Online capacity building workshop on Virtual Labs at Uttarakhand Open University (UOU), Haldwani

A two-day online workshop on Virtual Labs was organized by CEMCA in collaboration with Uttarakhand Open University (UOU) on 9thand 10thNovember 2020. This capacity building programme was attended by 62 faculty members of UOU and other formal universities of the State.

Prof. O.P.S. Negi, Vice Chancellor, Uttarakhand Open University, in his Presidential address, emphasised the importance of experimentation in science education, and posited that open educational resources, including virtual labs can play an important role in taking educators and students towards quality teaching and learning. Prof. Madhu Parhar, Director, CEMCA highlighted the need for virtual labs in the context of open universities.

Dr. Krishnashree Achutan, Principal Investigator, VALUE Virtual Labs at Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, in her keynote address, spoke of how virtual labs promote holistic and experiential learning. Mr. Saneesh P F, Project Manager, VALUE Virtual Labs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham provided an overview of virtual labs and demonstrated a variety of experiments from Physics, Chemistry, Biology, and Computer Science. He showed how to navigate the virtual lab learning management system, shared research insights, and discussed how to transform teaching methods using virtual labs. Virtual lab users and developers shared their experiences.

Prof. Durgesh Pant, Director, School of Computer Science and IT, UOU, spoke of the need to take such initiatives ahead so that open universities can benefit from virtual labs.