Bhubaneswar: Inching a step further in digital education, the Directorate of Distance & Continuing Education (DDCE) of Utkal University has decided to implement virtual tutorial (VT) project from January 2020.
VT classes will be started from January on pilot basis in 101 colleges where smart classrooms have already been opened. The project is being implemented under Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), official sources said.
The DDCE has been asked to be ready with the semester-wise and subject-wise VT classes. After that the Higher Education (HE) department will issue necessary instructions to the 101 colleges to start the piloting.
Expert teachers will take the classes at the studio in DDCE here. After the recordings of the classes, it will be played in the smart classrooms opened in 101 colleges. The expert teachers on specific subjects have been chosen and they will be asked to take the classes both in Odia and English.
The DDCE shall give the list of teachers to the HE department in to ensure that the said teachers are spared by the respective colleges for VT classes.
If studio recording is done on a college holiday or if the teacher comes for studio recording by taking leave, then the teacher should be paid honorarium by the DDCE.
The duration for VT class will be of 30 minutes each. At the end of each class, a summary of what was taught should be shown in PPT format which will also be shown in the beginning of the next class.
There is also a plan to conduct interactive doubt-clearing sessions with best teaching faculties of the state on videoconferencing mode.
This apart, the government has decided to revise its proposal to distribute 5000 Akash tabs to the students in all five government-run universities under the VT project. Instead of tabs, VT material will be given to the students in pen drive (16GB). Accordingly, the HE department will submit proposal to Ministry of Human Resource Development (MHRD) for approval of the modified proposal, the source said.
A monitoring committee will be formed under the chairmanship of higher education secretary to implement and review the progress of the VT project. The total project cost is Rs 5 crore, of which the Utkal University has received Rs 3.75 crore and utilised over Rs 2 crore so far.
