Strengthen virtual mode teaching, VC- KU to teachers
Committees Constituted to prepare modalities for online teaching, exams
Srinagar: The University of Kashmir (KU) has decided to strengthen the virtual mode of teaching. The University has also constituted several committees to prepare modalities for online teaching and conduct of exams.
A Ku spokesman said that Vice Chancellor, University of Kashmir, Prof Talat Ahmad, Chaired a high level meeting at the University of Kashmir.
The meeting, following all social distancing norms and safety guidelines, was attended by the Dean Academic Affairs, Dean Research, Dean College Development, Deans of various Schools, Registrar, Controller of Exams, Media Advisor, Director ITS&S, Special Secretary to the VC and Directors of North & South Campuses.
The meeting was held in the back drop of recent UGC guidelines and various orders/guidelines issued by the central and local administration.
The Vice Chancellor, in his opening remarks stressed that given the circumstances, created by the COVID-19, University authorities shall try to make the best use of online and virtual teaching and learning on regular and in an organized manner.
“We got the opportunity to create the given adverse circumstances to our advantage and strengthen virtual teaching/learning and the assessment at the University”. The internal assessment of the students shall be done using online modes and the university must develop a robust mechanism to conduct online exams.
The Vice Chancellor informed that he has approved the recommendations of the Deans committee for conduct of research related activities online. These include online, submission of thesis, panel of experts, receipt of evaluation reports and conduct of final Viva -Voce.
Prof Talat advised that the faculty members should devise their own mechanism to conduct online internal assessment of students. These may include online assignments, quiz programs, MCQ tests and short-term review-based research projects. The students be encouraged to do review based desertions, avoiding use of laboratories and travel during the lockdown period.
The meeting was informed that during the lockdown period, as per University ITS&S records, 33724 teaching sessions have been conducted by the University teachers, besides thousands of sessions on ZOOM and other platforms, for which data and details are being collected from the Heads of the departments.
“The faculty is advised to make use of their official email IDs for conduct of Google hangout meet classes to ensure safety of data and record”, said the Vice Chancellor.
Prof Talat advised the School of Education and Directorate of Distance education to explore the possibility of conducting Online “Teaching Practice” sessions for B.Ed. students in collaboration with the school education department.
The meeting was informed that teaching of 2nd Semester Batch 2018 has been completed and 3rd Semester is going on, which will be completed by the mid of June 2020 and the exams etc. completed by the end of June 2020, to start the 4th semester by July 2020. Likewise for the Batch September,2019, teaching of 1st Semester has been Completed & 2nd Semester is going on, which will also be completed by the end of June 2020. Since the university follows a carry on system, the students will be automatically admitted in the next semester immediately after their exam is over and the classes started. This will save the time lost due to various reasons.
