Vol : 1 Edtion : 6May 2009

Seeking guidance from an experienced professional?......Remote Mentoring could be a possiblesolution

Marcel Proust, a French novelist, rightly remarked, “The real voyage of discovery consists not in seekingnew lands, but in seeing with new eyes.” It therefore behooves upon every teacher in a university orschool, to act as a torchbearer and guidepost for their students. Verily, a great teacher is a role model,who is academically competent, behaviourally upright, socially responsible, and spiritually inspiring. Inshort, a true teacher is a beacon of light.Higher education in professional disciplines, especially in the field of IT, demand holistic honing of technical,behavioural and life skills, that fosters an inquisitive mind possessed with analytical and problem solvingskills.With advancements in technology and improved connectivity, teaching pedagogy is witnessing a paradigmshift. Today, an instructor is more of a facilitator than a teacher per se. Instructor-led teaching methodshas transgressed into learner-centric models. The name of the game is learner empowerment, largelypropelled by web based, e-learning courseware; self-paced and flexible curricula; with ingredients of real-life simulated learning through story-centered, realistic case studies and collaborative project work tightlymeshed with stringent deadlines. In such a dynamic teaching environs, the role of mentoring and buddiesassume critical significance.Fullerton and Malderez, see mentors having five roles, that of model, acculturator, sponsor, supporterand educator. As a model a mentor inspires; as an acculturator, a mentor shows the ropes and acclimatizethe mentee to a particular culture; as a sponsor, mentor unveils opportunities for growth; as supporter, amentor acts as a sounding board; and finally, as an educator, a mentor focuses on enhancing the learningprocess. However, in the scales and throughput of students engaged by technical institutions, it becomesimperative to take recourse to distance mentoring strategies.In the era of scattered expertise, the concept of remote mentoring has evolved to gain importance in thefield of academics and industry. Remote mentoring stands as an answer to the challenges we face ingetting the subject matter experts to the campus or sending the students to the place of experts/practitioners, which is very expensive. But Information Technology (IT) has made a break through thisdifficulty with its innovative inventions in this

Internet and Go Global era

.It made people who are globally distributed and/or collocated to access Virtual class rooms and getconnected via the Internet technology and the mobile technology. It made the subject experts and thepractitioners available to the students via Voice over IP (VOIP), Video Conferencing (VTC), Skype and manyother open source free tools that support extensive transfer or media, data etc via the Internet simulatingan in-campus educational environment.Nevertheless, a paradigm shift in the thought process is required to identify and recognize it as a viablestrategy. Remote mentoring has proved to be successful in the corporate too, where companies likeMicrosoft and HP have benefited extensively. Encouraging individual’s life long learning process throughconstant questioning and assessment can facilitate reflective learning. This kind of a personalized mentoringvia the remote technology of IT has been effectively employed in MSIT. At IIIT Hyderabad, many departmentscollaborate with the industry practitioners, the subject experts from other universities, researchers andso on; this methodology improved the quality of education in practice promoting new learning at bothends. Pedagogy of this kind would help students equip themselves with necessary skills to facilitate theiringress into industry.

Padmaja NaraharisettyPrincipal MentorSoft Skills

HAPPINESS

Life is nothing but uncertain. We always find ourselves dealing with it in some way or other. Itsometimes gives us immense pleasure and sometimes it hurts us. But what according to you ishappiness? I know I might sound like some spiritual guru but deep within every person is some or otherway a spiritual guru. Anyways talking about happiness, I always felt there are two kinds of happiness.One which makes you cry and is etched on your heart and one which is very superficial and is very shortlived. For eg: buying new clothes or shopping might give you a high but for how many hours? I guess tillyou wear that new piece of clothing and have got praises from your friends. Period. Happiness ends. Itwas during this search of happiness I met the kids at the orphanage. I had no idea what theirbackground was, did not know any of them, but something struck me!!! When I started talking tothem, they told their stories. They told their experience while shooting for the film Gamyam. They tookus around and showed the places they had shooting. You should have seen the sparkle in their eyes!Nothing can give you that high ( I can bet on that). How happy they were! They did not have parents,they did not have money, they were having very basic education. Not wearing branded clothes, in factthey would wear clothes which other people would give them after using them for years. Then whatmade these small kids happy? Why on earth after having money, family, all the basic necessities in lifewe are still struggling to be HAPPY? Why? Is it because we have stopped valuing small things in life?People who have helped us, cared for us, loved us? Or is it that we have taken life to be granted......I amstill searching for an answer..If you have the answer……BE HAPPY!! :)

Sweta PadmaAssociate Mentor.MSITWhat’s in a name?

I take you at your word. Only call me “love,” and I’ll be baptized with a new name. From now on, I’ll neverbe “Romeo.” (Romeo to Juliet - William Shakespeare). In this play titled Romeo and Juliet, the two maincharacters Romeo Montague and Juliet Capulet fall in love but face many obstacles because they aremembers of two warring families. Romeo rejects his family name and instead agrees to be baptized “asJuliet’s lover.”Is your name the only enemy to your beloved? Shakespeare points out at the triviality in a name butNapoleon the Third, Emperor of France and nephew of the great Napoleon, boasted that in spite of all hisroyal duties he could remember the name of every person he met. During the conversation with a stranger,he took the trouble to repeat the name several times, and tried to associate it in his mind with the person’sfeatures, expressions and general appearance. The ability to remember the names is important in businessand social contacts as it is in politics. The first lesson a politician learns during the elections is to remember