Prof Ujjwal K Chowdhury, Author at Adamas University

Learning in COVID Times & Beyond: Turning a Crisis into an Opportunity

More than 770 million students have been disrupted by COVID19 and the consequent lockdowns globally. The United Nations has warned of the unparalleled scale and speed of the educational disruption being caused by Coronavirus. Every house a school, every parent a teacher as Covid-19 impacts education of 250mn school students in India.

While much harm has been done by epidemic, institutions could use crisis to sharpen strategies and practices in areas such as internationalisation and e-learning. India has over 37 million students enrolled in higher education. An interruption in the delivery of education could cause long term disruption. The pandemic requires universities to rapidly offer online learning to their students. Fortunately, technology and content are available to help universities transition online quickly and with high quality, specially on the digital plank.

Learning or academics or education broadly has three functions:
(A) creation of learning content through research, writing, packaging with visuals; (B) dissemination of learning through classes, lectures, notes, self-study, discussions; & (C) assessment and evaluation of the education of the learner by various methods.

All these three have been majorly impacted by the self-isolation rightly imposed to ensure social distancing so that the learners and the mentors may first be protected from the spread of the infection of COVID19. The lockdown across the world is a boon and a bane for the teaching-learning community today.

Digital Haves and Have Nots Dichotomy

COVID-19 is, in fact, amplifying the struggles that children are already facing globally to receive a quality education. Even before the outbreak of the virus, there were 258 million out-of-school children across the globe — principally due to poverty, poor governance, or living in or having fled an emergency or conflict. While there are programs dedicated to ending the existing crisis in global education, the dramatic escalation that the COVID19 has introduced newer challenges for around 550 million children who were so far studying but do not have access to digital learning systems.

The digitally deprived large chunk of masses- being bereft of access to digital resources like a good internet connectivity, laptop or ipad for use, electric power and smart phone- across the globe are forced to waste productive learning time. The digital divide in every developing and under-developed society was never so glaring as it is now. Though more than 70% of Indian population has been covered now with mobile telephony, the resources needed for digital learning from distance or at home are not there with more than 1 out of 4 people in the country. Same is the case with youths in the formal learning age. This is the bane today.

On the other hand, if there was no enforced social distancing and students home-locked across the nation (and the globe), the transition of those with partial or full resources to complete digital learning pedagogy would not have been quickened. What demonetization did to fin-tech, lockdown has done to edu-tech.

Digital Learning Tools Today:

Digital learning on the go or from distance calls for tech-led holistic solutions. It requires several content pieces to be transmitted digitally. These content pieces can be in the form of pdfs, ppts, URLs, YouTube links, podcast links, case-studies, etc. There can also be e-books, audio-books, kindle based content, magzter sourced magazines, etc. Then this can involve learning without being face to face through boxes, as in Google Class, or learning face to face as in Zoom live audio-visual discussions. People may also use GoToMeetings or MicrosoftMeet sessions also. Attendance can be taken on Google Spreadsheet and through Whatsapp Group chat of a batch of students too.

There are other tools that can take digital learning on the go or from distance go miles ahead. Flipped classroom method with an active learning classroom can have all study resources given a day or two in advance, and the actual session starting with a quick quiz, then doubts clearance, and thereafter a few issues of the future or counter points to what were given earlier, like possible different scenarios or new research findings not shared earlier. This is quite an effective way of learning, which is internalized, collaborative, experiential, bottom-up, as distinctly different from teaching, which is instructional, hierarchic and top-down.

Then there are MOOCs, collaborative distance learning, wikis, blogs etc. Individual resource-rich institutes develop their customized secured and IPR protected Learning Management Systems, through the use of BlackBoard or TCSion LMS. Other LMS options like Kaltura or Impartus allowing video recording of talks also ar in use in many places. There are CourseEra courses, Swayam online lessons from UGC and similar other avenues to learn online.

Learning digitally can be further assisted with Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) which can take the viewer to an enhanced experience even integrating scenarios which are yet to happen creatively bringing them within the learning experience. These are immersive and contextual experiences, and artificial intelligence driven chatbots can further enhance the digital interface of the learner and the mentor.

Digital Learning Add-ons & Social Media Value-adds:

Incorporating big data analytics and content management, educators develop an individualized curriculum that enhances how each student learns (e.g. Playlist of content in WiseWire changing for each student). Many in the West have started the use of the millennials’ language and style: Khan Academy video lessons, YouTube use, distinct style and language for young learners. Twitter, Tumblr, Snapchat, Imessage, Instagram, Facebook & Whatsapp are being creatively integrated with school education. There is a case of a management school in India, where the professor sends a 3 minutes interesting video on the subject he is taking up next through group whatsapp to increase interest in the batch towards the topic being taught.

In the US, the smart-phone applications like Socrative and Plickers are helping teachers interact and assess students’ progress, collaborate via cloud-based applications to work and solve a common goal. Teachers can publish real-time quizzes and polls for students via mobile devices to keep them engaged.

Further, using anything from iMovie to WeVideo, learners can create video as a learning resource. YouTube (with privacy settings) and SeeSaw or Flipgrid are also alternatives learners can make use of. The benefits of SeeSaw and Flipgrid are that students can add voice recordings or text sharing feedback with peers. Students became the co-creators of content and as a result, more engaged, including their parents. Useful apps like Book Creator, Explain Everything and EduCreations can be utilised towards this end.

There are various software used to create digital content, like Camtasia, Raptivity, Captivate, Articulate Online, etc.

Yes alongside, social media use extensively will support learning online. Facebook Page can broadcast updates and alerts. Facebook Group or Google Hangout with advanced features in G-suite can stream live lectures and host discussions. Twitter can act as a class message board. The 256 characters help to keep messages succinct. Instagram can be used for photo essays. One can create a class blog for discussions. There are many different platforms available, such as WordPress, SquareSpace, Wix, Blogger for that. And, one can create a class-specific Pinterest board as well.

Digital Assessment & Evaluation:

Online quiz, open book examination with time-managed and proctored question paper delivered online, applied questions not based on memory but comprehension, telephonic interview etc have been the usual ways of digital assessment and evaluation of learning.

Assessment refers to learner performance; it helps us decide if students are learning and where improvement in that learning is needed. Evaluation refers to a systematic process of determining the merit value or worth of the instruction or programme; it helps us determine if a course is effective (course goals) and informs our design efforts. Assessment and evaluation can be both formative (carried out during the course) and summative (carried out following the course). There can be many ways for the same. Mentors can make learners aware of expectations in advance (e.g. one week for feedback from deadline) and keep them posted (announcement: all projects have been marked). Mentors can consider auto-grading options offered by learning management systems (LMSs)/virtual learning environments (VLEs). For example, one can create tests that are multiple choice, true/false, or short answer essays and onne can set the assessments to automatically provide feedback.
Mentors can also incorporate a peer feedback process into their courses through student assignments. They get an initial level of feedback before submitting the assignment, prompt feedback, and you get a better assignment in the end.

One particular popular assessment option for online and blended learning is rubrics. In part, their popularity is based on the level of detail included. ‘Rubrics help to define the characteristics of a high-quality assignment and help the student understand assignment and assessment expectations. Rubrics also provide a range of performance by establishing categories that span the range of possible outcomes, from basic to exceptional performance on task’ (Palloff & Pratt, 2009, p.33).

If we are using an LMS/VLE, there are additional opportunities to micro-evaluate. This type of evaluation can occur through polls, reflections on your analysis of online transcripts, and student activity logs and reports. Notably, we can plan for such forms of evaluation during the course design process and embed them in the learning architecture.

Possibilities in Post COVID Education:

Hamish Coates, a professor at Tsinghua University’s Institute of Education, told Times Higher Education that “the first priority is for institutions to care for the people involved – students, faculty, staff and the communities we serve. This is a human situation.” Post this comes access to digital learning and the rest.

nline learning is the big winner from this – across all education levels; so proving quality now is at centre stage. However, going ahead, in the post COVID times, blended learning will be the way to go. The biggest future benefits of virtual instruction will come after our professors and students return to their physical classrooms. The necessity of teaching and learning with asynchronous (Canvas, Blackboard, D2L) and synchronous (Zoom) platforms will yield significant benefits when these methods are layered into face-to-face instruction. We will come back from COVID-19 with a much more widely shared understanding that digital tools are complements, not substitutes, for the intimacy and immediacy of face-to-face learning. Since professors are now moving content online, precious classroom time will be more productively utilized for discussion, debate and guided practice.

Online education will also be a strategic priority in every institute of higher education going ahead. Education managers will understand that online education is not only a potential source for new revenues, but also the core to every school’s plan for institutional resilience and academic continuity. This post-pandemic understanding will change how HEIs plan for, manage and fund online education. Previously decentralized and distributed online course development and student support functions will be centralized, subject to institutional planning and cross-campus governance. Management of online learning will be integrated into existing academic leadership structures and processes. This is the other major impact going ahead.

This blog was first published by The SomoyNews. Click here to read original article.

What Awaits India Post-COVID-19 Lockdown: Analysis

Education

One sector that would see a transformation in the post-COVID period is education. Though the current academic year has gone topsy turvy, experts say the Indian education system has the dynamics to absorb disturbances from one semester to two.

While the federal and state governments have decided to promote all students in the primary classes – 1-8th standard, those in the higher classes and colleges are stuck, as they could not complete their annual examinations.

“It is a global phenomenon and barring the delay, I don’t think it would affect the ongoing academic year of students,” said an official of the federal Human Resource Development Ministry, who did not wish to be named.

“During the last two years, online education has picked up. Now with the present situation, it may get strengthened. 16 million students have already enrolled for various courses through the online system, and get the credit transferred to their conventional evaluation up to 20 percent,” he added.

“The educational system can absorb three to six months of break,” said Professor Ujjwal K. Chowdhury, Pro Vice Chancellor of Adamas University in Kolkata. Professor Chowdhury said, this would also trigger a new revolution in education in India – from traditional to e-learning system. He however, said access to stable and high-speed internet and laptops are fundamental for such a system.

“Many universities and educational institutions have already adopted such a method of teaching, digital mentorship, where the teacher has to engage his students. It is a challenge to teachers and students. Unlike a conventional educational system, digital learning is interactive and collaborative,” said Professor Chowdhury.

This blog was first published by The SputnikNews. Click here to read original article.

Corona: The Contrarian View

The entire world is virtually taken by the horns and taken to task as if by an invisible virus from the SARS family, named COVID-19, popularly called Corona Virus, and some 4.5 billion people around the world are in a lockdown now. The fear of the virus and the fear of the economic recession setting in throwing millions of people out of job and economies of nations, the powerful ones included, have virtually gripped the world.

But there is a contrarian view as well. Is the virus so virulent and dangerous that it called for such an aggressive all encompassing response? Many people rightly argue about the fact that the virus spreads geometrically, respecting no borders, with not preventive vaccine or antidote known to mankind yet, and has no class preference, affecting the royals and the plebians alike, and spreads through touch being highly contagious.

Rightly so. Still there is a contrarian view. And the purpose here is to draw attention to this contrarian view which I have learnt from various sources, like the posts of writer Jaideep Verma, articles in The Atlantic, The Morning Star, and interviews of survivors and scientists.

Statistics of the first 8 lacs patients so far shows, that even an infected person of over 80 years has an 85% chance of survival. It is observed that Corona Virus affects mostly people with pre-existing conditions, which is why the fatality rate really starts notably increasing from the age-group 50-59. So many elderly who died across the world, Italy and Spain in particular, have died not due to Corona virus necessarily, but with many other ailments which aggravated Corona virus affliction.

Since this is a respiratory ailment that leads to huge thick mucous around trachea and the lungs, those with regular smoking habits are susceptible to the disease more, and hence, out of every three patients, at least two or more are men. This is one major reason of the virus attacking men more.

All SARS family viruses cannot thrive in hot climates, and hence, it seems that in warmer countries the fatality rate is considerably lower than other places so far, and the overall fatality rate of about 4.5%, the highest 10+% being in Italy being a cold nation and with a large number of elderly population.

Undoubtedly, in the developing nations, low testing is a big problem, including in India as well. However, there are no reports of people with symptoms crowding hospitals as there are in many other countries. And it is important to understand that if there are indeed many latent cases as is feared, that would actually bring down the fatality rate, if not the infection rate. Even with limited testing, the average number of new Indian cases is in the region of 100-120 a day; it has been like that for a week. It means there is absolutely no evidence of exponential community spread till date in India. And that has so far been the case in all of the warm weather countries.

It is also to be noted that by quick testing, identifying and quarantining the affected people, the disease can be arrested and it has been done so in Japan, Singapore and South Korea. Hence, the focus has to be testing and treating more than merely closing down businesses. The challenge in India or South Asia is the high density of population that gives a fertile ground to the virus to spread exponentially with poor living conditions. The virus once again underlines the fact that minimum human dignity in living conditions, housing, public health and sanitation are needed to ensure a controlled or disease-free world. More than the ferocity of the virus, it is the ferocity of the unequal society that we must be worried about.

It has also been observed that for every 9 out of 10 infected people, they need 2 weeks to recover with no medicine, isolated at home, as they are in minor ailment situation. Seriously ill needing hospitalization, ICU or ventilator together is below 10% at the moment out of the 7.5 lacs affected people. So, the vast majority of infected people can just recover by staying at home, with no medicine, but in isolation. Even seemingly well-educated people don’t seem to grasp this properly. Yes, this 1 seriously ill out of 10 infected persons is a matter of worry, and if this number is huge due to societal transmission at the mass level, there is every reason to worry specially in nations with weaker medical infra-structure.

Jaideep Verma’s research shows that in human history, untreated illnesses and unvaccinated viruses have the following as fatality rates:

Rabies – 99%; AIDS 80-90%; EBOLA 87%; Smallpox – 65%; Bubonic/ Pneumonic Plague 52%; Tetanus 50%; Cholera 47%; TB 43%; Chickenpox 30%; Typhoid 15%; SARS 11%; Spanish Flu 10%; Zika Virus 8%; Yellow Fever 7.5%; Diphtheria 7.5%; Coronavirus 4.5%; Measles 2.5%; Swine Flu 2.1%. So, Corona virus has among the lowest fatality rates in history.

But, this is the first virus to travel so far across the world, some 199 countries. And it has been made a larger demon than it is in this world polarised more than ever before in human history by social media and mobile technology. A global virus in an intensely globalised world should not be a surprise at all, spreading during peak travel season, both, domestically in China and internationally. The virus itself is more contagious than most other viruses that came before.

The virus is actually making the world realise the difference between strategic anti-disease battle and a nonchalant lackadaisical approach. China with brute force closed down Wuhan city and largely its province, Hubei, created in ten days a COVID Hospital with 10,000 beds, isolated Wuhan/Hubei from rest of China, encircled it by sealing the border using military, brought in thousands of trained doctors and nurses from across the rest of China to treat the patients in Wuhan under heavy protection, and thereby restricted patients to some 81,000, deaths to less than 4000, and got 73000 fully treated by now. Today Wuhan is safer than New York.

Similar approach was adopted by Japan and South Korea in identifying source and first community affected, isolating them, encircling those areas, and intense mass testing, quarantining and treating those identified as afflicted.

But, in contrast, the Western democracies, like Italy, USA, Spain, France etc did not have any plan in place in the first 3 to 5 weeks when the disease appeared in their horizons, and thereby allowing them to get into mass societal transmission phase. It is the difference in strategy and not playing on to a fear psychosis when late, that helps.

There have been many pandemics in human history, many of them far, far worse than this one (in terms of fatalities). But the reaction worldwide has been fraught with anxiety and panic in the face of the uncertainty of having no cure yet. Incidentally, uncertainty is a condition that people in this new world (mobile social media) deal with far worse than any previous generation in history – this has been well documented and discussed in recent times. The spread of panic, false content, abuse of faith based narratives (gomutra cure being one), and many more have had multiplier effect on heightening the fear factor this time.

WHO estimates deaths arising from common flu to be between 290,000 to 650,000 people every year, at a fatality rate of roughly 1%. Corona virus has killed about 34,000 so far in about four months, with very limited testing in many parts of the world (truer testing would lower its 4.5% fatality rate considerably as many mild cases will be identified).

Jaideep Verma has dug out flu related deaths in Italy and US and have shown that over the last three years, the elderly population (above 60) dying due to flu related diseases have been high, which only marginally increased due to the additional reason of Corona virus this year. For example, in USA, in the 2017/28 flu season, the US registered 61,000 deaths from flu of the entire population, largely elders. That’s an average of over 10,000 deaths a month! In the 2018/19 flu season, there were 34,200 deaths – that’s 5,700 deaths a month. So far, there have been about 3000 plus deaths from Coronavirus in the US, including all ages.

It is worth repeating this – the Coronavirus has killed about 40,000 in four months, while an average of WHO’s tally of common flu deaths every year is about 39,000 deaths per month and critically, within exactly the same patient base. This is a huge point that will no doubt be explored in great depth by the medical fraternity in months to come. But it is worth thinking about this – what would happen if there was intense 24-hour media scrutiny worldwide on the common flu deaths – at the rate of about 39,000 a month worldwide ? What would it do to our minds? If we discount the absence of uncertainty (as common flu has prescribed cures, which is why the fatality rate is low), would it not lead to a similar brand of panic that we see now?

Obviously, this is not at all a case to downplay the Coronavirus pandemic. It has to be combatted, and the key ways are well-known by now – social distancing, regular hand-washing, quarantines, and closing down travel. A lockdown in places where there are signs of community spreading is definitely desirable. Even as a precaution, this is a good option, for a limited period.

But the pain of the lockdowns could have been reduced by calling for short lockdowns at an early stage of the spread so that it is nipped in the bud, which in India’s case was not done. The first case in India was notified by PIB on January 30, and partial lockdown on March 16 in many states and national lockdown was announced on March 23, some 50 days later. In between were bitterly fought Delhi elections, barbaric Delhi riots, megalomaniac larger than life celebrations of Trump visit to India, and toppling of government in Madhya Pradesh. If the lockdown was preponed by two weeks, and a preparatory time of two days were given for it, as happened in Australia and New Zealand, we could have done much better. The lockdown also could have been focused on certain areas of initial spread rather than a national complete lockdown crippling the economy.

In the USA, lockdown does not mean curfew. People can still move, at a much lower quantum, only for essential work and purchases, offices still run on skeleton staff, but social distancing (rather, physical distancing) is being practiced regularly, along with gloves, masks, washing, drinking warm water (ideally lemon water) et al. For two out of 3 Indians, social and physical distancing is a misnomer with over-crowded homes, unhygienic shared habitats etc of many. The concerns are there.

Moreover, WHO has recently said that lockdowns don’t reduce cases by a great deal, but delay the spread for a while which can calibrate the rush at hospitals. In that light, in the complete absence of evidence of community spreading, decision-makers who are willing to pay the price by offering the lives of socially and economically disadvantaged people on this scale, with a large part of the middle and upper classes wholeheartedly agreeing with this move, shows the kind of country India has become (which is also apparent in the aggressive ostracisation of doctors in many upper middle-class housing societies lest they catch the virus from them, doctors, who are in by far the highest risk category).

Given the huge humanitarian costs involved in India with a lockdown (a country with the largest daily wage worker population in the world and where more farmers commit suicide due to starvation than any other), the costs are especially horrifying. Bihar government has literally locked down incoming Bihari migrants from Delhi in lock-ups as if they are criminals, and put in close proximity to one another. UP government drenched many such incoming migrants from Delhi in chemical disinfectants to ‘purify’ or ‘cleanse’ them, chemicals which can otherwise create new diseases. Many regional administrations moronically comprehend that as “curfew”, with no food and provisions available (for example, Chandigarh). Highly arrogant authorities are making life worse for disadvantaged people, while some even tom-tom “shoot at sight” orders (like the Telangana CM did). Accounts of extreme distress are already emerging – multiple stories of migrant workers walking hundreds of kilometres in the hot sun just to go back home (with starvation as their other perceived option) or two container trucks traveling from Telangana to Rajasthan carrying 300 migrant workers desperately trying to get home, for example. At the end of three weeks, lockdown deaths may compete favourably with Corona deaths.

This blog was first published by The British Herald. Click here to read original article.

Innovision India: Innovation Needs in Indian Higher Education

The author is a noted media academic and columnist and is currently the Pro Vice Chancellor of Kolkata based Adamas University. He was earlier the Media Dean of Symbiosis and Amity Universities, Whistling Woods and Pearl Academy. This piece is based on his talk in the CII Higher Education Conclave in Kolkata on August 17 last on Innovision India.

There are around 900 universities of all hues in India and above 100,000 colleges as well while the proportion of the population in higher education in India is still less than 10% of 130 crores, in spite of India being the youngest large nation where in every 3 persons, 2 are below 35 years and half of the total population is below 25 years of age, in the educational age so to say. The Knowledge Commission some ten years ago advocated more than 1500 universities to reach out to the entire population.

And if we go into the details of education being delivered through these 900 universities and 100,000 colleges, we largely find that we are delivering a 20th century education to 21st century youth and preparing them for the unknown economy and society that is yet to come in. There is naturally an enormous dichotomy between what is needed and what we deliver which only contributes to rising tide of unemployable educated youths. There are glorious exceptions to this dismal scenario though.

What could be the innovations for education of tomorrow? Confederation of Indian Industries organized a conclave in Kolkata on this theme recently. There and here I present my eight top of the mind points for an innovative vision of higher education in India.

First, education must move from being teacher-centric to learner-centric and the entire concept of student has to change to a learner. Teacher is no more the sage on the stage but a guide on the side. No teacher in the internet era can know it all, of any subject, and there are options for students to know more than the teacher on any issue. So, the job of the 21st century teacher is to be a mentor, motivator, facilitator, and first stimulus to grow interest in any theme or subject among the learners. There has to be role-alteration consciously here as a guide and co-researcher and not the last word on any issue. Students, on their part, have to move ahead as students merely study in classrooms, for marks and degrees and are to be spoon-fed. They have to move to the next paradigm of learners for whom classroom is just one source of learning, sometimes not even the major one, others being internet, personal and peer experiences, labs and society at large. They research, learn, explore and internalize by practising for acquiring a productive life skill.

Second, a major educational innovation comes from the perspective of convergence. So we get a converging pedagogy which combines the experiential learning with traditional brick and mortar and the modern IT enabled click and portal one. Even evaluation of education cannot be based on earlier year-end long written exams. We are moving into a modular education, delivered semester-wise (in some cases even trimesters) with a blended evaluation incorporating simulated and live projects, continuous internal assessments of quiz and debates, field-work reports, case-studies, online tests and class presentations. A much well-rounded learner can evolve from a convergent evaluation. Even branding or communication of educational institutes is becoming convergent with all channels being used with a single brand promise: online channels of portal and social media, offline channels of newspapers, magazines and hoardings, on air channels of television, radio and cinema, on ground channels of events, malls, experiential marketing, and on mobile channel of apps and mobile-based notifications. The universities which are able to blend all of the above in a given geography for a given target audience are able to have better outcomes.

Third, flexibility in education is the innovative vision of our times. While BA BCom BSc all over India are three years long degrees, for Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University of Gandhinagar, these are of 4-years in keeping with Western practice. BITS Pilani has evolved an industry-centric BTech for working professionals where the education is delivered at the work-places along with their work. Many universities are creating integrated UG-PG course of five years duration. Nomenclatures are being questioned as in Journalism & Mass Communication as journalism is a component of communication, and communication can be niche, mass, group etc.

Fourth, inclusivity is the new innovation of the day. Instead of all girls, or all minorities, or all Hindus, or a linguistic group, the order of the day is gradually to opt for an inclusive all communities and genders campus-life which helps in making more well rounded citizens with a global mindset and higher tolerance. Scholarships, based on both merits and means, encouraging women and event creating safe environs for the LGBTQ communities on campuses are crucial inclusive factors.

Add to this, as a fifth point, national and global mentors and learners. The more varied will be the composition of mentoring and learning folks, more tolerant, mutually respectful and global will be the mindset of all involved. Hence, an innovation ahead should be compulsory visit by learners to other parts of India and, budget allowing, going abroad for education tour, a project, an internship, workshops or a semester. It is heartening to see SP Jain Management and Amity University coming out with two or three location degrees giving a global experience and outlook to learners. This breaks myths about ‘the others’ and creates desire to explore more in life and at work.

Sixth, the entire degree-centric higher education needs to give place to skills and values-centric education. What are we mentoring and learning for? To have a value-based approach to life, be responsible global citizens, and be productive for the economy and earn a decent livelihood. And none of these depends on a degree. It is just the legal power of the University, received through a decree of the government of the day, that degree looks big. For a measure of qualification, degrees are welcome. But the focus has to be on skills and values. Amazon, Google, Apple and Facebook are among some major global companies who have already declared that they do not need degrees, will give no premium to degrees, but only hire based on skills and attitudes. They do not find the same degrees of the same discipline across nations or even across provinces of the same nation of any comparable quality.

Seventh, the new era needs certain non-technical skills or orientation as well: business orientation, entrepreneurial skills and leadership skills. End use sensitivity of every education and skill-learning is significant. Learning is for a society in general, and a market segment in particular, for a job more narrowly, and for some clients or users of the learner’s skills finally. Sensitivity to these is a necessary part of higher education today.

Eighth, and finally, there is a new gamut of abilities for the times ahead which are necessary to be intertwined in our higher education courses. Crowd-sourcing of ideas, projects and funds is an important skills in times of shared gig economy increasingly dependent on collaboration and not competition, freelance talent and not bonded ones. Next is the understanding of block-chains of projects and businesses which is disrupting traditional business models. Ability to participate productively in a shared economy and create one’s own space itself is a major skill. Artificial Intelligence will take away all skills of mass production, repetition, low IQ tasks and wherever there is a precedence. That reduces human scope of work. Hence, skills to create, innovate, problem solve, crisis management, design thinking, critically think, teamwork and create prototypes or templates for AI are the skills that will ultimately remain with humans (though AI will impact upon some of these too with more progress of technology).

We are entering into an era of multi-skilled human resources, with one in-depth skill, higher emotional intelligence, and with ability to seamlessly move across economies, geographies and groups of people. But is our higher education geared to prepare our younger generation for such a scenario? Jury is open.

Entrepreneurship: A Primer for University Grads

It is heartening to see that increasingly university grads in India are looking at entrepreneurship as a viable and desirable career path to productively use their skills and energies. Sometimes they jump onto the bandwagon immediately after passing out and sometimes after a few years of “learning the tricks of the trade at someone else’s cost”. The ‘Heroic Entrepreneur’ syndrome of garage to a billion dollar company made a global legacy thanks to many like Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook) is a major point of motivation.

For all those who want to kick-start an entrepreneurial career of any hue, I strongly suggest to go through Lean Start-up by Eric Ries.

Great to be an entrepreneur or wanting to be one. But first begin with the question: do you have domain expertise in the sector you want to enter for a comparative advantage when you start? If not, it is not a good idea to make it your first business. The big picture must be in the head of the entrepreneur just as the entire film plays in the mind of a real film-maker even before the first shot is taken. Only a strong quantum of expertise, passion and commitment can fight out self-doubt which naturally comes in every entrepreneur at the start. Mission, vision, goals, tasks by timeline must be the founder’s call and s/he needs to keep checking on them from time to time.

Research before you step in. Intuition also must have a base in researched knowledge, either your personal study of the market or with support of a freelance researcher. There must be absolute clarity on which market-gap you are addressing, what exactly you are selling and what your go-to-market strategy is.

One of the biggest lacuna in start-up operations is cash flow management due to delayed invoicing, vendor late invoicing, working without down payment, etc. These must be strictly avoided at the cost of losing business, unless there is some other established to trust the credit credibility of the client. Finance consultant Anil Lamba of Pune exactly does this: coaches first generation entrepreneurs to maintain financial records and manage cash flow effectively.

Every start-up can surely start small, but must aim big. It can be self-funded, can resort to boot-strapping, but still it must be process driven, documented and with clarity on who gains and at what costs. The associations one builds at the start need to be preserved for the business to grow fast. Trust is the best base of business.

Even for small start also, clarity on who exactly is my customer, and how can I document, preserve and re-connect with my once sold customers must be there. Often cost of acquiring a new customer is far higher than servicing or re-selling to my existing customers. For all these, basic consumer insights and CRM, some level of database management are required. I remember that a teenager barber in Ahmedabad used to keep the special days and frequency of salon use data of all customers, and wish them on their anniversaries and invite them when due to hair cut etc. He runs a three floor air conditioned high end salon today some ten years later. I remember a lady who has kept data of every customer who bought her designed women’s wear from the very first one, and today the number is above 5000, while the first ones are still buying from her. People must be the focus of every business, then planet the business being sustainable and environment-friendly, profits coming last but remaining for the longest time.

You are as good as your next team. Hiring a good team and instilling a professional culture of owning up your work are crucial for a start-up to succeed. People leave bad managers and not always the company. Even for small firms, have detailed hiring norms and clear job descriptions, avoid close relatives or old friends unless passionate and partners, and evaluate efficiency at regular intervals.

Often start-ups are susceptible to unrealistic timelines and goals. Have realistic goals but have a no-nonsense approach to time which can only come through strong self-discipline. Start by asking yourself: did I do the best use of time?

These days you cannot survive without technology and you can do wonders with simple application of technology. For example, intelligent use of digital and social media can take your product or service to uncharted terrains and unknown customers. It is important to make technology tell your story, fine-tune your service, evolve your product to the next level, and help know your customer better. Software based operations from sourcing to selling must be done.

It is always good to be on the right side of law. Hence, GST and other taxes, internal crediting etc must be known and practiced from day one. If you have to take benefits of the law or its loopholes, one needs to know the relevant laws in-depth.

Build. Measure. Learn. They say that it is important to validate your learning and get feedback to grow further. If you do not fail, you cannot learn. No harm in committing mistakes till we commit the same mistake twice due to oversight.

There is also the route of social entrepreneurship where you engage a community with a common goal and mission and make everyone in the process a minor stake-holder and ensure their skin in the game, thereby contributing to more equitable share of wealth made in the process of entrepreneurial venture.

So, go. Bring it on. It’s one life, and make it large.

The author is a media academic and columnist and currently the Pro Vice Chancellor of Kolkata based Adamas University. This is based on his recent talk to a group of B-School and Biotech school graduates wanting to be entrepreneurs.

Media at Crossroads: When Small is Big

The small handheld screen is taking the bigger tele-screen by the horns. From news to entertainment, short video to music video, the any-time consumption of video online is increasing fast, more so in times of low internet costs on handsets.

Digital is being reborn almost every day with 1200 million cell phone users in South Asia, almost half of them being active on internet and social media with smart-phones, and 6 on 10 internet users being a regular daily user. Transition to the digital world ahead will be more through Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality ad Virtual Reality, which will add visual and conceptual diversity on one hand, and may also create stories and visuals which do not actually exist and pass them off as news. Therein lies the pitfall as well.

Revenue & Distribution Challenges:

News media is at crossroads on many counts.

The basic problem facing the news media, specially the TV, today is the disproportionate expense on distribution and carriage fees of channels. Hence, there is decidedly low investment in content and the variety of the same. Almost all channels then resort to studio talks rather than much of field-work. This also results in limited courage in content and prevalence of subdued voice of many channels.

Size of the television news business is around Rs.4000 crores, which is 5% of the gross 80,000 crores advertising revenue in South Asia, and hence the frontiers are still open on revenue side. Even in digital news, profit sighting and traffic rise are rare and far in between, though has happened in some portals, like NDTV.com in India and Onlinekhabar.com in Nepal. In spite of the news portals like TimesofIndia.com and IndiaToday.in already earning profits, consumer is still not ready for the subscription and Paywall route to revenue generation in digital news.

The situation for general entertainment channels (GEC) is a tad better and the consumption of serials and reality shows is far more on TV than on the handset. But there is a perceptible change herein too. Snacking of small parts of reality shows on the digital medium is rampant now and often such short videos go viral.

Also, appointment viewing of television programs is on decline as urban consumers specially need anytime viewing due to a hectic short-on-time lifestyle and working status of many. Digital with its anytime viewing option is hence a major way forward, being aided with large and cheap datapacks on phones and home wifi getting cheaper by the day.

TV Integration with the Digital Medium:

A major movement forward in the domain of television news is its increasing integration with web or digital news. NDTV.com has emerged to be the 20th largest news portal of the world and by far the largest of any TV news organization in India, with its Web First slogan and series of initiatives. India Today takes it to Mobile First perspective where the content (pics, language and video) are even tailored to mobile medium sensitivity. Alongside, the editors today find video for online very different from the video on TV for the same news since online video is consumed more on a smaller handheld device. Onlinekhabar.com and Himalaya TV in Nepal have just announced their partnership for bringing converged content to Nepali audiences.

Alongside, television and its digital avatars are both caught up in the debate between speed news (face focus) and enterprise content (full story with various perspectives). Original curated personalized content is must in the digital medium, and hence the adaptation of journalists to digital content generation techniques becomes crucial. Un-cynical and tech-savvy younger work-force is often more suited for this.

Bias versus Neutrality:

It is a good news that journalism in myriad forms is being consumed more and democracy is being served better with reach of news becoming stronger and wider, though in a clutter of news-platforms, credibility is going to be the discerning factor. The worrying factor at times is that by-lines are increasingly known less for the news they speak but for stands they take. There is the rise of branded anchors, living in their bubbles and echo-chambers, and TV often presents less news, and much more views.

Alternatively, social media, consumed much on smartphones, has created some pressures on TV to stand firm. Portals like altnews and boomchecker have created pressures on TV journalists in India to get their stories right. News anchors can have their biases in views, but post-truths or fake news cannot be presented as facts. The artificially created conflicts through studio guests and #journalism are signs of decay in healthy news presentation, though these serve the twin purposes of reducing costs and strengthening biases and stereotypes.

“Don’t let objectivity get into the way of news,” James Cameron. So, opinions fine, so long as they are stated upfront and not presented with doctored or fake facts as news.

Media Self-correction:

Media mediates social change, and media self-corrects with time. People do go back to credible news. After the coming in Donald Trump to power in USA, New York Times and CNN have become more popular. Indian news media should be thinking about what they are doing to themselves for TRPs, viewership and being in the good books of powers that be.

While audiences are coming to TV or re-iteration or reaffirmation of their already existing world view, they take to digital media for breaking news and this will only grow further, but revenue is still abysmally low in the digital which is the cause of real worry. With higher revenues on the digital medium, there will be more corrections in the overall contours of news-dissemination in India.

NewsRoom 2020: Crystal-gazing:

The new definition of DTH is Direct to Handset. So mobile journalism (MOJO) and skills of MOJO journalists are the order of tomorrow. The future is of further integrated newsroom along with staff doubling up on TV and digital fronts, selfie-stick reporters shooting themselves and publishing simultaneously will be the new normal. In brief, multi-skilled convergent techno-savvy mobile journalists with a great network and way with languages shall be the most sought after animal in the world of news of tomorrow.

Also, technology penetration will emerge as the game-changer ahead. Social media will fill in where the mainstream media fail and with broadband going to every corner this will be further accelerated. Also, Specialized Content, as in business or ecology or defence, for specific niche audiences will also find market and revenue talking to their right audiences.

Indeed, journalists can take you to the spot of an event through VR and add layers to it through AR. Facts and fiction distinction may to an extent get obliterated. Since people are consuming a specific news platform more through the social media like Twitter, Youtube and Facebook, and less through their portals, creating viral news through AR/VR becomes a reality of the future. This is more so as video capable devices are on the rise, and are expected to grow more than twice between 2016 and 2020. Increasingly, the shorter hand-held screen is for snacking news or watching trailer of the news, while the larger screen on TV is for more detailed presentation.

Come 2020: Content still remains the king, though contexts and platforms shall change.

Educational Delivery: Changing Left, Right & Centre

Education technology and its delivery are going through a revolutionary change today. In the digital age, chalk and talk is history. On one hand, with depleting attention span of learners, new learning pedagogy is needed. And on the other, integrating digital tools into education, from school to University, is must. But which are these tools and how to integrate the same?

Brick & Mortar:

This has been the usual learning in the classroom taught by teachers who speak the last word on the subject, coupled with learning in the library from hard copy books, and evaluating through examinations written in examination halls. Brick and mortar still is the core of education delivery. We need teachers as role models and a human touch, for clarifications and for inspiration. A good teacher motivates a learner to be open to even tough subjects. Also brick and mortar gives us peers, brings in a sense of collaboration and teamwork, and gives our first circle of friends much of which remains till death.

Click & Portal:

The West first brought the concept of online learning. Entire courses came to be presented online through the blend of text, pdfs, audio (podcasts) and video, and finally blended where all of these are converged to make the learning experience diverse to the sense organs and pleasing to internalize. New range of e-learning tools and resources, e-tutors, self-learning through Khan Academy and Coursera videos and courses have now emerged. They are sometimes aid to mainstream learning, and at times these become the mainstream learning itself. However, such an approach, when taken to its logical conclusion and in its entirety, makes education mechanical, bereft of role models, inspiration, peer group and teamwork. Many critics have noted that such an approach leads to geeks and robotic minds. The good old campus life, peer-network, teacher as a guru etc do have their own place under the sun.

Experiential Learning:

Ancient Gurukul System in our civilization has eulogised learning by doing with a Guru in front as an inspiring role model and learners staying together in Gurukuls for collective learning. Even in the post industrial world, many with basic education went directly into the factory system, workshops and offices and picked up skills on the job, learning by doing. While this experiential learning makes a strong case of hands-on ready-to-use skills being imparted, the major limitation of this is while it answers to ‘How’ questions of skills, it does not delve deep into ‘Why’ questions of any issue. It renders itself limited to a repetitive process and learning by default, rather than by design. In true education, we need to learn how to do any work, along with the clear answers to why to do that, when to do (and not to do), what is the continuity or history of that skill/knowledge, etc. For these, we do need a formal and structured learning architecture as well.

Experiential Brick & Portal Learning:

As we proceed into a Knowledge Economy, and also a society which needs all the more reasons to interact and mutually empower one another, education is increasingly moving towards the right futuristic model in its delivery: Experiential Brick & Portal Learning (EBPL). Education to be diverse in scope, humane in approach, technical in skills, and internalized in its impact must combine the best elements of all the three noted above seamlessly and without mutual conflict.
We need to enumerate various educational pedagogy and approaches, and then move to learn in details, with cases and tasks to apply. This can be achieved by blending the class room/library brick and mortar education with internet/cyber-based click and portal learning and experiential learning by doing.

On Campus Practices:

Jaipuria management college in India has started using whatsapp as a tool to enhance attendance. It makes 2 minutes video with a touch of humour and creativity on the major theme of the next day in session and sends it a night or two before to enhance interest of the learners. Pearl Academy in India has done away with written exams and evaluates learners only through a major project applying all learning of a module, for each module.

Flip classroom methodology has been started by several management and engineering institutes where power-point presentation on the subject of discussion a day or two later is given along with online and offline reading resources. The class begins with a quiz to assess the level of information and understanding of the learners on the subject, then moves into clarifications and case-studies.
After discussing development and organizations in the classroom, reading cases and documented examples, a few management and communication institutes like SP Jain Management or Symbiosis Media schools have started sending learners to study development organizations and apply management principles and communication skills to contribute some value to them for a period of 4 to 10 weeks. Many universities have institutionalized a mixed evaluation process of integrating project work with online research and offline written examination to have a holistic approach to evaluating learning outcomes of their students. And this process is obviously a continuous evaluation. This is in sharp contrast to one-time year-end or twice a year written exams which determined grades and marks of learners for all their lives.

Finnish Innovation Labs in Education:

Education system of Finland is considered to be the finest in the world. In the Finnish Innovation Labs in education, specially at higher education level, there is no formal teaching, but a collective learning by doing where a theme is introduced, ground rules are set, the learners in groups explore it themselves through self-study, cases, survey or research on ground, and coming together and sharing results at every level, discarding those that do not stand strong.

The entire edifice of Finnish education system is founded on one core belief—learning by doing—that inherently values trust and responsibility. Further, the same belief—effective learning can happen when it is self-directed and self-regulated—got firmly imprinted in my mind. ‘Learning’ rather than ‘numerical outcome ‘should become the key component and occupy the center stage to keep education in line with the ‘Self-determination’ Theory—one that propounds that pupils perform better when they are motivated by intrinsic rather than extrinsic rewards. Hence, there are no marks, only grades; and rewards are more in the form of joy of discovery, bonding, and field-work. Recently, Kathmandu University School of Management (KUSOM) and King’s College of Nepal are taking steps towards implementing this approach with Finnish support in their educational pedagogy.