Doing real-time practicals online made easy, thanks to simulation softwares

Deepkamal Kaur

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 22

As colleges have been conducting online classes for the last 16 months and many students across the region failed to attend even a single practical class, the educational institutions have started exploring means to ensure that the Covid-19 affected batches do not remain at loss.

Recently, colleges have started organising virtual practical classes for students by deploying available softwares in the market to give students the best possible hands-on-experience and real-like simulation effects.

The management of Lovely Professional University said they have bought softwares from companies-based in the US and Bengaluru to take practical classes of students through simulation.

Aman Mittal, Additional Director Public Relations, LPU, said, “We have got softwares on topics related to electronics, modulation of machinery, IT and chemistry. Softwares are giving students a good virtual laboratory experience in handling machinery, lab apparatus and IT gadgets. These have good 3D effects and have made students much familiar with practical aspects of topics that they are studying. In chemistry, they can do all experiments, including titration and use of reagents via these softwares. When they have to boil something, they can see vapours exactly in the time they would do if they were in chemistry laboratory. If there is to be a colour change, this, too, will show up virtually for better understanding and memorisation of students.”

Mittal said, “For the last more than one year, priorities in investments for the university have changed completely. Since we do not have students at the moment, we have not invested on any physical asset. Instead, we are working on upgrade of the online education system. Our hotel management faculty has been engaged in making best videos on cookery for a better demonstration, but there are certain topics in almost all streams for which we do not have available means at the moment for proper online teaching. We are deferring classes of all such subjects to the subsequent semesters for we hope that we will be able to develop better means to handle them in another few months.”

The authorities at Dr BR Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, too, are mulling to have practical classes through simulation softwares soon. Dr LK Awasthi, Director, NIT, said: “Though we are expecting colleges to open after a few weeks, we cannot be sure as to how and for what duration students could be on campus. Some students from far off areas might not be able to join in time, even though we have been asking all of them to get vaccinated and be prepared for a possibility of offline classes in the near future. In any case, we need to focus on practical classes of the students for we do not want the current batches of students to look like laggards with nil experience when they enter the industry. Thus, we will soon be starting virtual laboratory classes for them.”

Likewise, authorities at Lyallpur Khalsa College Technical Campus, have started providing students workshops on business simulation. “Recently, we invited IIM Indore alumni Ashish Kumar, who is also running a business simulation company ‘Bizaga’. He made students practice business simulation games on topics related to pricing, advertising and production, among others. The workshop enhanced practical skills of students and taught them to run a company as a CEO in virtual environment, without involving any risk and inculcated in them entrepreneurship skills,” said Dr Inderpal Singh, HoD, Lyallpur Khalsa College.

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