ONLINE TEACHING TOOLS

Hansraj College in collaboration with Mahatma Hansraj Faculty Development Centre organized a five - day FDP programme early this year, for the partner colleges on the most pertinent and essential topic : Online Teaching Tools. Sessions held ranged from on how to use Google services, Managing E-content, Video Recording / Editing, Whiteboard teaching tools, Making Edu Podcasts for Audio E-content to Augmented Reality in education

Reality in education.

Dr Avneesh Mittal and Dr Arpita Kaul, two of our resource persons really helped teachers from our partner colleges to understand the nuances of online teaching and how one can manage classes without anxiety. The resource persons also familiarized the teachers with various evaluation methods, which are available online and that can be timed properly.

The sessions saw enthusiastic participation by the faculty of partner institutes as these tools are fundamental in online pedagogy and make the teaching - learning experience interesting. The claim of eagerness for this programme is highly supported by the feedback received from the participants. The majority of the participants were highly satisfied by the contents of the sessions held and found the sessions relevant for their jobs. This can be seen in pictures 2 (a) & (b) below.

Feedback of the FDP conducted for Partner on Online Teaching

Outcomes of the programme

• The partner colleges learned to use Google classrooms through interactive sessions.
• They learned how to create classrooms and manage student assignments.
• They were made familiar with some tools to create MCQs.
• Teachers were highly benefited and got lot of exposure as the resource persons helped them sort out the issues they face in remote teaching.

PERSONAL FINANCE MANAGEMENT

On March 4, 2021, an interesting session was delivered by our college alumni on the topic of Personal Finance Management. Our former college students – Mr Anurag Jhamb and Mr Umang Chaurasia talked about the programs, policies, and schemes of the Government of India, the role of capital markets, and the best ways of profitable investments. They discussed fixed deposits, mutual funds, and bonds. Participants were keen to know about safe investment opportunities, risks associated, and their returns. The session ended with a discussion on various aspects of finances, growth, and associated risks. Vidya Vistar team of Hansraj is committed to giving its best to help the partner colleges grow and contribute towards the education, development, and progress of their region, and hence the country.

Webinar - Personal Finance Management

Outcomes

• This programme was an eye opener for the partner colleges as they came to know about the importance of training through college societies.
• Since the resource persons were from the college alumni, this interaction also gave an impetus to the partner colleges to start contacting their alumni.
• The financial management is also a course taught to B. Com students so some doubts of teachers were also cleared.

MODUS OPERANDI AND ADOPTION OF BEST PRACTICES

In the interactive sessions with the faculty, the partner colleges showed keenness to understand how various societies in Hansraj College operate. To honour their interests, various sessions were organized for students and the faculty. We first planned to introduce our NSS wing of Hansraj college, which works under the guidance of the Ministry of Youth Affairs. The session on how NSS Hansraj operates was held for the partner colleges on 30th Mach, 2021. The Programme Officer, NSS; discussed how the team gets selected, and laid out the procedure of selecting volunteers along with the core group. The work carried out by various wings under NSS was showcased.

The volunteers of each wing presented their activities undertaken for the upliftment of the poor, marginalized, especially children. The role of NSS as a society, in preparing and training students for larger roles, out in the world, was also highlighted. Colleges were also familiarized with the importance of student societies in fostering social entrepreneurship and how they can be fundamental to the identity of an institution. Teachers and students from the partner colleges embraced the idea and were keen to start such activities in their respective colleges. Some of the pictures from the interaction are attached below as pictures 4(a), 4(b) and 4(c).

Interaction with NSS

Outcome

• As every college has to have an NSS and some partner colleges have NSS wing, the college at Drass which has started recently got clear idea of what NSS is about.
• Colleges were able to charter their NSS activities and start various projects under different wings of NSS that were suited in the areas where these colleges are located.

INNOVATION AND BUSINESS TO ADDRESS SOCIAL ISSUES

We introduced our Hansraj Enactus team to our partner colleges to showcase the projects where students are engaged in. The team members deliberated on how to look around and choose projects that have relevance to immediate surroundings and can have an impact. Through their various projects, especially on stubble burning, the society has come up with an action programme to put the stubble to use and help in the employment generation of rural women during off crop seasons.

Enactus also talked about the alcohol menace and how deaddiction centres have helped many people to get back to the mainstream. Their project on getting the disabled and de-addicts to get some income was much appreciated. The partner colleges through this interaction understood the know-how of this society, its power to empower people and improve livelihoods while developing next-generation value-driven social entrepreneurs and innovators.

Interaction with Enactus Hansraj

Outcomes

• Enactus story on helping people to get rid of smoking and alcohol addiction and getting them employment opened avenues for the partner colleges to create such ecosystems in their own areas.
• Enactus also brought to focus how colleges can get in touch with several organizations and start up some new activities that can help people earn their livelihood.

AN INVITE TO THE VIRTUAL FAIR

On April 27th, Hansraj Internship Fair was organized and students from partner colleges were invited to attend the virtual fair to give them an idea about campus placements and how to approach various organizations and people for getting internship/job opportunities.

Outcomes:

• Partner colleges wanted to know how their students can get internships so this fair was a real help to them.
• They learned how to approach companies, industries and PSUs operating in their regions to give exposure to the students and get them on job training.

DR GAURAV KUMAR,ASSISTANT PROFESSOR,DEPARTMENT OF SPORTS AND PHYSICAL EDUCATION,HANSRAJ COLLEGE, UNIVERSITY OF DELHI

One day webinar on “Role of Sports Science and Physical Education '' in the college was organized for the partner institutes on May 26, 2021. Dr Gaurav Kumar along with the President of the Sports council gave an overview of the sports department and its role in the college. Their involvement in teaching and preparing the teams for various national and inter - university competitions were discussed in detail.

Dr Gaurav also talked about how any achievement in sports by students, helps in improving the image and ranking of the institutions. He also informed the faculty / participants on how to improve the infrastructure for sports; how to look for support from various agencies; and how to ensure that non-sports category students also engage in various fitness regimens. The session ended with a Q & A and participant colleges thanked the Vidya Vistar team for introducing Dr Gaurav’s experience and shared their road map in furthering the activities of the department.

Poster of the Webinar:

Outcomes

• Every partner college got a fair idea about how Sports Departments help colleges to gain an excellent reputation.
• The partner colleges understood that physical activities should be integral part of daily activities.
• Some students with flair should be trained and made aware of the opportunities available was a takeaway point for all the colleges.
• Colleges were clear that sports infrastructure can be built by getting in touch with local ministers and MPs and they can play a role.

MR.MANMOHAN DUTT,FOUNDER,MNH- NEURO ACADEMY

Work - Life Balance may seem like an impossible goal to achieve, especially during the pandemic when the difference between work and personal space has become fuzzy, leading to physical and psychological strain. In this webinar, Mr Dutt, a professional with 31 years of experience in training and development, discussed strategies to manage stress and improve work - life balance. The webinar was attended by members of the various partner institutions along with other participants from across India.

The interactive nature of the webinar provided clarity to the participants regarding why it is important and how it improves mental and physical health. A picture of the event is attached below.

Brain Game - An Exercise on Left and Right Motion

Outcomes

• This webinar acted as a stress buster during the Pandemic.
• Teachers of partner colleges understood that students need emotional support and teachers need to be available to them and help them get rid of their anxiety.

BASICS OF RESEARCH

Hansraj College in collaboration with Mahatma Hansraj Faculty Development Centre organized yet another five - day FDP programme on Basics of Research. In one of the interactions with our partner colleges, they showed keen interest in having such a programme and we at, Vidya Vistar left no stone unturned to make that happen for them. The programme started with Prof. Kavita Singh’s (FMS) lecture on ‘Introduction to Research’ where in she discussed various types of research and their nuances. We had quite intellectually stimulating sessions on topics like Sentiment Analysis, Data Handling, Scaling Techniques, Writing Research Proposals, Plagiarism, Publication etc. by an array of eminent speakers. The team invited Prof KV Bhanumurthy, Dr HK Dangi, Dr Prabhat Mittal, Dr Hitesh Parmar, Dr Neelam Rathi, Dr Vibhash Kumar, and Dr Amit Kumar Singh. The programme achieved its goal of introducing research tools to participants to facilitate their future research. It was highly appreciated by the partner colleges. Below are a few pictures of the above mentioned programme.

Basics of Research:

Outcomes

• Partner colleges were helped to design their proposals.
• Hands on training to design the hypothesis and write for the grant was useful to the teachers.
• Teachers of partner colleges were also appraised about good academic practices and how to write papers and improve their research profile that will be useful to improve their college ranking.

RESHAPING EDUCATION DURING THE PANDEMIC

A two - day National Seminar was organised from 13 July 2021 to 14 July 2021 by Hansraj College, University of Delhi in collaboration with Government College, Yachuli, Arunachal Pradesh under the Vidya Vistar Scheme to discuss a pertinent topic regarding the ecosystem we are living in. Covid has been an opportunity in disguise, and our key note speaker, Prof. Prakash Singh mentioned that it is not Re-shaping but Shaping Education; the pandemic has given the extra push required to overhaul the education system as it exposed the lacunas in the existing structure.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic posed a major challenge for the teaching - learning process. The pandemic proved to be a major obstacle for assessment and evaluation. Along with the technical issues which impaired the flow of education, the human tragedy of the impending crisis impacted all. During the two-day National Seminar, a panel of eminent academics from different parts of India addressed some of these critical issues. The seminar was divided into six sessions — three sessions per day.

The first session was addressed by Prof Sanjeev Mittal, Vice - Chancellor, Sambalpur University, Odisha. Prof. Mittal highlighted the significance of online teaching-learning in his lecture titled “Online Teaching in Higher Education”. Prof Mittal also discussed methods to adopt online teaching. Dr Anga Padu presented her lecture on the topic -“ Reshaping Higher Education During Pandemic : Where Do We Have to Contemplate?”.

She highlighted the significant digital divide that got exacerbated with the covid. Prof. Boa Reena Tok spoke about the immediate challenge to address learning losses and creating peer matching communication networks especially for weaker students, to improve social and emotional wellbeing.

The seminar also threw some light on ‘Higher Education Scenario in Arunachal Pradesh during COVID- 19 pandemic and Post Pandemic Period’ and emphasised the need for digital education along with the issues which could hinder the transition. Prof. P.C. Joshi, Vice - Chancellor, University of Delhi graced the seminar with his presence and delivered the valedictory address. The two-day National Seminar received a positive response from its participants and was attended by participants from different regions of India as well as from multiple foreign countries including the United States of America. Photos of the event are attached below:

Glimpses of Webinar in progress:

Outcomes

• Partner colleges understood their role as the Education Leaders in their own regions.
• The colleges were told about how they can use the opportunities in their own regions and bring out the paradigm shift in the way education should be delivered in the coming decades.

ROADMAP FOR BUILDING NEW INDIA WITH NEW EDUCATION POLICY

The IQAC of Hansraj College along with Mahatma Hansraj Faculty Development Centre (A Centre of MoE, Govt. of India under PMMMNMTT Scheme) organised a five-day FDP in order to further the goal of NEP 2020. The Organising Team comprised of the Chairperson Prof Rama, Convenor Dr. Mona Bhatnagar, Coordinator Ms Alka Kacker, Co coordinator Dr. Vijay Rani Rajpal along with the NEP Task Force, Hansraj College. The objective of the FDP was to arrive at a common understanding of the policy intent, discuss its details and brainstorm inventive and creative means to make rapid strides. The five-day program had eminent personalities such as Vice Chancellors, administrators, corporate leaders, and academicians in focus. Each day of the seminar focussed on a specific theme, namely:

• Higher Education with NEP
• Shifting from Content Driven Pedagogy to Conceptual Testing • Experiential Learning through new age skills/ digital learning as the new normal
• Multi-disciplinarity and Research Orientation of HEIs • Improving Education to Boost the Economy

The opening remarks on Day 1 were delivered by the principal of Hans Raj College, Prof. Rama. The inaugural session was delivered by Prof. P.C. Joshi, Vice Chancellor, University of Delhi. Prof. Joshi explained the previous policy interventions in the field of education and explained important aspects of NEP 2020 such as the new institutions. Prof. Niranjan Kumar, Department of Hindi, University of Delhi was also invited as a speaker and he talked of the value of imparting education in the mother tongue addressed by NEP 2020. There were three presentations subsequently by Dr. Baljeet Kaur, Dr. N.G. Sharma and by Ms. Aditi Jha & Dr. Vijay Rani Rajpal, Hansraj College.

The first speaker of the session on Day 2 was Dr. Rajendra Kumar, Director, School of Architecture, Noida International University, Greater Noida. In his lecture he emphasised the need of digital classroom during Covid pandemic as it is very important to engage young generation students. Prof. Suman Kundu, Director, South Campus, University of Delhi, was the second expert. Prof. Kundu talked about the stress on ‘Experiential learning’ which means we have to impart knowledge through ‘learning by doing’ method in NEP 2020. The third speaker for this session was Prof. N V Vergese, Vice Chancellor, National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), New Delhi. He expressed his concern regarding the digital divide and the elitist nature of higher education. He praised the policy of ‘Academic bank credit’ (ABC) of National Education Policy. On Day 3, Mr. Rajesh Panda (Founder and Managing Director, Corporate Gurukul, Singapore) was the first speaker. Mr. Panda emphasized on experiential learning such as multi-disciplinary approach, integrative learning, cultural education, HOTS (Higher Order Thinking Skills), AI, Design Thinking and all-in-all a holistic learning approach which also resonates some of the operational aspects of the NEP 2020 vision document. Mr. Vikas Gupta (Managing Director, Deloitte, Hyderabad, Telangana pointed out the need of building an institution designed for student success (student-centric) by revisiting their leadership, growth mindset and the need for lifelong learning.

In other words, three elements to think when you create an institution – (1) foundational capabilities, (2) Student success Levers, and (3) Results. The afternoon session was slotted for paper presentation. The first presenters – Dr. Sonal Gupta & Mr. P. Achuth provided a comparative study of education policy of 1986 and NEP 2020. The second presenter, Dr. Ved Prakash presented a paper looking at NEP 2020 as the foundational stone for a new India. Finally, Dr. Anju Arora spoke about the transformative agenda for foreign students’ enrolment in higher education in India.

On Day 4 the first speaker of the session was Prof. B. S Pabla, National Institute of Technical Teachers Training and Research (NITTTR), Chandigarh. He provided a detailed summary of the sailent features of NEP 2020 wrt the section on Higher Education. The second speaker was Prof Mary E John from Centre for Women's Development Studies, Delhi. She critiqued the claims of inclusivity of NEP 2020. The third speaker Dr Preeti Bajaj, Vice Chancellor Galgotias University, Greater Noida spoke subsequently and gave numerous illustrations regarding the need for multi disciplinary curriculum. She said“ nothing would be purely engineering, nothing would be purely science, and nothing would be purely liberal education”. There were two paper presentations as well by Prof. (Dr.) Charu Lata Singh, Dean, Vivekananda School of Journalism and Mass Communication, Vivekananda Institute of Professional Studies and Dr. Manish, Assistant Professor, Hansraj College, University of Delhi.

On the final day Dr. Amir Ullah Khan, a professor at MCRHRDI, Government of Telangana was the first speaker. He discussed the phenomena of Digital learning taking place in India in the past 1.5 years. Classrooms as well as exams were remarkably conducted using digital platforms. Prof. Sanjiv Mittal, Vice Chancellor, Sambalpur University was the second speaker who talked about the challenges in achieving the target of NEP 2020 to enhance GER to 50% by the year 2035. The gross enrolment ratio as of the year 2018 was 26.3%, NEP 2020 is planning to enhance the GER to 50% by the year 2035. In the Valedictory session Prof. Rama, Principal HRC summarised the event and emphasised the ability of teachers to quickly adapt to changes in the mode of teaching by going all online in the last 1.5 years. Dr. Vikas Gupta, Registrar, Delhi University addressed the audience and talked about Students as the stakeholders and central to the New Education Policy. Dr. Mona Bhatnagar, Director IQAC delivered the vote of thanks and concluded the proceedings.Photos of the programme are attached below:

Glimpses of the programme in progress

Outcomes

• The programme raised understanding on some fundamental areas where NEP seeks undergraduate colleges to work hard and invest in capacity building of the teachers and the staff.
• Also apprised the participants on the need for educational institutions to revamp to meet the requirements of the policy.

In addition to the above events, the Partner Colleges were also invited to join a few Faculties Development Programmes without charging them under the Paramarsh Scheme to improve their NAAC Grades. Hansraj also opened the entry of Partner Colleges to some one-day webinars and events, particularly the lecture series that is being organized by the Departments of Economics and Commerce and also invited the faculty to attend webinars on some contemporary topics such as Covid, Tax filling forms and other departmental webinars.

An online meeting was held again in the month of September with the partner colleges and future activities that we are planning are:

• Online practical workshop for the Science Faculty to help them plan experiments and make them familiar with the instrumentation used in the Hansraj College for carrying out lab and field experiments.
• Inputs in filling SSRs for NAAC accreditation and how to organize the data for filling NIRF forms have been sought by all the partner colleges. We are planning various sessions for them and will assist them in writing their SSRs.
• An interactive session with the faculty and students of all the partner colleges is planned in the January, 2022.
• We also plan to invite the students of the Partner Colleges to a Youth Summit where we plan to invite the college Student Councils to interact with each other.

Hansraj college proposes in the future to organize more such events for partner colleges and their students. We plan to host one soon for the faculty on the National Educational Policy 2020. We feel that the discussion on the topic is essential to have clarity and to understand our role in this transformational process. Moving forward, we aspire to play an instrumental role in the skill and institution building of our partner colleges.

One day Design Thinking workshop with our partner colleges; Govt college,Chamba, Govt degree college,Drass, Govt college Yachuli, Arunachal Pradesh was organized on 12^th February 2022 on Zoom platform. Since the objective of theVidya Vistar scheme is to support our partner colleges and help in their capacity building, this workshop was conducted to understand where we are currently, how to improve and achieve those objectives.To help us navigate and lay down the roadmap for the future, we got MrJeyachandran from UNDP on board. MrJeyachandran built his professional career in the development sector working with multi stakeholder projects including Government, Private, NGOs and multilateral organizations.

It was an insightful workshop wherein several roadmaps were laid down and problem statements were discussed. Meetings notes are as below:

Meeting Notes:

Expectations (Hansraj)

· Help partner colleges using resources at disposal

• One-to-one interaction
• Long term partnership

· Identify at least one area where we can provide expertise

• Measure the impact

· How to engage technology to bridge teaching learning gap

• Student interaction

Expectations (Chamba)

• To learn better use of technology/software
• Improve knowledge and technology-based learning

Expectations (Leh)

· Students are not motivated towards teaching learning process

· How to engage them/motivate them with expertise and suggestions from Hansraj

· How to make use of technology in teaching-learning process

· Students have hardly gained from this collaboration

Expectations (Yachuli)

· Students not aware of the path to career building

Roadmap

Ø Effectively implement the scheme

Ø Measure the impact

Ø Transfer of knowledge

Ø Plan of Action

Problem Statements

1. Faculty Development (Outside academic) – How to develop their capacity

2. Skill based programmes for students to increase employability

3. Entrepreneurial spirits/ideas

4. Digital divide

5. Private sector participation to promote employment

6. Implementation – to learn from the mistakes

7. Resource constraints

8. Online learning materials

9. Lack of soft skills in students

10. Career guidance – Higher education, Vocational education and local employment

Faculty Development – what are the additional support programmes? Part time training programmes? Skilling programmes?

NSDC – all locations – Vocational Training Programmes (VTP)

Hansraj and Partner colleges – Baseline Data

• No of faculty with educational backgrounds
• No of students
• No of streams
• Lab infrastructure
• Boys/girls

Partner colleges – Local mapping

• Local employers
• Local industry associations
• VTPs
• Clubs/organizations like Rotary, Lions etc – to understand how they can help
• Guest Lectures by professionals e.g. a police personnel to guide students regarding career in police
• Employment exchange/District Industry Centre

UNDP

• Will connect with corporates
• Willing to give online guest lecture programmes
• Exposure to entrepreneurship/ how to start enterprises with seed budgets
• Digital marketing

• Baseline data
• Templates for partner colleges to fill
• 1:5 – student knowledge transmission – continuous basis
• 1:2 – faculty with corporates

Poster and Photographs are attached below:

View

Finding opportunities for young faculty and Institutions
30.07.2022

Higher Educational Institutes including (Colleges and Institutes) are increasingly focussing on research and innovation. National Education Policy has clearly outlined the need for research in colleges and involvement of the faculty and students in interdisciplinary research projects is an imperative. The accreditation agencies also evaluate the research component and rankings are based on faculty contribution to research, collaborations and grants. With these things in mind, an important online session was organized for the partner colleges of Vidya Vistar Scheme, University of Delhi.

Dr Kashma Sharma, Assistant Professor and a young researcher who has contributed immensely to interdisciplinary research appraised the faculty from the partner colleges of the agencies (government, non-government, industry and philanthropic) that fund research projects and support fostering innovation ecosystems in the colleges. Dr Kashma talked about the grants sanctioned by University Grants Commission, Defence Research and Development Agency, SERB and DBT. She also discussed the support provided through bilateral collaborations and the methods to approach the agencies. For social scientists she talked about the funding available through various ministries, ISSR, IHR, UGC, MHRD and other agencies. The role of the UN, UNDP, UNO, WWF and other international funding agencies was also discussed. Dr Kashma also discussed that the Grass root research funding is also getting support these days and agencies that support innovations in agriculture and small-scale industries.

The faculty from all the partner colleges felt that the session was useful and will help them submit the proposals and seek funding.

Photographs are attached below:

Adhyaan by Neev Society
23rd and 24th July, 2022

Two Day Workshop by NEEV Society Hansraj was conducted for the partner colleges where students and the faculty both joined.

A Hands-on workshop was conducted for CV building where students picked different CVs and explained what to be included and what not to be included. They also helped the students tailor their CVs as per requirements of the internships or jobs. Students demonstrated how to participate in the interviews by themselves acting as the interviewers. Online interviews were conducted of different students to make the audience understand the mistakes students generally commit while facing the interviews.

On day 2, students were trained to face the internship group discussions and how to get their candidature through. The session involved all the participants by conducting quiz sessions.

Team NEEV also gave snippets for Dos and Don'ts of facing interviews and group discussions, etiquettes to be followed.The 2-day workshop was appreciated by the partner colleges.

Photographs are attached below:

Role of HEIs in Creating an Impact in their neighbourhood
July 16, 2022

Resource Persons: Anurag and Ishita

An interesting session was conducted on Role of Higher Educational Institutes in Creating an Impact in the Neighbourhood for all the three partner colleges. The session opened with the introduction of the Vidya Vistar Programme and also about the relevance and importance of Higher Educational Institutes, especially the ones that have been set up in the remote areas of the country. The public funded colleges in Drass, Kargil, Yachuli, Arunachal Pradesh and Chamba, Himachal Pradesh have a greater role to play in the overall development of the students and also in the society at large. Ms Alka Kacker reiterated that Hansraj College stands committed to help the partner colleges in all possible ways and ensured that the faculty and students are available for supporting the colleges in all their endeavours. The resource person Mr Anurag Jhamb presented a lucid talk on how the colleges can help increase awareness on various issues in the neighbourhood and align their extension activities vis-a-vis the aspirations and needs of the people. Ms. Madhavi Moni suggested that colleges can develop some entrepreneurial programmes to make optimum usage of resources available and help in livelihood generation in lean periods.

Dr Shailu Singh suggested that the students need to learn some soft skills through some initiatives and workshops that Hansraj College is planning for the partner colleges. Ms Ishika, other alumni from the Hansraj College talked about how college initiatives not only help hone the skills of the students but give them an edge in the placements.

Dr Monika Koul tried to make the session interactive by addressing some questions that could help the students of the partner colleges and inspire them to steer the college societies that can also help these institutions score on some parameters where outreach, extension and collaboration is important.

The Session closed with the formal Vote of Thanks.

Photographs are attached below: