Modalities for the conduct of Online Assessments - Anna University Affiliated Colleges
NOTIFICATION
Dated: 15.09.2020
Due to the COVID -19 pandemic, the educational institutions across the state have not been opened. As per the guidelines of UGC and the directions of the Higher Education Department, online classes have been commenced from August 2020 to all the Undergraduate and Postgraduate students of the Affiliated Institutions.
Based on these guidelines, due deliberations were made and the following decisions are
taken.
ITEM NO 1
FEEDBACK FROM THE STUDENTS ON ONLINE CLASSES
Several representations from the students have been received on the issues faced due to the online classes. The matter was placed in the meeting to find alternatives to address the issues of the students.
After due deliberations, the following decisions were taken
- About 25% of the syllabus shall be given as blended learning or as external learning. Course material may also be shared to the students via various online modes.
- The students shall be considered as deemed to have attended the classes conducted by external learning [25% of 30/45/60 contact periods of lecture].
GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCTING ONLINE CLASSES
The prevailing pandemic conditions have thrown lots of challenges in teaching-learning process. The classroom teaching has been replaced by online teaching and hence the conventional examination and evaluation process needs a change. In this scenario the delivery and acquisition of knowledge needs to be assessed through proper mechanisms.
To ensure the knowledge transfer to the students the modalities for conducting online classes, internal assessments for Theory and Laboratory Courses have been outlined for the faculties and administrators as mentioned below
Faculty:
- Share resource materials, video lectures, web links, notes, ebooks, etc., in advance to students.
- Record sessions and share the links for the benefit of students who missed or for a recap.
- Encourage asynchronous communication, through offline communication using email, whatsapp, peer-to-peer discussions, chat, discussion forums, special interest groups, for enabling teaching-learning process.
- Post weekly schedules in advance on the topics, coverage etc.,
- Sensitize students about academic honor code, while taking classes/exams online.
For ensuring interactivity, participation and active engagement during online sessions, faculty shall be ready with simple quizzes, exercise problems,worksheets, case studies etc.,
- Faculty shall maintain a record of classes held, assignments, quizzes planned, attendance particulars and weekly progress about conduct of classes and the same shall be reported to the concerned periodically.
- Faculty may use the duly approved evaluation formats or templates and grading schemes, mark distribution for various modes of assessments including, tests, quizzes, assignments, seminars, presentations, worksheets, case studies etc.,
- Blended learning, including flipped classrooms, online/web-based learning beyond the regular online scheduled classes, additional activities shall be encouraged.
- A web page/portal mechanism to monitor the schedules and conduct of online classes, may be created for regular monitoring by the administrators like HODs/DEAN's etc.,
- The HODs/Deans shall hold online office hours according to a schedule, by prior appointment or both to receive requests, concerns, suggestions, grievances from the students and academic community.
- For teaching faculties ensure availability of infrastructure like, mike, speaker, camera, internet connectivity, backup power supply, noise free rooms, data storage devices, like pen drive, external hard disks for recording and storing video lectures in the offline mode for sharing the files or links later to the group.
- Address student grievances on a regular basis.
- Function closely with Computer centre / other offices within the institution that are involved in providing network connectivity, maintenance of network devices, WIFI services etc., for smooth and hassle free conduct of classes.
- Ensure that every faculty member has a good quality dedicated PC or Laptop with the necessary peripherals.
ITEM NO 3
MODALITIES FOR THE CONDUCT OF ONLINE ASSESSMENTS
The assessment schedule for the academic session August to November 2020 has been notified. As the assessments are to be conducted online, the modalities to be adapted for conducting internal assessments for the theory courses and virtual/ online Laboratory Courses for the students of UG (FT/PT) / PG (FT/PT) programmes of Affiliated Institutions under R-2013, R2015, 2014 & R-2017 for the academic session August - November 2020
was deliberated.
It was decided to obtain feedback regarding the modalities of conducting Internal Assessments from the HoDs of University Departments, few Principals from Autonomous and Non-Autonomous Affiliated Institutions from various zones as a survey. Based on the recommendations of the members, a google survey form was circulated and the feedback was obtained and consolidated.
With due deliberations on the feedback obtained, the following modalities were decided along with the guidelines as below.
The internal assessments for both theory and laboratory will be conducted in ONLINE mode as follows
Theory Courses
- To provide uniquely customized assignments to individual students
- To conduct online quiz in Microsoft teams Platforms (or any other equivalent Platforms)
- To conduct open book test
- To evaluate presentation made by students based on case studies
- To conduct one to one oral online quiz.
- Course Projects/ Group Projects shall be provided.
- Exam.net is an application that is free and available in the Internet. This can be used for text based questions (descriptive answers). Microsoft Teams' credentials may be used to log in.
- Any other modality as decided by the faculty concerned.
Online/ Virtual Laboratory Courses
- To evaluate the submitted online observation work of the experiments.
- To conduct online Quiz in Microsoft TEAMS Platform (or any other equivalent Platforms) using Google FORMS or other LMSs including MOODLE, Google Classroom, Canvas etc.
- To conduct simulation based test on the experiments.
- To evaluate Presentation made by students based on demonstrated.
- To conduct one to one online quiz orally on the experiments.
- To assign design projects / lab projects based on the experiments and conduct online evaluation.
The theory component shall be carried out as per the modalities of the theory courses and laboratory components shall be conducted as per the modalities of the laboratory courses.
GUIDELINES FOR CONDUCTING ONLINE ASSESSMENTS
- Each online assessment shall be conducted for 1 hour duration
- A minimum of two modalities should be followed for the conduct of online assessments.
- Records for all the modalities followed shall be maintained.
- If the student faces any network issues or power failure another opportunity shall be given or alternative arrangements shall be made for the conduct of internal assessments
The Official PDF from centre for academic courses (cac.annauniv.edu) website has also been attached below.
