𝗔𝗦𝗠𝗔 𝗧𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝘂𝗺 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟮 – 𝗥𝗲𝗶𝗺𝗮𝗴𝗶𝗻𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗘𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘆𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗺: 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗗𝗶𝗴𝗶𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗟𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗲𝗿𝘀

At ASMA’s Thought Leadership Forum, reimagining the education ecosystem: Shaping digital leaders the key topic of discussion was how to reimagine education and shape thoughtful leaders for a better tomorrow. What the 2020 pandemic highlighted was the need for a digital transformation to change how we perceive education. Until the pandemic, classes were conducted offline, and when there came a need for digitization, what educators, students, parents, and the whole world realized was the need to make India digitally smart.

The New Education Policy (NEP) has made some significant changes in this space by adding vocational courses to harbor an environment of learning, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Many educators, VCs, and other important personalities attended the forum and expressed their views on education and highlighted the need for making a change. 

The academic keynote speaker was Dr. Rajan Saxena, Management Guru & Veteran Educationist, and Former VC – NMIMS. The Industry keynote speaker was Amit Das, Director HR & CHRO – Bennett Coleman Co. Ltd. (Times of India Group). The expert speakers of the forum were Dr. Ch. S. Durga Prasad, Director – Vignana Jyothi Institute of Management, and Dr. Parag Kalkar, Dean, Faculty of Commerce and Management – Savitribai Phule Pune University, Dr. Manish Kothari, Founder and Managing Director – ISBR Business School. The panel discussion was moderated by Prof. R S S Mani, Vice President – Institutional Development – ITM Group of Institutions.

Dr. Rajan Saxena expressed his views on our educational systems requiring rethinking, reimagining, and re-strategizing. He emphasized the significance of the need for high-quality education that is inclusive of today’s workforce and more skill-based, and value-centered. He thinks that we need to adopt a mentality where we concentrate on students producing research that is based on productivity and quality. The educators and students of today must strongly emphasize creating breakthroughs that will benefit society as a whole in addition to digital technologies, AI, and machine learning if we want to create an environment that encourages creativity and entrepreneurship. Modifications are required if we want international students to enroll in Indian institutions.

Mr. Amit Das, the Industry Keynote Speaker focused on reimagining the educational ecosystem and developing tomorrow’s digital leaders. Character development must be the main goal of education. We must help students become more moral, passionate, and logical while preparing them for profitable and fulfilling careers that add value to society. 

Pupils should learn and need to be capable of learning. Less emphasis should be on teaching content and more on teaching students how to think critically and solve problems. For the expansion of our economy, we must innovate, adopt, and incorporate what we learn from a commercial standpoint. To build a stronger workforce, a focus on skill development is necessary.

Prof. RSS Mani was the moderator speaker who emphasized the glocal theory. He strongly believes that while we may derive the best practices from anywhere in the world but what use is it if we can’t adapt them to our needs? He also expressed his views on no matter how technologically advanced we get, it can never replace the importance of a Guruji in the life of a student. He also used the term “Phygital” which is the merging of physical and digital as we move on to using both these platforms when it comes to education. He urged us to look into the experiences of institutes that have survived and given the best to their students during the pandemic focusing on their point of view and implementing some of their techniques.

Dr. Ch. S. Durga Prasad discussed digital leadership and how it involves having a strategic mentality that will enable you to utilize the resources at your disposal and establish plans for the future by those goals. He even offered his professional advice on how to best prepare our instructors for using digital tools so that they can create inclusive classrooms for both kids and teachers.

Dr. Parag Kalkar spoke on digital leadership from his point of view and emphasized how it is about having a strategic mindset that makes use of the resources at hand while making plans for the future.

He emphasized some of the major issues that the teachers faced throughout the pandemic. He claimed that at the beginning of the epidemic, when lectures lasted longer than an hour, engagement was poor and there was a great deal of pressure on the professors. As a result, the lectures had to be split between two teachers to lessen the pressure. Student participation and the increased demands placed on instructors were major issues. The challenges that teachers faced required them to adapt their teaching strategies overnight. He also emphasized the necessity for instructors to have extra digital tools so that their teaching strategies may be improved.

Dr. Manish Kothari expressed his views on how artificial intelligence and machine learning may make life simpler. You can expand your horizons as systems become more automated and internet databases become more prevalent. You can now have an alumni database that aids in employment generation.

An expert moderator is someone who can maintain a cohesive environment, ask relevant questions to the speakers and help bring out as much of their knowledge or expertise as possible and that is exactly what our expert moderator Prof RSS Mani did. The forum came to end with all our speakers engaging in a thoughtful discussion where points of view, the problems they faced during the pandemic, and different experiences were shared.

This year’s ASMA thought leadership forum highlighted the need for modifications to the current educational institutions because things have drastically changed since the pandemic. Today, we consider education not only from the standpoint of physically attending classes offline but also from the perspective of online education.

To keep up with the growing interest among students in online and distance learning, digital education is a necessity. In an atmosphere that supports creativity and the subsequent generation of entrepreneurs, the event also underlined the need to rethink education and move toward skill development.