“Educators need to find opportunity in every calamity. Let us reinvent, reboot and recharge our teaching to meet the needs of online learning and be the ray of hope to the thousands of learners looking up to us. Look at the silver lining and choose to be the best version of an online teacher.’ Professor (Dr.) Ajay Sareen, principal, Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidylaya, Jalandhar, Punjab.
Established in 1927 with the noble mission of providing value-based, employment-oriented education to girls, Hans Raj Mahila Maha Vidyalaya, Jalandhar (HRMMV) is one of oldest and most reputed institutions managed by the DAV College Management Committee (DAVCMC) that oversees the functioning of over 900 schools, 75 colleges and a university in India and abroad.
During the prolonged closure of educational institutions prompted by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the HRMMV management and staff have been making the most of the opportunity to revamp their virtual teaching-learning pedagogies. Infact, much before the Covid-19 crisis, the Guru Nanak University (Amritsar) affiliated HRMMV had developed its own e-learning management system for facilitating anytime anywhere learning through the concept of e-teacher.
Other initiatives such as paperless office, e-fees management system, e-attendance, e-sakhi (safety/grievance redressal app for girls), e-HMV News app, e-TREE (electronic database of flora and fauna of HMV) that have been implemented over the past decade have also enabled the transition from conventional classroom learning to virtual learning.
- Efficient use of existing digital resources including recording studio, chroma studio and digital labs to prepare and disseminate e-learning content. The e-learning content developed in-house has also been shared with students of other institutions in compliance with the institution’s ‘academic social responsibility’.
- Deployment of digital platforms such as Webex, Zoom, Google Meet, etc to conduct live online classes that follow a well balanced time-table.
- The college has announced liberal concessions for wards of COVID-19 warriors.
- Thus far, a total of 65 webinars have been organised by the institution for personalised counselling, mental health counselling and academic purposes.
- Setting up of a special e-desk for facilitating admission process, stress counselling and result declaration.
“Our efforts to ensure uninterrupted learning for students has garnered appreciation from all quarters. According to the data culled from our student satisfaction survey, over 90 percent students are satisfied with our online teaching pedagogies and online assessments,” says Prof. (Dr.) Sareen.