Diploma of Engineering is a 3-year program which admits students after 10th and/or 12th grade and awards them a Diploma in the relevant branch of Engineering after successful completion of the program.
This program is offered in Polytechnics, under the aegis of State Board of Technical Education or Department/Directorate of Technical Education of the respective states mandated by the AICTE, MHRD of India. AICTE sets the policy, model curriculum and the umbrella structure under which various BTE/DTE operate and administer these policies in the Polytechnics under their jurisdiction.
As per AICTE website there are over 3500 Engineering Polytechnic institutes in India. Diploma in Engineering is offered over 6 semesters. First Year Subjects are common to all Branches, while Branch of Engineering specialisation commences from 2nd year. Principal branches are Civil, Mechanical, Computer Science, Electrical and Electronics. There are several derivative specialisations offered by various institutes based on the industry demand at regional level etc.
Majority of students join Diploma-Engineering course to enter the technical stream of their choice as early as possible in their career. Many of these have a family business and they wish to learn the technical aspect of the trade to bring a level of structured know-how to their traditionally run businesses. Many Students seek to start earning money early in their career. Students passing out with Diploma qualifications are employed at supervisory position such as Junior Engineer, Assistant Engineer, site supervisor etc. A large majority of graduates aspire for Govt jobs and prepare and compete for Government Recruitment Exams. Another large segment wishes to continue their education and aspire to enter into BTech Degree course through the Lateral entry system.
On the ground level however, there are many gaps in the Polytechnic system.
- Polytechnic is treated as a step-down from Degree course in India. The students are aware, or made-aware, that they have entered a course which, by design, has limited horizons. Sometimes that leads to disinterest in the course.
- While designed as a skill-based, practical-oriented course of study, which ideally should produce directly employable crop, the fast pace of technology change, and high cost of equipment, coupled with fee regulations and low industry contribution by way of equipment, make lab upgrade to latest technology quite prohibitive. Consequently, the graduates cannot be deployed directly on the shop floor or production. The situation borders on poor and pathetic in some old government institutions, who are outwardly reputed owing to their pedigree, but their equipment either is completely outdated or does not work at all.
- In many institutes there is a lack of suitable faculty. Polytechnic pay scales are lower compared to Degree institutes, so they fail to attract good talent. Secondly, most of their faculty are BTech, who themselves are not skilled to work on the machines, and therefore are not able to do the appropriate ‘skill-transfer’ to students. A large part of this skill-repertoire is practical Occupational Safety and Health administration knowhow, which is acquired only by working on the shop floor.
- Polytechnic has less Courses per branch compared to Degree, but the courses-in-common are required to have the same level of complexity as in the Degree Courses. This is not highlighted at the institutes. Diploma students are taught at lower level even in the common courses. By design they are required to repeat the same subjects if they enter the Degree course through lateral entry. As a result they fail to rise to the knowledge of degree students, and carry a inferiority complex.
While there are as many issues as there are aspirations, it is amply clear that unless the students get a very good grounding in the Engineering concepts and practical exposure to technology, they will not be able to get to their rightful station and achieve their potential.
Outcome Aspirations of Diploma students may be categorised as:
- Pursue Degree course through Lateral Entry Tests, towards a better future.
- Get a job, and pursue AMIE, and thereby get Degree equivalency, towards a better future.
- Compete for Govt Recruitment Exams for Engineers, for an assured future.
- Get employed in family business, or start an enterprise, and create a better future.
Whether you wish to compete in LEET for the best seats in Degree courses, whether you wish to get a well -paying job, whether you wish to compete in Govt Recruitment Exams or create your own Enterprise, you require high-quality conceptual framework and technical understanding.
2LearnDipEng program can provide the academic rigor and subject matter competency to Diploma students for them to achieve any of these 4 goals.
Offerings
2LearnDiplomaET is programmed for student success in Diploma Engineering Semester exams. It is a Video based Learning System, setup to the requirements of your BTE/DTE.
- At the outset you can confirm the syllabus coverage from the Course Coverage Plan for your BTE. Courses are setup and presented as per the syllabus of the chosen BTE.
- You may Register into a demo course for your branch. The objective of this enrolment is just to see the interface, representative quality of teaching/explanation and layout of the courses.
- 2LearnDipEng can be accessed through a PC or through the 2Learn Android mobile app. PC based access is through a secure browser which you must download for access to courses. However, this is not required to access the demo course.
- If you are satisfied with the Course and wish to Enrol for the course, please select the course in the Subscription section and proceed as per instructions.
BTE/DTE List and Programs
Course Layout
Each Course is organised into Units and further into Sections. A Section is a logical collection of related Topics. Each Topic is covered through a set of Learning Outcomes (LO). A Learning Outcome states what the student should be able to know, or do, upon successful completion of Learning Activities for that Topic.
Each LO is approached through a Learning Module, which is a Video Lesson including the associated Knowledge Check (KC) questions at the end of it. The student must view each LM carefully, make notes as advised; pause, rewind or speed-up the video as required to ensure they understand the concepts being taught. If student is not able to successfully answer the KCs, they are advised to re-view the lesson before proceeding forward.
After LMs for the Topic are completed, the Student should attempt the Outcome Review and Summary Quiz module. The ORSQ module comprises of higher order Past Year Questions (PYQ) for the completed Outcomes of the Topic. In addition, the Teacher will summarise the LOs, discuss the applications and related information.
Problem-Solving Module or PSM is an exam focussed module. For Theoretical topics, the teacher will list and detail the types of exam questions that can be expected from the Topic and how to successfully respond to them. For Numerical topics, the teacher will list the types of PYQs, and proceed to solve one problem of each type. The student is expected to solve a similar problem of each type before proceeding to the next type. PSM will also state their own Outcomes which broadly mirror the LM Outcomes.
Through its sequence of Learning Modules, Outcome Review & Summary Quiz, and Problem-Solving Modules, an exhaustive treatment of each Topic is attempted.
A Section Review Test will help you revisit and revise the overall concepts in the section.
A Unit Review Test will similarly help you revise the concepts covered in the Unit.
You may pose your doubts in the Course Forum. Here you will also see previous conversation threads which could address your current problem. Being an active participant in the Course Forums could really help you.
Several such current and upcoming features are developed to help you develop concept-clarity, and proficiency in the Subject.
Study Plans
Usually courses of study guide the student on What (and what not) to study (Syllabus) and How to Study (method and content), but mostly are unable to guide When to Study (Schedule). However proper scheduling is the crucial gap between success and failure specially in time-bound, self-study programs. With a view to bridge this gap, 2LearnDipEng is offering two Study Plans options namely, a) Own Study Plan (OSP) or, b) Guided Study Plan (GSP).
Own Study Plan
- Own Study Plan allows students to commence study from any Unit and any Section. Within each Section however, the order of coverage of Topics is fixed in accordance to principles of laddered learning. Similarly, the coverage of Learning Activities is also fixed within the Topic. This is understandable since a student will not be able to attempt the Quiz without going through the Learning Modules first, or not be able to do justice to Problem Solving Modules unless they have completed the underlying concepts in the LMs.
- Once completed the topic may be accessed at will.
- OSP is beneficial if the student has studied the Topics previously, or they wish to synchronise with the Unit/Section sequence followed at their Institute.
Guided Study Plan
- Guided Study Plan may be opted by students looking for the optimal method to cover their syllabus and prepare for their exams.
- Based on the number of Topics in a Course, GSP is designed to run for a defined number of days from the date of enrolment in the Course.
- A set order of coverage is defined across the Course as per principles of spaced recall. For instance, if LMs, ORSQ and PSM are set for a Topic, LMs and knowledge check would be scheduled on Day1, ORSQ on Day 2 and PSM on Day 6.
- Scheduling ORSQ after at least one night’s rest allows the learned concepts to consolidate in the sub-conscious mind of the student. Specially with the foreknowledge that they must retrieve the next day.
- Scheduling PSM after at least 4 days allows the memory of the concept to decay sufficiently. Retrieval after such a period refreshes the memory and helps establish new neural pathways for better memory recall.
- Apart from the above, Section Review Test, Unit Review Test will be scheduled to refresh the concepts.
- Student’s memory and concept understanding will be challenged periodically with Flash Cards and short quiz posed intermittently on the covered topics.
Rapid Revision Program
- Short duration RRP will be offered in select courses.
- RRP are designed as Semester-exam focussed ‘Crash Course’. Typical RRP is for 12-15 hours only.
- Typically RRPs will be released approximately 1 month before Semester exams.