“A teacher who is not a good orator isas good as a dead teacher,” says Pro-fessor Francis Peter, a faculty at XavierSchool of Management, Chennai.Though the statement might sound dra-matic, no one can accuse him of notemphasising enough on how essentialit is for a teacher to be able to hold his/her students’ attention in a classroom.And one of the best tools a teacher canapply to achieve this is storytelling.“This technique can be used for notjust the arts, but for all the subjects,”says Eric Miller, director, WorldStorytelling Institute, Chennai.
He was recently at Loyola College,Chennai, as a speaker at a nationalworkshop on training of teachers.“Many senior professors are used tolecturing because their priority is todisseminate information within thestipulated time. Studies have shownthat more interactivity is needed inclassrooms,” he says. He believes thatstorytelling and small group activitiesare effective mediums which can facilit-ate this and get students to actively par-ticipate in the classroom.
Different approaches Different fields require different ap-proaches. One of them is experiential,or activity-based learning, says Eric.
“The teacher/trainer introduces atopic. Students are invited to engage inan activity such as thinking (visualise,imagine), writing, drawing, talking in asmall group, and so on. Then, theteacher/trainer facilitates a discussionwith all the students and invites someof them to share with the entire groupwhat they did and thought during theiractivity time,” he explains. Students areencouraged to go through the materialbefore the class, by reading, listening toaudio recordings, watching video re-cordings, and so on. Class time is dedic-ated to interaction between the stu-dents, and between the teacher and thestudents. “The teacher’s task is to helpstudents integrate the data, put it incontext, and find meaning in it,” saysEric.
For subjects such as literature, his-tory, social studies, anthropology andsociology, teachers can zero in on thehuman experience. “They can have adiscussion on the lives of historic fig-ures, such as their hopes, yearnings,fears, struggles, and decision-makingprocesses. Professors can also encour-age students to speak as the charac-ters,” he says, adding, “Activities suchas these involve students at an emo-tional and imaginary level. Where emo-tions begin, intellect follows. They willbe motivated to think about it analytic-ally if they are emotionally involved.”
Professor P.V. Sridevi, who teacheshistory at Maris Stella College, Vijay-awada, believes that the medium ofstorytelling interlinks different subjectsand leads to a holistic understanding.“Today, all subjects need to be relatedand connected to the present. As a his-tory lecturer, I can’t just go to the past
tion, give examples and review casestudies — inventions, discoveries, ad-vancements in a field, and so on.”
Professor S. Vani Latha, who teacheschemistry at Maris Stella College,agrees. “Storytelling can be a usefultool, but one needs to plan things prop-erly. To facilitate better understandingof chemical reactions and other con-cepts, we conducted a play which in-cluded some lab experiments. Itproved to be quite helpful and enabledstudents to grasp concepts easily,” shesays, adding, “Since we have a hecticschedule, it is not always possible toconduct activities frequently. But theyare really effective and should be triedmore often in the classroom.”
How can teachers hone theirstorytelling skills and employ them inthe classroom effectively? “The WorldStorytelling Institute conducts variousworkshops. There is also a lot of read-ing material available on the Internet,”says Eric. “Engaging a consultant whoknows about storytelling can also help.The consultant can work with the fac-ulty to implement it,” he says.
Online resources● Notes on storytelling workshops forteachers: www.storytellinginsti-tute.org/12.html ● An interactive documentary on storyand storytelling: www.biologyofstory-.com ● Links to recordings of storytelling-re-lated video conferences:www.storytellinginstitute.org/av.html
It’s story time... for mentorsSustaining the attention of students in the classroom is a big challenge for teachers.Here is an e�ective tool that can help
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For subjects such as literature,history, social studies,anthropology and sociology,teachers can zero in on thehuman experience.
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and restrict myself to it,” she says. Sheoften encourages her students to inter-act with their grandparents and gainfrom their knowledge. One can gain un-expected insights through this exercise,she says. “I collect folk songs as theycarry an oral record of our traditionsand are never formally recorded. Thishelps students when they opt for post-graduation or higher studies. It addsvalue to narratives and helps them un-derstand a topic better.”
A question that would come to one’smind is, how can one use storytellingto teach science subjects? Eric has asimple answer to this. “Use personifica-
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We are now in the era of smart-phone classrooms, online exams,robotic house help and workplacecompanions; what is the commonthread running through them all?A rapid advancement in techno-logy, courtesy highly innovativeminds; a time in which technologyand creativity have become sinequa non in everyday life — Indus-trial revolution 4.0 or, IR 4.0 hasarrived and how.
Creativity is the cornerstone ofIR 4.0. It involves utilising the In-ternet of Things to prepare young-sters for challenges they may en-counter at the workplace.Consequently, there arises a needfor Education 4.0, one that em-phasises the need to focus on pre-paring students to take on chal-lenges, head-on.
And that is what Abhaya Kumar,Anuj Sharma and Dr. Indira J.Parekh, former Dean, IIMAhmedabad, intend to do throughthe launch of Auronya College, In-dia’s first educational institutionthat seeks to answer questionsabout the little-explored world ofEducation 4.0.
Disruptive A disruptive system, Education4.0 not only focuses on ‘what istaught’ but it also assumes a nu-anced approach to ‘the way it istaught’ — it is an education modelwhich is aligned with futuretrends, in order to develop and en-hance individualised educationthat will eventually go on to definethe manner in which youngstersof the future will work and live.
Abhaya Kumar, Founding Exec-utive Chairman, Auronya College,sheds some light on why onewould describe the model as dis-ruptive. “When one has to prepare
leaders for the 21st century, onecannot use 20th century method-ologies; hence the term disrupt-ive,” he elucidates.
“As the barriers between man,machine and technology dissolve,
we need to define education forthe next generation by keeping in-tact elements, values, beliefs andinsights that makes us ‘human’.This is the essence of conceptual-ising Education 4.0.”
Abhaya Kumar feels that IR 4.0presents some of the most trans-formative opportunities in humanhistory. “Such an exponential rateof change in terms of technologyand its uses in business and our
personal lives presents massiveopportunities. It is redefining oursocial lives, health and behaviour.With great opportunities, comechallenges, the first of which is todo with how we use transformat-
ive technologies such as robotics,3D printing, virtual-augmentedtechnologies, and so on, at a reas-onable price while ensuring masssocial inclusion. This leads us to IR4.0’s second challenge — loss ofjobs. It is predicted that at least50% of jobs will be lost to techno-logies. How can the current gener-ation be educated for this expo-nential change in knowledge, skillsand abilities that will be requiredin next 10-15 years?”
Inspiration It is to combat these challengesthat the founders came together toset up Auronya College. AnujSharma, Dean, says that the inher-ent belief that one must work forthe betterment of humanity waswhat spurred the trio to launchthe college. “Human beings havealways been creators, mentorsand discoverers. For example, wedid not stop sending letters be-cause, we did not like the postalsystem. We merely invented a bet-ter way, in terms of communicat-ing through e-mails. Whether it isgeosciences, quantum computing,robotics, or artificial intelligence,education here will focus on fu-ture trends while keeping intacttoday’s values and beliefs.” Dr. In-dira Parekh, Founding Chairper-son, Auronya College, and FormerDean - IIM Ahmedabad, elaborateson how the education model isgeared to meet future trends. “Itwill prepare students to under-stand transformations in theglobal context. They will experi-ence perspectives of change, theuncertainty of the global and na-tional environment, and find waysto manage and navigate them-selves through the change. The
education of tomorrow, teachingpedagogies and the content ofeducation have to be redesigned.What worked yesterday may besufficient today, but may be inad-equate or irrelevant in the future.A model such as the one adoptedby Auronya will prepare studentsto visualise all that is required forthe future,” she explains.
Anuj Sharma lists some of theundergraduate and postgraduateprogrammes that will be offeredby the college. “Our undergradprogrammes will commence in2018. This year, the college’s firstoffering will be Antariksh, a one-year postgraduate diploma innew-age management and leader-ship. It will be delivered at a cam-pus exclusively designed for italong with facilities such as stu-dios of virtual reality, augmentedreality, 3D printing, and so on.Antariksh’s curriculum encom-passes integrated topics such asbusiness automation, robotics, di-gital social systems, fintech, andmore,” he says.
“Students will be prepared tobuild an indelible capacity to op-erate at strategic/senior levels inboth globalised and technologic-ally-advanced environments andgain hands-on experience to solvereal-world problems nationallyand globally,” affirms Dr. Parekh.
“Graduates can work in stra-tegic roles with senior manage-ment, in startup leadership roles,advisory and research capacities,business transformative roles, asconsultants, valuation and mergerspecialists and corporate ad-visors,” adds Anuj Sharma. Stu-dents will also have a host of op-portunities where they can caterto industries in manufacturing,venture capital, FMCG, retail, as-tronautics, e-commerce, informa-tion technology, consumer ser-vices, data analytics, research anddevelopment, global think tanksand so on.
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Virtual reality: The future is now.
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Education 4.0 emphasisesthe need to focus onpreparing students to takeon challenges, head-on.
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The fourth industrial revolution, brought on by the advent of the Internet age,demands that institutions embrace an education revolution too
Education 4.0 is here
LinkedIn used its data to pro-duce a list of the top skills of2016 — those that will get youhired in 2017. The ranking isbased on recruiter and em-ployer activity over the pastyear. Number 9 on the list is‘Economics’, nine ranks higherthan its placement last year. Wespoke to officiat-ing director andvisiting professorSunderRamaswamy,Madras School ofEconomics, to giveus some insightsinto the field, pick-ing up the skill,and career out-look. He is also adistinguished pro-fessor of international econom-ics at Middlebury College, Ver-mont, U.S. Excerpts from aninterview.
How do you define economicsas a skill?
The simplest definition foreconomics is that it is the sci-ence of scarcity. We have somany resources — land, labour,capital, human ingenuity, time,
money — all of which are lim-ited. But our wants and needsare infinite. So, how do youmake the decisions of whatgoods and services to produce,how to produce them, at whatprices, and where to producethem? These are the sort of fun-damental questions that thestudy of economics tries to
handle. People goabout their daily liveswithout having anyformal idea of eco-nomics. But they actin an economic waywithout realising it.So, the study of eco-nomics then becomeslike “putting onglasses” when youhave a vision prob-lem — everything be-
comes clear. It allows you to ex-amine more clearly the worldaround you, understand whycertain things happen the waythey do, and what consequencescome about because of a partic-ular action. You begin to under-stand how economic agents(consumers, producers, govern-ments) take decisions and makechoices — from the mundane, tothe more significant ones.
The way economics is taughtin many advanced countries anduniversities abroad, is that it’svery quantitative and analytical.The skills one should acquire areanalytics, data mining, patternrecognition and modelling. Butbecause ultimately the ‘actor’ inany economic system is a per-son, understanding human mo-tivations and actions is also im-portant. So, economics is trulyon the cusp of being an art and ascience. What makes you com-plete as an economist is not los-ing sight of the fact that it isabout improving the quality oflife of the people. Good under-standing of the political, social,cultural norms and motivationsis also important.
What are some programmes/pathways for job-seekers orstudents to achieve this skill?
There are lots of institutionsthat will take students even ifthey have not done their under-graduate studies in economics.Students can join postgraduatecourses, whether it’s the MadrasSchool of Economics in Chen-nai, Delhi School of Economics,Jawaharlal Nehru University inDelhi and Indira Gandhi Insti-tute of Development Research inMumbai, to name a few.
But, it is important that thestudent has a quantitative andanalytical bent of mind — isn’tscared of math, for example.
Economics is also very read-able; for example, Steven
Levitt’s Freakonomics , becamepopular and really motivates thereader to look for ‘economics ineveryday life’. Paul Krugmanwho writes for the New YorkTimes, has written books thatmost people can comprehend.You can also sign up for the oddcourse online as well, throughMOOCs.
I think there is always goingto be demand for MOOCs, buteconomics is a discipline that re-quires some guidance, just asmany other disciplines do. So, Ihave always been partial to whatI call hybrid learning — whereyou can do lots of the learningonline, but you also havesomeone like a teacher ormentor who can guide you toanswer questions and discussnuances of economics theor-ising and policy making.
Career outlook and possiblecareer pathways
Economics has an enormousset of marketable skills that aretransferable to a wide range ofoccupations. It is not that if youstudy economics, you must gointo teaching or government ser-vice. You could go into theprivate sector, join think tanks,
NGOs, or undertake policy ana-lysis. Specifically, you couldwork for a bank or financial insti-tutions, companies that needanalytics, data management andlogistics; companies that needsomeone who understands mar-ket structures, competition, andcost structures of their products.
Your thoughts on why ‘Eco-nomics’ is in the top 10 skills?
People here are recognisingthat it’s a very solid disciplinethat is analytically rigorous, has arich intellectual tradition, isphilosophically sound, and yetmarketable. You could study achallenging discipline such asphilosophy, or Sanskrit, but itmay not be as marketable thesedays. Or you could study apurely marketable discipline, butit may not have the intellectualdepth you’re looking for. Eco-nomics, if taught right, providesthis interesting balance betweenstudying ideas in depth, andcoming up with solutions to chal-lenging global problems.
It is unfortunate that econom-ics hasn’t become even morepopular here in India. In theU.S., it’s been one of the top un-dergraduate majors for decades.
value add)
On the cusp of art and scienceLooking for a discipline that o�ers a balance between marketable skills and in-depth knowledge? Economics could be your callingb Spatika Narayanan
Dr. Sunder Ramaswamy
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Tracking trends: Analytically sound.
Bird watching and bird photography arefast gaining popularity as hobbies. This in-terest in birds can be well accentuatedwith scientific knowledge. BNHS Conser-vation Education Centre (CEC), Mumbai,provides this opportunity with the ‘BasicCourse in Ornithology’.
This is a hybrid, part-time, one-yearcertificate course with online and fieldcomponents. Chapters and assignmentswill be shared in the first week of everymonth. Field visits will be usually held onSundays or public holidays. The course feeis ₹10,000.
Benefits● Insights into India’s bird-diversity, beha-viour, habitats, conservation issues andsustainable living● Opportunity to interact with scientistsfrom BNHS and other organisations● Opportunity to document and learnbird-diversity, which may even result in re-search papers, or an opportunity to workpart-time as a resource person with BNHSCEC● A certificate from BNHS and gradesbased on performance and participation
Eligibility● Class X (any board)● Basic understanding about use of com-puter and the Internet
For further details, call on 9594953425or email [email protected].
Want to specialisein bird watching?
IIT Hyderabad is launching two new coursesfrom the academic year 2017-18. They areB.Tech. (Minor in Design) and B.Tech. (En-gineering Mathematics).
Engineering Mathematics will enable stu-dents to pursue higher studies in math. Itwill also help students to take up R&D workin national and international laboratories.The intake for the course is 10 students.
The Minor in Design Course will enhancethe employability of students and encouragethem to be creative thinkers and begin initi-atives of their own. The intake will bebetween 15 and 20 students.
New courses atIIT Hyderabad
BlackboardThe Hindu EDGE invites teachers to sendin their contributions on issues and chal-lenges they face.
The article should be about 500 words.Please email it to [email protected]
