First College in Tiruvarur District to Use Google Classroom

 First College in Tiruvarur District to Use Google Classroom

The lockdown cannot deter our spirit to teach, to learn and to share study notes. A few days back, professors of Swami Dayananda Arts & Science College, Manjakkudi Village, Tiruvarur District, Tamil Nadu, gathered to address how to complete the portions, prepare the students for examinations and keep them engaged. That's when they decided to use Google Classroom. Within a week, lesson plans were created, uploaded and classes are on. So far 1,472 students out of 1,711, from 11 courses, have registered and have begun accessing the content.
“We gave a demo to all the teachers. It started with the basics of how to download the app to how to upload content. We initiated this process well before the lockdown was announced. There was a slight panic with the way things were going, and we did not want the students to miss out on their portions,” explains Hema Rengamani, Principal in-charge, Swami Dayananda College of Arts & Science.
Every class has two representatives who were given the class code. They then shared it with their classmates. Initially, the response was slow as it was the first time our students were taking classes online. But today, 86% of the students have signed up and are using the app actively. “Google classroom is user friendly. It is easy to upload all type of content - text, voice, videos etc. Students can join and access the content easily by sharing the class code.  Interoperability is another useful feature. Students can access the app through their personal computer, laptop and mobiles,” adds Ms. Rengamani.
Being the first college in the region to implement it, students from over 120 villages who commute daily to study at the college are benefitting from this online classroom initiative. The management explains that post the lockdown, they will be using Google Classroom to manage the weekend and holiday assignments.