Utkal University’s Anthropology Department selected National Resource Centre
BHUBANESWAR:The Union Ministry of Human Resource Development has selected the Anthropology Department of Utkal University as National Resource Centre (NRC).It will be tasked to prepare online training material with focus on latest developments in the discipline, new and emerging trends, pedagogical improvements and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum.
The Anthropology Department is one among 75 NRCs selected across the country in the first phase as part of a major and unique initiative of online professional development.As per the programme, about 15 lakh higher education faculties would use the Massive Open Online Courses (MOOC) platform Swayam for knowledge update.
Apart from State Universities, IISc, IUCAA, IITs, IISERs, NITs, National Institutes for Technical Teachers Training (NITTTRs), IIITs and Open Universities have been notified as NRCs. The resource centres would cover wide range of disciplines including Social Sciences, Humanities, Language Teaching, Commerce, Management, Sciences, Engineering and Technology, Design and Manufacturing, Public Policy, Leadership and Governance, Astronomy and Astrophysics and cutting edge areas of Nano-sciences.
Director of UGC’s Human Resource Development Centre (HRDC) Prof Jayanta Parida said NRCs would prepare study module for college teachers and help them remain updated about latest developments in their respective fields.
“The technology based online refresher course would provide an enabling opportunity to all in-service teachers, irrespective of their subject and seniority to keep abreast with the latest developments in their respective disciplines,” he said.
The NRCs will publish the list of certified faculties by December 31 who will develop the refresher module as per the latest trends by June 15 every year. The training materials will be made available through Swayam to all teachers by October 1 and based on the response, the course can be repeated in the following January.
“A five member experts’ committee on each discipline would prepare the module and after thorough review it would be uploaded on the web. The teachers after going through the training materials will appear for a test and a good result would help in their career progression and counted as score of academic performance indicators,” Prof Parida added.
Focus on latest developments
● Odisha among 75 NRCs selected across the country in the first phase as part of a major and unique initiative of online professional development
● About 15 lakh higher education faculties would use the Massive Open Online Courses platform Swayam for knowledge update
● IISc, IUCAA, IITs, IISERs, NITs, National Institutes for Technical Teachers Training, IIITs and Open Universities have been notified as NRCs