The festival of Holi in many parts of India turned violent following the communal ferocity exhibited by the Islamists, who harbour deep contempt for the Indic faiths and believe in the supremacy of Islam. Several incidents of attack on Hindus were reported amid the joyous festival of colours, manifesting their clear hate against the Hindu community.

Reportedly, the festival of Holi this year appeared on Friday and happened to coincide with the Muslim festival Shab-e-Barat. While a few people belonging to the Hindu community celebrated Holi, the Muslims were seen visiting the nearby Mosques to offer Namaz. With loud DJ music being played in the background, the Namazis who usually make use of loudspeakers in the Mosques daily happened to object to the once-in-a-year celebrations of Holi.

Here are the recent six major episodes of attack on Hindus during the festival of Holi.

The Uttarakhand Police on March 19 registered an FIR against Najar Hasan Ansari, Arbaz Ansari, and Mustakim for attacking a group of Hindus while they were playing Holi in the Laldhang area of Shyampura. According to the reports, the people from the Muslim community had arrived on the spot to offer Namaz and brutally attacked the Hindus with bricks. Laldhangs BJP chief Alok Dwivedi lodged an official complaint against the Muslims and said that Hindus were attacked with stones and bricks while peacefully playing with the colours on the occasion of Holi.

The Muslim community has however blatantly lodged a cross-complaint saying that the Hindus allegedly attacked them while they were returning to their home after offering Namaz. The police have registered both the FIRs and are investigating the case.

On Sunday (March 20), the people of the Hindu community were forcefully asked to stop the celebration of Holi by the Muslims who wanted to offer Namaz at the due hours. The Muslims accused the Hindu people of deliberately playing with colours during the Namaz hours and asked them to call off the Holi celebrations. As reported, the Hindu people refused to conclude the celebration following which the Muslims registered an official complaint to the Police.

Based on the complaint of the Muslim community, the Police ceased the DJ sound and directed the Hindus to discontinue the event. Reports mention that the DJ sound was returned to Hindus at night only after the Muslims finished observing the Shab-e-Barat. Vishwa Hindu Parishads Vinod Bansal tweeted the video of the incident and said that the Hindus were suppressed and Muslims were given priority by the Police. The festival of Holi is being celebrated by suppressing the Hindus. Jihadis are given shelter, priority, and encouragement!! Are Hindus second class citizens for UP Police?, he tweeted.

The UP Police however clarified that the Hindus were not stopped from playing Holi. We had received complaints that people (Hindus) were forcefully throwing colours at the locals. We reached the spot and tried to pacify the matter. Later at 9 pm, we again received a complaint that they (Hindus) were playing heavy sounds on the DJ system and the locals were getting disturbed, the Police said post action.

On Friday, the people from the Muslim community attacked two persons who were playing with the colours in the areas surrounding a mosque. The people from the community in Behari claimed that the two had allegedly thrown colors at the mosque in the city. The youths were allegedly dragged by the mob and were kicked, beaten with sticks while they were on their bike, heading home after playing Holi. The youths somehow saved their lives.

Himanshu Patel, Bareilly chief of the Rashtriya Yogi Sena tweeted the video to Bareilly Police and said, Muslim people surrounded and attacked two bike-riding Hindu brothers passing through the road, badly hit them. Police must take cognizance of the matter and take action against the culprits

Tensions aroused further as more people from the Muslim community joined the argument and blocked the streets and the Nanital Highway. The video of the incident went viral over social media where people from the community could be seen pelting stones and disrupting the law and order of the city. The Police, further trying to control the situation carried out a baton charge and dispersed the crowd.

In the Amroha on March 18, the celebration of Holi was disrupted as the members of the Muslim community took offense to the DJ music being played by Hindus as a part of the Holi festival. They pelted stones at the Hindus dancing to the song made on CM Yogi Adityanath while celebrating Holi, in Mohalla Chhanga Darwaza of Amroha UP. Two Hindus- Adesh and Bunty were reportedly injured in the stone-pelting incident.

The video of the incident had gone viral over social media. In the video, many Muslims could be seen pelting stones from the roofs of two adjacent buildings. The stones were aimed at a building in the opposite direction which could not be seen in the video.

The Amroha Police later stated that they had identified the accused from the viral videos and had arrested 3 persons under relevant sections of the IPC.

The Muslim community in Begusarais Rajour attacked the Hindu community with sharp swords and knives, severely injuring more than 20 Hindus. According to the reports, a petty fight between small children of the two communities led more than 300 Muslims to unite and attack the Hindus on the occasion of Holi. The Hindu organisation in Rajour revealed that the area is considered to be sensitive and now Hindus are feeling unsafe. The Police also didnt take action against them, the organisation had said. The injured are reported serious and are being treated in the hospital.

On March 18, the people of the Muslim community pelted stones at the Hindus during the celebration of Holi in Topchanchi, Dhanbad district of Jharkhand. According to the reports, the Islamists first disallowed Hindus celebrating Holi to pass through their area and then resorted to stone-pelting when the latter resented. Police vehicles were also damaged by the stone-pelters. The police resorted to lathi-charge to bring the situation under control.

Though peace prevailed after police intervention, a large police contingent had been deployed to avoid any further untoward incidents. Reports mention that the vehicles of CO Vikas Kumar Trivedi and Baghmaras SDPO Nisha Murmu were damaged by the stone-pelters. The SDPO was also hurt in the incident.

See original here:

Halting celebratory procession, pelting stones on Hindus and more: 6 incidents when Islamists displayed Hinduphobia during the festival of Holi -...

Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced on Friday to facilitate the establishment of a museum to commemorate the genocide against the Kashmiri Pandit community in Jammu & Kashmir. The decision seems to have irked the Gandhi family loyalist and Congress leader Digvijay Singh.

Taking to Twitter, Digvijay Singh said that he does not support the establishment of a Genocide Museum in Bhopal.

Digvijay Singh said in a tweet, I am totally against the creation of Genocide Museum in Bhopal. Will not let the communal harmony of Bhopal get disturbed. I oppose it.

It is pertinent to note that the announcement of the establishment of a Hindu Genocide museum comes after the release of the movie The Kashmir Files which shows the truth about the Hindu genocide in Kashmir in the 1990s.

CM Chouhan made the announcement in response to a request made by Vivek Agnihotri,filmmaker of the film The Kashmir Files, he said, Today Vivek Ji has given the idea to build Genocide Museum. The state government will give you all kinds of cooperation including land. I respect your sentiments.

Essentially, by opposing the Genocide Museum, Digvijay Singh, probably with the sanction of his party, is opposing a museum that would show the reality of how Islamists massacred Hindus in Kashmir in the 1990s, leading to their genocide and exodus from the state.

The Kashmir Files has proven to be a transformative experience for Hindus. The film, which is based on true accounts of Kashmiri Pandits, takes viewers to the early 1990s when turmoil in Kashmir began as a result of escalating Islamic Jihad, pushing the great majority of Hindus out of the valley. Those who refused to leave were killed by Kashmiri Jihadi Muslims.

The audiences reaction to the film has been extraordinary. The film has become the talk of the town since it tells the heartbreaking account of thegenocide of Kashmiri Panditsin the 1990s by Islamicterrorists in the valley.

However, Congress has been opposing the movie tooth and nail.

While Digvijay Singh says that a museum showing the genocide of Hindus would hurt communal harmony, it is important to remember that he was one of the greatest proponents of the fake saffron terror bogey. Digvijay Singh was also present when Aziz Burney had released his repugnant book that claimed that the 26/11 terrorist attack by Pakistani terrorists was actually a conspiracy by the RSS. The books name was 26/11 RSS ki Saazish. During the launch, Digvijay Singh was present on the stage and made remarks against Hindus, propagating the mythical saffron terror bogey.

After trying to implicate Hindus in terror attacks by Islamists, the Congress is now voicing its opposition to a memorial that would remember the victims of Jihad specifically in Kashmir that led to the genocide and exodus of Kashmiri Hindus.

Read more here:

Gandhi family loyalist Digvijay Singh opposes memorial for Hindus killed by Islamists, says it will disturb communal harmony in Bhopal - OpIndia

A controversial YouTuber named CM Shahbaz Khan was seen issuing threats and derogatory abuses to Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai and other senior BJP leaders in the state.

In a video that has gone viral now, CM Shahbaz Khan, who claims to be a motivational speaker, used derogatory slurs to target the Chief Minister of Karnataka Basavaraj Bommai as a response to the Karnataka High Courts judgement on hijab row that upheld the rights of educational institutions to mandate a uniform dress code for students.

A week after Karnataka High Court delivered the judgement stating that wearing the hijab is not an integral part of Islam, the Youtuber CM Shahbaz Khan threatened CM Bommai and referred to him as a Son of a b*tch. Shahbaz Khan, who was arrested for protesting outside Vidhana Soudha in connection with the hijab row, was given a platform by a Youtube news media outlet AK News to hurl abuses and issue threats against the Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai.

In the video, it was seen that Khan was referring to CM Bommai as a BJP dog and asserted that he would hit the Chief Minister with sandals. Using derogatory words against CMs family, Shahbaz Khan said that the BJP dogs had come into power due to Muslim votes.

Saying that he is spitting on the face of the Chief Minister and other BJP leaders, Shabaz Khan challenged the Karnataka government to arrest him and added that he would single-handedly deal with 5,000 police officers.

We, Muslims, are born with the blessings of Hazrat Ali, unlike you, who are born without any address, said CM Shahbaz Khan in his hate speech against Hindus, while claiming that the Muslims have built and ruled the country for the last 700 years.

The Youtuber also disclosed dangerous details of him receiving support from foreign countries, especially from Pakistan, the United States and Kuwait, to protests against the High Courts order on the hijab ban. CM Shahbaz Khan also said that the Muslims outside the country were asking them why was Indian Muslims were silent against the hijab ban.

If Muslims unite, the consequences be worse, threatened Shahbaz Khan, whose video has now gone viral across the state.

Not just Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, even senior BJP leaders from the state Mysuru Lok Sabha MP Pratap Simha, Bengaluru South MP Tejasvi Surya, and Karnataka Minister Eashwarappa were at the receiving end of Shahbaz Khans abuse. Calling them Son of B*tch, Khan threatened them by saying that he would visit the BJP leaders house to attack them with sandals.

Hey Pratap Simha, you son of a b*tch, I will hit you with sandals. Do whatever you want in front of Modi, not with us Muslims. So how long should we Muslims keep quiet? said Shahbaz Khan targeting the young MP from Mysuru, who was in support of the hijab ban in colleges.

Shahbaz Khan further said he would urinate in Pratap Simhas mouth. Abusing Hindus, he said that the Hindus, who according to him were sons of prostitutes, had unloaded materials even before Babri Masjid was built.

I do not know what I will do if you go against us, Shahbaz Khan cautioned Hindus in the video that AK News has uploaded.

At the end of his video, Shahbaz Khan also incited the Muslims to stand up against the state government to protest against the alleged atrocities being committed against them. He said its time to respond strongly to the state and urged Muslims to join the Bharat Bandh.

Read more:

Karnataka: Youtuber Shahbaz Khan calls BJP leaders including CM Bommai as son of a b*tch and dog, calls Hindus as sons of prostitutes - OpIndia

A Hindu posing as Muslim, spreading hate against Hindus.

As if hate and propaganda by those radicalised (from both majority and minority communities) was not enough, now there's impersonation that needs to be identified before propaganda warfare can be tackled. Following complaints by right-wing organisations, Bagalkot Police, on Thursday, arrested a man accused of opening and operating a Facebook account under the Muslim name and identity of Mushtaq Ali. Then on, he regularly posted hate speeches and hate content against Hindu community.

On a complaint by the MLC, the cyber wing of the police caught his digital footprint and found out his real identity. The 31-year-old Siddharoodha Shrikanth Nirale is, reportedly, a resident of Gokal taluk of Belagavi district and had even threatened BJP MLC D.S Arun. He'd post communally sensitive comments in response to news reports and announcements by political leaders, including a series of hateful messages after the murder of Bajrang Dal activist Harsha in Shivamogga.Siddharoodha also posted a message on BJP legislator D.S Arun's media handle commenting, "You may think that a Hindu activist is dead today. But in the coming days, we will target your wife and children." To build on his profile and make it appear real, Siddharoodha also used some pictures from the social media profiles of random people. The accused belongs to a farming community and apart from cultivating crops, his family also runs a nursery.

Image--Twitter@KeypadGuerilla

The big question

The man, who was produced in court and remanded in judicial custody, is reflective of a much larger issue of fake accounts and hateful speeches. There are thousands of fake Mushtaq Alis and Ram Manohars operating under fake identities and spreading hate, communalism and misinformation. The regular hateful posts and screenshots, in no time, get shared on other platforms. So much so that every law and order situation gets a communal twist to suit the agenda and from thereon, it's a downhill ride. In several media interviews, Bagalkot SP Lokesh Jagalasar, requested people not to believe everything they read or see on social media.

When the Supreme Court intervened

Taking note of a plea, a year ago, the Supreme Court issued a notice to the Centre and Twitter to check content on Twitter and social media accounts spreading hatred through fake news and communal speeches. The plea argued that a total number of Twitter handles in India were around 35 million and a total number of Facebook accounts were 350 million and according to experts around 10 per cent of Twitter handles (3.5 million) and 10 per cent of Facebook accounts (35 million) were fake/bogus/duplicate accounts. The petitioner also argued on the dangerous outcomes of these accounts. How they were the root cause of many riots and were being used to promote communalism.

See the article here:

A Hindu posing as Muslim, spreading hate against Hindus; Who is the 31-year-old man arrested by Bagalkot Police? - IBTimes India

The debate over the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits has been reignited after the release of 'Kashmir Files'

Congress' leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury on Monday sought to corner the ruling BJP over the exodus of minorities from Kashmir in 1990s, saying then Leader of Opposition Rajiv Gandhi had urged the then VP Singh government to intervene and stop the "atrocities" being committed on Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs.

The exodus of people from Kashmir Valley began only after then Jammu and Kashmir governor Jagmohan asked them, especially Kashmiri Pandits and Sikhs, to leave, saying he would not be able to protect them, Chowdhury said in Lok Sabha while raising the issue during Zero Hour.

"Terrorists and jihadis began committing atrocities on all Pandits and Sikhs," he said, adding "The V P Singh government was then running with the support of the BJP."

At that time, Mr Chowdhury said, the then Congress president and Leader of Opposition Rajiv Gandhi had raised his voice against the exodus of people from Kashmir, and asked the then government to stop it "anyhow", warning that people of the country would not accept it.

"At that time, Rath Yatra of Lal Krishna Advani ji began and (Narendra) Modi ji, our (current) Prime Minister, became event manger of this yatra," he charged.

Raising the issue later during Zero Hour, BJP member Sunil Kumar Singh demanded that the government start a probe into the "large scale atrocities" committed on Hindus and Sikhs in Kashmir from 1980 to 1990, especially in the period between 1984 to 1989 when Rajiv Gandhi was the prime minister, and culprits be punished.

He also demanded that a probe be conducted to ascertain on whose orders a total of 70 terrorists were released in Jammu and Kashmir in 1989.

"These terrorists played a role in genocide....nation wants to know," he said.

The debate surrounding the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits has been reignited following the release of a film on it -- 'The Kashmir Files'.

Waiting for response to load...

See the original post here:

Rajiv Gandhi Urged VP Singh Government To Stop Exodus Of Hindus From Kashmir: Congress - NDTV

Thousands of Hindus were killed in different parts of Bengal during August 1946 when violence broke out after Muslim League targeted its political opponents.

The unabated political violence in the state of West Bengal brings back the horrific memories of many such gory incidents spread over almost a century, one of the most prominent among them being 'The Great Calcutta Killings'. This is also a relatively lesser talked about chapter of Indian history which needs to be remembered so that we do not repeat our earlier mistakes.

Thousands of Hindus were killed in different parts of Bengal during August 1946 when violence broke out after Muslim League targeted its political opponents.

The Muslim League had demanded, since its 1940 Lahore Resolution, that the Muslim-majority areas of India in the northwest and the east, should be constituted as 'independent states'. The resolution passed on 23 March 1940 said, it is the considered view of this session of the All-India Muslim League that no constitutional plan would be workable in this country or acceptable to Muslims unless it is designed on the following basic principle, namely, that geographically contiguous units are demarcated into regions which should be so constituted, with such territorial readjustments as may be necessary, that the areas in which the Muslims are numerically in a majority, as in the North-Western and Eastern Zones of India, should be grouped to constitute Independent States in which the constituent units shall be autonomous and sovereign.

The divide between Congress and the Muslim League continued to widen between 1940 and 1946. The 1946 Cabinet Mission to India for planning of the transfer of power from the British Raj to the Indian leadership proposed a three-tier structure: A centre, groups of provinces, and provinces. The "groups of provinces" were meant to accommodate the Muslim League demand. Both the Muslim League and Congress in principle accepted the Cabinet Mission's plan. However, Muslim League later withdrew its consent to the plan in July 1946 and decided to launch Direct Action to achieve Pakistan and to organize the Muslims for the coming struggle to be launched as and when necessary.

The Muslim League passed a resolution on 29 July 1946 declaring 16 August as a Direct Action Day, to be observed all over India as a day of protest. Immediately after the adoption of this resolution, Jinnah, in the concluding session of the Council of Muslim League, declared, Today we bid goodbye to constitutional methods We have also forged a pistol and are in a position to use it.

In a press conference on 31 July, Jinnah said that while both the British and the Congress were armed in their own way, one with weapons and the others with a threat of mass struggle, the Muslim league felt the need to forge its own methods and be prepared for a struggle to enforce its demand for Pakistan. He declined to discuss the details of the proposed Direct Action saying, I am not prepared to tell you that now.

Bengal being the only province in India under Muslim Leagues rule was apparently chosen by the Muslim League leadership as the suitable place for demonstrating Direct Action. The general public was vaguely apprehensive but nobody had any idea what-so-ever about what was going to happen on the Direct Action Day of 16 August 1946.

However, the stage had been apparently set when in pursuance of their resolution of 29 July, the Muslim League had set up a Council of Action. It met behind closed doors but the programme of action which it drew up was subsequently elaborated by the Muslim League press was clear enough. A leaflet containing a special prayer for this Direct Action announced that ten crores of Indian Muslims who through bad luck had become salves of Hindus and the British would be starting a jihad in the very month of Ramzan. Another leaflet bearing a picture of Jinnah with sword in hand said: We Muslims have had the crown and have ruled. Be ready and take your swordsO Kafer!... your doom is not far and the general massacre will come!

A Muslim League government with Saheed Suharawardy as the Chief Minister was then power in Bengal. After this rupture between the League and the Cabinet Mission, Suhrawardy had already declared that if the Congress were put in power at the Centre, Bengal would rebel and send up an independent state owing no allegiance to the Central government.

The Great Calcutta Killings

The Direct Action Programme triggered what has come to be known as The Great Calcutta Killings. From the midnight of 15 August up to 19 August 1946, massive anti-Hindu riots took place in the city of Calcutta. The death toll in these riots was estimated to be between 5,000 and10,000, and around 15,000 persons were wounded. These riots are probably the most notorious single massacre of the 1946-47 period, during which large-scale violence occurred in many parts of India.

These riots that started in Calcutta with the observance of Direct Action Day, spread like a chain reaction, rapidly transferring contagion from Calcutta to the rest of East Bengal. One of the worst riots took place in Noakhali, where almost every Hindu house was destroyed. The place was later visited by Mahatma Gandhi himself. The communal riots in the aftermath of Direct Action Day also ravaged Bihar, United Provinces (modern Uttar Pradesh), Punjab, and the North Western Frontier Province (NWFP).

These events had a significant impact on Indian polity especially when it came to the decision of partitioning India. Due to the massive communal violence triggered by the Direct Action Day, several leaders of the Congress Party, who had initially opposed Partition, started thinking that the only way to get rid of Jinnah and his Muslim League, which they found troublesome, was to go for partition of India. The British also felt that they had lost any remaining vestiges of control so they started speeding up their exit strategy.

The Viceroy Lord Wavell, after returning from Calcutta, met Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Nehru. The official records of the British indicate that his attitude had changed in wake of these riots and he pushed for Gandhi-Nehru to concede to Muslim Leagues demands. Wavell wrote on 27 August 1946 in an entry in Viceroys Journal, I am determined to make an attempt to induce the Congress to state clearly their intentions about Grouping the Constituent Assembly, since this was obviously one of the main obstacles to cooperation by the League.

In the aftermath of Calcutta Killings and other communal riots triggered by Direct Action Day observance, Gandhi and Jinnah met again where what has come to be known as Gandhi-Jinnah formula was put together that resulted in Congress conceding major ground to Muslim League on the principle issue of not considering it to be the sole representative of Muslims in India. This formula stated: The Congress does not challenge and accepts that the Muslim League is now the authoritative representative of an overwhelming majority of the Muslims of India. As such and in accordance with democratic principles, they alone have an unquestionable right to represent the Muslims of India.

This was a major shift in the Congress stand on Muslims that it had stuck to throughout the freedom struggle. This formula formed the bases of Nehru-Jinnah talks in October 1947 that failed to reach a peaceful solution. This was followed by the Attlee-Wavell-Jinnah-Nehru Conference on 3-6 December 1946 in London which again failed. The impact of violence instigated by Direct Action Day was quite apparent in this context also as Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel wrote to Sir Stafford Cripps on 15 December 1946, You called the League delegation there to (London, December 1946) at a time when there was some realization that violence is a game at which both parties can play and the mild Hindu also, when driven to desperation can retaliate as brutally as a fanatic Muslim. Just when the time for settlement was reached Jinnah got the invitation, and he was able to convince Muslims once again that he had (got) more concessions by creating trouble and violence but I will only say that if strong action had been allowed to taken here, when Direct Action Day was fixed by the Muslim League and when 16 August was fixed as the day of demonstration in Calcutta, all this colossal loss of life and property and bloodcurdling events would not have happened.

The Viceroy here took the contrary view, and every action of his since the great Calcutta killings has been in the direction of encouraging the Muslim League and putting pressure on us towards appeasement.

It is clear that the tide couldnt be turned after the communal riots of 1946 which were an outcome of the Direct Action Day. British Prime Minister, Clement Atlee, announced on the afternoon of 20 February 1947, before Parliament that British rule would end on a date not later than June, 1948. If Nehru and Jinnah could be reconciled by then, power would be transferred to some form of central Government for British India. If not, they would hand over authority in such other way as may seem most reasonable and in the best interests of the Indian people. This was followed by the partition of India.

The writer, an author and columnist, has written several books. Views expressed are personal.

Read all theLatest News,Trending News,Cricket News,Bollywood News,India NewsandEntertainment Newshere. Follow us onFacebook,TwitterandInstagram.

More here:

Right Word | The Great Calcutta Killings: Hindu genocide and the road to Indias Partition - Firstpost

Something remarkable is happening with online learning. Lets call it ed techs second wave.

Its been said that necessity is the mother of invention. And wowthere has been a lot of necessity over the past two yearsand a lot of invention. For business leaders and companies, the massive social experiment that required shifting from in-person to online environments has reshaped how we think and design learning at work. We were already in an upskilling imperative, faced with ever-increasing demands on skill development and hiring challenges. The pandemic managed to accelerate those demands.

The first wave of ed tech started about 15 years ago with game-changing companies like Khan Academy, Udemy, Pluralsight, and Coursera. By making great educational content available as widely as possible, these online services worked to democratize learning. As an ed tech leader and an instructor to more than 200,000 online learners, Ive seen how transformational this educational revolution has been. Millions of people have access to life-changing learningdelivered straight to their computers and mobile devices.

Following the ed tech revolution, were seeing an exciting and necessary evolutionone to address the elephant in the online classroom. The reality is that online learning engagement and completion rates are famously low. Learning leaders struggle to boost engagement, even when learners have access to content on nearly every skill imaginable. Not enough people are making the progress they want with online education.

What is standing in the way? I see three core reasons: accountability, effectiveness, and connection. Without accountability to a schedule and other learners, people dont always have a reason to finish a course or even get started. Whats more, passiveinstead of activelearning is less effective. (You dont learn to ride a bike by watching someone ride a bike.) Finally, being connected with a teacher and peers makes all the difference in learning and retaining material, especially in remote and hybrid environments.

This second wave takes advantage of the science behind how adults actually learn with modern conveniences we all expect in a world of instant gratification. Simply put, this evolution of traditional online learning builds on the benefits of asynchronous learning (taking a class on your schedule and where you happen to be at a given moment) and dramatically amps up accountability and effectiveness by layering on a cohort experience (a group of students who support and strengthen what youre learning).

Early in the pandemic, a common joke was how wed never be able to tell ourselves we would be more productive if we only had the time. The truth is, a goal without a plan is just a wish. And learners without a plan are most likely a little lost.

When you put learners in a group together and give them a plan, you amplify their learning ability. The opportunity to learn from one another and see others progress offers a sense of belonging in a dynamic group, which bolsters motivation.

After all, you arent working in a vacuum or an echo chamberneither of which are effective learning environments. An ideal program plan has elements of choice: You can choose when to work through curated content but within a set time frame. You are given milestones and deadlines to complete at your convenience. By having a schedule where you must learn the material and finish the course, students complete the work. Whats more, working in a group of learners makes you feel beholden to them and your instructor.

When I think of online education as a whole, too many people and products focus on What is the knowledge I need to share with people? instead of What do I need to do so that learners will learn? Its like handing learners a book and saying, Great, I did my part, instead of designing an experience that ensures learners will not only learn the material, but are energized and excited to learn it (which leads to greater retention).

Learning is a verband we have to rethink how we design effective learning experiences. At my company, we design eight-week learning journey programs that combine independent learning with live workshops. We connect learners with experts and practitioners. Plus, we provide opportunities for learners to collaborate and hone their skills with lab practice settings and business-relevant projects.

These kinds of active and social offerings motivate students. Compare this with someone staring at their screen for hours, simply listening without practicing or receiving feedback on their progress. Which do you think achieves better learning outcomes?

Alongside innovation in workplace learning, weve seen previously unimaginable shifts in where employees work. Many employees have spent the last two years at homeand they dont want to go back to their offices. This physical isolation presents unique challenges for companies during a time when retention is difficult and resignations are climbing. Employees who have connections at work are significantly more likely to have job satisfaction, higher performance, and longer tenure.

Online learning builds connectiona commodity we crave in todays isolated world. Cohort-based education can provide a way out of this solitary confinement, offering many of the best qualities of in-person instruction. When implemented correctly, learners can meet with instructors for one-on-one meetings, have break-out sessions with fellow students, or participate in full-class interactions with the teacher and students.

I like to think of cohort-based learning as the modern water cooler where you meet your colleagues and build relationships along with learning new skills.When implemented well, this new wave of online learning, based on how people really learn, works because you are inspired and pushed to a new level by other learners. Or, as the ed tech evangelist Steven Anderson puts it, Alone we are smart but together we are brilliant.

Shelley Osborne is an ed tech and learning expert and the Head of Learning atModal

See the original post here:
Why learning together is the future of online education - Fast Company

I remember a very painful series of meetings a few years ago as a member of my university's innovation council when online courseware was all the rage. Traditional university presidents and provosts were being regularly assaulted by teams of young techies explaining that they urgently needed to get their faculty to put basic courses online using that particular vendors' tools and technology.

The techies impolitely suggested that the schools' current digital efforts would have been absolutely fine 10 years ago,but they now needed to move forward -- before it was too late -- to enhance and expand their offerings. The Covid-19 pandemic is just the latest reminder that the entire educational system in this country, from grade school to graduate school, is a continual proof case of "too little, too late" as we continue to fail our kids and forfeit their futures.

Too late, in the university context of the past decade, means a variety of things to the different audiences to whom this serious warning was addressed, but among the main expressed concerns were the risks that: a) better and readily accessible online course content might rapidly become available from other, more prestigious institutions, often at little or no cost to the students; and b) that most of these universities did not have the time, resources, or staff to create their own content delivery systems with the bells and whistles that were going to be increasingly required to meet emerging production standards, quality levels, and best practices. Blackboard, among other antiquated programs, was basically yesterday's black hole, which too many schools kept pouring time and money into with little or no benefit or return.

And even under the best of circumstances, the prospect of a single school spending scarce resources to basically reinvent the wheel when startups had already spent millions to build systems that were being quickly adopted across the country made very little sense to the colleges' administrators and financial officers. And, to their credit, the best of the startups offered an even more compelling argument. They would develop, record, and onboard the course material at their own expense in exchange for a multiyear commitment from each school to share its online tuition revenues.

So, over a relatively short period of time, especially given the glacial pace of innovation in higher ed, the transition work began, and more universities aligned with online curriculum providers although -- interestingly enough -- far more of the impetus for the changes came from the administrative side of the house than from the academic. This is in large part because the financial benefits that drove much of the entire movement accrued almost exclusively to the schools rather than to their faculties who -- as a further insult -- were regularly reminded that the incremental revenue generated by the new digital initiatives helped to pay for some portion of their own compensation and secured their jobs.

The indignities didn't stop there. The ultimate blows came when the online providers sent their employees (typically the age of graduate students or younger) to help "convert" the content of the faculty members into the instructional formats and bite-size buckets better suited to the new delivery formats. Imagine, if you will, any professor from your past being told by some young, officious techie that his or her decades of training and teaching were about to be reimagined and transformed by the alchemy of the digital age into glitzy and compelling content sure to hold students' attention and, at a minimum, entertain them if not educate them. This wasn't any old shovel ware or simple standup video lectures -- it was definitely new age. And it was Marshall McLuhan's dictum come to life: "Anyone who tries to make a distinction between education and entertainment doesn't know the first thing about either."

But the truth is there is simply no compression algorithm for education or experience. As the utterly bereft efforts at online education during the pandemic convincingly demonstrated to millions of students and parents, effective education is still delivered from one person who connects -- personally and emotionally -- to another. Teachers don't teach content or courses; they teach students. It's an alchemic process for sure, but not one that even the best technology can put into a box and deliver convincingly at scale regardless of the skills of anyone involved in the process. We might appreciate our smartest teachers, but we're most grateful for the ones we believe care honestly and deeply about us and about preparing us for an uncertain and challenging future.

The fundamental flaw in online education today -- now glaringly apparent to parents and even politicians -- is the failure to appreciate and understand that education is something that is done to you; learning is (and must be) something you commit to and do for yourself. Engaging the curiosity of our kids is absolutely crucial -- schools can't be dream-snuffers. Teaching isn't about instruction; it's about creating interest, engagement, and excitement about learning. It's not about filling an empty vessel with knowledge; it's about igniting a passionate desire to learn.

Even more to the point, it's difficult to scale true learning without some new and far more interactive tools that provide personalized and immediate feedback because ultimately, it's not about teaching anyone to memorize facts, but rather about leading them to think about the facts, understand the context and issues they represent, and then to think about how to address and solve the problems they pose. And ultimately to synthesize those arguments, thoughts, and conclusions and present them convincingly to others. This is the only chance we have to return to a time when the prime focus of education was to make better and more informed citizens, rather than competent factory workers and grossly indebted college graduates.

The best technology will never replace great educators; ideally, tech will empower, extend, augment, and enhance their skills while relieving them of the enormous burdens of paperwork that they currently bear. If we don't immediately employ effective classroom and administrative technologies to support and relieve some ofthe daily stress and strain on our best and most conscientious teachers, they won't stick around, and we'll be left with a combination of the oldest and least effective teachers and a mass of inexperienced and inadequately trained newbies.

In 2021, nearly one million people quit jobs in public education, a 40 percent increase over the previous year. Following the pandemic, it's estimated that one in three teachers in the U.S. is thinking of leaving their position. We waste so much of our teachers' time tracking, documenting and keeping score that we lose sight of something critical that every entrepreneur and game developer can tell you. We learn much more from trial and error -- even from failures -- than we ever do from our successes. Happy endings areinstructive only in the movies, and even then, the messaging is mixed at best.

We've got to do a great deal of work going forward to figure out how to properly (and efficiently) measure not what students are taught, but what they're actually learning and whether we're providing them with the practical education and the tools they will need to succeed not just in school, but in life. If the pandemic taught us anything about online teaching, it was that after all these years of trying, we still haven't learned a thing.

The opinions expressed here by Inc.com columnists are their own, not those of Inc.com.

Read more:
You Can Put College Courses Online, But You Can't Get an Education There - Inc.

A study by the University of Macau (UM) showed that the number of negative opinions towards online teaching expressed by Weibo users the Chinese social network equivalent to Twitter rose from 4.6 per cent before the pandemic to 51.6 per cent.

The percentage of Weibo users with neutral opinions about online teaching dropped to 33.04 per cent while negative opinions increased to 51.6 per cent, during the pandemic and with different outbreaks, according to the Study Monitoring of the Public Opinion on Online Teaching during Covid-19 in China.

The publics perceptions of online teaching were, before the pandemic, mostly neutral (79 per cent) and only 4.6 had a negative perception, the study pointed out.

In the event of an outbreak of covid-19, with measures of confinement and suspension of face-to-face classes, adopted in China, the number of topics on the Chinese social network reflected widespread concern about schools, teachers, students and curricula.

For example, the main topic in that [outbreak] period included terms like prevention and control, pandemic and China, reflecting a close relationship between online teaching and the external environment. The second topic was more related to online teaching users, teachers and students, indicated the research.

Thirdly, the most common topic was related to personal disposition and growth, while in fourth there were school-related issues such as homework, course, among others, he added.

On the other hand, in outbreaks, the negative opinion of women about online education increased from 5.5 per cent to 19.1 per cent and the situation did not go down much beyond the situation (16.2 per cent).

Comparatively, men seemed to maintain a positive view of online teaching, regardless of the stages. Women with a negative view of online teaching during an outbreak was nearly twice as high as men, the study described.

The director of the UM Education Research Center, Zhou Mingming, told Lusa that students of all levels of education in Macau use the teaching platform recommended by schools without difficulty and most are able to participate in virtual classes.

However, parents are concerned about issues such as childrens self-regulation and whether virtual classes will be as effective as face-to-face learning. Some parents are required to supervise virtual classes and homework, she added.

Due to the outbreaks of covid-19, online education has increased in China, which has 176 million students, up to the age of 18, leading to a development of tools for virtual teaching, with the Internet registering about 800 million Chinese users, according to the study.

More here:
Macau study shows rise in negative opinions towards online teaching - Macau Business

Vermont Business Magazine The Center for Financial Literacy at Champlain College, in partnership with the Vermont State Board of Education, is offering a free online, on-demand conference on teaching personal finance that will begin on March 28, but will be accessible asynchronously through April 30.

The conference was originally offered last spring, when more than 500 registered for the event. Many educators indicated that due to pandemic related reasons they were unable to take this free training and asked that if be offered on more time. The economic sponsor of that 2021 event, Northfield Savings Bank Foundation, has provided funding to our Center so that we can offer this event one more time.

The event was designed primarily for Vermont K-12 educators. Again this year, the online, on-demand conference is also open to state adult educators, prison educators, social workers, and representatives from community action agencies and restorativejustice programs in Vermont.

John Pelletier, director of the Center for Financial Literacy, says the conference is designed to improve the financial literacy of 80,000 K-12 public education students by giving Vermonts 8,000 educators access to the tools, resources and training they need to successfully integrate new personal finance education standards into their classrooms.

Pelletier says Jump$tarts National Standards in K-12 Personal Finance were approved in 2018 by the Vermont State Board of Education. He says Vermont educators can earn up to 7 hours of professional development training over the 90-day period of the conference.

During the conference, which features nationally known experts, participants will learn how to implement the standards, which enable the teaching of personal finance in an interdisciplinary or standalone manner.

There will be educational tracks for elementary, middle and high school teachers.

Pelletier says Vermont and other states have embraced the JumpStart standards because they are more rigorous and comprehensive than most state standards. Experts agree that free, interdisciplinary personal finance standards are the most effective.

Participants will also see that these standards are flexible, so that educators can develop appropriate and relevant content that aligns with the standards in content areas like mathematics, language arts, social studies, family and consumer sciences and business. This type of programming is also used by many special educator in the state with their students, says Pelletier.

This event is being funded as part of a $200,000 grant from Northfield Savings Bank Foundation, $45,000 from the National Life Group Foundation and $16,000 from Next Gen Personal Finance.

Champlain Colleges Center for Financial Literacy, the Vermont Agency of Education and 16 state educators created the materials for the conference and enlisted the speakers.

About Northfield Savings Bank Foundation

The Northfield Savings Bank Foundation (NSBF) was established in 2000 through Northfield Savings Bank (NSB) as part of NSBs long-standing commitment to donate 10 percent of its yearly earnings to the local community. The Foundation supports Vermont-based efforts focused around improving residents well-being and self-sufficiency in areas such as financial literacy, education and at-risk youth. When considering an area of need or partnership, NSBF is deliberate, focused and thorough in its assessment to ensure significant results can be achieved given the amount of time and money to be invested.www.nsbvt.com

About Next Gen Personal Finance

Founded in 2014,Next Gen Personal Finance(NGPF) is the leader in the K-12 personal finance space with more than 60,000 middle and high school teachers who rely on NGPFs engaging, hands-on personal finance curriculum and professional development workshops.NGPFs mission is to ensure that, by 2030, all students cross their high school graduation stage having taken a personal finance class. NGPF creates no-cost middle and high school curricula, offers no-cost teacher professional development workshops, and leads advocacy efforts to increase student access to personal finance education. Next Gen Personal Finance is based out of Palo Alto, California.

About the Center for Financial Literacy

Established in 2010, Champlain Colleges Center for Financial Literacy is committed to improving the personal finance knowledge of our nations K12 and college students, teachers, and adults. The Center supports this mission with advocacy, published research reports that are used by state and local policymakers, K-12 educator training programs, and providing training and tools for educators and college students. Champlain College is one of the few colleges that requires undergraduates to take personal finance training. The Center is nationally recognized for its work: by the White House in a 2012 report Every American Financially Empowered for its unique graduate-level training program for high school educators (subject to a National Endowment for Financial Education study and Center study) and its college undergraduate training programs; by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in reports for state and local policymakers (see 2015 Report and 2017 Report); and by the press for its Adult and High School Report Cards on Financial Literacy. The Centers founding Director, John Pelletier, was formerly chief operating officer and chief legal officer at some of the largest asset management firms in the United States. John was appointed by the governor to co-chair the Vermont Financial Literacy Commission alongside the Vermont State Treasurer. For more information visit the Centers website: http://www.champlain.edu/cfl.

About Champlain College

Champlain College has provided a radically pragmatic education since 1878. It is a small institution with big ideas, and supports innovation, social equity, and interdisciplinary collaboration. Champlain's multidimensional approach pairs in-depth career learning with a renowned Core curriculum and built-in financial literacy and career positioning programproviding a comprehensive educational experience unmatched in higher education. Graduates enjoy uncommon early career success: Over the last six years, 93% of graduates were employed or continuing their education within six months after graduating. All this is achieved through Champlains upside-down curriculum, faculty with industry experience and students who learn by doing.

To Register, clickhere.

Contact: John Pelletier atjpelletier@champlain.edu

Go here to read the rest:
Free Online conference on personal finance being offered again to Vermont teachers - Vermont Biz