Teachers of some colleges affiliated to Bharathidasan University have been issued instructions to engage students online during the lockdown.
While welcoming the initiative, the teachers feel that poor internet connectivity, or even lack of it in rural areas from where most of the students hail, can be a stumbling block.
They have been asked to utilise the online support system provided by the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the University Grants Commission to conduct online classes and evaluation.
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In a communication issued on Tuesday, an autonomous college has directed its faculty to ensure that internal assessment for final year undergraduate and postgraduate students is completed during the lockdown so that the semester exams can be held right thereafter.
“The perception that every student will have a high-end phone compatible for online teaching-learning process is flawed,” a senior professor says.
Apparently, the reality of students being confined to their homes due to enforcement of prohibitory order for containment of COVID 19 virus has not been factored in, he points out.
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In other circumstances, it is logical to expect students to visit the nearest computer centres. In the current situation, all computer centres are closed. Also, those venturing out will be subjected to harsh treatment by police personnel, another teacher adds.
The concept of online teaching-learning is not entirely new. The trend of students of the university and its affiliated colleges pursuing Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) promoted by MHRD on UGC’s SWAYAM programme has been increasingly visible. MOOC enivsages bridging of the digital divide for students who have not been able to join the mainstream of knowledge economy.
During 2016, UGC advised universities to identify courses where credits can be transferred to the academic record of students for courses done on SWAYAM.
In the context of the nationwide lockdown, the university is keen on providing teachers and students online access to e-books, tutorials and other valuable inputs from academic publications of global repute, S. Srinivasa Ragavan, Professor and Head, Department of Library and Information Science, Bharathidasan University, says.
Of course, the students do require considerable time to adapt to online learning. In the long run, the onus is on parents to make sure that the students have the right gadgets and connectivity for accessing valuable learning materials and to pursue online courses, Mr. Srinivasa Raghavan, who is also SWAYAM Coordinator, contends.
Ultimately, the inclination of the learner to explore matters the most, he adds.