Bangalore, Karnataka -- (SBWIRE) -- 04/01/2010 -- The conference started with invocation followed by welcome address by Prof. (Dr.) Shivram Krishnan, HOD, Management & Commerce. The occassion was graced by Major General Tejpal Singh Bakhshi, Director SMU-DE and Prof. N.S. Ramesh Murthy, Dean SMU-DE; who inaugurated the conference by lighting the lamp and addressed the audience. The objective of organizing EduNxt Academic Conference was to bring together all the Learning Centre (LC) faculty and Directors on a common platform and to provide them opportunity to interact with each other as well as with SMU-DE faculty to share views about Distance & Online Education. In order to get deeper insight into distance education, LC faculty undertook research in the area of E-Learning.

Out of total 64 papers received from LC faculty from all over the country, 30 papers were accepted for the conference after review by expert panel. Out of 30 accepted papers, 25 presentations were made during academic conference and more than 100 delegates belonging to LCs of different regions attended the conference. The paper presentations by LC faculty were evaluated by the jury consisting of various Heads of Departments of SMU-DE and chaired by Prof. (Dr.) Gayathri Devi, HOD, Healthcare Sciences. Dr. Senthil Kumar, HOD, IT briefed the audience about the guidelines for presentations and the method of evaluation to be adopted by the jury. The presentations were divided into four sessions interspersed by lunch and tea breaks.

A structured format of writing research papers/articles was discussed with LC faculty in the presentation by Mr. Kulwinder Pal, Asst. Professor, Teaching Methodology, on ‘Analytical Study of Instructional Strategies for online learning’. Prof. Shanath Kumar, HOD, E-learning presented plans for EduNxt for the year 2010-11. The award ceremony was presided over by Mr. A.M. Thimmiya, Senior Vice President, Distributed Learning, Manipal Universal Learning (MUL) who gave away certificates and prizes to the winners and the presenters.

The paper ‘Recent Trend & Scope of E-Learning, Online Learning in the background of Distance Learning Program’ by Mr. Nilotpal Ray from LC 00966 was adjudged best paper and received a cash reward of Rs. 5000/-. The paper ‘Discovering the smart way to learn 2017 way- a quantitative study’ by Mr. Rahul Goswami, Ms Summaiya Afreen and Mr Prashant Kumar from LC 02017 was adjudged 2nd best and received cash reward of Rs. 3000/- followed by paper ‘E-Learning for Rural Areas’ by Mr. Ashok Kumar Jetawat and Ms. Jayshree Jain from LC 02086 which was adjudged as 3rd best and received cash reward of Rs. 2000/-. Learning centre faculty who rendered their services as lead trainers during EduNxt LC faculty training programs in different parts of the country were also felicitated on the occasion. All the winners, presenters and participants were awarded certificates and mementoes. The programme ended with vote of thanks by Prof. Gayathri Devi.

To know more please visit http://www.smude.edu.in/Documents/EduNxt%20Academic%20Conference.pdf

Website:- http://www.smude.edu.in