Faculty Throws Light On The Teaching Methodology

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Faculty Perspectives: The Teaching Process

10 Mar 2022
- admin
While I was very familiar with zoom and skype as a teacher and a consultant, I had not fathomed (like anyone of us) that this would be my primary activity for the coming few years.

As the last batch of 2019-2020 graduated in April 2020, I had smoothly transitioned into conducting classes online. As I shifted gears with the new batch of 2020-2021, most of the new batch of students were absolutely sure that online classes were not value for money. As they critically apprised the faculty members and the online classes, I had a crucial job on hand.

As a faculty my concerns were primarily twofold-
1. Deliver best levels of learning outcomes, as per the course outline
2. Keep myself abreast of the changing business scenario and curate the cutting-edge course content.
Truthfully, these are always the primary goals for all my courses.

As I immersed myself to unravel the business models and upheavals in the economy, I attended various online seminars, webinars, and conferences. The LBS seminars were some of the best and the weekly updated topic and data , tuned into pages and pages of notes. Personally speaking the best part about this pandemic was an immense opportunity to spend time creatively rethinking your andragogy. The WFH provided immense opportunity to streamline your day and immerse yourself in reading and writing, amidst the comforts of your privacy.

The international conferences, forums and the networking created opportunities to deeply listen in to the perspectives of academicians and industry stalwarts. I learnt from each interaction Your personal quest can create a purpose and inspiration for you.

For the subjects that I teach at SOIL, courses titled as Organizational Behavior, Human Resource Management, Learning and Development, Employee Engagement, Organization Change & Development, Gender & Inclusion, it is important for me to traverse the longitude of classical literature and also nudge my students to imbibe the contemporary perspective. It is vital that they understand their choices and argue fearlessly, to unlearn and relearn. The utmost outlier comment in the class must be contemplated upon.

The students sometimes feel tired and ask for quick solutions and answers. They are used to a process of one right answer to one question asked. In my courses the students soon discover that, there are many a question for one answer, and many an answer for one question. They also have doubts about the marks to be allocated for the evaluations. A transparent and well explained perspective can be communicated and a few evaluations can be co-created. The students need to feel empowered and responsible for their learning (maybe I will write a separate blog on creating interesting evaluations).

Like in any classroom, you can’t teach or school these young adults. The average age of students in my courses would be 26-27 years approximately. I quite enjoy this challenge which unfolds each year. The student in me likes the provocation to be able to create learning and help my students to broaden and build their own resources.

As I taught online, I invaded their homes, met their parents working in the background, their pets seeking attention, met some the spouses and kids and saw their family pictures. I have easy norms for my class apart from attendance and discipline. I learnt these at my alma mater XIMB, decades ago. You can eat, have tea /coffee or munch, as long as you participated with your mind and heart (also videos for hybrid format). My students developed their own code language to put up in the chat – BRB (be right back). Yes, I understand they had to open doors or run quick errands while studying or feed their pets. In one such class, a pet cat jumped out of the window and the student had to go fetch her cat back. The class was quite tensed. I too developed my code language BRB i2 (be right back in 2 mins). Technology makes our lives smarter; the human touch facilitates learning.

Each year as I rework my courses, I do take into consideration some classical literature, some movements in the post liberalized India and some contemporary writings. Readings for the students are a mix of both best journal articles and some quick article reads from HBR. I have used jam boards to have a constant banter on the topic, so that the students do not miss out on recording their thoughts. Some students will not read the articles and some will read it thoroughly and make your day with a unique viewpoint.

It is also important to design quick exercises. since in a physical class, the students do almost never get up and physically enact or do something. It is important that they get out of their chairs or beds and stand up to energize their bodies. Also, mental exercises, combined with a physical activity can quickly shift gears to a new connection of the neurons.

The challenge of a few not-so-participative students do remain. You have to keep trying and connecting with them. Invariably, they do surely change their approach, as they start trusting the class environment.

Short breaks of 5 mins help. When working from home, both my students and myself need to quickly get a cup of tea or just straighten our legs. Breaks do not break the thought process; they can provide the much-needed thinking space.

Being inclusive of the online students alongside the students physically seated in the class is a must. In fact, there will be some audio glitches occasionally and the faculty must learn the technicalities to quickly remodify most of them.

A compassionate, creative and strategic approach to capture the interest of the students on the topic may be a more difficult route, than prescribing why the students should study a particular theory or model or literature. Being prepared to throw a few off-remarks to start an argument or to compel others, to then share their perspectives comes naturally to me. A few ground rules about positivity in the class is important. I must ensure that I am happy to observe all the ground rules myself.

Teaching a class of future managers and entrepreneurs of the new generation, is the one of the most important things for me in this world. I invite all your ideas and comments to co-create this process with me.

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