|
ABOUT
THE UNIVERSITY:
The
Maulana Azad National Urdu University
(MANUU) was established in 1998 by an
Act of the Parliament at
Located
in its vibrant and growing 200 acres
campus at Gachibowli, the University
completes ten eventful and glorious
years in 2008 and today has a student
strength of over 70,000 enrolled in
various courses.
It endeavours to reach out to
Urdu speakers in the country with
eight Regional Centres, three
constituent colleges, five
sub-Regional Centres and 120 study
centres established in nearly every
State and
The decennial year coincides with MANUU broadcasting its educational programmes on the Doordarshan Urdu channel.
ROLE
OF MEDIA COMPONENTS:
While printed self instructional materials are the mainstay in distance education institutions across the world, use of media components based on audio, video, radio, TV, computers and the internet is considered vital in improving pedagogic effectiveness. For example, audio cassettes or CDs can be very useful for language learning and for visually challenged students. Video, with its visual and motion content, can bring real life situations to the doorstep of students and can be a potent medium for learning of skills and crafts. With the help of interactive CD-ROMs, a distant learner can be autonomous and be free from the constraints of time, location and the presence of a physical teacher. With the increasing availability of computers and internet, web-based learning is also gaining currency.
INSTRCTIONAL MEDIA CENTRE (IMC):
To develop the media components as part of the media-mix of the distance education offerings, MANUU has established a full-fledged ‘Instructional Media Centre’ (IMC) on its campus. While the IMC primarily serves the distance education needs of the University, it will also help on-campus students by providing them with supplementary learning materials to enhance class-room learning and as a practical laboratory for students of Journalism & Mass Communications and such other disciplines.
The basic infrastructure of IMC consists of one Video studio, one Audio studio, associated control rooms, and a comprehensive post production facility by way of audio edit suites, non-linear editing, computer graphics & animation etc.
A sets construction workshop, props & costume stores, make-up room, and a tapes library are an integral part of the infrastructure. In addition, the IMC also houses two computer labs, one e-class room and the department of Journalism & Mass Communication.
HARDWARE SETUP
The video studio has a floor area of 145 sq.meters and a ceiling height of 10 meters, with an adjoining production control room. It is equipped by high-end broadcast grade cameras (Sony make D-55PH), a twenty-input vision mixer, a 32 channel audio mixer and associated production gear. Digital recording is carried out on DVCAM format. Lighting in the video studio is provided by a flexible, motorized lighting grid containing cool lights.
Audio studio with its associated control room is equipped for digital audio recording on Audio work station, with facility for producing the audio programmes on CD’s.
Acoustic design of both the video an Audio studios confirm to broadcast standards and on par with the best in the country.
For outdoor shooting, four HDTV compatible cameras (HVR-ZIP of Sony make) are provided.
Three non-linear editing facilities (AVID make) and one Graphics & animations system are the basic compliment for post-production work.
PROGRAMMEE PRODUCTION
MANUU’s objective is to offer academic programmes in higher education, with Urdu as the medium of instruction. At the same time, MANUU’s mandate is also to promote Urdu culture, literature, arts & crafts among the people at large.
Keeping these objectives in view, the IMC aims to produce audio & video programmes of two distinct kinds:
Curriculum
based audio/video lessons for the use
of students belonging to different
courses/academic programmes of MANUU
in its distance education stream. Documentaries on topics of interest to general public in the areas of culture, literature, arts, social work etc.
The University’s academic faculty interacts closely with the producers of IMC in developing scripts for educational audios and videos, so that they confirm to be exacting requirements of educational content and production standards. These audios and videos in their pre recorded form are duplicated as VCDs/CDs/DVDs for distribution to the study centres of the University and to individual students. At the same time, quite a few of the audio/video inputs are designed for live transmission through Edusat/Mana TV networks, so that a real time interactivity from the learning ends to the IMC studio is possible. This kind of two way interactivity in an invaluable asset for distance education in order to create a virtual class room ambience as an integral part of the pedagogy.
Documentary programmes meant for the public at large are delivered through the broadcast mode. For this purpose, the University has entered into an MoU with Doordarshan, Prasar Bharti so that MANUU programmes are broadcast on the DD Urdu channel on a regular basis. The broadcast mode, while addressing the public at large, will also come in handy for the students in particular for broadening their educational and cultural understanding as well as for benefiting from curriculum based programmes which too are broadcast through the DD Urdu channel.
Both the curriculum based programmes and enrichment programmes of MANUU strive to confirm to the highest standards of content accuracy, social relevance and production aesthetics
STAFF PROFILE
The Instructional Media Centre is headed by a Director and staffed by a modest complement of creative and technical personnel.
The
Director is Shri V. Rama Rao, who has
a wide ranging experience in
electronic media, both nationally and
internationally. Earlier, he worked as
the Chief Executive Officer of SAPNET,
an autonomous body dealing with
educational satellite TV channels for
schools and colleges across Andhra
Pradesh. He also served as a Joint
Director in the Indira Gandhi National
Open University (IGNOU), where at he
was responsible for establishing a
state-of-the-art educational media
production facility, the largest of
its kind in
The creative team comprises three Producers and three Production Assistants who are experienced in video production and well versed in Urdu language. Research input is provided by one Research Officer dedicated for the purpose.
Technical support is provided by a complement of engineers, technicians, cameraman and other professionals. Wherever possible, students of the University (particularly those belonging to Mass Communication & Journalism) are encouraged to participate in programmee production so that their creative talent can be harnessed, while at the same time providing on-hands experience to them in the process of production.
FUTURE PLANS:
At present, the University aims to generate the media components mainly as supplementary inputs to the printed self instructional materials. However, as technological advancements continue and become more and more accessible to the students in general, the media components can as well play the role of a master medium, replacing the Print. In the near future, plans are afoot to launch short term workshops and certificate programmes based on media components exclusively.
A campus radio network is also proposed as part of the IMC setup to help promote campus life of the inmates and foster informal learning through peer group interactions.
Since the Urdu Diaspora is spread world wide, it is important for the University to reach beyond the shores of our country to popularize Urdu based higher education. Media can play a vital role in this respect. Satellite linkage of the University’s study centres located abroad and web-based instructional methodologies are some options under consideration in this regard.
|