Interaction with professors after class, knowing a student beyond academics, participation in extracurricular activities, doubt solving and bonding with fellow classmates may face a huge hit due to complete online classes at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT Bombay). Professors claim they will not get to know and help students beyond academics while, students claim they will lose on extracurricular activities, classroom interaction and campus experience.
As IIT Bombay has decided to go completely online for the first semester, professors claim they will not be able to know students beyond academics. Amit Sethi, professor of electrical engineering of IIT Bombay, said, "During physical lectures, some students often wait back after class and ask various doubts. We get a chance to understand the background of a student in terms of learning difficulties or financial constraints. But in online classes, we will not be able to create this student-teacher bond."
While Abhijit Majumder, another professor of the institute said, "We will lose on the classroom experience because in physical lectures we can interact with students face to face, understand their body language and gauge whether they are understanding concepts. These clues might be lost in the online semester. But given the situation, our challenge is to utilise online classes as much as possible and make best use of it."
Students fear they will not be able to participate in extracurricular activities, lose campus experience and practical exposure in labs and on-field assignments. A student of IIT Bombay on request on anonymity said, "I joined IIT Bombay for the campus experience. I also wanted to learn from the experienced faculty and diverse group of students of different backgrounds. But I think this will not be possible at least till the end of this year."
Another student of the institute said, "Practicals, lab classes, field work and assignments are a major part of learning at any IIT. In online classes, the focus will be more on theory than practical lessons so it will not benefit an holistic development."
