PU’s ‘smart classrooms’ a distant dream

“The key idea of teaching in a smart class is to make use of e-content and interactive boards while delivering lectures.

This had been proposed for the technological upliftment of the university. But it has been noted that if implemented,the utility of the e-content and eventually the smart classrooms will remain restricted to graphical presentations and that too,majorly in science departments,” said the head of PU’s Computer Centre,Prof Tankeshwar.

The officials believe that teaching based on e-content does not prove to be of much significance at school and undergraduate levels.”The courses in higher education (Masters),especially in social sciences are usually too specialised and developing e-content in accordance with these many diverse courses is nearly impossible. Higher education cannot be ready-made,” Prof Tankeshwar added.

When it had been proposed,the project had aimed at setting up at least one smart classroom in each building of the campus in the first phase.Many departments in the university share common buildings.

Owing to the failure of this proposal,the university has also stalled its plan to record the lectures in the classrooms for featuring them online for students part of the distance learning programme or those living in far-off places. In January this year,the university had mooted another proposal to deliver live and recorded lectures as well as a video conferencing facility to its students through virtual classrooms from the coming academic session.

The aim behind these initiatives was to provide additional assistance to students as well as to provide access to the massive university knowledge-base to students in far off places. More than 50 university teachers had given their written consent to hold these virtual classrooms and webcast lectures. However,the proposals appear to have failed in the initial stages.