For interpersonal skill development, we plan to schedule online GDs, debates and group presentations, says expert

With the outbreak of Coronavirus, the whole world has entered into a pandemic situation. With all other sectors and industries affected, education is one such sector which is trying to cope with the changes. Mostly all the universities and institutes in India and across the globe have moved their curriculum to the online platform. So has Pune-based JSPM's Rajarshi Shahu College of Engineering. In a  conversation with Shiksha.com, experts of JSPM discuss all the initiatives they have taken so that students don't suffer any academic loss.

Here is the edited excerpt of the conversation:

Q: How has today’s scenario of lockdown and global pandemic impacted your education system?

A: This unexpected and sudden lockdown has essentially hampered the education system, not only in India but in more than 180 countries in the world. The planning for academic activities and other administrative work has certainly got setback for a while.  But here at RSCOE, we have taken immediate measures to cope up with the academic loss and immediately changed the calendar of academics and other co-curricular activities and start imparting education through online mode. Initially, students and parents became bit restless and got worried about academics but at this, we introduced a well structured Guardian Faculty Mentorship (GFM) system along with entire leadership ‘working from home’ to fulfil their expectations and making them comfortable.     

Q: What are some of the interesting initiatives your institute has taken to make it easy for your students and also contribute to eradication of this pandemic?

A: We understand the fact that everyone is stressed out because of the current scenario, but we have taken a few initiatives to help students and their families stay calm and focused. Few of them are:

• The first and very essential step in this tough situation is to make the students and their parents physiologically comfortable. Hence our institute has organised online meetings with the students and their parents in small groups in order to boost their confidence. 
• To keep students engaged at homes and to cope up with academic loss, Institute immediately planned for delivering the online lectures through various digital tools viz. zoom, webinar, Google classroom, Skype etc. Faculty members are preparing presentations on important topics and delivering during these online lectures.
• All digital contents viz. notes, presentations, question banks, assignments, quizzes, case studies, lab manuals, course manuals, etc. are uploaded to Digital Learning Platform Moodle which is easily accessible to the students.
• Practical also conducted online by using Virtual Labs supported by IIT Bombay and other providers.
• Students are given various tasks such as assignments, quizzes, report writing, seminars and they have been motivated to upload the same to Moodle for the assessment.
• Along with regular lectures on various courses, experts from renowned industries are interacting with the students and sharing the updates about the cutting edge technologies. 
• Students are also motivated to join online courses viz. MOOCs, NPTEL etc.
• Students have joined the free online courses which are started by some industries like TCS, TATA Steel & others.  
• Special coaching for competitive exams like GATE, MPSC, UPSC, GRE etc. were planned as per the demand of the students. 
• Students are motivated to participate in National Competitions hosted by MHRD, TCS and other organisation on present social problems.   
• Special counselling sessions were arranged for the students and boost their morale in this global pandemic.
• Mock Interview Sessions were organised for pre-final year students.
• Various student bodies like IEEE, ACM, ISHRAE, BA(I), ICI etc. are conducting expert talk from professionals.  

Q: How is the institute planning to conduct exams evaluate and declare result online?

A: Almost since the last five years, JSPM is extensively using the Moodle Digital Learning platform. All students and faculty members are having their own credentials. Along with conduction of the online lectures and sharing the e-content with all students through Moodle, the institute has already been practising the online examination through this online digital learning platform. 

Test on Multiple Choice Questions (MCQs) are regularly conducted during academics. Management of the institution has been closely observing the situation and keeping alternative plans (including conduction of examination and declaration of results online) ready for conducting the examinations for the students admitted at First Year of the Engineering under autonomous system. We are also waiting for the guidelines from regulatory authorities for examination and evaluation patterns for our students admitted before autonomy.   

Q: How are students responding to new initiatives?

A: On average, more than 90 per cent students are responding to all new online learning activities initiated by the institute. However, students who are in extremely remote areas are finding it difficult due to network connectivity issues. 

Q: What impact will it have on students’ interpersonal, team management skills?

A: Essentially, there will be a considerable impact on the development of students’ interpersonal, team management skills. Because the way interaction happens when they have one to one contact may not be possible through the online system. But efforts are being put in regards with scheduling online group discussions, debate competitions, group presentations and projects which they can do through online mode. Considering globalisation, now or after they need to get equipped with this kind of environment, especially when they are working for some MNCs.

Q: How will today’s situation revolutionise online learning in India and abroad?

A: So far, most of the universities and colleges from India are following the traditional methods of teaching-learning. Indian teachers and students were not enough habitual with online learning. The situation has brought both the teachers and students together on the online mode. So this tough situation has really made most of the teachers and students of almost all universities realise the importance of the online Teaching and Learning Process (TLP). This situation has revolutionised the TLP and in future, there will be a good blend of online as well as the traditional education system in India and abroad.