Allama Iqbal Open University (AIOU) is planning significant technological changes to keep the students informed about assignment marks, improve e-learning facility and increase tutor-pupil interaction through video conferencing.

Video conferencing facility is being introduced in 10 districts, which would be later extended to 36 others so that the students could interact with teachers and obtain required information, said AIOU Vice Chancellor Professor Dr. Nazir Ahmed Sangi, in an interview. “The university has set for itself the challenge to educate the faculty members about technology,” said Sangi. He said the university has hired 40 faculty members and announced another 41 vacancies for better drafting of interactive teaching material and assessment system.

To address students’ complaints about assignment marks and missing mark sheets, the VC said under a new mechanism, the university would inform the students about assignment marks two months prior to the final result. Earlier, it was a cumbersome task to address assignment related issues of more than 600,000 students’, as they were not informed about the marks before the final result. “Soon, the assignment marking system will go online and the students will be able to register complaints in case of any ambiguity,” the VC said.

Another novel initiative of Urdu E-learning was recently launched by the AIOU to diminish gap between the students and the teachers.

Through this system, students and teachers from across the country including rural areas would be able to interact with each other through computers. The record of their whole conversation will be available at the AIOU website.

Initially, the system is introduced to facilitate the post-graduate students and soon it will be available for students of all levels. The students from rural areas will be trained so that they can benefit from this e-learning facility. To curb forgery in AIOU examination system, the VC said the university is stepping ahead to improve assessment system by punishing the culprits, that also includes expulsion from the university for up to three months.