IIT Gandhinagar to complete semester through online classes

gandhinagar: indian institute of technology gandhinagar will complete courses from the second semester of 2019-20 academic year through online classes commencing 8th june 2020 and has introduced a new grading system for the disrupted academic term. iitgandhinagar’s academic senate approved the changes, under which no letter grades will be awarded this semester for any course, including those completed before the mid-semester.as a pilot, a few faculty at the institute were requested to teach remotely during the revised summer term which was advanced in view of the lockdown imposed in march 2020 to prevent the spread of covid19. the faculty found that most students adjusted well to the online format and their levels of engagement were often comparable to in-person classes. the learnings from the summer online courses are being deployed in the design of online and blended courses for the disrupted semester.faculty members who taught online classes during the summer term also recently conducted a workshop on online teaching to share their experiences and best practices with the faculty.many faculty members are considering experimenting with greater use of quizzes and reading assignments, open book examinations, oral examinations via video-conferencing, among others. some faculty members are considering simulation-based lab work that students can perform remotely. new grading policy:the institute will not be issuing any letter grades for courses in the second semester. two new grades are being introduced - ‘p(e)’ and ‘i/f’ for all courses this semester. the institute has requested faculty members to consider reworking their earlier grading/evaluation policies, if warranted. the revised grading policy for the semester is designed to reflect continuous learning, ensure reasonable fairness and reflect the disruptive impact of the pandemic on the educational system, prof mutha added.‘p(e)’ grade or[pass (emergency)] is a pass grade but will have a different connotation than the usual ‘p’ grade and will be so notated on the transcript. the ‘i/f’ grade denotes ‘incomplete/fail’ but will not distinguish between ‘incomplete’ and ‘fail.’ iitgn was founded in 2008 and is located in palaj, gandhinagar, on the banks of sabarmati river, in close proximity of an international airport and ahmedabad.