AAMEC Students

 Searching for some papers to write notes for my testing e-learning, I found my third year engineering note, which I had used for multiple subjects. The note was filled with syllabi of 3 subjects.  At this time of learning my modules related to my profession, entirely online, I wonder how on earth, writing the syllabus on note would have helped me. 

                On the first day of class of each subject, in each semester, it has become a ritual in my college, for the lecturers to dictate the syllabus for the subject, and for us to pen them down sincerely, word-by-word. Even after the syllabus has been made available online, this ritual continues. Waste of time and energy – most important resources of this century. 

Assignments! Till now, I couldn’t really find out the objective of writing assignments, except being used to revenge the mischievous students. The teachers give some questions and ask to write answers. One student copies them from text books and the rest of the class copies from her. I know one of classmates, who used to copy the assignments from certain girl and submit the assignment even before her. Again waste of time, energy and also paper, another critical resource.

Teachers with industry expertise and with continuous learning experience (such as taking up certification exams) are the need of the hour. I could not figure out how a staff, who has bought her graduate and post graduate project and has no knowledge of what project management is all about can handle Software Project Management. Or do you think that a teacher who is tutored by her junior on daily classes can handle the doubts of her students on queries in database? 

If any of my staffs are reading this, my humble request to them is to make the students think and come out with their own solutions for problems, instead of cut-copy-paste culture. This culture when continued up to workplace brings shame to the student-turned-professional. We have enough typewriters and photocopy machines in this world. Let’s make more engineers.

It is of no use to blame the system and continue with the same procedure. We must remember it is we who created the system and even supported it sometimes just because of our convenience. It is the time to change. Yes, the students are willing and the industries need real game changers.  Here are some ideas that could really make an impact on making learning effective:

$ Don’t give assignments for the sake of giving. It is of no use to copying the text book junk. Give some lively assignments and ask students to submit their assignments online. For example, if you are teaching Object Oriented Programming, ask them to make an info-graphics of the history of OOP or ask them to make small project based on the concepts taught. If it is Operating Systems, ask them to find the open-source operating systems available and give their features.

$ Please never make an impression that assignments, surprise tests and seminars are ways of punishments. I had the blessing of having few lecturers who made all these wonderful experiences. I also had few lecturers, who manipulated their “extra-ordinary” teaching skills and made me to feel that even sitting in their classes was a waste of time.

$ Please accept if you do not know a concept and acknowledge the intelligence of the student who raised a doubt on that. Look out answers and give a prompt reply as soon as possible. One of my lecturers, who taught me Object Oriented Programming, was a perfect example of this. She never failed to find out and clarify our doubts, if she happens to be unaware of that.

$ Please do not spoon feed your students. Give them an idea, guide them to explore more. That doesn’t mean that you have to lecture only the first two units of a subject and give all three remaining as student-seminars (which, one of my lecturers did).

$ Questioning the beliefs and authorities are natural qualities of this generation. By no means, be an obstacle to that. By asking us to shut up and sit, you actually infuriate us and make us question more the belief. After all, we are engineering, born out of science, has the habit of questioning anything, before accepting it as a fact. So, encourage the students to ask questions. 

$ We were also college students once. In fact, we should feel ourselves as students life-long, otherwise we won’t learn; we won’t progress. Remember how we wanted to be treated while we studying full-time. Treat our students with respect and if you don’t acknowledge you own students as engineers of the future, who else will?

Teachers hold the most critical position in any society. Others professionals discover, engineer, enhance the world around them. But teachers discover, engineer and enhance the professionals themselves. It is up to the teachers to feel their importance and enlighten the young minds or to neglect their mission.

               

            Remember, ‘engineer’ is not only a noun, but also a verb.