(Emblem designed by Prof. Raja Mohanty, IDC)
About this website
The Forum for Academic Culture (FAC) is devoted to conduct of studies, dialogs, and events
concerning various aspects of the academic culture at IITB, such as
student motivation, teaching techniques and methodologies, and large
class issues. The Forum was launched in March 2013.
This website contains related articles and reports, presentations
used at dialogs and in events, and summaries of dialogs and events.
It was inaugurated by Prof Shiva Prasad, Dean AP, in March 2013.
Currently, the material is organized chronologically.
2010
February
September
2010.
February.
September.
2011.
February.
2012.
December.
2013.
January.
February.
March.
April.
July.
Summary of the workshop:
The workshop was inaugurated by Prof. H. S. Pandalai, Dy Director (FEA).
65 participants had registered online and
25 participants did on-the-spot registration.
August.
September.
The panel discussion had five students and four professors
as panelists, and Prof Bhaskaran Raman
(CSE) as the moderator.
Each panelist made a presentation on a specific theme. The themes of
student panelists were: why students do not study, role of engineering projects
in academics, issues concerning students who are not interested in their
core branch, changes in the academic system required to promote academic
culture, and instructional approach and pedagogy. The themes of faculty
panelists were: how not doing good academics will spoil future prospects;
trends, fashion and balance in academics; what faculty expect from students;
and academic honesty and academic bravery.
An open discussion followed the panelist presentations.
FAC will follow up on the several significant recommendations that
emerged from the discussion, e.g.,
Summary of the Panel Discussion
Proceedings:
Poster presentation
"Facets of Academics"
organized on the occasion of the panel discusssion.
November.
2014.
January.
The seminar is the first in a series of events
aimed at creating "a culture of effective learning"
in which learning expectations are specified, learning fundamentals
are explained, and help and directions are provided to learners for
enhancing the effectiveness of their learning experiences.
Over 200 students attended the seminar.
Outline of the seminar:
February.
March.
From its inception, FAC has worked on the theme that enrichment of
the academic culture requires a sustained dialog between all stake-holders
where each party would project its expectations from other parties in
the spirit of mutual understanding and a desire to reconcile different
viewpoints. Such a dialog would require the faculty to project its
expectations from students, and vice versa. This discussion was
aimed at projecting academic expectations of the faculty from students.
Dean (AP) outlined the purpose and scope of the discussion,
followed by brief presentations by Prof D K Ghosh, Physics, and
Prof S Sudarshan, Computer Science & Engineering. Participants worked in groups
of 5-7 persons to exchange views and list expectations. Each group
shared its key points in a general discussion, and later worked on
how faculty can facilitate fulfilment of their expectations from students.
Over 65 faculty from various departments of IITB.
Faculty, whether young or experienced, often face situations where
students do not take interest in a lecture, do not retain much from a
meticulously prepared lecture, or do not answer examination questions at
the correct level, e.g., they might describe "what" is to be done in a
given situation even when a question asks "why" or "how" it is to be done.
Faculty can employ Instructional Design techniques to avoid such frustrating
experiences. Instructional Design helps to verify that students have the
necessary prerequisites for a topic, ensure that they would acquire
new concepts well, and guarantee that they would know how to
answer examination questions at the correct level.
These sessions discussed, for the first time
in IITB, various aspects of Instructional Design such as how to specify
learning outcomes of a topic and how to plan instruction such that
desired learning would result. These sessions provided take-aways
that the faculty could use in their courses straightaway.
2.00 am - 3.15 pm : Comprehension and Learning Objectives of Courses
In the hands-on sessions, participants worked in small groups
to develop an instruction plan for a topic or course of their choice.
In written feedback, participants commented positively on
August.
The seminar aims to create "a culture of effective learning"
in which learning expectations are specified, learning fundamentals
are explained, and help and directions are provided to learners for
enhancing the effectiveness of their learning experiences.
Such a culture would project the learning expectations to learners
as they enter IITB and would form a context for the learning and
teaching activities. In some sense, the culture would constitute the
new paradigm for learning
at IITB.
The reference documents contain details of the complete scheme for
creating a culture of effective learning.
Teaching-Learning Maturity Model
The seminar was attended by about 85 students of CSE Btech2 and 9 faculty
members of the CSE Department. An online feedback was obtained
in October 2014, more than six weeks after the seminar, to assess
its outcome.
2015.
January.
Video recording of the workshop
April.
Document "Facilitating Knowledge Construction by Learners --- An exercise in Course Design" Abstract
The constructionist view of learning holds that knowledge is not
transferred from an instructor to a learner, but is constructed
by the learner. The instructor facilitates knowledge construction by
designing appropriate learning experiences. The active learning
approach holds that learner learns best by getting involved in a
learning experience. This document describes an exercise in
course design to facilitate knowledge construction by learners for
CS 347: Operating Systems in the January--April 2015 semester,
using an innovation called Think-Discuss-Share (TDS) peer groups.
Website Hit Count since 18 July 2013:
2011
February
2012
December
2013
January
February
March
April
July
August
September
November
2014
January
February
March
July
August
2015
January
April
Summary
prepared by Profs S. D. Agashe, K. Sudhakar, V. Sethi, S. Patankar, and A. Pandey.
It describes the
19 themes that emerged from the question "What systems and processes will be helpful in materializing our dreams for teaching and learning
in the Institute?"
Diagnostic study A presentation based on a report by Profs A. Pandey, V. Sethi, and K. Sudhakar regarding student motivation, student performance, ethical standards, and generic issues.
Announcement
of the session stressed the need for a sustained and meaningful dialog
on facets of the academic culture so that specific issues and
problems could be addressed, and suggested brainstorming on how to set
up sustained dialogs and other interactions.
Summary
of the session.
Presentation
by Prof N. B. Ballal
Presentation
by Profs R. Mohanty, C. P. Narayan, and S. Ranade
Presentation
by Prof U. A. Yajnik, Dean SA
Presentation
by Prof D. M. Dhamdhere
Summary
of the session.
Minutes
12 th March, F. C. Kohli Auditorium, Kanwal Rekhi building, 5.00 pm.
Organized by Profs J. K. Verma, R. Mohanty, S. R. Ghorpade, and D. M. Dhamdhere.
The panel discussion had
four Maths professors and four students as panelists, Prof D K Sharma (EE) as the
moderator, and S. Nivvedan (btech3, CSE) as the master of ceremonies.
Concept note
on the panel discussion listed some of the issues likely to be covered, viz., teaching methodologies and techniques, teaching of concepts, active and peer learning opportunities, and nature of tutorials and examinations.
Slides of panelists' presentations:
Raaz Dwivedi (btech3, EE),
Pawan Nagwani (btech3, CSE),
Vishal Khatri (btech4, Civil),
Prof M. K. Srinivasan,
Prof Neela Nataraj,
Prof U K Anandvardhanan,
Subhadra Dasgupta (MSc2, Maths),
Prof Ravi Raghunathan
19 th March 2013, SIC-201, Kanwal Rekhi Bldg, 4.00 pm
Announcement
Summary
Minutes
16 th July 2013, F. C. Kohli Auditorium, Kanwal Rekhi Bldg, 9.00 am - 1.00 pm.
Organized by Professors D. M. Dhamdhere, J. K. Verma, and S. Patankar.
Poster of the Workshop
The workshop was planned as a primer on effective teaching and learning
with the following goals:
It covered Theories of Comprehension, Learning, and Instruction;
Cognitive Load Theory and its importance for improving effectiveness of
instruction; Effectiveness of group instruction; Knowledge
Representation Tools; Cues from Cognitive Theory of Multimedia Learning; and
Metacognition. The take-aways from these topics were consolidated into
a preliminary
proposal called "A New Paradigm for (Teaching and Learning at) IITB",
which focused on measures to positively influence
issues concerning Student attitudes, Learning effectiveness, and
Learnability.
Slides of the new paradigm
The report
describes the iceberg model for faculty-student relationships.
21 st August 2013, F. C. Kohli Auditorium, Kanwal Rekhi Bldg, 4.00 pm.
Organized by Professors D. M. Dhamdhere, J. K. Verma, G. G. Ray, and R. Mohanty.
Poster of the Panel discussion
The panel discussion had four faculty panelists (Prof Chakravarthy, Prof S Ranade, Prof R Mohanty, and Prof A Joshi) and four student panelists (Vinit, Divya
Bharadwaj, Avinash Jaykumar, and Ashwin Vasudevan).
3 September 2013, VMCC Auditorium, 6.00 pm.
Organized by Professor D. M. Dhamdhere, Professor Nutan Limaye and Nivvedan S. (4th year B.Tech, CSE).
Poster of the Panel discussion
Rahul Sharma (btech4, Civil) and Nivvedan S (btech4, CSE),
Prof N B Ballal (Met),
Prof R B Sunoj (Chemistry),
Ashima Mittal (btech4, Civil),
Prof S Shastri (HSS),
Dhanasree M (Gsec AAUG and btech4, Civil),
Prof J Bellare (Chemical),
Kiran Eranki (RS, IDP ET)
7 November 2013, VMCC Auditorium, 4.00 pm.
Professor D. M. Dhamdhere presented a summary of the panel discussion
held on 3 September 2013 to bring the salient points to the attention of
the Institute Faculty and the administration. The key points of the presentation were:
IFM appreciated the theme of the panel discussion and discussed
the points raised in the summary.
Item 3 could not be discussed in detail due to lack of time.
There was strong support for the first and last items, and good support
for the other items.
6 January 2014, VMCC Auditorium, 2.00 pm.
Jointly organized by FAC and the student body Kontemplat.
22 and 23 February 2014 (Saturday and Sunday), 9.00 am - 1.00 pm,
F C Kohli Auditorium
Organized by: Prof D M Dhamdhere and Prof M Vinjamur
Postponed to July 2014.
July.
First Annual Orientation Program for New Faculty
organized by Dean (Faculty), Dean (AP), and Forum for Academic Culture,
14 July 2014, 9.30 am - 5.30 pm, Gulmohar Banquet Hall.
65 faculty registered online for the events.
14 July 2014, 11.15 pm - 2.00 pm, Gulmohar Banquet Hall
organized by Prof D M Dhamdhere, Prof Ashish Pandey,
and Prof Virendra Sethi
14 July 2014, 2.00 pm - 5.30 pm, Gulmohar Banquet Hall
organized by Prof D M Dhamdhere, Prof Ashish Pandey, Prof Madhu Vinjamur,
and Prof Virendra Sethi
3.45 pm - 5.00 pm : Learning Theories and Instructional Design
5.00 pm - 5.30 pm : Discussion
22 August 2014, 3.45 pm - 5.30 pm, F. C. Kohli Auditorium
organized by Prof D M Dhamdhere, Prof Ganesh Ramakrishnan and Prof Ashish Pandey
Focus Segments for a Culture of Learning
Summary of student feedback
"Comprehension, Learning, and Instructional Design"
Organized by Prof D M Dhamdhere, Prof Ashish Pandey, Prof Madhu Vinjamur,
and Prof Virendra Sethi
On the occassion of the
First Annual Orientation Program for New Faculty
organized by Dean (Faculty), Dean (AP), and Forum for Academic Culture,
14 July 2014, 9.30 am - 5.30 pm, Gulmohar Banquet Hall.
by Prof D M Dhamdhere, CSE Department