Friday, 15 September 2017

A Giant Leap towards Blended Learning!

A judicious blending of the online digital apparatus with the traditional classroom methods, have always been a boon of sorts, to today’s tech-savvy students.

A thoughtful integration of online and face-to-face environments helps students to integrate their classroom teaching skills in the blended-learning approach that helps in connecting with expertise from around anywhere across the world.

Theivanai Ammal College for Women, Villupuram, Tamil Nadu, has always been on the forefront of pioneering innovation on the blended learning front, and I was not quite surprised when I got a call from their Head of the Department if I could do a video confy for their UG/PG Literature Students. I promptly agreed, and the date and time was also arranged, well in advance. On Monday, 11 September 2017, the D-day, a trial video confy was taken at around 1.15 pm and at sharp 1.30 pm the conference started.

Hundreds of students had assembled in their auditorium at Villupuram, (160 kms from Chennai) an auditorium known for its acoustic design. Here I was in Chennai, on a skype call with the students and staff, coordinated by a wonderful professor from their side. The lecture went on for 1 hr and 30 minutes, followed by a time of discussion.

Indeed, video conferencing is a giant leap in the era of blended learning, when convergence seems to be the order of the day.

Kudos to the techno-savvy team at the Department of English, TACW! Way to go!

Well, the highly resourceful blended learning is - at last! - here to stay!

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