Total 25 Nodal Centres set up across the Gujarat by GTU with the help of IIT-Bombay
Ahmedabad: Gujarat Technological University (GTU) has set up 25 Virtual Lab Nodal Centres across the Gujarat with the help of IIT Bombay. Through the Virtual Lab Nodal Centres, Students of Engineering & Biotech of GTU colleges can now perform experiments, do practicals, innovation and Research through the latest state of the art facility and IIT expertise. One such Nodal Centre was inaugurated at GTU Gandhinagar campus, where around 300 faculty members got the training about the Virtual Lab.
Shri K.K. Nirala, Director of Technical Education, Government of Gujarat inaugurated the 1st GTU Nodal Centre at the GTU Gandhinagar Campus. He said that these 25 Virtual Labs set up will be much more useful to colleges of Rural and Remote area. Students of Rural areas can now perform experiments at par with urban students. We can’t insist each and every colleges to equip the college with all facilities. But this unique step will help them irrespective of their budget and irrespective of geographical constrains. This is the right usage of Technological Advancement and this is the need of the hour. Students can get maximum benefits of experimenting on latest equipment and do innovation and Research. Such Virtual labs will encourage Quality education as well as discovery and creativity in practical knowledge also.
Prof.(Dr) Navin Sheth, Vice Chancellor of GTU said that Union Ministry of Human Resources Development as a part National Mission on Education through ICT has selected Gujarat Technological University (GTU) as Virtual Lab Regional Nodal Centre. IIT-B will provide this Lab facility through one common web platform of portal: vlabs.iitb.ac.in. Total 25 Nodal Centres set up across the Gujarat with the help of IIT-Bombay platform. For implementation of this concept, we will train faculty members. They will teach students in the Nodal Centres. These Centres will serve as Virtual Labs for 9 disciplines including Physical Science, Biomedical & Biotechnology, Electrical Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Electronics & Communications Engg, Civil Engg, Mechanical Engg, Chemical Sciences and Computer Science. For sustaining the Nodal Centre, each such unit has to perform at least 8000 experiments per year. Any Nodal Centre complete 8000 experiments first among GTU Centres, will get prize of Rs. 15,000, Second such Centre will get prize of Rs. 10,000 and Third Centre will get Rs. 5000.
Shri Pushpdeep Mishra, Project Manager of Virtual Lab, IIT Bombay explained the concept and said that the Basic Idea of a virtual lab is like a physical lab or simulator located remotely is accessed through the internet by several remote users. 114 such Labs have been set up for 9 Disciplines and performed 1200 Experiments. IIT Bombay Proposed MHRD the concept of Community based Virtual Labs development. First pilot concept of community based lab created and demonstrated by PVG-COET in late 2015. Additional institutes from Delhi, Mumbai, Aurangabad and Vadodara join in the effort. As of today 12 labs hosted on the vlabs-dev page of IIT Bombay. IIT Bombay has received 160 New Lab Development proposals. NASSCOM and MHRD has well appreciated the outcome of Virtual Labs project. From 100+ projects of MHRD NMEICT projects, Virtual Labs cited best. 3rd Phase to begin from 2018. New Model of Regional Centers have been implemented. Nationwide BootCamp for development has been planned. Universities to include VLABS in curriculum. More Polytechnic colleges to be roped in.
There are three types of Virtual lab:
Modelling & Simulation labs: Learning through interactive animations
Measurement Based Labs: Learning through simulated data sets from the experiments
Remote Triggered labs: Learning through remotely accessible labs
Prof.(Dr) S.D. Panchal, I/c Registrar of GTU said that GTU has selected 25 colleges including L.D. College of Engineering, SAL Institute of Technology & Engineering Research, silver oak college of engineering and technology, various Government Engineering colleges, various Government Polytechnic etc. Students will be provided user ID & Password for working on the platform of Virtual Lab. Even in some cases students can do practical at home also. Nationwide 474 Nodal Centers have been set up, while GTU to have 25 such Nodal Centres. An Ideal Laboratory is the ultimate lab where a student team is given a concept, and forced to turn up on one day just to try and assemble the apparatus, and to come back the next turn to generate data and to put the components away again. There are many problems with Physical Labs like Not available all the time, huge Expensive (reagents, equipments) and Hazardous. Every experiment/equipment’s not available all the time. On the other side, Virtual Lab can reduce huge costing of setting up physical lab. Virtual lab can reduce the other risks also and students can get flexibilities.
Prof. Viral Borisagar, co-ordinator of the Nodal Centres for GTU said that we are giving an opportunity to faculty members to design new experiments. Such new experiments, if selected by IIT Bombay expert team, it will be uploaded on Virtual Lab platform. Students from All Over India can take the benefits of the new experiments. Benefits of Virtual Lab for Teachers are complete Learning Management System, Inexpensive, Can be used with the curriculum & Efficient and useful in teaching aid. Benefits of Virtual Lab for Students will be inculcate Motivation and interests for experiments and Research, Physical distance no longer limits the learning process, Enables them to perform experiments remotely as an on-demand service on the web. This will also help them in getting Quality learning. They can learn at their own pace with Self Evaluation.
Advantage of being a Nodal centre:
The Institute will be on a National Map of MHRD undertaken project under NME-ICT
Will be getting the technical support from IIT-Bombay for training students conducting workshops & developing own customized experiments.
Students can undertake the development projects as their academic project at the Nodal Centre
Opportunity for internship @IIT Bombay
As a Nodal centre, the college will be helping other colleges & schools nearby to spread the knowledge through ICT.
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