The Indraprastha Institute of Information Technology Delhi (IIIT-Delhi) successfully launched the Certificate Program in Computer Science for professors. This was a virtual event taking into account the continuing Covid-19 protocols. The Certificate Program was designed for Computer Science teachers from engineering (B.Tech/BE) and non-engineering (B.Sc./BCA/MCA) backgrounds. The goal was to improve teachers’ teaching abilities in various computer science disciplines.
Universities and Colleges are encouraged to sponsor their faculty for this program. As the program covers all the key CS subjects, a college can improve its CS education quickly by sponsoring their faculty for different subjects for this program. ACM India will provide partial support towards the registration fee for all faculty. Further details about application procedure and scholarships will be posted on the CSEDU website soon said Prof. Pankaj Jalote, Chairman of the Steering Committee for the Certificate Program.
Computer science studies must undergo substantial changes to stay up with the rapid growth of the latest technologies and domains like machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud computing, data science, etc. Several educational institutions find it difficult to update their expertise and efficiently teach various CS disciplines utilizing a current syllabus. The Certificate Program in Computer Science Education was created to assist college/university teachers in improving their teaching skills.
Modules of “Effective Teaching of X,” where the variable X is an essential CS subject, are included in the program (e.g., Algorithms, Data structures Databases, Operating Systems, Machine Learning, etc.) The goal is to provide teachers with resources, examples, knowledge, projects, assignments, other teaching tools, and instructions on teaching subject X using the AICTE’s syllabus. Top specialists will teach these modules, including academics from IIITs, IITs, and other universities. The first batch of modules is slated to start in January 2022.
Faculty will not be required to take any time off because the curriculum will have online modules during a regular semester. Each week, one single session will be held, along with some weekly practice work, for a total endeavour of roughly 5 to 6 hours every week. Attendees will get a teaching of <X> certificate after completing a program.
Each module costs Rs 10,000 plus GST. This cost covers all lectures as well as all resources and materials. Faculty members who enroll in a module are expected to be nominated by their department/institute, ensuring that their teaching load is reduced (by 6-8 hours per week) to dedicate sufficient time to this module.
The inauguration started with a welcome note from Prof. Ranjan Bose, Director IIIT-Delhi. “In his note he said that this program is beneficial for everyone It will Improves teaching efficacy of the faculty – benefits the students; contributes towards professional development for the faculty members – benefits the faculty; boosts the standing of the associated educational institutions – benefit to the institution”
Speaking at the occasion, Prof. Anil Sahasrabudhe, Chairman AICTE said, “The ability to teach creatively is what is missing in the teachers. The faculty in top colleges such as IIT, NITs, etc. are able to do so due to their educational background but this is not true for all CS faculty members across the country. This is an initiative to counter this problem, and when “AICTE, NASSCOM, ACM India is on board (with the CSEDU program), there is nothing besides success that can be achieved out of this”
Prof. Jayant Haritsa, President ACM India who was representing ACM on the occasion also announced that ACM India will be reimbursing the fees for 50% for all members registering before march 31 2022
“There has been a focus on upgrading the CS curriculum, but not enough on training the faculty to cater to the changing requirements of the industry. Their needs to be a change in mindset with how teachers teach will directly impact how students learn. Today the industry doesn’t need programmers, but engineers who can actually think how to apply the programming, that is what has to be taught to the teachers first and then to the students ultimately to make them more employable”. Said Ms. Debjani Ghosh, President Nasscom, while discussing why we need this program.
