In this Corona outbreak, ITM University says, Ghar se hi "karona"!: Aditi

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.

In India, COVID-19 cases have risen up to 6,771 along with death toll hitting 228. The step taken by the Indian government on national lockdown is the need of the hour but it definitely, is not compromising with the education system of the ITM University, Gwalior. The university had been closed right after the Holi holidays from the 12th of March. The hostelers were notified to return back home and proper arrangements were made to keep the international students in the hostel.

In order to ensure that the students don't miss out on their daily learning schedule, the university has made elaborate arrangements on learning management system (LMS) on Moodle platform to provide classes for the students through videos, webinars and also by uploading all the course content, syllabi, tests, quizzes, regular assignments to keep the students in touch with their academics.

All the teaching faculty members are working from home for providing online classes to the students and are available for the students on calls and on WhatsApp to answer their queries and clarify their doubts regarding their course. These classes are well secured and can only be joined by the students by the links given by the teachers and have login passwords.

The online classes are conducted daily on the basis of a proper time table given by the teachers so that students don't lose the habit of opening their books regularly. In case a student misses out on a class due to poor network or any reason, he/she can download the recorded lecture along with the notes provided by the teachers on LMS.

Something I find appreciable is that the webinars don't require high internet speed making it convenient for all to use from students living in the cities with a good internet connection to those living in the mountainous regions where connectivity is poor.

As a student, I feel online classes can never equal the classes conducted in classrooms but it definitely is easier to understand through videos and images. The students are not provided with previous lectures but live classes take place so that they can also interact with the teachers while they're teaching to get their concepts clear right whenever they get confused. The rule of maintaining a minimum attendance of 75% still prevails as attendance is also taken in these classes indirectly compelling the students to take the classes and keep themselves tied to their studies.

The assignments also have a time limit within which they are required to be submitted and 2-3 assignments are given in a week. These assignments are graded by the teachers and will be considered when the final report will be prepared. While doing the assignments, students have to first prepare the content which is very beneficial as it is natural that they won't open their books otherwise.

Although the webinars have solved the problem of studies getting hampered, being a student I sometimes find it uninteresting to just go on listening to the webinars and I feel the need of a proper classroom which includes peer learning, live activities and most importantly feeling the presence of the teacher which brings with itself the fear of paying attention to what the teacher says. Moreover, the university has advised the students to be serious and utilize this time of crisis by diverting their mind for deep learning in their subjects.

About the Author:

Aditi Sharma is 2nd year student of B.Pharma from ITM University, Gwalior.