Different people have responded to the lockdown in different ways. In the case of CVV faculty, some utilised this time at home by learning new things and acquiring new skills.
May 2020
Continuing his learning through May, Assistant Librarian Dr. P. M. Manoharan Pillai attended webinars on various topics making the best use of his time. ‘Current and emerging trends in library services’ and ‘Research Data Management’, both, organised by the Kerala Library Association Kottayam Region; ‘Research Publishing and Plagiarism Control’ organised by the Pavanatma College, Murickassary; ‘Strategies and Tips for Organising Virtual Learning Environment During the Lockdown’ organised by EBSCO Information Services are a few from the numerous webinars he attended.
Dr. P. N. Prabhavathy, Asst. Prof at CVV’s School of Kalayoga, participated in an online Faculty Development Programme on ‘Moodle’, organised by Free/Libre and Open Source Software For Education (FOSSEE) Club of Vellore Institute of Technology, Chennai, in association with the Teaching Learning Centre (ICT) of IIT Bombay.
Continuing on the theme of Indian Knowledge Systems, Asst. Prof., Linguistics and Literary Studies, Vishaka Venkat attended a course on ‘Hinduism through its Scriptures’ offered by HarvardX. It is a foundational course on Hinduism, which covers different parts of Vedic studies and the Puranas. The course covered modules from the Vedas, Upanishads and Dharma shastras to rituals, puranas and bhakti tradition.
Dr. Sandhya Shankar, Assistant Professor, School of Linguistics and Literary Studies, completed a five-week online certificate course titled Teaching Character and Creating Positive Classrooms. The course was offered by the Relay Graduate School of Education, New York, through Coursera.
Dr. Bindusree R., Assistant Professor, Contemporary Knowledge Systems, completed an online certificate course on R Programming. The course was conducted by Spoken Tutorial Project, IIT Bombay; funded by the National Mission on Education through ICT, MHRD, Government of India.
Assistant Librarian Dr. P. M. Manoharan Pillai participated in a webinar on Current Trends in Library Services organised by the Kerala Library Association, Kottayam Region.
Dean of Faculty, Dr. Gauri Mahulikar completed an online Certificate Course in the Sharda script organised by Vyoma Labs, Bengaluru. The Sharda script is an ancient script used for many Sanskrit manuscripts. Dr. Mahulikar shared her experience in this blog: https://blog.cvv.ac.in/lockdown-no-lock-in/
Leadership Lessons from Indian Mythology was the Udemy course that Asst. Prof., Linguistics and Literary Studies, Vishaka Venkat took up. She says, “Doing this course was really refreshing. I gained new perspectives on the stories that I knew. Rishi Nanda, a mythologist, interpreted the stories from the perspective of organisation and corporate culture.”
Dr. Radha Mohan, Professor, Ethics, Governance, Culture & Social System, attended a two-day faculty development programme on Virtual Teaching, organised by the Teaching Learning Centre of Coimbatore Institute of Technology, Coimbatore. She also participated in a Zoom meet on Fitness for Women organised by the Stella Matutina College of Education, Chennai.
Their enthusiasm for learning is like what is said in this shubhashita –
अजरामरवत्प्राज्ञः विद्यामर्थं च चिन्तयेत् ।
गृहीत इव केशेषु मृत्युना धर्ममाचरेत् ॥
A wise person should acquire knowledge and wealth as if he is never going to die. And he should practice Dharma (right duties) as if he is tightly held by his hair by death.
CVV congratulates them on their achievements and lauds their efforts at furthering their education.