BEST PRACTICE - I

NPTEL LOCAL CHAPTER

1.Title of the Practice: ‘NPTEL LOCAL CHAPTER’

2.Objectives of the Practice

• To support students and faculty members to strengthen their academic profile for enhancement of knowledge and better career prospects by leveraging the key resources and certification opportunities offered through NPTEL.
• To develop the competencies of faculty and students through improving the quality of engineering education.
• To create an additional pool of knowledge by creating a repository of study materials of hundreds of courses from lectures and presentations by eminent professors throughout the nation.
• To introduce trustworthy, cost effective, flexible sources of online education and sensitize students and faculty to the benefits of online learning.

3. The Context

• NPTEL local chapter is instrumental in connecting the enthusiastic learners from every nook and corner to a common learning platform which gives access to lectures delivered by eminent professors from premier institutions of India
• NPTEL certification courses are offered in the open online mode, and hence is one of the most suitable platforms for people who need self-paced learning and have a quest to learn anytime, anywhere.
• NPTEL courses offer courses on advanced or latest core subjects as well as interdisciplinary streams thereby bridging the gap between curriculum and industry demands.
• Financial barrier is no more a cause for concern since course enrolment and learning is free, while the exam comes for a nominal fee.
• The credit transfer facility is of immense help to students who want to put in extra effort to save time that can be utilized for internship and project related activities.

4. The Practice

• The courses offered by eminent professors of premier institutions like IITs, NITs, IISc, etc are of 4, 8 or 12 weeks duration.
• Faculty members and students enroll in courses either pertaining to their branch or interdisciplinary. Also, faculty and students are motivated to select courses outside their branch of study to enhance extra knowledge and career prospects.
• A detailed course schedule along with topics covered is communicated and video lectures along with their transcripts are also uploaded.
• Through the official NPTEL website http://nptel.ac.in. Videos can be downloaded in MP4, FLV and 3GP file formats.
• Video streams from YouTube link http://www.youtube.com/iit, can be downloaded using any of the browser add-ons.
• Accessing Digital Library in college campus.
• Modules are released every week
• Assignments are released and evaluated every week.
• Scores are released after evaluation to ensure correctness of understanding.
• Discussion forums are held periodically.
• Doubts and queries are clarified, discussed and answered in the discussion forum.
• VCET faculty also offers guidance and clarification to students through their NPTEL MENTOR role.
• At the end of the course, a computer based proctored exam is conducted and cumulative score of assignments and online exam is released after the completion of final online exams.
• The candidates who appeared for the exams can view their results in their NPTEL personal login.
• Certificates are awarded as per norms.
• Those who get excellent scores are honoured with 'Elite+Gold, Elite+Silver and Elite' tags
• Some faculty members and students enroll for two courses at the same time and successfully complete exams and receive certificates.
• Students can use the NPTEL programmes for GATE and Higher Studies preparation and hence they are encouraged to enroll for courses for which they need deep conceptual understanding.
• Certificates issued by NPTEL are recognized by companies and research centers to give internship opportunity and so students can choose a particular course which helps in their internship.
• There is a list of industries that give weightage to course certificates, hence completion of NPTEL courses increase employability chances.
• NPTEL courses also help the faculty to initiate meaningful discussion in the classroom and students who have enrolled in a particular course engage themselves in discussions regarding their choice of answers in the weekly assignments.
• While the right answers boost the confidence of students, the wrong answers compel them to go to the video lectures again until they are convinced of the answers given by the course conductor.
• It promotes a healthy competition among students. Faculty members do study and prepare well along with their students.

5. Evidence of Success

Ever since its establishment as an NPTEL Local Chapter, VCET has been witnessing continuous success stories of faculty and students alike.
• VCET is one among the top 100 NPTEL local chapters for the last five times in a row from the academic year 2019-2020.
• In the academic year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, the number of Elite + Gold, Elite + Silver, Elite and successfully completed certificates stands at 465 and 1253 respectively. In total, 302 students in 2018-2022 Batch are benefitted through Fast Track system by availing credit transfer facility offered by NPTEL.
• In the year 2021-2023, totally 21 of our faculty members have been recognized as top mentors based on the performance of the students.
• SWAYAM-NPTEL recognizes Velalar College of Engineering and Technology, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India as a valuable Local Chapter with a rating of ‘A’ based on the performance in NPTEL Online Certification courses during the academic year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 respectively.
• During the academic year 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, Dr.S.Sadesh, Professor & Head, Department of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science was awarded for his instrumental role as SPOC for the SWAYAM-NPTEL Local Chapter Velalar College of Engineering and Technology, Erode, Tamil Nadu, India.
• In the academic year 2021-2022, one of our faculty members Dr.V.Latha Jothi has successfully completed Domain Certification in Programming.
• In the academic year 2022-2023, one of our faculty members Dr.S.Sadesh has successfully received ‘Discipline Star’ in Computer Science and Engineering.
• Students feel that what they have learnt in NPTEL courses come in handy during their technical interviews.
• The meaningful exchanges among the students and faculty regarding concepts and assignments create a pleasant learning environment that was unimaginable a few years back.

6. Problems Encountered and Resources Required

• Students need self-motivation and self-regulation.
• At times, students choose advanced courses which are too tough to proceed and score good marks.
• Sometimes, students who hail from villages encounter network connectivity issues.

7. Notes

Increasing number of enrolments, certificates with 'Gold' and 'Silver' tags are a clear sign of increasing professionalism and commitment to continuous learning. NPTEL local chapter of VCET is a remarkable step towards the institution's commitment to impart essential knowledge through quality education.

8. Contact Details

Name of the Principal: Dr.M.Jayaraman Name of the Institution:Velalar College of Engineering and Technology
City:Erode
Pin Code:638012
Work Phone: 0424-2244201,204,206
Fax:0424-2244205
Website www.velalarengg.ac.in
E-mail:principal@velalarengg.ac.in
Mobile:9750924402