Happy New Year 2011

Inviting Entries for Book of Miracles - Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul

Publishing house: Westland

Please send your stories to: rakshabharadia@gmail.com

Last dates for accepting submissions: 28^th February 2011. (Raksha will close as soon as she selects 101 stories for the same).

The write-ups will carry the contributor’s name. Westland pays Rs 1000 per story and two copies of the book. We carry a 3-4 line profile on all contributing authors. We accept blogged and published work too provided the authors get the reprint permissions.  The copyright of the stories stays with the author. Multiple entries are welcome, (have carried up to five from a single contributor). We accept poems too (provided they have a story in them).

  

Recipe for a Chicken Soup for the Indian Soul - Book of Miracles  

A Chicken Soup for the Soul® story is an inspirational, true story about ordinary people doing extraordinary things. They are personal and often filled with emotion and drama.

Chicken Soup stories have a beginning, middle and an ending that often closes with a punch, creating emotion rather than simply talking about it. A story that causes tears, laughter, goosebumps or any combination of these. A good story covers the range of human emotions. The most powerful stories are about people extending themselves, or performing an act of love, service or courage for another person.

Guidelines

1. Tell an exciting, sad or funny story about something that has happened to you or someone you know. Make sure that you introduce the character(s).

2. Tell your story in a way that will make the reader cry, laugh or get goose bumps (the good kind!) Don’t leave anything out — how did you feel?

3. The story should start with action; it should include a problem, issue or situation. It should include dialogue and the character should express their feelings though the conflict or situation. It should end in a result, such as a lesson learned, a positive change or pay-off.

4. Above all, let it come from your HEART! Your story is important!

Story Specifications

Stories should be non-fiction, ranging in length between 300-1200 words.

Chapters/Themes  

 Signs from above

The healing power of a prayer

Love from beyond

His/Her messenger

His saving grace

Angels amongst us

Answered prayers

Everyday miracles

Divine appointment

Feel free to send in stories even if they do not fit in the themes mentioned above.

Click here to read Raksha's tips for writing a Chicken soup story.

ICON Participates in Beyond Horizons Career Fair at Stella Maris

Icon Technical Writing training centre participated in a career fair 'Beyond Horizons' organized by the career guidance group of Stella Maris college. About 20 institutes had set up stalls. Many students were hearing the term Technical writing for the first time. They were also curious about the different type of career options for them once they complete the 120 hours course at Icon. So, it was a fruitful effort for ICON in spreading awareness and enthusiasm about Technical writing amongst students of Stella Maris.

Gomathy talking to students

 

Icon students placed in MNCs

How is Khan Academy Different from Existing Learning & Teaching Models?

Khan Academy is run by Salman Khan, an MIT student with hedge funds and maths background. Khan's 1500 + videos on the internet (Youtube) have got maximum views -- more views than MIT videos. And the reviews and feedback from highly satisfied students are great. Bill Gates has donated a huge sum for the Khan academy.

How is Khan academy different from existing learning or teaching methods? First, you can start thinking about the many traditional constituents of a classroom( ILT) that Khan academy does not have. There is no physical presence of teacher or student. There is no fixed or standard syllabus. Khan uses a black board instead of a white board. There is no instant two-way communication between learner and teacher. So, Khan's tutorials are asynchronous and also free.

Second, you can compare Khan's video's with the standard e-learning courses. There is no interactivity such as click, select, or drag-and-drop. But still the student is engaged with the content flow and really learns. The learner can jump from one video to another to brush up his/her basics. An educational video or course does not contain assessments or quick checks. So, there is no online practice. But a learner clears any challenging exam after viewing Khan's video. Now, isn't that really interesting and intriguing.

I think it's time to rewrite and formulate new concepts and principles for learning based on Khan's academy.


Sal Khan at Gel 2010 (founder, the Khan Academy) from Gel Conference on Vimeo.

Absolutely Brilliant Instructional Design

Mae Jemison on Teaching Arts and Science Together

 Mae Jemison claims that ideas are like potential energy. U need to execute ideas to transform them to kinetic energy. Mae Jemison also wonders if we are creating enough ideas for the next generation to experiment and create upon! Thought provoking indeed.

Does the Learner or Audience Know?

The Hindi movie Raavan came with a lot of hype and hoopla. The movie revolves around the character of Raavan,an evil king in the famous epic Ramayana. However, the film Raavan did not seem to make an impact on filmgoers, inspite of actor Abhishek’s histrionics. Abhishek’s superstar father Amitabh blamed social media for sealing the fate of a movie before it is screened. He also expressed anguish over random editing of the scenes where Abhishek brings out the shades of the character Raavan.

What was peculiar about Raavan’s character? Raavan is said to have 10 heads, each head depicting one of the 10 evil qualities he has. The ten heads represent passion, pride, anger, greed, infatuation, lust, hatred, jealousy, and selfishness. Raavan exhibits the evil nature of any of the 10 heads as the situation demands. Yet another interpretation exists for the the heads of Raavan( thank god, there aren't 10 different interpretations). Raavan's description as a ten-headed person means that he has thorough knowledge of the four Vedas and six Upanishads, which made him as powerful as 10 Hindu scholars.

However, the fans watching the movie Raavan saw Abhishek jumping from one erratic behavior to another. And sometimes they were confused about what he was upto! During the editing of the movie Raavan, the scene where Abhishek is shown with 10 heads has been cut off. Amitabh believes that the viewers would have understood why Abhishek behaved erratically if the corresponding head(or all the 10 heads)was shown before each scene.

Replying to Amitabh, Maniratnam, the director of the movie, said that he assumed that all moviegoers were intelligent enough to understand that Abhsihek was enacting the 10 shades of Raavan. However, it is evident the viewers were not able to correlate Abhishek’s acting with the 10 heads and they missed the point. The movie crew and a intellectual majority would have understood the reason behind every histrionic of Raavan. But, the majority of the masses were groping in the dark. So, the editing crew had made assumptions about the smartness and comprehension of the audience.

The same scenario holds good when an (Instructional Designer)ID designs a course. The ID and SME understand the source content and how the topic will flow. But, the learner is in the dark. The ID has to remember that he/she is writing the course for a newbie of the subject and that they are not writing a course for the approval of SMEs who guide course development. So, the graphics, audio, animation, and text sequence has to be designed keeping in mind the learner, who is usually a newbie to the subject you are e-teaching!

The ID must conduct a learner analysis or audience analysis. Learner analysis help to tailor the course to the learner's capabilities and needs. So, learner analysis saves the average learner from groping in the dark!