The Kerala State Higher Education Council (KSHEC) has commenced consultative meets to evolve a post-COVID-19 higher education policy for the State. The draft document, approved by the council’s executive body on Tuesday, lays thrust on the wider use of the online instructional mode.
The policy document highlights the relevance of online learning as a ‘new normal’ and views the mode as “the most important complementary to the present mode, if not a de facto substitute immediately”.
The growing clamour for embracing online pedagogical techniques assumes significance at a time when the State is anticipating much impedance to the progress of the next academic year.
Regular practice
Pointing out that the incorporation of online tools will not be optional any more, the draft policy paper states that webinars and teleconferencing are set to become a regular practice, despite being utilised as a crisis-driven stop-gap arrangement now.
The council also highlights the need for considerable investment on technological infrastructure, considering quality online teaching and learning programmes as ‘high-input enterprises’.
While some teachers have attempted online teaching in amateurish ways on their own, it is necessary to turn them into professionals capable of utilising the technology innovatively and training students to make its best use, the document says.
Among the challenges that have been identified are designing suitable training programmes for online teaching and sensitising the teaching community to the need for adopting such techniques. The council has decided to organise training sessions, develop e-contents, and create a digital repository of online learning materials.
Consultative panel
The executive body has constituted a consultative committee to finalise the policy. Comprising Vice Chancellors and academicians, the panel is chaired by council vice chairman Rajan Gurukkal P.M. and convened by member-secretary Rajan Varughese.
The opinion of various cross-sections, including academics, students, and other experts, will also be sought.
