Back to the classroom …

Imagine a computer lab turning into a classroom with the students being none other than the teachers themselves! Well this was exactly what happened at K. J. Somaiya College of Arts and Commerce on 28th June, where 42 teachers from economics departments of different colleges from the central suburbs of Mumbai gathered for a workshop on ‘Use of Technology in teaching and learning of Economics.” This workshop was organised jointly by The Economics Club, Mumbai, The Forum of Free Enterprise and K. J. Somaiya College of Arts and Commerce.

Mr. Minoo Shroff, President of the Forum of Free Enterprise, which sponsored the event stressed on the importance of economic education and the responsibility of the teaching community to impart a sound understanding of the economic scenario in the country. He pointed out that globalisation has taken India to the path of high growth. Inspite of this, there are too many misconceptions in the mind of the people and no reform programmes can succeed without the support of the people. There is a need for change in the mindset of Indians including the academicians. If the leadership is really convinced about the benefits of a reforms programme it should package it properly and educate the public about the same. When this is not done disgruntled elements with vested interests take advantage.

There were two interactive sessions in this one-day workshop. The first one was conducted by me as Co-ordinator of The Economics Club, Mumbai. One of the key objectives of our NGO is to spearhead economic awareness and provide free career counselling to students. In his speech at Harvard in 1943 Winston Churchill stated, “Empires of the future are the empires of the mind.” How futuristic was his prediction! Corporates in India are already facing a huge skill shortage. During the workshop I stressed that we can make our youth employable only if we impart knowledge which is practical oriented. The teaching community will have to upgrade themselves with all modern tools of teaching to make learning more student-centric. In the presentation I took the participants through different interactive sessions on internet resources and introduced them to the world of blogging. By the end of the session all the teachers learned how to post information in blogs, comment on posts and even prepared their own blogs! One often hears of learning through the internet and use of technology for teaching; however teachers often don’t know where to start or how to make use of these resources. At this workshop they were shown some of the best resources on the internet for teaching economics and how they could use it in classrooms. Some very interesting economics songs from YouTube were then played. The song ‘Every Breath you take’, on Ben Bernanke, the Fed Chairman, was hilarious and informative. On the whole the session showed that learning of economics can be real fun!

The second session was conducted by Mr. Vivek Patki, corporate trainer and visiting faculty at different management institutes. Teachers were familiarised with the basics of PowerPoint and how it could be used to make effective presentations. All the participants made PowerPoint presentations and then discussed ways to improve it.

Dr. Vaidehi Daptardar, Principal, K. J. Somaiya Arts and Commerce College, one of the organisers of the workshop praised the enthusiasm of the teachers and promised full assistance to all such sessions in the future.

The session ended with a vote of thanks by Mr. Divakara, Director-General, Forum of Free Enterprise. He promised to sponsor a number of similar workshops for college students and teachers during the academic year.

The teachers left for the day feeling the empowered and confident!

I have pasted some FEEDBACK we got from teachers…

Prof. Sunita Nagpurkar from V.E.S. (Vivekanand Education Society) College – “Today’s workshop on the use of ICT in teaching economics was one of its kinds for more than one reason. The workshop floor came alive with the spirit of sharing when Prof. Panikar opened not only his treasure of knowledge but also the sources of his knowledge. We feel greatly empowered at this stage. It was always known that so much of knowledge is available on the net but how to access it was a million dollar question, a question which has been answered effectively through this workshop.
The second session that followed was a logical progression – how to effectively use all the knowledge and information is available on the internet for classroom teaching… This was an ice breaking session and now it is upto us to float further in the ocean opened by technology.”

Dr. Medha Tapiawala from Guru Nanak College, “I congratulate the organisers for conducting such a good workshop! The workshop has given us exposure to an ocean of information available in different websites. The interaction with the resource persons has enhanced our knowledge. Even the inaugural lecture and lecture by Mr. Shroff was encouraging. I look forward to many more workshops like this!”

Dr. Sadhana Phadnis, ICL Jhunjhunwala College, “The workshop was very informative, interactive and provided insights into making classroom teaching rewarding…”

Prof. Malathi from K. J. Somaiya College of Science and Commerce, “I was thrilled after attending the workshop. I wish the organisers conduct many such workshops…”