Events

30 Jan 2017-03 Feb 2017|Noida | Amity Campus, Saket

Amity Institute of Education, Saket organises Faculty Developement Programme

Amity Institute of Education, New Delhi, under the guidance and inspiration of Founder President, Dr. Ashok K Chauhan, organised a five day long Faculty Development programme (FDP) on the theme “Empowering Teacher Educators to teach through the 5 E’s of success: Exploration,Enrichment, Expansion, Excellence and Enjoyment in the Evolving world of Education” from 30th Jan to 03rd February 2017 at Amity Campus, Saket, Delhi.

The FDP was inaugurated by Prof. (Dr.)Pranati Panda, Head- School Standards and Evaluation, NUEPA, New Delhi and Dr. Ranjana Bhatia, Principal, Amity Institute of Education (AIE), New Delhi.Each day of the FDP was dedicated to one of the Es’ as mentioned in the theme.

The first day focused on the ‘E’ for Excellence and the sub theme was Excellence in School Standards and Evaluation initiated for School Improvement. Dr.Pranati took the inaugural session and acquainted the participants with the significance of excellence in teacher education and school improvement. As she began to talk about education and changing cultures, she introduced the National Program on School Standards Evaluation – SHAALA SIDHI

During the second day of Faculty Development Program,Prof. Mohd Miyan from Jamia Milia Islamia addressed the participants on the sub theme of ‘Expansion of knowledge’,which is boundless both for the teacher educator as well as the learner. He highlighted the importance of primary education in shaping the child’s personality and therefore, urged upon providing adequate amount of quality training to the teacher educator.

The second session of the second day was taken by Dr  Suman Sachdeva,  Technical Director, CARE India an NGO that works for the upliftment of under privileged  children especially girls. Emphasizing that the 5E’s forms the building blocks of the education system, she said that it’s an Instructional Model based on constructionist approach to learning which focuses on building new knowledge on old ideas. She further elaborated that the5E’s do not apply only to teachers and students, but includes everyone as human beings continuously expand,enrich and explore their knowledge along with excelling in their professional field, while enjoying their achievements.

Highlighting the 3 competencies of a teacher’s identity-Personal Skills, Interpersonal Competencies and Professional excellence, Dr Sachdeva emphasized that all three competencies of a teacher are congruent and are highly woven together. Stressing on the need for Evaluation, she added that its important even from a teacher’s point of view so that she can realize what she has taught is understood by the students in the right sense.

The third day of FDP began with a session on the theme Enrichment of Pedagogic Skills through the knowledge of Theory of Multiple Intelligence, as given by Howard Gardner of Harvard University.The session was taken by Ms. Puneet Rahi,Asst. Prof., Amity Institute of Education, New Delhi.

The session began with Mindful meditation. She then introduced the topic by asking a simple question that “how many of us think that we are smart?” The inference was that every one of us possesses some or the other type of intelligence. There is nothing like smart or not smart.

The interactions of the discussion revolved around“A Theory given by Howard Gardner of Harvard University”, that is Multiple Intelligence Theory. She emphasized upon ENRICHMENT of the teaching-learning styles through the knowledge of these types of intelligence so that a teacher can plan her teaching to help students reach their potential.

This was followed by an activity ‘Human Hunt-Multiple Intelligence Checklist’, wherein audience was asked to do a few tasks amongst themselves which included:-

·        whistle or sing atleast 5 seconds from a song,

·        completing numerical sequence,

·        picture drawing,

·        dancing

·        sharing a recent dream.

The activity helped them to get an insight of their own existing intelligence.

Prof. Ranjana Arora,Head, Curriculum Development Department and Prof, Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan Cell, NCERT, New Delhi took the second session of the third day of the FDP. Her theme of interaction was “EXPLORATION” which is one of the characteristics of learners and also one of the five Es’ of the FDP.

She focused on the nature of the “Learner in Today’s Educational Context”and connected it to the very basic question “What do you mean by Learner?”She said that person seeking knowledge, or person who strives for knowledge are learners and in that context every one is a learner. She then talked about various terminologies that keep on changing meanings and implications with social changes and those terminologies are: Knowledge,Learner, Motivation, Pedagogy and Teacher Evaluation

She encouraged the participants to enhance and explore the needs of the system and have a thorough knowledge of new developments in thefield of education which are brought by NCF 2005, RTE ACT 2009, CABESUB-COMMITTEE REPORT ON USE, 2005, RMSA 2009, NCFTE 2009, NCTE SYLLABI 2010,  NCTE REGULATIONS 2014

Through her intriguing session the basic nature of the learner was outlined as :-

Ø  Inquisitive

Ø  Capable of constructing knowledge

Ø  Argumentative

Ø  Capable of doing physical activity

Ø  Likes to be engaged in work

Ø  Question conventional thinking

Ø  Not interested in rote memorization

She opined all learners possess these qualities irrespective of the area a learner belongs to and then emphasized on various issues of learners which need immediate attention, i.e. :-

Ø  Language

Ø  Syllabus

Ø  Pedagogy

Ø  Rigidity in the execution of the course


At the end she concluded her lecture by highlighting the areas where shift can be brought:-

Ø  From teacher centric to learner centric

Ø  From stable design to flexible process

Ø  From passive reception to active participation

Ø  From guidance to facilitation

Ø  From monitoring to support and encouragement

Ø  From learning within four walls of classroom to learning in wider social context

Ø  From knowledge as given and fixed to knowledge as it evolves and is created.

Dr. Gyanendra Nath Tiwari, Associate Prof., Amity Institute of Education, Amity University Uttar Pradesh, Noida addressed the first session of fourth day, during which he discussed about “Exploring the significance and Impact of research in Education”. He began by acquainting the participants about what research is and the purpose of research. And then he gave an insight about five ways of knowing something in a research that include personal experience, tradition, expert and authorities, logic and scientific method.

He stressed that a research should never rely on just one evidence rather it should be based on collective results, which is considered to be the best way to reach a conclusion than a personal experience.He emphasized that research based on personal experience is often misleading which basically relies on one’s knowledge of prior experiences. In addition, he said that research based on the opinions of experts and authorities could be subjective and thus shrinks the purview of research.

He concluded by saying that there is no one method of conducting research; it varies depending upon the area of research. Scientific method cannot be used for every question and findings of the research cannot be generalized as they cannot be applicable to all the problems.

On the final day of the Faculty Development Programme, Dr.Sandhya Kumar, Deputy Director Academics, National Institute of Open Schooling, Noida shared her viewpoint on the fifth ‘E’ i.e. Enjoyment through Mindful teaching. She explained that how a teacher can enjoy while teaching. She began her session by adding two more E’s to teacher education i.e. empowerment and involvement. According to Dr. Sandhya; mindfulness is an act of paying attention on the purpose i.e. in the present moment without any kind of judgment and teachers require this in school environment as they are under constant pressure and it is very important for them to be aware of their thoughts, feelings and physical sensation.

Then she conducted a small activity based on importance of focus. She asked the audience to focus on the word FOCUS on the screen and then close the eyes. She instructed audience to start with number 1 and go to the successive number but if 2 people say the same number then we are required to start again. Audience tried the activity number of times but could not reach beyond number 3. She explained the use mindfulness training to the teachers, as it helps them to manage difficult situation, sets up a positive learning environment,strengthens relationship with students and thus when stress is removed , children are happy, they are in sink and understands the teacher.

Dr. Sandhya concluded the session by telling us the core importance of mindfulness which lies in self awareness, so students should be indulged in those activities where they have a direct contact with environment as it will improve their general being.

VALEDICTORY SESSION

The Guest of Honour for the Valedictory session of the five days Faculty Development Program was Prof. Saroj Pandey, Director, School of Education, IGNOU.The session started with a brief overview of all the speakers who had shared their knowledge on the 5E’s of success.

Prof. Pandey stressed that the mantra to success in any field of work is the commitment to their profession. She talked about how in the 21st century teachers have to prepare themselves according to the changing needs of the learners. The upcoming generation who is surrounded by technology cannot be taught with the age old traditional methods. Teacher has to update herself with technology to compete in the changing world.  She brought forward the need to involve a lot of different teaching-learning materials as students are not interested in lectures. 

She emphasized that teacher educators have to evolve continuously and keep updating themselves with new technology, skills and competencies. In the end she said that the 5 days FDP was one of the ways to learn but it is not the only one. They have to find more and keep growing as a teacher and a learner.  

After giving her valedictory address Prof. Saroj Pandey awarded the Certificates of Participation to all the participants.