NEWS: Pune University to launch online diploma courses

[Frederick Noronha <fred@bytesforall.org>]

Pune University to launch online diploma courses

by V. Radhika, India Abroad News Service

Pune, Jan 29 - In what it describes as the first effort of its kind in the
country, Pune University will start offering online diplomas on a few select
vocational courses from May.

The first courses to scroll down on screens in virtual classrooms will be
information technology (IT) and electronics. The four other courses that
will follow are business and management studies, health and environment,
communication and journalism and foreign languages.

Targeted mainly at housewives, retired defense personnel and the post-VRS
(Voluntary Retirement Scheme) group, which has a lot of spare time and
energy, these courses, culminating in vocational diplomas will be offered
online and through the television.

"Our focus is very clear. It is not education for education's sake, for that
is being done in university campuses. This program is only for vocational
education and in the priority list, the topmost is IT," Bhushan Patwardhan,
a leading academic of Pune University, told IANS.

"We are not targeting students as much as senior citizens, VRS and defense
personnel who retire early. They have discipline but need skills," he said.

It was two years ago that Pune University signed a memorandum of
understanding (MoU) with the Ahmedabad-based Transnational Alternate
Learning for Emancipation and Empowerment through Multimedia (Taleem), a
literary, scientific and charitable trust with distance and open learning on
its agenda. However, it was only two and a half months ago that this MoU
actually translated into real action.

"Early this year when Taleem entered into an MoU with Zee Interactive
Learning Systems (ZILS), Mumbai, we also swung into action and started
holding meetings regularly," said Patwardhan, who was assigned the task of
interfacing between the university and Taleem. This interface took a formal
shape with the setting up of a task force by the university. A brainstorming
session was held on January 9 and 12, with top university officials and even
outsiders participating.

A significant change that had taken place in the meantime was that while the
initial focus was on television as a medium for distance learning, now it is
the Internet. "Two years ago the Internet invasion was yet to take place,
but now that it is in place we are going to focus on virtual classrooms. The
main advantage of the Internet is that it is interactive learning, while
television is a one-way communication," Patwardhan said.

Internet-based learning also means that the program is no longer bound to
the university. "It now becomes an international program in the sense that
anyone from any part of the world can have access to it. We are targeting
not only the Indian market but international market, particularly developing
countries (Middle East and Africa) and later, when we launch Indian systems
of medicine Ayurveda etc., it will have tremendous popularity in the West,"
said an optimistic Patwardhan.

On a par with the U.S., British or Australian systems, the interactive
distance learning will award university diplomas on the basis of credit
options earned within certain working hours, thereby doing away with a
time-bound course duration. And it will also be the fist experience of its
kind, where students get credits instead of a mere certificate of
participation. The first batch, however, is likely to be awarded only a
participation certificate.

"Till we develop confidence that the quality of teaching is in place, we
will not go for credits. For a year we will run on participation basis...We
are in the process of formatting the course structure. In IT we will start
with application of computers and will go on till software programs. It will
be in the form of modules and students decide which modules they want to
take," Patwardhan said.

The program in all five courses will be audiovisual and will have a strong
multimedia base. While initially the interaction between students and
teachers will be on chat and e-mail mode, it will later be a virtual
classroom with voice mail.

"To create this new structure within the shortest time period, coordinators
were appointed on January 12 for each subject. These coordinators will
invite expert participation to create online curriculum for their subjects,"
Patwardhan said.

While content will come from university, Taleem and ZILS will provide
resources and delivery systems. ZILS centers will be utilized as contact
points for practical learning when needed because some courses may not be
hundred percent online.

--India Abroad News Service