TATA Interactive Systems

TIS and Granada Learning win BETT Award 2006 for "Simulation Explorer"

We are happy to announce that Simulation Explorer, an educational CD-ROM developed by us for Granada Learning, has recently won the British Educational Technology and Training (BETT) Award 2006 for Primary Science. 

Designed to introduce children to computer simulations, Simulation Explorer allows children to explore situations that would be difficult or impossible to in practice. It proves especially valuable for real-life activities that are difficult to mimic or take a long time to complete. The exploration aspect encourages children to collaborate with each other, investigate different outcomes, develop discussion skills and progress their high order thinking skills. Please click here to see the demonstration video.

Examining Learning Environments

To say that effective learning happens only in an environment conducive to learning is to state the obvious. What exactly is this environment? Here are three types of environments that can affect the learning process: 

1. The environment where the learner works (in the corporate context)

• Does this environment support a learning culture?
• Does it employ people who are open to learning new things and unlearning old things?
• Does it encourage intellectual interaction among its employees?
• Does it support positive skepticism-in the sense of not taking things for granted?

2. The environment which imparts learning (the media and the strategies employed to facilitate learning)

• Does the medium suit the learner and the content?
• Do instructional strategies engage the learner?
• How much power does the learner have in directing the course of learning?
• Is the depth of content pitched at the level of the learner’s expertise or lack of it?

3. The learner’s internal environment (in plain words, his/her mental state)

• Is the learner in a positive state of mind?
• Does the learner have any deep-rooted preconceptions about the nature of the content?
• Does he or she prefer the quiet corner of self-paced learning or the active sphere of collaborative learning?

Extreme Programming

There’s something about buzzwords that I find irresistible, though they often only attempt to make the mediocre seem extraordinary. But once in a while, they help you discover real gems—like Extreme Programming (or XProgramming or just XP), a rage in the late nineties that I chanced upon. Invented by Kent Beck, XP turns conventional software development methodology on its head. At the heart of XP, however, is a set of very basic concepts:

•  Keep it simple
  Simpler to say than to do, but XP manages it by never adding more functionality than is absolutely essential. Instead of using complex software tricks that save on hardware, XP uses simple software code that saves on human effort—the savings are well worth it.

• Go for Gold
   Make small releases rather than trying to go the whole hog. As every release is a complete product in itself, clients get a working product faster. Each subsequent release brings new features—as required—and improves on earlier features.

•  Takes two to tango
   Pair programming—or using two heads instead of one—seems like a ridiculous waste of time. But the productivity gains through design innovation, defect reduction, and rework minimization explain why XP is ultimately a lot more productive.

•  Test. Test. Test.
   Begin testing on day one—yes, that’s not a typo. This is what makes XP the most likely candidate to realize the software utopia of Zero-Defect Programs.

•  Expect the unexpected
   Your cheese will move—and your software design will change. As Beck explains in his new book, XP is designed to accommodate change—heck, XP welcomes change.

XP is more than yet another lightweight methodology. It’s a way of looking at software development as a living organism that is continuously changing to adapt to market dynamics. Looking at our own TIS Demo Zone, it seems like a lot of what we did was XP, though not all of it was intentional. As we learnt during the development, there are no limits to customers’ demands—and no limits to XP’s capacity to meet them. And that is what XP is really all about.

The author is Manager – Content at Tata Interactive Systems. A graduate from the Indian Institute of Technology – he can resist anything except a good programming challenge.

Attrition Analysis

My brother works in Chennai in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Tamil is the dominant language there and while business is conducted in English, Tamil is the language spoken otherwise, even at the workplace. Little wonder then, that the office attendant, the boy who served coffee to everyone and did most other menial jobs in the office, spoke in Tamil.

One day, my brother noticed that boy sitting in a corner reading one of those books that claim to teach you English through your mother tongue (in this case, Tamil). My brother was surprised and asked the boy why he was trying to learn English. The boy replied (in Tamil, of course; translated here), “Sir, I have been noticing that many people have been resigning from the office in the last few months, and the new hires are mostly from outside of Tamil Nadu. Which means that I cannot speak with them in Tamil. So I am trying to learn some English so I can communicate effectively with them.”

Trendspotting? Or Adaptability?

Have similar stories? Do write in. Could provide interesting insights for Training Needs Identification.

(Geetha Krishnan heads Instructional Design at Tata Interactive Systems)

On Prototypes

Seth Godin makes an interesting point in “The problem with prototypes”, when he says “your prototype has to be better than the finished product is going to be.” This is something we come across quite often in our work, when we send in proposals and do a “quick” prototype of the final solution. And we seem to make exactly the same assumptions that Seth suggests we should not. “This is just the concept, so a quick scribble is enough.” “Let’s do some rough designs; we can refine them later.” May be that’s not such a smart idea after all. A good idea badly represented may not be too different from a bad idea.

Of course, it’s tempting to argue that one may not have the time and resources to do a “better than final” prototype. But then, may be that’s a question of scope. May be we should pick up a smaller unit of learning and prototype it better.

As I write this, it strikes me that in advertising, the layouts and designs we make for business pitches are probably far superior to what finally comes out in the media.

Tailpiece: Quite often, the advertisements for a product are better than the product itself; so, if we go by Seth’s views, is the advertisement a prototype for the real product?

(Geetha Krishnan heads Instructional Design at Tata Interactive Systems)

The Mumbai Marathon 2006: TIS Runs For Learning Disability

(above:Tadashi Horiuchi, TIS's Head - Japan Operations with his wife at the Mumbai Marathon 2006)

TIS's Tadashi Horiuchi in action at the Mumbai Marathon 2006.

To have a look at some more images, please navigate to the photo albums section at the bottom of the left hand sidebar.

The Mumbai Marathon 2006: Geetha's Perspective

I was part of the TIS team that took part in the Mumbai Marathon 2006 yesterday (15-Jan-06). While the number of participants, with apparently more than 20,000 people running in the different categories, was overwhelming, what to me was even more amazing was the crowd. There were spectators on all sides, dressed for the occasion, craning necks to get a view of the predominantly amateur runners, and waving handmade placards, flags and the like. Some of them apparently even bought biscuits and water off their own money and provided these to the runners.

What made these people wake up early on a Sunday morning, get on to the train or bus or whatever modes of transport they took (the roads were mostly closed for private vehicles, so that could have been an option for most of these folks), and stand in the middle of the hot roads, cheering people they don’t know from Adam? What’s it in for them?

Is there a lesson we can learn from the marathon, from an e-learning perspective? We keep spending a lot of time and energy trying to build in the “what’s in it for me” element into the design of our products. Is there something here? Or am I just forcing connections where there are none?

(Geetha Krishnan heads Instructional Design at Tata Interactive Systems)

Helping Overcome Learning Disabilities

What do Tom Cruise, Whoopi Goldberg, Walt Disney, Winston Churchill, and Alexander Graham Bell have in common?

Learning disability.

Learning disability is a life-long disorder that affects the manner in which individuals with average or above average intelligence select, retain, and express information. It reflects a difficulty in encoding and decoding information as it travels between the senses and the brain. Learning disabilities are also termed as ‘learning differences,’ based on the fact that certain individuals learn differently—they aren’t unable to learn, but respond best to ways of learning that are different from traditional teaching methods.

Although several products are available for the identification and remediation of learning disabilities, most of these are either unable to sustain the progress of a disabled child or not aligned to government standards. To overcome this limitation, we develop end-to end solutions that screen and identify children with learning disabilities, and offer remedial action as well as a tracking system to monitor their progress. For a detailed overview of TIS’s involvement and solutions please click here .

TIS’ products have not only been endorsed by names like Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) – US, Granada Learning, Nelson Thornes, and Steck Vaughn, but have also won international recognition by the way of prestigious awards including Best Product Award at British Educational Training and Technology (BETT) Show 2004, in the Special Needs category, for nferNELSON’s Dyscalculia Screener.

In India, TIS mentors the Learning Disability Center at Sion Hospital—the only center in the State of Maharashtra, approved by the State Government to certify students with learning disabilities. Beyond the salaries and the stationery, we help the clinic with a hands-on approach—whether it’s by streamlining the day-to-day functioning or finding solutions to the scores of issues that crop up from time to time. We also share our reservoir of educational software, including the award-winning Jojo in Numberland, to help the children discover the joys of learning.

Run for Learning Disability: On January 15, we are participating in the Standard Chartered Mumbai Marathon 2006. Leading the way is our Head of Japan Operations, Mr Tadashi Horiuchi (image on right) , who will run the Full Marathon. Tadashi is flying in to Mumbai from Tokyo especially for the event. He is one of more than 50 TISians who will take part in the marathon, in three categories – Full Marathon (42 km), Half Marathon (21 km) and the Dream Run (7 km), with our CEO, Mr Sanjaya Sharma himself being part of the TIS Dream Run team. We hope that our participation will reflect our commitment towards helping those with Learning Disabilities.

Gaming To Learn

The verdict seems to be out, well almost. Online games are serious business! And when it comes to helping students learn, that’s as serious as it gets. 

In a fascinating article titled ‘The Classroom of Popular Culture’ in Harvard Education Letter, James Paul Gee serves up a potpourri of game folklore, learning styles, and a flippant analysis of the so-called US outsourcing crisis. Yet, he still manages to provide a compelling proposition: If teachers and administrators were to consider principles involved in designing video games and apply those same principles to the classroom teaching experience, then learning would be so much more stimulating. Maybe like playing a video game?! 

For those of you who have been involved in designing the learning games developed by TIS over the years, reading the article might give a sense of déjà vu. Many of the principles that Paul talks about in his article (written in Dec 2005) seem to have been applied by our designers for around a decade now. For e.g.

• Game players needing to have strong identities
• Users need to be producers not just consumers of games
• Levels of difficulty
• Increasing competence through peer and expert advice 

It must be said that James Paul Gee is neither a crusader for games (games or nothing) nor is he specifically talking about the online learning experience. What he suggests is that some of the underlying philosophy on which today’s video games are based could be applied to the classroom. If you extend that argument, games could also be used to supplement or further the online learning experience. And that is exactly the principle on which TIS operates when it comes to designing learning games – it is always a game within a course and not a game as a course. 

I may not be able to link theory with fact and make a compelling case for this subject. But what I can tell you is this: If our High School teacher had followed up a lecture on angular velocity with a 15-min breakout session to play online snooker (maybe customized with controls to change mass/ radius), we may have learnt Physics differently. And possibly would have had fond memories of that high school teacher.

Disagree? Possibly agree? Comments welcome. 

I have mentioned many Learning Games in this piece. You can access some of these by clicking here.

(Sanjay Easwar is Project Manager with Tata Interactive Systems)

Smelling the Sweat

(Priya Thiagarajan shares her experience of conducting a functional induction training session at Tata Interactive Systems)

I walk into the room. Six eager faces turn to look at me. They are newly hired writers, anticipating an three-hour overview of writing for Simulation-based Learning Objects (SimBLs®). I greet them and without another word, walk around the room, accessing a sample SimBL® in each of their computers. I then look around the room with a grin.

“Here’s your task for the morning. Go through the SimBL® I have provided and deconstruct the design. Tell me what ID considerations and decisions have been taken while making this. You have two hours to do this,” I tell them.

And amidst shocked gasps, I walk out.

All the new hires have English literature background and the SimBL® I have asked them to deconstruct is one on trading patterns, designed for management students. Have I given them too tough an assignment? Perhaps they are not ready yet to do such a high-level task? Perhaps I should’ve hung around to help them?

I brush aside such “mother-hen” anxieties born out of years of writing instruction text and “Help” section. “Believe in the process!” I tell myself, putting my shaky new faith in “Exploratory Learning” and “Constructivist model” to test.

I put my head around the door an hour later and am received by a chorus of distressed appeals: “We don’t know what to do!”. Although my heart sinks, I step in and look around with mock sternness. “I can’t believe that you guys didn’t understand such a simple thing! Ok, tell me what the SimBL® is all about,” I ask them.

Little by little, aided by questions from me, the class constructs the learning objectives, structure, design considerations, rationale behind the interactivities, and concept taught in the SimBL®.

“It worked! It worked!” the refrain jumps around like an excited child in my head. I look around the class with a grin that I can hardly conceal and say, “You guys have cracked it! What are you complaining about? Now, prepare a detailed report. I’ll be back in an hour.” (That is my Behaviorist side showing up!)

That was three weeks ago—I am now all set to meet another batch of new hires. I am looking forward to put them through the same grind.

Oh yes, I'm not only a convert, but an evangelist of "Exploratory Learning" and "Constructivist Model" now.

(Priya Thiagarajan is a Senior Instructional Design consultant)

New Additions To Our Family

I am happy to announce our acquisition of two companies - Tertia Edusoft AG in Switzerland and Tertia Edusoft GmbH in  Germany – from the Tertia Group, a leading provider of Human Resources Management solutions in Germany.

Tertia Edusoft AG is the market leader in  Switzerland in the development of regulatory and compliance training solutions for the Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Professional Services, Logistics and Telecom sectors.

Tertia Edusoft GmbH’s core competence lies in designing management simulations, through their proprietary product line, TOPSIM – the no. 1 simulation product in  Germany. TOPSIM has been successfully implemented in business education and professional training for more than 20 years in German-speaking countries, and is currently being used by more than 1,000 customers.

This is a significant step for us in our quest for global leadership in e-learning. These two companies provide us the impetus to pursue high growth opportunities in the European market. Now we can offer an even wider range of offerings to our customers worldwide.

Tertia Edusoft GmbH’s TOPSIM range works in synergy with TIS’s strong global presence in the simulations segment. TIS has already developed a library of about 200 SimBLs™ (Simulation-based Learning Objects) on diverse topics – from Management and Accounting to Business Ethics and People Management  – that are being used by more than 60,000 students and 25,000 other licensees around the world.

With the coming together of SimBLs™ and TOPSIM, we are now poised to become a world leader in simulations.

-Sanjaya

(Sanjaya Sharma is CEO, Tata Interactive Systems)

Roger Schank's 'Dangerous' Take on Schools

Each year, The Edge asks its members ("some of the most interesting minds in the world") to respond to a provocative question.  This year's question was:

WHAT IS YOUR DANGEROUS IDEA?

The history of science is replete with discoveries that were considered socially, morally, or emotionally dangerous in their time; the Copernican and Darwinian revolutions are the most obvious. What is your dangerous idea? An idea you think about (not necessarily one you originated) that is dangerous not because it is assumed to be false, but because it might be true?

The responses are all worth a read, but the one that caught my attention (given TIS's area of focus, and the fact that I got my MS under him at The ILS @ NWU) was Roger Schank's.

As is his habit, Roger's non-PC response hit the nail of the assignment squarely on the head: No More Teachers Dirty Looks

(It was originally titled 'School Is Bad For Children' and in the following shorter format - perhaps all the attention he's been getting caused him to edit/expand his original answer?)

School is bad for children

Schools are structured today in much the same way as they have been for hundreds of years. Schools should simply cease to exist as we know them.

The Government needs to get out of the education business and stop thinking it knows what children should know and then testing them constantly to see if they regurgitate whatever they have been spoon-fed.

We need to stop producing a nation of stressed-out students who learn how to please the teacher instead of pleasing themselves.

We need to produce adults who love learning, not adults who avoid all learning because it reminds them of the horrors of school.

We need to stop thinking that all children need to learn the same stuff. We need to create adults who can think for themselves.

Call school off. Turn them into apartments.

- Roger Schank, Chief learning officer, Trump University

Roger is a lightning rod (by his own design), often taking some pretty outrageous positions in order to prompt thought and discussion.  Perhaps this (espec the original title) is just another example of this technique, but the content of the message has some merit, I think.