper at BETT 2010, the world’s largest educational technology event which runs
from 13 - 16 January 2010 at Olympia, London. The research included sample of the opinions of IT decision-makers in UK schools, academies and colleges, and examines the education sector’s concerns surrounding issues such as IT budgeting and strategy, purchase decision influencers and the barriers to delivery of satisfactory levels of IT uptake within education. .
Science and Technology Park to be built at Apirede The government of Ghana will build a Science and Technology Park at Apirede to help in the development of Information, Communication and Technology(ICT) and to create jobs for the youth. The Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology has started to acquire land for the project. The Eastern Regional Minister, Mr Samuel Ofosu-Ampofo, said this at a durbar to climax the Odwira Festival of the chiefs and people of Apirede and the 15th anniversary of the installation of Nana Saforo Okoampah III as the chief of Apirede. He said the Eastern Regional Co-ordinating Council had planned to develop facilities at Akaa and Akyeremanteng waterfalls to develop the tourism industry under a public/private sector development programme to help create employment in the area and to generate revenue for the Akuapem North District Assembly.
Online programmes to be shared between Ohio, Minnesota Higher Education Systems Partnering to work together, Ohio and Minnesota Higher Education Systems have formally agreed to share tools, services, planning, and implementation strategies to boost their online student services. Consisting of a number of public campuses, the University System of Ohio and Minnesota State Colleges & Universities, have signed the memorandum of understanding to
speed-up the rollout of online and hybrid courses in their respective programs. The Ohio system will provide its E 4 ME course developed by the Ohio Learning Network, a month-long introduction to distance learning that can be adapted to another institution’s needs. Electronic portfolio and eFolio Minnesota are the tools of the Minnesota system that will be shared and which allows students to share their writing, academic, and career documents with teachers and others.
Orphaned, Vulnerable to get New HI TECH school In form of a new hope, new hi-tech schools are to be provided for the orphaned and vulnerable children (OVC), with world class education and life skills is nearing completion at Ndlembeni area, near Sigombeni in the Manzini region. During the first phase of construction work, over E2 million in donor funds have been used in the construction work. The school, whose vision is to provide excellent education to learners with a bias to Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Mathematics, Science will also offer and promote Arts, Culture and Sport, as extra curricular activities. An effort will be made to ensure that the children will be equipped with agricultural skills at a tender age and engage in farming activities for their own food and sale of whatever surplus. The school is to open later in the month and is to see the first intake of about 350 learners. digital LEARNING
FEBRUARY 2010
39