Enter a typical B-school classroom and more often than not, you
would find a lively discussion being carried out over a case study. Over the
years, case studies have become a popular mode of imparting nuances of the
business to the participants of the MBA courses.
Tracking the course of action followed by a company or an
industry at a particular time in certain key areas helps students learn by
example. However, learning by example is not just restricted to case studies
as was found out on being exposed to a new methodology adopted in a P.G.D.M classroom
at the S. P. Jain Institute of Management and Research, Mumbai
The new methodology is
based on a more innovative approach. Popularly known as the ET sessions,
this is a series of special sessions designed and included within the
pedagogy to help the students apply the knowledge gained during the regular
course lectures to the current issues. These sessions were conceptualized by
Dr. M. L. Shrikant, (Dean, SPJIMR Mumbai) and are conducted under the aegis
of Prof. Jiban Mukkopadhay (Former Economic Adviser, Tata Group) and Dr.
Pallavi Mody (Consulting Economist, K. R. Choksey Shares and Securities, Pvt
Ltd.).
The sessions consisting of all the participants, a couple of
professors and an industry expert are interactive in nature. The
participants are expected to browse over major headlines from some of the
leading financial dailies especially The Economic Times and The Economist,
for the preceding one week. They are then expected to deliberate on those
issues for some time before coming to the session, to attain an insight into
the subtleties of each issue, headline or news item.
The scope of such
sessions is then further increased by dividing the participants into groups.
Each group is entrusted with the responsibility of taking up a current issue
or an event and carrying out an in-depth research on the same. Some of the
topics covered recently included the Arcelor-Mittal deal, the Railways
turnaround story, the overheating of the Chinese economy etc.
Discussions and
presentations are then carried out in the classroom, over various factors
surrounding the issues and an attempt is made at applying, the concepts
learned during the course, to such events. The entire proceedings are
moderated by the professors who chip in with relevant insights wherever
appropriate. The industry expert then provides their opinion on the way the
industry is moving or shaping.
Such sessions are increasingly finding favor with the student
fraternity. The takeaways from these sessions are huge. The participants are
able to apply their knowledge practically on more contemporary issues than
those covered in the typical case studies. They can form a predictive
insight on the issues and see firsthand whether the same insights actually
get implemented in the real world as the event progresses.
Presentations in
the form of discussions help the participants improve upon the business
communication at the same time. A learned audience, in the form of qualified
professors and industry experts ensures that the quality of the discussions
is high and pertinent to the expectations of the participants of the course.
In the backdrop of such
pedagogic approaches, it is clear, that the focus of education is shifting
towards more thought provoking and participative methodologies than the
conventional classroom teaching.
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