Tamil Nadu - Coimbatore   

Principal gets into Guinness Book

Amutha Kannan

GLOBAL TEACHER: S. Subramonian, Principal of RV Arts and Science College, Coimbatore.

COIMBATORE: If one had a doubt as to the possibility of teaching 1,934 students spread over 16 different venues in 10 countries at the same time, then they can lay their doubts to rest.

Attempt

S. Subramonian, Principal of R.V. Arts and Science College, made an attempt at it here in November last.

He addressed students of the "Largest Computer Class - Multiple Location" for an hour from the college premises through a dial-up connection.

Class

In an attempt to enter the Guinness Book of World Records, Prof. Subramonian took an hour-long class for the students to break the previous record created in China with 1,135 students.

The Guinness Book of World Records has approved his attempt in January 2007.

Inaugurated online by G. Thiruvasagam, Vice-Chancellor of Bharathiar University, the class involved Prof. Subramonian giving a lecture to school children on the topic, "How to attend an online class?"

Virtual classroom

He used his computer to create a virtual classroom with the help of a teaching software known as Conference V2 software.

His students were from Austria, Ecuador, Ghana, Greece, Kuwait, Lithuania, Mexico, Malaysia, Nigeria, Poland, Philippines, Russia, Taiwan, Nepal and the USA.

Closer home, students from Kerala, Harayana and Bangalore also participated in order to help the professor achieve his objective.

Attention

Speaking on the reason for the attempt, he said, "It is not only for the sake of breaking the record, but also to attract the attention of the younger generation towards the teaching profession.

"They should understand that information technology could be put to use for teaching online.

"Online teaching is keeping in pace with information technology."

Prof. Subramonian already held a record in the Limca Book of Records for having performed the feat of teaching students continuously for 61 hours and 35 minutes.

Congratulations

The President, APJ Abdul Kalam, has congratulated Prof. Subramonian for his entry into the Guinness Book of World Records.

The proud record holder expressed hope that if he got the necessary support and recognition from the State Government, he would be able to produce a world record every year in the field of education.

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