VTU’s EDUSAT backed 1000th
Lecture Session Completed

Visvesvaraya Technological University (VTU), Belgaum, Karnataka, the first university to implement EDUSAT-based e-classes for technical education, has successfully completed 1000 sessions of lectures via EDUSAT. To mark the 1000th session, a special panel discussion was organised at the Department of State Educational Research and Training Campus, Bangalore on March 23, 2006.
VTU had initiated pilot projects even before the launch of EDUSAT by using other INSAT system satellites. Since the commissioning of EDUSAT, classes are being conducted for about eight hours daily using EDUSAT network that connects all the 120 engineering colleges of VTU. The students spread across Karnataka have benefited immensely by listening and interacting with some of the best subject experts. Seven to eight subjects are taught every semester.

So far, three programmes covering 669 sessions and 331 sessions under the on-going fourth programme, have been completed. The subjects covering various disciplines like civil, mechanical, electronics, electrical, computer science and information science are being transmitted live everyday from VTU studio situated at Bangalore.

VTU has also used EDUSAT network for interaction between talented youth and the chief executives of various corporate entities, which has been well received and well attended. This has enabled industries to spot talented students from the universities. VTU’s experience on the effectiveness of satellite based technical education in terms of equipment, classroom infrastructure and programme content will be useful for EDUSAT projects that are being implemented in other parts of the country.

In his message on the occasion of the 1000th live session using EDUSAT, Mr G Madhavan Nair, Chairman, ISRO congratulated VTU for being the first to implement EDUSAT programme and
said that VTU can become a role-model for other institutions of higher education to implement EDUSAT based classrooms across the country.

He added that EDUSAT network could be used for administrative purposes and even for conducting on-line examinations and evaluations. Mr Madhavan Nair said that possibility exists to upgrade technology to enable interconnectivity between national and regional beams of EDUSAT for conducting classes across the country. “While ISRO has been striving to use space technology for efficient societal benefits, it should be the user community, which has to come forward and use advanced technologies to improve the efficiency and capacity of the conventional systems” he said.

Participating in the panel discussion, Mr D H Shankara Murthy, Minister of Higher Education, Karnataka, expressed happiness about the functioning of VTU EDUSAT network and said that the Karnataka Government will provide all necessary support for extending this facility. He also added that the Government is proposing to set up a separate directorate for technology enabled education to adopt the latest technology at all levels of education. Mrs Sobha Nambisan, Principal Secretary, Higher Education, Government of Karnataka, said that in the present context of severe paucity of well trained teachers, VTU EDUSAT is a boon to share the knowledge of expert teachers by a large student community.

Mr A Bhaskaranarayana, Director, Satellite Communications Progarmme, ISRO said that VTU Project has successfully demonstrated the efficacy of satellite-based technology for technical education. He also said that with the fast pace of technological evolution, it is very difficult for teachers to keep themselves updated on the latest and EDUSAT can help in bringing the best of lecturers to teach students of all colleges of VTU simultaneously. Dr K Balaveera Reddy, Vice Chancellor, VTU thanked ISRO for providing necessary satellite bandwidth and other facilities for VTU EDUSAT project and said that VTU will go ahead to implement various other projects like technology enabled education,
e-learning, e-campus, etc.

The teaching end

EDUSAT, launched on September 20, 2004, is configured for audio-visual medium employing digital interactive classroom lessons and multimedia content. Its ground coverage is specially configured to cater to the educational requirements of the country. EDUSAT programme is primarily intended for school, college and higher levels of education and to support non-formal education. In the present semi-operational phase of EDUSAT programme, Karnataka Primary Education Project under ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ covering 885 primary schools has been made operational using the southern regional beam of EDUSAT. Networks for IGNOU, CEC/ University Grants Commission, CIT/National Council of Educational Research and Training, All India Council for Technical Education and Department of Science and Technology have been set up using the national beam. Interactive networks for Kerala and Tamil Nadu are operational and extensively used for teachers’ training and other training programmes using regional beam.

The learning end

School networks in Chamarajanagar and Gulbarga in Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Mallapuram in Kerala and Lakshadweep are under various stages of implementation. As of now, about 2,700 schools are benefited by this programme. About 900 interactive networks for application of higher and technical education and teachers’ training are operational at present. Many networks in
J&K and North Eastern states will soon be operational. A total of 33 interactive/Receive Only Terminal networks are proposed in the national beam as well as the regional beams of which 12 are operational. This includes a unique network for Blind People’s Association operating in Ku-band western regional beam established in 10 blind schools of Gujarat. At present, more than 2300 classrooms have been connected through EDUSAT in various educational networks.