Digital Campus

DIGITAL NIRMALA INITIATIVE “Lets Transform”

The institution considers the ‘Digital India’ programme as a landmark initiative of the central government as it transforms India into a knowledge based economy and digitally empowered society. The management of the college believes that National Mission on Education through ICT (NMEICT) of the central government should get adequate support from higher education institutions so that college campuses will become smart to facilitate the digital transformation process.

Aims and Objectives of the Practice 

• To be a part of the national mission on ‘Digital India’.
• To impart technology based education to the students.
• To enhance the digital infrastructure of the campus to promote online learning
• To shift into a paperless campus.
• To augment the e-governance practices in the campus.
• To develop applications to enhance transparency in various processes.
• To improve the digital literacy and digital skills of the students.

The Context

Nirmala College has a tradition of supporting national missions especially that shape the young generations. India has launched the Digital India Programme in 2015. Based on the national philosophy “IT +IT =IT” (India Talent +Information Technology = India Tomorrow), the management and IQAC of the college have taken special attention to bring state of the art facilities so that the campus has become smart in terms of digital access of educational services, management information system, software based learning, paperless office, etc. The college believes that digital orientation in the campus is very important in shaping the career of students and their skill development. Further, the college community understands that shifting to the digital environment is very essential in order to become more efficient, effective and competent in the current scenario.

The Practice 

• The college has a full automated system called “Total Campus Solutions”. It is used for office management, student attendance, performance evaluation, academic management, time table, continuous internal evaluation system, etc.
• The examination duties are assigned to the faculty members in an equitable manner. For this, one of our faculty members developed an application for Exam Management System.
• The college has more than 450 computers and the student computer ratio is less than seven.
• The college has an android app ‘CamPulse’ which is developed by one of our alumnus to disseminate information to the student community instantaneously.
• The college has five Computer Labs, one Digital Theatre and one E-learning Centre.
• Majority of the classes have either LCD projectors or Smart TVs.
• Fully fledged Videoconferencing facility is available for webinars and live streaming of important discussions such as Union Budget and other nationally important events.
• The media lab helps the teachers to record video sessions for the benefit of students.
• The language lab helps the students improve their communication skills by using the software provided by E-Tail Networks Limited.
• The faculty members encourage the students to submit assignments based on the materials available in INFLIBNET, N-List, J-Gate, etc.
• The college has Cyberome –a well dedicated firewall for cyber protection.
• The college has institutional subscription to plagiarism software WhiteSmoke.
• The faculty members insist the students to do online courses offered in MOOC, EdX, Stanford Online, NPTEL, etc. In some departments, one faculty member is assigned to list out the courses which are suitable and affordable to their students.
• The students and faculty use Licensed Software such as Chemsketch , Origin, Mathematica, Mintab, MS- Office, MS Windows, Tally and Linux OS.
• The college has 4 server rooms, D-link networking facilities and dedicated Wifi-routers.
• Hi-speed internet facility is also made available
• 3 ×30 Mbps (BSNL)
• 1 × 100 Mbps (Asianet )
• 1 × 200 Mbps (Keralavision)
• The college has provided digital infrastructure for differently-abled students including Braille Software and Google Smart Speaker.
• The college office prepares the salary bills of staff using a software SPARK.

Evidence of Success

The Digital Nirmala Initiative has been a very successful practice. The outcome of the initiatives undertaken by the institution is given below.

• A number of students have successfully completed online courses using MOOC, EdX, NPTEL, Stanford Online.
• The teachers have created a virtual class room facility for the students. The students can access the study materials, power point presentations, video lectures from the college website.
• The students have online instant access to their attendance.
• The students can login and see their internal marks and grade.
• The college android app ‘CamPulse’ serves a virtual notice board so that all students have been updated irrespective of whether they are present in the campus or not.
• Students use the performance evaluation module in the total campus solutions to record their feedback on performance of teachers.
• PG students use WhiteSmoke software for making their projects plagiarism free.
• The computer lab of Postgraduates and Research Department of Statistics acts as knowledge sharing hub of all departments as students from various departments utilise it for data analysis in their academic projects.
• The student community uses the E-learning centre to get necessary literature for the project preparation.
• The students create video advertisements for the academic activities of the departments.
• Webinars are conducted in the videoconferencing room in which experts from different parts of the world interact with teachers and students.
• The use of Kahoot Quizzes made the evaluation process more interesting.
• The submission of assignments through Moodle made the students more punctual and regular.
• The main events in the college have live streaming on Facebook.
• The financial literacy cell of the college has conducted digital banking campaign in association with State Bank of India.
• The use of SPARK software made the functioning of office more effective.

Problems Encountered and Resources Needed