S. Vishnu Sharma
IIT-G online is all about the initiative of Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar towards completing the second semester of academic year 2019-20 lessons through online classes.
As per this initiative IIT-G online classes will begin from 8 June onwards and a new grading system has also been introduced for the disrupted academic term.
IIT-G online 2020
The new grading system planned has also been approved by IIT Gandhinagar’s Academic Senate and under this no letter grades will be awarded this semester for any course including those completed before mid-semester.
As a part of IIT-G online initiative a few faculty members at IIT Gandhinagar on a pilot basis were requested to teach remotely during the revised summer term which was advanced in view of lockdown imposed in March 2020 to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
Faculty who took part in the pilot with regards to IIT-G online initiative found that most students adjusted well to the online format and their levels of engagement were often comparable to in-person classes.
The learnings from the summer online courses are being deployed in the design of online and blended courses for the disrupted semester.
Faculty members who taught online classes during the summer term also recently conducted a workshop on online teaching to share their experiences and best practices with the faculty.
Speaking about IIT-G online initiative Professor Pratik Mutha, Dean (Academic Affairs), IIT Gandhinagar, said the primary drivers behind the new policy were to ensure completion of the semester without compromising our core academic principles and to account for differences in situations students might be in, such as internet access, mobility.
As a part of IIT-G online initiative Professor Pratik said faculty are encouraged to use the online teaching opportunity to improvise, innovate and experiment with different pedagogical approaches in their courses.
‘We are asking them to document their approach so that the Institute can learn about practices that were successful and facilitated student learning, as well as methods that may not have worked well.’
Many faculty members are considering experimenting with greater use of quizzes and reading assignments, open book examinations, oral examinations via video-conferencing among others.
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IIT-G online initiative is expected to get a good Some faculty members are considering simulation-based lab work that students can perform remotely.
New Grading
Apart from working on new teaching methods through IIT-G online initiative, new grading system has been brought out.
As per this new grading system, IIT Gandhinagar will not be issuing any letter grades for courses in the second semester.
Two new grades are being introduced namely ‘P(E)’ and ‘I/F’ for all courses this semester. The Institute has requested faculty members to consider reworking their earlier grading/evaluation policies, if warranted.
Professor Mutha said the revised grading policy for the semester is designed to reflect continuous learning, ensure reasonable fairness and reflect the disruptive impact of the pandemic on the educational system.
‘P(E)’ grade or [Pass (Emergency)] is a pass grade but will have a different connotation than the usual ‘P’ Grade and will be so notated on the transcript.
The ‘I/F’ grade denotes ‘Incomplete/Fail’ but will not distinguish between ‘Incomplete’ and ‘Fail.’ P(E)’ grade will be awarded if the faculty assesses that a student had satisfied the requirements for passing the course.
Credits earned for courses that are awarded a ‘P(E)’ grade will be counted toward the graduation requirements.
Faculty members have the option to apprise students of their letter grades, the students’ official record will however only document the ‘P(E)’ grade.
An ‘I/F’ grade will be assigned if the student did not complete the requirements of the course or did not perform well enough to warrant a passing grade.
All students given an ‘I/F’ grade will have one opportunity to complete the course requirement and improve their performance and earn a ‘P(E)’ grade.
The deadline to do so will be communicated to students well in advance. Speaking about the new grading system Professor Pratik said if a student’s performance does not warrant a ‘P(E)’ grade even after this evaluation, the ‘I/F’ grade will be converted to a traditional ‘F’ grade and the credits for this course will naturally not be counted towards the graduation requirements.
Thus, an ‘I/F’ grade will not show on a student’s final official record. Neither the ‘P(E)’ nor the ‘F’ grades of Semester II, 2019-20 will be counted in the CPI (Cumulative Performance Index) calculation, he said.
For M.Tech. and Ph.D. students, the grades for thesis units will continue to be either ‘S’ or ‘U’ as is usually practiced.
However, any ‘U’ grade awarded in Semester II, 2019-20 will be dropped from the student’s record. Graduation requirements remain unchanged.