An hour online, on way to Guinness

An hour online, on way to Guinness

A college professor takes class for students all over the world

Coimbatore: Is it possible to teach 1, 824 students spread over 15 countries simultaneously? S. Subramonian, principal of R.V. Arts and Science College made it possible here on Thursday. He was addressing students of the “Largest Computer Class” for an hour from the college premises through a dial-up connection.

In an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, Prof, Subramonian took an hour-long class for student’s class for the students to break the previous record created by China with 1,135 students. He used his computer to create the virtual classroom with the help of teaching software known as Conference V2 software.

His students were Austria, Educator, Ghana, Greece, Kuwait, Lithunia, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, Poland, Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Nepal and the U.S. Closer home, students from Kerala, Harayana and Bangalore participated.

Inaugurated online by G. Thiruvasagam, Vice-Chancellor or Bharathiar University, the class took of at 11.a.m. with Prof. Subramonian giving a lecture to school students on “How to attend an online?”

He started the class by tracing the beginnings of school education when there were no four walls or a blackboard to the present modern day classroom. He then moved on to explain the nuances involved in studying online. He gave the basics of logging on to the required web site, registering for the specific course and how to proceed from then on.

The class went on for about 50 minutes after which time was given for interaction. Students had queries regarding courses that could be done online and those that could not be done.

One wanted to know whether he could study online from a computer that dial-up connection.

The professor responded to their queries for sometime and their queries for some and then it was time for the one-hour limit to end. There was applause and a cheer went up as he logged out. His attempt was through. It would, however, take him two or three days to get the final number of students who attended his virtual class. “We will send all the relevant documents with the signatures of students who attended the class room all over the world the world to the Guinness authorities. The confirmation will come within ten days,” Prof. Subramonian said.

Speaking on the reason for this attempt, he said: “It is not only for the sake of breaking the record, but also to attract the attention of the younger generation towards the teaching profession. They should understand that information technology could be put to use for teaching online. Online teaching is keeping in pace with information technology.”

“For students from the underdeveloped countries this online mode of learning will be very helpful. If a student wants to do a degree or diploma course from Cambridge University, it would cost him thousands of dollars: but the same students can do it online by spending a fraction of that amount. All universities and colleges do not offer all degree courses online. Students should find out and make use of the ones that offer online courses and degrees, he said on a final note.

An hour online, on way to Guinness

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