The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras has taken a unique initiative to make its high-quality courses in Computer Science available to everyone. The faculty from the Department of Computer Science and Engineering have created a portal containing the core courses that can be accessed by educational institutions, students, and anyone else interested.
The core Computer Science courses that are available on the portal- nsm.iitm.ac.in/cse/ are on programming, Data Structures, Computer Organisation and Algorithms. Each course has YouTube recordings of live lectures taught to the students at IIT Madras during the pandemic.
This initiative is also a major step towards realising the vision of Professor V Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, who is keen to make high-quality education accessible to rural India, the IIT Madras said in a statement.
Prof C Chandra Sekhar, Head, Department of Computer Science and Engineering (CSE), IIT Madras, said, "The recordings of live lectures for CSE core courses at the undergraduate level and the graduate level, by the faculty of the Department are expected to be helpful to the students in Engineering Colleges to learn the underlying concepts and principles of the subjects of these courses in the right manner."
Further, Prof C Chandra Sekhar said, "It will also be beneficial to the teachers in Engineering Colleges to get to know how to effectively teach the important and fundamental subjects in Computer Science and Engineering and how to equip the students with the problem-solving skills. It is hoped that the portal will be used to improve the quality of teaching and learning the CSE core subjects in Engineering Colleges in India."
Computer Science is one of the most sought-after engineering disciplines in India, especially in the IITs, and is of high interest to the students. Although a large proportion of students apply for this stream in IITs, there are only a limited number of seats available in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering.
Dr Rupesh Nasre, Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Madras, said, "The portal has been created to help students who could not study at IIT Madras, especially those from remote and rural areas of the country. They will have access to the same curriculum that is taught in the institute. This initiative will ensure that quality material is accessible to all students."
"Apart from helping students, the initiative will also benefit faculty of other educational institutions by providing access to lectures taught at IIT Madras," Mr Nasre further said.
The Department is also planning to engage senior students to conduct live tutorial sessions where they will also clarify the doubts of students.
Abhishek Dhiman, a student who benefitted from the portal, thanked the faculty for taking this initiative, and said, "Even if I am not an IIT Madras student, I am able to access the Institute's lectures mainly because of this amazing initiative."
Rajesh Chandra, another beneficiary of the portal, said, "This is a really helpful initiative from IIT Madras as it helps anyone who wants to improve their expertise in Computer Science stream."
Those availing of this initiative can also attend quizzes on the Portal for self-assessment and ascertain their level of understanding of the courses.
Sharing his experience on working on this initiative, Kovvuri Sravankumar Reddy, third-year BTech student, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, said, "The difficulty of the quizzes on the portal is on par with the exams conducted by the Institute for the undergraduate students."
The department plans to create randomised quizzes in the future for better evaluation. All the elements together will provide a comprehensive package to the students to learn the course.