Sunday, April 7, 2019
That hazy feel …..
On Feb 16, 2016, a few minutes after my talk on #VLFM and why it is the panacea of all skill building for manufacturing, there was a press conference for which then Secy, DIPP Shri Amithab Kant requested me to join. That was in spite of me meekly protesting saying, I’m just an other faculty and not a Director like others who were going to be on stage.
When this picture was tweeted by @CIMGoI and shared by a friend, I looked at it and admired at the symbolic nature of it. Focus of this picture was surreal, a representation of my own persuasion on the talk that I had given a little while ago, i.e., shaky.
My talk was on the theme of VLFM 2.0, which I wanted to happen badly as I was convinced after 10 years was the only way for growth of #ExecutiveEducation for working professional. I wanted programs to get out of the narrow confines of conventional classroom based teaching to a system where knowledge transfer isn’t constrained by geography or physical inabilities of the teacher or taught. I was only echoing my long held belief, with no data to back up for the efficacy of such initiative. I was buoyed by then recent push of #IIT #Madras in a new Executive M.Tech program which will be an hybrid delivery mechanism of online and #FacetoFace contact.
Having hung up the boots on VLFM by end of Summer when the 9th batch graduated (a planned exit, which was initiated a year before that) and not much interest in the online education, I was at peace with myself working on many loose ends that had to be closed in my research. While things looked good, Murphy proved a point with a fall on a Sunday evening and the mess it left behind.
Staring at the ceiling in the hospital bed, I wondered at the uglier mess I was about to create. My inability to accomplish primary objectives of teaching was the ultimate shame that I could stare at. My mind started pacing in search of options, at least that was in to pace! Experience is a great balm to get that focus back in such situations. I’m constantly in preparation for the next mishap and by that virtue have a relatively better control to get that focus back on the pacing thoughts. One of the potential problem that I found to be difficult to resolve was completing my courses.
My experience, which I always share with those who want to listen, is that a calm and thinking mind is a rolling stone, it gathers no moss and will stay fresh to catch that fringe solution that will solve your problem. One such random thought that came across was to try teaching online with an in-class monitoring. This is the same concept that I’ve dreamt for long and something that I was proposing in MII Week. What an excellent opportunity to try that out! I can’t express that surreal feeling I had then. It was just, awesome.
When I bounced this thought reluctantly to my grad students next day, as they will have to be my sentinels on the floor, I was hoping to hear a push back. But they jumped on to my idea, which made me remember a joke a former intern once told about his enlisted period. It was something like, when boss asks to jump, it is never why, but only how high! Without any certainty of the infrastructure and its capability, I declared open the virtual presence for my classes. I gave myself a 30% chance for success owing to multiple operational issues that I could think and the faith that I reposed on Right Honourable Omnipresent His Holy Highness Sir Murphy.
After over 5 weeks, today I’m so happy that I actually made it! The two courses and a lab that I was offering are finally done. I can’t stop thinking of the various potential this pedagogy has. I’m now a believer! May the Lord of the Skype, Lord of the Internet, Lord of the Optical communication be praised! May the souls of the geniuses who made the technology as an enabler be blessed! Thou art my saviour, my north star!
As always the footnote belongs to the enforcers and sufferers! Thanks to my terrific grad students who ran that extra mile to make this happen! Thanks to all the students in all the courses who suffered me on a speaker and screen. You guys are the real stars who let me have my faith in technology and people.
