NCU has several job-oriented skill modules for slow learners, Assistant Professor Northcap University

In a conversation with Shiksha.com, Assistant Professor at The NorthCap University Lokesh Choudhary talks about the different methods of teaching that are equally helpful for slow learners, too. He also talks about different modules and platforms that are designed basis students’ interest to improve their profile and enhance employability opportunities. Lokesh has over five years of experience in teaching and research and also has a keen interest in academics.

Read the excerpts of the interview below:

Q: What is the difference between the teaching methodology in your institute and others?

A: Teaching Methodology at NCU involves the participatory role of the Instructor. This refers to the way in which teachers and students are in constant interaction, active involvement and continuous exchange of views and ideas in the overall teaching and learning. These methods are sometimes known as interactive teaching methods or learner-centred teaching methods. It is a shift from a belief that learners are empty plate who are supposed to be imparted with the knowledge to a belief that learners can construct knowledge and learn on their own if properly guided. They are designed only for smaller groups of participants, but their advantage is that they encourage better retention of learned. These are contemporary modern methods of education. Examples of such methods are discussion method, project method, a problem-solving method, etc.

Q: How are you preparing your students to be Industry ready?

A: For achieving full employability and making students industry-ready, it is important that all students including slow learners are provided opportunities to be able to compete for the job market. Each student, including slow learners, is given an opportunity to learn some special skill modules particularly oriented towards industry needs which help them at the time of placements.

NCU has introduced several job-oriented skill modules for slow learners as well as other interested students in all departments last year. These modules include web development, Staad Pro design, Arduino platform, Cadence software for VLSI design, Matlab Applications (Simulink), CAD & 3-D printing, enhancing employability skills, CNC Programming, Basic & Advanced Pneumatics & Hydraulics (by Maruti Suzuki), Air-conditioning & Refrigeration (by Daikin) and Automobile Engineering (by BMW). These modules are offered to slow learners based on their interests. Other interested students can also take these modules. Equipping the students with these in-demand skills is expected to improve the profile and enhance the employability of students.

Q: What quality do your students have which other college students lack?

A: NCU believes that each student admitted to the University would have their own strengths and facilitation by the University to further development could probably make him a successful student and human being. An innovative method to understand the strength and weaknesses of a student by the way of tracking their previous learning curve is through the creation of Student Portfolio System. Students and parents are being given awareness and opportunity to update student achievement and interests in the portfolio maintained by the University. Most of the times a careful review of a student’s portfolio shows that the degree/stream in which he got admitted might not be in the same area of interest. However, portfolio enables the University to identify and provide student an opportunity to pursue their interest in their curriculum or otherwise under a mentor through constant interaction and support. This not only makes students show better result and create further passion to continue but also motivate them in the chosen course of study. The development chart is drawn by the Mentor Faculty who interacts with student, parent and other teachers and encourage student to take up studies in the areas of interest. These achievements can be showcased digitally to employers by students at the time of placements or as required.

Q: Do you think the curriculum of the courses taught in your institute fits in the requirement of the industry?

A: The focus is on experiential and hands-on learning. The NorthCap University (NCU) has always remained front runner in developing a curriculum with the help of industry and integrated several features to enhance the student learning experience through some of the best practices as follows:

• Integrated out of classroom learning like Tinkering Lab, Incubation Centre and Professional Society work with curriculum.
• General Proficiency course compulsory in all programmes to develop & recognise out of classroom development of students through extracurricular activities. Special skill modules for slow learners have also been introduced.
• Foreign Language course compulsory in all programs to give global perspective to students. This is important as the students enrolling come from different backgrounds & having secondary school education with different medium of instructions, including their mother tongues for better understanding. Courses in English, Humanities and Social Science are also focused on communication skills and societal awareness development and are compulsory.
• Courses on Problem Solving and Creative Writing introduced.

Extending the concept of Context Learning or experiential learning, a new paradigm in teaching learning process is introduced with project-based learning. This is done with the close involvement of relevant industry experts in the teaching-learning process. The expected outcome of this pedagogical innovation is industry-ready graduates who can directly be deployed on the jobs by industry without the need for further rigorous training after graduation. The courses suitable for this mode in the programme and in-demand by industry are identified for project-based learning. The delivery methodology is also changed to module based to facilitate association of industry experts with course delivery and proper execution of the project work.

Since the project identified is expected to be live industry work and involves conceptualisation to design, this delivery methodology is also expected to enhance analytical ability & critical thinking of students as well as produce readily deployable graduates.

Q: Is your college receptive to innovation, technology, science & entrepreneurship?

A: Yes, new ideas/projects conceptualised by students are encouraged to be through seed funding support by VC Innovation Fund. The ideas get incubated through in-house incubation center and finally converted into saleable/commercial reliable projects. The final projects are showcased, and the best ones rewarded through technical event Technovation. More details are as follows:

• Under the Vice Chancellor’s Innovation Fund, a reward of Rs 10 million is given to encourage sharing of innovative ideas and to carry out basic research.
• The Master Jagannath Centre for Excellence & Incubation (MJCEI) the new start-up incubation platform at the University campus. The Incubation Centre has been established to advance innovation primarily in the field of software products and apps and thus provide opportunities to students to innovate and invent, thereby building special technical skills in them and hand-hold to meet their entrepreneurial dreams. The vision of the Centre is to provide a research-based platform for incubation across disciplines thus ultimately serving the industry and the society.
• Students at NCU are encouraged to choose projects of their own choice and realise their innovative ideas into reality. The motivation behind organising TECHNOVATION-Project Day is to give students a platform to showcase their innovative ideas in the form of projects. For example, In 2018 Technovation, 23 ideas were converted to projects from departments out of the many that were actually made were showcased during TECHNOVATION. Some attractive ideas were crowd-pulling such as Elevate, Electrical Vehicle, Gesture Recognition, Personal Assistant Robot, etc.