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According to McKinsey Report, September 2007 on “How the World’s best performing schools come out on top”, it is the quality of education imparted by the education institutes that makes them stand on the top when compared to any other factor. It is impractical to deny the following facts:

“The Quality of an Education System cannot exceed the Quality of its teachers”

“The only way to improve outcomes is to improve instruction”

The existing situation here is that majority of the institutions fail to recognize the importance of this and would not focus to a great extent on bringing up the quality of instructions imparted out of their faculty members. The current scenario reveals that the faculty members/ teachers, instructors are burdened with a lot of organizational work along with their basic and most important task of instructing / teaching/ imparting knowledge to the students.

The simplest way to achieve this is to purge the extra work that the teachers carry out including preparation of profound and comprehensive reports, involve themselves in a lot of day to day non-core activities etc. The institution should streamline their processes effectively that will allow them to achieve these results.

The key to achieve better efficiency is to implement educationERP.net in the institutions. educationERP.net is a comprehensive ERP for education institutions that automates all their processes, departments thus allowing the teachers, students, administration staff and the management to focus on their core aspect of delivering world class quality education.

Organizations, more so Institutions succeed when people work together. Creating such an environment where all the people in the institution can work together is the most important task of the management of the institution. This involves providing a great communication and collaboration platform for everyone. To deliver the quality education and help your students succeed, you have to equip your faculty with all the information about the students. According to the study conducted by D Jason De Sousa of National Survey of Student Engagement, it is well observed that “Advisors at high performing institutions are well informed about their students. They know where their students are from, their preferred learning styles, their talents, and when and where they need help. They also establish high but attainable expectations for students, making explicit what students need to know and do to be successful.”

The simplest way to create such a communication platform and facilitate students, faculty and others in the institution is by implementing educationERP.net at every department which empowers you to be the best performing institution.

Key factors in education management include at least five main criteria

1. Clear institutional goals and tasks,

2. Fixed deadlines for their realisation,

3. Sufficient financial conditions,

4. Increased accountability and diversification of funding sources, and

5. Strong collegiate and personal commitment to the aims of the institution.

All the above criteria can be met if there is unambiguous decision making ability in the institution. And this decision making ability becomes practical when there is streamlined flow of information.

Decision-making is a fluid, multi-faceted activity carried out by a wide variety of people. It takes place within a quasi-legal framework that includes, in the case of education institutions, a formal committee structure. It follows that, while the formal structures of different institutions may look very similar, the actual operation of their decision-making processes may be very different. These differences will arise from, among other things, different traditions, different cultural values and different personalities. In particular, the leadership from the Head of the institution (Director or Vice-chancellor) and his/her senior colleagues can crucially affect the way in which the process works. Where there is trust and confidence in the senior management, informal, more efficient processes are likely to hold greater sway (Warner – Palfreyman 2000).

The crucial information should be well structured and stored. The Head of the institution should be able to then derive key decisions by using this information. A majority of the institutions find it extremely hard in getting this information at one place and hence delaying the decision making process. educationERP.net would certainly help in this way as it has the information on a centralised database and can provide crucial information and reports to the Head / management by a click of a button.

A term which has paved the way for new debate among technocrats and is generating a buzz among administrations is education technology. Literati define Educational technology (also called learning technology) as “the study and ethical practice of facilitating learning and improving performance by creating, using and managing appropriate technological processes and resources.” But with a view on the current trends it also encourages greater participation from students and teachers alike. It reignites the natural inquisitive behaviors such as investigation, exploration and learning. It stimulates the innate capability of curiosity existent in everyone.

Technology has widely been associated with physical technology, but actually it encompasses any valid and reliable process or procedure which is based on scientific reasoning. The point here is that the techniques adopted by educators still have the most relevance and technology acts as an aid to help them become more effective. Many people warn of the possible harmful effects of using technology in the classroom. Will children lose their ability to relate to other human beings? Will they become dependent on technology to learn? Will they find inappropriate materials? The same was probably said with the invention of the printing press, radio, and television. All of these can be used inappropriately, but all of them have given humanity unbounded access to information which can be turned into knowledge. Appropriately used-- interactively and with guidance-- they have become tools for the development of higher order thinking skills.

Inappropriately used in the classroom, technology can be used to perpetuate old models of teaching and learning. Students can be "plugged into computers" to do drill and practice that is not so different from workbooks. Teachers can use multimedia technology to give more colorful, stimulating lectures. Both of these have their place, but such use does not begin to tap the power of these new tools. These points reinforce the existing paradigm shift in modern education, changing role of teacher from source to producer, conduit of information and role of students from passive information receivers to active knowledge accumulator.

The most significant advancement in technology has been the internet which has permeated all our lives. Tools which use the flexibility and leverage on the abilities of the internet, which recognize the fact that information is growing at an alarming rate and that only organized information holds any real value, are poised to make the greatest difference in educational establishments worldwide. One such tool is educationERP.net, a system which completely reflects the underlying spirit of education technology. It automates all the routine processes that consume valuable time and resources and shifts the attention back to what is really important. The system ensures that students become equal stakeholders and that they take active part in gaining more learning opportunities.

Any technology proves to be ineffective unless it is accompanied by reform. EducationERP.net does not aim to reform but transform the existing processes. It recognizes the inherent differences between the expectations of learners and teachers and caters to each individually. For teachers who usually influence a number of generations the system is a natural extension of the conventional practices that they are familiar with. For students it gives myriad opportunities for discovery, creativity and communication which fulfill their expectations from technology.

In today’s world technology has pervaded every possible aspect of our lives. Developed primarily as an aid, it is today become an effective replacement for traditional labor. What we are primarily interested in this discussion is the impact of technology on modern day education practices.

Technology when applied to educations has helped younger generations to review and develop their own thinking and ideas, to advance the technology even further; this cycle has effectively caused advancement in technology to the point where it has become less of a support tool as compared to a standalone system.

Let us review the education system we are all so familiar with. The classroom typically consists of an instructor and his class of students. He imparts his knowledge and the students, usually passively, try their best to assimilate it. This system was found to be detrimental to the process of learning which in nature has to be more interactive and participative. This is where CAI (Computer aided instruction) programs come in; they help the instructor concentrate on forming bonds with the students. If we decide to forego all the numerous problems that have cropped up due to the sudden adaptation of technology, the next logical thought that crops us is whether machines can be programmed to form these bonds. The question we have to ask is whether ICAI (Intelligent computer aided instruction) programs could become reality in the near horizon.

What are the advantages that such a system can offer its users?

1. It will address the shortage of qualified faculty that most institutes are faced with.

2. It will bring a level of customization that ensures that every child gains exposure to information that is suited to his intellectual capacity. It will tailor information to the needs of the individual.

3. It will foster the spirit of inquiry and put learning back into the hands of the stakeholder, it will get rid of the academic rigmarole that plagues the current systems.

4. It can be accessed any time, any place at your convenience. The classroom can literally be the entire globe.

5. The traditional role of the teacher will become secondary and they will increasingly serve as information consultants.

There are always detractors who will resist the implementation of technology and will decry its benefits. They may point towards the negative impact of not having a human touch and young minds becoming increasingly disconnected with their surroundings. But any technology that addresses the needs of the education sector like educationERP.net; if tailored well and integrated slowly will easily overcome these trivial issues.

The fact of the matter is that instructors who are equipped with technology are better suited to serve the changing trends in education. They will ensure their survival whether a truly independent ICAI system sees the light of day or not.