Though the syllabus is being taught rapidly, online classes are still not adequate: Asmit, UPES

These are first-hand student accounts on how our young population is managing to keep their exam prep or college course work going from the confines of their homes. In case you want to share your lockdown study experience, write to us at publish@shiksha.com.

The current pandemic has stopped almost every institution in the world as well as in India. My university is also not opening until the situation gets better. My university, as per an official mail released by them, is not targeted to open from 15th June onwards.

Our mid-semester exams were scheduled from 16^th March but due to COVID-19 pandemic, they were converted into online tests. After the lockdown was announced, the university made a short timetable for online classes to be started in the first week. We had only one class of 1-hour duration for the first two weeks. The faculty taught us through PPTs, YouTube, and making a short video by themselves on Telegram. Now, the university has strictly advised us to follow the regular timetable and the faculty is teaching accordingly.

Though the syllabus is being taught rapidly, online classes are still not adequate. In a classroom, there is discipline among students for the faculty. However, in an online class, a student can just skip the class by entering and being idle for the whole time. The faculty members need to adapt themselves to teach in virtual mode. They need to adapt to this situation and select the best method to teach. As per our timetable, we have 5 subjects with each subject having 3 classes every week. We do not have classes on weekends.

We get assignments for weekends. They basically comprise of practice questions based on the topics covered in the classes held for that week. This is a very good way as students learn the topics daily and work on the problems based on them. We generally write the assignments in a notebook, then scan it through our phones and send it to the faculty in PDF form. We generally get one assignment from each subject every week.

Apart from this, students work on their minor projects daily. They interact with their mentors every week and try to finish it as soon as possible.

As of now, the labs are suspended to be conducted in virtual mode. It is more difficult for the students to install a particular software on their devices as not everyone has a good internet connection and most of the students rely on mobile data rather than any other internet connection supply. Some software is not free. Therefore, the university decided to conduct them as soon as the campus opens again.

The university is doing its best to handle this situation. They are conducting regular class tests so that students can perform well and practice regularly. They have also provided some of the best e-learning resources for students so that they can access study materials remotely anywhere as most of the students do not have access to their notes and books as of now.

The university has also collaborated with the best in business Coursera for online courses. Students can learn and practice any subject they feel comfortable, and after successful completion of the course, they also receive a certificate which they can add in their resume which will help them in placements.

The university is also arranging an internship offer for third-year students so that they can work under industry experts at their home via work from home method. This way, they will improve their skills and be useful to these companies. The university is also working on the placement process that begins in August this year for the final year students due to the current situation. Job opportunities will be hard to gather and placements will be adversely affected. Students accordingly are also working hard to find their skills and master them.

About the Author:

Asmit Piyush is currently pursuing his B.Tech in CSE with Business Analytics and Optimization from University of Petroleum & Energy Studies. He's an enthusiastic writer and fond of data analytics.