One Day College Cluster Workshop on e Learning (MOOCs) in PGGCG-11

Chandigarh

5 May 2017

DIVYA AZAD

A One-day College Cluster Workshop on “e Learning-Massive Open Online Courses” (MOOCs) was organised in P. G. Govt. College for Girls, Sector-11, Chandigarh today. The Workshop was organised under the able guidance of Mr. Jitender Yadav, IAS, Director Higher Education UT Chandigarh and State Project Director, RUSA. More than 100 delegates from 12 city colleges participated in the workshop.

Welcoming the guests, speakers and delegates, Prof. Anita Kaushal, Principal of the college lauded the role of RUSA in promoting higher education. She emphasised that apart from traditional teaching-learning, MOOCs can serve as a viable medium for providing distance education in the digital age.

In his key-note address, Dr. Manoj K. Arora, Director PEC University of Technology highlighted the growing need and significance of online courses especially with respect to tech-savvy youth. ICT revolution in India during the last decade has paved the way for such courses and they can be put into operation in diverse fields. He focussed on SWAYAM, the National MOOCs portal being developed by MHRD, Govt. of India which aims at achieving access, equity and quality in education. Dr. Dalip Kumar, Assistant State Project Director, RUSA elaborated the role of UT Administration in providing platform in development of such courses. He enumerated various initiatives proposed to be taken by the UT Administration for e Learning.

In the 1^st Technical Session, Dr. Divya Bansal, Associate Professor and Head Cyber Security Research Centre, PEC delivered a Talk on “MOOCs and future teaching and learning skills-2020.” She detailed about the bright future of open online courses. In the 2^nd Technical session, Ms. Sudesh Rani, Assistant Professor, Deptt. of CSE, PEC, Chandigarh delivered a Talk on “Delivering e Learning through MOOCs illustrations”.

Prof. Pardeep Singh Walia, RUSA Nodal officer of the college proposed a vote of thanks.