Media Education For Free?

Media Education For Free?
School of Convergence Makes it Possible


One of the great boons of modern technology is the near inexhaustible availability of education material through the cyber medium. But, while so much material is available for one who seeks, the fact also remains that there are several disciplines where cyber-education has either not been possible or has not been attempted whole-heartedly. Media education is one such area where complete and exhaustive programmes have not been offered for wholly valid reasons. Indeed, there are websites where one can download lessons on a variety of topics or even complete curricula pertaining to media studies. But no effort to impart education in television can be complete without a student handling the camera or sitting at the editing table to edit or participating in the sweat and grime of shooting. We spoke to Prof Subodh Lal, Executive Director of the School of Convergence, about what he called 'the inevitability of online media education.' Excerpts from an interview.

We hear that your institute is launching an online media education programme. It sounds strange that an institute, such as yours, which has its own on-campus programmes should be launching online programme which might result in harming the on-campus programmes. How come?
Yes, we are shortly launching an online programme, and I do not see how it would harm us. Our thinking is that as a responsible institute, we should try and impart media education not just to those who come and join our on-campus programmes, but also to those who may, for whatever reason, may not be able to join regular classes. The online course has a different beneficiary group compared to those who come and join programmes at the School.

But will not the online course be less expensive than your on-campus programmes? So will not the student community go for the less expensive model?
Let me give you a surprise. The online course is free! Yes completely free.

Doesn’t that make your on-campus courses all the more unattractive?
Not at all, in fact. As I said earlier, the audiences are different. We recognize that there are so many young people who have deep interest in pursuing education and career in media and entertainment industry. And we fully understand why. With the media and entertainment industry growing at a rate far higher than the rate at which GDP is growing, more and more jobs are getting created here. Young persons see this great opportunity and want to seize it. But those who are already in jobs, or those who cannot afford the comparatively expensive media education in the private sector, will surely benefit from our online programme. On the other hand, again, the young person today surely understands that a full-time on-campus programme with daily interaction with faculty, access to library, availability of equipment, hand-on projects and interaction with eminent guest speakers are some of the compelling reasons why a lot of students will still go for on-campus programmes. Remember, with all the Correspondence Courses still available the better colleges can not accommodate the rush of aspirants seeking admission.

Online programme, and that, too, for free! That sounds incredible. Why should you spend all that money on something that does not directly benefit your School?
We believe that our responsibility goes well beyond catering to only those who come to us and pay money. Education is our credo and we want to spread it. We have a responsibility, too, towards the media and entertainment industry. After all, the School of Convergence was created by Bobby Bedi, Pradeep Gupta and Paranjoy Guha Thakurta because, among other reasons, they were all media persons and knew that there was a terrible shortage of trained persons in the industry. We want to continue to discharge that responsibility towards the media world.

Don’t you feel education in areas such as television or broadcast journalism would remain incomplete without practical work? In most institutes there is an element of hands-on training and internships. So how will the students of your online programme make up for that?
You are right. Practical work, participating in shoots, touching and using the camera – all such aspects are vital. We recognize that and, therefore, we propose to start short workshops for our online students. These workshops could either be during school and college vacations, in the evenings or over week-ends. There will be no compulsion on our registered online students to do these workshops, but if they feel the need, they will be offered alternatives as I have explained.

Would you also admit such students who might otherwise be pursuing some other course of study in another institute?
There is no such thing here as ‘admissions’. The seekers will admit themselves. After all, the portal will be an open one and the course, as we know, will be free. So why should there be any thought about disallowing anyone at all?

So how does one begin?
Simple, just wait for our announcement or log on to www.schoolofconvergence.com.

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Prof Subodh Lal can be reached at subodhlal@schoolofconvergence.com.