J.C. Bose University of Science and Technology YMCA Faridabad has been established as the Nodal Centre for the Virtual Lab platform of the Ministry of Education. The University Computer Centre and Digital Affairs organized a Hands-on Workshop on Virtual Labs (an initiative by Ministry of Education under the Ministry of Education under National Mission on Education through ICT) in collaboration with Virtual Labs-IIT Delhi. The core objective of the workshop was to provide remote access to Labs in various disciplines of Science and Engineering. These Virtual Labs would cater to students at the undergraduate level, postgraduate level as well as to research scholars in this pandemic time. The workshop was attended by over 1200 participants comprising Deans and Chairpersons from varied departments, faculty members, research scholars, post graduate and undergraduate students of the university.
The workshop was presided over by Prof. Dinesh Kumar, Vice-Chancellor of the University. He enlightened the students that learning should not be stopped, be it in any circumstances and that the university shall continue to provide all the benefits to the students. He emphasized that with the help of these virtual labs, students can now conduct experiments with zeal and enthusiasm. This would help them in learning basic and advanced concepts through remote experimentation. He also congratulated the University Computer Centre and Digital Affairs Cell (UCCDA) for organizing such workshops to promote remote learning. Registrar of the university, Dr. Sunil Garg was also present to grace the occasion. He stressed the importance of practical implementation of the theoretical concepts to have a deeper understanding and assured that the University shall take up such initiatives for the benefit of the students and faculties.
The key speakers of this workshop Mr. Tanmay Das (Outreach In-charge at Virtual Labs, IIT Delhi since 2011), Mr. Prateek Sharma (Sr. Field Engineer at Virtual Labs, IIT Delhi since 2016), and Mr. Shivam Sundaram (Field Engineer at Virtual Labs, IIT Delhi since 2018) demonstrated the concept of virtual labs in detail to all the participants.
Dr. Neelam Duhan (Director, UCC & DA) elaborated that our university promotes such initiatives where the students can avail themselves of the various tools for learning, including additional web resources, video lectures, animated demonstrations, and self-evaluation. She also stressed the need of exploring these virtual labs so that costly equipment and resources can be shared among the students and faculty members, which are otherwise available to a limited number of users due to constraints on time and geographical distances. Such initiatives can be fruitful in enhancing practical knowledge where the students are not able to access the university labs physically amidst the pandemic.
Dr. Lalit Mohan Goyal (Nodal Coordinator, Virtual Labs) gave an overview of the workshop with core aims and objectives. He assured all the participants of a learning experience provided in this workshop to carry out successful practical implementations. The session concluded with a vote of thanks by Dr. Deepika Punj (UCC & DA Coordinator). She extended her expression of gratitude to all. The session was handled by student coordinators Sumant, Shraddha, Yashashwi, Hardik, Prateek, Ritik, Manav and Ritesh under the guidance of faculty coordinators Dr. Rewa, Dr. Shivi and Dr. Arun Kumar. The whole team of UCC & DA contributed to this event and made it a huge success.