Encouraged by the thrust accorded by University Grants Commission for conduct of academic activities through the online platform during the COVID-19 lockdown period, higher educational institutions in the region are able to plan and conduct Faculty Development Programmes (FDPs) early on during this academic year.
The organisers of FDPs are finding it convenient to rope in resource persons from leading institutions.
The lockdown period has giving a good opportunity for conduct of the academic activities, said V.M. Shanthi, Principal of Government College of Engineering - Srirangam, which conducted ATAL online Faculty Development Programme last month on the topic 'Trends and Issues in Control System Analysis and Design.
The programme was inaugurated virtually by AICTE Chairman Anil D. Sahasrabuddhe.
200 participants
There were 200 participants from over 20 States for the programme. Resource persons were drawn from reputed institutions including NIT-T and Anna University, Chennai.
The UGC-Human Resource Development Centre of Bharathidasan University had conducted three-day short-term courses last month, in outcome-based education and curriculum development, research methodology, gender sensitisation and women empowerment, and human rights education. The HRDC will be conducting two workshops, on 'MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) and Open Educational Resources' and 'E-content Development and Online Pedagogy', each of six-day duration, during this month.
The sessions for the workshop are to be conducted on Google Meet.
The participants have been told about the requirements: desktop personal computer or laptop, high-bandwidth internet connectivity, accessories for two-way audio-video communication and uninterrupted internet connectivity and electricity.
The National Institute of Technology - Tiruchi will be conducting an online Faculty Development Programme on Industry 4.0 from September 14 - 18.
The Department of Electronics and Communiction Engineering, National Institute of Technology - Puducherry is in the currently conducting an FDP in 'Recent Trends in Communication Engineering, involving 60 participants from across the country.
The institution has been able to rope in eminent resource persons from IITs and NITs and experts from DRDO for handling the sessions.
Last month, the NITPY had conducted a five-day FDP on ‘Advanced Communication System Design and Simulations'.