KARACHI: “Take a deep breath and make sure you are in a relaxed mood before and during recording. Briefly introduce yourself and make sure you look at the camera so that your students feel you are looking at them with your webcam set up at eye level.”

This was some of the advice posted in the lecture tutorials on the YouTube channel called ‘Sindh College Lectures’.

The channel, launched officially by the College Education Department of the Government of Sindh, is inviting professors and lecturers to record and upload their lectures for facilitating students during the current coronavirus lockdown.

Sindh ‘s Minister for Education Saeed Ghani said that the need for this channel was greatly felt in order to fill the void created after the closing of colleges during these difficult times. “I ask all professors and lecturers to reach out to their students through this channel,” he said.

“I also ask our students to make use of this facility during their time at home.”

The teachers who want to record their lectures for the channel have also been advised to keep their lectures short, and not of more than one-hour duration. Otherwise they will become too monotonous for the students. Care is also to be taken to not clutter them with too much information.

Other things to keep in mind while recording is not to have a distracting background and take care of the sound quality by wearing a good microphone. The lecturers are also asked to not wear too bright clothes or reflective jewellery.

After recording a lecture, it can be sent to the College Education Department, where it will be uploaded to the channel, which already has over 7,000 subscribers eagerly following the lectures that have been uploaded in the last couple of days.

Published in Dawn, April 20th, 2020