An Educational Revolution During The Pandemic

Chennai-based Hindustan Institute of Technology and Science (HITS), which has more than 7,000 students on its rolls, has been conducting online classes for its students ever since physical classes have been stopped owing to the Covid-induced restrictions.

The institute had been using Microsoft Teams for online learning for quite sometime now. So, the transition to a virtual mode was easy. Online classes became regular in the collage by April 15, and the ongoing semester was completed successfully by April end. The institute already had a licence for the Teams platform from Microsoft. The staff and students gradually got used to the system, and now there are regular online sessions. The institute also had regular videoconferences through this platform.

Similarly, Bengaluru-based RV College of Engineering had been using various software platforms to achieve digital transformation in higher education. The faculty at the college had undergone certificate courses in digital pedagogy conducted by the National Project Implementation Unit (NPIU). The faculty is also regularly taking NPTEL courses along with the college students. The Covid-19 crisis had provided an opportunity for the college to conduct online sessions on various topics, projects, experiential learning, seminars and virtual labs.

The current Covid-19 situation has triggered various engineering and technical institutes in south India to embrace innovative steps so that they are fully engaged with their students. The HITS was also planning to conduct online examinations. All the major engineering colleges in the south are successfully dealing with the peculiar situation arising out of the pandemic.

During the initial days of the pandemic it was all chaotic and none could anticipate the future particularly in the field of academics. Fortunately, several solutions for monitoring and delivering teaching and learning processes surfaced.