Classes at Mysore university go digital

Gone are the days when pieces of chalk and blackboards were synonymous to classrooms. Colleges in Mysore have begun to catch up with the changing times. Digital boards and LCD (liquid crystal display) projectors are now efficient tools of classroom teaching methodology. The University of Mysore (UoM), which has around 36 departments, has brought in LCD projectors in nearly 24 departments. “Most science departments have installed LCD projectors for a better teaching methodology. This facility will be extended to all other departments soon,” says vice-chancellor K S Rangappa over the phone from Seoul, South Korea. He explains that the use of digital teaching methodology not only makes classes more interesting, but it also cuts off the health risks that the long-term use of chalk causes in lecturers. Sri Jayachamarajendra College of Engineering (SJCE) has been using LCD projectors for several years now. It used electronic boards earlier in 12 departments, which, according to former principal B G Sangameshwara, made dictating notes redundant. A lecturer at an engineering college says LCD projectors make it much easier to grasp concepts since classes can be augmented with 3D images. Although JSS University registrar B Manjunath agrees that LCD projectors help make medical classes more interactive, he still swears by the good old blackboard. He adds that in light of the University Grants Commission’s guideline on phasing out animal dissections in laboratories, videos of dissections amply compensate. Students too are gung-ho about the entry of digital teaching methodologies in their classrooms. “Classes can be conducted faster with the help of an LCD projector. It also makes classes more interactive,” says Suhail Ahmed Khan, a fourth-year electronics and electrical engineering student at SJCE. Nikhil R, a final-year instrumentation engineering at the same college, digitization has helped clearing up doubts easy. “We can easily revisit a concept on a particular slide with an LCD projector. But once the lecturer rubs the blackboard, there is no scope for a ‘rewind’.” Source: Education News