Best Practice 2

The context that led to initiation of practice (100-200 words) :

COVID Pandemic paved the biggest health crisis of the century and impacted each individual, organization and the economy by lasting for more than 2 years at a stretch. One of the biggest challenge during lockdown was to keep faculty and student motivated and positive, minimize academic loss and ensure academic progression of learners. Standards of Academics and Health care were to maintained, if not augmented, to two most major stakeholders viz Students and patients respectively during this Global catastrophe. Equally important was to train Health manpower unabatedly so as to meet the growing demand of health care. There was an immediate need to engage students at home in a meaningful way, promote e-Learning , teach in a virtual setting and provide stable learning environment to ‘learn by doing’. One of the ways to do this was by engaging students as partners in curricular transactions while embracing this change and augment co-curricular activities that would help students to stay connected with the University and the teachers in a tangential mode. These active strategies aimed to combat monotonous classroom schedules and venture into more interactive co-curricular tasks and events like research projects, online courses and publication.

1. Maintain global standards of HE during COVID 19 Pandemic
2. Minimize academic loss by effective use of technology
3. Ensure academic progression
4. Instill Self Directed Learning skill
5. Foster sense of competence during ‘learn from home’ period of pandemic
6. Embrace collaborative learning
7. Establish positive teacher-student relationships
8. Promote mastery orientations
9. Generate e-learning resources

An Umbrella mechanism of the University was created for Meaningful Student Engagement (MSE) in all curricular initiatives and related decision making during the Pandemic (copyright no : L-109396/2021). The Learners were assigned with
a. Teaching & Learning : Peer Teaching , collaborative learning activities , videos of small skills, Massive Open online courses by Harvard and Courseera, Clinical snippets, e clinics and e tutorials
b. generation of e resources : Enriching Learning Resource Material (LRM)
c. Assessment : Learner – led validation of electronic question bank, Online Quizzes
d. Mentoring : Reverse mentoring (students mentoring teachers) for efficiently using e platforms for TL activities. The preceptorship program was also conducted on virtual mode to ensure that students remain connected to their teachers , take their guidance and help during the pandemic period
e. Co-curricular : E-Competition in different genres were organized on Important Health days &Weeks, Webinar/Guest lecture of distinguished Alumni were held at different colleges of University.

a. Three models of online/blended learning and seven SOPS were developed and received IPR status. The seven pronged blended Learning model for IMG (L-95175/2020 ) is co-authored by 5 Deemed Universities across the country.
b. More than 100 students participated and 91 COVID – 19 review articles were published by students. DMIMS (DU) was ranked 5th in the country (3rd in Private) to publish research articles related to COVID as per ICMR statistics.
c. By virtue of judicious application of ICT for TLA , the University was certified with QS–I Gauge ‘E Learning Excellence for Academic Digitization (E-LEAD)’ upon thorough evaluation for technological competencies to meet the requirements of a rapidly changing environment for Teaching Learning in Higher Education.
d. E resources were generated either by the students or for the students to keep them constructively engaged in learning viz. Simulation lab videos : 75, OSCE/ OSPE videos : 300, You Tube Clinical Snippets : 30, Recorded lectures : > 300, E – notebooks : all subjects/all courses, Standardized patient modules : 45, Simulation lab training modules : 75, Clinical Case scenarios : 315, Clinical snippets on You tube : 30