<p>Students at government degree colleges across Karnataka will soon be able to learn various computer language courses and other office productivity tools using open source softwares, under a project developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, (IITB) and supported by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD).<br /><br /></p>.<p>Starting this Saturday, a number of “sensitisation and awareness programmes” will be held in various parts of the state, according to Dr Nagalakshmi A Rao, special officer in the Department of Collegiate Education (DCE) and co-ordinator for the project.<br /><br />“To start with, the programme to familiarise colleges with this project will be held in Bangalore, Mysore, Gulbarga, Shimoga and Mangalore. It will be open to all colleges and depending on the interest and enthusiasm of each institution, we will register the students for the programme,” said Rao.<br /><br />One co-ordinator from each college will be present at the sensitisation session where the nitty-gritty of the project will be explained, said Rashmi Pillai, project co-ordinator for Spoken Tutorial at IITB.<br /><br />Thereafter, they will write to the authorities of the project about their interest and accordingly students will be selected for registration. “We will recommend one co-ordinator to be nominated from each department of a college through whom all the learning materials and tutorials can be routed and he/she will give the relevant information.<br /><br />These can be uploaded on the college computers where students can learn the courses on their own with a bit of guidance. Student volunteers can be recruited too,” she said. <br />At the end of the tutorials, students will have the option of taking an online assessment test on what they have learnt. “We will not impose the test on students, but we highly recommend it and accordingly hand relevant certificates,” Pillai added.<br /><br />In the past, the Spoken Tutorial project was introduced by the Department of Technical Education in 10 government engineering colleges and 157 government polytechnics in the State. Between 7,000 and 10,000 students have undertaken as many as 28 courses on offer under the project.<br /><br />“The curriculum for technical courses in the State will be revised next year and there are plans to incorporate some of these courses in the curriculum revision,” said Siddalingaswamy, DTE co-ordinator for the project.<br /><br />The Spoken Tutorial was started under the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT), MHRD, in 2010 and aims to spread IT literacy and software development besides increasing job opportunities for students with the help of such skills.</p>
<p>Students at government degree colleges across Karnataka will soon be able to learn various computer language courses and other office productivity tools using open source softwares, under a project developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, (IITB) and supported by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (MHRD).<br /><br /></p>.<p>Starting this Saturday, a number of “sensitisation and awareness programmes” will be held in various parts of the state, according to Dr Nagalakshmi A Rao, special officer in the Department of Collegiate Education (DCE) and co-ordinator for the project.<br /><br />“To start with, the programme to familiarise colleges with this project will be held in Bangalore, Mysore, Gulbarga, Shimoga and Mangalore. It will be open to all colleges and depending on the interest and enthusiasm of each institution, we will register the students for the programme,” said Rao.<br /><br />One co-ordinator from each college will be present at the sensitisation session where the nitty-gritty of the project will be explained, said Rashmi Pillai, project co-ordinator for Spoken Tutorial at IITB.<br /><br />Thereafter, they will write to the authorities of the project about their interest and accordingly students will be selected for registration. “We will recommend one co-ordinator to be nominated from each department of a college through whom all the learning materials and tutorials can be routed and he/she will give the relevant information.<br /><br />These can be uploaded on the college computers where students can learn the courses on their own with a bit of guidance. Student volunteers can be recruited too,” she said. <br />At the end of the tutorials, students will have the option of taking an online assessment test on what they have learnt. “We will not impose the test on students, but we highly recommend it and accordingly hand relevant certificates,” Pillai added.<br /><br />In the past, the Spoken Tutorial project was introduced by the Department of Technical Education in 10 government engineering colleges and 157 government polytechnics in the State. Between 7,000 and 10,000 students have undertaken as many as 28 courses on offer under the project.<br /><br />“The curriculum for technical courses in the State will be revised next year and there are plans to incorporate some of these courses in the curriculum revision,” said Siddalingaswamy, DTE co-ordinator for the project.<br /><br />The Spoken Tutorial was started under the National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (ICT), MHRD, in 2010 and aims to spread IT literacy and software development besides increasing job opportunities for students with the help of such skills.</p>
