The Tamil Nadu Government Collegiate Teachers’ Association has suggested that the odd semester for academic year 2021-22 be conducted online for all degree programmes. It has released a set of guidelines for teachers, students and institutions.
Live classes through Google Meet or video conferencing tools have been proposed. Students will undergo five hours of online classes daily six days a week, amounting to 30 hours of learning, including 18 hours of virtual classroom (VCR) sessions and 12 hours of e-resource learning (eRL).
A maximum of three virtual classroom (VCR) sessions, totalling 18 hours in a week of 50-minute sessions with 10-minute break between classes has been suggested. Online classes will be conducted from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The remaining 12 hours shall be conducted through e-content, videos, PPTs, study material and reference links to certified academic portals. Students must attend at least 30% of VCRs each week to score attendance for all the e-RLs for that particular week. Virtual classes for the entire semester shall be conducted for 15 weeks (90 working days), including tests, revision and related academic work.
About 60% of the syllabus must be taught through VCRs and 40% through eRLs.
Practical session will be taught using regular on-line live or pre-recorded demonstrations. Candidates will undergo three tests through virtual mode, every four weeks. The best two of the three will be used to compute scores. PG students shall participate in group seminars, presentations and viva-voice. Practical papers will account for 40% of the evaluation.
Students must log in a few minutes ahead of class and must use headphones, earphones to mitigate distraction. Teachers may conduct online classes from home or from college if they wish.
Late submissions of assignments will lead to deduction of marks. Students must retain a hard copy of the answer scripts, assignments, notebooks, lab observation notes, record books and workbooks for review when offline classes commence. Parents may not interact with their wards or the teacher during online classes.
Grievance redress panel
Institutions must have an online classes grievances redress committee (OGRC) comprising the Principal as chairman, two senior-most staff, a senior-most woman teacher and a member of the SC/ST community shall be co-opted.
Institutions must provide an e-complaint box in the college website and ensure anonymity of the student lodging a complaint of sexual harassment. The committee shall refer it to the concerned class mentor or department head or the OGRC shall directly address the complaints.
The committee shall ensure that the complaint is addressed, resolved within one week and a record of action taken report (ATR) shall be maintained in the office of the chairman. A further inquiry shall be ordered and necessary corrective action or legal action as deemed required or essential must be taken, the association has suggested.
