Creativity in Class room Management

Key Concepts / postulates

1. Learning vs Teaching
2. Holistic vs restrictive
3. Real life vs theoretical
4. Solution vs knowledge
5. Facilitator vs teacher
6. Practical vs assumptions
7. Education to be enjoyable not to be feared
8. Internalisation vs memorizing
9. Employability vs scoring marks in exams
10. Collaborative learning vs lecturing

I would like to first state a few basic premises before getting into the subject of classroom
management.

1. Education should be an enabler to solve real life problems and develop holistic
individuals’ It is not desirable for educational institutions / programs to insulate the
students from complexity in reality
2. Real life problems are not molded / cast around specific academic disciplines. Every
real life situation / problem has a multi dimensional character and needs a multi
disciplinary approach, to realistically handle it to achieve deliverable results
3. In a class room context, the transfer of knowledge is subject matter wise, but in real
life, problems do not come well structured on the lines of the subjects being taught.
Thus generally, class room sessions tend to be an oversimplification of the real life
scenario, and tend to give a false euphoria about ones capability to solve a problem.
In real life, the solution need to be all inclusive, (not centered on a class room course

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 /discipline) consider overlaps (dependencies / interfaces), with other dimensions of
the problem. Thus the discussion need to be problem centered and not subject
centered, which is the reason why, many of our distinction / rank holder candidates
find themselves unfit in the industry in the initial years.
4. Every teacher / student of a subject would very much like to have the problem
revolving around a theoretical concept, as it reduces complexity, and enhances
comfort level due to manageability of the problem. It also gives them a sense of
euphoria that their knowledge really works, a misplaced comfort feel
5. In handling any subject (course / concept) the teacher should adopt a holistic
approach without losing track of the specifics or avoiding depth in handling the
subject. While depth is necessary to understand the application and appreciate
theoretical concepts, holism in approach is equally essential to deliver practical
solutions. Holistic approach encompassing all dimensions of the real life situation
(beyond the call of specific disciplines) enables reaching deliverable solutions not
constrained by theoretical idealisms. Holism demands exposing the problem beyond
the surface and take into cognizance external interactions and influences in the search
for a solution. Oftentimes external interactions are kept out of the classroom
discussion, by drawing an artificial boundary to the problem context, by conveniently
stating assumptions, to reduce complexity. But assumptions cannot be imposed on
real life situations, and internalization of knowledge and confidence building are
possible when the existence of external interactions and imperfections are recognised
and captured in the solution design. These are best achieved through real life case
analysis. Need for holistic perspectives and recognizing complexity are well brought
out through case analysis.
6. Cases shall be a statement of a real life problem / decision situation, without
preconceived reference to select theoretical concepts that drive the solution to the
problem. Cases shall be an unstructured presentation of the situation, to as closely
mimic the reality, as well as to give an opportunity to the analyst, to bring in structure
to the understanding, analysis and handling of an unstructured situation, for the
purpose of analysis. This is what education is supposed to achieve.

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The context of my note relates to professional / post graduate education, as without a context,
discussions serve no purpose. In the judgment of the employer community, the most serious
issue confronting the Indian Educated (professional) youth is that they are perceived
unemployable and hence tend to be deployed for underemployment and thereby huge
national resources and sub-optimally deployed. Why should we as a nation punish ourselves
this way?

Employability implies the existence of certain elements of competence in the candidate, to be

able to deliver solutions / results or perform to expectations, in his day to day work in the
prevailing business and organisational context. Employers find that the ability of the fresh
recruits to seamlessly join the mainstream of their organization and be productive, in a short
time, is very low. Induction programs are not enough, but they need to either run an
educational program or put the entrant through extended periods of guided apprenticeship or
assign relatively lower level jobs to enable learning through observation, mistakes, and
corrective action by superiors. The factors that contribute to this scenario include the bid gap
between what they have been exposed to, in their educational institution and what they are
expected to deliver and how they are expected to conduct themselves.

This gap is primarily due to the lack of sensitivity / comprehension of the new recruit to the
complex nature of the problem situation, in which they are expected to perform. This leads to
poor alignment / fitment between the candidate’s competence and needs in the work place,
which gap need to be filled through long periods of internships, mentoring, internal
training,…, all of which are cost drivers to the employer, and hamper employee productivity.
This is also one of the drivers for voluntary / involuntary early separation due to misfits,
stress levels due to low productivity.

As a method of class room management Case Studies, incorporated, as part of the training,
are expected to provide that level of exposure to near real life scenario, and mimic real life
approaches to complex problems. Case approach will impart the needed comfort, confidence,
and communication skill to the candidate, to move seamlessly in the organizational stream.

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At the professional / post graduate level, there should be no teaching, but only learning. This
may sound playing with semantics, but in reality have deeper consequences. In the learning
mode, the objective of the institution / the teacher shall be to create a learning environment
for the student community. The teacher should take on the role of a facilitator who can bring
value to the class room interaction, through his /her experience, in a variety of situations and
add that great value of differing perspective, being able to see beyond the obvious and
generate confidence among the taught. The teacher shall also be a moderator to steer the
situation from going in a skewed / tangential direction due to over enthusiasm of a few or
misplaced focus on trivials. This is possible only if the teacher is closer to the real world
through constant interface with the external environment, in his /her area of expertise. This
can be achieved only through involvement in research./ consultancy/ having practical
experience in the application of his subject knowledge. A teacher will be respected by the
student community not for replicating text book theory, but for demonstrating his /her
application of it, in a complex situation and bringing that added perspective / new dimensions
to the classroom experience.

In a postgraduate teaching (learning situation) profession, the effectiveness of the knowledge

imparting process is governed by, how the candidate is groomed to find solutions and fit into
to real life situation. The teacher and the taught need to work collaboratively to debate,
explore, add new dimensions and understand the concepts in as simple a manner as possible.
The key words shall be: internalization, separate the chaff and corn, address the real
problem, manage the peripherals, and ignore the irrelevant. Internalization or true learning
happens only when one is able to relate the theoretical concepts to real solutions to real
problems. This approach helps in stretching the boundaries of knowledge and understanding.
One should take a small problem and get into the dept and breadth of it (scratch the surface
and stretch the boundaries), as applicable in a real life context, so that all interfaces to the
subject of discussion, are also brought to the surface and not buried for convenience, through
artificial assumptions. This should contribute to a holistic appreciation of the complexity of
the real life context and confidence building.

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The learning process shall be an inclusive one (of all students), which closely reflects an
organizational context, where all stakeholders are bound to bring their own perspective to the
understanding of the problem and solution definition, and the outcome is expected to be
embraced by all. This approach will also facilitate mimic the political process in a real
organizational context, in the class room. There need not necessarily be a one right solution,
but the objective shall be to unfold and expose the problem to its bone. The learning achieved
through this process would have sunk into the system, which is what makes the candidate
confidently move seamlessly in his /her profession, post college days.

In addition to learning the subject, the process shall also help impart skills such as
presentation, communication, emotional maturity to handle group dynamics, team playing,
confidence, judgment, risk taking ….all of which are very essential in an organizational
context, sometimes more valued than technical skills, alone.

We should endeavor to break all conventional fixations / hangovers of the past, of

memorizing theories, instilling fear among the taught, compulsive learning and treating
marks scored as reflection of worth of the individual, in society.

It would be a good idea to have more of end to end project works comprising topic selection,
elaboration of project, objective definition, data sources, collection and analysis, drawing
inferences from analysis, defense through group assignments, and individual assignments as
a major part of the curricula. Since theoretical knowledge may be able to be assimilated
through text book reading, the class room experience shall encompass problem solution, team
working, surprise quizzes, open book exams, and term papers. Such an approach is more
likely to provide a real life experience

The value of education is determined by the value that the taught is able to deliver to society,
not memorizing theories, formulae.