Are (written) exams and marks testing the real learning?

(Assuming: Exam in this blog means written exam)

In a system, the basic components are: setting a goal, planning, strategy (selection of the best plan from the alternatives), implementation, evaluation and correction. This goes on in a cyclic matter in order to attain more and more perfection. Here evaluation is a critical component for those who consider continuous improvement in a process in the system. It is doing the gap analysis- how much is the actual deviated from the target? Hence evaluation cannot be ignored while measuring the performance of any system.
Exam is an evaluation for a student’s performance; his (her) learning. Marks are the tool for the evaluation. Thus these two are inevitable. But how much we should rely on exams and marks is a big question?

We can classify students into three categories.

1. those who are very keen to learn
2. those who are forced to learn
3. those who will not learn even if they are forced to learn

For the first category, the evaluation process does not matter as they are always on track in terms of learning. Interestingly, the last category are also not worried about the evaluation process as they are pre determined not to learn anything or their interest may be in some other subjects other than what they are learning.

Here, the discussion is about the second category- those who are forced to learn. In a typical class, these students constitute more than 80% and are chances to bring them to the first category or they can fall to the last category. Exams are killing the real learning of these types of students.

Exams- mug up?

The second category students do not prepare well in advance. They usually burn the mid night oil, trying to mug up everything and attempt the exams. Yes, they will pass. But what is the learning here? Some times I feel exams are for memory test and are not examining the real learning. What is the point in conducting an exam- an evaluation process- which will not satisfy its real purpose? We are conducting or taking exams because the rule says so; for the sake of conferring a degree!

Better evaluation systems…

1. Allow the students enough freedom with respect to the time period for taking exams: A degree should be conferred only after earning specific number of credits. But the Universities should drop the time period (typically 3 or 4 years for graduation and 2 years for post graduation, in India) within which one should earn the number of credits. Only when the student is thorough with a subject, (s)he should take that exam, whatever the time period (s)he is going to take.
2. Test the knowledge of a student through application oriented questions in written exams
3. A mix of written exams and viva-voce; focusing more on viva-voce.

Written exams vs. viva-voce

Written exams help a student to answer in a time frame. The student applies his/her strategy for the exams based on the time limit and the questions to be answered. It provides a structured way of answering and the strategy adopted will vary based on the question. Some times it tests the ‘writing ability/ writing capacity’ of the student, which is not the purpose. Written tests have the advantage of doing it parallel as one teacher can control a large number of students taking exams at a time and thus saves time.

Viva-voce tests how much a student is comfortable with the fundamentals and basic principles. It requires a logical thought process and clarity in thinking. Real evaluation can be carried out through viva-voce. Without beating the bush, viva-voce expects crispiness in the answer. But viva-voce consumes a lot of time as it happens on a one-to- one basis.

A combination of written exams- which tests the application of learned concepts- and viva-voce- which tests the clarity in understanding the fundamentals- may be a best method for evaluating the learning of a student.

Good quality faculty in higher education: a myth in the future?

Think about the situation where the student gradutes from an institution with a salary higher than its director's; that is what happening in Indian Institute of Management (IIM). The student is offered a lucrative pay package and looks forward to annual promotions and increments. Now turn your focus to the teacher who moulds those students. Are the teachers satisfied with what they are? What is going to be the future of teaching profession in graduation and post graduation levels?

Importance of teachers

On an average, a student in high school or in graduation spends about 6.5 hours with the teachers. This reduces to 5 hours in post graduation level. This itself explains how much a teacher can influence the student. The future of every country depends on its young generation who are moulded by the teachers. Even though factors like Television and Internet are having a great (positive/ negative) impact on youngsters, the teachers can direct the young potential of India to the economic development and welfare. Teachers are the key for national development. The students believe their teachers much more than their parents!

Teaching profession

We (Indians) are having a very great history in teaching profession, which goes back to the old guru-shishya days of teaching methodology. Those days, the teachers were the epitome of knowledge and wisdom. They shared their knowledge to those who seek; not because of any resultant benefits, but out of passion to make the world rich in knowledge. Coming to 2008; what is happening over here? There are only a few, very few who shares their knowledge out of passion. The majority of teachers consider teaching as a 'job' or a 'profession'.

We are having a great number of teachers. But how many of them are competent enough and have the real 'thrill' in sharing knowledge? We are lacking quality faculty, especially in graduation and post graduation levels. It is a hard fact that India is a lagging indicator of U.S in different aspects. 60% of IT jobs in U.S are outsourced to India. So atleast a part of India is also turning to U.S lifestyle. What is happening in U.S may affect India in future. Like U.S, India may face a crunch in quality faculty in higher education in the coming years; unless necessary actions are taken. There are many foreign firms who are ready to pay lucrative salary even for those who are not as competent as teachers. Then why should the teachers stick to teaching profession?

Challenges

According to UGC report(2007), the total number of teachers in India is 4.88 lakhs. Out of which almost one-fourth positions are vacant. There is no proper mechanism to evaluate the number of faculty available in colleges and are required in colleges. Measurement is the key towards achieving quality. But what if there are no accurate figures?

The ratio of teacher to students is increasing. This is either due to the increase in number of students for a particular course, keeping a less increase in number of teachers or due to the decrease in number of teachers keeping the student numbers as constant. Most of the business schools are having a faculty to student ratio of greater than 1:50. A teacher is handling a class of 60 sutdents in a post graduation level. How feasible is this while considering the real learning? I am wondering whether the b-schools are business schools or schools for business! In a PG class, the teacher to student should be around 1:30 for better discussion and interaction.

Another problem is lack in competency among teachers. Those who are doing quality research work are not getting much recognition. This results in decrease in number of teachers doing research work. Also the UGC's policy of promotion is an obstacle. A person is automatically promoted to the next higher position after the completion of a fixed number of years. These factors results in less competency among teachers.

And obviously the pay package. The salary package of teachers are not attracting much talented people into the teaching profession. Most of the students opt for a management education after their graduation rather than pursue a PhD. What is the use of spending years pursuing PhD when the students can earn more after an MBA? ( Here only salary factor has been considered. But there are more factors like technological addiction, work life balance etc. play a crucial role in pursuing a PhD and a career thereafter)

Solutions

It is time to come up with innovative approaches in enhancing the quality of faculty in graduation and post graduation(PG) levels- in IITs, IIMs, other higher education institution etc. Otherwise the losers are none other than ourselves. India is going to loose in the long run.

Below points focus on some of the basic suggestions:

Most of the teachers who start their career in PG level teaching are in their middle age(for statisticians: they follow a normal distribution with 2sigma). So the importance should be given to salary and work-life balance.

1. Provide reasonable and better pay package.
2. Enhance a work culture than balances work and personal life.
3. Promotion and Increments should be given on a competency basis.
4. Due recognition and incentives for those who are doing quality research work and there by promoting research work.
5. International exposure through foreign University tie ups- atleast six months to one year teaching in a foreign University during a period of 5-7 years.
6. No compromise on quality. Compromise on anything leads to degradation of quality.
7. The most important is continuous evaluation of teachers. It should be a 360 degree evaluation. How many schools/colleges are evaluating the teaching methodology of a teacher in a class? Are they bringing any new and innovative changes in the teaching methodology according to current situations?

You can also contribute some innovative ideas. Please comment your ideas/suggestions to improve the faculty quality in higher education.

Response to ‘Problem Solving, Creativity, Brains, & Co-coaching’

This blog is a response to Mr. Graham’s blog on ‘Problem Solving, Creativity, Brains, & Co-coaching’:

http://catchthevision.wordpress.com/2008/05/08/problem-solvingcreativity-brains-and-co-coaching/

The four stages mentioned in the blog is a systematic approach converting intuition into a rational thought and it is true in all the cases. But people will not realise this as they are overwhelmed with the solution.

The incubation stage is very important in those areas where the usage of creativity is essential, like ad agencies. The work culture in some MNCs underlines this fact, where creative flow happens only when the work environment supports the incubation stage.

What I felt about co-coaching is nothing but ‘Synergy’. But it will be utilized to the maximum only when the persons coming together for co-coaching are complementory in nature. There should be some understanding between the co-coaching people. That does not mean they should be like-minded personalities. Like-minded persons will give a small portion of the overall result. But persons who are complementory in nature helps in team winning- where one person lacks, the other one strengthens and vice versa.

Individual Quality leads to Organisational Quality

Quality in subsystems leads to organisational quality. This is how Total Quality Management works. But how quality is maintained in subsytems? If we divide the whole organisation in a structured and systematic form, we get a number of subsystems. While dividing those subsystems further, we will end up in a single person- the head who is responsible for all the activities in that subsystem.

Quality in a subsystem is the collective effort of adopting or creating and maintaining quality in all the resources involved in the subsystem. But non-living resources like machines, materials, environment etc. cannot create quality by its own. So the only resource that can adopt or create and maintain quality is the Human Resources.

The human resources(HRs) in a subsystem can be classified into three -

1. The head of the subsystem(Head of Department)

2. The direct HRs who are the employees and are responsible for the work in that subsystem(eg. the workers in a production department who operate the machines)

3. The indirect HRs who are employees of other subsystems in the organisation; but who supports the functions of another subsystem in the same organisation. (eg. an employee in purchasing department of an organisation contacts the production department. Here the employee of purchasing department is an indirect HR in a production department).

It is the quality of the above three HR catagories leads to the quality in the subsystem. But we cannot expect quality from everyone- Either the employees are unaware of the importance of quality or they are too lazy to adopt quality. This scenario can again be divided into two.

1. Head of the department is not adopting quality: Here it is very difficult to implement quality in that department or subsystem (chances of implementing quality is less than 1%).

2. The direct HRs or indirect HRs are not adopting quality: Here implementing quality in the subsystem is not so difficult, eventhough there are some resistances.

Now take the second case where there is more than 99% to implement quality. Here the head of the department needs to give proper awareness about quality, its importance in an organisation and how it makes one’s life(both personal and work) easy. This has to be done through proper and on going trainings. The next step is how to implement quality if the employees are not willing or are too lazy to adopt it. Here comes the standardisation of work for our rescue. Make the daily work, especially the routine ones, into a standardised form by dividing the job into simpler and structured parts which includes quality too. Make a job flow which contains the quality works. By implementing this structures format, the workers may not realise that they are following quality practices.

Allow the workers to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes. But do not make the same mistake twice. It is good to record the mistakes and the actions taken and should be circulated to all in that subsystem to aviod them in future.

The second case described above is possible only when the head of the department is willing to create or adopt and maintain quality. A person cannot adopt quality into the work without adopting quality into his/ her mind first.

The importance of quality should be realised and must be adopted into a person’s day-to-day personal life. Only when that person do so, he/she is able to replicate or adopt the same into work life also.

Therefore quality of a subsystem starts from the quality of life the head of the department is observing. Without quality in personal life, a person cannot implement or maintain quality in an organisation. Thus quality in individual life leads to quality in subsystems and hence leads to organisational quality.

Total Quality Management (TQM) starts from quality in individual life.

Necessity is the mother of innovation!

You may feel that innovation happens, most of the time, by-chance. But that is not true. Ideas may come to your mind with out much effort; may be based on a trigger. Ideas take its own time to evolve into innovations. The transformation of idea into an innovation is the most complex and difficult stage. The passion that drives the idea to an innovation is ‘necessity’.

Most of the innovations that happened in this world are due to necessity. An urge of doing something; if not may even pose challenges to life, leads to innovation. Necessity does not mean necessity to all, but to a certain group. And in marketing, we call this group as Target Group. Marketing is all about creating the need and satisfying those needs. Thus satisfying the necessity of a small group can fetch you a few billion dollars.

There is a hidden obstacle in innovation - most of the ideas which may lead to innovations, will be viewed as dumb ideas. There will not be much value for ‘those’ dumb ideas unless there is a necessity for it.

On the way to innovation, there are mainly two ‘herculian’ tasks.

1. Identify the necessities of people and

2. Implement the solution for those identified necessities.

Once these are done, you do not have to look back.

So “identify a need from the people, make it a necessity for all and satisfy that necessity”. This is the golden rule for maketing.

Intuition is essential for innovation

Big ideas which do not seem logical are the basis for innovation. These ideas will come all of a sudden on a leisure time. But once striken by such an idea, it will poke you almost all the time. This will eventually creates some connection with the existing information you already had in your brain and tries to make the illogical, a logical one. And this is how intuition develops into something rational which leads to innovation.

Innovation needs intuition and intuition needs information for its basic existence. To be precise, there will not be any intuition unless the person has some prior related information in the field. It is this information that really helps to make the intuition to be connected rationally. That means 'past' is the foundation for intuition.

If something comes to your mind which is not existing or which has no relationship with existing things, then you cannot call it as intuition completely. It is a dream. Intuition is a subset of dream. Intuition is a dream which you may think that there may be some relationship with your existing information; but cannot really make it.

Develop the intuitive behaviour in you. Think on it. Live on it. Make a cognitive relationship with the information you have. It will lead to innovation.

Not Innovating = Destruction

It is sure that any form of innovation can take your company to a higher level. It may bring the market leadership to your company. But it is equally important to do sustain innovation. Innovation once done and then cling to that, will not result in milking the cow in future. Instead it destroys what you have innovated.

A market leader has enough fund to spend on innovation. It continues to be the market leader (using established technology), with the additional cost incurred in innovation. But after some time, it will reach a point where further investment will not bring any difference. This is because the existing market leader may think that their opponents are not in a position to challenge them. Also there is limitation in the technology it is using. It cannot afford the new technologies as time and investment progresses. But the reality is start-ups(new rival) can challenge the market leader ('The S-Curve: An established technology and new rival', Managing Creativity and Innovation, HBR). Start-ups do not have anything to lose. And they will always invest new technologies. Here the challenges are they will start a little bit late and have to invest more in new technologies. The other side of these challenges are advantages. Starting late in an innovation project enable them to use the latest technology. Also using latest technology will leverage their innovation and business. That means even if you are innovating, but with existing technology will face competition from new rivals who are using latest technology. Then think of what will happen if you are not innovating at all!

A best example for an established company which innovates all the time is Apple. As a result, they were able to come up with different innovative products like iPod, iPhone etc. But coming to cell phone market, Motorola could come up with MotoRazer, MotoYuva etc. Even then they are not able to keep innovation as that of their competitors and hence are forced to move down in the sales of cell phones. A great vision is always required for innovation. If you failed in having a greater vision at any time, will result in lack of innovation. This eventually falls your revenue. To sum up, not innovating over a period of time is harmful for the organisation.

Social Responsibilty of IPL

Indian Premier League (IPL) is the one which shares the first page of every news paper with terror attack and other crime news. After a month, when four teams are entering into semis, it is clear that the initial hype and the publicity is reducing. But the sponsors do not want to lose even a small target customers. IPL is definitely a success in reaching the mass audience.

Coming to the finance aspect of IPL, it is clear that IPL is creating a huge power distance in terms of money. Those who have money are 'investing' to get it multiplied. But it is the medium- and low-income people who constitute 80% of the audience. These people are being exploited, directly through tickets and indirectly through advertisements.

The impact is rich people are getting more and more rich; and the poor, medium people make their case even worst. The only justification of those who are 'investing' is they are taking chances. But as long as sponsors are there, the risk of taking risk is negligible.

Does IPL has a social impact other than the entertainment value? The cheer leaders may or may not have an impact on the public. But I am not talking about it right now. I am focusing on the finance aspect - return on investment; to be precise, the social return on the investment made. Many are those who talk about Social Responsibility these days. IPL can be treated as a business. A small portion of its profit should be taxed and will be kept separately for rural development. This not only helps IPL by getting more publicity, but also the development of rural India.

MBA should not be taught in B-schools!

Master of Business Administration (MBA) should not be taught in b-schools; instead it should be taught in business firms. A business school can only simulate a firm and will not be equivalent to a corporate at all. Even the most adored 'case study' methodology will not be useful as that of a b-firm. This is one among the reasons why do most of the b-schools prefer candidates with work-ex for MBA.

The case study methodology helps to simulate a real scenario in a firm. But there are a lot of if's, but's and what-if's in it. The number of assumptions may be too many in some cases which will really destroy the beauty of the case. It is similar to playing cricket in computer and that in the real life. The simulated experience will not take into consider the mind set of human beings (employees in a firm), the macro economic situation (which may vary based on the country understudy), the competition, history of the firm, customer relationships, previous executives, on spot decisions taken etc. There is always a gap between what is happening in the industry and the picture of industry depicted in the cases.

To make the MBA students more industry oriented, the MBA education should be under the control of the respective industry bodies and should be happen in a business firm only. This helps to understand the business very well and also helps in taking better decisions which is one of the important objectives of MBA.

Every student must select an industry in which (s)he is interested and should undergo the MBA in a business firm in the selected industry. The student should be an employee of the firm and must have a minimum contract period with the firm. The education and the work should go hand in hand. A stipend should be given to the student for the work (s)he is doing. Scholarships should be given to meritorious students. There should be only practical tests with real case scenarios and should not include any theoretical questions (which is utter useless). The certificate of MBA should be given by the industry body which may have a tie-up with any University. The top performing students should be retained in the firm in which they studied.

Also there should be assistance from the industry bodies for those who wish to be entrepreneurs in the respective fields.

No (fresh) MBA graduate is perfect. It is similar to learn swimming. Unless you try it out, you cannot be a 'Master' in business administration. So face challenges, put your hands in fire, learn and correct the mistakes. Practice (valid experience) makes a manager perfect!

'Knowledge' - India is losing, while others are gaining!

According to Ghemawat, today's world is semi-globalised, not fully flat. This has helped us partially to bring information at our finger tips through the development of communication and technology. 'Any doubts? Google it!' Search Engines are more or less like a service person who is in direct contact with costumers asking 'How can I help you, Sir?' Anything and everything has an answer and is in front of you 24x7. But the question arising is - Will this help in improving the knowledge of an individual?

Through the advent of internet, information is overloading. Mere information does not increase knowledge. Knowledge is the application of information; that is information in action is known as knowledge. Without the proper mind set to apply the information at the right time through the right approach and at the required place, no knowledge will be developed. Thus knowledge is the integration of various perspectives of applying information in a focused, concentrated manner.

Although many are claiming that India is developing day-by-day, it is not the truth. It is only some figures, especially the financial, growth figures that shows India is climbing the growth ladder. But the real fact is India is losing. For any country, the main asset is its (hu)man power. And this makes India in a strong position these days where more than half of Indian population are youth. This will finally help India to be at par with China where the majority of population is aged with their single child policy.

Mere (hu)man power does not make a country rich or developed. Adversely, it will over burden the country. But the real asset is where the human resources are properly utilised for the development of the nation. When we dig the history of ancient India, it was the knowledge of human resource that made India in a proper position among other coutries. This is the nation of Aryabhatta, Sushrutha etc. They applied the information that they got from their Guru. Acquiring knowledge was a part of the society in those old days; but now education is a part of society which does not bring the real value of education.

The ancient Indian life style was very disciplined which prepared them to acquire new information, without using any books or sciptures. The knowledge of Guru was directly transmitted to the disciples which they memorize on the spot. The students were smart and had knowledge about everything in the universe. Indians and Romans were very good in Mathematics which is the mother of all sciences. But this has changed on course of time. Acquiring knowledge gradually reduced to acquiring information, with the advent of books. This has even diminished by the new technologies. Those who are inventing the new technologies are applying the information that they have, but others are losing. Thus the number of people possessing the knowledge decreases from the ancient days.

At the same time, other nations who realised the potential of Indians and India's wealth, made use of them and are still utilising. But Indians are not realising this. Thus Indians become just the information gatherers and the foreign nationalities put this information into reality. There are Indians who apply the information what they have. But the percentage is very less - may be less than 10%. Not a single student is acquiring knowledge unless (s)he is applying what (s)he has learned from schools/colleges.

True learning will be complete only when the information learned is applied some where. Thus India has lost what India was in those ancient days. At the same time, others gained a little bit from no-where. Eventhough politicians are claiming growth in Indian economy, the 'real' growth is not taking place. It is essential at this point of time to filter out the unwanted information and select and focus on those information which is relevent to a person. Apply those focused, filtered information to be a better Knowledge Capital - a better India. Similar to 'outsourcing' refers to Bangalore, the word 'knowledge' must trigger a thought about India. India - the Knowledge Capital of the world!

'Children of Heaven'

'Why am I not a child of heaven?' My thoughts continued with a cluster of complex questions. Am I a child of heaven? Or may be it is God's wish that i should not suffer too much?

It was another typical day in their life. The two children - the boy and the girl- were students and was very much aware of how their father strive to meet the ends. It was a poor Arab family. The boy, who was the elder of the children, accompanied his father in search of a job for his father. His father was a good gardener. They knocked each and every gate for a gardening task; but only added up the disappointment. Even then the boy was so passionate to get a work for his father. He was very well aware of the family situation. Finally the father got a task in a house and was well paid.

The girls and boys had different timings in the school. This helped them to adjust with a pair of shoes. After the girl child's classes were over, She would ran to a closed place and her brother would have been waiting for her there to exchange the only dilapidated, 'good' shoes that they had. She was so much fascinated with the attracting, good-looking shoes of her friends. Once she noticed that her friend was wearing a new pair of shoes and asked her what she did with the old shoes. She got the reply that the old pair of shoes was thrown out by her mother. She was stunt and amazed with the answer.

One fine day, the boy noticed an announcement in his school about a long distance racing competition(4 km) where the third prize was a pair of shoes. He decided to get those pairs for her daughter. Even if the registration was closed for participating in the race, he begged for a chance to his master(sports teacher) and literally stood on his knees. At last the master changed his mind and gave a chance to register in the race.

It was the D-day. He could see the children from other schools and were exercising, supported by their parents. They had enough to eat and drink. Everyone to take care of them. But what about him? The race began. The words of his sister echoed in his mind. Yes, he need to get the third position for the shoes. He looked back and checked whether he was in the third. No, He is in the first position. He slowed down. He was pushed down by other runners. He was behind so many. But the words of his sister gave him the strength to be back in the run. His mental desire to win made him to the first five. And they could see the finishing line. He was in the fourth position now. His master was running outside the track, encouraging him. He need to get the shoes. He was pushing himself forward- both mentally and physically.

Before he could understand what was going on, he realised he was cared by his master. Oh! he was the winner. The camera flashed many times with different people around the winner. But he was so much worried and was neither in a position to look upwards nor to pose for the photo. He reached home and his sister was waiting for him- with the pair of shoes. The smile in his sister's face faded out. It was another day in their life, as usual. The girl had gone to help her mother while he was caring the wounds in his legs due to the old shoes.

The above lines are based on a film - 'Children of Heaven'. It is a very nice Arab movie which shows the life of a poor Arab family, not knowing how to meet the everyday expenses; especially when the children are studying. It is a touching film which shows the mindset of the children who are aware that they are poor. Given an opportunity, every one, especially children, should see this movie so that they may not take their life and fortune as granted.

"The life is always rocking-
Mixed up with challenges and opportunities.

Some may be lazy,
Calling it a fate;
Some may be hardworking,
Who always decide their fate."

My Heart Beats for you

My heart beats for you
All the way, day and night,
Rays of love from the sun,
Stars singing for us.

Whispered a small poem
From the heaven, in my mind
The Angel blinked at me,
The Mabel presence.

Seeing myself in those eyes,
Feeling her heart beats
Even a sight at her,
Broke the Cupid's arrow.

Danced the flowers with grace,
When I whispered my love;
Like a breeze, hugging me,
Put her smile in my heart.

(Written on April 16, 2007)

Parents

The visible creations of God,
Dividing Himself into two parts;
He gave me His breath,
And cares through my parents.

His right hand is my father,
Guiding me towards happiness
My mother, His left hand
Supporting the right hand, throughout.

Where is the guiding right hand?
Where is the supporting left hand?
Is He blind? Only to those,
Who made them orphans.

On the bed of acting

When the curtain is down,
When the show is about to end,
With a few seconds on my side,
I am alone on the stage

Without stage-fright,
With no audience to see this joker,
With crying eyes and laughing face,
I am alone on the stage

A million ears on the stage
And half-blind eyes in between,
I am about to start the long drama,
All alone, on the stage

People torn my heart for love
On this bed, full of roses,
With no thorns around them,
Amidst the roaring bees

Mosquitoes covered my heart
With no wings to fly around,
Am I blind? Huh?
Where are my eyes?

No, I am not blind
My eyes hanging on the past;
Hearing the then present, And -
I can't hold my brain from future

Each breath makes me old
That reminds me of the present,
What am I possess till now?
Nothing! till I enter into a coffin

Then why are we hurrying up?
Why are we not happy?
Why are we living?
Is it simply because we born?

It's a gift from the God,
To be 'happy' for a human life
Gifted with His blessings, we all,
To be happy throughout our life

True praise to God comes-
Only from innocent happiness
That's why we are born
And that's what God wants from us.