Mega Project Blog #1

The philosophy of the schoolroom in one generation will be the philosophy of government in the next (Abraham Lincoln).

www.google.images.com

Background analysis:

“Ignorant, illiterate, and uneducated’’ means lack of knowledge or training. If someone is ignorant, they may know little or nothing about a particular subject. Alternatively, they may be uninformed about it.”

Pakistan is a developing country and our education system is 20 years behind the education system of developed countries. Most of the advancements in our education are suppressed due to less awareness of advanced methods. Most Scientific Research data is compiled and analyzed manually in some Institutes. Where there is the use of Advance methods, they are using it at its least advancement. Like even Professor of Universities using Windows 7 and Office 2007, rather than Windows 10 or 11 and Office 2022. This reflects the behavior of less adaptation.

The figure shows a poll of students who want their teachers to use advanced methods for their learning.

According to some estimates, school closures impacted 1.7 billion kids in over 190 countries. Millions of young people, as well as their instructors and parents, were forced to adapt to new modes of learning, which in some cases happened overnight. Because of the pressing necessity to maintain education, governments and schools have to think beyond the box. (DAWN)

Many issues developed as a result of the rapid shift to online learning. The most important of them all were assignment submission and online learning. The majority of intermediate students are unfamiliar with Microsoft Office. Many pupils have not learned or have been denied the opportunity to develop such a crucial ability. Although the majority of students have cellphones and laptops, many are unfamiliar with numerous digital products such as Microsoft Office, Google Classrooms, and Adobe Illustrator.

www.google.images.com

Possible Causes:

• A possible cause of less awareness of tools and software for advanced studies is less use of technology. Laptops and computers are only used by Higher education students.
• There is no proper training for students to use the software.
• Research and interviews from our colleagues and peers show that is due to less interest in learning skills.
• They don’t even bother to learn to make computers clean from cache files. Even M.Phil. students rely on other people to do work like making tables of Stat (ANOVA).
• They depend on other people and Professors to do their work. That’s why we are so behind in technology.

We use interviews and talks with peers in universities and other fellows.

The resulting conclusion is a lack of interest in learning new skills and no interest in the work they are doing. Hence Lack of passion.

Many college students have shown little to no interest in online courses and digital tools because:

• They do not realize their importance.
• They do not have any understanding of digital tools
• Our institutes just provide their students with a general curriculum and do not give them any opportunities for professional growth.

Who is adversely affected and why are they directly affected?

• The majority of those affected by this issue are intermediate students and those who have recently been admitted to the university.
• So, in 2019, education around the world shifted to online learning, but in Pakistan, the transition was not seamless, and students are still struggling to adjust to online learning. Not everyone was able to use the internet to further their studies. Although digital learning is expected to become more widely adopted in the future, students from underprivileged backgrounds have fallen behind their more advantaged counterparts. This is a very serious problem in Pakistan, where economic factors severely limit young people’s access to hardware that allows them to learn online.
• Students understand how to utilize technology, but not in a way that allows them to explore an information-rich digital world. Furthermore, no such courses as MS Office, Google, or Notepad are taught in our educational system. Many kids are unable to use zoom, which has hampered their ability to learn.

What has previously been accomplished?

Microsoft has partnered with the Higher Education Commission to provide digital solutions to more than 200 Higher Education Institutes (HIEs) across Pakistan. This collaboration oversees the use of technology and implements several capacity-building initiatives.

In 2018, the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan (HEC) teamed with Coursera to provide 8,000 free online courses to students. Many worldwide universities, including Princeton University, Cornell University, Northwestern University, Stanford University, and others, offer these courses. This effort was started to provide university students with possibilities for digital learning and to equip the youth with the skills they need to find good jobs and acquire economic empowerment.

The National Academy of Higher Education (NAHE), which was established in June 2019, is the academic arm of Pakistan’s Higher Education Commission (HEC). They compiled a list of teaching and learning resources available online. These include several resources in a variety of formats, including webinars, PowerPoint presentations, tutorials, and short courses on online teaching and learning.

Sources of research:

We studied different articles and surveys, other than that We used Facebook as a medium to learn more about the problem. In addition to that, We asked my cousins who are still in school and college to learn more about their learning process. We also reached out to my high school and college teachers to learn about their opinion on this matter. Research is also done by doing interviews with peers of the university.

Solution:

We are conducting an online course for teaching “MS Word”.

Collaboration and Advertisement:

We are planning to collaborate with an organization called PIC ( Pakistan Ideological Civilization). This program will be started after Eid.

We are also planning to add our female and male colleagues from Universities.

Course Criteria:

Course Charges 100 Rs registration. (100 Rs. Certificate) Collected funds will be donated.

Our targeted Audience:

Intermediate and undergraduate students (Starting Semesters). Our main concern is students of Intermediate level and undergraduate, starting semesters.

Course Duration (1 month).

Schedule and complete details are given in the Proposal submitted in PW.