Morgan for our Schools

Archive for September, 2009

 

BBC Highlights Bahrain

The Festival Of The Mind 2008? Opening Tomorrow In Bahrain Attracts Major International News Channels To The Kingdom From All Over The World

BBC TV, BBC World Service Radio and BBC Arabic Radio

BAHRAIN: TV and radio crews are flocking in from all over the world to cover the World Memory Championship which is taking place as part of the Festival of the Mind, 2008, Bahrain created and hosted by Bahraini company INTELNACOM. Crews have already confirmed their interest from the BBC World Service, BBC Radio Arabic, BBC TV and South African English Channel.

The largest number of competitors ever to take part in the World Memory Championship will converge in Bahrain tomorrow for the opening ceremony of the Festival of the Mind 2008, Bahrain and the 17th ‘World Memory Championships’ which is being held under the Patronage of H.E. Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa, created and hosted by INTELNACOM, Bahrain and will take place at the Gulf International Convention Centre, Gulf Hotel from 23-26th October 2008.

The ‘Festival’ is considered a triumph for Bahrain within the circles of memory experts and mind gurus attending, following the huge success of last year’s event in Bahrain and this is evidenced by over 70 competitors registering this year – almost double last year’s number. In addition the event is a great hit with the local community who take full opportunity of the subsidised mind learning workshops that are held during the few days.

Mr Fuad Mubarak, Deputy Chief Executive of INTELNACOM, said “We are thrilled to be bringing you, once again, The ‘Festival of the Mind’ an exciting event that has something for everyone and puts Bahrain in the world’s spotlight. Together, under the patronage of H.E. Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa we also bring you one of the worlds most spectacular mind sporting events – the 17th World Memory Championship. This is truly a festival that will benefit everyone.”

It is thought that anyone can train their memory to recall information but it certainly takes discipline for someone to compete at world championship level. The world memory championship commences on the Friday 24th at 9 a.m. and will take place in a closed session to allow maximum concentration. However, the latest information on results will be fed through to the public visiting the exhibition and the mind games and the days go on. The defending champion of last year, Gunther Karsten from Germany, should expect to face a tough competition with 2 past master champions coming out of retirement for the 2008 challenge.

For those who are interested in mind development, the Festival offers the ideal opportunity with brain development workshops on offer for everyone, from children to adults. The workshops are already taking a number of bookings and teams of people have also lined up to play the Giant Games and Mind Games and to visit the Festival’s exhibition on Mind Development.

Workshops will take place from early morning on the 24th with both local and international trainers offering presentations. The guru of Mind Mapping, Tony Buzan himself, will offer a workshop on Mind Mapping – open to corporate tables of 10 people at BD30 per person, and individual workshops include such topics as: Mind Mapping; The 8 leadership Success Secrets; Unleash the Power of your Memory; Speed Reading for teenagers; The Power of Positive Thinking; Food for the Brain from as little as BD10.

The Festival of the Mind is an event brought to you by INTELNACOM an innovation company registered in the Kingdom of Bahrain, and focuses on rewarding opportunities offered by emerging high-tech innovation. INTELNACOM actively seeks to identify, develop, fund and bring-to-market concepts and ideas by combining an entrepreneurial outlook with a vision to create bankable solutions for mankind.

The Festival has been sponsored this year by Al Watan, Gulf Daily News, Tourism Club and Microsoft who are donating a number of prizes for competitors of the inter-school challenge in Sudoku, Dama, Scrabble and Chess.

- Ends -

 

Isn’t it amazing how education has changed over the years? Who would have thought that online schooling would become an option? And a perfect option it is for many people.

Just imagine that you are an older person for example who needs to work to support your family but would really love to gain that degree that you have always wanted to ensure a promotion or perhaps a new job. Well now you can do that by using online schooling. I suppose in a way it is like night time study except you can do it in your own time without actually having to attend classes and lectures.

Many people for many varied reasons have not been able to fulfill their dreams by going to university or school to obtain the education that they long for. Now with this type of option the sky is the limit.

You can obtain degrees, bachelors, and masters and so on this way. In fact you can study for just about everything and anything this way. There are many universities worldwide that offer this educational option. Perhaps you are looking for that added certificate to ensure you of the job you want or perhaps you want a change in occupation all together.

You will find options for qualifications in Arts, Sciences, Medicine, Education, Trades, and much more. Just imagine studying like this and being able to free yourself from traveling time and expenses. That in itself is a bonus.

What you do need to do first is to make sure that the educational facility offering you this type of schooling is accredited to do so. There are many scams out there that offer these degrees so do your homework first. You don’t want to hand over your money to obtain what you think is an accredited certificate for a degree to only find out that it is worth nothing.

Once you do sign up with an accredited university and start your course you will soon see how convenient and efficient it is to gain a high standard of education online. Just remember that there will be people who disagree with this type of education but as long as you are going through an accredited university or school then your certificate will be held in the same respect as any other.

In an era where digital content continues to grow at an exponential rate, organizations of all shapes and sizes struggle to manage and create content. Much like large corporations, Web sites play a vital role in the marketing and communications strategies of higher education institutions. As college and university Web sites grow more complex, it is crucial to have a site that is properly managed, easy to navigate, and powered by flexible, mature content management technology.

With the right Content Management System (CMS), universities can help optimize communication with students and faculties, enhance student recruitment and retention, and maintain relationships with alumni. Content management technology is already at the core of many higher education Web infrastructures – one of the most rapidly adopted technologies, in fact. A CMS can provide a number of benefits by facilitating the efficient creation and management of Web content (news and events, course catalogs, faculty profiles, and more) throughout the entire content lifecycle. This enables content to be published with greater speed and ease – making staff more productive, operations more efficient, and content more relevant and up-to-date.

CMS: Addressing Web Challenges

While the content itself might be different, the content needs of an educational institution are not very far removed from that of a corporation. A good university CMS must provide:

• The ability to maintain consistent branding across campus-wide sites.

• The ability to decentralize content management to enable individual departments and offices to manage content.

• The ability to empower non-technical users (i.e. administrators, faculty, and staff) to easily create and publish content through an intuitive interface.

• The ability to deliver timely, targeted, up-to-date information to various audiences such as prospective and enrolled students, alumni, faculty, staff, corporate partners, and the media.

• The ability to easily integrate with external applications including Course Management, Customer Relationship Management, Enterprise Resource Planning systems, and portals.

Typical challenges with university content management

• ‘Dreamweaver’ culture

• A hodge-podge of sites

• Varied branding

• Varied accessibility levels and content

• Finding the right CMS/CMS vendor to deliver the right solution

A recent survey conducted by the University of California, Davis, brought forward some interesting facts. Highlights include:

• 60% of the institutional respondents are already using a CMS.

• Open source, custom developed and hosted solutions are more popular than traditional installed products.

• There is no clear leader in terms of which CMS product campuses are using.

Does the installed CMS do the job?

There are several reasons why a traditional CMS might not be the best fit for institutional requirements. Consider:

• Budget

An installed CMS is usually very expensive because you have individual costs for the software, implementation and support. With the latter two typically costing two to three times the initial software investment, educational institutions seldom, if ever, have the budgets to afford them.

• Implementation

Implementation of CMS architecture across campuses is generally haphazard, and the level of customization is either very low or nonexistent. Given the complexity of a traditional CMS, it is nearly impossible for institutions to use a CMS on more than a quarter of their Web sites.

• Support and Training

Most educational institutions have very few staff (if any) supporting the CMS. There is also a large number and wide variety of non-technical users, reluctant to change or any formal training. Not many CMS vendors offer technical training to users – especially so for users who might have no technical knowledge whatsoever.

These factors invariably put traditional CMS at the bottom of the requirements list at university campuses.

The case for a hosted CMS

In the academic environment, a CMS must not only be cost-effective, it must also be quick and painless to implement, manage, support, and run. It must be kept in mind that universities also have a greater diversity of users connecting with the Web site – students (current and prospective), faculty, staff, parents, the community at large, alumni, and so on.

With a hosted CMS, infrastructure burdens are minimized. There is no hardware to buy, or software to install; you simply access the application through a Web browser. Hosted solutions also provide a set of standard modules and design templates, customizable according to organizational needs. Non-technical users will appreciate the convenience of this; they can focus on the content and its presentation rather than the underlying technology.

Universities have a gamut of user types, and getting them involved early in the decision-making process is an important step in choosing a CMS. Given that hosted solutions make it much easier for users to actually adopt the system, success rates are predictably higher. Most CMS successes can also be attributed to a ‘CMS champion’ – someone really motivated about using the technology, and telling everyone else how easy it actually is to use. Finding this ‘champion’ can be easier if the CMS is actually fast and simple to learn.

A large part of traditional CMS complexity is due to fact that these systems are designed for large transaction processing. With a hosted solution, the institution can have the option of using only the CMS components it actually needs.

Hosted CMS can also be up and running much quicker, with lower training requirements. The vendor has dedicated staff deployed to handle technical issues, and the institution does not have to take on the burden of finding or employing support personnel.

Conclusion

It is important to understand the role of content management in higher education to help define and prioritize requirements consistent with system-wide objectives. From schools to colleges and universities the right CMS can have a powerful impact by enabling users at all levels.

However, it is equally important to choose a CMS with the best combination of flexibility, control, and ease-of-use for the successful operations of institutional Web sites. Together, a CMS and a sound content management strategy can combine to address the complex, everyday Web challenges of higher education.