Living in/out of the comfort zone.

Is it possible for us to live out of our comfort zone? We may assume that we are doing well in our life in the personal and professional fronts, and then we start living a comfortable life. This situation is the most common amongst people who have achieved some of their compromised dreams.

Compromised dreams are the small scale dreams we see after the later part of our youth - when we realise that due to the limited opportunities our childhood dreams will not be achievable anymore. Therefore we shrink our dreams by using rationalisation. Can you relate to this situation? Has it happened with you? Do you have big dreams still lying within you? Somewhere in the corner of your heart or in a layer of your mind? It may be there and that's why some people take chances of getting big things in life.. most of the times by luck... like winning lotteries or getting into quick rich schemes and most of the time get duped and loose their money or reputation or both.

Butt does it mean that there is no way to achieve the big dreams for laymen? There are... but as laymen..most of us love laying (lazying). Therefore what happens next...is one of these:

Find out where you are among the following:
1. Living a comfortable life. You have already retired your big dreams even 30 years before your work-life retirement.  It happens as small dreams replace big dreams.  So you may be looking for small and so-called achievable goals which will not qualify even as a valid dream in a real sense. Like next promotion, or eyeing the position of your boss. You go for a compromised vacation in an economy class or low cost airline with family, but you may be travelling business class for work alone as a senior manager using the company's expense. And that's why you can boast a little bit. But you know (hope you know) that your life is a compromise...no large dreams are left and you may have already settled by believing that there is no other way or vehicle to achieve your big dreams and that's why you also have started now rationalise your children dreams too. You are a dream killer now.

2. Living a so-called contented (selfish) life like a saint. You believe that you don't need more money.  And you actually don't have much of it. So you are coping up with this situation by trying to behave like a saint.  Money is as bad as sour grapes for you. You know what I mean.  And if you think you are not in this category... Check the previous category. You may be there. You are selfish as you are not going to give benefits to the society by using resources (money is a resource). You may justify by doing small charity/voluntary work, but you are not going to realize your full potential to create wealth and abundance to benefit the society after getting resourceful.

3. Still missing something in life is the third category. This is being in a state of something big from life. You want to marry a wealthy girl or boy. You know you will never be satisfied with your compromised life and that's why you always feel you are missing something or many things in life. And you are always on a lookout for opportunities to make it big. You may be of any age but you still get dreams of your big dreams. You somehow can never compromise and in case you do not get a legal and ethical mean, you may resort to unethical practice or get duped by others easily.

4. Missing something but working for it. You may have been the third category but found a way to achieve the big dreams of your childhood. You are in a way to great success as you have a vehicle to reach your destination and you are working hard to get there.

It may be possible that the opportunity to work hard to get the childhood dreams realized is presented or even given by God to category 1 to 3 persons, but category 1 and 2 will have no value for that opportunity as they have already compromised and lost in their life. They are already mentally retired. If they find an opportunity they will not be able to believe it or use it wisely.

Category 3 needs a way and may move to category 4 easily. But category 4 people are rarely found... add these are the big industrialist, successful business man, self made celebrities, founders of respected institutes and all of them are very wealthy ... at least millionaires and successful in all aspects- money, health, relationship, spiritually and socially. Do you know some of them.  Do you think they have same mind set and attitude like yours? They all have lived out of comfort zone for a long period of their life.. not just for few years. Can you live an uncomfortable life from now on till next 2 years? 5 years? Think and find out where are you in your life. Have you made any impact in this world? If no and if you are living with no dreams or compromised dreams, it's better for you to live a secluded life in a forest alone because any way you are not going to contribute any thing to society that will be significantly big. You may contribute minor things that are possible for your moron neighbour too.

Should I say wake up? No because you have not even read this writing completely as you are so much in the comfort zone...

A reflective post after participating and observing series of presentations/learning activities of students:

Providing Feedback to Learners

As an educators for more than last 12 years, I have observed and reflected on various aspects of teaching and learning which are valuable for the learners and academe. Feedback to the learners on their learning activities is one of the most vital activity in teaching and learning.  

Feedback by Whom?

Because professors in classrooms are seen/regarded as ‘experts/gurus’ in their areas, that’s why, learners look forward to get the comments from professors on their learning activities. In addition, professors perceive themselves as ‘experts’ and ‘responsible’ for learning of leaners, they are keen and quick to provide a feedback on learning activities on the areas of their ‘expertise’.

Non-traditional teaching and learning methods recommend that professors should be the last ones in the classroom to provide feedback for learning activities. This is applicable if the teaching and learning approach used is aimed at developing learning community in classroom, where learners are encouraged to learn from each other and they take the responsibilities of self-learning and learning of their peers too. An example on how to operationalize this non-traditional feedback process is:

After a presentation, the presenters are asked to sit back, while the peers work on the rubrics of presentation and drafting a written feedback on the presentation. After a few minutes, the presenter is asked. “How was the presentation/How you feel about your presentation/ How do you assess your presentation?” Presenter can also use the same rubric to assess himself/herself. Following the constructivism approach of teaching and learning, even if the feedback is in a written form, it needs to be communicated orally/discussed in the classroom to provide opportunity for the discussions, thus creating am experiential learning environment. After the self-assessment by the presenter or his/her sharing about his/her feeling with the presentation, the peers need to share their assessments of the presentation. In a large class, predetermined number of peers can share their assessment/comments for each presentation. For a team presentation, members of two other teams can provide the feedback or comments. The professor can invite other peers to add their comments, if any. After peer feedback round, the professor can provide his/her assessment to the presentation, to the self-assessment and also to the peer feedback/comments.

The role of professor in the above eample, is to create a safe learning environment, where learners interact with each other and perform learning activities facilitated by the faculty member or their peers. Of course, the professors should provide the feedback, but only after peer-feedback round. Using this method, professors, when focus on not only the learning activity, but also on the peer comments/feedback, can gauge the learning obtained/constructed by the whole class/all learners from the learning activities. This makes the practice of sharing feedback and comment in a classroom, an extended learning activity in itself, and thus, contributes to an enhanced learning for all. In addition, self- assessment of students also aids in a wholesome learning.

Feedback on What?

Most of the time, the feedback is limited to the content/knowledge area of the discipline and the soft-skills, and other aspects are missed. This issue emerges most frequently in a traditional setting of teaching and learning, especially if assessment rubrics are not used or rubrics are ill designed. An effective rubrics should have multiple criteria for assessments aligned with the learning objectives of the activity/course.

How to give constructive feedback?

The words used in providing a feedback need to be sensitive enough. Using abusive and derogatory words in a feedback tend to defeat its purpose. Focusing comments on the performance/activity by learners, and avoiding comments on the person helps in maintaining a learning environment. Mere mentioning or highlighting drawbacks or negative points without suggestions or recommendations on how the performance could be improved or the learning activity could be more effective, or what could get better scores in the rubric makes the feedback constructive. Most professors and peers forget to mention are the positive points/appreciation in the feedback.  It is almost impossible to find any learning activity that lacks at least one point of appreciation. I have noticed that mentioning positive/appreciation before the negative/improvement comments help in better acceptance of feedback by the recipient.

Why is it difficult to implement?

The problem/issue I have noticed is that it is very hard for the professors as an individual with their self-image as ‘experts and gurus’, and with the strong ‘responsibility’ of ‘providing’ and ‘transmitting’ learning to learners, to hold and to provide opportunities to learners’ peers to provide feedback to each other. Even students who are new to constructivism teaching and learning may feel that providing feedback or comments to peers in not their job or they feel incompetent or not qualified enough to provide feedback or comments.  Other reason as frequently observed by me is the lack of time, or, feeling of threat/inadequacy among professors who feel that if peers provide all feedback or comments, there may not be much left for the professor to comment on. Also developing and using rubric is time consuming and requires more efforts of professors. All these issues/problems can be solved by a careful design of activities, feedback time and process after the activities, and practice.

This kind of constructivist approach of teaching teach learners to provide constructive feedback to each other. It may require using formal peer assessment tools and providing training to learners in giving and receiving constructive feedback to each other.

The traditional form of teaching and learning where only professors provide feedback to learners, while focusing only on negative points, and using direct/hitting words (as perceived by recipient of the feedback) might have worked or even transformed the learners in 1990s. The sensitivity of millennia learners is higher than the previous generations and adoption of non-traditional teaching and learning activities help in connecting with the modern learners faster and in a more effective way. In addition, using peer-assessments, peer-feedback and self-assessment for learning activities helps in developing a critical skill in learners – the skill of providing and receiving feedback, a must to have skill in the modern workplaces.

Crimes and Culprits in Education: A Rude and Harsh Piece of ……. From Me.

Please note that this piece reflects my personal views and beliefs and it does not belong to/reflect views of any institution/organization/group I belong to. Try not to judge me based on my writing (I know it is hard… not to judge). Just read it and enjoy (And, reflect on it if you want). And, please do not expect a well-structured, directed and smooth, perfect writing in this article…I do not think in structured manner. My mind never developed in a smooth and directed way (but my minds do get conditioned in structured and smooth way and I do not like 'conditioning', I like learning. I learn when I face something unstructured, confusing, chaotic, non-directed and abstract)....grow up!

When someone joins the education industry as a professor, teacher, or scholar, we tend to welcome him or her. But, did we ever think the reason we are so welcoming in academics? And, at the same time, is it good to welcome anyone and everyone in the industry?

Who are the educators? And what is Education? Are all educators really thinking about these questions? This article is an exploration into the area of education as a profession and practice. The most unfortunate aspect is that in various parts of the world, the academic industry is not still labelled as a practice based industry, which is evident from the way we try to differentiate between industry and academia. The norms and ways of so called ‘industry’ and ‘practice’ (sometimes even called real practice or professional practice) are believed to be different from ‘academics’ and ‘academia’. And, I have no reservations to express that this is the most disastrous differentiation and labelling ever existed in our world.

As a reader of this article, you may have already formed a view on this article, may have already decided to read it completely with full attention or just glance through it (like smart readers! And I have doubts about being smart readers!), or even not to read it further. And, it is OK. If this piece of writing is not of your interest, no problem, but wait, if you are in the profession related to academics and you want to read it ‘smartly’ or not to read it at all… there is a problem. Have you ever considered to change your profession? If I am perceived as boasting, high-nosed lecturing type, insensitive traditional and irritating academic because of the statements above…it is OK to me. In fact, I do not care. Because what I care is only about one thing….have you learnt by this writing or are you going to learn from this piece of …..... (Fill it up according to your preference/perception. I do not care!) Why I don’t care, because I am an educator and what I care about is only one thing, and that is learning. 

So let us start from the concepts. What is learning? What is education and, what is teaching and academics? Let us dissect these related concepts one by one. A simple Google Search will bring thousands of results if we search for these terms. Nowadays, I am calling Google as Professor Google. And, really Google is becoming and substituting professors, but only those professors who think that learning is providing information. Google and Books provide sufficient information and that’s why they are like information providing professors. But, the question remains. Does learning means just obtaining information? Are not we all looking for more and more information and that’s why Google Professor or Google like professors are so popular nowadays. No doubt, learning involves obtaining information, and more specifically, it entails developing the skills to figure out what information is needed and how and where to get such information. The Google professors and Google like professors if focus on not only providing information, but also on why and how to get information, it solves the purpose more or less to some extent. And, I (as an authority…., because I am writing this article to share my views) can accept such information providing AND information search skill enhancing professors as somewhat good professors…somewhat, because they are good up to a level. May not be for higher education. And, I am also being polite…I do not want to offend many of such professors who really think that providing information or skills to search information is the real purpose of professors (wait a minute…have I offended already some of you reading it?)…who cares?

You may ask...then what according to you (so called self-proclaimed authority….if you are not just glancing the article), is a perfect professor. If you are asking this, welcome… I like you and I want to share it with you but with a caution. (If you feel offended with what is written after this paragraph, please ignore, curse me if you want, write a hate email or hate comment, and have some beer and forget about it. If you do not get offended, you need to rethink… are you really serious about academics? Do you want to change your profession? Perhaps, there is still some chance to leave academics and go back to the so called ‘practice/industry’). Did you get it? I really want to offend the readers. And I want to get the comments and emails on this. If you are not offended, or disturbed, or agitated… may be it is because I am a terrible writer, or because you do not deserve to be in the profession of academics – yes…it is rude...feel free to hate me…yeah!)

So, where were we…Yes ... professor, practice, academics, industry, and education and learning. So many things to discuss. To me, a professor is the one who has a profession and the profession is ‘professing’. What is the meaning of professing? Let us go to the Wiktionary to get the etymology…”From Anglo-Norman professer, and its source, the participle stem of Latin profitērī, from pro- + fatērī (“to confess, acknowledge”).”

If you have never heard of the terms ‘etymology’ and ‘Wiktionary’, no problem…just read on (actually, there is a problem…hard to admit for me…I did not expect any academic with at least 15 years of experience, not knowing the meaning of these terms, others will lesser experience…it is OK you can take an excuse…you are still acadelings (yes, it is a new and creative word) to this world…do not ask me how I get to the ‘15’ magical number…remember… I am the authority now… and … I am enjoying it. Actually, I myself learnt about such terms after 8 to 10 years of being an acadeling... and when I mention 15 years, I am already generous and kind).

So according to the etymology, any person who ‘confesses’ or ‘acknowledges’ is a professor. The question is ‘confesses/acknowledges’ what? To get this answer, let us see the meaning of practice. Again, long live Wiktionary – etymology - From Middle English practizen, a variant of practisen, from Middle French pratiser, practiser, from Medieval Latin practizo, from Late Latin practico (“to do, perform, execute, propose, practise, exercise, be conversant with, contrive, conspire, etc.”), from prāctica (“practical affairs", "business”), from Ancient Greek πρακτική (praktikḗ), from πρακτικός(praktikós, “practical”), from πράσσειν (prássein, “to do”). 

To me, all the above etymological explanations of ‘practice’ signal one thing - ‘involvement’ (who says that…remember, I am saying it…authority). How much involvement is ‘involvement’? A research with etymology leads to ‘volvo’ or ‘roll’/volver, indicating the meaning as ‘actively rolling over with’. It indicates a very active engagement where the whole person rolls with it (‘into the rolling’). So, if you are very actively engaged in something, it means you are already practicing it and also you can confess/acknowledge/profess it. It means, to be a professor, one needs to confess/acknowledge that one is actively rolling into with… something (obviously the thing being done by the one- one’s practice). That makes all of us who are passionately, actively and really rolling hundred percent with our practice (whatever we are doing), capable of being a professor. Wait, this is the beginning. It just means that one is a professor because one is in a profession of a practice. It does not indicate how well (with any measurement) practitioner/professor you are. It also means you can practice something well, but, yet one may not confess/acknowledge the practice well enough (and that is unfortunate, because it indicates that one is not hundred percent rolling into it, or one is not a good communicator to confess or acknowledge it).

So, if one is ‘rolling into’ it…hundred percent involvement, actively, and can confess and acknowledge it, then one can be a professor. To confess is to admit/acknowledge, And, admitting and acknowledging is not possible without feeling of being guilty or favoured. And, one already feels like a criminal, who has done some crime, if one confesses. That makes all professors criminals!

The question is criminal of what? Criminal of acknowledging that we have been not perfect. And, believe me it is just impossible for anyone who is hundred percent rolling into a practice, to be a perfect. Only non-passionate persons (and thus, non-professing, and thus, ‘non-practitioners’), can claim to have acquired a perfection. So, only if one can find issues/gaps/problems which need to be addressed/filled/solved to move one step further towards perfection and thus, while doing this, construct several other issues/gaps/problems on the way, and acknowledges and confesses it, can be a professor. It means, a professor who is teaching a discipline, should be passionate about it (to be the practitioner), and at the same time should be in the forefront to criticize the discipline and practice, and along with that should feel guilty of not knowing enough/doing enough and professing the imperfections of the discipline knowingly (not unknowingly). And, also should be able to criticize oneself and one’s means and ways of practicing because of not being perfect.

Therefore, a professor, who tries to teach perfect ways of practicing, because of the thinking that he or she knows the perfect way and can teach it perfectly …is not a good professor (in my eyes…), irrespective of others (including peers/students/friends/enemies telling them otherwise). 

So what a professor should be teaching? Is it practice that needs to be taught? Is education really teaching and involves learning? And, what is the practice of academics? Well, I am not in mood of writing my answers to these questions now….Just raising these questions now...may write answers in my next piece of ……

Folly of Measuring, Evaluating and then Consulting

I have recently attended a presentation by a brand consultant who graduated from a highly ranked western Business School and during the presentation boasted on his decision to decide working in Asia where he can work actively to spur growth of Asian Brands into “successful” brands like Nike and Apple. He started the presentation with a note emphasizing on scarcity of leading Asian brands among fortune 500 list and counted a few “successful” Asian brands like Samsung and Sony to highlight the dearth of similar brands in Asia.

This presentation was organized as a part of Marketing Management course for MBA students and MDM (Master in Development Management) students were invited as guests. Sitting in the last row helped me not only in listening and thinking about presentation but also in observing the happenings in room during the presentation. I like last row as a teacher (as opposed to first row that disconnects one from all who are sitting behind).

As an academic (who are generally blamed as having lack of practical knowledge and wit for applying theories), I was wondering on the premises and frameworks of the consultant. I carefully concentrated on his hypotheses, theories and models he was using in his arguments. (Actually, academics are not inexperienced in practice, but they love to analyze all aspects of theories and practice with critical perspectives and persons like me love to do that as compared to just start applying anything blindly or in haste!)

The reason I have emphasized on the term success in the first paragraph of this writing is to highlight it because this term was the yardstick of all the premises and keystone of frameworks used by the consultant. For the argument that Asian brands are not as successful as western brands, we need to first ask the question – What is the meaning of success? We tend to forget the context due to influence of “seemingly successful” theories and examples from west who created lists like fortune 500 and hundreds of theories in marketing and business management using their own context and perspectives.

One point that I like in the initial part of his presentation is about habit of Asians to consider anything originated from west as ‘superior’ to Asian products. And, this seems to be true. Expanding it further, we Asians have also started liking and using the western ideas, theories and perspectives while forgetting our context. That’s why, the yardstick “success” that may be seen as an outcome is easily adopted by Asians as a valid criteria of measurement too.

After the presentation, I was expecting that at least one student will ask about the meaning of “success” as implied by the presenter. As Asians, do we really think that being in Fortune 500 list is the only “success” for the brand? A brand like Creative that produced portable music system (like ipod) was compared during the presentation with Apple. Creative was labelled as a failure against Apple because the whole world is aware about ipod (even I wrote “music system like ipod” in the previous sentence). I was wondering what might happen if companies like Creative become like Apple. (Well, this assumption is already faulty because I have ignored the context already. Apple is situated in US with particular setting of geography, economics, politics, technology, culture and demographics and Creative is situated in another setting. But for the time being like the consultant did, let us forget the context foe some time). If Creative becomes Apple, there will be an impact on all its operational costs that includes marketing operations. It may lead to increase in price of the products by Creative. Now, we need to ask, are the target markets of Creative and Apple products same? How many of those who purchase Creative products will ever purchase an Apple product or vice-versa? We know the answer. If Creative becomes Apple, who will become Creative? And if there is no Creative, how will their target markets get the products? One may argue that any other company may become Creative after seeing the gap in market. But, then that company may be measured against Creative or Apple and another consultant may try to justify the failure of that company of not being able to act like Creative. Are you able to see the loop? And, this indicates the folly of consultants and many practitioners.

In addition, a major chunk of business men in Asia and Asian managers are already exposed to western theories and frameworks which are considered universal. I doubt about the existence of anything as “universal” except the term itself. Management is about knowing the context first. We also teach our students the importance of External and Internal analyses. And, I always emphasize that internal analyses is as important as external analyses. It means the peculiarities of a company, culture of the community and environment of the setting where the company is situated is of utmost importance.

The moment we forget the context and start measuring the actions and results on a criteria that seems ‘universal’ like being in Fortune 500, we get diverted from the reality. Why businesses exist? To be in Fortune 500? Why brands exist? To be in Fortune 500? Or, being in any list like Fortune 500 is a byproduct? And, why only Fortune 500? Why not Social 500? Environmental 500? Caring 500? Employer 500? Sustainable 500? Innovative 500? (It is another argument when we discuss why all the companies in Fortune 500 do not remain consistently there).

One can argue that all the lists suggested above will lead to financial success ultimately. The folly of this argument is the thinking that ultimate destination/success is the financial success. And, this leads to definition of “success”. Is there any universal definition of success? Do Asian Businesses strive to be financially success in the same manner as western businesses? These led to further questions in my mind when I was listening the presentation.

As an academic I was questioning his premises and frameworks and at the same time some research questions were being developed inside my academic brain. For many practitioners, the presentation was great and was very insightful. Well, it was insightful for me too, but in another way – how a practitioner – a consultant from west is trying to convince Asian businesses about the measurement of success of Asian brands based on western concepts of Brand Equity and inclusion in Fortune 500 list. And, he has been successful up to some extent. He was able to influence most of the young minds of MBA students and most of the application oriented minds of practice oriented faculty members, but I noticed the discomfort among MDM students during the presentation (II could notice them because I was sitting in back). For my academic mind, if arguments lack context and the so called management frameworks do not include basic conceptual nuances in such a manner that it immediately becomes applicable to the field of “Management” as such that can be applied to fields like managing the society, managing the family, managing the community and managing the business, it starts escaping from my whole hearted and brained acceptance. And, this may also explain the reason that MDM students were not able to relate to the presentation much.

Do we have alternatives? May be not much. I was influenced with some points in presentation. How much it is important to “Care why”, as compared to “Know what” “Know how” and “Know why” in a job. The problem is this “Care Why” is missing from management education among Asians. As mentioned by the presenter, we accept western products blindly. Yes, we have been accepting western management ideas and frameworks blindly. And this will continue unless there are academics and teachers enough in number who start caring why - questioning, analyze theories critically and developing the students capability to emphasize on context, different perspectives in depth, and let them construct their own learning while building their own models and frameworks. I doubt we are doing this in Asia. But, west have been successful in doing this and that’ why we prefer to read Porter and not the work of Sun Tzu. And, there may not be any harm in this in a long run. We are already moving to era of convergence where our views and ideas are also converging to the dominant views and ideas. But, there will always be an “academic” sitting in the last row of presentations wondering on ideas of presenter, critically analyzing arguments and highlighting follies later.

Letter to Students: Specially for smart readers.

Please do not complain…there is ‘no problem’ with ‘education’

Statutory warning: If you read this letter and get offended, I will not be considered responsible for it because I have told you to be a smart reader in the letter itself. If you think that you can be easily offended, please ignore this letter.

This seems to be a perpetual question that appears every now and then and the issue is refueled when you cite so called successful college drop-outs like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs. It is our tendency to focus on success (and who defines success?) and ignore failures (again, who defines failure?), otherwise you would have cited millions of other college drop-outs who are not so successful in the eyes of our (read ‘your’) perceived society.

Let me present some of my views on what you are gaining through higher education.

1.  A highly structured and directive learning

The education in higher institutes tend to be so directive and structured (thanks to accreditation agencies and regulators), that it frames your minds, conditions your thinking and frames your intellect. Wait a minute…does it appear negative to you? Come on…do you not agree that If you do not demonstrate specified learning objectives set for the course by the faculty, you will not get any credit and will be labelled as a failure in a particular course. Believe me there is no problem, this situation will continue unless you assert …wait professor…I do not like these learning objectives…why should I achieve these? I have not developed these for my learning. Your faculty developed these without asking me. But are you enrolled in higher education institutes by paying a hefty fee to develop learning objectives? No…come on….leave it to us…just follow what we give to you. Do not take the ‘extra’ pain…no need.

Ignore this part – ‘it is too verbose’: you are a smart reader – are not you? Well, the real problem lies not in students’ failure to demonstrate the achievement of specified objectives, but in fixed and specified learning objectives developed by so called intellectuals and imposed on students with the expectation that they will take an ownership of these objectives. Are academicians justified with the expectation of ownership of learning by students? The problem is that students are expected to take something designed by others. And, that’s why they just take it. The relationship between students and teachers is like giver and taker. The teachers give so called knowledge to students and students take it. This is evident when educational researchers found that most of the students use a strategic learning approach to get the degree and they get it. Or they just learn what they are taught.

Oh! Did you read the above paragraph? So, where is the problem? No problem at all. Are you not happy with the structured and directive learning? Are not you comfortable because you know that you will fit well in this world, earn good amount of money and will be termed as successful in eyes of others (which reflects your vision too!) with the ‘training’ you are receiving in higher ‘education’ institutes?

2.  A degree

Let me tell you a story…you love stories…don’t you? Origin of universities -  The institution called ‘universities’ were not set up by intellectuals to teach students in order to frame and condition their minds according to the perceived needs of society. The first universities came into being from students who formed community for their own learning and they used to hire and fire faculty members. They used to have full ownership of learning. This situation changed when universities started providing degrees. The moment the degree granting practice started, faculty became more powerful than students’ community and started dictating the terms. It means that the faculty under the influence of those who fund them started deciding what to teach, how to teach, what not to teach and how not to teach.

But, why should you care? There is no problem…just ignore the above paragraph… do you not want to be rich to fund universities in future? A ‘successful’ and rich business man who need ‘trained’ students to work in your company or further your ‘business’ ‘your way’? So…where is the problem? No problem at all.

3. Higher education or training

There is a plethora of articles on difference between education and training in internet. One Google search is enough to find the difference. But, wait…..how to search in Google is training and how to interpret and use the results (and how not to!) and how to apply learning from this practice in your life is education. In simple words, training provides skills which are necessary to perform a task and education provides wisdom to decide whether you need such a training or not. The problem is that most of the academics know the difference but, in most educational institutes, we provide training to equip students for the ‘real’ world. And this real world is what we tell you, instead of you making your own sense of world. Wait a minute…how can you students with no expertise can make meanings unless we teach you how to do this too... If you start making free will meanings then it will create problem to our community of educators and experts. If you act as experts who will give importance to our expertise we earned after so much investment in our ‘education’? We need to carry on with our ‘tradition’. We should never lose our power… And, this is the reason, the structured and directive teaching is designed with the power of providing degree and credit so that the learning is proved as assured according to what is specified by us….the powerful faculty.

Wait… did you read the above paragraph too? If yes, you are not smart! Believe me there is no problem that is evident anywhere.

The problem appears when we try to use a critical approach. And, I have noticed in my 10 years of experience in academics that the critical thinking is lacking among so called intellectuals and students in the present era. The reason is our conditioned mind that accepts everything that is presented to us.

Don’t you seek structures, definitions, clear instructions, frameworks, concepts developed by others? Do you challenge existing definition, frameworks and concepts? Don’t you love to hear stories of so called expert practitioners and researchers/academics who provide their subjective knowledge as the ultimate knowledge to you well-structured in a spoon…sorry ‘spoon’ is taboo..? Let me use another word….fill your ‘empty’ glass of knowledge with our ‘wisdom’. Are you not happy with whatever so called experts tell (well sometimes after little challenge from you but eventually you give up!)…you love downloading the knowledge…from our minds to your mind in a directive, straight forward manner or sometimes indirectly from so called teaching and learning tools like cases, projects, lectures etc. (as education is a task and we need tools to make it easy to complete)! using established frameworks and concepts, we tell and you accept what is acceptable in the world and what is not, and how the world works and how you should work and behave. Don’t you see us as knowledge providers? No need to change the status quo. Let us enjoy the power and prestige in such a relationship. You should always feel that you are not knowledgeable enough, lack experience and expertise (and thus lack confidence!) After all you are students! Have you seen any faculty member who ask you to develop your own frameworks, your own concepts and definitions instead of applying the existing ones? (And if your answer is yes, ignore such a crazy professor…he is fake….he has no ‘knowledge’ to ‘give’ it to you!)

Ignore next paragraph too – remember – smart reading!

The real challenge for educators in this era is to instill in students the confidence and habit of critical thinking. Do academics have guts to tell students that whatever they are being told includes few subjective perspectives and not complete knowledge because the real learning and knowledge cannot get transferred from experts and cannot be downloaded in mind. Can we tell them that they are in fact receiving training in so called educational institutes so that they can get fit into the world (like cogs in a wheel/bricks in a wall – courtesy to Pink Floyd! Let us be happy…do students really understand the meaning of the Pink Floyd song?) My view is that the real education is there where students no longer depend on degrees, universities and teachers. Students design their own learning needs, find their own resources for learning, evaluate themselves or among peers, listen to all practitioners and researchers, but acknowledge that OK it is their perspective, their experience, their learning and their views, but we as students need to construct our own learning by freeing from existing frameworks and definitions. Of course, it first requires understanding the existing concepts and frameworks, otherwise how can one make herself free if she does not know properly the shackles binding her.

Did you read above paragraph too? You are not so smart. If you really think that you have received real education or if you think there is no way you can get the real education in universities, the best you can get is just training and you are educated enough to know that you do not need this training in the name of education, because you know how to self-learn independently and for life-long duration (and a high paying occupation for yourself)! It is better to drop-out before your minds also gets conditioned permanently. Or, ask from your professors…OK prof…this is what you told us/books mention/experts recommend about this…. But let me tell you how I constructed my learning from various resources and inputs and believe me more than half of what you told me is really bull sh…! Wait a minute…how can you talk to your professor like this…you do need to pass, don’t you? But, do you at least feel this?

True education provides capability of independent and lifelong self-learning. Wait! What I mentioned? Self-learning? Imagine if students are so much educated and developed in high schools that they do not need degrees and universities’ for further learning. Will it not change many things in this world? Now, it is a problem… How the universities will survive then? And wait a minute….I forgot I am a faculty member too! I should stop writing now…it is becoming dangerous! Go back to your class….listen to your professors…..find a good job or start a business and be ‘successful’ and yes, ignore this letter please! I am sure you will read this last paragraph…smart readers!

Borneo Post Online Article

It is important to write in a simple manner. This article is published in Borneo Post Online - A newspaper in Malaysia.
http://www.theborneopost.com/2013/04/03/arent-we-all-marketers-too/

I have been studying a course titled "Nature of learning and Teaching". The article by Biggs - considered as an important and influential article is a part of this course. I have tried to analyse this article and I welcome your comments on my analysis.

Biggs, John (1999) 'What the Student Does: teaching for enhanced learning', Higher Education Research & Development, 18: 1, 57 — 75

I appreciate the bold style of author and use of constructivism paradigm in the writing. The article appears to be very valuable for designing curriculum. The use of classifications (learner types, levels of focus, grading criteria, hierarchy of verbs, suitable list of TLAs and assessment tasks) provides very easy and structured reading. However, some of the classifications/categorizations bring some concerns as mentioned below. Irrespective of concerns and limited focus on curriculum design, the article depicts a good picture of real scenario in terms of teaching approaches and styles being adopted in universities and associated problems and challenges. Another issue evident in writing style of the author is the tendency to be prescriptive and lack of feminist approach. This gives the article a masculine approach. But, higher education itself has developed a heavy masculine characteristic and it is a challenge to use feminist approach in this domain, especially when constructivism itself is considered as a new and developing post-modern approach/philosophy.

Some concerns as a reader:

In this section, I have included my thoughts as a reader first (and less as an educator). However, in the section of logic/reason I have tried to wear the educator’s (perhaps author’s) shoe too. Taking such approach to reading and analysing helped me in observing various perspectives. However, I found that my role as a researcher has dominated my analysis.

1.    Student’s learning approach

1.1     The concern: The first section of the article: “Student Ability and Teaching Method: the pay-off” - presents/describes/acknowledging the idea of existence of two different approaches of students to learning (Superficial and Deep). In addition, the statement: “Students like Robert probably are in higher proportions in today's classes than was the case 20 years ago” (p.58) suggests that the thinking/organizing process of the author may fit the “Level 1. Focus:  what the student is” (p.62). This may bring some confusion due to inherent contradictions in the essence of the article and detailed content/statements in the article. Perhaps, this observation has appeared due to my dominating researcher role where I tend to find some gaps/problems in academic writing.

1.2 The respite (for researcher me): However, at another place in the same article, the statement: ““Lack of alignment is a major reason why students adopt a surface approach to learning” (p.69) suggests that the author may be aware of the reason why a particular student selects a particular approach to learning. The statement clearly signifies the importance of “Level 3 Focus: what the student does” (p.63).

1.3 The logic/Reason: I think that the author was struggling to write in a manner that teachers with all levels of focus can comprehend the article. Therefore, the author adapted the style where he tries to think from the angle of readers. In fact, explaining the constructivism or Level 3 focus of teaching approach is challenging and the author tried best to explain it in writing.

2.      Issue of assessments:

The issue of assessments is the one of the most common issue I frequently grapple with as an educator. Therefore, this section is viewed and analysed using the lens of a scholar and educator.

2.1   The concern: There is a strong emphasis/recommendation on grading (using Criteria referenced System) based on higher level of performance of students reflecting achievement of higher level verbs which are nominated in the objectives (p.65-66). But, at the same time, if the following statements are true:

1. “Teaching/learning activities are chosen that would be likely to encourage students to engage the optimal verbs, and that are practicable within the resources available. Objectives, teaching, and assessment, are now aligned, using the verbs in the objectives as markers for alignment” (p.66),
2. “From our students' point of view, the assessment always defines the actual curriculum” (Biggs p.68, as in Ramsden 1992, p. 187),
3. “In fact, it is difficult to separate a TLA from an assessment task (p.73)”

Is it possible that students get lower grades? It may be possible only if the teacher intentionally designs the assessments which are aimed at creating the differences among students, or, If TLAs are not carefully designed (and in this case, this is the fault of teacher who designed the TLA and not the student who received lower grade).

2.2 The respite (for researcher me): In fact, the solution is provided by the author in the article in the statement “Teachers shouldn't want a "good spread" in grade distributions. Good teaching should reduce the gap between Robert and Susan, not widen it” (Biggs p.69).

2.3 The logic/Reason: The activity of grading students based on spread of grades ranging from Fail to High Distinction or F to A grade, appears irrelevant if the constructivism (as explained by PBL or learning portfolio sections) approach of teaching is applied. But, the fact is university administrators may not be aware of such approach or it may be difficult to ignore the administrative requirements (as mentioned by author also), the inclusion of recommendation (as mentioned in section 2.1) in this article makes sense.

I remember how much time and effort was spent by me in explaining the administration after the last term where all students (12 out of 12) received D and HDs. The first comment from dean was = “is it not our (educator’s) role to demarcate better students from not so good ones!” And, the second comment reflected the distrust that my standard of teaching is not at par because students find it so easy that everyone gets D and HD! It followed with the suggestion to raise the bar at such a level that some students should get C and P grades in next term! I am still not sure what should I have not done so that students would have got P and C too. But, then I think, is it not my duty to strive for excellent performance by all students. Do I need to spend my time and effort to design activities to bring variations in performance of students or do I need to deign activities that are aligned with objectives and design suitable scaffolding, opportunities for skill development of students and contribute to their learning so that all of them achieve an HD ultimately!

Some concerns as an educator:

What’s missing in the article: Strategies to achieve/realize level 3 focus:

These elements are missing because the article primarily deals with the issues of curriculum design, and there is a limited focus on delivery aspects. Detailed description of methods to design the activities in order to encourage students’ engagement by creating a safe and respectful environment was missing. The reason may be that these issues are not directly related to curriculum design components (like objectives, assessments) etc.

3. Creating the engagement and perception on students’ role (Creating a learning community in classroom)

A section on the teacher’s view/perception on students and their role in learning is as important as teachers’ perception of self and their role in learning. 

If teacher perceive students as “children deprived of/dire learning who will become knowledgeable and learned after education” and students’ duty is to just “follow the teacher” so that they can receive the “help of a caring and motherly” teacher in form of pre-structured information (leading to spoon feeding), then obviously, this perception will tend to follow either Level 1 or Level 2 focus only.

But, if the teacher perceive students as mature, responsible and resourceful adults who can be trusted to contribute to learning for each other because of their own set of experiences in their lives, that can realize the formation of learning community in class (and it may be effective in large classes too), the teaching approach will definitely lead to level 3 focus.

Therefore, perception of teachers on students’ role and teachers’ faith and trust on students’ capabilities are pivotal to teaching concept formation and subsequent change of teaching concept.  Empowering students in classrooms is essential for reaching level 3 focus. In addition, mere methods and techniques to engage students while having perception of students as “children deprived of/dire need of learning” may not work effectively.

4. Empowering students

Flexible approach to teaching also supports level 3 focus. Empowering the students so that they take the responsibility of learning of others along with self-learning may result in students actually taking the role of educators effectively. This requires taking a back bench by the teacher during many sessions and perceiving every participant in class as having enough capacity and ability to “teach each other”. Teaching is no more a task to be performed by teacher/instructor/lecturer, but it is a self-automated process driven by all participants according to the context and need. This requires using not only peer assessments and feedback, but involving all the participants select (or design) their assessment components, assessment criteria/rubric for each assessment component and in formation of rules, norm setting. Such empowerment of students has the potential of transforming students no merely active learners but also as responsible facilitators for learning of other participants too.

I invite your feedback/input on this analysis