When we talk of video enabled learning and teaching, the idea is to integrate videos and associated technologies to make learning better and efficient for students.
Integrating videos doesn’t complete the task and may require some other functions as well. To dig deeper into this trend of learning, we discussed the practice with IFIM Business School, Bangalore which is one of the prominent business schools in India, with a history of more than two decades. Like most progressive education institutions, IFIM is constantly on the lookout for ways to better learning and aims to equip its students with the best of learning environment and its faculties with advanced teaching tools for providing and creating a comprehensive knowledge environment to enhance student learning.
In a recent interview with EdTechReview, Mr. Sanjay Padode, Secretary, IFIM Business School shared why and how they chose the solution offered by Impartus, the one in all solution with many features that helps institutions with all the needs of video-enabled learning and teaching.
Problem/Challenge
Sanjay Padode, Secretary, IFIM Business School during the interview shared that “A great institution is created by its faculties. It is necessary that there is collegiality within the faculty and they gel well. Today we need educators who are more learning-driven rather than being teaching oriented and our challenge is transition faculties to being more learning-driven rather than being teaching oriented. It’s a fact that in today’s times students are much more learned. They are smart and quicker. The faculties therefore have to understand and appreciate this change and try to use tools that can help them bridge the gap between what they want to teach and what the student wants to learn. What’s important for a faculty now is not to teach what they know but to facilitate learning in a way that it aligns to curriculum objectives.”
Amit Mahenseria, CEO at Impartus during the interview with EdTechReview team also shared that “The challenge faced by their institution was one of the administrative one, where to retain and acquire the best faculties to the school were becoming really difficult. They had been working towards enabling teachers to become learning oriented rather than teaching oriented for the benefit of the students. Their plan to better themselves aligned totally with our mission to improve experience for institution’s stakeholders by planned integration of videos.”
After spending time with them we understood that the major challenge that IFIM grappled was acquiring students for the postgraduate course initiated for the executives. New-age working professionals aren’t in favor of quitting jobs or taking sabbaticals to attend degree course in institutes. They needed a solution that would attract the executives and simultaneously figure out a flexible way to make higher education more feasible for them. The administrative team at IFIM was also looking for a solution which could offer live streaming of their Saturday course to students who needed to attend the class remotely from areas outside Bangalore, as well as record the course for regular MBA students to access during the week, exactly for what Impartus had created their solution for.
I think being in the education system, one of the key priorities for educators is to progress with the changing times and ensure that they provide students with the right learning environment. With technology penetration, the education system is in the process of an overhaul. Therefore, it is essential to shed teaching oriented techniques and adopting ways, which would facilitate customized learning needs for students. Teachers need to know what they want to teach and that must be parallel with how the students want to learn.
Impartus: The Solution
Impartus implemented a number of innovative features to meet IFIM’s needs. This video enabled learning solution became an integral part of IFIM’s academic process. Post implementation, IFIM witnessed increase in demand from students for accessing lectures post classroom hours. Impartus solution also proved out to be a great support for faculties. Faculties noticed increased classroom interaction from students, as they no longer have to focus on scribbling notes. Students are more participative during the class hours and there is also an improved faculty student engagement.
“The Impartus platform has enabled me to teach more effectively. We are using this video technology to engage students in and out of the classroom, and to serve more students with existing resources”, says Dr. Gunjan Mohan Sharma, Professor & Program Head, IFIM.
“We are trying to implement Impartus solutions across all our classrooms and integrate it under our Learning Management System so that all classroom sessions are available to students for anytime and anywhere access”, adds Mr. Sanjay Padode.
Impartus video solution also worked out well for working executives too, who were inclined to pursue postgraduate courses with IFIM. Impartus implemented a Live Chat Feature that enables the students to interact online while viewing the course via live streaming. This helped IFIM address the issue to provide course access to students in remote locations. IFIM was also able to monitor attendance of virtual participants.
Dr. Gunjan Mohan Sharma, Professor & Program Head, IFIM says, “We have a pool of individuals interested in pursuing this program but their only limitation is they’re not from Bangalore. They’re not physically present in the location. So I think this solution has definitely helped us overcome that challenge. At an institutional level, it has helped us convert that opportunity. At a student level, it has helped them to freely access the classroom at a time and place convenient to them.”
