The popularity of online courses and virtual learning all over the world seems to have caught the imagination of the Department of Collegiate Education (DCE) in the State as well.
As many as seven government first grade colleges in Bengaluru are part of a tentative list of colleges selected for a pilot ‘Virtual Class Programme’ in the State. These video lectures on a variety of topics are aimed at supplementing the already available resources like libraries and laboratories.
In all, about 100 colleges with at least three colleges in each district will be selected for the programme. It will be extended to all colleges in the State depending on the response.
At present, the department is in the process of collecting and recording lectures on a number of subjects recommended by a group of experts. The department already has a bank of as many as 600 lectures and more are being downloaded and recorded.
The topics of these lectures range across subjects such as commerce, management, history, economics, physics, chemistry, mathematics, botany, environment science, spoken English and fundamentals of computers to name a few, said Govinde Setty, a nodal officer from DCE, supervising the project.
Officials claim that virtual classes will go a long way in helping students especially in times when there is a shortage of faculty or for self study.
Not so expensive
Information officer of DCE, N Ramesh Reddy said, “Funds required for the project in each college is very less. The content is freely available online from where we have downloaded them, while others are being recorded. This will be uploaded on a computer from where they can be transfered to a pen drive. Besides, we will also try to make them available on smart phones through WiFi. Each college requires around Rs 25,000 for the project,” he said.
Sandhya M, a final year student from Maharani Arts, Commerce and Management College said the concept of virtual learning would be an additional tool that will greatly help in her studies.
Pilot Plan
Maharani Arts, Commerce and Management College; Maharani Science College for Women; Government Arts College (all situated around KR Circle); RC College of Commerce and Management, Basaveshwara Circle; government first grade colleges in Vijayanagara, KR Puram and Yelahanka are the seven colleges selected for the pilot plan, Setty said.