ICT Enabled Learning Environment:  Excellence Through Equity and Empowerment

There is an E-content Library and E-resource centre to support the digital culture of Motilal Nehru College (eve.) College.  Classrooms have been equipped with a projector, screen, speaker and amplifier. An electronic podium is also being made available in the seminar hall with a wireless mike so that students and teachers can interact with each other more effectively. Wi-Fi zone has been created in the college campus. Digital library has been created to access the N-list and Inflibnet. Both students and teachers have ID’s to access the facility of e- resource.    

In order to bridge the resource gap between students from different backgrounds the college lends laptops to students and teachers every year. The laptops are issued by the library used throughout the academic year. The college provides free internet access in the campus to students and teachers. 

Various initiatives have been taken by college to provide ICT enabled learning environment to various stakeholders:

The college is aware that the lack of knowledge of internet technology might become a road block for the ICT based learning ecosystem. In order to address this issue, the college has organised regular workshops/webinars for students, teachers and non-teaching staff to enable them to use Internet infrastructure of the college smoothly. 

• The library conducts workshops for students and teachers to use the research databases offered through UGC Platforms like N-List and Inflibnet. Every year students and teachers receive their remote access ID and password for these platforms.
• Student and teacher workshops have been conducted with Microsoft Teams experts to explain the features of Microsoft Teams software. The College IT personnel regularly address issues related to Microsoft teams with students and teachers at an individual level. 
• Skill enhancement course in Computer Application is offered to BA and B.Com. programme students in our college. This course aims to introduce the basic knowledge of Computer Applications to the students who wish to either take up entry level jobs in small scale computer industry or use computer technology in study of Humanities. The courses are designed to promote computer literacy, and use and appreciate computer technology in day-to-day life. Inclusion of computer programming courses promotes logical and analytical thinking. It introduces the basic computer technologies and provides hands-on practice in the use of commonly used software in small scale industry. The rationale for this course is to teach students the theoretical approach to information technology and management information systems within a business/computer science environment. This course emphasizes on word processing, spreadsheets, databases, presentation software, and electronic commerce of the Internet. This course has both a lecture and lab component.  Normally, there is a theoretical lecture and lab component each day with the lab occurring at the end of the period.
• The courses taught based on ICT have a practical component based on the theory taught. Specialized software is needed to conduct practical. The college through the internet provided by the server of University of Delhi has an access to Databases that are used for conducting practical. A few of these open access databases Tall ERP 9, Income Tax Returns etc. Since all the software needed are not available freely, a few of them have been purchased by the college. These include Office Prof. 2010, Windows 7 Professional.

College initiatives during lockdown:

The unprecedented pandemic situation has paved the gateways to a digital age where most of the academic and non-academic institutions have gradually switched to “work from home” mode. E-learning has become not only significant, but a necessity and is rapidly gaining momentum. With the Government of India aiming at digitizing India with its “Digital India” Initiative, academic institutions are also gearing up towards imparting knowledge to the students as well as teachers to attain this objective.

Following initiatives have been taken by college during lockdown which helped students as well as teachers:

• College has subscribed to Microsoft software MS Teams to enable in technology-based classroom during the lockdown. The teachers and students have been conducting regular classes along with submission of assignments, evaluation and attendance through the feature provided on the platform of MS Teams. Reading materials are shared on the platform and student-teacher interaction through the comments section of the platform has made MS Teams a lively academic space. 
• The college organised a fortnight long online Faculty Development Program in collaboration with Teaching Learning Centre (TLC), Ramanujan College under Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya national Mission on Teachers and teaching (PMMMNMTT) MHRD, GOI; titled “Learning Advanced E-Tools for MOOCs Development & Research, 1 September 2020 – 14 September 2020. The objective of this program was to empower the teachers to explore the usage of online courses for learning, teaching and professional development and also build their capability to plan, design and implement online courses that are in conjunction with global standards. MOOCs program will help in extending effective support and analytics for improved teaching and learning as well as smooth communication. Using E-Tools which enable researchers to conduct research that would be almost impossible using conventional methods–such as studies of widely dispersed population, studies that require multiple assessment over long periods of time or studies in which many participants need to be assessed within a very short time.