Maintaining continuous quality learning & keeping students engaged were biggest challenges during Covid-19: KMV Faculty

The global pandemic due to Coronavirus has given a new normal to the world. With businesses and educational institutions going online, everyone is experimenting with new ways to operate. Experts at Kanya Maha Vidyalaya Jalandhar, an autonomous heritage institute, in an exclusive interaction with Shiksha.com share their journey of transition to online education mode and what all challenges they faced. Despite difficulties, they explored ways to innovate and come up with solutions such as setting up a Technical Cell to dedicatedly deal with technical issues that students and faculty face, online proctored examination and giving second chance to those who faced technical issues while writing exams. KMV is a student-centric institute and with all these initiatives, it is trying to live up to the expectations of all the students.

Read the excerpt of the conversation below:

Q1: How has today’s scenario of lockdown and global pandemic impacted your education system?

A: The current lockdown due to Covid-19 has posed an enormous challenge for all students, teachers and policymakers. In the absence of physical contact, students and teachers had to be highly tech-savvy almost with immediate effect. Accordingly, students were supposed to acquire all academic excellence despite a lack of infrastructural support. Besides this, they were also to cope with huge mental stress due to the uncertainty of examinations, evaluation process and future of education.

For teachers and management, the biggest challenge was to maintain the continuity of quality learning and to keep students engaged all the time. From policymakers point of view, the biggest challenge was to ensure a secured evaluation process and to construct a road to futuristic education.

This is needed to guarantee the availability of quality education to every stratum irrespective of socio-economic status. Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar, the Heritage Institute, is leading from the front to cope with all the challenges. Being an autonomous college, it tried to ensure inclusive and futuristic education to its each and every student. With strong and futuristic leadership, it immediately introduced a Learning Management System (LMS) to ensure the continuity of learning. It ascertained continuous feedback from students and parents so that no student is being left out.  Within no time it introduced examination and evaluation reforms to guarantee timely declaration of results. The board of studies of every department tried to frame a pertinent and up-to-date curriculum. Despite all the challenges, we are a future-ready institute, leading from the front.

Q2: What are some of the interesting initiatives your institute has taken to make it easy for your students and also contribute to the eradication of this pandemic?

A: Some of the initiatives taken by the Institution are:

• Shifting offline teaching-learning to the online Learning Management System (LMS)
• Sending Video lectures, PowerPoint presentations through LMS to each and every student for round the clock availability of resources
• Conducting online classes through Google meet and other digital platforms
• Set up a dedicated Technical Cell that aimed at helping students and faculty if they face any technical difficulty
• KMV Facebook radio ‘VOW’ (Voice of Women), is also playing a great role to enthuse positivity among students
• We are also organising various online competitions amongst students such as book review, paper reading, poetical competition, photography, painting and open mic competitions to keep them positively engaged
• During the lockdown period, apart from providing academic counselling, Counselling Cell has been providing online psychological counselling for stress and anxiety management, dos and don’ts during the pandemic under ‘KMV Kares’, and even Diet counselling through Whatsapp groups, Facebook and college website

Kanya Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar has a very active Counselling Cell and student mentoring programme under the Student Welfare Department. It fully addresses the social and academic concerns of the students via interaction through different media. Student Council of the college also plays a very active role in counselling via Whatsapp groups and other media

• KMV faculty and students have prepared and handed over more than 40,000 masks to police and civil administration under project ‘KMV Kares’ and distributed food to needy
• The college has geared up to face COVID pandemic challenges. Posters and banners are put up across campus regarding precautions to be undertaken and sanitisation
• Foot-operated sanitisation units are put at each entrance in different parts of campus and the complete campus is also sanitised regularly
• Almost all the taps in the college, hostel and mess have been converted to foot-operated taps.

Q3: How is the institute planning to conduct exams, evaluate and declare results online?

A: KMV has already conducted mid-semester and final examination of all intermediate classes very successfully. Students were given online video platform links; the question paper was shared just 10 minutes before the start of the exam through Chatbox. Students were asked to keep the camera and mic on throughout the exam. After writing the exam, students shared the scanned copies of their answer sheets on the email link provided within 5 minutes. These sheets were sent to the examination branch and then sent for evaluation. If any student faced any technical difficulty, they were given the chance to write the exam again.

KMV is already in the process of declaration of results of these exams.

Q4: How are students responding to new initiatives?

A: Students responded to these initiatives in a positive way. They have become quite comfortable with the online process. They are also in good spirits and future-ready for this new normal way of teaching-learning and blended education.

Q5: What impact will it have on students’ interpersonal, team management skills?

A: Online education could have impacted the students’ interpersonal, team management skills in a negative way, but KMV has taken care of it by organising team activities online such as

• Praying at same time
• Exercising at the same time and sending videos
• Organising talent hunt competition online
• Organising fashion show online
• Organising online Poster making, Slogan writing, story writing competitions and giving prizes
• Organising different festivals like Teej

All these activities kept the students and faculty close to each other and gave them a feeling of togetherness in these tough times.

Q6: What are the best practices that the college is adopting to ensure seamless online learning?

A: Kanya Maha Vidyalaya Jalandhar, the Autonomous and Heritage Institution, with over 135 years old legacy is committed to quality, futuristic and inclusive education. Even during the most challenging current lockdown period, it ensured the continuity of quality learning to each of its students. Along with academic learning, it also taught the society and its student, the art of weaving the warp weft of love and humanity through the community service. During the lockdown, the process was framed in such a way that it should not waste even a single day of learning. Online teaching is an opportunity to innovate and it opened up a number of new possibilities.

• Tested and efficient Learning Management System was introduced with immediate effect i.e. March 18, 2020. Designed by college faculty, it is capable of dealing with all kinds of learning and evaluation
• The faculty tried every possible means of social networking and meeting platforms to connect with students. While addressing the students, it was ensured that techniques of pedagogies should be very effective
• The faculty was available 24*7 to address questions and concerns of students
• Small group mentoring and counselling, where a mentor is continuously engaged with students to address all kinds of issues

The faculty introduced all possible ICT resources such as Swayam, UG/PG Moocs, ePG Pathshala, Swayamprabha, National Digital Library, CEC-UGC Youtube channel etc.

• Feedback sessions with parents and students
• Online quizzes, essay writing, slogan making, chart-making, talent haunts, webinars etc. were organised.

Q7: How will today’s situation revolutionise online learning in India and abroad?

A: All this has rapidly changed the onlook from face to face education to the digital revolution of imparting education. This gave greater flexibility regarding time and routine.