E-Varsity

 

 

Context :

Digital varsity may offer courses from January: UCG chairman  /  HT  /  07 Sept 2022

 

Extract :

The National Digital University, is likely to offer some courses from January and fully function from June-July next year, University Grants Commission (UGC) chairman M Jagadesh Kumar said on Tuesday.

On February 1, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman had proposed to set up a digital university to provide education that will be built on a “ hub and spoke model ”.

 

In this case, the university will act as the “ hub ” and several top higher education institutions in and outside the country will act as its “spokes”, Kumar said.

 

 Kumar said the university will use the government’s existing online educational platforms, including SWAYAM ( Study Webs of Active-Learning for Young Aspiring Minds ) portal and Samarth e-Portal.

 

“These are very advanced portals. We are likely to use them for our Digital University. It can be started off very quickly using these portals,” he said.

 

Besides, the UGC is revising regulations for online education

 

“The present online regulations have certain restrictions such as prohibiting universities from collaborating with ed-tech companies. We are now reviewing them to make them as flexible as possible,” he said.

 

“Even if a university does not have its own funds, it always has intellectual resources. They can collaborate with an ed-tech company and convert the intellectual resources into digital content and put it on a platform so that they can offer online degrees,” he added.

 

The revised regulations will also remove the cap on the number of online courses a university can offer, he pointed out. “The present regulations allow only up to 13 programmes. We are going to remove these limitations under the revised regulations. It will benefit our own students,” he said.

 

 

MY  TAKE  :

 

Dear Shri Jagdesh Kumarji ,

( cm.ugc@nic.in )

Thank you for incorporating some of my suggestions sent through my following e-mail

 

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

hcp@RecruitGuru.com  /  07 Sept 2021

 

 

Ø  National Skills University : Virtual is the only way …………[ 03 Apr 2021 ]

Extract :

 MY SUGGESTIONS :

( A )   Structure of the University

                It should be an AUTONOMOUS university as per DETAILED STRUCTURE

               outlined at :

          DR. BABASAHEB AMBEDKAR UNIVERSITY   

( B )    Role

                 Ø  It should NOT engage in direct / face-to-face / physical Skilling on its

                      own campus

                 Ø  It should be a VIRTUAL university, offering ONLINE courses to anyone

                     desirous to take a course

                 Ø  It will mostly concern itself at

-        figuring out those hundreds of Skills required by the Industries / Businesses / Enterprises, and publish on its  Portal ( “ WHO wants WHAT skill “ type matrix ).

 For such compilation, it will invite TRADE ASSOCIATIONS – PROFESSIONAL BODIES

                 Ø  It will invite and collaborate with entities which can develop / create “

                     Skill Delivery Contents “ for these kills ( at levels such as, Semi-Skilled

                      / Skilled / Highly Skilled / Master Craftsman ) .

                      

                     For each of these LEVELS ( and for each SKILL ), it will develop

                     CERTIFICATION EXAM QUESTION BANKS for  download by Users

                     

                Ø  Such entities could be existing ITIs – Engg Colleges – Foreign

                    Universities – Public / Private Sector Companies and

                   - Online portals such as ByJu – Khan Academy etc

                Ø  The cost / expense incurred by the Content Contributors, will count

                    against their CSR obligations

                Ø  University will be free to BUY such content from contributors

                Ø  University will approach entities like Google to join in this effort

                Ø  University will approach all Internet Service Providers for giving FREE

                    bandwidth to Users for downloading content or for streaming ONLINE

                    AR / VR instructions

                    

                Ø  University will approach AR / VR headset manufacturers ( such as

                    Occulus – Facebook – Apple –Google – Microsoft – IBM etc ), to

                    develop very light weight and cheap ( Rs 5,000 ) glasses for

                    REGISTERD users of Skills University ( Central Govt may consider

                    subsidizing such glasses to REGISTERED users ONLY )

 

                    Refer :

Microsoft gets contract worth up to $22 billion to outfit US Army with 120,000 AR headsets

 XR Learning Market in the US Surges to $6.7 Billion by 2026

Extract :

#   "In educational psychology, there are two phases of the learning process:

       knowledge transfer and learning transfer," comments Adkins

        Knowledge transfer is the transmission of information and skills to the

        learner.

       Learning transfer is the ability of the learner to demonstrate mastery in a

        real-world setting

       Next- generation XR Learning products (particularly the new augmented

       field force performance support  products) effectively accomplish both phases

       simultaneously

  

      

( C )    Portal

                Ø  It will have TWO sections, one for CONTENT CREATORS /

                    CONTRIBUTORS / DONORS , who ( after registering ) will upload their

                    content on the portal

                     

                Ø  Content itself could be TEXT- FORMS – IMAGES – DRAWINGS -

                    DIAGRAMS – PODCAST – VIDEO – AR/VR based INSTRUCTION SETS

                    etc

                     

                Ø  After thorough evaluation of the uploaded content, portal admin will

                    approve it for getting published /  making available for downloading by

                    USERS

                    

                Ø  Second section will be for CONTENT CONSUMERS / USERS ( who can

                    be any Indian Citizen ), who will need to register by providing full

                    details about himself / herself , such as ( Name – Current Address –

                    Aadhar Number–PAN details–Employed–Self Employed–

                    Trade/Profession - Mobile No – Email ID  etc )

                    

                Ø  A duly registered USER will be able to download ANY content

                    ( totally FREE – but only once ), details of which will be entered into

                    user’s “ Download History “ page

                    

                Ø  A “ Summary Download History Page “ ( Skill-wise / Industry wise /

                    User’s State wise etc ), for ALL the REGISTERED users,

                     ( anonymized / aggregated ) will show-up which SKILLS are in

                      demand

                Ø  Download will require :

                    > Internet enabled Mobile/Tablet/Desktop/Laptop…......for Text – Video

                        – Podcast 

                    >  Internet enabled AR / VR headsets ( glasses ) ………..for AR / VR

                        content

                Ø  Portal will allow any User to appear ONLINE in any Certification

                    Exam for any Skill, at any LEVEL ,and obtain a “digital-locker” based,

                    PASS CERTIFICATE

 

                   

Related Readings :

Ø  Thank You, Shri M Jagadesh Kumarji……………………….. [ 09 Feb 2022 ]

 ==================================================

CC :

Shri Mahendra Nath Pandeyji

(  Minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship )

mahendranath.pandey@sansad.nic.in /  drmnpandeymp@gmail.com

 

pushpak@nextmeet.live

 

=====================================================

Added on  22  Feb  2023 :

Digital universities to increase accessibility to education and skill programmes ..