Students Teaching – Learning Process

Students Teaching – Learning Process

The top management desires that the institute should be filled with quality students, or, at least, there should be more than breakeven number of students.

The parents desire that the institute should provide quality education and help students as and when required. They also expect it to take care of students’ holistic development and be a “parent” to them.

The government and the statutory authorities desire that all the rules and regulations are met by institutes, such as the number of computers, faculty, classrooms, and so on.

The students desire that the faculty provide them “something more” than what is available in the books, websites and so on. Many of the students are not interested in attending classes because they feel that all the information provided by the faculty is available on the Internet. There is no real value addition. Additionally, as far as the students are concerned, good job opportunities and placements are their priority.

Discussions with several industry and corporate personnel indicate that while interviewing students, corporate recruiters look at the following characteristics in students:

• Fundamental knowledge of the subject (approximately 20 per cent weightage)
• Application knowledge of the subject (approximately 40 per cent weightage)
• Holistic development of the student (approximately 40 per cent weightage)

This indicates that for the success of any College / School, the Institute has to orient itself to being ‘student-centric.’

Student-centric can be defined as the process which ensures that students become the centre of all activities of the institution of higher learning.

This aspect can be improved through some of the following activities:

Reverse teaching: In this process, the student either individually, or in a group, makes a presentation on some relevant topics. The student or student group is encouraged to make the presentations based on a field work, including interviews with notable persons and so on.

Case study: The students are encouraged to study a given Project / Case, Analyse the same and discuss it in class. The faculty acts as a facilitator during the case study analysis.

Virtual enlightenment: Leaders from the industry are invited to share their thoughts with the students. Consequently, sessions are arranged so that the students can benefit from the knowledge of thought leaders, management gurus and industry experts. The Institute could also arrange such sessions in the areas of wellness, women empowerment, technical issues, and so on.

Thus, becoming student-centric is essential for any College / School to succeed. It is important that the institutes transform themselves from schools imparting “some knowledge” to centres that are student-centric.