06 Jun 2018-12 Jun 2018|Gwalior | Amity University Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior
Amity University Madhya Pradesh organizes a Faculty Development Program – 2018 on 06th June 2018 to 12th June 2018
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Quality of teachers and faculty members decides the quality of the students and thereby contributes to the making of the next generation manpower. With this aim of equipping faculty members with required skills and knowledge, Amity University Madhya Pradesh organises a Faculty Development Program (FDP) every year since 2011 for its faculty members and outside participants. The main objective of FDP is to enhance the research and teaching methodology and educate the faculty in the recent trends. This helps them to actively undertake meaningful research and each to sustain interest of students for better teaching. This year the seventh FDP program was organized from 06 June 2018 to 12 June 2018 at Amity University Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior.
Faculty Development Program 2018
The Faculty Development Programme FDP 2018 was organized by Amity University Madhya Pradesh (AUMP) under the dynamic leadership of Lt Gen V K Sharma, AVSM (Retd), Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, AUMP and Prof (Dr) M P Kaushik, Hon’ble Pro-Vice Chancellor, AUMP in its campus from 06 June to 12 June 2018. The Organizing Secretary of the event was Prof (Dr) S P Bajpai, Dean Research, AUMP.
The day wise activities and the gist of expert lectures which enlightened the participants in the FDP 2018 are as follows:
Day 1:
06 June 2018 (Wednesday) – Inaugural Session
The event as per the University traditions started with the Lighting of the Lamp and offering of prayers to Devi Saraswati by distinguished Guests and Participants. This was followed by the welcome and felicitating of the Chief Guest of the Program Prof (Dr) Arun Divakar Nath Bajpai, former Vice Chancellor, APS University, Rewa and Himachal Pradesh University Shimla and an Eminent Faculty Member of Economics in Faculty of Management Studies, Rani Durgawati University, Jabalpur.
Opening Remarks of Lt Gen V K Sharma, AVSM (Retd), Hon’ble VC, AUMP
Lt Gen V K Sharma, AVSM (Retd), Hon’ble Vice Chancellor blessed the august gathering by his opening remarks and provided a brief introduction to the theme of FDP 2018 i.e. Research Methodology and Pedagogy in Universities. He explained the reason behind choosing the particular theme for FDP. He said that research and teaching complement each other. He strongly advocated the taking up of research activities along with teaching for being a good university teacher. Gen Sharma told the participants of the program that doing Research is not limited to a time bound activity and it is the responsibility of the teacher to undertake research in-order to serve the society at large. He also spoke of the difference between research and research methodology. Gen Sharma encouraged the participants to provide industrial solutions, implementation model, and successful theory by carrying meaningful research which should not be limited to study / mere collection of data. Focusing on the ward Pedagogy in the theme of the program, Hon’ble VC stated that teaching should be the prime focus of the teacher. Teaching should be done with a passion involving innovative means of transferring the knowledge amongst the students. Further he stated that a teacher should remain updated with all the developments in and around for the benefit of the students. He said that teaching is a challenging task generally felt bitter in taste by student, but a teacher should know how to sugar coat it and deliver for getting maximum output from the students. He requested the participants to take utmost advantage of the expert speakers invited for their lectures and try interacting with them as much as possible to gain knowledge.
Invited Lecture of Prof (Dr) ADN Bajpai, Chief Guest, FDP – 2018:
The expert lecture of Prof (Dr) ADN Bajpai, the Chief Guest of the Program was followed by the opening remarks of Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, AUMP. The lecture focused on Pedagogy in Indian Universities. He discussed in detail the diversified culture of pedagogy followed by different institutes/organization/universities in India itself. In his speech Dr. Bajpai mentioned that though India has a pool of knowledge that originates from the sages of ancient times, India is not able to produce many Nobel Laureates. He further stated that the solution lies in being original in research. He insisted that the researchers should develop their own methodology which is country centric and not dependent on foreign technologies and methodologies. For the word ‘RESEARCH’ he stated that the letters ‘RE’ stand not for ‘Repetition of Search’ but ‘Recurrence of Search’. He stated that the Doctor of Philosophy in every subject means to find ‘Tattva’ which is a Sanskrit word meaning 'thatness', 'principle', 'reality' or 'truth’. He advised the participants to introspect themselves and get inspired by theories of ancient Indian Culture and Morals. Further in his speech, he quoted the great economist Adam Smith who gave the theory of human wants and the way to satisfy human wants which are unlimited. He explained his own theory which is “Limit is the law of nature” which is more appropriate for the economic condition of India. He ended his speech by emphasising again that the pedagogy and research methodology adopted by any institution should be more country specific keeping in view the need and available resources and not follow/replicate the foreign systems/models. The dignitaries and participants of the program were highly enlightened by his speech which had more of the philosophical approach towards the subject.
Invited lecture of Prof (Dr) S G Deshmukh, Director, ABV-IITM, Gwalior .
The afternoon session of the program started by welcoming and felicitating Prof (Dr) S G Deshmukh, Director, Atal Bihari Vajpayee – Institute of Information Technology & Management (ABV-IITM), Gwalior by Hon’ble VC, AUMP, which was followed by Dr. Deshmukh’s invited lecture on the topic “Research & Pedagogy in Digital Environment : Imperatives and Implications”. Dr. Deshmukh’s presentation on the topic consisted of introduction, prevailing digital environment, its implication for research, pedagogy and implications and ending helps students convert knowledge into practice with a summarising. In his speech he focused on the role of a teacher as knowledge disseminator who for the betterment of the society at large. He explained about the need to publish the research findings in quality journals. He elaborated his speech by giving an example of Elsevier. The digital revolutions have changed the way of carrying out research especially Information Technology (IT) and Information of Things (IoT) tools which has lead to path breaking research outputs. He also stated that one should be techno savvy to express their research findings and make it available to the end users and increase visibility in scientific and social media. He educated the participants with the various digital media through which a user can learn and follow his research interest. Speaking about the pedagogy he stated that the present system is student centric and therefore, the use of digitalization will give good connectivity and demonstration in teaching that shall interest the learners than using traditional methodologies.
Day 2 (Thursday, 7th June 2018)
Invited Speaker Prof Dr R G Harshe, Former Vice Chancellor, University of Allahabad
The Day began with an enlightening lecture on “How to teach in a University” by Prof R G Harshe, Former Vice Chancellor, University of Allahabad, on the art and science of teaching in a University. His was an enchanting discourse that imparted the basics of university teaching by an expert. He spoke of a University as a place where cultured people gather to communicate different points of view politely. Most importantly he stated that incompetence in universities is a form of violence and that politics in universities needs to be done away with. He enlightened the audience with the knowledge that the teacher and the taught share a spiritual relationship, as stated in Hindu texts as “Advaita”. The challenge according to him in Indian Universities, is to balance quantity and quality of our teachers. He also talked about the importance of pedagogy to remain rooted in indigenous culture.
Invited Speaker Prof. (Dr.) R K Sharma, Department of Chemistry, Delhi University, New Delhi
The second lecture of the day was on “Green Chemistry Research Methodology and Pedagogy in Universities”. Prof. Dr. Sharma enlightened the audience with the drawbacks of traditional practices in Chemistry which result in severe environmental damages and cost to human life in terms of toxicity and consequent diseases. He introduced several important points and technologies involving green chemistry which have a positive impact on the environment and human civilization. His engaging lecture delivered several key learning points including information about the Green Chemistry Network, initiated by his institute.
Invited Speaker Prof. Patrick Das Gupta, Professor, Dept of Physics, Delhi University
Prof. Patrick Das Gupta, a prolific researcher in the field of astrophysics, gave a comprehensive lecture on “Some Exciting Recent Developments in Astrophysics Research.” Commenting on several recent images captured by Hubble Telescope and other space agencies, he piqued the interest of the audience in a subject that is perhaps, foreign to many. His discourse covered astrophysical phenomena from galaxies to theoretical notions of “singularity” and “event horizon”, from Big Bang to dark matter. He also suggested that AUMP should initiate a course in Astrophysics, since it is an exciting area of Physics that students can get into now, with India’s recent strides into astrophysics and space programs. With his versatility across disciplines from Physics to History of Ancient India, he proved that knowledge is truly trans-disciplinary. He answered several questions raised by the audience in simple, jargon-free language that helped the listeners to not only understand, but also, develop a deep insight into his field of work.
Day 3: 08th June, 2018 (Friday)
Day 3 i.e. 08th June, 2018 (Friday) of the FDP-2018 started with felicitation of the guest Prof. (Dr.) Suresh Kr. Garg, Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Delhi Technical University, New Delhi. He shared his research experience under the title of his talk, “Effective Research: Some Issues”. In the beginning of the lecture Prof. Garg explained the difficulties felt by the research/academic fraternity. Further he also insisted that one should take some points into account very sincerely like selection of the topic, relevant, tools, set parameters etc in the early stage of the research otherwise later on it would become a barrier in effective/meaningful research. He stated that problem identification was a very important aspect of research and so one should wisely choose the topic. He strongly discouraged doing research just for the sake of academic grade and promotion. As he progressed in his talk, he covered many important points related to research methodology like studying existing problem with new tools, applying existing tools to newer probe, IOT tools in research, Purpose of research and broad approach of research. He ended his talk by discussing & emphasizing on interdisciplinary research which is the need of the hour, as most of the things are automated, intelligent and smart.
The expert lecture of Prof. Garg was followed by the lecture of Prof. N. C. Gupta, Professor and Dean.
GGS Indraprastha University Dwarka. Prof. Gupta started his lecture by referring to to six honest serving men, (they taught me all I know). These six honest men he said were - What, Why, When, How, Where and Who, various possible definitions of what is research? and so on and so forth... Further he gave deep insight in the- CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH. Good researchers always practice good ethics in data collection and in reporting the findings. He also covered the aspect of financial assistance, requirement in the form of fellowship, research grant etc.
The Prof. Gupta session was followed by the talk of Prof. ( Dr. ) Shailendra Goel, Professor, Department of Botany, University of Delhi, New Delhi on the topic ‘Recent Advances in Sequencing and Genomics’. With a brief and very basic introduction of DNA he moved on to discuss advanced techniques in genome sequencing, importance of genome sequencing in personalized medicines, Forensics, Epidemiology and Therapeutics. He concluded his talk by floating some of the upcoming research problems which are a barriers in realization of Genomics in practical use.
Day 4 (Monday, 11th June 2018)
Invited Speaker Prof J.P. Verma, Professor, Lakshmibai National Institute of Physical Education, Gwalior, India
Prof. Verma delivered a lecture on “Considerations in Writing a Good Research Paper: Reviewer’s Perspectives”. He began with an overview of factors that are to be taken into consideration while formulating research objectives. He stated that theories are developed by observing phenomenon and tested by means of hypothesis. The framing of research questions and collection of data followed by methods of data analysis were discussed by him. He highlighted the need to determine the sample size carefully in a research and why it matters with the help of precision based and power based approaches to sample size calculation. He concluded his session with the explanation of experimental research design.
Invited Speaker Prof. (Dr.) Kavita A. Sharma, President South Asian University, Delhi
The second session was on Researching Pedagogy by Prof. ( Dr. ) Kavita A Sharma President, South Asian University, New Delhi. Prof. Sharma began her lecture with an introduction and pedagogy followed in South Asian University, Delhi. She highlighted three elements i.e. building a culture of understanding and regional consciousness; nurturing a new class of liberal, bright and quality leadership and building the capacity of the region in every discipline for improving the quality of life of the people that form the core objectives of University Teaching. She also stressed upon the fact that every teacher needs to define pedagogy on the basis of the trial and error method. She also stated that there is a need to have open-ended flexible systems of evaluation. The teaching pedagogy needs to be student centric and requires a balanced relationship to be established between the teachers and taught. She stated that in the present scenario there is also a need to set up ethics committee in teaching institutions to ensure that the hard work of each individual (teacher as well as student) is acknowledged and rewarded. Prof. Sharma concluded her lecture by emphasizing the requirement to focus on the pedagogy by the Universities imparting higher education.
Day 5 (Tuesday, 12th June 2018)
Invited Speaker Prof. (Dr.) K.V. Bhanu Murthy, Department of Commerce, Delhi University
The last day of the FDP began with an expert lecture of Prof. Bhanu Murthy on “Basics of Research: Research Problem and Research Design”. The session commenced with an elaborate discussion on the purpose of theory in which Prof. Murthy stated that the idea of theory in any discipline is to explain reality and explaining here implies the pedagogy. According to him theory forms an essential part of research. Research is impossible without a theoretical background. He also highlighted that the basis of research is praxis. This was followed by a discussion on the relevance of research and the difference between applied and basic research. Prof. Murthy said that basic research is researching into the discipline. His session emphasized on the need to focus on basic research mainly by the academicians as academicians are responsible for explaining the real world to the pupils. He said that applied research has commercial implication. Prof. Bhanu Murthy also discussed intuitive knowledge which was explained in the light of research methodology. His lecture concluded with discussion on the need to differentiate between null and alternative hypothesis and their formulation.
Speaker: Dr. Ranganath M. Singari, Professor, Delhi Technological University
The second speaker of the day was Prof. Singari who delivered a lecture on “Research Mehtodology for All: Need and Importance”. Prof. Singari’s talk focused on the ethics involved in doing research. His session was divided into five parts viz. Introduction, Research, Procedure, Design of Experiments and Papers. He gave insights into the process of selecting a topic for research and the importance of preliminary reading and review of literature in revising and reframing of topic. He also spoke of the importance of need based research. Prof. Singari explained the step by step procedure for research as follows: Select the subject to be studied, record the relevant facts, examine critically, compile, measure, develop new standard procedure, define the new method, install the new method and finally maintain the new method. The Design of Experiment was also explained in detail with the help of a software Minitab. The session ended with a demo of the examples used by the speaker with the help of papers.
Invited speaker: Prof. ( Dr. ) A.K. Shukla, Professor, Department of Physics, IIT, New Delhi.
The third speaker of the day was Prof. ( Dr. ) A.K. Shukla, Professor, Department of Physics, IIT, New Delhi, who shared his life time experience of study of Raman Spectroscopy. His title of the talk was, “Optical Investigations of Semiconductor Nanomaterial”. In his journey from a research scholar to a senior professor he experienced the beauty of the Raman Spectroscopy as a very strong tool to study optical properties of materials. He also discussed applications of the LASER in various aspects in Nanotechnology. He advised all young researchers to plan their experiments very carefully with proper literature review so that artifacts in the results can be avoided or minimized. He also showed the importance of Silicon in materials science as well as unavoidable element of micro/nano electronics. He ended his talk with a very useful discussion and question-answer session with the participants.
Concluding Remarks were given by Lt. Gen. V. K. Sharma, AVSM (Retd.) Hon’ble Vice Chancellor Amity University Madhya Pradesh, Gwalior. He insisted that for university teachers, must strike to perfect balance between research and teaching. He blessed all the faculties for their future endeavors in teaching and research as academicians. The FDP ended with a vote of thanks proposed by Prof. (Dr.) S. P. Bajpai, Organizing Secretary & Dean Research Amity University Madhya Pradesh, who expressed his gratitude towards all whose positive efforts made FDP 2018 a successful event.