New Age Learning

How do you learn..

Old school...
- go to a classroom listen to teacher, take notes
- purchase a book
- get a mentor, work with him/her, listen to him/her

New School

- go to a classroom listen to teacher, take notes
- purchase a book
- get a mentor, work with him/her, listen to him/her
- logon to Youtube
- register on Khan Academy, Code Academy and their ilks
- purchase e-book
- get a Kindle
- go to Safari online
- register with Udemy.com
- read a blog
- play a game
- learn online at Stanford, NASA or MIT

... and the list goes on.

Essentially with the advent of the internet and associated technologies there is no dearth of avenues to learn for those who want to learn.

There has been an advertisement on the TV from internet.org by Facebook that talks about people from remote places like villages and hill stations who achieved some feats like creating a windmill, or a hand-robot all by themselves without the help from any outside source. The voice in the advertisement then says what would have happened if they had been connected to the internet.

I chuckle and say...they might have spent the time on Facebook/Instagram or playing games online.

Jokes apart, the current times have really brought in a new age of learning where learning is more than readily available for anyone and everyone. The possibilities are endless for those who can save themselves from wasting time online and utilizing it to master topics of their likings.

On those lines I thought to share links that I find of good learning, hoping it might be beneficial to someone.  I know it is categorized, but for those who seek knowledge, it should not be a herculean task. Except for those Shakespearean who say "O this learning, what a thing it is!"



www.codecademy.com
http://bigdatauniversity.com/
https://www.drawspace.com/
https://see.stanford.edu/
http://betterexplained.com/
https://www.khanacademy.org
http://skillcrush.com/
https://www.udemy.com
http://www.e-learningforkids.org/
http://stackexchange.com/
http://www.howcast.com/
http://www.doityourself.com/
https://www.edx.org/
https://www.coursera.org/
http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm
http://www.extension.harvard.edu/open-learning-initiative
https://novoed.com/
https://www.udacity.com/
https://developer.apple.com/
https://code.org/
https://codehs.com/


Happy Learning !!

Word of Mouth – Will it work ?

Besides social media and television studios, the AAP is hoping word of mouth will do the magic. Will it work? [source]

This was a question posed on the website of a very popular news channel a week before the Delhi Assembly elections. ‘Will it work?’ I believe the question has been answered rhetorically and an astounding and deafening Yes has been said by the delhites.

Sitting on a peaceful Monday morning sipping tea, I was really wondering on the strategies of Mr. Kejriwal, I myself had friends calling me and securing my vote for the debutant and I heard a lot of small group meetings being formed and people being made aware of a new non-corrupt emerging party. They were such discreet that probably it sent it’s most of adversaries and competitors off-guard. The next thing I know was congratulatory notes flooding my FB wall for debut party.

Anyways, my intention was not to discuss Delhi politics, but it was to capture an amazing observation of a growing trend called ‘Word Of Mouth’.

If I may happen to recall you, not so long ago in the yester-years a young passionate person by name of certain Mr. Mohandas karamchand Ghandhi (our very own Bapu), happened to collect a huge crowd of followers for the famous Dandi march, with no social media, internet or even telephone to assist, how did he manage to spread the word, that too with media being against him totally. It was simple, yes, word of mouth…a philosophy as old as the mankind itself, i.e people will always be talking to people on any subject, thing, cause or product of interest. The most nascent form of advertising and probably the most powerful as well.

The most important feature of this strategy is the personal touch and sense of ownership that is incurred into the people participating in word-of-mouth as happened in this case of AAP where most of the supporters felt they were promoting was something they owned and part of a larger picture.

word of mouth is not something that the Indian politics is getting aware of, it is something that the corporate world is also realizing and many companies has resorted to these techniques for movement of their products and services.

Companies hiring through this mode of referencing and asking it’s employees to spread the word in return get some benefit and thus substantially cutting down on their advertisement budgets and get some trustworthy people on board. Freelancers and SMEs getting their clients and customers through this channel of advertising and marketing.

Similarly has a new industry flourished where corporate world is waking up to this medium, getting it’s customer base talk about their products and services and creating a win-win situation for itself and their existing customers as well by sharing a percentage of profit which happened because of the marketing and further revenue generation, something getting popular being known as Referral Marketing or Word-of-Mouth Marketing, creating an amazing source of income for people and equally amazing less costly way of advertising for the company. Some say this is the start of a new beginning, only time will tell.

No wonder, Mr Kejriwal succeeded as this is the most time-tested and powerful medium of building anything substantial, word-of-mouth.

Essentially word-of-mouth is the talk of the day so as they say Wake up and smell the coffee.

Happy Talking !!

Retirement before the age of 40

         Essentially this has been one of my burning desires even before I had started my career. Now why would a sane person think of retirement even before starting a job ... well 2 things..one when did I say I was sane (joking u need to laugh), two who says retirement means sitting on a broken chair reading newspaper and waiting for the fated time.

This thought got 'Inception' (Since I watched this movie I have really been fascinated by this word) probably during my college days at AMU, where I had a gala time at the hostel and fairly enough I got to interact with a lot of people who were from different streams than me, like PhD(English), Doctors, Engineers, Bio-Technologist, Fine Arts students and due to my diverse friend circle I collected a lot of ideas. The most powerful ideas implanted were of entrepreneurship. Secondly I come from a background where all of my family had been into a job, I saw my mother work for 25 years imparting education, helping others, raising kids (including me) but never a time for herself; and also my father who worked for his set of life years and most my uncles and elder cousins, essentially all I grew up with was people working and working hard for money and saving and hoping to retire in peace. Now this was somehow very scary for me, because working for 40 odd years..boy not my cup of tea. I couldn't see myself doing 9-5 for another set 20-30 years.

So, my idea of retirement is time. Working for money is old school now, working for time is the key. The most valuable commodity is time and if I can have more time for myself along with maintaining my lifestyle and for my family is what is I strive for. Now after spending 9 odd years working in a job, I am clear that this path will never lead me to my destination which is when I started to lookout and got a fantastic option and grabbed it immediately (now that requires a separate post).

To cut a long story short, time-freedom is what is most important i.e I should be free to utilize my time my way for what I like which gives me happiness and I should also have the moolah to do what I want. I am not alone in this thought process and there are a lot more, especially these are the best times to break the jinx , follow your dream and make it real and the best way to do that is to think beyond the box (rather cubicle [sic]) !!!

India Rising

Around 2 decades back India started it's courtship with an Industry that was to become benchmark of all developments and industries. The mark of Indian IT industry started with a huge enthusiasm. Youth of India caught up with the rising trend of computer education and IT industry. Initially there were apprehensions but gradually the trend put on. Universities and colleges started courses in computer education and applications. Before anybody could realize India emerged as a big provider of software support and services of which a major part was development of software products. Private MNCs started heading towards destination India. Indian software engineers were more hot than the hot-cake itself. Lo and Behold the great India IT revolution came. Many cities like Chennai, Bangalore, Delhi, Hyderabad were transformed into Cosmopolitans. Alongside the rise of support industries also started and as a ripple effect IT became back-bone of development of many industries as money started flowing in. Very soon trips to US and other European countries were a norm for any ordinary graduate with a degree/diploma in computers.

In our country we always had a charm for English. Starting from nursery/KG English was always a matter of pride for anybody. Please/Take/Thank-you/Hello/How r u / are some words which were used even by a rickshaw-puller. This knack of the language English payed dividends when another revolution called ITES (IT enabled Services) came through, BPOs, KPOs (… more lovingly called Call-Centers) and now the latest LPO (Legal Process Outsourcing). These outsourcing models changed the whole structure of our society in many terms but most specific was job. Now even a 12th pass out could earn handsomely while pursuing his studies in the background. Studying your brains off till the sunset of your youth was no longer in fashion.

Latest fad to list is IPL.

Isn’t IPL a coming-of-age event that has happened to the world? The whole concept of cricket has changed and of entertainment too. European football franchises and clubs who prided themselves on their business and hefty fees to star players are now looking askance at the rise and rise of IPL. Right now IPL is the most sought after thing that could happen to any cricketer. isn’t it something that county matches offered not so long back to a cricketer...name/fame/money and most of all recognition. Players from all different countries striving to become a part of IPL teams named mostly on Indian states, managing to speak Hindi (checkout the latest TV commercial advertisements involving foreigner cricketers). Also heard that European football clubs are interested in taking up IPL teams in auction.

Well all of these surely point to a rising india. India as a country has matured well enough to become self-sustaining, independent. Indian companies are creating jobs in US and European countries isn’t it a turn-of-the-tables or maybe start of it. Yes there are glitches and hitches but I believe they are just part of the game of development-in-progress.
Yesterday I was going through a newspaper and one thing caught my eye; Indian youth (under 20) would amount for 55% of the population in next 15 years (i am not sure if this is a verified data) but it must surely be quite close. So our black-horse the population promises to become a Stallion if gromed properly. I believe our golden period is ahead of us and yet to come in terms of development and world leadership.

India is surely rising and will rise.

Recognition

How does it feel when standing at some place with lots of unknown faces you suddenly have a glimpse of someone known, a possibility of talking to someone to at least kill a bit of time or may be catch-up on some news current or old.

something similar happened to me this evening but with a difference …

It so happened that I went to meet someone, and reached before time so had some time to explore surrounding area. Strolling in nearby 'bazaar', I was hopelessly looking for a familiar face, a known fellow to chat, to kill time. Just then I caught a glimpse of someone in an adjoining shop, delighted I tilted my head back to catch that knowing smile again, it smiled back at me, my heart leaped at such a familiar face, he seemed so known, I could talk to him, say Hi! share stories ... within a millionth of a second these thoughts raised past, I could se the same twinkle in his eyes as in mine...just as I was coming to terms with these thoughts I saw the twinkle fading in that very familiar face, it was only in the next millionth of that second itself I realized that, that was a mirror and the very familiar face I was eagerly looking at was none other than me, mimicking back the same feelings and expressions I was having, but from the restraints of that mirror.

well a short story indeed but I found this incident so amusing to myself that I thought to pen it down on my blog and wait for another such similar happening coming from any of my readers and friends.

A Morning Affair

To begin with, this night was supposedly a hectic one, unexpected, tiresome and to be spent with my other-half (hang on guys before u jump to any conclusion), I was referring to my job which demands so much of time and commitment. Well I won’t go into any cribbing, just to cut short I had to stay back for some urgent client support and ended up spending a night here. Period.

The night was as dark as itself, but most refreshing thing that happened to me was it’s morning (as they say after each dark night comes a beautiful morning). Have I lost my sense of writing and cannot get any better words to describe as beautiful phenomenon as a morning. Well may be. May be for those joggers, early birds, faithfulls, and host of others who get to see rising sun each day, is not a big deal. But for people like me, who spend late nights sitting beside their computers, watching tv playing games or doing some other mundane tasks like blogging, rising sun is like a delicacy.

Muezzin calling faithfuls for namaz, a priest praising the Lord through his bhajan, birds chirping and rays tearing apart the darkness and paving way for the sun’s chariot is a sight that one can only feel and not explain, specially if it happens to you once in a blue moon. It’s not that I am a late riser, but I seldom have the will to go out and look into the sun directly in it’s eyes, feel it’s freshness and be refreshed.

I don’t know if tomorrow will be same but yes this Morning was a costly Affair, as I forgo dear sleep to have a peek at the rising sun.
No morals, but only thoughts sketched after fighting bouts of sleep at this hour :)

Gap between academia and the industry - A thought

Long time back one of the staff in my university administration commented that an education institution is there to impart degrees not jobs. Was he true or just candid?

Well he was not exactly aware about the processes that are in place to ensure that a graduate lands up with a decent career. There are career counseling cells, Training and Placement Officers and various other units who help a student take next steps for his or her career. There are campus visits by various companies for hiring potential freshers. However these visits are usually limited to professional courses. Educational institutions offering specialized courses attract the highest number of companies from the relevant industry, breeds of the IITs, IIMs and top notch central universities take the lions share when industry goes on a hiring spree.

My point of focus and concern are the educational institutions which lack in their expertise and vision to gear their students for their foray into the big bad world of professional industry. Is it a vision or resources that many institutions lack which result in not-so-ready-for-job graduates and companies think twice before finalizing such an institute for campus visit or simply dont-care attitude. I think latter is not true given the level of competition.

The other side of story
-----------------------
Industry would love to have some degree of professional skills in the fresh graduates they hire both soft and technical. That is the reason why many companies spend much on induction programs and training sessions for the selected candidates. Big companies have a built-in mechanism for such programs oiled and in-place with time, whilst small companies prefer to hire experienced persons reducing the training cost, if freshers are hired then at a very low CTC than their big CMM level counterparts.

Being on both side of the fence, I do understand and believe that both the academia and industry have their requirements and expectations from each other. Academia would love to have more of industry participation in honing skills of their graduates so that their employability factor . Vis-a-vis industry would care for a more ready-on-the-floor type of hires fresh from college.

So where does the problem lie or rather the solution. Frankly speaking right now I don’t know, but this is a question bouncing in my mind for quite sometime.

Googling and surfing on the net has resulted in some interesting links, articles, case studies and anecdotes which did hinted at the same issue. India is on the good side of a resource pool which is youthful and educated but less employable.

I did come across some good Samaritans who are working in the same direction but with varied paths. One such set-up is co-cubes (http://www.cocubes.com/)

excerpt from their website homepage..

"The word CoCubes comes from the first two alphabets of three words, connecting colleges and companies. The idea is to bring a paradigm shift in campus recruitment by bringing all colleges, recruiters, training firms onto a single platform. We are the pioneers in online campus recruitment and currently swamped with colleges wanting to go online and corporate looking for an efficient and effective campus recruitment process. To know more about us click here "

I know there are many more such helps available and another one doing a pioneering work is http://www.siliconindia.com/ in online mentoring and making easy for graduates to interact with industry professionals.

I strongly believe that this is a need of the hour .. a bridge for the gap between academia and the industry. The more there are such bridges the better it is. Destination should be same 'Enhanced employability of indian graduates', paths can be different.

What say? Any comments.