Best Practices I

Our best practices revolve around the overall development of students and faculty members who are two indispensable, inseparable, and interdependent stakeholders to run and establish the institute brand over the years. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit. This legendary quote of Aristotle is deeply rooted in our daily schedule while observing these two best practices. Below is the summary of the same:

Title of the Practice

"Innovative methodologies to enhance creative thinking among the students”

Objectives of the Practice

The cardinal aim of this practice is to make students robust in their academic performance and subsequently ensure an outstanding result. Through various activities throughout the year, we strive to develop creative thinking in the students. The goal is to develop creative thinking among the students through various measures like teaching through interactive panels (smart board), encouraging them for model making, teaching through faculty-recorded videos, and organizing classroom games besides providing them interactive portals for accessing study material, assignments, etc.

The Context

The institute deeply believes in the philosophy of producing field plants rather than rearing or nurturing or pampering a pot plant. Until we prepare students in a robust manner, how they will address or survive the onslaught of highly competitive and ever-changing job or business scenarios where only go-getters are required. In this context, we try to develop creative thinking in the students by organizing various activities.

The Practice

The said practice is implemented through a multi-pronged approach by taking lectures on intelligent interactive panels (65” smart board), scientific model-making contests, use of SVKM’s NMIMS portal for interactive learning, sharing academic videos recorded by faculty members, and by organizing educational games in the classroom. Rather than teaching by using the conventional chalkboard method, we deliver sessions using smart board. Students are also taught by showing a few best videos from the internet in live classes. Moreover, faculty members upload their videos on YouTube so that students can watch them as and when they need. Through contests like scientific model-making, poster-making contests, and other scientific and general events, efforts are done to develop creative thinking in students. In classrooms, faculty members organize education games to clear the concept in an easier manner and to ward off monotony by bringing students to center stage. In this way, they learn basics in an interesting manner besides remembering and applying the concept on their own in a longer-lasting manner. Finally, through the state-of-the-art, easy-to-operate NMIMS student portal, students are provided with an option to view their performance in internal assessments, solve quizzes, and attempt assignments. The progress of the students can be monitored in real-time by their parents as well.

Evidence of Success

This multipronged approach to the overall development of students from day first has proven successful year after year. Successful and strict implementation of various activities to enhance creative skills had led to a good number of selections in GPAT and NIPER every year. Moreover, every year almost all the students get promoted to the next class with flying colors. Participation in model-making and other similar skill-building exercises changed the way students understand and grasp technical knowledge. Educational games and interactive boards helped in doubt-solving, concept clarity, and faster grasping through interactive learning. Teaching and learning through audio-video aids like YouTube and exposing students to highly interactive NMIMS portals them much-needed freedom to explore the content at their own will.

Problems Encountered and Resources Required

As students directly come after their schooling and from different backgrounds and learning and grasping abilities, so they take time to cope up with an entirely new ecosystem in higher education institutes. Students hesitate to gel with students of higher classes, not confident in the initial months. In this context the first activity we organize for them, to have seamless onboarding, is to organize an induction program before kick-starting classroom/practical sessions. All these issues are overcome by the combined efforts of allotted mentors, class teachers, academic head, TPO, ICT I/C, etc. to solve the issues of students.