The pandemic has changed the way how people and organisations work. It has disrupted the schooling too with students are being forced to take classes online. With fears of Covid-19 infection still lingering, the International Institute of Information Technology (IIIT Hyderabad) has decided to introduce a brand new version of its highly successful Master’s programme — MSIT. The course boasts of 100 per cent placements over the last 10 years.
Factoring in the challenges that the Covid-19 has posed, the institute has decided to restructure the MSIT programme, taking it to the hybrid mode. It would also mean a personalised mentoring and staggered admission to the course. The students can ask for an exam when they feel they are ready to take it. The MSIT will now be a ‘partly-on-campus online programme’ with three semesters of course work followed by one semester of internship.
The institute will start a staggered rolling admission, considering the uncertainties of exam schedules and graduation dates caused due to the pandemic. The students can start the programme every quarter. This is a drastic deviation from the existing practice of all students joining the course at one go. The new course schedule will allow online learning ‘by doing’.
Personalised mentoring
The institute is also bringing in the element of ‘personal monitoring’ by offering one-to-one interaction between the instructors and students. “Instead of conventional group learning in classroom-sized batches, the new instruction model uses personalised one-to- one interaction,” a spokesperson of the institute said.
The revised programme implements variable duration learning. The time-constant-outcome-variable paradigm is being replaced by the ‘time- variable-outcome constant paradigm’.
Self paced
The institute says that the personalised mode of mentoring would allow the students to proceed at their own speed. Students can now complete the coursework in one calendar year, with reduced tuition, followed by a semester-length Practicum.
The MSIT Online programme remains a full-fledged Master’s Programme with campus placement opportunities and industry partnerships, helping students learn concepts by applying them in real-world scenarios. “Applications to the MSIT Programme will be reviewed and admitted on a rolling schedule after a virtual interview,” he said.