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While caste has been invisibilized in the Indian curriculum, it is practised strongly in a pedagogical sense which maintains hierarchy in higher education. There exists a mutually reinforced relationship of absence (of caste in curriculum) and presence (of caste in pedagogy). The current study aims at assessing inclusivity in academic curriculum and pedagogy with regards to the question of caste in papers related to gender/women's rights/feminism at the University of Delhi. The curriculum of gender-related papers provided by six departments at the University of Delhi for undergraduate students is assessed. Along with textual analysis, in depth phenomenological interviews were conducted with 20 respondents coming from diverse caste backgrounds. Professors and students who either taught or studied any paper related to gender/women's rights at undergraduate level of the University of Delhi were interviewed. The results of the study highlight several mutually reinforcing relations between 'caste-less curriculum', 'sacred teacher' and methods of evaluation, which can be seen as an explanation of how invisibilization of caste in curriculum aids caste as a pedagogical practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chemical fertilizers are crucial for increasing agricultural growth and productivity, but inorganic fertilizers can negatively impact agricultural systems. To address this issue, sustainable techniques like organic farming are being developed, which improve soil quality and nutritional status while preserving human safety. In the Botanical Garden, of Department of Botany at the University of Delhi, India, experiments on Brassica juncea were carried out over a three-year period in six micro plots, each measuring 10 square meters. Vermicompost (V), Sargassum johnstoni (S), NPK (N), Trichoderma viride (T), and Sargassum + Trichoderma viride were five distinct organic combinations that were used to replenish the garden soil (ST). The aim of the study was to assess the effects of organic fertilizers and compare the results with commercially available chemical fertilizers (NPK) on Brassica growth and yield. The study found that soil modified with seaweed fertilizers significantly improved the morphological, reproductive, and biochemical properties of plants. Sargassum + Trichoderma soil amendment led to early flowering and fruiting, better-quality produce, and a low incidence of fungal infection and aphid infestation. This study reveals a new cost-effective method for crop development and production sustainability, benefiting both farmers and environmentalists. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academically gifted students or high potential learners don't feel challenged in regular classrooms. Teachers in schools are also note quipped with pedagogical interventions to meet the advanced learning needs of gifted students. Mentoring is considered an effective method to guide, motivate and optimize learning abilities of gifted students. The present paper discusses the process of developing a mentoring program for 32 gifted students in Science and Math who were selected through a two-tier identification process. Students were selected from three different locations in India and were invited to attend residential mentoring program in University of Delhi, Delhi. Students were administered Wechsler Intelligence Test (WISC) IV, Test of Intelligence and were closely observed during the mentoring session. Statistic alanalysis of WISC IV composite score and composite observation score indicated high positive correlation between the two scores and 93.75% students scored in top three categories of intelligence as specified in WISC IV score interpretation norm. Detailed qualitative analysis also helped to develop both learning profiles and a specific mentoring program for individual students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These notes are based on an ongoing project for building an archive of a premier women's college, Miranda House (established 1948), University of Delhi. We begin with a brief overview of the processes and methodologies involved in identifying materials to shape our collection, discuss processes of cataloguing, digitization, planning digital collections and a website. Our collection lies at the cusp of being an institutional archive, women's archive, archive of college women as well as an archive for doing public history. Despite the challenges of infrastructure, trained staff, technological expertise, digital humanities offer us immensely exciting possibilities. We use social media to reach out to alumni to build our collections, social media presence to showcase our materials, digital tools to widen access, share skills and create awareness regarding the significance of archiving the history of college women. Our attempts at DH have been quite successful. However, as DH opens up a plethora of opportunities, doing digital history also has its methodological challenges as well as conceptual and financial concerns for feminist projects like ours. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 induced lockdown caused significant disruptions in the education sector, leading to prolonged closure of colleges in India and worldwide. As a result, teachers were forced to switch to online teaching using the available resources, which presented a major challenge since they were accustomed to traditional teaching methods. This study aimed to understand the teachers' perspective towards e-learning, including their motivation, knowledge about technology, infrastructure support, and the problems they faced while teaching undergraduate students. We conducted a quantitative analysis on primary data collected from a sample of 163 teachers from the University of Delhi and other institutes in North India. We used exploratory factor analysis and two-step cluster analysis to analyze the data. Three factors were identified to have a bearing on an effective online teaching process: infrastructure support provided by the institute and overall efficiency; overall resource availability, and online content management. Our cluster analysis revealed that teachers can be divided into two clusters based on their technical knowledge and the infrastructure support available from the institute, respectively. We found that for e-learning to be effective, institutional support in terms of infrastructure and training is necessary, and instructors' motivation to learn new techniques is also imperative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With smartphones and tablets becoming part of our lives, videos grabbing the learners' attention, and the resultant increased screen time, the idea was to test video creation as a learning tool for pre-service teachers. Creating videos related to current social, environmental, or economic issues requires in-depth research of the issue being investigated, interview of people connected directly with the subject, visiting required locations and having the first-hand experience or visiting a familiar place with a lens, and then synthesising the content into a meaningful short video. The action research study having four phases - reflection, planning, implementation, and feedback-shows that video creation engages the learners' head, heart, and hand, fostering critical thinking, creativity, and collaborative and communication skills necessary to tackle 21st-century challenges. The study was conducted on thirty pre-service teachers enrolled in two colleges offering B.Ed. Programme under the University of Delhi and resulted in the creation of four videos. The study also highlights how video creation contributes to quality education for 21st-century learners based on the Four Pillars of Education outlined in the Delors Report: learning to know, learning to do, learning to be, and learning to live together. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study was undertaken to determine the information seeking behaviour of visually impaired students at Aligarh Muslim University and University of Delhi. Study ascertained the sources and strategies employed by visually impaired students for acquiring the information. Problems encountered and suggestions to overcome are also discussed in the study. To conduct the study purposive sampling method was applied and data was collected using structured interview technique from 115 visually impaired students and analysed using SPSS. Findings of the study revealed that visually impaired students prefer electronic format for acquiring information for different academic purposes which they fulfilled from their university libraries. Students mentioned that whenever required they got help from their colleagues and library staff. The study is useful for professionals pursuing understanding about the information need of visually impaired students. Further, the study will be useful for government, academic libraries and NGOs serving visually impaired to work together on the strategies to provide better services to this group of users. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study intends to explore the overall research performance/engagement of the faculty members on the ResearchGate from the Physics discipline working at Indian Central Universities. The analyzed data revealed that 473 faculty members were found, but only 361 (i.e., 76.32%) have their profile on ResearchGate. Further analyses include the distribution of RG metrices which indicated that 98.89% and 98.06% of the faculty members had added at least one research item and at least one full-text research item over the RG, respectively. The findings stated that Kriti Ranjan from the University of Delhi secured highest ranking across all metrices, except followers and followings. The mean value for the Reads and Citations were found to be 27525.59 (std. dev. = 163029.86) and 1555.2 (std. dev. = 5838.76), respectively. In addition, RI Score exhibits a strong positive correlation with other RG-based metrices excluding the ‘following’. This study can be considered the only ResearchGate analyses that has included the working researchers of the Physics discipline by analyzing their research engagement and active presence over it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

University of Delhi (DU) has attained global recognition for its research and teaching in Chemistry. This Guest Editorial introduces the research showcased in the "Institute Feature: Celebrating 100 Years of University of Delhi (1922–2022)" ‐ a joint special collection from the European Journal of Organic Chemistry (EurJOC), European Journal of Inorganic Chemistry (EurJIC) and ChemistrySelect The collection highlights the contributions to the field of chemistry through research articles and reviews authored by faculty members from the Department of Chemistry, alumni of the department and faculty members of chemistry department of various colleges affiliated with the university, celebrating 100 years of DU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]