One Week ISTE STTP for Coordinators on Technical Communication

Introduction

Over 6 years ago, IIT Bombay started conducting ISTE training programmes for empowering teachers of engineering colleges. We started to engage 1,000 teachers at a time, in subject specific training workshops of two week duration. In 2013 we scaled this program further, to train up to 10,000 teachers at a time (T10KT), using 352 established remote centers across India. Together with IIT Kharagpur- a partner Institution in this project, we have a mandate through a funded project from the National Mission on Education using ICT (NME-ICT) of MHRD, to train 1,50,000 teachers in 15 such workshops.

Since December 2009, we have conducted several two-week ISTE workshops on various engineering subjects. We have reached out to more than 100,000 teachers and assisted them to enhance their teaching skills in these subjects.

In order to run these workshops at selected remote centers, we invite expert faculty from various remote centers to a five-day Coordinators’ training workshop which is held in IIT Bombay, typically about three months before the main workshop. These faculty members then act as Workshop Coordinators during the main training workshop to be conducted later for 10,000 teachers. The Coordinators supervise the conduct of tutorials and Labs at their Centers. They liaise between the participants at their Remote Centers and IIT Bombay, from where the interactive lectures are transmitted live. All the lectures and tutorial sessions are recorded. The final edited audio-visual content, along with other course material, are released in Open Source. The content can be freely used later by all teachers, students and other learners.

In order to sustain this training program in future years, we have started conducting some training programmes in the self financed mode, the details of which are given in Annexure 1. The STTP on “Technical Communication” being announced will also be conducted in the self finance mode

Train the teachers, who in-turn train other teachers, who teach the students, is the objective of the T10kT project of IIT Bombay, where a combination of online platforms and face-to-face interaction is used to make teacher training possible over a large scale. In this ISTE short term training programme, one of the mandatory subjects of Technical Communication will be conducted by faculty from IIT Bombay. Faculty colleagues who teach these subjects to undergraduate/postgraduate students will benefit from participating in this training programme. It will also help the faculty improve their own research communications.

This announcement is for the Coordinators’ Workshop, to support the above. The duration of this workshop will be five working days- 24 to 28 August 2015. This workshop will provide a condensed delivery of the material to be covered in the MOOC course as well as at the remote centres.

It will also provide a complete orientation to the prospective Workshop Coordinators, on the methodology of MOOCs and training on other technical and logistics aspects, required for the main workshop.

Course content

The topics to be covered in this STTP include:

1. Scientific Methodology
2. Listening and Note Taking
3. Reading and Surveying Literature
4. Writing Summaries, Papers, Reports, and Thesis
5. Presentation: Short and Long
6. Ethics and Cultural Issues
7. Internet Communication

Teaching Faculty

Prof. Ambarish Kunwar BSBE, IIT Bombay
Prof. Ashish Pandey, SOM, IIT Bombay
Prof. M. P. Gururajan, MEMS, IIT Bombay
Prof. Sachin Patwardhan, CHE, IIT Bombay
Prof. Prita Pant, MEMS, IIT Bombay
Prof. D. Parthasarathy, HSS, IIT Bombay
Prof. P. Sunthar, CHE, IIT Bombay
Prof. Virendra Sethi, CESE, IIT Bombay

Who Should Attend

Any faculty who is involved in the teaching of Technical Communication/Research Methodology can attend the short term training programme. It is essential that those attending this training programme be willing to act as a workshop coordinator, with their college acting as one of the remote centers for the main workshop in Dec 2015. There are no pre-requisites for the course.

However, the participants should be familiar with the syllabi and examination pattern of their own college or university. It is also preferable that they should have at least 1 year of teaching experience.

Duration and Venue

The duration of the Coordinators’ Short Term Training Programme (STTP) is one week (24 - 28th August, 2015), and it will be conducted in IIT Bombay.

Criteria for Certification

NA

Course Fee

Since the STTP for the workshop coordinators is funded by the National Mission on Education through ICT (MHRD, Government of India), there is no course fee for participation. Travel fare reimbursement will be made for up to A/C 2-tier or lowest return airfare, as per GOI entitlement. No DA will be paid.

How to Apply

Those wishing to attend this course, and become prospective Workshop Coordinators for their Remote Centers, should register online at http://www.it.iitb.ac.in/nmeict

Due to limited seats, only one registration from each remote center is allowed. Confirmation of registration will be sent by email. Enrollment will be strictly online.

Accommodation

Shared Guest House accommodation with standard boarding will be provided free to the participants depending on availability.

Note

• It is mandatory that the participant’s Institute is well equipped to conduct the main workshop through the internet for a minimum of 30 participants. For a remote center, a primary requirement is provision of one computer per participant, with appropriate software (licensed or open source). This is for the laboratory component of the course.

• It is also mandatory that the participants bring a document from the Heads of their institutes to the effect that the institute is willing to be part of this project, it will provide the necessary infrastructure for conduct of the main workshop, and will release the participant for the complete duration of the face-to-face interaction during the coordinators’ workshop, as also the main workshop.

• Please note that this STTP is conducted under the T10KT project of IIT Bombay. Live recording of the course and other created content would be released under Open Source, through a portal. The recorded CD/DVD of the course lectures would be available for distribution at cost, to any individual/ institution. All participants are required to sign a No Objection certificate for such release of contents contributed by them during and after the STTP. All contributors will be acknowledged.

Please make sure that you, your remote center coordinator and the head of your institute have read the course conduct sequence, and the Annexure 1, which details the self financed model, before your registration.

1. July 2015: Colleges willing to act as remote centers will identify one faculty to be sent to IIT Bombay for training.
2. 24 to 28 August 2015: IIT Bombay will conduct a face-to-face 5-day intense workshop for this faculty, who will then act as Workshop Coordinators for Remote Centers in the Main workshop.
3. Sept 2015: IIT Bombay will advertise these remote centers and invite other college faculty to register for the main training course meant for up to 10,000 teachers (10kT).
4. All those registered teachers (whose status is verified) are required to pay the participation fee of Rs. 1000/- to their respective remote centers. After the payment of fees the registration will be approved by the center coordinator. (Please refer to Annexure 1)
5. The main workshop Two Week ISTE STTP on “Technical Communication” will commence on 08th October. This STTP will have two components:
   1. Online Component from 8 Oct to 11 Nov 2015: The participating teachers will complete the equivalent of one week full-time work online, spread over 5 physical weeks from their home/office. The online activity will be hosted on IITBombayX, the platform developed by IIT Bombay using the open source code base of open-edx.
   2. Face to Face interaction through A-view video transmission 30 Nov to 5 Dec 2015: The participant will be present in his/her local center, and carry out tutorials, discussions, and interact with IITB faculty, live. The workshop coordinators, who were trained earlier, will conduct/manage this group of registered faculty.
6. IIT Bombay will provide ISTE certificates to all those who successfully complete the online course and face-to-face workshops. Both the components are mandatory.

Annexure 1

The main short term training programme will be conducted in the self finance mode. The participants of the main workshop will have to pay a registration fee to the remote centre. Following are the highlights of the self finance mode:

• IIT Bombay will not fund the conduct of the main short term training programme at the remote centers.
• Participation fee of Rs 1000/- should be charged from the registered participants by the remote center. This will cover all expenses to be incurred by the remote center, including honorarium to the local faculty and staff. This will not include the accommodation and meal arrangement charges. No additional participation fee should be charged to the participants.
• The participation fee should be collected from the participants within two week of their registration, before the first component begins. The fee is inclusive of both the components.
• For food and stay, the participant will have to bear extra charges as per the rates at the local remote center. This is optional for the participants, and can be implemented, only if they are willing to avail the facility.
• The remote centers will have to collect the money from the registered participants in Cash/Demand Draft/Cheque.
• Remote center coordinator has to accordingly start approval/cancellation based on payment of fees. (This mechanism will be given to the concerned RCC on the website)
• The details of the participants, who have paid the participation fee, should be informed to IIT Bombay.
• Remote center is responsible for queries or clarification related to the participation fee at their end only.

Address For Communication

Dr. Mukta Atrey,
Sr. Project Manager,
Department of CSE, Kanwal Rekhi Building,
Indian Institute of Technology Bombay,
Mumbai - 400 076.
Tel.: +91-22-2576 4989
Fax: +91-22-2572 0022
Email: eoutreach@it.iitb.ac.in