EMERGENCE OF MOOCS

The idea to learn without physical presence is not new. It dates back to 1840 when Sir Isaac Pitman established a course on shorthand learning through weekly tutorials on postcards. Certainly world of distance education has changed a lot in past few years. The journey which started from correspondence course and distance education, travelled across e-learning, and has now entered into a world of online courses commonly known as Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). With an initial slow start, now MOOCs have gained momentum with elite and trendsetting Universities launching these courses. Harvard, MIT, University of Virginia, University of Phoenix, Stanford, Yale IITB and IIMB are just to name a few. These courses are available for free or for a minor commercial value dependent upon the number of resources it uses. Some of the more popular portals providing Moocs like Coursera, Edx, Udacity and NPTEL offer courses which cross all language barriers and provide a new learning platform.

When 2012 was declared as “year of MOOC” by The New York Times, it started the online learning revolution with many well-financed service providers teaming up with best universities to offer courses which received enrolment as large as 160,000 students in one year. Many of these portals are funded by non-profit organizations like Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the McArthur Foundation and the National Science Foundation etc. Till date more than a million participants have successfully completed and have been awarded certificates. EDX alone has courses in subjects ranging from Maths, Computers, Ethics, Art and Culture, Economics & Finance, Food and Nutrition, Medicine, Physics and what not.

In a common observation it is said that ‘what Internet did to print media, is what Moocs will be doing to higher education’. It is a kind of what happened in every other industry i.e. Labour replaced by technology. While we cannot have an expert teacher teach a whole lot of students, besides managing his work load and research, we can have a whole lot of students study from the best brain in whole of University, and why not a Nobel laureate. Recent studies show that students find these courses more interesting and ‘intimate’. Its a virtual classroom environment with video lectures, open forums, assignments and reviews. It gives flexibility to student to learn at his own pace. It doesn’t have to be a continuous 2-3 hours session, its not time bound and doesn’t even need a dress code. Learning becomes fun when you overcome your language barrier and make your trainer talk to you alone for hours, solving all your doubts.

As is the case with all technologies, Moocs also have certain shortcomings. Though it gets the curiosity levels high which is reflected in the number of enrolments, not many participants actually complete these courses. Moreover it’s still a tough job convincing employers about the proficiency of a person having certificate of Moocs. Judging the performance by what it has already achieved may not indicate the true potential of this teaching pedagogy. It’s a long way to go and the journey has just started.

References:

http://mfeldstein.com

http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304019404577416631206583286

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/opinion/brooks-the-campus-tsunami.html?_r=0

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Massive_open_online_course

http://www.moneycrashers.com/massive-open-online-courses-distance-learning-education/

Mr. Devesh Lowe

Asst. Professor
JIMS ROHINI SEC - 5 

E-LEARNING VS CLASS ROOM LEARNING

Even the world’s largest army cannot stop an idea whose time has come goes a popular quote.

Distance learning was an idea whose time was long overdue. Though distance learning is not a new idea, its time has really come now aided by technological advancement, in its new avatar as E-learning.

Whether E-learning will eventually replace conventional class room learning, only time will tell. But should it?

E-learning aims to reach students at their home through the electronic media. It uses various cyber tools at its disposal to reach out to their students. In E-learning one has access to a wide variety of books, learning materials, online tutorials and virtual class rooms.

E-learning is a boon for people, who wish to study further while working, without having to compromise their work hours. It saves time and money, avoids travel and offers excellent flexibility to learn at one’s own pace, topics of varying difficulties.

Universities now conduct on line evaluation of students, to assess their performance in an effort to make learning more effective and the degrees more credible and acceptable at par with class room learning.

However E-learning lacks the following advantages of contact or class room learning.

Let’s give it to our teachers. The world’s most boring topics turn interesting in the hands of a skilled teachers and dreaded subjects become dream subjects in the hands of great teachers.

E-learning, in spite of all its advantages cannot replace the teaching techniques, knowledge sharing skills and above all the ability to turn a good student into a brilliant one, by his inspiring ways.E-learning is learning in isolation. You miss a peer group of similar minds that help in informal exchange of ideas, debating and understanding the concepts.Class room learning is important to develop the extra-curricular, social and life skills for students.

To conclude, E-learning is definitely welcome for people, who wish to add on to their academic knowledge, keep themselves abreast of the new areas of developments in their profession. It is also a good opportunity for people, who could not access higher education immediately after their schooling for various reasons.

Class room learning lays the foundation for academic brilliance, as well as social learning during ones formative years, under the guidance of able teachers.

This is the nursery where future generations bloom.

C.Komalavalli

Assoc.Prof(IT)

JIMS ROHINI SEC - 5

SANS FORMALITY

Webster’s New World Hacker Dictionary by Bernadette Schell and Clemens Martin defines protocol as – “a set of rules governing how communications between two programs have to take place to be considered valid. It describes various ways of achieving and operating compatibility.” If there is anything like ‘academic protocol,’ undoubtedly it is undergoing dilution.

The degree of formality built in the education system with specific reference to the relation between the teacher and the student is changing and the changes are not subtle but sharp and at times startling. An illustration: An email I received from a student who had completed her Summer Internship and was in the process of report writing – Hi Mam J please read the attached report. Go thru (sic) it. You can make corrections. Or let me know the changes. Feel free to do that. Bye J

This email made me realize we are all equals! How could I forget that? Students greet you with a hi and bye; wish to be friends with you on Facebook; want your personal phone number; will send a message via Whatsapp to let you know that they’ll be late for the class; will tell you that cool colours suit you the best; will not hesitate to ask for hints or get a sneak preview of the exam questions.  The British era type of formality of Good Morning and Yours sincerely is fast shrinking.

We sure are equals but the lack of formality renders the communication a very casual dimension that robs off the essence of knowledge transmission via the student-teacher relation. This casual approach is most likely to continue in future too. What goes as okay or acceptable to a small degree gets magnified with the passage of time and turns troublesome. This may mean reaching a stage where corrections become nearly impossible.

What lies at the background of this casual communication is a nonchalant attitude towards formal learning and therefore towards all the stakeholders in the formal learning setup. The rigid formality and the accompanying anxiety is not being hailed, but we must not let the dilution of seriousness towards learning and ensure due respect to the guides and knowledge providers.

Ms. Deepti Kakar

Associate Professor

JIMS Rohini Sec - 5

THE EVOLVED TEACHING PEDAGOGY

As time has progressed, the world around us has undergone umpteen changes. Teaching pedagogy too, has evolved. In the days when we did our schooling and pursued higher education, the use of technology was minimal. The so called ‘chalk and talk’ method was followed for every discipline. Our friends and co-learners in the science stream of studies, in addition to this were exposed to the practical view of the theory via laboratory experiments. We were at best, given a glimpse of the application of the theoretical constructs with the help of examples and illustrations. However, the pedagogy never compromised on the quality of education and its rendition. The use of technology driven aids has now supplemented the ‘chalk and talk’ method and in many cases completely replaced it.

For a number of disciplines, the instructors are making use of MS PowerPoint presentations, smart boards, videos, simulations etc. It is believed that this assistance has certain advantages over the traditional pedagogy – both for the instructor and the learner. Upholding the belief of moving with changing times, the teaching pedagogy at JIMS, Rohini too involves the use of the aforementioned aids in addition to the traditional method. The PGDM program at JIMS, Rohini has a uniquely balanced course design and the concurrent well balanced teaching pedagogy enables the students to gain a wholesome understanding of the management discipline and the delivery mechanism exposes them to both the theoretical fundamentals and decisional realities.

Innovative improvements in the pedagogy are a result of the experiential learning of the faculty at JIMS, Rohini – this being a combination of self-learning and learning from that of the others. The prevalent teaching pedagogy revolves around an assortment of lecturing, conducting group discussions, assigning written and oral presentations, case study review and development, article analysis,  role plays, team plays, challenging activities, simulations, industrial visits, live projects and corporate internships.

Ms. Deepti Kakar

Associate Professor

JIMS Rohini Sec-5

THE FOREVER ALUMNI- INSTITUTE CONNECT

Walking down the corridors of the college is like walking the lane of cherished memories. Quality education is of utmost importance and JIMS has a pool of learned professors and industry experts to build a strong foundation for every student to succeed. The Alumni of JIMS have shined in their professional circuits. Their clarity of concepts and structures of the business world transform them into successful entrepreneurs/ working corporate professionals.

Mentoring and guidance are essential aspects to create confident successful individuals and the JIMS alumni are a perfect example of how stumbling steps of freshly out-of-school graduate become assured walks of experienced and educated professionals to the path of success. JIMS provides its students with all the guidance and encouragement they need from time to time and constantly works to build a strong bond with the alumni.

Waking up every day to be in JIMS is extraordinary. To attend classes not only means having a new learning experience each day but also means catching up with friends for that pending dose of conversations.

Breaks at JIMS mean a great cup of coffee with Chinese samosa and other delicacies offered in the canteen. Alumni of JIMS take with them cherished memories of joyous times spent at the institute that remain embedded in their hearts forever. The life lessons educators inculcate in students and the values they teach empower all students to face life’s challenges heads-on. The support JIMS provides to the alumni at all times smoothens their journey through life’s thick and thin to make them motivational figures professionally as well as personally.

Varnika Nayyar

Content Writer

Every men is a potential industry in himself apparently. Eventual function of an Industry is to either produce money or to work for social responsibility without seeking monitory benefits. Both types of industries are equally important. In-fact both of them work as wheels of cart of development for any country. Same way; working men and women are money making industries, while housewives and care takers can be considered as non-profit making organizations. Both the stake holders play equally important role in making & running of a family. Some of the companies do not deviate from ethical practices even if they have to compromise on profit while some of them follow unethical practices to grow, so do men.

Four major management components of an industry: Marketing, HR, Finance and Operations are applied to men exactly same way, as they do for any industry. Marketing is, to sell yourself, to present yourself in the best possible way, to brand yourself and to establish long term relationship (social and professional networking). All of this has to meet the changing dimensions of economy and environment else you are bad at your own marketing and that leads you to under-draw desired or even deserved value. Human Resource Management is all about keeping work-life balance, getting self-motivated, getting yourself trained for upcoming challenges, apprising yourself and entreating yourself for improving productivity. Finance is all about managing funds of your own account, planning taxes, arranging funds, pushing up credit value, auditing accounts, squeezing expenses and cutting costs. Operations is all about increasing efficiency, optimizing efforts and getting maximum throughput but minimum efforts which we call smart work. Research and development is all about, correcting yourself by learning from past mistakes, eying new opportunities and creating a distinguish skill in yourself for sustainability.

Hence, a Man can understand himself an industry. Small-scale, medium-scale or large scale depending of the output one produces or on tangible / intangible wealth one possesses. By doing so one can find the solutions to the problems of profession like industries do. All I mean to say is that industry solutions can be good reference points to the problems which a men faces in his career, as Men is also an Industry. But, one must map industry recommendations to human perspectives by careful scaling before implementation.

And Off-course business is governed by company laws and men are governed by constitution.

DR B K SOM, Associate Professor – JIMS Rohini
Visit website http://www.jimsindia.org/

PURSING KNOWLEDGE FOR ITS OWN SAKE

Though education has always been given due respect and importance, the pursuit of education for the sake of knowledge has been overpowered by the pursuit of education for gainful employment or career development. Students and learners often fall in the myopic trap of learning for achieving success for the forthcoming examinations or career advancement.

John Henry Newman in his ‘Idea of a University’ has put forth his views that “Knowledge is capable of being its own end. Such is the constitution of the human mind, that any kind of knowledge, if it be really such, is its own reward.” Thus pursuit of knowledge is a journey and capable of being a complete destination in itself.

It is extremely significant that knowledge be explored, researched and enhanced. Stretching the boundaries of existing awareness to reach out to the never-known-before facts and concepts can help discover solutions that may simplify the existing operations or remove the unshakable barriers. These barriers may exist not only in the economic activities but may be in the physiological or psychological realm of human life. Research is a route to innovation. Research in the field of medical science has been significant in understanding and discovering the nature, causes and remedies for the problematic issues in human life. This clearly illustrates the vital application of the ‘pursuit of knowledge.’

Similarly, researchers in the field of management studies have helped to comprehend man-machine-process inter-linkage and streamline it to effect achievement of economic and other goals. Innovations in management have occurred across the functional areas of production, marketing, finance, and human resources. There is ample evidence that application of these innovations have brought about greater profits, improved the quality of output/services, improved competencies, and created happier workforce and a satisfied customer base. Thus education/research/knowledge pursued for its own sake also culminates in measurable gains.

Ms. Deepti Kakar

Associate Professor
JIMS Rohini Sector-5