Virtual classrooms of NIT cross boundaries

 The National Institute of Technology -Trichy (NIT) which in October last year imparted the virtual classroom system to its students, is now taking technology to other private institutions on the advice of the Union human resource department ministry. About 100 faculty members belonging to various private, self-financing institutions from across the state on Monday participated in a two-day MHRD-sponsored workshop on NMEICT (National Mission on Education through Information Communication and Technology).

B Venkataramani, dean said that at present 10 classrooms are converted into virtual classrooms at NIT-T enabling a two-way audio and video between the remote teacher and a number of classrooms. For instance, if Kannan Moudgalya of IIT-Bombay delivers a lecture from there, students in NIT-Trichy sitting in various classrooms can listen and even interact with the teacher. There will be a moderator in each class, and he will raise his hand indicating that one of the students want a clarification, explained Venkataramani. He said that NIT-T was planning to convert all other classrooms into virtual classrooms. The first 10 rooms have already been tested with software such as Skype and A-view and are found to be satisfactory.

The system will enable scholars to be taught by the best teachers and will also help them evaluate the students, a practice which is already in vogue in foreign universities. By this process, NIT-T also proposes to make the lectures by its faculty to be available to other self-financing colleges.

NIT-T director, Sundarrajan, said steps were also afoot to make the curriculum more industry-centric and the institution was also trying to modify the curriculum to meet the requirements of both the "slow learners" and those with global ambitions. "Creation of such virtual classrooms will enable the students to be taught by industry leaders and by faculties of reputed academic institutions from India and abroad," he said.

Meanwhile, some of the faculty members of NIT-Trichy are upset as the city is not going to be a centre for JEE (Main) this year too. Trichy has been trying to get itself as a centre for the entrance exam since 2005. "It is an irony that Madurai is a centre (apart from Chennai, and Coimbatore) which is not home to any NIT," T Balasubramaniam, a professor of physics said.

According to some of faculty, who did not wish to be named, the Central Counselling Board had cited that since Madurai has relatively higher number of CBSE schools in the region, it is easier to organize the entrance exam there. Though the admission process does not concern their academic lives, the professors felt that Trichy is equidistant to Tamil Nadu and Kerala and even based on geographical reasons, it should have been chosen as a centre to facilitate a large number of aspirants trying their hands from the region.

This year, the expectations to have Trichy as a centre was higher as the NITs and IITs opted for a joint entrance examination to undergraduate engineering students, and it was also decided to take higher secondary marks 2013 for the first time as the benchmark for 40% of the total marks for eligibility after normalisation of marks with the respective board results. For instance, while the Tamil Nadu State Board gives marks, the CBSE gives a grading system, and hence the normalization. It is understood that under the new system, 40% weight would be accorded for performance in Class XII, 30% for the main test, and 30% for the so-called advanced test. In other words, the first test would be common to all aspirants, and after going through a filtering process, the students would opt for an advanced test.

"The student-aspirants from Trichy region do not enjoy a political voice to speak for them. The students who were already admitted, and the faculty members would not bother as to who gains entrance to what NIT," said a professor from this region. Moreover, apart from the paper and pen exams, around 10 to 20% opt for online exams. These students would be given a three-hour slot on the computer after keying in their roll number, and the questions would be generated by the computer. But the centres would be nominated by the Central Couselling Board in consultation with CBSE, and all of them would only be in Chennai. It is said that slot will be available for students until February 15, while the paper and pen exam would be held on April 7.


Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/madurai/NITs-virtual-classrooms-cross-boundaries/articleshow/18457188.cms