Friday 31 January 2014




Ms.Arti Kotak
Department of Communication Skills 









                                      
Samvad   
                                                                                              A Faculty Forum



Preamble:

In the knowledge century, discourse is the defining aspect of creation, dissemination and celebration of knowledge. In the case of education, discourse assumes even deeper significance because education is primarily and fundamentally the site for knowledge exchange. The quality of the knowledge exchange rests on the dialogue and discourse of the teachers engage in and inspire in their students. In the 21st century, teachers need to engage in discourse over the key issues of the domain unlike ever before. A faculty forum is an expression of a systematic platform for discourse of the teachers, for the teachers and by the teachers.

Theme of the Session:

‘Pedagogy of English Language Teaching (ELT): Challenges and Opportunities’

While there has been stupendous amount of work done of ELT in India and abroad, it has mainly been focussed on the higher education. Challenges of teaching English in Technical Education have not been addressed; solutions may be a far cry from here. In the process, teachers have either experimented or given up on how to teach English to engineering and management students. Institutes of engineering and management have mostly underrated the subject and done precious little to make a difference to the state of things with respect to ELT in technical education. Somewhere it boils down to how we prepare our English teachers for the demanding foray into technical education and how they make use of the pedagogical innovations, ICT and resources available to them. For those who teach English in engineering colleges, it is a daunting task due to the lack of resources, institutional support and pedagogical training and hence, perhaps, there are more challenges and less opportunities. However, discourse over these key issues might open up new avenues for teachers of English in technical education. At a time, English is closely linked with employability, upward mobility and overall better prospects of students in general and engineering students in particular, this discourse is decisive in terms of a paradigm shift in teaching of English in technical education, not so much necessary but inevitable indeed.
                                                  

Panelists:

Dr. Vivienne Baumfield
Professor of Pedagogy,
International Dean South Asia and Eurasia
Glasgow University, Scotland

Dr. Kamal Mehta
Professor and Head
Department of English and Comparative Literary Studies
Saurashtra University, Rajkot

Ms. Liana Hyde
Senior Training Consultant,
British Council
West India

Ms. Nikita Gadani
Department of Communication Skills
Marwadi Education Foundation’s Group of Institutions
*Panelists 01 and 03 will join us through Google Hangout


Schedule:



Opening Remarks:
Each panelist will get 5 mins for opening remarks.

Panel Discussion:
After opening remarks, there will be Panel Discussion for 20 minutes.

Open House:The Panel Discussion will be followed by Q & A with the audience. The Open House will be for 20 mins.

Date:
February 05, 2014


Time:
05.00 pm to 06.00 pm

Venue:

Seminar Hall, PG BuildingWe shall look forward to having you amid us.
                                                               Samvad
                                                                                                        
A Faculty Forum


Best Wishes.......................!!!



Deepali Agravat

Wednesday 29 January 2014

Departmental Library


WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF READING..........

Department of Communication Skills ,MEFGI runs a departmental Library where you can find a collection of worth reading books in both the hard copies and soft copies as well. People who have fond of reading can make the maximum use of it and gain the best out of it. 

The Location of the Departmental Library:

MA 307 (C)
3rd Floor


The Coordinator of the Library:
Ms Sneha Patel



 Feel free to contact her if you have any queries regarding this. 
Hope to see a large number of readers. It is open for all the faculties as well as the students.



Contact No.   9328278160 
sneha.patel@marwadieducation.edu.in


Best Wishes................

Sneha Patel






Best of Luck.....................!!!

Deepali Agravat



 
 






Tuesday 28 January 2014

5 Ways to Strengthen Your Writing Skills 

It's true that anyone can write. All you need is a computer with a keyboard or a pencil and paper to accomplish that. But it is untrue to think that anyone, even someone who uses the best writing enhancement software, can write well. Without practice and careful study, learning to write well is a skill that few individuals will ever master in their lifetimes. Even professional writers spend a lifetime picking up on all the nuances of writing. Here are some ways that you can improve your writing skills.
 
 
Read

Most people are quite busy these days, which makes finding time for activities like reading seem quite impossible. But without reading often, you’ll never truly understand what effective and correct writing looks like. While you don’t need to read countless novels and massive encyclopedias, it helps to make a habit of reading short stories, news articles and other forms of written copy. This will ultimately help familiarize you with the different writing styles that exist.
 
Write Often 

You will never truly improve your writing skills without making an effort at it. Much like with sports, you need to keep active with your writing and establish healthy habits from the start. It’s better to practice for 15 minutes a day rather than for two hours, three times a week. Even if you can only dedicate a few minutes each day, it will become more of a habit and easier to dedicate time gradually.
 
Learn Grammar & Style

You will never find a piece of writing that is so mind-bogglingly good that readers are willing to overlook bad grammar. It is enough of a reading impediment that bad grammar can disrupt the reader’s ability to follow an author’s train of thought. People trying to build up their writing skills tend to get quite lazy when learning grammar because it’s a lot of work and is more academic than creative. But once you learn the rules, it’ll be easier to retain that information and apply it in future writing.
 
 
Love Peer Reviews 

Most individuals struggle in this regard because writing is a very personal thing. You’ve put your soul into writing out a document and it directly reflects your intelligence and passions. But when someone edits your document and starts pointing out flaws, it can feel like you’re being personally attacked. Don’t let this be the case. Take the comments and edits of others and integrate them into your own writing style. There is always something more you can learn about writing, as well as different ways you can fine-tune your writing style.

Read It Aloud 

A good practice when writing is to simply read your document out aloud. This helps greatly if you’re planning on using it for an oral presentation, but it can be helpful in other areas as well. Hearing your words rather than just looking at them can change your opinion of your writing and expose potential flaws such as pretentious terms, boring dialog and run-on sentences. 



So Pick up Pen and start to write something as WRITTEN REMAINS FOREVER...........!!!

BEST WISHES.............................!!!


Deepali Agravat


 

Monday 27 January 2014

Research Chronicler
 
InternationalResearch


It's my pleasure to inform you that January 2014 Issue of Research Chronicler, an Internationalmultidisciplinary journal, has been published.Research Chronicler is peer reviewed refereed and indexed journal published both online and in print form.
 
 
 Please enjoy reading the journal on:  


&

ISSN     2347 - 5021    Research Chronicler    (Print)
ISSN     2347 - 503X    Research Chronicler    (Online)
 
 
Kindly Enjoy the online reading...........
 
 
Best Wishes.................!!!
 
Deepali Agravat

Saturday 25 January 2014

Developing verbal ability skills 



Verbal ability is a vital component of management entrance exams. The questions in this section broadly test abilities in word power, analogies, sentence correction and verbal reasoning. This means that it demands a good vocabulary and a strong command of English. Over the last few years, the nature of questions asked in this section, particularly in the Common Admission Test has changed from being pure vocabulary based to reasoning and analogy. Let us look at different aspects of preparing for this section of the test. 

Reading

Inculcate a habit of reading to improve concentration levels. Devote an hour everyday reading on diverse subjects - newspapers and periodicals provide good diverse reading topics. Read between the lines to understand the meaning behind each written word and sentence. Make a mental precis of a passage as you read through it. This would encourage you to remember facts, sharpen comprehension skills and help in analysing the described situation - very helpful for the reading comprehension section too. 

Word power
The trend of asking direct questions on word power may have diminished in the last few years but nevertheless a strong word power has an impact on understanding and answering reasoning based questions. Vocabulary cannot be built by reciting a word list, dictionary or thesaurus but by sustained reading. A good vocabulary is all about learning the usage of new words, not just their meaning. Memorising an exhaustive word list can be extremely boring and may not get the desired results.Once again use reading to increase word power. Keep a dictionary handy while reading. As you come across new words, mark them. Look for the meanings in a dictionary and synonyms in a thesaurus. This is a good way to commit new words to memory - more so since the usage of words is of critical importance. At the end of the whole exercise, you would end with a self-created lexicon. Look it up regularly over the next few months to ensure that the words stay with you. 

Reasoning 

Reasoning questions can be framed in different forms - arranging jumbled sentences in correct order, deriving the meaning of a short passage and sentence correction, identifying opening and closing statements from a series of statements and the correct usage of words are some common question formats. These can often be time consuming and need to be attempted with full concentration. Extensive practice and familiarity with these types of questions can be very helpful to build up speed. 


Work briskly 

The verbal sections might contain more questions than can be attempted in the allotted time. However, do not try and rush to attempt all the questions sacrificing accuracy. Work at a brisk pace and attempt all the questions that you are sure of in the first attempt. In the remaining time allotted, come back to have a second look at the questions which were skipped in the first round. Having gone through the entire section a second time, time permitting, go over it a third time. This will strike a good balance between questions that you are confident of and those that need a bit of thinking. 


Scoring pattern 


Undoubtedly command over the written language is the key to success in this section. While verbal ability can be a high scoring section, at the same time, scores are likely to vary in either direction, as unlike quantitative ability, there are no well-established scientific principals to distinguish a right answer from a wrong one. Monitor scores on a chart as you progress in preparation.f the trend is towards higher scores, things are going fine and there are reasons to be satisfied. Keep the tempo going till exam time. However, if you notice a trend in the scoring pattern that is either not very consistent or reflects a downward trend, identify the type of questions you are getting wrong. Put in a stronger effort to increase basic conceptual skills in those questions before attempting further simulated tests.The scope of pattern of questions in this section is literally limitless. No amount of practice can ensure familiarity with each and every form of questioning. The intention at this stage should not even be to speculate over every possible type of question but to gain a good understanding of the pattern of questions based on past trends. As long as a reasonable level of comfort is achieved with the known pattern of questioning, there are reasons to feel satisfied with the preparation.  


With Best Wishes.............!!!! 




 Deepali Agravat


Friday 24 January 2014



              A POUND OF BUTTER  

There was a farmer who sold a pound of butter to the baker. One day the baker decided to weigh the butter to see if he was getting a pound and he found that he was not. This angered him and he took the farmer to court. The judge asked the farmer if he was using any measure. The farmer replied, amour Honor, I am primitive. I don't have a proper measure, but I do have a scale." The judge asked, "Then how do you weigh the butter?" The farmer replied "Your Honor, long before the baker started buying butter from me, I have been buying a pound loaf of bread from him. Every day when the baker brings the bread, I put it on the scale and give him the same weight in butter. If anyone is to be blamed, it is the baker."     


What is the moral of the story? We get back in life what we give to others. Whenever you take an action, ask yourself this question: Am I giving fair value for the wages or money I hope to make? Honesty and dishonesty become a habit. Some people practice dishonesty and can lie with a straight face. Others lie so much that they don't even know what the truth is anymore. But who are they deceiving? Themselves.



BEST WISHES,


MS. SNEHA PATEL


Enhance Project-Based Learning with These 10 Powerful Tools

 

A fun set of Applications (Many Free) for Project Based Teaching and Learning.

The contemporary classroom can be rather different than what we were used to even just a decade ago, thanks partly to the advancing nature ofInternet based technologies. One form of teaching which has benefited from these types of tools is Project Based Learning. A main goal of project-based learning for students is to make the process of putting theory into practice easier.

(This great PBL image is from)
 
http://modelschoolscnyric.pbworks.com/w/page/40580862/Project-Based%20Learning) 

There are countless applications available on the web that can enablestudents to apply learning concepts in practical forms to further their awareness and understanding of learning materials and concepts. Just as students, teachers can also find these types of applications alternatively fun, productive, and/or engaging. Following is a set of some wonderful and effective tools for project-based learning.
This is an excellent creative tool that enables students to create multimedia projects and digital posters easily. You can use Glogster as a great way of highlighting research, as a pre-tool for major projects, or as a supporting presentation tool in a project. There are great templates to choose from and importing sources is as easy as it gets. This app is free to use on the Internet and there is free Glog reader available at the Apple Store.
Mapping out ideas becomes a much easier and more creative process with the use of MindMeister. This tool is a great way to start a creative project by setting the main ideas and determining its essence. This free web based tool also has a free versions available for both Android and iOS users.
3. Pixton
Students love comics, and this fun web-based tool will bring that dynamic environment into the lessons. The app has various cool features, including images, background templates, and different expressions that make the lectures much more interesting. There is a free trial for teachers, after which the app can be licensed for around $1 per student per month (less when licenses for longer periods).
This is a browser-based tool with versatile features that combine photographs, videos, and blogging on interactive Google Maps andGoogle Earth. The tool features a chronological timeline that can be used for elaborate representation of school activities, presentations, and projects. A “light app” is available for free at the Apple Store.
5. Animoto
This is a great tool for presenting learning concepts and field tripsthrough slideshows. Students can use Animoto to illustrate their projects with text, photos, and videos. All they need to do is choose the style of video and start adding their visual material. There isn’t a better way to give that polished finish to all school projects. Animoto is also available for free as an app for Android and iOS users.
This $1.99 Apple app has some similarities to iMovie, but comes with some advanced video making features. Students can use it to combine clips together, smooth out the video flow and put transitions between the clips. The app also allows its users to record voice-overs and add text and photos to the videos they create.
This tool enables students to create slideshows by recording voiceovers for images. Collaborative projects can be greatly enhanced with FotoBabble, which enables students to start their projects by analyzing the concepts and expressing their creativity. Teachers can use the tool to create quizzes and test the knowledge of their students in a less scary way. This free Internet app is also available for free in the Apple Store.
This versatile tool allows its users to comment on different types of media, from photos to videos. VoiceThread is an Internet application that can be very useful in learning foreign languages, as well as for group projects where students can use the tool to add voice comments to stories or images. Apple Store offers a VoiceThread app for free.
9. Capzles
Digital storytelling becomes a brand new concept with the usage of this browser-based timeline-style tool. Students can select their favorite template from the wide choice and use it to share visual narratives and stories with soundtracks. It doesn’t matter whether the students need to work on in dept multimedia projects or simple stories – Capzles can be a great tool in both cases. It is available as a free app on the Internet, and for iOS users.
10. Popplet
Popplet is a great planning tool that students can use as a mind map enriched with videos, photos, and drawings. This is an interactive app that’s easy to use for adding comments, creating galleries, and generating concepts. The app is available at the Apple Store for $4.99.

Best Wishes...................!!!

Deepali Agravat

Wednesday 22 January 2014

 EDUCATION INTERVIEW


Education system requires a serious overhaul, unfortunate is that educational and research institutions are administered by IAS





Prof. CNR Rao, 
Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Council






Recently Government of India has announced to confer highest civilian honour, the'Bharat Ratna' upon professor CNR Rao, Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Councilto the Prime Minister of India. He has received more than 40 Honorary Doctoratesfrom various prestigious Universities across the World. A world authority on structural Chemistry, Rao taught at the IIT Kanpur, Indian Institute of Sciences (IISc) Bangalore, Oxford, Cambridge and University of California in an illustrious career spanning over 60 years. He is also the foremost solid state and materials chemists in the World. Dr Rao has authored over 45 books on science, has held various prestigious government posts.
In an Exclusive Interview with India Education Review Dr Rao shares his 60 years of long journey with the Indian Scientific Space and discusses various radical changes required to bring change in the Indian Education sector. Prof Rao is also the Honoury President of one of the finest research Institution in the world - Jawahar lal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research
Kindly follow the following link to enjoy an Exclusive Interview with India Education by Dr Rao :


http://www.indiaeducationreview.com/interviews/education-system-requires-serious-overhaul-unfortunate-educational-and-research-instituti


-Best Wishes..........!!!


Deepali Agravat