First Chapter meet has three talks.
27 July 2019, 4-6pm
Research on Parental Engagement
Parental engagement describes what parents do at home and in the community to support their children’s learning and development. It is also seen as the shared partnership and responsibility between home and school in developed countries. Literature suggests that parents’ participation and engagement in their children’s education is one of the most important predictors of children’s academic success. This talk is to introduce you to the research linking to parental engagement in children’s education. We will explore what parental engagement is and why it matters in the success of children. We will also look at some of the tools and frameworks developed by researchers to improve such practices. We will build upon how illiterate or less educated adults in developing countries can support education of their children.
Presentation on her recent work at IDIN in the area of Accessibility
In the last 4-5 years, although assistive technologies like screen readers and speech-to-text engines have improved rapidly and smartphones have become popular among the people with visual impairment, they are still not completely accessible. We looked at whether we could improve the accessibility of some of the commonly accessed tools and content. Specifically, could the text entry rate on Indian language keyboards be improved using speech and whether auditory graphs could improve the perception and speed of navigation graphs for people with visual impairment.
Book review of ‘Sapiens: A brief history of humankind’
Sapiens – A brief history of humankind has made very entertaining a subject that is data-heavy and which deals with extremely large timelines. Yuval Noah Harari breaks myths that have clouded the history of the human species and questions the paths that we have taken. The book starts from a point 2.4 billion years ago when the human species was first glimpsed on the earth and ends with speculations about the future of the species. He weaves the threads of science, history, religion, and economics together to successfully create a discursive space, which was beyond the reach of the masses before.