IIT Roorkee professor starts Youtube channel; teaches civil engineering

Roorkee: Horizons have expanded for students who wish to be tutored in specialized subjects. Professor Satish Chandra, the former director of Central Road Research Institute(CRRI) and a teacher at IIT Roorkee has taken to YouTube to teach Traffic and Transport Engineering.

The channel began in June 2021, when the classes were online and research projects on hold. “I am doing this for all those students who did not have access to an ‘IIT’ level of teaching,” said Prof. Chandra.

“Several engineering students do not experience effective teaching when it comes to Traffic and Transport Engineering. This subject is largely ignored at the B.Tech. level which is why many cannot wrap their heads around it. Most of them choose to drop it as an elective and go for something easier,” he added.

The Civil Engineers who are preparing for competitive examinations like G.A.T.E. and those who need to study for their Ph.D. interviews often resort to his channel.

“One morning, a student from IIT Roorkee itself came to me and said that the interviewers asked him the same questions that he studied on my channel. I received an email from a student in Jamaica too, he requested me for a doubt solving session via zoom meeting and I was happy to oblige,” he said.

The lecturer runs the channel as a one-man show. Having no prior information about the digital world, the professor taught himself how to edit.

“I just downloaded an editing software one day and began learning. Since I am used to teaching in classrooms I don’t have to make a lot of cuts. Once the presentation is in front of me, the lecture just flows,” he explained.

This initiative, which has also reached students in Bangladesh and Nepal, has been lauded by the professors from IITs and even the Director of IIT Roorkee.

“I make sure I get back to students in the comments, respond to their doubts and I even mail them presentations and excel sheets on requests. My aim is to disseminate knowledge,” said Prof. Satish Chandra.