Credit system won't be smooth, warn experienced departments of Mumbai University

Credit system won't be smooth, warn experienced departments of Mumbai University


Mumbai: The Mumbai University has decided to implement the credit system this year across major departments, but the faculties, which have been following the rating system for the past few years, have words of caution.
The department of communication and journalism, one of the first few to implement the new system, had a few troubles during the transition. “Every new system has its drawbacks. In this case, students took a long time adapting to it. They need thorough orientation and constant reassurance till the time they reach a comfort level,” said Meenakshi Upadhyay, lecturer cum coordinator, public relations, department of communication and journalism, Mumbai University.
The department has been following the rating system for the past two years and the lecturers are more than happy. “It reduces stress of students and also gives them a lot of options to earn credits. It will definitely improve the performance of teachers and students,” Upadhyay added.
The system is also a qualitative evaluation method where students will be continuously assessed throughout the year. This would require a healthy student-teacher ratio, which is a major challenge for the undergraduate courses where the ratio is tilted heavily towards students.
“The system will increase the working hours of teachers. Apart from this, teachers will need to understand how the system works so as to change their method of teaching and evaluating,” said Sneha Subhedar, coordinator, department of mass media studies, Ruia College, Matunga.
The department of economics had also implemented the system in 2008, but Dr Abhay Pethe, the head of the department, expressed concern over the absence of a healthy-student teacher ratio. “As this system needs lot of one-to-one interaction between students and faculty, there is dire need for more teachers,” he said.
However, an official said the system, being implemented across the undergraduate and postgraduate streams, is different from the ones adopted earlier by a few departments. “For example, the system being introduced is inter-disciplinary, not multi-disciplinary,” he pointed out.


Source Link: http://www.dnaindia.com/academy/report_credit-system-won-t-be-smooth-warn-experienced-departments-of-mumbai-university_1382418