Universities: PHEC recommends policy guidelines for blended, online education

Punjab Higher Education Commission Committee in its meeting on Tuesday gave go a head to the universities of the Punjab to start online and blended teaching learning process ensuring compliance to minimum requirements and facilities available at the campus such as availability of Learning Management System (LMS), use of different software such as Google Meet, Zoom, Microsoft Class, Hangouts etc.
The Committee constituted in pursuance of the instructions of the government of Punjab in order to formulate policy and oversees the matter related to provision of on line courses in the wake of declaration of COVID-19 pandemic and as a result of which all Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) have suspended their academic operations and closed down their campuses till 31st May, 2020.
The Committee directed the universities that they should provide training and facilitates faculty members involved in blended mode of learning and also ensure access to the students to engage them in lectures, provision of course material, guidance and counseling sessions, assignments and projects' supervision as part of attainment of course learning outcomes.
In case of some remote areas and access issues, those students who are unable to attend online sessions specified for a course should have an opportunity to access course material and join counseling sessions as specified by the course instructor through email/WhatsApp. It was also decided in the meeting that university can also decide regarding freezing of the semester of a student or to give them a chance for makeup classes during summer as soon as normal academic session is resumed.
As the universities are autonomous they can revise their academic calendar as required and formulate policies to ensure quality, maintenance of minimum requirements for online education and revision of assessment and grading policy for assignments/quizzes, midterm and final exams. In case of practical, lab work and projects the faculty members are advised to provide online guidance and advice to the students so that they can complete their practical work and projects on resumption of academic session.
It was agreed that institutions like UET Lahore and Virtual University that already have good Learning Management Systems (LMS) can help other institutions. A sub-committee is constituted to work out software and hardware requirements of universities. Issues of storage capacity, bandwidth, and hardware were also discussed to get support from HEC and PITB.
PHEC will work with HEC and HED to update on policy matters and check with universities in order to evaluate their needs of IT infrastructure, automation, assessment and LMS to assess financial requirements for inclusion in the next financial year budget.
The meeting was chaired by Chairman PHEC Prof. Dr. Fazal Ahmad Khalid and attended by Vice Chancellor, University of Engineering & Technology, Lahore Prof. Dr. Syed Mansoor Sarwar, Vice Chancellor, University of Agriculture, Faisalabad, Prof. Dr. Muhammad Ashraf , Vice Chancellor, King Edward Medical University, Lahore, Prof. Dr. Khalid Masud Gondal, Vice Chancellor, Information Technology University, Lahore, Prof. Dr. Niaz Ahmad Akhtar, Vice Chancellor University of Education, Lahore, Prof. Dr. Talat Naseer Pasha, Rector, Virtual University of Pakistan Lahore, Dr. Naeem Tariq and Principal Kinnaird College Lahore, Prof. Dr. Rukhsana David.