ICC T20 World Cup Schedule 2016

The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced the groups and schedule of the ICC World Twenty20 India 2016, which will be staged across eight venues in India from 8 March to 3 April.

A total of 58 tournament matches, including 35 men’s matches and 23 women’s matches, will be played in the 27-day tournament in Bengaluru, Chennai, Dharamsala, Kolkata, Mohali, Mumbai, Nagpur and New Delhi. New Delhi and Mumbai will host the semi-finals on 30 and 31 March, respectively, while Eden Gardens in Kolkata will be the venue of the 3 April finals. 
According to the men’s event format, eight sides in two groups of four, will feature in the first round matches with the group winners joining eight sides in the Super 10 stage (two groups of five teams). The top two sides from both the Super 10 Groups will then qualify for the semi-finals.

ICC T20 World Cup Schedule 2016

First Round

Tue, 8 Mar Zimbabwe v Hong Kong, Nagpur; Scotland v Afghanistan, Nagpur
Wed, 9 Mar Bangladesh v Netherlands, Dharamsala; Ireland v Oman, Dharamsala
Thu, 10 Mar Scotland v Zimbabwe, Nagpur; Hong Kong v Afghanistan, Nagpur

Fri, 11 Mar Netherlands v Oman, Dharamsala; Bangladesh v Ireland, Dharamsala
Sat, 12 Mar Zimbabwe v Afghanistan, Nagpur; Scotland v Hong Kong, Nagpur
Sun, 13 Mar Netherlands v Ireland, Dharamsala; Bangladesh v Oman, Dharamsala

Second Round

Tue, 15 Mar: New Zealand v India, Nagpur
Wed, 16 Mar: West Indies v England, Mumbai; Pakistan v Q1A, Kolkata
Thu, 17 Mar: Sri Lanka v Q1B, Kolkata
Fri, 18 Mar: Australia v New Zealand, Dharamsala; South Africa v England, Mumbai
Sat, 19 Mar: India v Pakistan, Dharamsala
Sun, 20 Mar: South Africa v Q1B, Mumbai; Sri Lanka v West Indies, Bengaluru
Mon, 21 Mar: Australia v Q1A, Bengaluru
Tue, 22 Mar: New Zealand v Pakistan, Mohali
Wed, 23 Mar: England v Q1B, New Delhi; India v Q1A, Bengaluru
Thu, 24 Mar: Rest day
Fri, 25 Mar: Pakistan v Australia, Mohali; South Africa v West Indies, Nagpur
Sat, 26 Mar: Q1A v New Zealand, Kolkata; England v Sri Lanka, New Delhi
Sun, 27 Mar: India v Australia, Mohali; Q1B v West Indies, Nagpur
Mon, 28 Mar: South Africa v Sri Lanka, New Delhi
Tue, 29 Mar: Rest/travel Day

Wed, 30 Mar: Semi-final 1 (Super 10 Group 2 1st v Super 10 Group 1 2nd), New Delhi
Thu, 31 Mar: Semi-final (Super 10 Group 1 1st v Super 10 Group 2 2nd), Mumbai
Fri, 1 Apr: Rest/travel day
Sat, 2 Apr: Rest/travel day
Sun, 3 April: Final, Kolkata

MOOCs – A changing landscape

Free online courses from world-leading universities: sounds a bit too good to be true, doesn’t it? Well, you better start believing, because that’s exactly what MOOCs (massive open online courses) are.

Students can now get a taste of education at some of the world’s top universities without spending a penny, leaving their own home or even going through an application procedure – by taking free online courses offered by an ever-growing selection of institutions.

Unsurprisingly, MOOCs have garnered a lot of attention, and a lot of users. The first MOOC offered by edX (established by MIT and Harvard) attracted an amazing 155,000 students. The platform aims to reach no fewer than one billion users.

What is MOOC?

A massive open online course (MOOC) is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the web. In addition to traditional course materials such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, many MOOCs provide interactive user forums to support community interactions between students, professors, and teaching assistants (TAs). MOOCs are a recent and widely researched development in distance education which was first introduced in 2008 and emerged as a popular mode of learning in 2012. Early MOOCs often emphasized open-access features, such as open licensing of content, structure and learning goals, to promote the reuse and remixing of resources. Some later MOOCs use closed licenses for their course materials while maintaining free access for students.

MOOC providers

Provider		Founded
Stanford Online		2006
Khan Academy		2006
NPTEL		2006
WizIQ		2007
Canvas Network		2008
Peer to Peer University		2009
Academic Earth		2009
Udemy		2010
Udacity		2012
Eliademy based on the Open Source MoodleVirtual learning environment.		2012
openHPI		2012
FutureLearn		2012
OpenLearning		2012
Coursera		2012
edX		2012
iversity		2013
One Month		2013
MOOEC		2013
NovoEd		2013
Open2Study		2013

 

Are MOOCs the future of higher education?

So, are MOOCs the future of higher education? While opinion is divided on just what role MOOCs can or should play, there is widespread agreement that they will continue to grow in importance.

For most, the true value of MOOCs lies in their capacity to open up access to knowledge that was previously the preserve of a small elite. Whether preparing for or supplementing a traditional course, or just learning for the sake of learning, MOOCs offer an incredible and unique opportunity which just five years ago would not have existed.

A spokesperson for edX outlines the MOOC provider’s lofty aims: “By making high quality education available to anyone with internet access, edX hopes to democratize education, transform lives worldwide, and reinvent campus education.”

 

 

Challenges and criticisms

The MOOC Guide^[147] suggests five possible challenges for cMOOCs:

1.   Relying on user-generated content can create a chaotic learning environment

2.   Digital literacy is necessary to make use of the online materials

3.   The time and effort required from participants may exceed what students are willing to commit to a free online course

4.   Once the course is released, content will be reshaped and reinterpreted by the massive student body, making the course trajectory difficult for instructors to control

5.   Participants must self-regulate and set their own goals

These general challenges in effective MOOC development are accompanied by criticism by journalists and academics.

Some dispute that the "territorial" dimensions of MOOCs have received insufficient discussion or data-backed analysis, namely: 1. the true geographical diversity of enrolls in/completes courses; 2. the implications of courses scaling across country borders, and potential difficulties with relevance and knowledge transfer; and 3. the need for territory-specific study of locally relevant issues and needs.

Other features associated with early MOOCs, such as open licensing of content, open structure and learning goals, and community-centeredness, may not be present in all MOOC projects

It’s early days yet, but the massive impact MOOCs have already had in a short space of time suggests we may well be witnessing something of a revolution in higher education delivery. Whether in the improvement of access worldwide, or the supplementation of programs within existing university communities, it seems MOOCs may well be a leading element in the future of higher education.

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Lets MAKE IN INDIA

Many times in a country like India, it happens so that your family states “you are meant to be an engineer.” Maybe you used Lego pieces to build a robot, got your hands dirty rebuilding an engine, or used parts from an old clock and transistor radio to create a stereo sound system. You are a problem solver and budding engineer.

Engineers take math and science from paper and the lab to invent, design, and build things that matter. They are team players with independent minds who ask, “How can we make things better?” By dreaming up creative and practical solutions, engineers are constantly changing the world. Since many years, it has become a trend that whenever we pass out of our engineering colleges, we tend to work in a foreign country. The reasons may vary like better job opportunity, better lifestyle, more salary, etc. This factor is increasing day by day. Most of them won’t come back at least for 25 years or even till retirement. They compare every system in India to whichever country (USA mostly) they belong to and they end up looking down upon India which was their country once upon a time. Instead of going abroad and complaining about India shouldn't have they stayed here and tried to improve the country.

 For some people, the stint abroad is a time to learn new concepts, time to get the momentum in individual careers and time to get identified in populations much smaller than ours. This gives the push for doing bigger things in India. Dhirubhai Ambani worked in the Middle East before founding Reliance. Netaji, Nehru and Patel went through education in London. Raghuram Rajan got educated at MIT and worked abroad before returning to India as RBI governor. For engineers, it has been the technology and the tools used abroad that make a difference. All of us will accept the fact that India still lags a lot behind in terms of technology than the developed countries. This is a huge attraction for recently graduated youth. But, what will happen if all the technology, machines and other equipment are brought to India and engineers innovate here. Will the trends change? That’s, perhaps a question that only time can answer. This dream can soon become a reality. The main motivation for this dream would be ‘MAKE IN INDIA’ campaign.

What is MAKE IN INDIA?

            Make in India’ is one of the more famous slogans coined by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Sectors of the economy have already been identified where this concept can be profitably translated into reality. It states, “A major new national program which is designed to facilitate investment, Foster innovation, Enhance skill development, Protect intellectual property, And build best-in-class manufacturing infrastructure.“

The concept mainly includes the following - 

· Smart, diversified and profitable agriculture.
· Thousands of kilometres of national highways, with four-, six- and even eight-lane highways at places.
· Lakhs of kilometres of roads, rail and bridges.
· Establishment of Optical Fibre network.
· Lakhs of megawatts of electricity.
· A modern and integrated transport system.
· A digitised India.
· A mobile phone in every Indian’s hand and many other things

            All of these objectives will require proper analysis, study and implementation. Many projects have started and many others are waiting to start. It is not only important for the development of our beloved nation, but also for the careers of lakhs of Indian engineers who graduate every year. It is an amazing opportunity for the youth to make a mark in the progress of our country. Every discipline of engineering has to contribute in a unique way. Entrepreneurship is also taking a major boost thanks to the increase in investments from tech companies. Global giants like Google, Microsoft, Facebook and many others are willing to invest in India. Many projects could be implemented and these projects will require a majority of Indian skilled youngsters. The employment potential of India can explode like anything. Various skill development programmes have also been initiated in the rural areas. 

            India’s future depends on the MAKE IN INDIA campaign. The success of the initiative will largely depend on the quality of engineers and other professionals in addition to the government policies. However, there is no denying the fact that this era would be essential to the prominence of high quality engineering. At last, we would like to add a short phrase to the campaign – “INNOVATE AND MAKE IN INDIA.”