7. Keeping an ear to the ground – There is no set formula for success despite the several hundred management books that are written to the contrary. Managing a startup to success is often a task fraught with difficult decisions and unexpected situations. Despite a firm plan and a resolute approach to execution, the entrepreneur must keep a steady ear to the ground, recognize changing market conditions, be willing to bend with the wind and be completely prepared to allow market feedback to determine how the company will evolve.
Sabu Pappachan
Twenty Seven years of business experience in the field of I.T in India and abroad. Handled heterogeneous responsibilities, strategic tie - up's, result oriented business equations & have good success stories with many International customers/ partners. Keep excellent and healthy relationship with key players in Indian industry. Personally linked to many CEO/ CFO/ CMO/ CTO in India & abroad. He is running his own IT business management consulting firm in Bangalore
Solving the dilemma of technology in education
by Gowtham (Director - Digital Future of Education, Bangalore)
Given the rapid and phenomenal advances in technology, especially in communications and media, one’s natural expectation would be that the field of education would gratefully grasp these advances and make rapid strides to improving how education is imagined and delivered to the millions of students in our country.
But one’s expectations would be belied! We are a country that loves technology for its own sake – and not one that seeks to apply it for the betterment of its citizens. Take our roads and the way in which our garbage gets cleared in our cities and towns. It is hard to believe that we cannot do better than build roads that disintegrate in one season or less and that we continue to allow citizens to dump garbage at street corners to be picked up with bare hands by workers toiling to keep the streets clean. Granted that these are not simple technology issues because they are intertwined with the politics of our country and the way our civic amenity systems work. Nevertheless, it still amazes me that with all the smart people we have in our country, these systems continue to languish in medieval era styles of doing work.
My point with this post is that the area of education is no different. The system that delivers some of the finest minds this country produces, is tradition bound and shackled by obsolete content, ideas and methods. I do not think schools use the Internet as a teaching tool as much as it could be. We have mostly shied away from using digital tools in our classrooms and continue to reinforce rote-learning, mechanical reproduction of answers and a blinkered approach to learning characterized by confining oneself to accepting information without confirmation and self-validation. Course syllabuses do not reflect contemporary ideas, and so students often have to learn ‘what is really needed’ after they leave school.
Change is impossible without pioneering efforts to introduce new models of teaching and to the using of new tools enabled by the new technologies of today. This requires a willingness to experiment and to discover new possibilities in this space. As with every other arena of life, there must be a commitment and a desire to improve how we teach our children. Otherwise, technology development and all research and discovery will never reflect their full potential on society.
DFoE, with its flagship product ONE , has given a way for society to favourably choose technology in education. The solution bridges the digital divide in its overall simplicity of nature and inclusiveness.
Gowdhaman Margabandu (Gowtham)
Founder of Digital Future of Education, Gowtham has over 19 years of industry experience that includes management experience in the financial, distribution, communication, transportation and insurance sectors. Gowtham’s core skills are in technology innovation, executive management and communication and they evolved over a career dotted with positions held in TCS (India), PricewaterhouseCoopers (US), IBM (US) and IBM (India). Gowtham is a creative writer and has been a source for articles both within and outside the IT domain. Education has always been close to Gowtham’s heart and this passion has been a primary driver in the birth of Digital Future of Education Pvt Ltd.
(www.dfoeindia.com)
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