In this regard, to guide & empower the commerce faculty members with necessary skills that would be required to handle courses under NEP, a series of Faculty Development Programme (FDP) on “Empowering Commerce Teachers for NEP 2020” has been organised under the aegis of Mangalore University in association with Mangalore University Commerce Teachers Association (MUCTA), St Agnes College (Autonomous) Mangaluru, Government First Grade College, Kavoor and Mangala Alumni Association (MAA).
The curtain raiser for the series of this innovative FDP was held virtually through webex platform on 4th October, 2021 at 4.30pm. Mr. Dinesh Kumar Alva, Chairman, Maps Group of Institutions, Mangalore and the president of Mangala Alumni Association delivered the inaugural address. Addressing the audience Mr. Alva congratulated the organizers for conducting the FDP series in a unique manner and stressed on the need for empowering the faculty members to attain the objectives of NEP in its true spirit. Sr Dr M. Venissa A.C., Principal, St Agnes College (Autonomous), Mangaluru welcomed the dignitaries and virtual audience. The Principal in her welcome address emphasized on the challenges that teachers have in adapting and embracing new skills to adjust to the changing scenarios in higher education.
This unique Faculty Development Programme was conducted from Monday to Sunday, from 5pm to 8pm, three hours daily, in three batches, each batch consisting of 100 commerce teachers for seven days a week to upgrade the skills required to teach courses under NEP curriculum. Hence the tagline of the FDP was rightly framed as “Invest 20 hours now to reap the benefit for a life time”.
The emphasis of the FDP was to assist commerce teachers to leverage the use of ICT tools & equip them with modern day teaching, learning and evaluation methods so as to implement NEP 2020 the right way, and contribute towards attaining its goal of education for developing skills with a practical exposure on the given subject and laying down an educational foundation among students to enhance their employability quotient, thus making B.Com programme more relevant and skill oriented under NEP 2020.
The first batch was kick-started on 4th October 2021 at 5pm soon after the inaugural ceremony and concluded on 10th October 2021 with a brain storming session on the B.Com curriculum under NEP. Prof. P.L.Dharma, Registrar of Evaluation, Mangalore University was the chief guest of the valedictory of the first batch of FDP and Dr Anasuya Rai, Principal, University College, Hampankatta, Mangalore and member of BOS of Commerce was the guest of honour. The second batch of the FDP started on 11th October and ended on 17th October, 2021. Dr. Jennifer Lolita, Joint Director of Collegiate Education, Mangalore Region was the chief guest of the valedictory of the second batch and Dr Ummappa Poojari, Associate Professor, Shree Gokarnanatheshwara College, Mangalore & member of BOS of Commerce was the guest of honour. The third batch of FDP began on 18th October and ended on 24th October, 2021 with a brain storming session at 4pm.
The main valedictory for all the three batches of FDP was held on 24th October 2021 at 5pm. Honourable Vice Chancellor of Mangalore University Prof. P.S.Yadapadithaya, who is also the Chairman of the State Level Curriculum Draft Committee for Commerce & Management was the chief guest. In his inspirational address, Prof. Yadapadithaya guided the teachers to adopt the qualities of resilience, in addition to the attributes such as openness, confrontation, trust, autonomy, pro-activeness, authenticity, ability to work in collaboration and an experimentation mind set to prepare oneself to cope up the challenges of NEP 2020. Teachers should have the positive mindset to convert the problems into challenges and challenges into opportunities to reach the pinnacles of success. There is a need to learn the latest skills & technologies available to enhance the employability possibilities of our students. Teachers are the game changers under the New Education Policy and education for life should be the main motto of every teacher, he stressed. He encouraged teachers to accept NEP without tear and fear and assured all the help needed to empower the teachers.
The participants of the FDP shared their feedback and appreciated the convenors of the FDP for their relentless services towards organising the FDP which benefitted them immensely to upgrade themselves.
Mr. Dinesh Kumar Alva, Chairman, Maps Group of Institutions, Sr Dr M. Venissa A. C., Principal, St Agnes College (Autonomous), Dr Shivaram P, Principal, GFGC, Kavoor were the Guest of honour during the Valedictory programme.
Over 250 faculty members from 82 affiliated colleges of Mangalore University benefited from the FDP and were awarded with a participation certificate.
Mr Louis Manoj Ambrose, Assistant Professor of Commerce, Govt.First Grade College, Kavoor and General Secretary, MUCTA & Dr Devi Prabha Alva, Associate Professor of Commerce, St Agnes College (Autonomous), Mangaluru and Vice President, MAA were the convenors of the series of FDP. They were ably assisted by the co-convenors Mrs. Roshni Yeshawanth, Assistant Professor of Commerce, Govt.First Grade College, Haleyangady & Joint Secretary, MUCTA, Mrs. Sabina D’Souza, Head, Department of BBA, Mrs. Sheryl Preethika, Assistant Professor of Commerce, Mr. Rodney Vaz , Assistant Professor of Commerce, St Agnes College Autonomous), Mangaluru.
Prof. Louis Manoj compered the valedictory programme. Dr Devi Prabha Alva elaborated the journey of FDP’s held in 3 batches. Mrs. Sabina D’Souza welcomed the participants. Mrs. Roshni Yeshawanth proposed the vote of thanks.
Due to the overwhelming response of commerce teachers of Karnataka State in general and Mangalore University affiliated colleges in particular, the convenors of the FDP have decided to hold another Faculty Development Programme shortly to extend the benefits of the same to as many teachers as possible.
A snapshot of FDP:
Day-1 began with a session on “Working with Excel” by Ms. A. Vanaja, Assistant Professor, Department of BCA, St Aloysius College (Autonomous) Mangalore and this session involved hands-on exercises that helped faculty members gain practical knowledge of excel. The contents of this session were Basics of Excel, Data Validation, Advanced Filters ,Pivot Table, H LOOKUP,V LOOKUP, Financial Formulas, What – if Analysis Graph, Real Time Project etc. which are essential to teach practical courses of B.Com programme.
Day-2 focussed on applications of Excel functions to teach Goods & Services Tax which would ease the calculations of GST. CA Anwesh Shetty & CA Frenil Rithesh D’Souza, Chartered Accountants of Mangalore were the resource persons of this session and they trained the faculty members to transform their classes into a lively and engaging atmosphere with the use Excel.
Day-3 of the FDP was very fascinating as the participants had an opportunity to observe the live securities market operations through the “Market Watch” facilitated by the most dynamic Investment Consultant & Social Entrepreneur, Dr Priya Agrawal from Mumbai. She gave a clear understanding of the Investment and trading techniques, basics of Technical Analysis & Fundamental Analysis, practical knowhow on Investment & Capital Market Analysis.
Day-4 had two sessions and both were dedicated to teach & evaluate theory papers such as Management, Marketing & Human Resource Management with Case Study & Practical Approach. Prof. Dilip Chandra & Prof. Vedha Balaji, from Christ University, Bengaluru were the enthusiastic resource persons. In the second session Mr. Prasanth N, Senior Manager & Faculty, Canara Institute of Bank Management enlightened the participants on the operations & impact of Banking technologies viz., Digital Banking, Neo Banking, Basics of Bank Credit, Grievance Redressal in Banks, Cyber Security mechanisms & Agricultural Sector of banking.
Day-5 saw another dimension of the FDP as it focussed more on preparing job creators than job seekers. Mr. Ashith B Hegde, Mr. Dikshith Rai & Mr. Iqbal Mohammad, the leading entrepreneurs of the IT sector of the region grab the attention of the participants to Start Ups & Entrepreneurship and educated the participants on funding of business projects, sources of mentoring, how to use the facilities of local induction centres etc. The second session was handled by Prof. Louis Manoj Ambrose, the Secretary of MUCTA and the assistant professor of the GFGC, Kavoor on how to make the classroom teaching interesting & engaging by making effective use online learning tools. He gave hands on training on using creative techniques like Brain Teasers, Use of Testmoz for setting up time bound quizzes, Use of Videos/images for effective Teaching & Learning, storification, Gamification & other such tools.
Day-6 had another interesting session on Teaching Statistics using Excel by Prof. Sugandha Gupta, Professor of Commerce and an IT Specialist of ESSGEE DIGISKILLS Learning Centre, Mumbai who kept the session alive with her vibrating teaching skills to train teacher participants on Learning Statistical techniques using Excel & Analysis of data using Statistical Functions. The second session of the day was engaged by CA Anwesh Shetty & CA Frenil Rithesh D’Souza, Chartered Accountants of Mangalore on Teaching Financial Accounting with the use of ZOHO Books & Teaching Financial Management & Cost Accounting papers using Excel functions.
Day-7 was earmarked exclusively to have the brainstorming session by the participants on the outcomes of the FDP and the feasibility of implementing such skills in a blended learning atmosphere.
