Saturday, August 23, 2008
The IIT-B Initial Experience
Hi!
Hope all are fine..
IIT is a great institute as you would be aware; but lets elaborate.. It has been good to be here as technology surrounds you. And I being always obsessed with technology, was pretty impressed.
Lectures:
Most of the lectures here are recorded and beamed live over the world. For initial few days, we were encouraged to sit for all the lectures that would take place, so that we get a feel of each course. In that week, I happened to attend this lecture which was in a lecture hall in evening. It was so packed with gadgets that I had never seen a classroom like that before.
It was an air-conditioned semicircular lecture hall with soft comfortable cushion chairs. I could feel the pin-drop silence as I entered: may be there was some noise-proof mechanism in place. Then, the lecture started and I thought the professor would get up and write something on the board.. He din't. He sat there, started writing something on his desk and only then did I realise that there was a camera above his hand which was focussed on his writing paper, and stuff was being projected on what I had thought was a blackboard. Hmm.. seems trivial, but then I saw, that behind the last row, there was a control room where there was another camera, a big one, which was recording the lecture. And then, the professor mentioned that the lecture is being recorded.. I was thrilled. Many people not present in the room would also be attending this lecture! Then, as the discussion went on, the professor began asking questions and answering queries. You did not have to take the trouble to shout, nor to pass the microphone.. There were microphones fitted at the back of the chairs and we only had to pull one and start talking.
As if this was not enough, we were half-way through the lecture and then I saw it. It was a small round camera at the centre which would automatically turn towards the student answering a question. This was awesome. Maybe the person in the control room was controlling it. It was so small, you could have missed it easily.
People:
The people at IIT-B are very pleasant and friendly. They talk to you and they respect you. I found a marked difference between the people outside IIT-B and the people within.
Ah, I think I should sign off for now. See you next time. A few things on my mind.. Lets see which I post first.
Keep visiting...
-Dhaval
Hope all are fine..
IIT is a great institute as you would be aware; but lets elaborate.. It has been good to be here as technology surrounds you. And I being always obsessed with technology, was pretty impressed.
Lectures:
Most of the lectures here are recorded and beamed live over the world. For initial few days, we were encouraged to sit for all the lectures that would take place, so that we get a feel of each course. In that week, I happened to attend this lecture which was in a lecture hall in evening. It was so packed with gadgets that I had never seen a classroom like that before.
It was an air-conditioned semicircular lecture hall with soft comfortable cushion chairs. I could feel the pin-drop silence as I entered: may be there was some noise-proof mechanism in place. Then, the lecture started and I thought the professor would get up and write something on the board.. He din't. He sat there, started writing something on his desk and only then did I realise that there was a camera above his hand which was focussed on his writing paper, and stuff was being projected on what I had thought was a blackboard. Hmm.. seems trivial, but then I saw, that behind the last row, there was a control room where there was another camera, a big one, which was recording the lecture. And then, the professor mentioned that the lecture is being recorded.. I was thrilled. Many people not present in the room would also be attending this lecture! Then, as the discussion went on, the professor began asking questions and answering queries. You did not have to take the trouble to shout, nor to pass the microphone.. There were microphones fitted at the back of the chairs and we only had to pull one and start talking.
As if this was not enough, we were half-way through the lecture and then I saw it. It was a small round camera at the centre which would automatically turn towards the student answering a question. This was awesome. Maybe the person in the control room was controlling it. It was so small, you could have missed it easily.
People:
The people at IIT-B are very pleasant and friendly. They talk to you and they respect you. I found a marked difference between the people outside IIT-B and the people within.
Ah, I think I should sign off for now. See you next time. A few things on my mind.. Lets see which I post first.
Keep visiting...
-Dhaval
Sunday, August 17, 2008
My 1st Post from IIT Bombay!
Hi All!
Actually, I never blogged a lot.. I had this account a few years(!) back; never posted anything here except for a few small jokes... Honestly speaking, the idea of talking to, or telling something to any inanimate object never fascinated me. I always wanted to interact with actual people. Directly- rather than through machines...
But I just realised that there might be many people whom I never met, who know me, and who would like to hear what I say. Here's something for all of you...
What should you expect me to write here? Well, nothing specific. My thoughts have a long range. I just plan to put them here as they come..
To start with, recently I have got admission in the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) !! It has been a great learning experience by far. I plan to post my IITB experience in greater detail in the next post... Currently, we are getting a lot of assignments and by now, i am supposed to be immersed in work..! So while I sign out for now, do keep checking this space for more...
-Dhaval Bonde.
Actually, I never blogged a lot.. I had this account a few years(!) back; never posted anything here except for a few small jokes... Honestly speaking, the idea of talking to, or telling something to any inanimate object never fascinated me. I always wanted to interact with actual people. Directly- rather than through machines...
But I just realised that there might be many people whom I never met, who know me, and who would like to hear what I say. Here's something for all of you...
What should you expect me to write here? Well, nothing specific. My thoughts have a long range. I just plan to put them here as they come..
To start with, recently I have got admission in the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay (IIT-B) !! It has been a great learning experience by far. I plan to post my IITB experience in greater detail in the next post... Currently, we are getting a lot of assignments and by now, i am supposed to be immersed in work..! So while I sign out for now, do keep checking this space for more...
-Dhaval Bonde.
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