Srinagar/April,22 : To provide novel learning opportunities for students in the time of pandemic, EMRC (Educational Multimedia Research Centre), University of Kashmir (KU) has come up with an interactive multimedia ‘Digital Learning Corner (DLC)’. The DLC contains courses and course material, developed by renowned subject experts from various disciplines, students can avail in the comfort, convenience, and above all, the safety of their homes anywhere, anytime. Due to the ongoing lockdown, schools, colleges and universities are unable to function and the closure is taking a heavy toll on education system, especially students and scholars.
“Our aim is to fill that void and provide quality content to students from primary to secondary to undergraduate (UG) and postgraduate (PG)-level students through different media and digital platforms”, said Director EMRC, KU, Prof. Shahid Rasool.
“EMRC Srinagar too has its share in delivering content to masses not just in the twin UTs of J&K and Ladakh but for learners all over”, said Prof. Shahid. He explained that through this Digital Learning Platform, SWAYAM and YouTube, “we have made available all the content developed by institutions like CEC, UGC- Inflibnet, NPTEL, NIOS, IGNOU, NCERT, IIT, Gyan Darshan, AICTE, NITTTR, IIMB free and easily accessible to learners who wish to make the best use of this lockdown while not requiring venturing out.”
Such platforms have digital e-contents for 87 UG subjects as per model syllabi of UGC under National Mission on Education through ICT (NME-ICT), 86 MOOCs for PG and 203 MOOCs for UG students.
“Subjects like Immunology, Economic Botany, Plant Physiology, Algorithms, Psychology for Health & Wellbeing and Effective Decision Making offered by our centre (EMRC, KU) as MOOCs are also available”, Shahid Rasool said.
“On KU TELEVISION YouTube channel, with around 5000 subscribers, lectures on Botany, Laparoscopic Surgery, MOOC lectures on Genetics, lecture-based programmes on few subjects and few discussion-based programmes have also been made available,” he informed, adding that “besides having YouTube Video, educational documentaries and GoogleDrive Content Links of various MOOCS, we have content for undergraduate and postgraduate students on Languages, Elementary Education, English Teaching, Special Education for Visually Impaired, Home Science, Environmental Science, Physical Education etc. The courseware also includes three years BA Education programme and related enrichment programmes”.
He further said, the EMRC DLC provides links to content for classes 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th developed by NCERT and NIOS.
If internet was a problem, students need not worry as, 32 dedicated, free-to-air DTH Channels of MHRD, that run content 24×7, are available on DD Free Dish and Dish TV” besides the Jio app, the Director EMRC, KU said, adding that “all you need to do is to ask your cable operators to make the channels available on their networks”. “In times of COVID-19 it shall be mandatory for all cable and DTH operators to carry these educational channels”, he wished. The requests have been made to the authorities in this regards.
EMRC, KU on its own 24×7 DTH channel on Life Sciences called SPANDAN, airs content for students of Botany, Zoology, Biomedical Science, Life Science, Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Bioinformatics, etc. The programmes are directly based on the UGC curriculum and the programme schedule is available on the DLC as well as the centre website.
“Digital and online education is the future, and we need to encourage students use our available media platforms for their own benefit,” he reckoned, adding that “when education is being delivered at your palms why worry, you just have to tap or click.” He also requested teachers and scholars to come forward to package knowledge in various digital forms.
To promote digital education, EMRC, KU has been using various methods to reach out to people like making use of social media, publishing posters, etc. in newspapers, Shahid said, pledging “to ensure that no learner remains deprived of education, come what may, and that education is their right, we try our bit to deliver that education which is not just our collective responsibility as a society but our duty as an educational media centre.”
