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Online Resources for Students & Educators (Basic List…for initiation)

01 Jan

self

Self-Education is, I firmly believe, the only kind of education there is. – Isaac Asimov

This is an attempt by me and my friend Ashwini, assisted by our other friends, to create a simple to use, basic yet useful list of online resources. It is primarily for K-12 students and educators in India but everyone will find it beneficial and a number of these resources can also be used by college students and adult learners too. Having gone through our own dismal education in school and engineering colleges, having wandered in our inner and outer life looking for direction and opportunities to fully use our potential, and then having travelled a little around India and tried a few initiatives, we realised that the crisis of perspective & expertise is acute in large number of Indian youth which starts at school and gradually kills the passion in life. On the other hand, there are really great free online resources for students which they could use for self-education to build themselves up and open the eyes of their minds and hearts to do something fulfilling in life. I personally came to know about a number of these resources towards the end of my engineering after having struggled and drifted in vain; Ashwini knew a number of them during engineering but did not have the perspective to use them optimally. We feel that if students could become aware of some learning resources online at an early age and begin their process of learning, this crisis could be largely avoided. We therefore create this list to reach out to as many students and their parents/ teachers.

There is a sad, dangerous and ridiculous attitude towards sex, love and sex education in our society! To counter that, we have started the list with links on Gender, Teenage Issues, Sex Education; however, we need to take up sex education not just as a health issue but more importantly as a ‘love’ issue, concerning one’s emotions, and happiness. We have also tried to raise another important and taboo issue of pornography which ruins many a minds and lives.

The focus is on creating a list of few resources which will be simple to use, very basic, & covering a diverse range of topics. This list is NOT meant to cover ‘everything’- we find that irrelevant and unnecessary: we believe that if someone really uses these few resources only and gets intrinsically motivated to self-educate herself/ himself, then she/ he will find a great number of resources on the Internet on her/ his own.

हमने इस लिस्ट में हिंदी के भी कुछ बहुत अच्छे संसाधन शामिल किये हैं | हमें यह एहसास हुआ कि जिनके पास कंप्यूटर / इंटरनेट नहीं है या जो अँग्रेज़ी भाषी नहीं हैं, उनके अवसर काफ़ी कम हो जाते हैं क्योंकि इंटरनेट में ज़्यादातर संसाधन अँग्रेज़ी में हैं और हिन्दी या अन्य भाषाओं में ऐसा काम बहुत ही कम है  | फिर भी हमारा यकीन है कि प्रयास करने पर सभी लोग इस लिस्ट का बहुत लाभ ले सकते हैं; और यह प्रार्थना है कि आप अँग्रेज़ी सीखने का खुद प्रयास करते रहें | साथ ही आपसे अनुरोध है की इंटरनेट में हिन्दी में शिक्षा-संबंधी संसाधन मिलने पर आप हमें बताएँ ताकि हम उन्हें इस लिस्ट में शामिल कर सकें |

हमारे समाज में सेक्स के प्रति गजब का और दुखद नजरिया है ! किशोरों की यौन शिक्षा न होने के कारण भयंकर क्षति हो रही है । इसलिए सबसे पहले यौन शिक्षा के लिंक दिए गए हैं;  मगर यौन शिक्षा को केवल स्वास्थ्य के नज़रिए से ही नहीं बल्कि भावनात्मक, प्रेम और सुख के नज़रिए से देखना भी बहुत ज़रूरी है |। इसमें बाल यौन उत्पीड़न की भी बात करना जरुरी है- इस विषय पर कमला भसीन की हिंदी पुस्तक पाने के लिए मुझे  ईमेल लिखें (लिस्ट में दिया गया लिंक अंग्रेजी की पुस्तिका का है) | इसी प्रकार नारियो के मासिक धर्म (पीरियड्स) की जानकारी के लिए “मेंस्ट्रूपीडिया” वेबसाइट और कॉमिक्स का लिंक दिया है | पोर्नोग्राफी (अश्लील चलचित्र) के बारे में भी बात नहीं की जाती जोकि एक भयावह वास्तविकता  है – हमने उसके लिए भी लिंक्स दिए हैं  |

For those who are interested in finding more resources can either simply do a Google search and email to me as well for a Master List we have made which contains more resources.

Finally, do write your comments below, write to me at ashu.bhakuni@gmail.com, as well as help in making this list better yet simple, short and diverse.

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*The page will be updated continuously. Kindly share your resources & feedback to enrich this page.

Firstly, install ‘Youtube Adblocker’ and ‘AdBlock’ extensions/ add-ons to your Chrome or Firefox web-browsers to keep yourself away from distractions and nonsense on the internet, especially pornographic material that you click on accidentally! This will save huge amount of your mental energy as well as time, and in case of porn, your humanity.

 

Gender, Teenage Issues, Sex Education

(Kindly use your judgement & validate properly before following advice on health issues)

 

 

Career, Scholarships, Higher Education

  • United States – India Educational Foundation (USIEF) – Promotes mutual understanding between the nationals of India and the U.S. through the educational exchange of outstanding scholars, professionals and students

  • Swaraj University – A very unique university. The focus of the programme is on self-designed learning and on green entrepreneurship, including exploration of basic business skills within the context of ecological sustainability and social justice.

(Request for help: We need to put up a good section on making students aware about the huge diversity of careers they can choose, especially in India. How can that be done? In the above links there is limited info and the list of higher education institutions in India is just a collection of names of colleges/ universities and not very useful for this purpose.)

 

Initiatives to Participate In

  • Public Programmes at IUCAA

  • NASA’s competitions for students

  • Microsoft Imagine Cup – A global student technology program and competition that provides opportunities for students across all disciplines to team up and use their creativity, passion and knowledge of technology to create applications, games and integrate solutions that can change the way we live, work and play.

  • Google Science Fair – A global online science and technology competition open to individuals and teams from ages 13 to 18

  • Doodle 4 Google – Creative contest for children to make Doodles that will appear on Google’s home page

  • Pratham Storyweaver – Contribute to this open source platform that hosts stories in languages from all across India and beyond

  • Zooniverse – Participate in citizen science projects as volunteer to help scientists and researchers

  • Gyan Setu Science volunteers – A volunteering program to conduct science-based workshops for school children in the remote areas of developmentally challenged states in India- Arunachal Pradesh, Asam, Jammu-Kashmir, Chhattisgarh, Nagaland, Odisha, Jharkhand and Sikkim.

 

All Topics

  • खान एकेडेमी – हर विषय की वीडिओज़

  • NCERT books – Download NCERT books for free

  • Quora – A great platform to ask questions to people across the world and receive answers

  • TED talks – One of the best & most interesting education tools; short video talks on every topic by people across the world

  • TED-Edu –  Children specific videos by TED

  • TEDx – Independently organized TED events

  • How Stuff Works – Explains thousands of topics with video and illustrations so you can learn how everything works

  • Pinterest – A  a visual discovery tool that you can use to find ideas for all of your projects and interests based on the contribution of people across the world on the particular topic

  • National Geographic Magazine – A great magazine on diverse topics with amazing photos

  • National Geographic Kids – A great magazine by Nat Geo for kids

  • Khan Academy – Short online video tutorials on almost every topic

  • Coursera–  Free online courses from the world’s top universities

  • EdX – Free online courses from the world’s top universities

 

 

Science & Maths

  • Arvind Gupta Gallery – An amazing website for thousands of innovative science experiments from every-day materials + thousands of books…हिंदी में भी (See also: Arvind Gupta’s TED talk)

  • IUCAA SciPop –  It is aimed at making people aware of the importance of Science education as well as to getting students genuinely interested in Science and motivating them towards taking up a research career towards its advancement. This includes regular special lectures, science-toy making, novel experiment development, programs encouraging discovery etc. Special workshops for Teachers exposing them to new, simpler and child-friendly teaching methods are also a part of SciPoP activities. Encouraging present Science students and teachers through the use of Astronomy is also one of their motives.(See also: IUCAA recommended readings on Science)

  • HHMI biointeractive – Great resources for biology/ life science

  • XKCD (What If) – Serious scientific answers to hypothetical questions to arouse your questioning attitude. Ask your own questions too!

  • Physics Girl – A resource for fun physics videos and other materials about physics and topics related to physics

  • Scitech Daily – Latest update on Science & technology

  •  Ask a Mathematician / Ask a Physicist

  • At Right Angles magazine – Azim Premji Foundation’s magazine for school Mathematics

  • Better Explained – Maths lessons using examples and historical connotations

  • NRICH – University of Cambridge initiative for Maths education

  • Great blogs by Maths teachers around the world

  • Google for Education

  • Mumbai Science Teachers Association – An organisation taking up the cause of Science education in India, for both teachers & students. It organises various competitions and workshops. It’s vision is to see that the next generation students are well versed and aware of the scientific developments globally and as a result they contribute effectively to the scientific research and environment enhancement within the communities they live in.

 

 

Computer Programming

 

 

Free Books

 

 

Free Documentaries

*Best method is to search IMDB for various documentaries’ titles and descriptions and then search on Google for those documentaries or use torrent.

  • “Top Documentary Films” website

  • “Films For Action” website

  • “Documentary Heaven” website

  • Suggested documentaries – We have tried to list a few documentaries from different domains that will make the viewer question, reflect, feel agitated and inspired. (In case a link does not work, please google it and search the video).

    • Cosmos: A Personal Voyage – A beautiful and inspiring documentary presented by astronomer Carl Sagan which leads us on an engaging tour of this grand universe, our Earth, and life.
    • Earth: Power of the Planet – Dr Iain Stewart tells the story of how Earth works and how, over the course of 4.6 billion years, it came to be the remarkable place it is today. (Ep 1- Volcanoes, Ep 2 – Atmosphere, Ep 3 – Ice, Ep 4 – Oceans, Ep 5 – Rare Earth)
    • Planet Earth – Dazzling, state-of-the-art high-definition imagery in this breathtaking documentary series of 11 episodes made in 5 years features footage of some of the world’s most awe-inspiring natural wonders – from the oceans to the deserts to the polar ice caps.
    • Life – Our planet is teeming with myriad life forms, both plant and animal, all interlocked in a struggle for survival. As time goes on, some living things are forced to adapt and change to survive. This series chronicles some of the most unusual, if not downright bizarre, behaviors that living organisms have devised to keep their species alive. The 11-episode series was four years in the making, taking camera crews to every continent and habitat.
    • The Genius of Charles Darwin – Evolutionary biologist Richard Dawkins shares the profound discoveries about life on Earth from the work of Charles Darwin and explains natural selection, philosophical & social implications of the theory, and the opposition to it from religious communities.
    • Samsara – Filmed over nearly five years in twenty-five countries on five continents, this beautiful documentary without any narration takes one through the various facets of this world of ours.
    • Human – Filmmaker and artist Yann Arthus-Bertrand spent 3 years collecting real-life emotional stories from more than 2,000 women and men in 60 countries. Those emotions, those tears and smiles, those struggles and those laughs are the ones uniting us all. Vol 1, Vol 2, Vol 3
    • Consuming Kids: The Commercialization of Childhood – It desperately needed light on the practices of a relentless multi-billion dollar marketing machine that now sells kids and their parents everything from junk food and violent video games to bogus educational products and the family car.
    • Killing Us Softly 4: Advertising’s Image of Women – Focuses on images of women in advertising, in particular on gender stereotypes, and the shocking effects of advertising on women’s self-image, and the objectification of women’s bodies.
    • Sext Up Kids: How Growing Up in a Hyper-Sexualized Culture Hurts Our Kids
    • Hot Girls Wanted – A documentary about young women who have been drawn into the sex trade – and how easy it is for a web-savvy generation to end up making porn.
    • Nero’s Guests – A moving and disturbing documentary depicting the story of India’s farmer suicides as experienced by P. Sainath, a Magsasay award winning journalist.
    • India Untouched – This film is perhaps the most comprehensive look at untouchability ever undertaken on film. Spanning eight states and four religions, this film will make it impossible for anyone to deny that untouchability continues to be practiced in India.
    • Raam Ke Naam – A 1992 documentary by Indian filmmaker Anand Patwardhan. The film explores the campaign waged by the Hindu fundamentalists to build a Ram temple at the site of the Babri Masjid in Ayodhya, as well as the communal violence that it triggered. A couple of months after Ram ke Naam was released, VHP activists demolished the Babri Masjid in 1992 provoking further violence.
    • The Story of India – In this six-part thrilling series, Michael Wood embarks on a thrill-packed journey of India, from the ancient times to modern day. (Request: Kindly share the online link of the episodes of this documentary series)

 

 

Magazines

Education

  • चकमक  – एकलव्य (भोपाल) द्वारा प्रकाशित बच्चों के लिए पत्रिका

  • संदर्भ – एकलव्य (भोपाल) द्वारा प्रकाशित शिक्षकों के लिए पत्रिका

  • शैक्षिक दख़ल – शैक्षिक सरोकारों को समर्पित शिक्षकों तथा नागरिकों का साझा मंच; पिथौरागढ़, उत्‍तराखण्‍ड से प्रकाशित छमाही पत्रिका

  • खोजें और जानें – विद्या भवन सोसायटी तथा अज़ीम प्रेमजी विश्‍वविद्यालय,बंगलौर द्वारा संयुक्‍त रूप से प्रकाशित त्रैमासिक पत्रिका का उद्देश्‍य शिक्षकों तथा शिक्षा में रुचि रखने वाले व्‍यक्तियों तक ऐसी सामग्री पहुँचाना है जो उनके रोजमर्रा के शैक्षिक कार्य को और अधिक सार्थक बना सके

  • शिक्षा की बुनियाद – विद्या भवन सोसायटी तथा अज़ीम प्रेमजी विश्‍वविद्यालय, बंगलौर द्वारा संयुक्‍त रूप से प्रकाशित त्रैमासिक पत्रिका ‘शिक्षा की बुनियाद’ का उद्देश्‍य बुनियादी शिक्षा के मुद्दों पर विमर्श करना है

  • Learning Curve – It aims to reach out to teachers, teacher educators, school heads, education functionaries, parents and NGOs, on contextual and thematic issues that have an enduring relevance and value to help practitioners. It provides a platform for the expression of varied opinions, perspectives, encourages new and informed positions, thought-provoking points of view and stories of innovation.

Science, Technology, Mathematics

 

 

Other Great Websites

  • TRUCE – An organization of educators who work to counteract the harmful impact of media and marketing on children (download this important report also)

  • The Better India – Great positive news stories of action-takers from across India

  • Zen Pencils – A cartoon blog which adapts inspirational quotes into comic stories

  • Brain Pickings – Diverse reading content from  cross-disciplinary interestingness, spanning art, science, design, history, philosophy

  • Instructables – DIY How To Make Instructions  – Documentation platform for Do It Yourself activities

  • Teachers Of India portal (Hindi)

  • Teachers Of India portal (English)

  • Teachers As Transformers – IIM Ahmedabad की सुन्दर पहल, प्राथमिक विद्यालय के शिक्षकों के नवाचारों का संकलन और प्रसार करने के लिए (IIM Ahmedabad’s wonderful initiative to capture the efforts and innovations of primary school teachers)

  • Quillpad – भारतीय भाषाओं में टाइप करें

  • BookBox – Animated stories that help improve reading & language learning skills for children to enhance their reading skills in a fun way in their own language and also for language learning using SLS(Same language Subtitling) with the color swipe in perfect timing with the videos.

  • बुक बॉक्स – बच्चों को अपनी और अन्य भाषाओं में पढ़ना सीखने के लिए एनिमेटेड वीडिओज़ जिनमें वीडियो में बोली जा रही भाषा के ही शब्द वीडियो में साथ-साथ दिखाए जाते हैं । इसे दूरदर्शन के कार्यक्रम ‘रंगोली’ में भी प्रयोग किया गया था |

 

 

Facebook Resources for Educators

  • दीवार पत्रिका : एक अभियान – इस समूह को बनाए जाने का उद्देश्य ‘दीवार पत्रिका’ से संबंधित विचारों, अनुभवों, गतिविधियों और समाचारों को एक दूसरे के साथ बांटना है, ताकि दीवार पत्रिका एक अभियान का रूप ले

  • Education Entrepreneurs India – A platform for sharing exciting resources and ideas on the education sector and social entrepreneurship

  • People In Education – This group brings together a diverse set of people interested in education – students, teachers, parents, researchers, artists, filmmakers, NGOs, librarians, publishers, poets, storytellers, theatre practitioners, policy makers, journalists, homeschoolers, etc.

  • The Best Facebook Groups for Art Teachers

  • Physics Girl page – For the love of physics – cool phenomena, news, outreach, and physics found in everyday life

 

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Kindly write your feedback in comments below on the usefulness of this list, or to share an online link with us. 

 
6 Comments

Posted by on January 1, 2016 in Uncategorized

 

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