7 Days FDP commenced at PU
With the initiatives of Ministry of Human Resource and Development,
under the aegis of Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on
Teachers and Teaching, the Center for Academic Leadership and Education
Management (CALEM) running in Panjab University Chandigarh has taken an
initiative to arrange an Online seven days Faculty Development Programme
from June 24-29, 2020 on the theme of “Managing Virtual Classroom and
Open Education Resources”.
More than 700 participants from 30 universities from India got
registered for this workshop. More than 100 teachers of Panjab
University, Chandigarh are also participating in this workshop. The
course is coordinated by Dr Vishal Sharma (Coordinator, Swayam), Dr
Kanwalpreet Kaur (Chairperson, IETVE), Dr Tejinderpal Singh, (UBS),
Prof. Kirandeep Singh (Chairperson, Deptt. of Education); Prof. Jatinder
Grover (Coordinator CALEM and Dean, Faculty of Education), Panjab
University, Chandigarh.
Prof. R.K. Singla, Dean of University Instructions, Panjab
University, Chandigarh welcomed all the dignitaries and participants. He
shared that the main objective of this faculty development programme is
to create awareness among faculty members about the Open Educational
Resources and online teaching-learning tools. Learning of these tools
and techniques will help the faculty members to design their own online
courses as well as e-content for the virtual classroom teaching.
Prof. Rajbir Singh Ji, Honourable Vice-Chancellor, Maharishi Dayanand
University, Rohtak inaugurated the workshop. He highlighted the need for
training the teachers about using the technology tools to supplement and
complement the learning. The status of the teacher cannot be compromised
as teachers have to take the responsibility of development of students,
society and country. He shared that plenty of material related to all
subjects is available at ConsortiumforEducational Communication,
aninter-university centre ofUniversityGrantsCommission(UGC) dedicated
tothecauseofdigitaleducationinIndia. He endorsed that universities have
to take the initiative to orient the teachers to plan teaching models
through online mode.
Prof. Rekha Koul, Dean International, Curtin University, Perth,
Australia delivered the keynote address. She shared that in the Indian
education system there is a gap in theory and practice. Policy planners
and teachers have to plan to narrow down this gap. She said that in
India, not a single instructional model can work due to socio-cultural
diversity. She elaborated on the relevance of constructivist pedagogy,
blended learning, flipped classroom in the present scenario. She
stressed that collaboration is the major 21st-century skill that every
student has to learn for managing all stress and adjustment related
issues in the work environment. Indian schools have to adopt new norms
for evaluation like the norm- referenced testing, two or three-tier
multiple-choice questions to have an in-depth analysis of the knowledge
of students. For reliable and valid evaluation, rubrics for evaluation
need to be developed. She highlighted the need to change the mindset of
parents in India who are still asking about the rank of their kid in the
class. Parents have to know the actual learning of their kids.
In the second session, Dr Amarendra Behera, Joint Director, CIET, NCERT,
New Delhi elaborated upon the initiatives of Govt. of India related to
online platforms. During the period of COVID-19, teachers have to learn
about the synchronous or asynchronous mode of blending. Television and
Radio networks have to be used to cater to the needs of students living
in hilly and inaccessible areas.
In the third session, Prof. Srinivasa K.G., NITTTR, Chandigarh dwelled
on the usage of Open Education Resources for developing e-content. He
demonstrated the application of various open education resources for
developing e-content.
Prof. Jatinder Grover, Coordinator CALEM shared that This current
COVID-19 pandemic has changed our lifestyle and given us various new
normal’s including in the field of education.In the current COVID-19
pandemic, there has been a rise in search on google on the themes “how
to teach online”, “best virtual learning platforms”, “online teaching
tools”, and “open education resources” etc. Teachers who were not ready
to use technology, now have to take the bull by its horns. Others who
are efficient in using all these resources and platforms require some
re-learning.
