Wise teaching and the 'Tower Building Exercise'

All through my life i have only witnessed the mediocre ways of teaching i.e. at school, at high school and next, though i expected this to change at least during my graduation, nothing actually happened.

After i took a break of three years from all this pedagogy and education system by starting my professional career in an MNC,i felt like may be i should study in a reputed and prominent institution where i can actually see and feel the methods and practices of engaging, interactive and intriguing teaching which i missed out in the past.

Change for the better

That's when i joined NITIE, Mumbai. A top b-school of the nation.I happily write this first blog of mine as the days have come when i would start experiencing a different way,style and class of teaching.

My very first day started with a lecture on 'Principles of Organization and Management'. Prof. T.Prasad briefly introduced himself and started giving things that looked like toys. Though they were really toys, but it was not a lecture.Apparent in his way of teaching, he is a professor who believes in interactive learning and hence seldom used a chalk or a presentation to teach.The things brought by himself to the classroom were used to explain and make learning simpler.

One of the students mentioned that Prof. Prasad was popularly known as Dr.Mandi.The professor explained why he was called so and then went on to make us realize the opportunity cost of studying at NITIE by saying "Aaj ka roti aaj hi kamana hai".He elaborated in detail why it is very important for every one to earn their bread each and every day although being a student. It was a totally different thought and truly encouraging.

In keeping with what was in my mind regarding the present day education system, Prof. Mandi criticized it for its practices and ways of teaching.On the other hand, he advised that students and youngsters of today's generation who have got obsessed with smart phones, tablets, Internet and similar technological innovations must thrive to educate the have nots using that very technology. One example cited was usage of blogs to spread thoughts, awareness, innovations, ideas in a constructive manner that not only reaches people spread all over, but educates in mass numbers.

On the whole,the session on day one was generic,very informative and very interesting.

The demonstration : Tower building exercise

The next day, Prof. Mandi began with the concepts of organization and management.This,he started explaining with the help of the tower building exercise.

The tower building experiment initially was demonstrated by one student where he began piling up small and identical cubes to form a tower.The experiment ended with a tower that was 16 cubes tall.The learning from this first experiment was that the tower building activity of the student was pure craftsmanship which doesn't need any organization and management and where satisfaction levels are high.

As part of the same exercise, eight students volunteered for the next tower building demonstration. But this time, the student forming the tower was blindfolded and the remaining had to guide that student in formation of the tower.It ended with a tower that was 7 cubes tall.

The inference to be drawn from this exercise is that craftsmanship where one person was involved in a single activity needed no organization and management.As the number of people involved scaled up, the need for organization and management was clearly evident and that the sole purpose of it is to work towards achieving the mission and vision.

Thanks to 'wise teaching', the impact of organization and management was demonstrated with the help of a live example and this is something that will not easily fade away in our memories.

As Albert Einstein truly said : "It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge"