CEMCA-NSOU building capacity of university teachers of West Bengal on Blended Learning Practice (Training 2)
CEMCA and NSOU “Enhancing Capacity of Higher Education Teachers on Blended Learning” through series of workshops in four regions of the state. The second workshop was organised from 7 th January to 9 th January 2022 through online mode. Total 44 (35 Male and 09 Female) teachers attended the workshop and actively participated in the programme. The Workshop was conducted by Dr Shaunak Roy and Mr. Purandar Sengupta –a senior Master Trainer & Instructional Designer.
The Workshop was inaugurated on 7 th January 2021. In the inaugural ceremony, the welcome address was delivered by Professor Anirban Ghosh, Director CIQA of Netaji Subhash Open University. He explained the rationale of the workshop and acknowledged the support from CEMCA in organizing the workshop. Professor Subha Sankar Sarkar – the Vice Chancellor of NSOU, highlighted the contribution of NSOU in the arena of Higher Education of West Bengal. He also placed emphasis upon the importance of the blended approach in the Higher Education sector.
The keynote speaker of the workshop was Dr Manas Ranjan Panigrahi of CEMCA. He eloquently portrayed the gradual transformation that is taking place in the higher education sector of the country. He vividly illustrated how Blended Learning Approach is gaining momentum and accommodating with the complex changes in the socio-economic scenario of the country. He drew the reference of the National Educational Policy 2020 of India in this regard for establishing contextual relevance. Analysing the future trend of higher education in the country, Dr Panigrahi prudently opined that in the changing scenario the Higher Education Teachers should play the role of supportive Facilitators for fostering the psychosocial competencies of the learners and enabling the development of a STUDENT-CENTRIC LEARNING ECOSYSTEM.
The Facilitators initiated the Workshop with the activity Micro-Lab (which is a miniature version of the Human Process Laboratory Method, created by Kurt Lewin). This activity crystallized friendship among the learners, established transparency among them and facilitated them to identify the psychosocial competencies of each other.
Dr. Roy made the learners sensitized with concept of “EDUTAINMENT” which implies joyful learning. He presented a visually depicted story=-board to justify the concept of joyful learning. Mr. Purandar Sengupta explained the cognitive exercise Mind Mapping created by Tony Buzan. He demonstrated MIND MAPPING process through the digital tool PADLET and illustrated the practical efficacy of this tool.
In the Second Day: Mr. Purandar Sengupta highlighted the effective role of Facilitation in higher education. He stated that the diversified psychosocial interventions related to Facilitation can be of instrumental importance in both synchronous and asynchronous phase of Blended Learning. He explained many Psychosocial Interventions through practical demonstrations. After that he presented a CASE revealing an aggregation of various participatory and inductive learning methodologies. He encouraged the learners to analyse the CASE and explain the rationale of each methodology. Mr. Purandar Sengupta explained how the principal methodology depicted in the CASE is related to “COMMUNITY OF ENQUIRY” MODEL. Dr. Shaunak Roy, demonstrated the digital tool QUIZZIZ and encouraged the learners to participate in the quiz. This exercise triggered enthusiasm among the learners. He shared a Digital Puzzle and encouraged the learners to solve it at home. The complexity of the puzzle offered challenge to the learners. The aim of the digital puzzle was to foster multifarious competencies within the learners viz. Critical Thinking, Decision Making & Problem Solving.
In the Third Day: Mr. Purandar Sengupta explained two effective interventions of Facilitation viz. SITUATIONAL PLANNING & SITUATION DRIVEN ROLE ENACTMENT. Then he orchestrated a SITUATION DRIVEN ROLE ENACTMENT with Prof. Swati Banerjee and Prof. Sataraupa Sarkar. After that Mr. Purandar Sengupta and Prof. Swati Banerjee demonstrated COGNITIVE APPRENTICESHIP MODEL for clarifying the essence of the model to the other learners. Dr. Shaunak Roy clarified the procedure of creating the Digital Puzzle. Subsequently he demonstrated the application of another digital tool.
