IIT-Madras offers free courses during lockdown

Hyderabad: IIT-Madras, in collaboration with the National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL), has launched free courses for students affected by the COVID-19 lockdown.

The YouTube live classes started from 13 April and will continue till 26 April. Some classes may even extend after the lockdown ends, said an IIT-Madras faculty member.

The faculty members of IIT-Madras will guide students on job- and career-related issues and also discuss time management, the joy of teaching, soft skills, film sense, entrepreneurship, and technology and research. In the hour-long classes, participants can ask doubts through the chatbox. The class will be divided into two sessions - a 45-minute lecture and a 15-minute question and answer session.

A senior project officer of NPTEL-IIT Madras, Bharathi, said the first live lectures conducted on film sense got around 11,000 views. She said following this positive response they are planning to bring in more people like musicians and artists to give lectures. Apart from this, IIT-Madras is also planning to bring heads of IBM, Google, CapGemini, Infosys, and GE Healthcare to give talks.

Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, faculty in-charge of NPTEL-IIT Madras, said, “These lectures provide students an exposure to listen to eminent speakers from various domains. They can go a long way in motivating students to aspire higher and learn better. NPTEL- IIT Madras was always keen to launch such a full-fledged lecture series on career options available to students.”

Students can visit NPTEL website to check out further additions to the courses and course timetable. The IIT-Madras faculty members said if they get a good response from the students they will continue the courses even after the lockdown ends.