A “quantum leap” in the quality of MCA education in Vidya!
The project started more than three years ago.
It was a deliberate and well-thought out plan aimed at enhancing the quality of MCA education in Vidya. The dream was to host in our own server space all Mini-Projects of MCA students to be done as part of the curriculum. (The curriculum does not warrant doing any such thing!) When the final review of the Mini-Projects of S5 MCA (2017 admissions) batch was completed last week, all the students, faculty and staff of the MCA Dept were extremely pleased with themselves because they had accomplished what no other MCA Dept of any other college in India would have achieved. All the Mini-Projects have been hosted in a server space fully owned by the Dept! Faculty members were delighted to note that the students had created websites with a aquality beyond their expectations in spite of the severe constraints of time and experience.The implementation of the project went through several phases.
Phase 1
The first phase was to take a unanimous decision that the work relating to the Mini-Project would be done in the Dept itself. (This decision was taken more than three years ago.)
Phase 2
Devising an add-on course on “PHP Programming” and making it mandatory that all students attend the course. (The Dept could identify the right, experienced person as the resource person for the course.)
Phase 3
Purchasing server space with money raised from the Dept.
Phase 4
Two faculty members acquiring by self-study the necessary skills for handling the newly purchased server space. (The Dept experimented with the facility in the Chip-to-Net workshops conducted by the Dept.)
Phase 5
Developing a new add-on course titled “Web Hosting Management” (WHM) and running the course as a pilot project to a group of BTech students as an add-on course.
Phase 6
Offering the WHM course to all MCA students of 2017 admissions batch as an add-on course.
Phase 7
Providing technical assistance to students for hosting the websites created by them as part of their Mini-Project in the server space owned by the Dept.
Phase 8
Ensuring that all Minor Projects have been hosted in the server space owned by the Dept.
That was a great learning experience for all in the MCA Dept!