– Dr. Rahul KUmar, The Asian Independent UK
Maitreyi College, University of Delhi has organised One Week Online National Level Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on “DIGITAL PEDAGOGY TO ENHANCE TEACHING AND LEARNING EXPERIENCE” in association with Guru Angad Dev-Teaching Learning Centre (GAD-TLC) of MHRD, Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, University of Delhi under Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya National Mission on Teachers and Teaching from December 15 to 21, 2020. The programme was inaugurated by honourable Chief Guest Prof K. K. Aggarwal, Chairman National Board of Accreditation and Founder Vice-Chancellor of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University and Guest of honour, Prof A. K. Bakshi, founder Vice-Chancellor of PDM University, Haryana. The inaugural session was also graced by Patron of FDP, Shri Santosh Kumar Taneja, Chairperson, Governing Body, Maitreyi College; Chairperson of FDP, Dr Haritima Chopra, Principal Maitreyi College; Co-Chairperson Dr Jaswinder Singh, Principal, Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur Khalsa College, University Of Delhi, Director, GAD-TLC; And National Coordinator of The FDP Dr Vimal Rarh, Joint-Director, GAD-TLC. The FDP was convened by Dr Saroj Rani, Maitreyi College and Co-Convened by Dr Sonal Babbar And Dr Jyotsna Talreja Wassan From Maitreyi College with abled organizing team comprising of Ms. Divya Singh, Dr. Pooja Baweja, Dr. Vidisha Garg, Dr. Shraddha Verma , Dr. Shweta Sharma, Dr Anita, Dr. Mamta Dhawan, Ms. Kritika Khurana, Dr. Kanika Gupta, Dr. Nikita, Dr. Parul Yadav, Dr. Monika Heikrujam and Mr Abhishek Khurana, Maitreyi College.
The event was a grand success as it was joined by 168 participants from different states of India such as Delhi, Assam, Karnataka, Rajasthan and Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh. Participants and dignitaries even eulogised the entire organizing team of Maitreyi College for showing utmost promptness and commitment.
The FDP observed a harmonious blend of recorded sessions (self- paced learning) and live sessions which oriented participants towards different aspects of incorporating digital pedagogy in their teaching and learning. The recorded sessions covered a wide range of relevant topics from advanced features of Google drive, meet, docs, sheets, classroom, forms and to create, compress and upload/download video lectures on/from YouTube facilitating teaching in Digital Era. These modules were developed by the Faculty of Department of Computer Science, Maitreyi College, Dr Manju Bhardwaj, Dr Veena Ghuriani, Dr Shikha Badhani, Dr Jyotsna Talreja Wassan, and Ms Rupali Ahuja.
The invigorating live sessions were conducted by eminent resource persons, Prof. A.K. Bakshi on “Achieving Excellence in Higher Education in India in the 21st Century: Challenges and Opportunities”, Dr Anita Goel, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science, Dyal Singh College on Understanding MOOCs; Dr Vimal Rarh on Role of Teachers in higher education; Prof Jaideep Sharma, Professor, IGNOU on Plagiarism and Prof Savithri Singh, former Principal, Acharya Narendra Dev College on Creative Common Licences.
The participants enhanced their knowledge not only in digital tools and techniques for teaching but also in research abilities by getting an exposure to important topics on copyright, plagiarism and licensing. They were also given assignments and quizzes to ensure that they are able to internalize the knowledge gained into their learning experience. One of the main attractions of this FDP was the interactive live sessions where participants had the opportunity to share their opinions and discuss their doubts directly with the resource persons.
The enthusiastic response from participants shows that innovative thinking in building academic networks and disseminating information is the need of the hour and the online FDP by Maitreyi College is the step in the right direction.
