DU: Pioneering e-content development

Updated on: Friday, May 29, 2009

New Delhi: Delhi University (DU) is getting on the e-technology fast lane. The ministry of human resource development has handed a pilot project to the varsity which may lead it to becoming the national centre for e-content development.

AK Bakshi, director of the Institute of Life Long Learning (ILL) under DU, is handling the project. He said that they have been developing online quizzes, creating virtual laboratories and e-content for seven subjects as a part of the project.

"This is not the first time that we are developing e-content. ILL has already been working on developing e-material to supplement classroom teaching in different subjects. However with this pilot project if everything goes well, we can become the national centre for e-content development and set an example for other varsities," Bakshi told sources in an interview.

The project, which is a part of the Rs 5,000 crore (Rs 50 billion) scheme of National Mission of Education Through Information and Communication Technology, has a December deadline.

"The human resource development ministry launched the National Mission on Education through ICT this February and as a part of that scheme we were given the pilot project. For starters we have been sanctioned Rs 10 million. Another Rs 10 million will be sanctioned in a few months.

"As part of the project we are developing e-content for seven subjects - chemistry, botany, zoology, maths, economics, commerce and history - in accordance with the UGC syllabus. After completion, the content will be uploaded on the ministry's portal," Bakshi told sources.

In an attempt to keep pace with the changing times and the morphing education scenario, DU has been developing e-content for various subjects so as to make concepts clearer to students and make learning an enjoyable process.

One of its latest initiatives is video lectures in different subjects.

"From the next academic session we will be uploading video lectures for first year students of commerce, physics, chemistry, maths, life sciences and arts. Since the lectures will be by the best of the faculty members of each subject in the university, this initiative will ensure that no student is deprived of getting the best lecture just because he or she does not study in a particular college," Bakshi said.

"Generally students vie for notes from professors, who they perceive, gives the best lectures in a particular subject. This initiative will put an end to that because we will have a repository of 60-70 lectures from the best of the faculty members of each subject uploaded in our website which students have access to," he added.

The lectures will be recorded around June 20 and uploaded on ILL's portal.

Besides the video lectures, visuals, animations, online quizzes and virtual laboratories are also being developed by ILL for different subjects.

And that's not all.

"In order to keep pace with the tech savvy students, it's important that the university's teachers also become e-savvy. Keeping this in mind, we may sign a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft under which 7,000 teachers of DU will be trained to become ICT-savvy," Bakshi told sources.

Educationtimes

DU: Pioneering e-content development

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