These
are notes prepared during the Workshop held at the Loyola College of Social
Sciences, Trivandrum, South India, on 18th
& 19th July 2009
* From the Presidential
address by Dr. Prabhash, Pro-Vice Chancellor, University of Kerala
- Knowledge is kinetic today.
- Today we see a mutation of disciplines.
4 important points of
institutionalizing Best Practices
I. Academic autonomy is
necessary for innovation
- Innovation requires spaces for experimentation
and experimentation requires academic freedom.
- Cf: Nehru; If universities
function successfully… in that country democracy succeeds.
II. Commitment of both the
institution and the actors
- A commitment to the
institution, to the academics and to students is required…but bureaucratic
control, is a stumbling block.
- What we need is an
independent community of scholars.
- It has been observed that
students have no real loyalty to the institution.
- Often the management fails
to realize that their own well being is dependent on how the teachers /
students are treated.
III . Revolutionizing teaching
and learning methods
- For this we have to
introduce problem based study.
- Conventional lecture type
instruction is to be reduced to 25%
- Students have to be
exposed to the problems, society
faces .
- There should be scope for critical
thinking and collaboration.
- Students should be an
active involver in knowledge creation.
IV. De-bureaucratization of the
educational system
- Today it is very
overloaded… there is an overweight of bureaucracy too.
- We need to redraw the
objectives of bureaucracy.
- We have to re-think/
re-imagine education …move from individual excellence to institutional
excellence and then to institutionalize
it.
Ultimately
Best Practices should be linked with democracy and social justice …
only then can it stand the test of time.
From the Inaugural
Address by Dr. Rajasekharan Pillai, Vice Chancellor, IGNOU
- An institution in a domain
area of education, viz Social
Science, [in which the Loyola College is an example] itself is a Best
Practice.
- The excellence of students and the teachers of an
institution will be reflected in the excellence of the institution.
- Regarding research … the
impact factor of a publication , its credibility, publications by the
research guide, extension activities of the institution.. does it really
extend to society …Such factors are all important today.
- What is required is
internalization of Quality checks rather than institutionalization of
Quality checks. That is, there should be an internalization of Quality
checks by individuals, research, publication, extension work and teaching.
- The context of teaching
and the Best Practice is equally important.
- Knowledge and skills when
applied should be related to the context of the society.
- For understanding the
context, sociological underpinnings, political factors, governance factor, culture, and even mother tongue
has to be taken into account.
- An illustration of the understanding of
the context by the teacher:
A teacher of Chemistry should ask oneself …
Why
should I teach Chemistry…. Does it have a developmental connotation?
How
can we propagate Best Practices?
·
Relating
to context is a challenge in a country like India, with large numbers of
institutions and millions of learners.
·
It
is worth recalling the fact that there is a sizable chunk of population below
25 years old in India…. Can we contextualize our teaching appropriately?
·
Quality
of teaching –learning process should be enhanced.
·
Setting
up more and more universities is not a solution…. What is required is to
improve the quality of the teacher.
·
Technology
should be used to improve our teaching…
But… technology cannot by itself teach!
·
We
need to understand the social relevance
of teaching a subject.
·
We
need to nurture creativity and innovation
·
We
need to encourage independent initiatives of individuals
·
We
need to nurture people into doing it with accountability.
·
We
need to change , reform revise, functions of institutions.
From the Special
Address by Dr. A.Gnanam, Founder Chairman of NAAC
- While discussing Best
Practices …. Remember what is best for one may not be ‘best’ for another
college!
·
In
the last 400 years the Best Practice we have introduced in India, is the use of
the Black Board.
·
While
identifying bench marks for Best Practices … we have to compare it with
International standards
·
Be selective while deciding on Best Practices.
·
For instance while introducing semester system
check the contextual condition.
·
In
foreign universities a group of teachers from different institutions visit a
particular institution, review the Question papers, answer scripts and assess
the actual understanding of concepts by students for rating a college properly…
·
Teachers
need to have a sincerity of purpose… they should ask:
A.
What would my student like to become by learning what I am teaching?
B.
What will they do after the end of the
class?
C..
What will they do after the end of one
month?
D..
What will they do after the end of the
course?
From the address
by Dr. Sukumaran Nair, Former Vice Chancellor of MG University
- We need to validate our
Best Practices on the basis of
empirical data.
- Assessing a college based
on the number of first classes and distinctions produced by institutions
is a very crude parameter for assessing quality.
- Accreditation should
be a participatory interactive
process between the NAAC Peer Team and the institution as equals.
From the address
by Rev. Fr. Dr. George Geroge Director ISI , Bangalore and former Principal
Loyola College of Social Sciences , Trivandrum
- Let us remember Gandhiji’s
words …be the change that you want others to be… Be a practitioner not a
theorist when you think of introducing Best Practices.
- Unfortunately our educational
institutions have become centres of mediocrity and ineptitude in teaching.
From the Valedictory
Address by Dr. K.N. Panikkar, Vice Chairman, Higher Education Council,
Government of Kerala
- Even today the basic
question of communication is not well addressed.
- We have to rethink whether
teachers in colleges can actually teach without any form of training.
- There is an absence of relation between
teaching and research.
- Research is done in universities .. but
drawing on of the findings of the
research and applying it to instructional efficiency rarely happens.
- The present educational set up is
unproductive. Teachers have no freedom or autonomy.
- It is high time we dropped
the affiliation system of colleges to Universities.
- The fact remains that the
quality of education provided in Kerala, is comparable only with the worst in India.
- In Higher Education, the worst hit is
Under Graduate education… for the last sixty years there have been no
change.
- Our UG system has not
succeeded in stimulating the students.
- One reason for the poor
quality of research done in Kerala is because the poor competence of
students.
- It is a fact that most teachers after six
years of their employment tend to
become skeptical , and they give up the habit of reading.
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