Saturday, January 3, 2009

What if there is no last night!!!!

Here ends one more exam and with it goes a fraction of a MBA load off our heads. Again, we studied on a night before exam, got high with the subject matter and puked everything on the answer paper the next day. This is not the story of one exam; it's the story of whole of my graduation and post graduation. Why it is so, two courses which are supposedly mutually exclusive happen to make their students behave in the same stereotype manner? This has forced me to analyze our education system, rather in a weird way.
I have observed one aspect of student's attitude towards studies in graduation and now in post-graduation too. It goes like this. There are very few students who actually listen in the class that is because faculty does not allow them to sleep or throw papers. Most of the students have a single objective for attending the classes... ATTENDANCE. Corroborating this point by letting you know the fact that students maintain notebooks just to keep an account of absentees.
What is the reason behind all this? One could be students do not find any value addition in the classes. In the first few classes, subjects are new for students and understanding requires extra amount of efforts from both sides that is students and professors. Atleast one of them would lack the effort or willingness most of the times. Soon the classes will become not worth attending for few and bedroom for others.
Exam compels us to study, as what matters for us is the certificate with good grades on it. We learn the newest of concepts while preparing for the exam (for most, including me, it's last night) but as there is not enough time left to discuss and strengthen upon those concepts so we leave them without analyzing them properly. We just focus on what is supposed to be written in the paper and how to answer a particular set of question already discussed by our professor. Many times we realize the concepts while writing the exam. Afterwards we tend to forget those half learned concepts very easily as we don't work out on them.
How can we make the use of this particular attitude of students to enhance their learning’s? We can conduct exam for all the subjects in the start of trimester/semester. Shocked? Confused?... Good...Let me explain the process.
There will be an introduction sessions for each subject in the first week. The objectives of the subject will be explained in these sessions and prescribed text book will be assigned. Second week will consist of exams on each of the subject. Exams will be having some weightage which can vary from 20-30%. These two weeks will give some vague understanding of each subject to the students. Rest classes will accommodate further understanding of subjects, case studies, projects. The professors would be answering the doubts of students instead explaining the basic things. It will deepen the understandings of the subjects for students. Not only this but also projects and case study will be more meaningful compare to previous situation.
This idea has been inspired from two previously established pedagogies i.e. Every professor asks us to read the topic in advance so that it will be easier for us to learn and professor will able to explain the subject in more depth. Second would be of having exams to check whether you have really studied the subject.
In the country like India with a very few good colleges and millions of aspiring students , It's very difficult for professors and teachers to concentrate on each and every student so we have to search the ways using which can enhance the learning's in given constraints. Hope this blog of mine, though eerie, will be a small step towards making decision makers change the system for good.