Post on 05-Mar-2015
PROGRAM ANNOUNCEMENT
SPARK
SPARK PROGRAM
Overview learning environment. Through the Infosys success
story, our team of volunteers demonstrates that it is
Infosys Limited has conceptualized possible to dream big and achieve. The students will
several unique programs aimed at evolving a model leave the program with enhanced awareness of the
through which Infosys and academic institutions can Power of Information Technology and its role in their
partner for competitiveness to enhance the pool of own career. Senior women leaders from Infosys
highly capable talent for growth requirements in the participate to promote gender sensitivity as well as to
Information Technology (IT) space. As a corporate sensitize girl students that there is no glass ceiling for
citizen with a conscience, Infosys strives to cultivate accomplishment. Short team exercises provide the
a sustainable approach to conducting business. In our students an opportunity to identify their hidden talents
interactions with stakeholders within and beyond the while working in teams and renew their commitment to
sphere of business, we recognize that we shoulder a excel. Interaction with senior Infosys employees exposes
larger responsibility - to ourselves, the environment, our students to the current trends in the IT industry.
civic systems and the governments in the regions where
we work. SPARK at a glance
Spark is one such initiative by Infosys, which has
1. Typically one day event at Infosys Development touched the lives of more than 161,000 young people
Centre campus for students and accompanying and nearly 10,000 members of faculty as of September,
faculty from schools, degree colleges and 2010. SPARK is an extraordinary volunteer-driven
engineering colleges
program that aims at raising the aspirations of students.
This nation-wide program focuses on the advances 2. Participation by invitation only.
information technology has made, Infosys’ role in the 3. Event agenda customized to target audience.
growth of IT and how students can learn from it. Spark Activities include presentations on ICT, campus
was launched in August 2008 and today has over 4100
tour, team project work and networking with
volunteers organization-wide, who spend their personal
alumni from same institutions.
time on Saturdays to run the program.
4. Special batches for women, rural institutions and
SPARK
Government-run institutions.
5. Travel to be arranged by participating institute.
Infosys SPARK is one day exploratory program for Lunch will be provided by Infosys.
students from different age groups and segments from 6. Ratio of faculty members to students 1:10.
high school to degree and engineering colleges of urban
7. Program managed and conducted by Infosys
and suburban areas. Through this on-campus event
volunteers.
conducted by volunteers, participating students assess
their industry readiness and check their aspirations
meter.
This program brings students and faculty members
from educational institutions to Infosys offices on an
exclusive basis and exposes them to the best-in-class
2
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
SPARK PROGRAM
Rationale for Program 4. Nominated members of faculty need to be
permanent faculty with 3 to 5 years of teaching 1. Raising aspirations of young students
experience.
2. Enhancing awareness about impact of IT in our
daily lives Program Outcome
3. Exposing students to a world class learning
Students and Faculty members of participating environment
institutes will:
4. Promoting gender sensitivity
1. Understand
knowledge and skills related to Process Overview – Conducting a SPARK event
challenges facing the IT industry
involves key phases such as Event Planning, Event
2. Become aware about usage of IT in various execution and Post-event Reporting.
industries
Planning phase involves identification of participating
3. Experience facilitation & learning methods adopted institutes, event communication, nomination of members
by the IT industry.
of faculty and students by participating institute,
facilities booking including classrooms/ equipment 4. Experience the learning environment at Infosys
for visiting students/faculty, ordering giveaways, 5. Learn about IT trends by interacting with
participant material and preparation of detailed agenda practitioners.
with several interactive and work group sessions.
6. Recognize gender sensitivity.
Event Execution phase involves program kick-off
and hourly execution and tracking of agenda activities.
Program Governance
Participants’ feedback is obtained for analysis and
improvement decisions. Socializing, discussions, Infosys SPoC – Infosys Development Centers (DC) will campus tour, meeting with Infoscions and networking have a designated anchor to coordinate with associated are a part of the SPARK program.
institutes and internal units to roll out this program.
Post-Event Reporting phase involves analysis of Institute SPOC – School/ College Single Point of feedback, and reporting.
Contact will be responsible for all interactions with
Infosys.
Pre-Requisites Volunteer Teams – Volunteers from Infosys DC
1. High Schools, Degree and Engineering Colleges together with DC level core team will design and
manage Spark events.
from urban and suburban areas in and around the
host Development Centre (DC). 2. Institute needs to plan for travel
arrangements and bear the cost. 3. Institute needs to include students and
members of faculty from both genders.
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
3
SPARK PROGRAM
Reference Information The SPARK program management team
has developed various tools and artifacts
for enhanced efficiency. These include: 1. Spark portal and artifacts repository
accessible from Infosys Intranet 2. Collated country-wide contact list of
volunteers, institutes, nominated
members of faculty and students 3. SPARK Invitation Letter format/
Participation confirmation & Tracker sheet 4. SPARK Overview presentation,
Program Announcement
5. Detailed SPARK program agenda and
facilities checklist 6. Participant kit including giveaways,
note pads, picture postcards of DCs 7. Event collateral like banners, roll-ups,
podium banners and volunteer certificates 8. Checklists for tracking and managing event 9. Standard presentations about Infosys,
Spark Briefing, videos, useful content from
different Business Units within Infosys. 10. Participant feedback collection,
analysis and reporting formats
Spark stats as on 30th September, 2010
Title BLR BBSR CHN HYD MLR CHD MYS PUNE JPR TVM Total
Events Completed 230 77 160 298 56 108 157 131 7 39 1263
161527 No. of Students
33625 13714 20137 41259 5407 11402 15642 15734 1073 3534 (includes No.
of women and Benefited rural students
benefited)
No. of Women 4362 1881 2780 6628 792 1125 2145 1911 0 317 21941
Students
No. of Rural 6443 2530 3845 17030 2663 2534 3688 3412 70 840 43055
Students
No. of Faculty 10586
2210 513 1008 3672 351 776 1106 707 46 197 (in addition to
Benefited No. of students
benefited)
No. of Infoscions 688 398 324 681 152 144 945 714 0 109 4155
Contributed
Continuing the Spark success story, three more programs have been added under
the Spark umbrella in 2009-2010. A brief overview of these programs follows.
4
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
SPARK PROGRAM
Rural Reach Program (RRP)
Program Description Infosys has implemented different Corporate Social
Responsibility programs for inclusive growth in India.
Encouraging rural children to pursue studies in science,
mathematics and related subjects and become part of the
IT revolution in the country is one such program. SPARK-
Rural Reach Program (RRP) is one day program that aims
to raise awareness of computers and introduce the power
of IT to rural school children in India. The Rural Reach Program runs in parallel with the
Infosys PC donation scheme, ensuring that schools
where PCs have been donated or schools which are
lined up for PC donation will benefit from the learning.
Program Outcome Rural students participating in this one
day program will be able to: 1. Demystify the myths they carry about
computers by Touch-Feel-Use experience 2. Learn about the Applications of Computers
(Tailored to age group and background) 3. Learn the importance of soft skills in
today’s competitive business environment.
Target Audience
The target audience for RRP is students from rural
Government schools studying in class 5 to 7 and located
within 50 – 150 km radius of Infosys Development
Centers (DCs).
Program Activities
1 Pre-Event
2 During
3 Post-Event
Activities Event Activities
RRP Team @ DC RRP Team @ DC RRP Team @ DC
1. School selection 1. PC set-up at rural school 1. Feedback analysis 2. School communication 2. Briefing Principal and 2. Reporting 3. Travel booking & Approval Teachers 3. Review with Sponsors 4. Agenda finalization 3. Student Sessions delivery
5. PCs and supporting equipment 4. Closing ceremony
to carry 5. Preparing for return journey 6. Expense projection & signoff 7. Volunteer briefing 8. Collateral to carry 9. Giveaways to carry 10. Journey plan & confirmation
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
5
SPARK PROGRAM
Program Highlights Some of the topics include:
1. Each of the Infosys DCs conducts one RRP per 1. Parts of a computer and its care.
quarter. 2. Starting up a computer and definitions of software
2. The event is program managed by a group of and hardware.
volunteers who identify and communicate with 3. The ability of a computer to manipulate data e.g.
school(s). using application PAINT to draw pictures, copy,
3. The team transports computers and giveaways to paste, rotate, scale etc.
the school. 4. Power of the internet and demonstration of
4. The event is held in one selected school (with e-mail.
participation from neighboring schools). 5. Importance of cleanliness, safety at school and
5. The team sets up PCs ensuring power back-up and how science is making our lives better
other infrastructure required to prepare for the It is also suggested that we share with the school some
event. picture charts depicting computer hardware, the role
6. Lead anchors will brief Principal and teachers of software and databases to enhance recall value for
students. before the start of the program.
7. The team members deliver sessions in the local
Program Collateral language and interact with students.
8. All participating students receive a student kit 1. Student kit
consisting of Spark bag, note pad and pencil. 2. RRP Banner
9. Volunteers demonstrate simple tasks using 3. RRP Presentations
computers to small groups of students and answer
4. RRP Briefing PPT for volunteers their questions. Students have hands on sessions.
10. The team collects feedback and prepares a 5. RRP Checklist
report. 11. Education & Research Admin team
consolidates nation-wide activity statistics.
Program Agenda In order to ensure that students from the rural
Government-run schools benefit from the day long
program, the RRP agenda is designed to be simple yet
effective. The examples chosen will communicate the
power of the computer from the perspective of speed,
repeatable tasks, accuracy of computation and
application of computers in their context.
6 Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
SPARK PROGRAM
Catch Them Young (CTY)
Program Description Spark Catch Them Young (CTY), a decade-long
Infosys initiative, has been training high school students
in the basics of Information Technology. Started in
1997, this two week long program aims to expose bright
urban youth to the world of Information Technology by
conducting a summer vacation workshop at Infosys’
campuses. It also raises the curiosity levels in young
students to develop an interest in computer science and
information technology.
Program Outcome On completion of the CTY training program
participating students will be able to: 1. Describe concepts relating to technologies
like the Internet, software development and
application of computers in businesses. 2. Work in teams on computers and software
tools to develop a small software application.
3. Describe an information system approach
to solving simple automation problems.
Target Audience
The intended participants for CTY training are the high
performing students who have completed 9th standard
from local Government-run and privately-run high
schools and are interested in computer programming.
Program Activities
1 Pre-Event
2 During
3 Post-Event
Activities Event Activities Activities
CTY Team @ DC CTY Team @ DC CTY Team @ DC
1. School selection 1. Event confirmation 1. Feedback analysis 2. School communication 2. Facilities & IT Infra audit 2. Reporting 3. Facilities booking 3. CTY courseware install 3. Improvement plans 4. Agenda finalization 4. Food & Beverages 4. Documents updates 5. Technical Infrastructure Plan 5. Agenda/Project work control 5. Review with Sponsors 6. Expense projection & signoff 6. Transport facility
7. Volunteer briefing 7. Batch management
8. Educator briefing 8. Sessions delivery
9. Collateral to carry 9. Special needs and escalations
10. IT Infra support
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
7
SPARK PROGRAM
Program Highlights 1. How is IT used in businesses?
1. Each of the Infosys DCs conducts a CTY program 2. How do modern IT applications work?
annually. 3. How does IT help in your career?
2. The event is program managed by a group of 4. How are IT applications developed with focus on
volunteers who identify and communicate with the following:
school(s). • Problem solving in teams
3. The team selects approximately 40 students in • Software development tools
each location through a selection test, typically
• Approach to application development held in December.
4. The event will be held in Infosys DCs during the
• Programming
summer vacation and the duration of the workshop • Data Management
is two weeks. • User Experience design
5. The team will set up classrooms with independent • Software testing
systems and required software tools. The team
5. Demonstration of tools and applications.
will also take care of logistics, food and transport
arrangements for students for the duration of the 6. Hands-on and team project work
workshop.
6. The team members deliver sessions, guide labs and Program Collateral
hands on exercises and interact with students.
1. Student kit
7. All participating students will receive a student kit 2. CTY Banner
consisting of Spark bag, note pad and pencil.
8. Students work in teams to develop a small
3. CTY Presentations, Lab assignments and Project
statement application and demonstrate it to the audience.
9. The team collects feedback and prepares report.
4. CTY Briefing PPT for volunteers
10. Education & Research Admin team consolidates
5. CTY Checklist
nation-wide activity statistics.
Program Agenda
In order to ensure that students from the high schools
benefit from the 10 day long program, the CTY agenda is
designed to focus on concepts relating to ICT and hands-
on lab work. The examples chosen will communicate
the application of information technology and how they
could leverage the same to build their own career. Some
of the topics that will be part of CTY training are:
8
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
SPARK PROGRAM
SPARK GURU
Program Description As it is rightly said that “A teacher can never truly
teach unless he is still learning himself, a lamp
can never light another lamp unless it continues to
burn its own flame”. We at Infosys believe that
teachers who are continuously learning help
shape multi-talented students. Spark GURU is an
initiative which will help teachers to enrich their
knowledge and enhance their teaching skills. The aim of this program is to motivate teachers from rural
areas (from Government-run and Government Aided
schools), by bringing them into an informal environment,
conduct sessions on introspection, teaching effectively,
usage of computers in teaching and inculcation of habits of
safety, security and hygiene.
Target Audience The intended participants for the Spark Guru
program are school teachers from rural areas from
Government-run and Government aided schools.
Program Outcome The core purpose of Speak Guru program is to: 1. Provide faculty with an opportunity to
visit Infosys and observe the best in
class learning environment. 2. Network with teachers from other
institutions and introspect. 3. Discuss among peers and find solutions
to common challenges faced in schools
in areas of safety, security and hygiene. 4. Enhance awareness about the use of
information Technology in teaching.
Program Activities 1. Event similar to Spark event at DCs
with teachers as audience. 2. Senior Infoscions expose the participants
to computer concepts and applications. 3. Senior security staff conducts
sessions on safety and fire hazards. 4. Campus tour and demonstration of
education facilities at DCs. 5. Facilitated brainstorming and networking
opportunities for participants.
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
9
SPARK PROGRAM
Frequently Asked Questions 1. Who can accompany students from invited institutions for the SPARK Program?
A team of permanent members of faculty, working with the institute and having 3-5 years
of experience may accompany the students of the institute for the Spark program. 2. How many members of faculty should accompany the students?
Typical ratio is 1 faculty per 10 students. 3. What are the registration fees for SPARK Program?
There is NO FEE payable to Infosys for attending SPARK. 4. Is the SPARK Program conducted at Infosys facility?
Yes. Spark events will be held on Saturdays at the Infosys Development Centers, nationwide. 5. Can I as the institute SPoC nominate only male/female faculty and students?
No, please include both male and female students and members of faculty unless specified otherwise. 6. What is the duration of the SPARK Program?
One Day (typically on Saturdays). 7. Will the faculty/students receive a certificate for attending the program?
No. 8. Who will arrange my travel and accommodation?
Travel and accommodation for the nominated members of faculty and students is
the responsibility of the respective institute. 9. Will my travel be reimbursed?
No, Infosys will not reimburse travel costs for faculty or students. 10. How can one share suggestions / feedback about the program?
Your feedback and suggestions could be sent to Spark_Feedback@infosys.com. 10
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
SPARK PROGRAM
TERMS AND CONDITIONS 1. Participants are expected to make their own travel arrangements to and from the Infosys campus for the
various Spark programs. Infosys shall have no further liability thereof with respect to such travel. 2. Participants are expected to maintain decorum, and follow all applicable rules and regulations,
especially with regard to safety and security of Infosys, while at the campus. Participants are
required to obtain necessary permission from their parents to visit Infosys campus. 3. Participants are not allowed to bring any magnetic media, CDs, pen drives, laptops
while visiting under the Spark program. 4. Participants shall be liable for any loss or damage suffered by Infosys and attributable to the participant.
5. Participation in the Spark programs by the participant is not an endorsement by
Infosys of either the participant or the participant’s school or college. 6. Neither the participant nor the participant’s institution shall get any additional remuneration or any
special preference with respect to recruitment into Infosys, by virtue of participation in this program.
7. Infosys shall have no liability arising out of conducting of the programs or the participant’s participation
in the same.
Program Announcement - Version 3.0 - October 2010
11
Program Contacts
Infosys Development Centre Infosys Point of Contact Email ID
Bangalore Anoop Singh Anoop_Singh@infosys.com
Trupthi A Narayan TrupthiA_Narayan@infosys.com
Swati Jain Swati_Jain06@infosys.com
Bhubaneswar Bhupesh Deka Bhupesh_Deka@infosys.com
Nirmalya Chaudhuri Nirmalya_Chaudhuri@infosys.com
Sumesh Khatua Sumesh_Khatua@infosys.com
Chandigarh Manisha Manisha@infosys.com
Neeraj Garg Neeraj_Garg02@infosys.com
Anuradha Verma Anuradha_thakur@infosys.com
Renu Vadhvani Renu_Vadhvani@infosys.com
Chennai Veerappaji Bittanakurike Shivanna Veerappaji_S@infosys.com
Abhishek V Paul Abhishek_Paul01@infosys.com
Hyderabad Srinagesh Chatarajupalli Srinagesh_C@infosys.com
Sudheer Reddy K. SudheerReddy_K@infosys.com
Bhanu Prasad TV Venkata_Tolety@infosys.com
Mangalore Rithesh Kumble Rithesh_Kumble@infosys.com
Mysore Vani K N Vani_kn@infosys.com
Pune Soudamini Patil Soudamini_Patil@infosys.com
Swapnil Diwakar Pande Swapnil_Pande01@infosys.com
Trivandrum Hari S. Hari_S@infosys.com
http://campusconnect.infosys.com/spark