N.L. DALMIA AND THE ART OF QUARANTINE PROOF EDUCATION

The world has come to a near standstill due to the Covid 19 pandemic. We believe that education is as essential as anything else in these times. Luckily the advancement in technology allows the teacher and the taught to go beyond the compulsions of physical classrooms and use this period well. We reach out to the N.L. Dalmia Group of Institutions, Mumbai to get a fair understanding of how their teachers and students have managed this transition.

QThe Pandemic has forced the transformation of conventional classrooms to digital. Are the teachers and students ready for the sudden shift? Human beings have been designed to adapt themselves to the changing environment quickly. It is not just the survival of the fittest but of the quickest and the smartest. Rising in response to the unprecedented challenges posed by Covid-19 outbreak, we have responded effectively to the sudden change. In a country like India, teaching has always been perceived as a face to face interaction, a place of learning where students and teachers meet every day. Teachers not only transfer knowledge but also are available to guide, mentor, counsel and / or advise the students. However, it is strategically imperative now to transform conventional classroom teaching into innovative online teaching. It transcends the traditional mode of teaching advocating human machine correlations and teacher student interaction through technology. Changes can be noticed in education with the already available education modules on different portals like SWAYAM, COURSERA, UDEMY and many more. The need of the hour is to use this crisis as an opportunity to transform ourselves for the future and incorporate the blended learning approach. Pedagogy has transformed and evolved over the last few decades. The rate of change in educational methodologies is now exponential. The use of technology in the learning process is not new to N. L. Dalmia Institute of Management Studies and Research. The institute has been an avid user and advocate of technology and has been training it’s students to gain proficiency in latest software used in many companies like -Tableau, SAS, SPSS, R and many more. Our management students even receive practical training and hands-on experience in Equity Research, Valuation, Technical analysis, Data Visualization, use of Neuro science in consumer behavior and working in Bloomberg terminals to name a few. Students have to prove their mettle in the strategy simulation program - Markstrat thereby ensuring readiness for any industry. In short, our staff and students are ready for the rapid changes in the field of education.

QHow are the teachers and students coping up with new digital teaching and learning techniques? In India, teaching fraternity from the metropolitan cities are increasingly participating in virtual meetings on Zoom, Google Meet, Skype, WhatsApp Video and also attending different webinars that are being organized by different universities, media houses, FICCI, NITI AYOG and even publishing houses which are enabling the teachers to acquaint with these interfaces. Not only that, faculty members are also invited to participate in several webinars. Moreover, most of the educational institutes and universities today in the country are facilitated with Learning Management Systems (LMS) wherein teachers and students have a common platform to interact. This encourages the faculty to develop blended courses. With increased interaction on such online platforms, the faculty members are motivated and may feel confident to take up the challenge of virtual teaching. Many instructors may not be equipped to design multimedia presentation with elaborate notations and graphics. With limited resources at their disposal during a lockdown phase, faculty and staff are rising to the occasion and taking the initiative to not only keep the learner engaged but are also innovating methodology to make learning interdisciplinary and by engaging in team teaching. Right now both teachers and students are readjusting and re-calibrating. As the time is challenging and new situations are unfolding the teachers are adapting and innovating a better action plan.

QVirtual Teaching: Skill of the Future? Or Not So Much? Teaching is all about creating a positive learning environment by communicating creatively, listening patiently and engaging actively. While Teachers for centuries have had their students in a close proximity to them, observing their expressions, whispers and action, the virtual classrooms have greatly changed that. Before the onset of Covid-19, few educational institutions expected educators to be prepared with skills for virtual teaching. But with the current scenario not allowing traditional teaching methods, the need to learn skills of Virtual Teaching has become an absolute necessity. The virtues of face to face learning cannot be undermined and in my opinion it can never be replaced completely. Although virtual learning allows you to learn at your own pace, it is not engaging enough. If a snap short survey were to be taken regarding online learning vis-a-vis face to face learning, almost everybody will prefer a Face to Face Teaching Learning process. Virtual classroom has limited the teachers’ ability to connect on a personal level and poses a challenge to make the session an interactive one. However teachers are finding innovative ways of overcoming these challenges. They are building engagement through spot quizzes, interactive case studies and many more. Having flipped classes and blended module of teaching learning which allows both, face-to-face as well as online interaction is the solution to maximize the advantage for our learners. Teaching fraternity with such exposure already has upper hand in Virtual Teaching. Additionally, equipping them with Faculty Development Programs on delivering online lecture, conducting online case studies and business simulation on a virtual platform shall be a pre-requisite in the immediate future. As Educational leaders we have to acknowledge that digital teaching will be a skill that will have to be build even more in the existing teachers and something to look for in future hires.

QWhat the shift to virtual learning could mean for the future of higher education? This proliferation of remote teaching tools is crisis driven. Digital teaching and learning techniques have been found very effective in delivering highly specialised short-term courses and in complementing regular face to face teaching as support programs. However, the concerns to be addressed are 1) Can remote teaching assure student engagement? 2) Can an entire curriculum of a two year / three year / four-year program be delivered effectively through remote teaching? 3) Are teachers equipped to conduct an impactful online class? 4) Is our nation’s infrastructure ready for remote teaching across all regions? The concerns have to be addressed by academic community with innovative solutions based on the challenges in remote teaching revealed through its current widespread adoption. Remote teaching is no doubt the need of this time. The shift to Virtual Learning considering higher education would require one to understand which aspect of the curriculum can be substituted, which can be supplemented and which parts complimented by digital technologies. Higher educational Institutions will have to rework their infrastructure and pedagogy as the day is not far, when there will be a possibility of ‘Work and Learn’ and ‘Work & Earn’ simultaneously. In the near future, what may be sustainable is a hybrid model which encapsulates the merits of face to face teaching with the economy and convenience offered by virtual classes. Traditional Curriculum, course structure and evaluation methods would have to be redesigned to cater to such disruptions keeping the learning outcomes intact.