Move over Facebook, Orkut. Here comes Delhi University's own networking site, Network DU. With over 2,000 registrations in just four weeks, this site is a virtual campus in which you can look for anyone and anything -- from old friends to scholarships and even information on paying guest accommodation.
Started by Honey Arora, a technical expert, Network DU has all the features of other social networking sites and more.
"Our aim is to get DU more connected through this site. In the IITs and IIMs, the alumni really help their juniors in getting internships and job placements. Network DU will do something similar. Besides friends, a student can get in touch with alumni of the university through this portal and seek help in terms of their career," Arora told IANS.
Of the 2,000 people who have registered, 1,500 are at present studying in the university while the rest are alumni. There is, however, no restriction on a non-DU member joining the network.
Arora himself is not an alumni of the university.
"I was a student of Punjab Technical University. But I, along with some others from IIT Delhi and IIM-Bangalore, zeroed in on Delhi University because I think DU is very tech-savvy," said Arora, who owns Sparks Logics, the firm which started Network DU.
With blogs, music, chat and even an online shopping link, the site gives you all that other networking sites have to offer. It also has debates raging on hot topics like "Should ragging be banned in DU?"with two students in Kirori Mal College getting arrested recently for ragging a junior.
The site also has space for classified information like contact addresses of hostels and PG accommodation around the campus. So if you are looking for a place to stay, all you need to do is log in. Besides this, it has information on the institutes in the campus, scholarships and internships.
Although he is happy with the response that the site has been getting, especially since the advertisement has only been through word of mouth, Arora said that he is planning to go to ex-DU bigwigs like Kapil Sibal and convince them to join the network.
"I am planning to go to Kapil Sibal and ask him to join Network DU and spread some good word about the site. DU has produced some of the most well-placed professionals in the country in every field. If someone like Sibal, who is active on Facebook, joins the site it will make others interested too," he said.
"However I will go to him only after we have got a stronger registration number like 5,000," Arora added.
Arora's mission does not stop at DU. He now plans to create similar networks for other universities.
"I am going to Amity University next and create a portal for their students. The officials of the private universities like Amity are very encouraging and eager to help in such initiatives.
"Money is a problem now but I am looking for investors so that I can create such networks for students of major universities of the country and then connect these networks so that the whole student community can come together in a single platform and interact," Arora said.
Agencies
Showing posts with label Delhi University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Delhi University. Show all posts
Monday, August 10, 2009
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
DU set to conduct its first online exam
It is not just the Common Admission Test (CAT) that will go online this year. Delhi University (DU) will become one of the first central universities in the country to conduct an online examination next month for its undergraduate science students.
A.K. Bakshi, director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILL) under DU which formulated the online examination paper, said that for the first time students of the B.Sc course will be taking their environmental science paper online.
"It's just a starter. Students of the B.Sc course will take one of their qualifying papers, of environmental science, online. If a success, it should set a trend for more university exams to go the same way," said Bakshi.
A total of 2,500 students from 27 colleges will take the exam, scheduled in the first week of June. The examination will however be held in just three centres and that too in three shifts.
"For logistical and other reasons, the exam will be held in three centres - in Miranda House, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Venkateswara colleges. Since it's for the first time that both students and teachers will be facing this kind of an exam, CDs and pamphlets have been distributed where the entire process is being explained.
"How does one attempt a question, how do you skip a question, re-attempt a question, submit the paper but want to make some changes again - everything is being explained. There will also be a timer which will keep telling the student how much time and how many questions are left. There is also a sample online examination paper uploaded on our website," Bakshi said.
The one-hour exam will have 50 multiple choice type questions of one mark each.
"Like in competitive exams, students sitting adjacent to each other will get a different question paper. In all the three shifts the questions will be jumbled; so will the options, so that there is no chance of cheating. Teachers are quite happy with the initiative and have said that the online exam will save them a lot of time in checking the answers," Bakshi said.
The online exam is a part of DU's larger plan to go the e-learning way. ILL has been working on making the entire teaching process, and now even the assessment process, more tech-savvy for a number of subjects. This, Bakshi said, is an attempt to keep up with the changing times and be in sync with youth.
With videos, animation, simulation, online quizzes and virtual laboratory, the aim now is to make learning more fun in DU. It is expected that by the next academic session, the e-learning material for some courses like chemistry, physics, maths, life sciences and commerce will be uploaded in the ILL portal.
"There is something called blended learning. There are times when a teacher can't explain everything on the blackboard. With this initiative of using animation and visuals, the understanding of a subject will become clearer," Bakshi told the media.
Agencies
A.K. Bakshi, director of the Institute of Lifelong Learning (ILL) under DU which formulated the online examination paper, said that for the first time students of the B.Sc course will be taking their environmental science paper online.
"It's just a starter. Students of the B.Sc course will take one of their qualifying papers, of environmental science, online. If a success, it should set a trend for more university exams to go the same way," said Bakshi.
A total of 2,500 students from 27 colleges will take the exam, scheduled in the first week of June. The examination will however be held in just three centres and that too in three shifts.
"For logistical and other reasons, the exam will be held in three centres - in Miranda House, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya and Venkateswara colleges. Since it's for the first time that both students and teachers will be facing this kind of an exam, CDs and pamphlets have been distributed where the entire process is being explained.
"How does one attempt a question, how do you skip a question, re-attempt a question, submit the paper but want to make some changes again - everything is being explained. There will also be a timer which will keep telling the student how much time and how many questions are left. There is also a sample online examination paper uploaded on our website," Bakshi said.
The one-hour exam will have 50 multiple choice type questions of one mark each.
"Like in competitive exams, students sitting adjacent to each other will get a different question paper. In all the three shifts the questions will be jumbled; so will the options, so that there is no chance of cheating. Teachers are quite happy with the initiative and have said that the online exam will save them a lot of time in checking the answers," Bakshi said.
The online exam is a part of DU's larger plan to go the e-learning way. ILL has been working on making the entire teaching process, and now even the assessment process, more tech-savvy for a number of subjects. This, Bakshi said, is an attempt to keep up with the changing times and be in sync with youth.
With videos, animation, simulation, online quizzes and virtual laboratory, the aim now is to make learning more fun in DU. It is expected that by the next academic session, the e-learning material for some courses like chemistry, physics, maths, life sciences and commerce will be uploaded in the ILL portal.
"There is something called blended learning. There are times when a teacher can't explain everything on the blackboard. With this initiative of using animation and visuals, the understanding of a subject will become clearer," Bakshi told the media.
Agencies
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