Month: May 2020

Lower rate of EPF subscription 10% with EPFO notified

Various measures have been announced from time to time to provide relief to the employers and employees of the establishments covered under the EPF & MP Act, 1952 distressed by Lockdown to prevent spread of COVID-19 and other disruptions due to Pandemic.

Photo by Breakingpic on Pexels.com

The reduction in statutory rate of contributions from 12% to 10% for wage months May, 2020, June, 2020 and July, 2020 for all class of establishments covered under the EPF & MP Act, 1952 announced on 13.05.2020 by the Central Govt. as part of Atma-Nirbhar Bharat package has been notified vide SO 1513 (E) dated 18.05.2020 published in the Gazette of India. The notification is available under the TAB- COVID-19 on the home page of EPFO website

The above reduction of rate of contribution is not applicable to establishments like Central and State Public Sector enterprises or any other establishment owned or controlled by or under control of the Central Govt. or State Govt. These establishments shall continue to contribute  12% of basic wages and dearness allowances.

The reduced rate is also not applicable for PMGKY beneficiaries, since the entire employees EPF contributions (12% of wages) and employers’ EPF & EPS contribution (12% of wages), totaling 24% of the monthly wages is being contributed by the Central Govt.

Reduction in rate of EPF contributions from 12% to 10% of basic wages and Dearness allowances is intended to benefit both 4.3 Crore employees/members and employers of 6.5 lakhs establishments to tide over the immediate liquidity crisis to some extent.

As a result of reduction in statutory rate of contributions from 12% to 10%, the employee shall have a higher take home pay due to reduction in deduction from his pay on account of EPF contributions and employer shall also have his liability reduced by 2% of wages of his employees. If Rs.10000/- is monthly EPF wages, only Rs.1000/- instead of Rs.1200/- is deducted from employee’s wages and employer pays Rs.1000/- instead of Rs.1200/- towards EPF contributions. 

In Cost to Company (CTC) model, if Rs.10000/- is monthly EPF wages, in CTC Model the employee gets Rs.200/- more directly from employer as employer’s EPF/EPS contribution is reduced and Rs.200/- less is deducted from his/her wages.

Under the EPF Scheme, 1952 any member has the option to contribute at a rate higher than statutory rate (10%) and employer can restrict his contributions 10% (statutory rate) in respect of such employee.

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Proud moment for Indian Railways, producing high horse power locomotive indegenously.

First 12000 HP made in India Locomotive, manufactured by Madhepura Electric Loco Factory situated in Bihar, was put into operation by Indian Railways from Pt Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Jn Station yesterday.

New Design Locomotive at Madhepura Factory

The loco is named WAG12 with Number 60027. The train departed from DeenDayalUpadhyaya Station at 14:08 hrs in long haul formation for Dhanbad Division of East Central Railway, consisting of 118 wagons which travelled from Pt DeenDayalUpadhyayaJn to Barwadih via Dehri-on-Sone, Garhwa Road.

It was a proud moment for Indian Railways, as it became 6th country in the world to join the elite club of producing high horse power locomotive indegenously. It is the first time, high horse power locomotive has been operationalised on broad gauge track in the world. The locomotive has been produced under Make in India programme. The Madhepura factory is the largest integrated Green Field facility built to the highest standards of quality and safety with production capacity of 120 locomotives and spread across a massive 250 acres.

Main Factory Building

These locomotives are state of art IGBT based, 3 phase drive, 9000 KW (12000 horse power) electric locomotive. The locomotive is capable of maximum tractive effort of 706 kN, which is capable of starting and running a 6000 T train in the gradient of 1 in 150. The locomotive with twin Bo-Bo design having 22.5 T (Tonnes) axle load is upgradable to 25 Tonnes with design speed of 120 kmph. This locomotive will be a game changer for further movement of coal trains for Dedicated Freight Corridor. The locomotives can be tracked through GPS for its strategic use through embedded software and Antennae being lifted through the servers on ground through microwave link.

The locomotive is capable of working on railway tracks with conventional OHE lines as well as on Dedicated Freight corridors with high rise OHE lines. The locomotive has air-conditioned driver cabs on either side. The locomotive is equipped with regenerative braking system which provides substantial energy savings during operations. These high horse power locomotives will help to decongest the saturated tracks by improving average speed of freight trains.

Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL) will manufacture 800 State of the Art 12000 HP Electric Freight Locomotives in 11 years and being one of the most power full electric locomotive in the world will increase the speed of freight trains and will allow faster, safer and heavier freight trains to move across the country, thus reducing congestion in traffic. It will also lead to considerable savings in energy consumption through re-generative braking. As part of the project, factory along with township has been set up in Madhepura, Bihar with capacity to manufacture 120 locomotives per year. The project will create more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs in the country. More than Rs 2000 Crores has already been invested in the project by the company.

Along with the factory, socio-economic development in Madhepura is being driven by this project. As part of CSR initiative skill centres are being set up in Madhepura to impart training to local people.

It may be noted that Indian Railways entered into Procurement cum Maintenance Agreement with Madhepura Electric Locomotive Pvt. Ltd. (MELPL), as part of the largest Foreign Direct Investment project of Indian Railways to transform the heavy freight transportation landscape of the country. This is ‘Make in India’ Initiative by India Railways (IR).

The project started in 2018 and the Prime Minister of India inaugurated the project on 10th April’ 2018. The prototype locomotive was delivered in March 2018. Based on the test results having design issues, the complete locomotive including bogies has been redesigned. The new design of locomotive has been inspected by RDSO at Madhepura factory and cleared for dispatch from factory on 16th Nov’ 2019. Further RDSO has conducted oscillation trials at various speeds upto 132 kmph and the locomotive has passed oscillation trials successfully. The locomotive has made its maiden commercial run between DeenDayalUpadhaya Station to  Shivpur on 18.05.2020. The design was completed for the whole locomotive in a record time of four to six months and despite the initial hiccups and the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, it could not dampen the spirit of August initiative of IR, surpassing all odds we could secure the permission of the Bihar Govt. to resume operations at the Madhepura Factory putting the project back on track.

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J&K Domicile Rules Notification

Describing the Jammu & Kashmir Domicile Rules Notification as the dawn of a new era for Jammu & Kashmir, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that history will vindicate us and prove that this course correction was in keeping with the principle of equality and the norms of a healthy democracy.

Dr Jitendra Singh said that a serious miscarriage of history had been undone after 70 years by the Jammu & Kashmir Domicile Rules Notification.

Addressing the media, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was an anomaly waiting to be corrected and perhaps it was God’s will that it should get corrected only when Sh Narendra Modi takes over as the Prime Minister of India. He also complimented Home Minister Sh Amit Shah for the clarity with which the entire exercise has been carried out.

Dr Jitendra Singh noted that three generations of people in Jammu & Kashmir had been denied the right to live with justice and dignity, and it was heartening to see this redemption happening in our lifetime, which would prove to be a blessing for the future generations. He also expressed satisfaction that he and some of his contemporaries got an opportunity to be a part of this exercise, if not wholly, at least in a very small measure.

While the West Pakistan Refugees and displaced persons from PoJK have been restored their legitimate rights, Dr Jitendra Singh said, a discrimination of several decades has been undone and those who are opposing this move are only exposing themselves to the accusation that for the last 70 years they had been thriving on the politics of discrimination.

It is an irony, said Dr Jitendra Singh, that All India Services Officers, including IAS and IPS, who devoted 30 to 35 years of their life to serve in Jammu & Kashmir were, at the end of the day, after superannuation, asked to pack up, leave and look for a place elsewhere to settle. This was, he said, quite in contrast to the arrangement in several States and UTs where the All India Service officers of State Cadre are not only allowed to settle but are also provided plots of land for the same.

Similarly, he said, a gross injustice was being done to the children of these officials who did their entire schooling in Jammu & Kashmir but were debarred from applying for admission to higher education institutions.

Dr Jitendra Singh said, this should be seen as an opportunity for wider exposure and capacity building for our children, so that they could prepare themselves to flourish in global India.

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bahtings

PLEs

I found a really interesting podcast by Graham Attwell describing and discussing the idea of personal learning environments (PLEs) where students can build up their own online learning tools using the Internet e.g. Wikipedia, blogs, discussions, online journals to create their own learning landscape. They have come about to get away from controlling learning for students, something a f2f classroom and Learning Management System tend to do. PLEs rely on providing a learner-controlled environment rather than a teacher-controlled environment.

This aligns with what is known as web 2.0 where learners search for and use Internet technologies and pick and mix so they set up their own networked system e.g. My spaces, Google, Flickr, ourmedia, MSN etc. depending on their needs. See the diagram of the future online learning environment on Derek Wenmouth’s blog Blackboard and other Learning Management Systems belong in web 1.0 systems where software is provided for the learner and learning is very controlled rather than learner-centred. There are some projects underway (ELGG and JISC) to create PLE systems – a contradiction in terms really – see below.

5 Things to Do During Syllabus Week

Syllabus Week refers to the first week of classes in a semester. For the most part, your first week will serve as an introduction to all of your courses.

The beginning of a new semester can be both exciting and stressful, and you might be anxious about starting your new classes. Luckily, there are a few things you can do right away to make the rest of the semester easier.

One of those is to take full advantage of Syllabus Week, which is the ideal time to prepare for the semester and get organized.

What is Syllabus Week?

Syllabus Week refers to the first week of classes in a semester. For the most part, your first week will serve as an introduction to all of your courses. Professors will use this time to give an overview of the class and review all of the details you need to know ahead of time. They’ll hand out a syllabus, which is a document that summarizes all of this information, likely including exam dates, assignment deadlines, learning goals, materials needed, and the professors’ contact information.

Here are five ways to take advantage of Syllabus Week:

1. Read the syllabus

Reviewing the syllabus is the best thing you can do to prepare for the semester. Some students find the syllabus overwhelming, but you need to know what will be expected of you in the coming weeks. The professor might not go through all of the items in detail during class time, which is why it’s important for you to take the time to review the syllabus carefully on your own.

2. Go to all your classes and pay attention

Don’t skip class during the important first week. Your instructors might share information with the class that isn’t listed on the syllabus. It’s also a good opportunity to adjust to your new routine and schedule, as well as make a good first impression on your professors.

3. Get to know your instructors and classmates

Professors are trying to get to know all of their new students during the first few classes, so they’ll appreciate efforts you make to introduce yourself personally. If you cannot find time to talk to them in person, you can always send an email and ask any questions you have after reading the syllabus.

This first introduction is important because the semester can get busy and you are most likely going to need to reach out for help at some point. If you introduce yourself during Syllabus Week, you’ll probably feel comfortable going to the professor for help during the rest of the semester. Professors can also be helpful for references and networking down the road, so it’s good if you can start building a relationship with them early on.

Try and talk to at least one or two classmates as well. Creating connections with classmates can come in handy when you are working on assignments or studying for an exam. If you reach out during the first week, you can start to form study groups right away instead of waiting until the first exam draws closer. If you’re an online student, consider creating a Facebook group or following Herzing’s Facebook page to get to know your classmates or introducing yourself on the class discussion board.

4. Get all the materials for your classes

Come to your first class with at least a notebook and a pencil so that you can take notes. After class, look at the syllabus to see if you need to get other materials, such as books, binders, folders, or anything else the class requires. Try to get these materials as soon as possible so that you don’t fall behind in the next few weeks of class. Also, make sure to keep your syllabus with the rest of your class materials, so it’s easier for you to find it and refer back to it later on.

5. Plan ahead

Syllabus week is a great time to get organized, which will make the rest of the semester much easier. Make sure you have a planner so you can write down important dates for the semester. Once you have all of these dates laid out, you can start to plan ahead for major assignments. For example, if you have a research paper due at the end of the term, you might want to complete your first draft a few weeks ahead of time so that you can visit the Writing Center and review it with a tutor. Set your own intermediate deadlines and record these in your planner to ensure that you don’t procrastinate on significant projects.

It’s never too early to start getting organized for the new semester. By making the most of Syllabus Week, you can prepare yourself for the future, make a good first impression, and prioritize your time so that you can be successful. Good luck!

5 Jobs You Can Land with a Healthcare Management Degree

Most healthcare managers work for hospitals or other healthcare organizations where they plan, direct and coordinate medical and health services.

The field of healthcare management offers both a competitive salary and strong job growth, making it an attractive career choice for those interested in both healthcare and business. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment in healthcare management is projected to grow 18% from 2018 to 2028, as healthcare organizations strive to adapt to a changing healthcare landscape and keep up with the growing demand for medical services.

A degree in healthcare management can help interested students begin or advance their healthcare careers. Most healthcare managers work for hospitals or other healthcare organizations where they plan, direct and coordinate medical and health services. They might also spearhead new initiatives to improve patient care or create operational efficiencies within the organization. Other responsibilities include supervising staff members, managing finances, preparing and monitoring budgets and keeping and/or organizing medical records.

Whether you are a healthcare professional looking to take the next step, or you are just beginning your healthcare career, a degree in healthcare management can help you unlock the door to many exciting career opportunities.

Here are some of the jobs you can land with a healthcare management degree.

1) Healthcare Department Manager

 Healthcare department managers oversee a specific department or team within an organization. They may be in charge of nursing, surgery, or physical therapy departments, for example, and will have different responsibilities based on their specialty. If you already have work experience as a nurse or medical assistant, for example, pursuing a role as a department manager is one way you can advance your healthcare career.

2) Healthcare Finance Manager

Healthcare finance managers are responsible for the day-to-day financial management of a healthcare organization or practice. Specific responsibilities include managing cash flow, designing budgets, tracking and reporting on the financial health of the organization or department, and evaluating compensation. If you are interested in the business of healthcare and enjoy working with numbers, this could be a good fit for you.

3) Quality and Improvement Manager

As a Quality and Improvement Manager, you would be responsible for ensuring that your organization complies with current care standards. You might also be in charge of evaluating current processes and determining areas for improvement. Some quality and improvement managers also lead workshops and training seminars to help other members of the healthcare team stay up to speed with best practices. In addition to earning your bachelor’s degree in healthcare management, you will need several years of experience and additional certification to become a quality and improvement manager.

4) Healthcare Administrator

Healthcare administrators might manage one hospital or oversee an entire healthcare system. They are in charge of ensuring smooth operations and can also play a role in long-term planning for the organization. Healthcare administrators must have at least a bachelor’s degree, but a master’s degree in healthcare management is often required for continued career advancement.

5) Physician Practice Manager

Physician practice managers lead a healthcare organization’s business strategy. Specific responsibilities include managing budgets, developing new strategies to grow the business, and overseeing day-to-day operations. Many employers prefer candidates to have a master’s degree in healthcare or business management for these roles.

But don’t forget about these skills..

Being successful in the field of healthcare management requires strong leadership qualities and management skills. As with any leadership position, excellent oral, written and interpersonal communication skills are also necessary. If you are interested in learning more about the business side of healthcare and enjoy thinking strategically and making important decisions, healthcare management could be the right career path for you.

Herzing offers several degree programs to help you begin or advance your career in healthcare management, including associate, bachelor and master degree options. Students enrolled in the bachelor’s degree program can pursue concentrations in leadership or managed care, allowing them to customize their healthcare management degree to their career goals and acquire specialized knowledge.

If you are currently a healthcare professional looking to make the jump from clinical practice to management, an MBA in Healthcare Management is the best track for you. Through an MBA program, you will gain the specialized knowledge and expertise in modern healthcare issues, trends and tools that you need to succeed in upper-management roles.

Students enrolled in the bachelor’s degree program can also earn dual credit toward their MBA as they complete their undergraduate degree.

Learn more about Herzing’s healthcare management programs and find out how you can start building your healthcare career today.

bahtings

PLEs

I found a really interesting podcast by Graham Attwell describing and discussing the idea of personal learning environments (PLEs) where students can build up their own online learning tools using the Internet e.g. Wikipedia, blogs, discussions, online journals to create their own learning landscape. They have come about to get away from controlling learning for students, something a f2f classroom and Learning Management System tend to do. PLEs rely on providing a learner-controlled environment rather than a teacher-controlled environment.

This aligns with what is known as web 2.0 where learners search for and use Internet technologies and pick and mix so they set up their own networked system e.g. My spaces, Google, Flickr, ourmedia, MSN etc. depending on their needs. See the diagram of the future online learning environment on Derek Wenmouth\’s blog Blackboard and other Learning Management Systems belong in web 1.0 systems where software is provided for the learner and learning is very controlled rather than learner-centred. There are some projects underway (ELGG and JISC) to create PLE systems – a contradiction in terms really – see below.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

3 Ways to Step Up Your Study Routine

Here are a few ways you can adjust your routine to make your studying both more productive and enjoyable.

I find it is easier to be more efficient at studying and doing my classwork when I stick to my study routine. When I have a plan, I have a purpose and it’s easier for me to get things done.
Here are a few ways you can adjust your routine to make your studying both more productive and enjoyable.

Find a time that works for you 

I start by choosing a day and time that works best for me. This gives me an opportunity to prepare myself mentally for the task at hand, and it also decreases my anxiety about an upcoming exam or assignment. I know that if I have a plan, I will succeed.
I also make sure to schedule study breaks, depending on the length of the assignment, to de-stress and give myself an opportunity to reflect on the information I’ve just reviewed.

Get comfortable

One can never go wrong with an organized study space. In order to give an assignment my full, undivided attention, I try to minimize distractions in my environment. I don’t like working in cluttered spaces, so I look for areas that are neat and spacious. The energy in the room can also help me stay more focused. For example, I often prefer to study in a library, coffee shop or near a lake if my home is not an option. These places bring me peace and comfort. Finally, I have discovered that I’m more focused whenever I have light music playing in the background.

Find ways to make studying fun or enjoyable

I was never a fan of studying until I found ways to make it enjoyable. I am a visual learner, so incorporating creativity into my studies has become an excellent tactic for me. I often create memory games or draw visual aids, such as graphs, charts or diagrams. This makes studying fun and motivates me to learn the material. This method also helps me achieve a better understanding of things that may initially seem difficult to grasp. Most importantly, it helps me identify the concepts I understand and the topics I need to spend more time on.
My consistent study habits allow me to achieve my goals, and I like being able to personalize my study routine to fit my schedule and my needs. Why not set the tone for your own study success? Test out different study spaces and methods, and see what works best for you!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

Evaluating authentic mobile apps for learning

Back in April 2013 I delivered a workshop at the IATEFL 2013 conference in Liverpool. The topic of the workshop was \’Criteria for Evaluating Web Tools and Apps\’ and in the workshop I encouraged participants to share and explore their subconscious criteria for deciding which apps and web based tools they used with their students.


I particularly encouraged them to think about \’authentic\’ apps rather than those made for learning. This is because in many ways I feel that most made for learning apps have made very little pedagogical progress beyond their roots in CALL from the last century.

I also believe that encouraging students to get \’hands on\’ with authentic apps has a much more important role in helping them to develop digital literacies which they can use outside of the classroom.

As a result of that workshop and the research that developed from it I\’ve now developed this list of criteria for evaluating mobile apps for educational purposes.


Here I\’ve divided the criteria into 4 categories and given some explanation of each. I welcome your comments and feedback as this is still very much a work in progress.

Technical

Accessibility – Will all the students have the necessary equipment to use it? Will it work across all / most mobile platforms and also work within a desktop web browser?
  • Unless teachers are working in a teaching environment where a uniform set of physical devices are provided for students, such as a complete set of iPads or Android tablets, then they need to check carefully that all the variety of devices that their students possess are all supported. The safest way to ensure this is to check to see if the app also has a browser based version, so that students without up-to-date mobile devices will still be able to participate.
User friendly – Will students be able to learn how to use it reasonably quickly?
  • Apps that are complex and take a long time to master may not be worth the commitment. Teachers need to ensure that they plan how to teach the students how to use the apps in a reasonable amount of time or have a strategy for gradually uncovering more features of an app as they develop more activities with it.
Registration – Do students need to register to use it?
  • Getting students and teachers to register and remember passwords can be laborious and time consuming, so apps that don’t require registration and particularly those which run in the browser on mobile or desktop can be very convenient to use. Registration does however offer students more protection and makes any potential misuse or mischief trackable back to its source.
Security – Is the app secure?
  • Although it can be difficult and time consuming to check, teachers need to determine that the app is secure and the creators will treat their students data and personal information responsibly and confidentially. If there is any form of social interaction enabled through the app teachers need to check if there is any mechanism or process for blocking and reporting abuse.

Financial

Price – Is it free or affordable?
  • One of the great advantages of apps is that many are free, freemium (have both a free and a commercial version) or are quite low cost. Having said that, even if low cost apps are being used it needs to be decided who will pay for them, especially if each student in the class needs one.
Business model – Is there a business model to support the app? Is it clear how it makes money?
  • Every app producer needs to make money somehow, so it is important to identify the business model supporting the development of an app. Although teachers and students are keen to use free apps, apps that have no visible business model may be generating money through advertising or by trading data. An app that has no visible means of financial support, may have a very short life span, rapidly become unreliable, and fail to develop and evolve due to lack of funds.

Motivational

Digital literacy – Does learning and using the app help students to develop a useful or transferable digital literacy?
  • Just using an app in itself doesn’t necessarily constitute developing a digital literacy. The use of the app must in some way develop a digital skill that can be transferred outside of the learning context and used in some authentic way either in the workplace or as part of the students’ lifestyle.
Authenticity – Does it have an authentic purpose beyond language learning? Is it an app that a native speaker would use for a genuine purpose outside of a classroom?
  • Apps that are motivating for native speakers to use for a genuine purpose should also be motivating for language learners for that same purpose, so authentic apps that involve some sort of linguistic input or output are ideally suited to language teaching purposes.
Personalization – Does the app enable user to express some aspect of who they are and what they believe?
  • It’s important that language learners have the opportunity to use language creatively to express something of their own personality or identity. Apps which support this kind of creativity can be potentially very useful.

Pedagogical

Learning goal / outcome – Is there a a possible learning outcome that use of the app will lead to?
  • Using an app is not in and of itself a learning outcome. Use of the app needs to lead towards some form of learning goal. In some cases it can be easy to see what learning goals can be achieved through using the app, at other times teachers may need to think carefully what learning outcomes can be achieved through building activities which include the use of an app.
Interaction / communication – Does it support interaction and communication between users?
  • Apps which are developed around social interaction and communication are much more likely to be able to find a useful place in the language classroom and should be easier to base tasks around as communication naturally fits with the aims of language acquisition.
Prolonged use – Does the app need prolonged use to achieve a satisfactory outcome?
  • Many apps are designed around short daily tasks build up over a period of time to achieve an outcome. If teachers choose to use these kinds of apps they need to factor this long term approach into their timetabling.
Assessment – Is the work on the app assessable by the teacher? Does the app support the delivery of teacher response and feedback?
  • Students need to know that teachers are evaluating, assessing and responding to their work, so apps which can support this kind of teacher intervention can be potentially very useful.
Collaboration – Does the app support collaboration between users?
  • The ability to collaborate on projects or producing some form of tangible outcome is viewed as being a potentially significant digital literacy so apps which foster these kinds of collaborative interactions in a meaningful ways have great potential.
Context – In what context would the app be useful? For whom is the app more useful?
  • There are a number of different contexts in which apps can be used. Some may be more appropriate for use at home by the student, or in the class by students, whereas others could be more appropriately used by teachers for their own development or the development of content for students.
Reusable – Does the app have sufficient depth of purpose to support multiple activities and tasks?
  • Many apps have great novelty value which can be motivating for students, but novelty can soon wear off, so it is wise to weigh the amount of benefit students gain from novelty apps against their potential for extended use and the amount of time it takes to download install and register them.
Learner autonomy – Can app be used independently outside of the class by the student to support some form of learning?
  • Apps that can be used by students working independently may well help to foster a degree of learner autonomy if there is some in built learning outcome.
As I said, this is still a work in progress, and I did struggle with which criteria fell in to which of the categories and with the categories themselves, so all comments are welcome.
I hope you find these criteria helpful in evaluating the apps that you choose for your students.
Related links:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCCzOJDJZHoBttdHAjJsnN9w?sub_confirmation=1

How to Find a Career You Are Passionate About

Whether you’re looking for your first job or you’re contemplating switching careers, it’s important to take the time to discover your passion.

It can be difficult to find a job you are passionate about. Some people find their niche at an early age, but for most of us, it takes more time. For example, a few years ago I went back to school to pursue a career in healthcare. I wanted a job that was going to be a good fit for me and my family, and I’m confident I made the right choice.

Whether you’re looking for your first job or you’re contemplating switching careers, it’s important to take the time to discover your passion and explore careers that align with those interests.

Here are three tips for finding a career that’s right for you:

1. Reflect on your dreams and goals 

Take the time to reflect on what you want from your life and what you have enjoyed doing in the past. This period of self-reflection can help you determine what you need to do to make your dreams a reality.

My children have always been one of my greatest passions in life. I became a mom at a young age and for many years my life was devoted to caring for my family. Once my children were older and more independent, however, I had more time to reflect on what I wanted from a career. I realized that being a mother had been my identity for so long that I needed to rediscover myself. I needed to become Natasha and not just a mother or a wife.

After some self-reflection, I felt that a career in healthcare would be a good fit for me because I have always had a passion for helping others and I enjoyed my previous experience working as a home and health aid. I recently graduated from Herzing University’s medical billing and coding program and I am excited to get started working in the field.

2. Explore your hobbies and interests

Think about the things you truly love to do — you might be able to fulfill those interests in your future career. College is an ideal place to begin this exploration because you have the opportunity to take a variety of classes, join student organizations and meet new people.

While attending Herzing University, I rediscovered another long-lost passion of mine: writing. I had always considered writing to be one of my hobbies, so I volunteered to write for the Herzing blog. I really enjoyed it and I am now exploring freelance writing opportunities while I work on furthering my healthcare career.

3. Determine what you want from your career

Once you have identified your career interests, determine what your ideal work scenario would be. Do you want to work from home? Do you want a flexible schedule or a fixed schedule? Which careers offer the best fit for your personal goals and lifestyle?

For example, I knew that I wanted a job that was Monday through Friday, and I wanted the opportunity to work from home so I could still be there for my family. I began researching office positions in the healthcare field and came across billing and coding, which seemed like the perfect fit for my criteria.

I encourage everyone to take the time to find a career that fulfills you and makes you happy. If you follow your passion, you can never go wrong. Put your efforts and time into something that matters to you!

Quality education and learning

In a discussion today at work about quality processes I remembered the model of education which has been successful for Athabasca university in Canada. Their enrolments have increased many fold because people can enrol for gap courses to complete qualifications they are taking at other universities etc.
Also students can enrol any time and at any stage of a course. To enable this flexible learning, Athabasca has a well resourced production team which goes through a strict quality control process to create high quality learning resources for distance students. The team comprises designers – educational and graphic, technical staff, editors, content experts, a project manager and others.
Once courses are developed for flexible/online modes, student support is well sychronised and tutors are employed to teach the courses which academics had a hand in developing as content experts. The academic staff merely oversee their courses and spend their time conducting research which increases the reputation of the university. Plus they are spreading the word and helping others to produce quality online learning.
For example, several staff have written a book on the Theory and Practice of Online Learning and it is freely available under a Creative Commons licence at: http://cde.athabascau.ca/online_book/ The book is edited by Terry Anderson and Fathi Elloumi (2003).
It provides an overview of educational theory, strategic approaches and infrastructure, technologies, development of courses, team projects, copyright, teaching, support for discussions and learners, library support, quality.
I guess this model gauges quality by the enrolment rates and the reputation of the university. Academic staff become well known because their ideas and research is of a high standard and they get time to undertake research and present and write scholarly articles. This means they are up to date with current trends and in turn this raises the reputation of the university which then attracts students.
The research reputation of an institution does influence the status of institutions in the international arena and I guess this is what has happened with places such as Harvard, Cambridge, Stanford and Oxford. All you need is a few high status researchers and the place goes up in lights…and of course the ability to attract the rich and famous

More stuff about quality

This picture shows the damage done to the road when the Water of the Leith got out of control in the May 2006 floods. I took this on a sunday walk with the dogs. This illustrates for me that “Quality is about preventing damage in education,not about fencing it off afterwards.”

This week and last we had two visiting speakers which focussed me in on quality again. John Milne from Massey university ran a workshop on eLearning Guidelines (an eLearning Collaborative development funded project). All NZ tertiary educators are invited to contribute to the guidelines and develop their own for practical use in their institutions through a wiki accessible from the eLearn website.

In response to a scenario we developed with a student who joined the workshop, we developed a couple of new and very important guidelines, and found several existing ones which were relevant.

The scenario was:
An off-campus multimedia student is using blended methods (mainly eLearning)in a course. The student has a dial-up connection at home and has difficulty getting on-campus access to the computers and software. Not all computers have the necessary tools/software. The student also doesn’t have them at home and no access from home. The students are given training in using some software in the first week, then no further training and little support from the lecturer. There is no after hours support.

Some people in the workshop found the session a bit wishy washy, but it was a collaborative and consultative exercise which doesn’t suit everyone. Some people just want to be told. Guidelines are guidelines not standards and as such need ongoing discussion be dynamic and continually evolving.

The other speaker was Professor Fred Lockwood, a very experienced academic in the field of open and distacne learning. I went to hear his talk at the university about quality and distance education. I recorded part of the talk and had his permission to use it, though he did seem bemused that anyone would want to listen to it.

In his talk he made several interesting points in the way of questions about what we do in distance/flexible learning. Reading between the lines and through his humour it was clear to me that he thought the university was deficient in many areas – he had just conducted a review of their distance programmes and was helping them with a distance learning strategy.

The points which I identified with were:
1. Learner needs and how important it was to pay attention to them.
2. The need to conduct developmental testing with realstudents and reward them with free fees for such courses, with new flexibly offered courses. Even something as a textbook recommended by a lecturer can be unsuitable in the opinion of the students. This is rarely done at OP.
3. Too much information was a common problem so that students who were expecting to study for 5 hrs a week ended up getting increasingly more stuff to read and hand in until they could end up studying well over the 5 hrs per week. In Fred’s words, “good value for money getting 35 hrs a week of study…”

I brought Fred back to OP to speak with a small group (in the Council room with tea) including some managers and people from EDC and other parts of OP which was good. We had an informal discussion and some good points came out e.g. open courseware. Looking out for the learners – part-time, lifelong learners etc. It was a useful session but I wish I’d asked him to chat about developmental testing so the managers could have got the message.

Fred has also asked me to contact him about putting together a book proposal for something from NZ and across countries too for the Open and Flexible Learning series. Not sure whn I’ll have time to do anything, but it would be good to coordinate something and collaborate to write a chapter.

Quality is very important in not only attracting students but also in helping with retention. Quality starts before students enrol (18% lost before they “register”) and should continue all the way through with the resources offered, access, teacher support/facilitation and should meet learners’ needs.

Unfortunately in the model we appear to be adopting, online and product is being pushed which is shoving us along the inflexible rather than the flexible path. If we were truly to meet learner needs, we would adopt a truly flexible model where learners negotiate their content and their assessments and the way they learn. We are trying this to some extent with the Design course.

How Nursing Students Can Find the Perfect Scholarship

Check out this list of resources to help make it easy to find the right scholarship for your nursing education.

There’s never been a better time to begin or advance your nursing career, but financial pressures might make you hesitant to take the next step. Fortunately, there are a variety of nursing-related scholarships that can help you reach your career goals without added financial strain.

To help, we’ve put together a list of resources that make it easy to find the right scholarship for your nursing education.

How do scholarships really work?

Before you begin your scholarship search, it’s important to understand the different types of scholarships available and the benefits to each. The most common type of scholarship is one that is applied through the college or university you plan to attend. The organization awarding the scholarship works directly with your school to apply the scholarship funds toward your tuition and other expenses, making the process simpler and easier for you.

Some scholarship funds are awarded to the recipient directly. This could be in the form of a direct deposit into a personal banking account, or a check given to you from the awarding organization. Typically, the recipient will then need to sign off on what the money will be used for. The advantage is that you have more freedom to decide how you want to use your funds. For example, you could put money towards other educational expenses besides tuition, such as housing, fees and textbooks.

The terms of each scholarship are different, which is why it is critical to find the scholarship that is right for you.

Here are our tips for finding the perfect nursing scholarship:

1. Search online

There are many nursing-related websites that can be helpful for your scholarship search, including nurse.org, nursejournal.org, and allnursingschools.com. These sites allow you to sort through scholarships based on your education level, experience and the scholarship amount.

2. Work with your university

You can also apply for scholarships through your college or university. Herzing offers various scholarships for students, including several that are specific to nursing. For example, the Nurses Circle of Achievement scholarship is offered to students who are in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program at various Herzing campuses. Additionally, the Nursing Pathway to Success scholarship is available for graduate students enrolled in an online Master of Science in Nursing program.

Herzing also offers a variety of other general scholarships and grants. Once you have found a scholarship that you want to apply to, Herzing’s financial aid advisors can also help you through the application process, including finding references, updating your resume and reviewing your written statements.

3. Research nursing associations

Many nursing and healthcare associations offer scholarships for those who are looking to begin or advance their healthcare careers. If you are new to the nursing field, you might be eligible for scholarships through the Health Occupations Students Association (HOSA). The American Nurses Association (ANA) also offers a variety of different scholarships for current and aspiring nurses. If you are a member of a minority or underrepresented group, the National Coalition of Ethnic Minority Nurse Associations (NCEMNA) group can help you identify scholarships offered by other minority nursing organizations across the country.

4. Look into local scholarships

Local nonprofits, businesses, churches and clubs are great places to look for scholarship opportunities. Be sure to tap your network of family, friends and colleagues for help. They might have ties to local organizations you’re not involved with, and they can help you find out about scholarship opportunities you might not have discovered otherwise. The library is another great resource, as it typically keeps a list of local scholarships that are available to community members.

5. Check with your employer

If you are currently employed, you could reach out to the human resources department at your company and ask if they offer any scholarships or tuition assistance for employees. Many hospitals aspiring to Magnet Status work with educational institutions to meet the rising demand for nurses with BSN degrees, and provide financial incentives for current nurses to advance their education. Talk with your manager or an HR representative to find out if your employer will cover or subsidize the tuition for your nursing degree.

6. Consider the Nurse Corps program

Nurse Corps is a federal scholarship program for nurses, nursing students and nursing faculty. Recipients are awarded funding for tuition, fees and other educational costs in exchange for their commitment to work at a Critical Shortage Facility (CSF) for a minimum of two years after graduation.

Many Americans in underserved areas go without preventive care and vaccines because there are not enough health care professionals to provide treatment in their communities. The Nurse Corps Scholarship program is designed to improve access to healthcare services in these areas, while empowering aspiring nurses to fulfill their passion for caring for others.

To be eligible for the Nurse Corps scholarship, you must be enrolled in a professional nursing degree program at an accredited nursing school. You can be enrolled in a diploma, associate, baccalaureate, or graduate nursing program.

Additionally, if you are already a licensed registered nurse, advanced practice registered nurse or a nurse faculty member with qualifying nursing debt, you may be eligible for the Nurse Corps loan repayment program. You also must work in a critical shortage facility or an eligible school of nursing in order to apply for the loan repayment program.

Need help getting started?

It’s always a good idea to get to know the financial aid staff at the college you plan to attend. At Herzing University, our financial aid advisors can help you find the scholarships that best fit your needs. Schedule an appointment with our Financial Aid Department to talk through your financial assistance options, and take the next step to invest in your future!

Dates of remaining examinations for class X and XII in 2020

Union Human Resource Development Minister Shri Ramesh Pokhriyal ‘Nishank’  announced the dates of remaining examinations of CBSE Class X and XII in New Delhi today. The Minister said that the examinations of Class X will be conducted for the students of North East Delhi only, while the exams of class XII will be held for students across the country including North-east Delhi. All examinations will be between 10:30 am to 1:30 pm.

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Earlier during a webinar interaction with the students on May 5, Shri Pokhriyal  had said that the remaining exams of CBSE X and XII  will be conducted between July 1-15.

On this occasion Shri Pokhriyal  said that the ministry of HRD was fully committed to the fact that while announcing the exam dates, special care will  be taken that the students get plenty of time for exam preparation and now students will be able to concentrate on their preparations. The Minister added that apart from this we have also instructed CBSE to take care of social distancing while conducting examinations so that the health of students and teachers can be ensured. The Minister also extended his best wishes to the students for the examination.

Click here for class X exam date sheet 

Click here for class XII exam date sheet

Shekatkar Committee recommendations related to creating border infrastructure

Government has accepted and implemented three important recommendations of Committee of Experts (CoE) under the Chairmanship of Lt General D B Shekatkar (Retd) relating to border Infrastructure. These were related to speeding up road construction, leading to socio economic development in the border areas.

On the matter related to creating border infrastructure, the Government has implemented recommendation of CoE to outsource road construction work beyond optimal capacity of Border Roads Organisation (BRO). It has been made mandatory to adopt Engineering Procurement Contract (EPC) mode for execution of all works costing more than Rs 100 crore.

The other recommendation relating to introduction of modern construction plants, equipment and machinery has been implemented by delegating enhanced procurement powers from Rs 7.5 crore to Rs 100 crore to BRO, for domestic and foreign procurements. Border Roads has recently inducted Hot-Mix Plant 20/30 TPH for speedier laying of roads, remote operated hydraulic Rock Drills DC-400 R for hard rock cutting, a range of F-90 series of self-propelled snow-cutters/blowers for speedier snow clearance.

New Technology like blasting technology for precision blasting, use of Geo-Textiles for soil stabilisation, cementitious base for pavements, plastic coated aggregates for surfacing, is also being used to enhance the pace of construction. With the empowerment of field officers through enhanced delegation of financial and administrative powers, there has been significant improvement in faster financial closure of works.

The land acquisition and all statutory clearances like forest and environmental clearance are also made part of approval of Detailed Project Report (DPR). Further, with the adoption of EPC mode of execution, it is mandatory to award work only when 90 per cent of the statutory clearances have been obtained, implementing the recommendation of CoE regarding obtaining prior clearances before the commencement of the project.