IT Student's Placement: Powered by Innovative Practices, Effective Assessment and Evaluation Methods for Improving Programming, Project Making and Professional Skills

A vital step for the student's pathway during their graduation is placement which is one of the imperative criteria for any institution from the accreditation point of view as well. Kasegaon Education Society's Rajarambapu Institute of Technology (RIT) was established in 1983 in an elfin village Sakharale and became autonomous in 2011-12. Most of the students admitted into the college for Undergraduate programs are from rural backgrounds which provided us an opportunity to work on improving the employability skills of the students and sharpen them in industry specific areas. We are exploring the wings of institute's autonomy in design of curriculum to introduce the industry practices into the academic curriculum through innovative practices viz; design of assessment & evaluation methods, improvement of Programming, Project making and Professional Skills. This paper discusses the assessment and evaluation methods and innovative practices being adapted in the department of IT. Initally, the current requirements of the industry were identified through "Faculty Industrial Visits" and in view of that, the courses were selected and assesment and evaluation methods were designed by incorporating the "Outcome-Based Education" (OBE) methods. The students are assessed and evaluated as per the designed assessment methods and schemes for all courses including the project work. Different methods are practiced to improve the programming skills. The professional skills are practiced by the students under the placement club, department of Information Technology.