Microsoft India has come out with Education channel BETA @http://in.msn.com/edu or www.msniq.com. MSN IQ is a comprehensive online learning channel that delivers customised and relevant educational services and content to enable ‘out of school’ development for a student as well as reporting services to parents.

How it works
The MSN IQ is an audio-visual learning programme. The parent needs to register himself and the child first. The child, in the comfort of his home, will then experience a personal classroom-like atmosphere wherein, the voice-over will explain topics with visual experiments. Once the child has studied all that is needed, the parent is alerted on the computer. He or she could then set an online test for the child who can answer it according to convenience. Next, the score is sent directly to the parent. This keeps the parent up-to-date on the child’s progress. And the child can keep taking tests till he is clear about the concept. One more advantage for the child is, at any point of time, if he has missed a class/has been inattentive, he can go directly to the syllabus missed, and understand it through the vast bank of knowledge provided for all the units. There is also the Microsoft encyclopaedia - Encarta, for more information.

Students and parents can access online, syllabi of CBSE and ISCE for classes IV to X. There are also key sections on schools, careers and expert columnists who give advice on problems faced by students and parents.
According to Mr Krishna Prasad, Executive Producer, MSN India, the aim was for one complete service to bind a number of services in providing knowledge according to the syllabus, something that is not otherwise available through internet under one head. While MSN IQ deals with CBSE and ISCE syllabi at the moment, syllabi of all state boards would be incorporated in due course of time too, he added.

The advantages are aplenty. Saving time on commuting to tuition centres wherein one is part of a crowd in receiving information; saving money; better bonding between parent and child in sharing knowledge and commitment; discreet but close study supervision by the parent, revision of what is taught in school, to name a few.