National Librarians Day 2023 - Report

The famous author, R. David Lankes has said,"To be a librarian is not to be neutral, or passive, or waiting for a question. It is to be a radical positive change agent within your community."

To commemorate this true spirit of librarians on the Librarians' Day and to pay tribute to the Father of Library Science in India - Dr. S.R. Ranganathan on 12th August 2023, the Learning and Information Resource Centre (LIRC) of St.Francis Institute of Technology arranged for an exciting Participatory Session for students and faculty members. The main organisers for the event was the Central Library. 

Our students from Third Year and Final Year were selected for the event as they are the ones majorly making a mark in the library literally and otherwise with their footfalls and enthusiasm. The fact that they have used the library space and its resources for a maximum period of time throughout their four year course of study only added to our joy in selecting them. These students have interacted personally more with the library staff depending on their reference queries.

The event required participants to work at two levels; one they were encouraged to share their "Expectations from the library" along with the "The things that make me happy in the library are..."

The event was a success given the fact that the library received a wide spectrum of ideas from the bright young minds. All the ideas / suggestions were categorized into Services and Resources. With the intellectual and creative expressions received through the activity titled "The things that make me happy in the library are...", a "Happiness Index" has been derived  for the library.  We are glad to have received such an encouraging response.

Total Number of Participants: 16

Total Number of Suggestions Received: 33

 

 

 

 

 

Report Prepared by: Ms. Deepa Panakkal, Asst. Prof., Department of Basic Science and Humanities

AICTE to introduce students feedback-based assessment for the promotion of Engineering teachers

Besides research work and their overall performance, teachers in Engineering colleges will now be appraised on the basis of students' evaluation All India Council of Technical Education's (AICTE) decision to include the students' feedback to assess the teachers has been introduced to improve the educational quality of engineering colleges. But, its effectiveness remains to be seen. "Since students' feedback will be considered while granting promotion to the teachers, they will have to put their best foot forward in the classroom. This assessment pattern is followed by the IITs and NITs," says AICTE chairman Anil Sahasrabudhe.

As per the rule, students' feedback will have 25% weightage in the overall assessment of the faculty, which will be a decisive component for their promotions. Till now, the focus for promoting teachers in colleges has been on the number of research papers published by the faculty members. This was partly the reason for the publication of substandard research papers in fake journals. "Colleges in tier II and III cities, may not have the resources to conduct research. But research publications being given high priority during promotions often leads to the problem of paid journals. The new assessment will thus award good teachers," adds Sahasrabudhe. While some academicians are positive about the impact of this assessment system, others are of the view that students might not be honest with their feedbacks owing to various reasons. "Students are sometimes not objective or may be simply confused while giving feedback for teachers. Their opinions are based on peer thinking. While interacting with the students, I have come across several students who behave differently in class and during one-on-one interactions," says Govinda K, professor, School of Computer Science and Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT). Addressing the concern, Sahasrabudhe says that the number of such students is mostly low, thus the overall score of a teacher who is good at his work is not hampered. "Some students may give poor feedback, probably because the teacher is strict or is not lenient with marks, but this is temporary. In the long run, a teacher who is passionate about teaching and thinks about students' welfare will always be valued by the majority. Also, such an assessment will also ensure better student-teacher communication," he says. This system will allow the teachers to address their weaknesses and improve teaching methods, says KK Mahapatra, dean, Academics at NIT, Rourkela. "Since students are the direct beneficiaries, this will help the teachers to analyse their skills, for instance, maybe there is an issue with communication or students might be finding the teaching method complicated," says Mahapatra.

Source: The Times of India dated 25 March, 2019