In the previous post various reasons for student’s disengagement in class were identified. These factors were related to students, faculty and institute and to the curriculum adopted. Once it is identified that students are disengaged it is crucial to address the issue appropriately. The faculty members have a major role to play in this regard as most of the measures are related to, or driven by them. Some of the ways through which the issue of students’ disengagement can be addressed are as under:
1. Counselling and Mentoring of Students: Students need to be appropriately counselled and mentored to increase engagement. Through effective counselling students can be motivated to get more involved in classroom teaching. Counsellor needs to focus on behavioural issues of student, he/she can also help students develop clarity regarding appropriate career choice. The role of mentor is equally important, as effective handholding is critical for showing right path of progress to the students. Mentors must help students with professional as well as personal issues. It is sometimes found that few students are academically disengaged but socially very active and engaged in the campus, the counsellor and mentor need to address this issue also and they must make students realise how to maintain a balance between academics and non-academic activities. Counsellors and mentors must sensitise students about need and importance of class engagement and the benefit they will have if they are actively engaged in class. Institute managementmust ensure that there is a culture where counsellors and mentors are approachable and students can reach out to them in case of any problem or difficulty. Efforts should be made to develop an environment in which counsellor/mentor-student relationship is able to thrive well. It is also the task of mentors and counsellors to appropriately handle unrealistic expectations of students, however this is an extremely challenging task, which requires great care and precaution.
2. Training of Faculty: Faculty members need proper training to make teaching effective and interesting. Through proper training faculty members can be trained to adopt a pedagogy that is interactive, interesting, enriching, challenging and innovative, and is able to increase students’ involvement in the class. As present-day students are habitual of using internet and social media, faculty members also need to be trained in using ICT, flipped classroom, blended techniques and reaching students through blogs and videos etc. It is important for faculty members to understand and adopt the ways in which students want to learn.
3. Increasing faculty-industry interaction: One of the best ways to understand industry requirement is increasing faculty-industry interaction. It can be done through organising industry visit for faculty members or by inviting corporate professionals for lectures and sessions. The knowledge gained by faculty through such visits and interactions, can be used by them to connect theory to its practical use in industry. It results in making teaching more effective and impactful.
4. Increasing faculty – parent interaction: To properly understand students and their problems it is crucial for faculty members to understand their family and personal background. The best way for this is to meet their parents on frequent basis. This helps in understanding behaviour of students, and, support of parents can also be taken in appropriately moulding students’ behaviour.
5. Streamlining of institute’s process: The process and procedures adopted by institute for day-to-day activities should be simple, and easy to understand and implement. Often complicated procedures and processes lead to frustration and dissatisfaction among students that sometimes become a reason for disengagement.
6. Regular Updating and modernisation of curriculum: The university should undertake regular assessment of syllabus being adopted, and ensure updating and modernisation of curriculum. Regular feedback from industry professionals and faculty must be taken and unrelated, obsolete and redundant content must be replaced by more recent, related and useful content.
