“We tend to put a lot of learning on the student to take up the benefits of active learning or action based learning. But the onus should lie on the faculty as well to be able to do that.”, shared Dr. Vishal Talwar, Director, IMT Ghaziabad at the one-day Faculty development program organised by Firebird Institute of Research in Management, Coimbatore. The discussions during this event were based on the topic, “Action Learning Agility Through Case Study Methodology”, where eleven academics from various business schools and a corporate head debated and shared their knowledge with the teachers.
While every profession requires you to keep updating your skill set, teaching is one profession where the process of learning never stops. This can be attributed to the nature of the job, where they are dealing with educating and shaping the minds of young people. It is crucial that they are well-prepared to face the challenges and requirements posed by the industry and the teacher must mould them towards it. FDPs are organised for this very reason: to update and gain further knowledge from experts.
Mrs. Sujana Abhirami Sundararaman, Managing Trustee, in her welcome address, explained the 70-30 model followed in the institute. This model requires the student to spend 4 to 5 hours a day working at a company and gaining the practical knowledge of everything they would learn within the four walls of their classroom. Following this method better prepares the student for their future in the corporate while also helping them face the many challenges that come with it.
The Chief Guest for the day, Dr R Nandagopal, President, AIMS, spoke about the New Education Policy and what it holds for business schools. He also talked about how, under this policy, the student has the opportunity to take his course from anywhere. Since the channels of knowledge have diversified, he said it is important that the teachers create an environment for the student where he is able to have the proper learning experience and also networking options that would help them in the future.
Dr MJ Xavier, Chairperson, LIBA Management Development Center, also shared a similar opinion where he stressed on the role played by teachers to ensure that the students gain the right experience. He also pointed out that agility is not something that should be associated with the industry but with educational institutions and teachers too. This, he claimed, was because the world and its ways are changing everyday and it is required to keep up with them all.
During his address, Dr Raj Agrawal, Director, AIMA, pointed out that in the face of rapid changes that are taking place in the education sector, the faculty has to learn more to be aware of the ways and means to keep the students engaged and also adopt more creative and innovative teaching techniques. He also shared his thoughts on the case research centre which is necessary to improve the management studies in the country. He said, “The industry needs good managers and to create good managers we need good teachers.”
Later on, the panellists Dr R Nandagopal, President, AIMS, Dr Raj Agrawal, Director, AIMA, Dr.S.R.Sridharamurthy, Founder President, National School of Business Academy, Dr MJ Xavier
Chairperson, LIBA Management Development Center, Dr. R .Srinivasan, Director, Jamnalal Bajaj Institute of Management Studies, Dr. Vishal Talwar, Director, IMT Ghaziabad, Dr. Arunaditya Sahay, Dean (Research), Birla Institute of Management Technology, Ms. Savitha Mahesh, Head, Leadership & Professional Development, Informatica, Dr. P. Viswanadham,
Former Director, HRDC-UGC, AU- Visakhapatnam, Dr. SS Prasada Rao, Dean, School of Management, Mohan Babu University and Dr. Manohar, Senior Director, International School of Business and Research, all participated in two discussions on action learning for business schools and the importance of using case studies in the classroom.