‘Online learning can be a lifeline to those who have obstacles, such as geographical distances or physical disabilities’ -- Paul Levinson, author.
This statement rings truer today than ever before. With campuses shut and classes going online, students have had a lot of time in hand. Here are three activities we tried and discovered a lot along the way.
Learning a new language
The long stretch of free time has been perfect to learn a new language. Many students downloaded the free app Duolingo to pick up French, Spanish, Korean and German. Duolingo has various levels of learning in an audio-visual medium with daily goals and rewards that keep learners motivated. It also has a standardised English test, which is accepted by many universities worldwide.
“Since we are indoors most of the time, learning a new language helped me get in touch with people outside my daily circle,” said Shubharthi Nath, a first-year computer science and engineering student of KIIT, who is learning Spanish on Duolingo.
Online paper presentation
Sister Nivedita University decided to give a virtual spin to the conventional paper-presentation. It held an online paper presentation event for undergraduate and postgraduate students in Calcutta. Students had to write research papers on topics like partition and literature, comic books and graphic novels, and reading Rabindranath Tagore. Those selected were given a chance to present their paper online, followed by a question-answer session.
“To get a platform where I could voice my views felt overwhelming. With the platform being online, I could stop fretting about facing a room full of people and be at ease. I guess this facility adds to the presentation and is a great opportunity for those who have stage fright,” said Ankita Sen, a third-year UG English student of Presidency University, who participated in the conference that happened on Google Meet.
Online courses
Platforms like Swayam, edX and Coursera emerged as go-to stops -- alongside some of India’s premier institutes -- for those who wanted to learn new subjects or advance in their own fields, with a certificate to boot after completing a course. Swayam’s offerings on engineering, science, humanities, management, language, mathematics, arts and recreation, commerce, and education found a lot of takers. Coursera was the choice for specialisations, degrees and professional courses on topics like graphic designing, creative writing and personal development, while edX became popular for its data science, computer science, engineering and business courses.
“The online degree course on data science offered by IIT Madras stands out for its structured curriculum. The flexibility of the course helps students like me to pursue it along with an offline degree,” said Sameeksha Shriram, a first-year BTech student of Heritage Institute of Technology.
(Author Bio: Debarati Pal and Astyartha Das are first-year UG students of Jadavpur University)
