NPTEL-IIT Madras launches Special Lecture Series Online for Students affected by COVID-19 lockdown

Chennai: National Programme on Technology Enhanced Learning (NPTEL)-IIT Madras has launched a Special Lecture Series online for the benefit of students affected by the nation-wide lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Lecture Series is from 13th April 2020 to when the lockdown ends, and one or two lectures will continue for a week thereafter. It is available free of cost to everyone.

The one-hour interactive lectures deal with topics ranging from career guidance to the latest updates on technology to topics of general interest to all. They are live-streamed on NPTEL-IIT Madras YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCE4XxsWyoii6hx3zU_TB2mw).

A chat box will be available during the sessions through which viewers can ask questions in real-time during these lectures. Each lecture is around 45 minutes and is followed by 15 minutes of Question-and-Answer session.

Highlighting the objectives behind launching this lecture series, Prof. Andrew Thangaraj, Faculty In-Charge, 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. These talks by industry professionals provide the students first-hand insights into the aspects of the courses to be pursued, the work life balance in the career described. There is no better time than now to offer this series as it would benefit students and faculty members who have to remain in their homes for their safety.”

The Lecture Series are conducted on the following topics:

Ø Careers and job opportunities

Ø Technology and Research

Ø General topics of interest like time management, joy of teaching, soft skills, film sense, entrepreneurship, among others

Ø The Inside stories and Inspiring journeys of successful people

Speaking about the reception to the lectures held so far, Ms. Bharathi, Senior Project Officer, NPTEL-IIT Madras, said, “The response to the lecture series has been commendable with the first session in this series on ‘Film Sense’ garnering more than 11,000 views. Viewers are asking for full-fledged course on this subject in addition to requesting for more such talks and inputs on how to get into films! We would be very happy to have IIT Madras alumni in the industry who wish to be a part of this series and speak on a topic that fit into any of the above genres. We plan to invite people from varied walks of lives such as musicians, sports people, people from banking/finance sector, medical doctors, etc to come in and share their experiences to enthuse the young blood to dream big and achieve the impossible.”

NPTEL-IIT Madras is actively reaching out to major technology companies such as IBM, Google, CapGemini, Infosys and GE Healthcare to have their heads participate in this lecture series. The lectures will also be archived on nptel.ac.in and will remain open for everyone.

NPTEL-IIT Madras is also planning to conduct up to two sessions a day (5 pm to 8 pm on weekdays and 5 pm to 9 pm on weekends). Keep checking the website nptel.ac.in for updates on lectures in the upcoming weeks. There are also plans to continue this lecture series even after the lockdown based on the response and feedback received.

The schedule of the lecture series for the next two weeks is as follows: