Month: May 2020

information literacy modules

bahtings
I would like to point people to an eLearning Collaborative Development funded (ECDF) project where we are developing reusable Information literacy modules – a New Zealand Ministry of Education funded project. The University of Otago is leading the project and the Dunedin College of Education and Otago Polytechnic are also involved in the project – Dunedin, New Zealand.

See http://oil.otago.ac.nz/ and click on the link to essay writing to see the first module which is currently being piloted.

We have set the modules up as authentic tasks and have funding until 2007 to construct 10 modules. The project has been a very interesting collaborative venture and the team is learning a lot from the experience.
We are conducting usability testing on the raw prototypes and conducting a research evaluation project with piloted modules. All the completed modules will be made freely available across the tertiary sector in New Zealand.

Some of the issues which are arising include aspects such as SCORM compliance and packaging and reusability. All modules will be transferable between different LMS and will also be able to be viewed using a scorm player. We have successfully managed to upload the module in to Moodle. However I was unable to upload it into Blackboard.

We are hoping lots of people will visit the site, and give us feedback on the module.

7 Important Teamwork Skills You Need in School and Your Career

Teamwork is one of the most sought-after skills in the workplace. Here are seven teamwork skills that are essential for your academic and professional success

Teamwork is one of the most sought-after skills in the workplace, according to a survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Advancements in technology have allowed companies to be more connected and collaborative than ever before, with a diverse workforce dispersed around the world.

As a result, it’s even more important for employees to demonstrate strong teamwork skills, in both face-to-face and virtual team interactions.

College is the perfect time to start practicing your teamwork skills. Group work is an integral part of your academic coursework, and your internship, externship and clinical experiences are also a great opportunity to develop your relationship building, project management and leadership abilities.

Here are seven teamwork skills that are essential for your academic and professional success:

1. Communication

Communication is the foundation of effective teamwork. Whether you’re working on a presentation with your classmates or spearheading a new project at work, it’s important to talk openly and honestly with your group members about expectations, deadlines, and responsibilities. Establishing open lines of communication promotes trust and makes for a positive team environment. While disagreements might occur, being upfront and respectful in your communication with other team members will help you resolve issues quickly.

2. Time management

Time management, accountability and responsibility are all equally important for your career as they are in your academic life. Project managers, for example, must have strong organizational skills in order to set manageable goals for their team and keep others on track to meet their deadlines. Nurses must also demonstrate strong time management skills, prioritizing and delegating tasks so that they can spend more time on the patients who need extra care.

Learning how to balance multiple deadlines and assignments while you are in school will make it easier for you to adjust to a fast-paced and collaborative work environment in the future.

3. Problem-solving

Effective problem solvers are able to think outside the box when challenges or issues arise. Rather than focusing on negative outcomes, they stay calm and help their team work towards a solution. This approach helps uncover roadblocks or inefficiencies that are inhibiting the team’s success, so you can work to improve those processes in the future.

4. Listening

When working in a group, it’s important to keep an open mind. Recognize that your team members may see things from another perspective, and hear them out. Listening to other points of view can help you see multiple sides of an issue, including ones that you have never considered before. This allows you to be a better colleague and leader, to anticipate needs and challenges before they arise and to respond effectively when they do.

5. Critical thinking

Critical thinking allows you to make better, more informed decisions. It can be tempting to follow along with whatever the group decides, or what one team member believes is the best course of action, but sometimes a different approach or a new idea can help achieve better results. By thinking critically about the situation – examining all sides of an issue, reflecting on past experiences, and listening to what other group members have to say – you could arrive at a breakthrough that moves your team forward in new and exciting ways.

6. Collaboration

Working in a team can be challenging at times, but more often it is a great opportunity to uncover creative ideas, share different perspectives and experiences, as well as enhance your own skills. If you treat each group project as a learning experience, you can help foster a more productive team environment. Your desire to learn and your willingness to explore new approaches will make you a better contributor, manager, or leader.

7. Leadership

A leader who works well with others – both within his or her own department and across departments – can help spread knowledge and resources, develop new leaders and contribute to an organization’s success. Leaders can demonstrate strong teamwork skills by promoting collaboration, acting as a mentor or coach for their employees and by empowering others to learn, grow and advance.

At Herzing, we help you sharpen or develop the skills you need for career advancement through group work, hands-on learning experiences, presentations and capstone projects. Additionally, our P.R.I.C.E. of Success philosophy is focused on the core values of professionalism, respect, integrity, caring and engagement, which are the foundation for a successful, meaningful career.

Learn more about our degree programs and start your path to career advancement today!

8 Skills Dental Assistants Need to Master

Dental assistants work closely with dental hygienists and dentists to treat patients. They take X-rays, perform office management tasks and educate patients.

Dental assistants work closely with dental hygienists and dentists to treat patients. In addition to helping dentists during examinations and procedures, dental assistants also take X-rays, perform office management tasks and educate patients on proper oral care and hygiene.

The role of a dental assistant might sound similar to that of dental hygienist, but there are important differences. Dental assistants help prepare patients for exams, while hygienists are primarily responsible for cleaning patients’ teeth and evaluating their oral health.

There are plenty of advantages to becoming a dental assistant, including flexible schedules, variety in your day-to-day routine and strong employment prospects. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 11% employment growth for dental assistants through 2028, which equates to more than 38,000 new jobs.

Here are some of the skills you need to be successful as a dental assistant:

1.) Administrative skills

Dental assistants spend part of their time completing office tasks, such as answering phones, scheduling appointments and maintaining patient records. Strong time management skills and attention to detail are necessary, as is a basic understanding of medical records systems and technology.

2.) Communication skills

Dental assistants are often one of the first people to interact with patients during an appointment. They might be in charge of asking about a patient’s medical history, explaining a procedure and teaching patients about proper oral care. Having good communication skills can help dental assistants build a rapport with their patients, gauge patients’ pain levels, and learn important information about their medical history that might affect the procedure or treatment plan. Communication and teamwork are also necessary for working alongside dentists, dental hygienists and other members of the dental team.

3.) Critical thinking

Being able to think critically is an important skill as a dental assistant. As a helping hand to dentists, you need to be able to anticipate their needs and have all the necessary tools and instruments ready to go at a moment’s notice. Don’t be afraid to be proactive if you know there is something else you can do that will help the dentist during a procedure. Being flexible and adaptable are important skills to develop.

4.) Ability to follow instructions

Dental assistants need to be attentive and quickly follow through on instructions. It can be easy to get distracted when there are multiple things that need your attention, but making sure you stay focused and alert when the dentist needs you is crucial.

5.) Good judgment

Dental assistants also need to have strong decision-making skills. While you don’t have complete control over the direction of a procedure, your input is still valid and if you feel something needs to change for the benefit of a patient, be sure to speak up! Having basic knowledge of dental medicine will allow you to make more informed decisions and react quickly and appropriately in any given situation.

6.) Strong customer service skills

Interacting with patients is a huge part of a dental assistant’s primary responsibilities. Greeting patients with a smile and providing assistance wherever needed makes a great impression and keeps them coming back to your office. Being friendly and welcoming can also provide comfort to patients who are first-timers or nervous about being at the dentist.

7.) Strong organizational skills

Keeping track of patient appointments and patient information takes a great deal of organization. This information is confidential, so dental assistants must take great care to keep an organized workspace and ensure all patient records are filed appropriately.

8.) Basic knowledge of dental medicine

Some states require dental assistants to graduate from a dental assisting program. Typically, an associate degree in dental assisting can be completed in one year. Herzing University offers both a diploma and associate degree in dental assisting at its Minneapolis campus. In addition to becoming qualified for entry-level dental assisting roles, graduates of the associate degree program are prepared for bachelor’s-level programs in healthcare management or dental hygiene.

Additionally, through Herzing’s unique dental pathway, students have the option to earn their dental assisting qualification in as little as 24 months, and then continue earning a Bachelor of Science in Dental Hygiene while they gain work experience.

If you’re interested in helping others and promoting oral health, a career as a dental assistant could be the right path for you. Learn more about Herzing’s dental degree programs and find out how you can get started.

Create online learning with 123ContactForm

123ContactForm may not sound like the kind of tool that would be of interest to educators, but as I discovered when they asked me to review their online form creation tool, they offer quite a range of features that can solve many of the problems we have as 21st century teachers.


We can use it to:

  • Create surveys to do research and action research
  • We can create interactive materials based around multimedia objects
  • We can eve use it to sell our materials or services online and take payments


The tool itself is browser based and so doesn’t require any downloading or installation and that in itself can save a lot of hassle if you work in an institution that has very restrictive practices regarding the installation of software.

To get started you just need to go to the site and register at: http://www.123contactform.com/education-forms.htm

Once you have registered you get access to the dashboard and this is where you can start creating your forms. You just need to click on ‘Create New Form’.



You will then get a choice of different types of form to create. It’s a good idea to click on ‘Other Forms’ this takes you to the online educator forms.   If you have a look at some of the templates and educator forms that have already been created it will give you some idea of what the platform can do. There is an Education section with some ready made templates in.


When you are ready to create your own educator forms, you could start by clicking on ‘Blank Form’. Call your form ‘My first activity’ and then save it and look at the different types of interactions you can create.

You will see the basic interactions you can add to the page. Clicking on them will add the interaction type to the page.


Then when you click on the interaction type you can edit its features.


Some of the advanced interaction types are particularly interesting, especially the html feature which enables you to embed interactive media objects such as videos or digital books into your forms and then build interactive activities around them.


You can also add social buttons to enable users to share your activities through social media channels. 123ContactForm does also have a Facebook app so once your activities are complete you can post them directly into Facebook pages or groups for users to do from there.

This video shows you how to use all the main features of the forms.


Once you have created your activities they are saved in the ‘My Forms’ section of the site and you can go there to edit them. Here you can get the code to publish your educator forms into your bog website or CMS, or get a link to email out to students.

You can also check to see who has submitted answers to the questions and see the record of what answers have been given in the ‘Reports’ section. This is one of the best features of the site as it turns it into a form of LMS (learning management system) where you can collect and analyse students responses and generate graphs of the results.

The site also allow users to add and customise the theme of the forms, so if you want them to blend into your site or blog, then customising the look and feel of the forms is quite easy and you can even add your own logo.

This video shows you how to customise your form.


So how can we use this with EFL / ESL students?

  • We can create action research forms and get detailed and anonymous feedback on our teaching
  • We can create multimedia materials for learning or assessment and track our students responses. This is particularly useful if we a creating homework assignments and we need to assess these and know that our students have done them.
  • We can create learning objects to embed into online courses that track and assess students’ performance.
  • We can make fun engaging quizzes based around images.

As ELT professionals

  • We can use the forms to create surveys for research.
  • We can start selling materials, self published books, or private online classes and collect payment in a safe and secure way.

What I like about 123ContactForm

  • It’s a very versatile platform and really does enable a lot more than the name suggests. In fact it’s a pretty sound way to create online learning materials with a built in LMS.
  • It’s a great tool for freelancers who want to start making money online by selling their own products and services in a user friendly way.
  • It runs in the browser and is pretty simple to use.
  • It’s easy to produce something that looks very professional.
  • I’ve said it already, but the tracking capabilities are great.
  • The company runs on a freemium model, so although it is a free service, there is also a business model there to support the site so it’s less likely to suddenly disappear or fold.

What I’m not so sure about

  • As I said the company runs on a freemium model, so many of the best features are the ones they charge for.
  • On the free subscription you can create 5 forms and collect up to 100 students’ responses each month which is probably enough for the individual teacher to use it with a class, but it would be nice to have a few more of the premium features available to the Free subscriber, such as the html embed to enable the use of video and multimedia in the activities.
  • You have to be on the Platinum account to be able to enable payments and that costs $29.95 per month, which for a company or school is not much, but for a teacher / freelancer who wants to test the waters with selling their own products or services, it might seem like quite a big risk when they are just getting started, but you can cancel your subscription if things don’t go well and 123ContactForm does offer a 30day money back guarantee. It’s also worth mentioning that if you are a teacher or teacher trainer and you get in contact with the company, they are offering a 35% educational discount, so that can help to reduce the risk and the cost.


On the whole I think this is a really good product, particularly for a small school that wants to venture into online teaching or blended learning, then a platinum account at $29.95 per month is quite a small risk. For a teacher thinking of going freelance it might be a good option if you are confident that you can make enough through online sales to justify the monthly outlay. As a teacher working in class, then it’s a nice way to get started with creating some online learning with a degree of interactivity, but it would be much more attractive if the html embed functionality came as part of the free subscription.

123ContactForm has plenty of potential for the online educator or anyone wanting to create blended learning, so it’s well worth checking out, and when I get my book finished I may well be using it myself. I hope you find it useful too.

Related links:

Financial lending Institutions to support Small-scale units

Union Minister for MSME and Road Transport and Highways, Shri Nitin Gadkari today said that the government is exploring new financial lending institutions to support small-scale units in terms of financial support.  Shri Gadkari said that government is working towards strengthening the NBFCs which will help small businesses to avail easy credit in the coming time.

He was speaking at a meeting via video conferencing with the Members of Calcutta Chamber of Commerce on impact of COVID-19 on MSMEs and the measures taken to address the challenges at hand.

Addressing the members, Shri Gadkari re-iterated that these are trying times as we are waging a war against COVID-19 pandemic as well as the economic instability caused by it. He requested all the stakeholders to work in tandem and urged the industry to maintain a positive attitude during this time to tide over this crisis.

The Minister also stressed  on usage of PPE (masks, sanitizer etc.) and advised to maintain social distancing norms in personal life and at work places.

Apprising the representatives of recent announcement on Special Economic Package: Aatmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan, he explained various support measures which has been announced for MSMEs such as collateral free automatic loan, distress fund etc. He said that all these measures will provide the required support to MSMEs to face the current economic challenges.

The Minister also informed them  that there has been restructuring of 6 lakh MSMEs till March 2020 and the Ministry is aiming to cover additional 25 lakh until December 2020. He added that the current contribution of MSMEs in export is 48%, which may be increased to 60%. He further shared that currently 11 crore jobs have been created through MSMEs and this to be increased to 5 crores.

The Union Minister mentioned that special focus towards export enhancement is the need of the hour. He further added that there is need to reduce our cost on production, logistics etc. to become economically viable. The Minister shared that the Ministry of MSME is working on two booklets to cover details about last three year’s export and import.

Some of the questions asked and the suggestions given included: issue of delayed payment needs additional thrust to ensure timely payment to MSMEs, interest subvention of 4% should be looked at to provide support to MSMEs and safeguard them from becoming an NPA, how banks can be incentivized for proper implementation of proposed measure etc.

Shri Gadkari responded to the questions from representatives and assured all possible help from the government.

National Gallery of Modern Art commemorates 115th Birth Anniversary of Ramkinkar Baij

Ministry of Culture’s National Gallery of Modern Art will organise virtual tour titled “Ramkinkar Baij | Journey through silent transformation and expressions” to commemorate the 115th Birth Anniversary of Ramkinkar Baij on 26th May 2020. The NGMA takes pride in 639 works of art created by the iconic artist. This virtual tour presents the works of art from the prominent artworks of Ramkinkar Baij from reserve collection of NGMA, grouped in a series of five different themes of (i) Portrait, (ii) Life Study, (iii) Abstract & Structural Composition, (iv) Nature Study & Landscape and (v) Sculptures.

 

Director General of NGMA Shri Adwaita Charan Gadanayak said that this virtual tour is being launched to pay tribute to the one of the greatest sculptor, painter – an iconic artist of modern India, especially for the young artists to know the kind of restless experiment that the artist had one with forms – figurative and abstractive both.

 

 

Shri Gadanayak added that I take pride of the tireless effort of our entire IT Cell to conceive and conceptualize the idea of launching this Virtual Tour and design and develop the same amidst lock down period to facilitate our esteemed visitors with such prestigious collection of NGMA.

 

This virtual tour also includes ‘Jeevansmriti’ to through light into the memory lane in addition to showcasing 520 works of art by the iconic artist in five distinct categories and three sketch books. At the end of the tour visitors can ‘Join the Conversation’ on the first cultural media platform under the banner of NGMA at https://so-ham.in/ramkinkar-baij-journey-through-silent-transformation-and-expressions/ and also attempt a quiz based on the content of the virtual tour.

 

Ramkinkar Baij, one of the most seminal artists of modern India, was an iconic sculptor, painter and graphic artist. Ramkinkar Baij (1906-1980) was born in Bankura, West Bengal, into a family of little economic and social standing and grew by his sheer determination into one of the most distinguished early modernists of Indian art. In 1925, he made his way to Kala Bhavana, the art school at Santiniketan and was under the guidance of Nandalal Bose. Encouraged by the liberating, intellectual environment of Santiniketan, his artistic skills and intellectual horizons blossomed, thus acquiring greater depth and complexity. Soon after completing his studies at Kala Bhavana he became a faculty member, and along with Nandalal Bose and Benodebehari Mukherjee played a pivotal role in making Santiniketan one of the most important centres for modern art in pre-Independent India. Ramkinkar’smonumental sculptures are established landmarks in public art. One of the earliest modernists in Indian art, he assimilated the idioms of the European modern visual language and yet was rooted in his own Indian ethos. He experimented restlessly with forms, moving freely from figurative to abstract and back to figurative, his themes were steeped in a deep sense of humanism and an instinctive understanding of the symbiotic relationship between man and nature. Both in his paintings and sculptures, he pushed the limits of experimentation and ventured into the use of new materials. For instance, his use of unconventional material, for the time, such as cement concrete for his monumental public sculptures set a new precedent for art practices. The use of cement, laterite and mortar to model the figures, and the use of a personal style in which modern western and Indian pre-classical sculptural values were brought together was equally radical.

Although, his work was passed over for quite a while, gradually it began to get both national and international attention. He was invited to participate in the Salon des Réalités Nouvelles in 1950 and in the Salon de Mai in 1951. In the national honours began to come his way one after the other. In 1970, the Government of India honoured him with the Padma Bhushan for his irrefutable contribution to Indian art. In 1976 he was made a Fellow of the Lalit Kala Akademi. In 1976, he was conferred the honorary Doctoral Degree of ‘Desikottama’ by Visva Bharati, and in 1979 an honorary D.Litt by Rabindra Bharati University.

Ramkinkar made his last journey, after a period of illness, in Kolkata on the 2nd August, 1980.

information literacy modules

bahtings
I would like to point people to an eLearning Collaborative Development funded (ECDF) project where we are developing reusable Information literacy modules – a New Zealand Ministry of Education funded project. The University of Otago is leading the project and the Dunedin College of Education and Otago Polytechnic are also involved in the project – Dunedin, New Zealand.

See http://oil.otago.ac.nz/ and click on the link to essay writing to see the first module which is currently being piloted.

We have set the modules up as authentic tasks and have funding until 2007 to construct 10 modules. The project has been a very interesting collaborative venture and the team is learning a lot from the experience.
We are conducting usability testing on the raw prototypes and conducting a research evaluation project with piloted modules. All the completed modules will be made freely available across the tertiary sector in New Zealand.

Some of the issues which are arising include aspects such as SCORM compliance and packaging and reusability. All modules will be transferable between different LMS and will also be able to be viewed using a scorm player. We have successfully managed to upload the module in to Moodle. However I was unable to upload it into Blackboard.

We are hoping lots of people will visit the site, and give us feedback on the module.

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

How to Give a Presentation like a Pro

Developing strong presentation skills early will benefit you considerably when you’re asked to give a presentation later in your career.

No matter what career path you’re pursuing, having strong communication skills is a must – and that includes being able to give a solid presentation. Developing strong presentation skills early will benefit you considerably when you’re asked to give a presentation later in your career, whether it’s at a sales meeting, a conference or to internal team members.
The classroom is a great place to learn and apply different speaking techniques. Even skilled public speakers have opportunities to improve because giving a strong presentation is about more than just confidence.
Here’s how you can knock it out of the park next time you’re asked to give a presentation:

Know your audience

A lot of the work that goes into a successful presentation happens before you even get up in front of the room. It’s important to first understand who your audience is and what your primary goals are for the presentation. Is it to inform your audience? Inspire? Create action?
If you’re speaking to a classroom of your peers, for example, your primary goal is likely to educate. If that’s the case, you might want to include some activities or opportunities for interaction so that people have a chance to engage with and reflect on the material you’re presenting.

Focus on key messages

Next, determine what you want your audience to take away from your presentation. If they only remember one thing you said, what would you want that to be? Then, focus on weaving those key messages throughout your presentation and driving them home at the end of your talk.

Show – don’t tell

While statistics and data points can be helpful for supporting your main ideas, they’re not as engaging for your audience. Bring your presentation to life by including different types of multimedia, or breaking up large chunks of information with anecdotes or interactive sessions.
Keep in mind that your presentation doesn’t necessarily have to be a PowerPoint. While slideshows can be a great way to display key information, many people end up putting too much information on their slides – and that makes for a boring presentation.
Consider other ways to incorporate visuals, such as by showing a video at the beginning, or using handouts as a reference sheet for key points. Prezi is another tool that can help you create a more innovative and engaging slideshow experience.

Tell a story

Good speakers know how to elicit an emotional buy-in from their listeners. There are many ways to do this, but the most effective way is to tell a story.
All stories have a beginning, a middle and an end. For example, when Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone to an audience of investors and international media, he didn’t just jump into talking about the new product. Jobs painted a picture for his audience by retelling the history of communication technology, leading all the way up his revolutionary new product – the iPhone.
The iPhone was the new frontier, the key to making our lives faster and easier. It wasn’t just something we all would want – it was something we all would need. The presentation is still recognized as one of his best. If you haven’t seen it, check it out here.

Practice

Of course, practice makes perfect. Running through your presentation a few times will help you feel more comfortable on the big day. Think about memorizing your key points so that you don’t have to rely on notes during your presentation and practice moving around the space so that you can engage different parts of the audience. Check out this blog post for more tips on being a confident public speaker.

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

Create online learning with 123ContactForm

123ContactForm may not sound like the kind of tool that would be of interest to educators, but as I discovered when they asked me to review their online form creation tool, they offer quite a range of features that can solve many of the problems we have as 21st century teachers.


We can use it to:

  • Create surveys to do research and action research
  • We can create interactive materials based around multimedia objects
  • We can eve use it to sell our materials or services online and take payments


The tool itself is browser based and so doesn\’t require any downloading or installation and that in itself can save a lot of hassle if you work in an institution that has very restrictive practices regarding the installation of software.

To get started you just need to go to the site and register at: http://www.123contactform.com/education-forms.htm

Once you have registered you get access to the dashboard and this is where you can start creating your forms. You just need to click on \’Create New Form\’.



You will then get a choice of different types of form to create. It\’s a good idea to click on \’Other Forms\’ this takes you to the online educator forms.   If you have a look at some of the templates and educator forms that have already been created it will give you some idea of what the platform can do. There is an Education section with some ready made templates in.


When you are ready to create your own educator forms, you could start by clicking on \’Blank Form\’. Call your form \’My first activity\’ and then save it and look at the different types of interactions you can create.

You will see the basic interactions you can add to the page. Clicking on them will add the interaction type to the page.


Then when you click on the interaction type you can edit its features.


Some of the advanced interaction types are particularly interesting, especially the html feature which enables you to embed interactive media objects such as videos or digital books into your forms and then build interactive activities around them.


You can also add social buttons to enable users to share your activities through social media channels. 123ContactForm does also have a Facebook app so once your activities are complete you can post them directly into Facebook pages or groups for users to do from there.

This video shows you how to use all the main features of the forms.


Once you have created your activities they are saved in the \’My Forms\’ section of the site and you can go there to edit them. Here you can get the code to publish your educator forms into your bog website or CMS, or get a link to email out to students.

You can also check to see who has submitted answers to the questions and see the record of what answers have been given in the \’Reports\’ section. This is one of the best features of the site as it turns it into a form of LMS (learning management system) where you can collect and analyse students responses and generate graphs of the results.

The site also allow users to add and customise the theme of the forms, so if you want them to blend into your site or blog, then customising the look and feel of the forms is quite easy and you can even add your own logo.

This video shows you how to customise your form.


So how can we use this with EFL / ESL students?

  • We can create action research forms and get detailed and anonymous feedback on our teaching
  • We can create multimedia materials for learning or assessment and track our students responses. This is particularly useful if we a creating homework assignments and we need to assess these and know that our students have done them.
  • We can create learning objects to embed into online courses that track and assess students\’ performance.
  • We can make fun engaging quizzes based around images.

As ELT professionals

  • We can use the forms to create surveys for research.
  • We can start selling materials, self published books, or private online classes and collect payment in a safe and secure way.

What I like about 123ContactForm

  • It\’s a very versatile platform and really does enable a lot more than the name suggests. In fact it\’s a pretty sound way to create online learning materials with a built in LMS.
  • It\’s a great tool for freelancers who want to start making money online by selling their own products and services in a user friendly way.
  • It runs in the browser and is pretty simple to use.
  • It\’s easy to produce something that looks very professional.
  • I\’ve said it already, but the tracking capabilities are great.
  • The company runs on a freemium model, so although it is a free service, there is also a business model there to support the site so it\’s less likely to suddenly disappear or fold.

What I\’m not so sure about

  • As I said the company runs on a freemium model, so many of the best features are the ones they charge for.
  • On the free subscription you can create 5 forms and collect up to 100 students\’ responses each month which is probably enough for the individual teacher to use it with a class, but it would be nice to have a few more of the premium features available to the Free subscriber, such as the html embed to enable the use of video and multimedia in the activities.
  • You have to be on the Platinum account to be able to enable payments and that costs $29.95 per month, which for a company or school is not much, but for a teacher / freelancer who wants to test the waters with selling their own products or services, it might seem like quite a big risk when they are just getting started, but you can cancel your subscription if things don\’t go well and 123ContactForm does offer a 30day money back guarantee. It\’s also worth mentioning that if you are a teacher or teacher trainer and you get in contact with the company, they are offering a 35% educational discount, so that can help to reduce the risk and the cost.


On the whole I think this is a really good product, particularly for a small school that wants to venture into online teaching or blended learning, then a platinum account at $29.95 per month is quite a small risk. For a teacher thinking of going freelance it might be a good option if you are confident that you can make enough through online sales to justify the monthly outlay. As a teacher working in class, then it\’s a nice way to get started with creating some online learning with a degree of interactivity, but it would be much more attractive if the html embed functionality came as part of the free subscription.

123ContactForm has plenty of potential for the online educator or anyone wanting to create blended learning, so it\’s well worth checking out, and when I get my book finished I may well be using it myself. I hope you find it useful too.

Related links:

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

Pipeline Projects under various stages of Implementation by oil & gas companies

Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Thursday reviewed pipeline projects worth about eight thousand crore rupees under various stages of implementation by oil and gas companies. Pitching for Aatmanirbhar Bharat, Mr Pradhan called for complete indigenisation in these projects.

brown and white factory building during night time
Photo by Loïc Manegarium on Pexels.com

The Ministry in a statement said that project work along the Pradhan Mantri Urja Ganga, JHBDPL pipeline, has resumed in full swing post lockdown. It is gearing up to connect Eastern India with the West to Central natural gas pipeline corridor for boosting gas-based economy in the country.

The statement said, Indian Oil is implementing 1,450-kilometre long natural gas pipeline project in southern India, with a project cost of over six thousand crore rupees. It has an approximate 1.65 Lakh Metric Tonnes steel pipes manufacturing potential in India at a cost of over two thousand crore rupees in line with the Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan.

The Indradhanush Gas Grid Limited., natural gas pipeline grid being developed in the north-east, will ensure uninterrupted supply of natural gas to all the eight north-eastern states.

FM Nirmala Sitharaman stresses the need to make country self reliant

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has stressed the need to make the country self-reliant. In an exclusive interview to Doordarshan News, Ms Sitharaman said, the country still has to import goods which help produce both for the country itself and also for exports.

The FInance MInister said, the way the govenrment has designed the package, it would give immediate help to all those who need additional capital in order to kick-start the economy. She said, it will benefit both demand and the supply side.

On the call of restarting the economy during the epidemic, Ms Sitharaman said that she has kept open all options with reassurance that government is ready to help. Finance Minister reiterated that economic package announced by govt will enhance the ease of doing business.

Talking about RBI’s recent decisions, Ms Sitharaman said, they have been very timely and made a lot of difference to the sentiments which prevails and also immediately make available affordable liquidity. Ms Sitharaman also thanked Prime Minister Narendra Modi  for taking bold decisions to free farmers off historical shackles. She said, farmers can now choose to whom they want to sell their produce.

Opposition is raising bogey of J&K “demography”

Lashing out at the opposition political parties, Union Minister Dr Jitendra Singh said here today that the opposition is raising the bogey of Jammu & Kashmir “demography” for vote bank because it is apprehensive that the new Domicile Rules Notification will not enable it to continue thriving on limited pockets of vote bank by exclusion, as they had been doing in the past. 

In an interview to a private news channel on the new Domicile Law for Jammu & Kashmir, Dr Jitendra Singh said, few families had succeeded in maintaining their hegemony in Jammu & Kashmir, generation after generation, by including in the voter list only those whose vote bank they were capable of manipulating, and excluded those who they thought would not be vulnerable to their tactics, and could vote with free will. He said, this conspiracy went on to the extent that they not only deprived anybody from outside from obtaining citizenship or voter rights but also did not allow voting rights to large section of people which had settled in Jammu & Kashmir since 1947, and put up a self-righteous argument that these people were not entitled for citizenship or voting rights because they were refugees from the then West Pakistan. 

In a hard-hitting rejoinder to the votaries of so-called “Demography”, Dr Jitendra Singh asked what moral authority they had to talk of demography when they had themselves committed the greatest assault on demography by remaining silent witness to the mass exodus of the entire Kashmiri Pandit community from Kashmir Valley. Ironically, he said, those who swear by composite culture of Kashmir are themselves guilty of having committed the murder of the composite culture, which was sustained only by the presence of Kashmiri Pandit community in the valley. 

Dr Jitendra Singh predicted that the opposition leaders may be opposed to the new Domicile law, but their children in heart of hearts support this change and would feel blessed in the long run. History will vindicate us, he said. Referring to the various merits of the decision taken in the Union Cabinet meeting, Dr Jitendra Singh said, it was not only inhuman but also against the constitutional propriety and principle of equality that the All India Service officials who put in the prime of 30 to 35 years of their life serving the people of Jammu & Kashmir were, after superannuation, ruthlessly asked to pack up and, go and find a place to live anywhere in the country but not in Jammu & Kashmir.

            Ironically, this was happening at a time when some of the States in India not only facilitated residential settlement of these officials but also provided them plots of land at discounted rates, he added. Even worse was the plight of the children who were born, brought up and did schooling in Jammu & Kashmir but were later not eligible to apply for higher education institutions, which left them nowhere to go. Describing the Union Cabinet decision and the Demographic Notification historic, Dr Jitendra Singh said, this was a miscarriage and anomaly which waited for 70 years to be corrected. May be it was God’s will that only Narendra Modi as Prime Minister should perform this act of redemption.

Despite fortnight delay due to COVID, procurement touches 341.56 LMT

Procurement of wheat by the government agencies surpassed last year’s figures of 341.31Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT) to touch 341.56LMT on 24.05.2020, surmounting all impediments created due to the spread of COVID-19 virus and the country wide lockdown.  Wheat harvesting generally starts towards end of March and procurement commences in the first week of April every year. However, with the imposition of national lockdown with effect from midnight of   24&25.03.2020, all operations came to a standstill. The crop had ripened by then and was ready for harvesting. Considering this, Government of India gave relaxation to start agricultural and related activities during the lockdown period,and the procurement could start from 15.04.2020 in most of the procuring states. Haryana started little late on 20.04.2020. 

The biggest challenge was to ensure that procurement is done in a safe manner during the pandemic. This was achieved through a multi-pronged strategy of awareness creation, social distancing and deployment of technology. The number of purchase centers was increased substantially reducing the farmer footfalls in individual purchase centers. New centers were set up using every facility available at gram panchayat level and the numbers were increased sharply in the major procuring states like Punjab where it went up from 1836 to 3681, 599 to 1800 in Haryana and from 3545 to 4494 in Madhya Pradesh. Using technology, farmers were provided specific dates and slots to bring their produce which helped in avoiding overcrowding. Strict social distancing norms were followed and sanitization activities were undertaken regularly. In Punjab, every farmer was allotted specific spaces earmarked for dumping of stocks and no one else was allowed to enter those areas. Only people who were directly associated were allowed to be present during daily auctions. 

In addition to the threat of spread of virus, there were 3 major challenges faced by the procuring agencies in wheat procurement. As all the Jute mills were closed, production of Jute bags used for filling of procured wheat stopped, creating a major crisis. This was tackled by using more plastic bags, supplemented by used bags with very strict quality conditions. Through continuous monitoring and timely actions, it could be ensured that the procurement was not stopped due to lack of packaging materials anywhere in the country. 

There were unseasonal rains in all the major producing states leading to wheat getting exposed to water. This posed a major threat to the farmers as such stocks could not be procured under normal specifications. Government of India and Food Corporation of India (FCI) intervened immediately and after conducting detailed scientific analysis, specifications were re-fixed to ensure that no farmer is put to distress while making sure that the produce so procured meets the minimum quality requirements of the consumers. 

Third challenge was the tight labour supply position as well as the general fear created among the masses about the virus. This was addressed by taking a series of confidencebuilding measures at the local level by the state administration. Labourwasprovided with adequate protection safety gears like masks, sanitizers etc. and other precautionary measures were also taken to ensure their safety. 

With the concerted and well-coordinated efforts by Government of India, FCI, State Governments and their agencies, procurement of wheat could be undertaken very smoothly in all surplus states, helping farmers and replenishing stocks in the central pool. The state wise procurement data forwheat procuring states is as below:

Sl. NoName of the stateWheat procuredup to 24.05.2020(in Lakh Metric Tonnes)
1Punjab125.84
2Madhya Pradesh113.38
3Haryana 70.65
4Uttar Pradesh20.39
5Rajasthan 10.63
6Uttarakhand0.31
7Gujarat0.21
8Chandigarh0.12
9Himachal Pradesh0.03
-TOTAL341.56

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NITI Aayog to study the feasibility of drinking water project

The Vice President of India, Shri M Venkaiah Naidu today held a meeting with Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, Shri Parameswaran Iyer, Secretary, Drinking Water & Sanitation, and Shri U.P. Singh, Secretary, Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation and discussed various possible ways in which drinking water and irrigation needs of the drought-prone Udayagiri area, Nellore district, Andhra Pradesh can be met. The Vice President shared with them the concerns of the people of this area.

In the recent past, the Vice President has been talking to people of Udayagiri constituency, from where Shri Venkaiah Naidu, now The Vice President of India was elected as MLA in 1978 for the first time. While enquiring about the general well-being, they informed the Vice President that ground water levels in the area have depleted considerably, most of the tanks/borewells have dried up and various water supply schemes are not serving the water needs to the fullest. They also informed the Vice President that this is the 7th consecutive year where there are no adequate rains. Most of them requested Shri Naidu to find out ways of getting water from Krishna basin or Somasila project.

In today’s discussion with the Vice President, officials suggested that they would explore various options in consultation with the Government of Andhra Pradesh and see what might be the most feasible option.

The Vice President advised Secretary, Water Resources to discuss with Central Water Commission and find out about the technical feasibility. He also suggested that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) and the various ongoing efforts of the State Government to mitigate the water crisis including through the Water Grid project could be studied. 

After a preliminary assessment is made, the Vice President advised that a delegation of senior officials from the Ministry of Jal Shakti as well as from NITI Aayog and Central Water Commission could visit the area and interact with the concerned stakeholders to understand the ground reality and suggest a way forward.