Category: Higher Education
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Myth of Impact Factor- Does it Measures Real Impact or is it a Racket?
Myth: Impact Factor Measures Real Impact One of the most interesting game being played in the universities is that of impact factor research. There is a whole industry that is now specializing in how to increase the impact factor. There are researchers who are publishing at the rate of one publication every month (or even…
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Who is educated! – Iqbal’s View
Iqbal on Education [1909] I unhesitatingly declare that I have greater respect for an illiterate shopkeeper, who earns his honest bread and has sufficient force in his arms to defend his wife and children in times of trouble than the brainy graduate of high culture, whose low timid voice betokens the dearth of soul in…
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Can Grades and Degrees Measure the Success of Students?
Can Grades and Degrees Measure the Success of Students? We see schools in Pakistan proudly displaying their biggest achievement as the number of A grades secured or the number of positions obtained in board examinations. There seems to be a mad rush to secure a large number of A’s with the benchmark recently set at…
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The Myth of Mushrooming of Universities in Pakistan
I think we were and are being sold this myth of “Mushrooming of Universities in Pakistan” because there are forces that do not want 20,000 universities coming up in Pakistan and would like to cap the number of universities and HEIs (Higher Education Institutions) to a small manageable and controllable number. In 2006, in India…
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Beauty is Our Business – Mathematics, Excellence and the Great Dijkstra
I remember here the lessons Dijkstra gave about beauty and excellence through personal examples. His colleagues celebrated his works with the salute: “Beauty is Our Business”[1]. Dijkstra is one of the most revered computer scientist whose footprint on the fundamental ideas in computer science is now legendary. This was 1988-89. I was at The University…
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Syllabus- Coverage is Enemy of Understanding
The operative word in conventional schools is “cover“. There is a mad rush for coverage. Every one is after this elusive goal. The designers develop the lesson plans keeping in view how much of the subject can be covered during one period. The teacher is now forced to cover the lesson during one period. Teacher fills out the coverage form. The administrator…
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School Discipline vs Prison Discipline
[Delivered as L2L Talk on 2011-05-08] What is the prison experience? The gate is heavily guarded. There is an eerie silence prevailing. There is a formal process of meeting the inmates or the officials. You can’t go any place you want. There are strict rules for movement. There is a meeting area where you need to go,…
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How our Curriculum Design (from Simple to Complex) Insults the Intelligence of a Student
[Delivered as L2L Talk on 2011-03-20] A child is naturally curious and interested in exploring about things that he does not know. Complex and unknown things are the ones that interest him (and us). We are interested in mysteries, conspiracy theories, adventure, drama, and are amused by the unexpected, stupendous, super-natural or sci-fi. We insult a child’s…
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5 Myths of Higher Education in Pakistan
Presentation originally made at CIO Conference, March 2009 at Sheraton, Karachi. The links and write-up below is an extended rehash of those thoughts: Myth #1: Our backwardness is because we lag behind in Science and Technology Myth #2: There is mushrooming of Higher Education Institutions in Pakistan Myth #3: Impact Factor research measures real impact…
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Subject Compartmentalization vs Holistic Learning: How to align with natural process of learning of a child
Definition Holistic learning, also known as global learning, is a learning style based on the principle that students will learn more effectively when all aspects of a person–mind, body and spirit–are involved in the experience. Source: About Holistic Learning When knowledge of the real-life phenomena is divided in to subjects with narrowly defined boundaries, and when…
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Why this current urgency about visions and entrepreneurship
Why this Current Urgency about Long Term Visions and Entrepreneurship — Global Challenges and Opportunities Information age economy will have most people working from their homes and mobiles through internet on a per project basis for different companies. They would be paid not because they have a CV containing a list of large number of…