Online Panel Discussion on “Virtual Lab and its Impact”
9th February 2017
Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon, Nodal Centre (Virtual Labs) in associations with Virtual Lab (MHRD, Govt of India) under the aegis of National Mission on Education through Information and Communication Technology (NMEICT) conducted an online panel discussion on “Virtual Lab and its Impact” on 9th February 2017 The main objective of hosting the panel discussion was to share the platform and usages of virtual lab portal.
Virtual Lab is a platform where students can avail the various tools for learning, including additional web-resources, video-lectures, animated demonstrations and self-evaluation. The coverage of this portal is various branches of science and technology that includes Physical Sciences, Chemical Science Electronics and Communications Engineering, Computer Science and Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology Engineering and Civil Engineering.
List of the esteemed Panelists:
- Prof Ranjan Bose (IIT Delhi, Virtual lab National Coordinator)
- Dr. H.S Dua (Group Captain , Indian Air Force)
- Dr. Neerajkr.Shukla (North Cap University, Gurgaon- Virtual lab Nodal Coordinator)
- Mr. Vinod Kumar (Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Noida – Virtual lab Nodal Coordinator)
The session was moderated by Mrs. Dimple Sapporo (Virtual Lab Nodal Coordinator) attended by Principal Prof.(Dr.) B.M.K. Prasad, Dean-Academics, HODs and other academicians from Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon.
It was discussed the Virtual Lab is an introduction of high impact teaching practices in a laboratory environment which includes undergraduate research projects and inquiry / discovery experiments with new approaches to the assessment of the related student learning outcomes .It also provides a Collaborative learning environments to promote the construction of new knowledge through shared ideas and in the lab which extends to the development of research questions, experimental design and the communication of subsequent outcomes .Virtual Labs will be made more effective and realistic by providing additional inputs to the students like accompanying audio and video streaming of an actual lab experiment and equipment. These labs are free to use. These labs can be accessible through internet on any PC/Laptop and can also be downloaded on the local server so that the labs can be conducted anywhere anytime. Virtual Lab is a complementary lab for the existing Physical Lab. It is also used to enhance the knowledge and skills of students as well as faculty members of various branches related to engineering.
The topics that were covered during the Panel discussion:
- Benefits of Virtual Lab for students as well as teachers.
- To bring the academics, broadcasting, content developer as in‐house and other media experts at a common platform to discuss various aspects of development, sharing and dissemination of e‐learning resources through V-Labs.
- To deliberate on convergence in video and multimedia technology.
- The quality aspects of contents and their sharing in the SAARC countries, other international organizations.
- Best practices in the use of Virtual labs towards its reach and quality with the reasonable cost while creating and disseminating the knowledge‐ware
The session was concluded by acknowledging the contributions of the panelists and audience members.