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The Second Teacher Training Program (TTP-II) on Free/Open SourceSoftware was held during 2-3 Dec 05( Friday- Saturday) at the AU-KBCCentre, to update the engineering college teachers who will be handlingthe FOSS Elective--I course during the forthcoming semester. There were66 teachers from 36 colleges who attended the sessions. (There were 89teachers from 46 colleges during TTP-I held in June 05, and many ofthem could not attend this program due to the severe cyclonic stormconditions) Participants and Prize Winners of FOSS QuizMr. S. Ramakrishnan, Director General, C-DAC, the Chief Guestat the inaugural function held on 2nd morning, shared his thoughts onFOSS with the audience which included Mr. M.R. Rajagopalan, Head,C-DAC, Chennai and Joint Coordinator of NRCFOSS. Prof. G. Sivakumar, IIT Bombay, led the technical teamconsisting of Prof S. V. Ramanan (AU-KBC), Mr. Bharathi Subramanyan(Midas Communications) and Mr. S. Senthil Anand (AU-KBC) in taking theteachers through the syllabus and in providing pointers towards lecturepreparation & delivery, supportive laboratory measures andevaluation mechanisms. In addition, the audience was taught how to useMoodle, Latex and other open source resources to develop coursematerials, laboratory sessions, discussion forum, quiz and test papers,etc. The team also clarified the teachers' queries regarding varioussyllabus topics and FOSS Lab. Prof. Sivakumar recommended that thelecturers could use the quiz and lab classes to award the internalmarks. It was also suggested that at the end of the semester,interested students could take up a special certification test at anadvanced level organized by NRCFOSS/AU-KBC, possibly in associationwith industry. Prof. C.N. Krishnan, Director, AU-KBC and Joint Coordinator,NRCFOSS, along with Dr. S. Srinivasan, Project Scientist, AU-KBC,interacted with the teachers regarding publicising the elective amongthe student community, student project initiatives, text book andcourse materials, support mechanisms for conducting the electivecourse, etc. It was noted that at present, only 15 colleges haveannounced the elective and about 685 students from these colleges haveagreed to take the same-- well below the original target of 50 collegesoffering the elective and 3000 students opting for it. The poorresponse, according to the teachers and the colleges, was due tofactors like (i) delay in the official notification from AnnaUniversity regarding this Elective, (ii) students' reluctance toventure into a new elective as against established ones like ".NET andC#" and (iii) students apprehension about the vastness/ toughness ofsyllabus and worry about examinations and grades. Many of the teachersclarified that , as many colleges are yet to announce their electives,more colleges would be coming forward to offer FOSS Elective- I and thenumber of students opting for it would go up substantially at leastabove one thousand. The final picture would be known only by the 1stweek of Jan 06 In the concluding session on 3rd afternoon, a Quiz on FOSS wasconducted to ascertain the level of interest and awareness that theteachers have acquired during the last six months. Teams were formedfrom 8 of the 10 zones from all over the state, and Mr. M. Murali,Consultant, AU-KBC, conducted the quiz which was received veryenthusiastically. Top three teams were announced as winners and prizesgiven to them. During the valedictory function, the chief guest Dr. G.Ravindran, Chairman, Faculty of C&I Sciences, Anna University,addressed the gathering and allayed the teachers' apprehensionregarding the formal approval for the FOSS Elective I by AnnaUniversity. He took note of the concern of the teachers regarding thedelay in formal notification of the FOSS Elective-I and assured themthat necessary measures would be taken in time, and they could go aheadwith their plans for offering the elective. Dr. Ravindran alsodistributed the prizes to the members of the top three teams in thequiz. Prof. P. Kanakasabhapathy, Dean, MIT, also participated in thelast session, and conveyed to the teachers the keen interest taken bythe Vice Chancellor of Anna University, Dr. D Viswanathan, in thisprogram. The Vice Chancellor had, in fact, wanted to interact with theparticipants in person or through a video-link, but could not do so dueto unforeseen circumstances. The Dean offered his full support to theNRCFOSS efforts in general, and the Electives program, in particular.Prof. Krishnan expressed deep appreciation for the involvement andsupport from Prof. G. Sivakumar for the conduct of the TTP s, andthanked him for the same on behalf of NRCFOSS. The Dean distributedmementos to the guest faculty. The teachers were also presented withCDs containing updated course materials including slides segmented unitwise. 1st Prize - Zone 6 1. Mr C Semmalai - Sona College of Technology 2. Mr C David amuel Azariya - Sona College of Technology 3. Ms T K Krishnaveni - Muthayammal Engineering College 2nd Prize - Zone 3 1. Mr S Senthil Velan - Sri Siva Subramania Nadar College of Engg 2. Mr V Balasubramian - Sri Siva Subramania Nadar College of Engg 3. Mrs V S Bhuvaneshwari - Jeruselam College of Engg and Technology 3rd Prize - Zone 5 1. Mr K R Mohammed Imran - C Abdul Hakeem College of Engg and Tech 2. Mr A Rajesh - Abdul Hakeem College of Engg and Tech Other Teams: Zone 1 1. Mr J Venkatesh - RMK Engg College 2. Mr R Janarthanan - Jaya Engg College Zone 4 1. Mr G RamKumar - Sri Sai Ram Engg College 2. Mr M Arun Manikanda Bharathi - Sri Sai Ram Engg College 3. Mr A Kathirvel - B S Abdur Rehman Cresent Engg College Zone 7 1. Mr P Nithyanandam - Bannari Amman Institute of Tech 2. Ms S Malliga - Kongu Engg College 3. Mr K Kumaraguru - Dr Mahalingam College of Engg and Tech Zone 8 1. Ms M Vidhya Kumari - Shri Angalamman College of Engg and Tech 2. Mr R Saravanan - Jayaram College of Engg and Tech 3. Mr S Karunanidhi - Saranathan College of Engg Zone 9 1. Mr C Rajakumar - RVS College of Engg and Tech 2. Ms S Padmavathi - Thiagarajar College of Engg 3. Ms K Sundarakantham - Thiagarajar College of Engg |
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