August 24th, 2011

What Do Students Like and Hate in a Teacher: Input From My Students at Madras Advertising Club

At the start of my first day of class for the 2011 batch of students at the Madras Advertising Club, I asked them to do a task. I asked each of the students to write down three things that they HATE in a teacher and 3 qualities that they LOVE in a teacher.

I asked them to think of their teachers in school and college while listing down their thoughts. I advised them not to write their names as I wanted them to write with a free and open mind.

These inputs are always helpful in understanding the expectations of the students. I’m passionate about consistently improving myself as a teacher and have found these to be very helpful in my pursuit of excellence.

I figured I would share this list as this would be useful for anyone interesting in teaching.

I have compiled all the points together. I have left out duplicate points. The language you find below are from the students themselves with just minor polishing from my side.

WHAT WE HATE IN A TEACHER
————————————————

 

WHAT WE LIKE IN A TEACHER
————————————————-

Hope you found these lists useful. Do add in your likes and dislikes below and will add them to the list above.

August 23rd, 2011

This Week’s Guest Speaker at Entrepreneurship Class : Geoffrey G Thomas on Radio Industry

I’ve taken charge of the course ‘Entrepreneurship and Media Management’ at Anna University’s Dept of Media Studies. As part of the course, I rope in experienced professionals to give guest lectures to the final year students.

For this week, I’m roping in Geoffrey G Thomas, a veteran in the Radio business and a guy who defies his age with his enthusiasm and youthfulness.

Geoff has been in the radio industry for over 15 years. He started off as an on air presenter in 1995 on Times FM ( Now Radio Mirchi). In 1999, he was unanimously voted as the best on air presenter by a leading english newspaper.

From year 2000 to 2009, he was with Radio Indigo in Bangalore, where he set up the country’s first all English private FM radio station. Responsible for both Bangalore and Goa, he was the National Programming Director during that period.

Later, he moved backed to Chennai and took charge as the Chief Programming Officer at Chennai Live 104.8 FM. He was here for two years from April 2009 to April 2011.

Geoff is now an entrepreneur and is in the process of setting up his own venture called Amaranta Entertainment.

June 28th, 2011

Teaching a 4 Months Course on Entrepreneurship & Media Management at Anna University


I first started teaching as a visiting faculty at College of Engineering, Guindy at Anna University in 2001.  That stint still continues.  Today, the University approached me to conduct a 4 month course on ‘Entrepreneurship and Media Management‘ for the final year students of M.Sc Electronic Media from the Department of Media Studies.

It’s the longest engagement that I had committed to the University. Never before have I taken a course for 4 months. Most of my previous engagements were guest lectures, the longest lasting  a week.

At first, I hesitated. It was too heavy a commitment.  Teaching, never is and never will be, a good paying proposition. At best, its a distraction from my professional work. Something that’s best avoided.

But then, I have an emotional connection with Dept of Media Studies. I have been associated with them for 10 years and stuck a strong rapport with the professors and faculty. Some of the faculty members right now are my old students.   Besides, the smartest students from the class every year intern at my place and it has been a very mutual relationship. I had to give back to the department in my own way and what better way than sharing your knowledge.

I said yes.  But on the condition that I will invite experts who I feel are the best in the field to join with me in teaching. This is not something that other teachers do. But I was clear. Only professionals in a particular area should teach a particular subject.  The university accepted my proposal. So, as I proceed to teach in the next 16 weeks, I will look up for professionals and interested folks who enjoy teaching to invite to the university.

Take a look at the course outline below. If any of these falls in your area of expertise and interest, please let me know.  We should certainly talk.

ENTREPRENEURIAL COMPETENCE

Entrepreneurship concept
Entrepreneurship as career
Personality Characteristics of Successful Entrepreneur
Knowledge and Skills required as an Entrepreneur.

ENTREPRENEURIAL ENVIRONMENT

Business Environment
Role of Family and Society
Entrepreneurship Development Training
Other Support Organizational Services
Centre and State Government Industrial Policies and Regulations
International Business
Proposal Writing
How to raise funding.

BUSINESS PLAN PREPARATION
Feasibility Study
Budgeting
Project Profile Preparation
Evaluation Criteria

MEDIA INDUSTRY

Starting a ..
Newspaper/Magazine/Online Journal
FM Radio
Community Radio
TV Channels
Production House
Setting up Studios
Professional Photographer
Cinematographer
Cinema Pre-production
Production, Publicity and Distribution

ADVERTISING and ANIMATION

Advertising Agency
Idea Concept
Media Planning
Identifying the problem
Target Audience
Visual and Copy
Timing and Duration
Post-Testing
INS Accreditation
Intellectual Property Rights

As you can see, there are many areas that are far beyond my capability level. There are many who are professionals in these areas and it really makes sense for the students to learn from the right professional.

The problem with the current study system is that the academic staff with almost zero work experience teach these subjects. You can’t blame them either. That’s the way the system exists.  Here is where I see us contributing the most.  We can make a difference by identifying the right professional for the right subject and connect them with the students. I truly want to make this count.

The course starts from July 1st week. Every Tuesday Afternoons from 1:30 pm to 4:30pm. A guest lecture can last anywhere from half hour to 3 hours. Quite flexible.

So, if you love teaching and if any of these areas are your passion, I would love to connect up. Am available at 098415 97744 and Kiruba(@)Kiruba.com

 

February 5th, 2009

My Speaking Schedule : Walking My Talk

One of my goals for 2009 is to get better at public speaking. While many say that they have enjoyed my talks, deep inside me, I know I could’ve done much better. Way better.   My heart always cringes when I miss an opportunity to deliver a knock-out performance (and not just a good performance).  I think there’s a sea of difference between a good performance and a Knock-out performance.  My ex-boss calls it “hitting the ball out of the park”.  �

Unfortunately, a knock-out performance also requires an extraordinary effort. Quite honestly, I’ve never been the sort of guy to prepare for a talk weeks in advance. It’s always been a slog-over effort. While that’s sufficient for a ‘good performance’, its just is never good enough to hit that sixer.
Over the next few weeks and months,  I’ll be putting on an honest effort to correct myself, imbibe the qualities that I’ve admired in other speakers and to do justice to the qualities that what people believe I have. I’ll document my efforts, tricks, pitfalls of my journey and hope to learn from you all.
Thankfully, I’ve had a few opportunities lined up and I *really* hope to walk my talk.  Here’s what my schedule looks like.


The Entrepreneurship Cell at IIT Bombay is organizing the annual The Entrepreneurship Summit on 7th Feb. The event hosts Eureka’08, Asia’s biggest business plan competition. I’ve been invited to be a mentor and look forward to sharing my expertise and helping the folks out.

At the same event, I’ll be the moderator for a panel discussion titled ‘What are the pitfalls to avoid before starting up’. I’ve got a kickarse panelists of successful entrepreneurs and a great audience.  Moderating panels is a bit more challenging than speaking at a panel and look forward to it.

It’s the biggest NASSCOM event with the who’s who of CXOs.  I’ve been invited as the official podcaster for the event and look forward to interacting with some of the best minds in the industry.

It’s the biggest annual PR event for PRCAI ( Public Relations Consultants Association of India) and I’m a panelist for a session titled, ‘New Media v/s Traditional Media‘.  My hands are already itching!  Can’t wait.

After a long time, there’s a session from STC Chennai taking place and I’m speaking on how Technical Writers can benefit from Social Media.  The event takes place on 21st February.

The talk should’ve happened last week if the TamilNadu govt would not have announced a blanket shut down of all colleges because of the SriLankan crisis.  I’m told my talk at the college has been pushed to next week and I’ll be speaking on ‘Making the most of the Downturn’.

The biggest SEO and SEM event in India makes a comeback after a successful show in 2007. The event is happening on Feb 28th & March 1st.  I’m co-organizing the event as part of The Knowledge Foundation and will also speak on how Social Media can help enhance your Web footprint resulting in better search results.

The 2nd Facebook Developers Garage in India will take place in Chennai. Again an event I’m helping co-organize as part of The Knowledge Foundation.  Hoping to get the development community together and share my experiences on how best to leverage the power of Facebook as a platform. The event takes place on March 15th.

I’m told that the Symbiosis students really liked my talk at the ‘FootPrints’ event in Chennai and have invited me back to their annual event called ‘Cyber Media Conclave’ taking place at their beautiful campus in Pune.  Don’t know the exact dates but I’m told its scheduled for mid-year.

The event that really captured my attention is this PR 2.0  event that will take place in Tehran, Iran. It’s organized by the Iran PR professionals and pleasantly surprised by how much interest they have in leveraging the Net as a medium.  I’ll be keynoting at this event and will be speaking on how Govt organizations can leverage the power of Social Media. The event takes place on July 9th.

September 7th, 2007

Teaching New Media to Sri Lankan Journalists

I’ve been invited by SRM University to conduct a course on new media technologies to a select group of 20 Tamil Journalists. These journalists are all from north Sri Lanka and most of them are from Jaffna and other LTTE controlled areas. They have been sponsored by a Denmark organization to attend a 6 months journalism course here in Tamil Nadu.

It’s been one of the most fascinating teaching experience for me. For the first time, I’m teaching in Tamil. I’m quite conversant in Tamil but just that I have never taught in the language. I had my apprehensions but the first day was a lot smoother than I had anticipated.

Listening and comprehending Sri Lankan Tamil is a challenge and I’m yet to fully grasp it. I had to listen very intuitively to understand what they are trying to say. I guess, in a couple of days’ time, I should get used to it. The only other time I have been exposed to the tamil is from Kamal’s movie, Thenali.



Syndicate this site