New Delhi: The Punjab Engineering College (PEC) Chandigarh, has decided to start the next semester in online mode. The semester scheduled from July will have classes, mid-semester, and end-semester exams online.
A Twitter post of the Director of PEC Dheeraj Sanghi said: “We at PEC, Chandigarh will have the next semester online.
The Senate approved online teaching for the next semester on June 16 after consultations with all faculty members in a virtual meeting and discussions with the heads of department.
“Right from the beginning of this pandemic, Punjab Engineering College Chandigarh has been thinking ahead and figuring out the way forward during the pandemic time. More than a month ago, we had felt that opening the campus with all 3,300 students would not be possible till November, and we must plan for an online semester,” said Prof Sanghi on his social media post.
“While a lot of faculty members feel that on-campus education is of higher quality…would be able to open the campus fully in due course. But if we have no assurance, and our own reading of the situation tells us that a fully open campus may not be possible till November (perhaps next year)… We must start our semester at the usual time, which is the last week of July, and it will have to be in online mode”, the director wrote in his blog.
The faculty members of PEC will be trained in online teaching. “Since our faculty members will be delivering online education for the first time, we wanted to make sure that they have enough time to learn new techniques and conduct the course at the same time”, added Prof Sanghi.
The classes will be held either through recorded lectures or live steam sessions. However, doubt-clearing live sessions will be held for the recorded lectures. The institute has also decided to offer fewer courses than usual this semester, reported NDTV.
Courses with low registration will likely be offered using the “online – external model” in which only exams will be conducted by PEC and students will be allowed to register for the course on SWAYAM, Coursera, red, and Harappa.
For lab practicals, virtual lab sites and holding online classes could be a possibility. However, the director also suggests conducting lab sessions at the institute in shifts, added the NDTV report.