The challenges that education
institutes of today face are to control and reduce
costs and yet at the same time impart quality
education to an ever growing and diverse student
population. CIS provides them with a cost effective
means of achieving their goals. From static web
pages for campus brochures to online course
catalogues and now online tests and virtual class
rooms, the role and use of internet in education and
training has increased manifold. CIS enables
institutes to reach out to more students and
provides them with a means to supplement their
traditional means of instruction.
Education institutes can make use of the
advancements and innovations in technology to
automate their administrative processes thereby
enabling them to create a centralized information
and knowledge repository and improve communication
and interaction between students and faculty.
CIS has made it possible for organizations as well
as educational institutes to evaluate and assess the
skills and performance of employees and students in
an easy and efficient manner. The online mode of
testing reduces the time and effort required to
conduct offline tests.
ADVANTAGES
The advantages that Internet and technology have to
offer the education industry are as follows:
Automating their administrative process enable
schools, colleges and other institutes to do away
with the time consuming and costly manual ways of
doing tasks thereby resulting in reduced errors and
increased efficiency.
Automation provides a means for better communication
and easy organization and accessibility of
information and data.
Internet has broken down geographical barriers
thereby enabling information and knowledge to be
accessed and shared by a broader community of
students
Online training modules enable organizations to
train and instruct their employees in a cost
effective and efficient manner.
Online education and learning enables students to
learn at their own convenience and pace.
The internet provides means such as discussion
boards, chats etc to help in improving student and
faculty interaction and communication
E-learning provides students across the globe access
to the same standard of education.
The Internet can be used to accommodate different
learning styles.
Online tests can be conducted to evaluate students
and employees in an easy and efficient manner
SOLUTION AREAS
CIS's solutions for the education industry
range from simple websites that provide a platform
to share information about various institutes to
computer based training programs, comprehensive
e-learning and assessment applications. The solution
possibilities within the domain include:
E-learning
Organizations of varying sizes and from various
fields are successfully utilizing e-learning
solutions to train their employees in a cost and
time effective manner. E-learning solutions can be
customized to suit individual learning requirements
according to profile, interests, learning styles &
learning goals. The choice and ability of
customizing presentation preferences has made it one
of the most preferred modes of learning.
Depending on the requirements of individual
organizations and educational institutes, e-learning
solutions can be categorized as:
Synchronous: Instructors and students interact in
real time through chat rooms and video streaming.
Students can pose queries and get instant responses,
assignments are submitted and assessed in real-time.
Asynchronous: Solutions developed under this
category enables students to access prepackaged
training at their convenience and pace while
communicating with instructors or other students
through e-mail.
Blended e-learning: It is a blend of synchronous and
asynchronous learning. Solutions developed under
this category require human intervention together
with distance learning programs.
Computer based tests/assessments:
The skills, knowledge and performance of employees
and students can be tested and evaluated online. The
response time and answers are stored and assessed
electronically thereby drastically reducing the
amount of time, cost and labor required in
conducting and evaluating offline tests. Through
online testing it is possible to easily generate and
print mark-sheets, transcriptions and certificates.
Administrators can create tests and quizzes etc and
post them online, from where they can be accessed by
candidates. Stringent security features can be built
into the testing application, restricting access to
authorized candidates and limiting the number of
times that a candidate can appear for a test.
Extensive reporting modules can be developed and
integrated with the solutions enabling institutes to
generate comprehensive reports for analytical
purposes based on the answers and responses of
various candidates.
Computer based tests (CBT) can reside on a PC or on
a local network or over the internet. The most
common formats of online testing include surveys,
employee assessment, certifications and simulation
based tests. Some of the advantages of conducting
computer based tests are as follows:
Helps reduce time and cost required in conducting
and assessing offline tests and exams .
With tests available over the internet, candidates
can take the test at any time and at any location
around the world
A candidate can immediately be informed of his/her
performance
The CBT design is more interactive and increases the
active participation of the candidate
The answers and response time of the candidates can
be used to generate reports for analytical purposes
Virtual Campus
A virtual campus provides a
common platform for students and faculty members to
interact and communicate with each other. It enables
the creation of a centralized repository of
information, knowledge and resources which can be
easily accessed by students and faculty. Class notes
and assignments can be posted on the intranet.
Students can complete assignments and submit them
online. The calendar tool can be used to post
information and details about up-coming events. The
community of students can be developed through the
implementation of message boards, discussion forums,
chat rooms and blogs.
Web presence for education institutes
Websites can be developed for schools, colleges and
other educational institutes in order to provide
them with a platform to communicate and share
information about their institute, goals,
curriculum, facilities, faculty and admission
policies and processes with a larger prospective
student community. Multimedia can be used to create
virtual tours enabling prospective students to get a
feel of the institute. Students can send in queries
through the website thereby enabling authorized
personnel from the institute to respond to the
queries in a faster and efficient manner.
Prospective students can fill in the application
form and apply for admissions online. An extensive
database of students can be maintained enabling
institutes to keep track of the prospective
candidates in an efficient manner.
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