Unlike schools and colleges where a certification or diploma or even a degree to teach a certain subject is mandatory, engineering colleges do not have this provision. Nor is there any serious attempt made either on the part of institutions or individuals towards professional development. It is in this context there is a greater need for training programs, workshops, and conferences that aim at equipping the teacher with new approaches to teaching, breakthroughs in pedagogy, and providing insights into learning and teaching styles besides giving recruits the much-needed exposure to the art and science of teaching.
In IIET every faculty member must complete a teacher’s training program. Every faculty member who joins IIET should complete a training course in Indira Gandhi’s Technical Teachers Training Center and should be awarded a certificate from there. Also conducting motivation class for the existing staff.
Once the teacher is appointed should attend a training class that has been taken by the Principal of the technical teachers training center. Last year it was taken by the Principal Dr. Viji Ramakrishnan. The total duration of the course is 15 days (i.e., 1 hour per day).
To develop new innovative short-term and long-term programs by collaborating with universities and institutes of higher learning for developing teachers to meet the requirements of engineering institutions IIET invites well-known academic professors with the help of the principal of technical teachers training center.
The microteaching technique is also used for the development of the newly joined faculty members. Micro-teaching skills include
The Skill of Introduction.
The Skill of Explaining.
The Skill of Questioning.
The Skill of Stimulus Variation.
The Skill of Reinforcement.
The Skill of Illustration.
The Skill of Blackboard Writing.
The Skill of Achieving Closure.
So the teacher can review a recording of a teaching session, to get constructive feedback from peers or students about what has worked and what improvements can be made to their teaching technique.
Most teachers think that preparation is reading the subject to be dealt with. They work on what to say. They do not look at ‘how to’. They don’t plan their interaction either.
Humor is the forte of a few teachers only. Training programs focus on thrust areas. Instead of scratching the surface of too many areas, training programs should aim at giving a reasonably long exposure to areas like classroom management, time management, work-life balance, soft skills for educators, communication techniques, non-verbal cues, stress busters, grammar & usage, motivation techniques, counseling, effective use of humor in teaching and the like.
Types of teaching methods include differentiated instruction, lecture-based instruction, technology-based learning, group learning, individual learning, inquiry-based learning, kinesthetic learning, game-based learning, and expeditionary learning. Training programs help avoid pitfalls like bad manners, excessive control, improper use of pedagogical aids, inept PPTs, bloopers, and sagging morale. These programs go a long way in enriching educators with new techniques, tricks, tips, methods, processes, and procedures, and to cap it all, inspiration, giving them the strength to face one more academic year.
We realize that the training program was very effective for the IIET because those who have been awarded certificates from the technical teachers training center have gotten greater feedback than the existing faculty members of IIET. By this training, most of the lecturers can take classes on complex theories, and principles in a much more interesting way. This is evident from the increasing attendance percentage of the students.
We have a syllabus for the technical teacher’s training program. It is given below