At IIT-GN, experiments first, theory later

In a major shift in its pedagogy, the Indian Institute of Technology, Gandhinagar (IIT-GN) has ditched its traditional way of teaching and has adopted 'learn-by-doing' technique. Under the new approach, students will be given time to work on experiments and demonstrations first, which will then be followed by theory and lectures. The move has been deemed an unusual one as it detaches from the traditional approach, wherein students of every course or discipline first undergo theory sessions followed by practicals.

Speaking on the new approach, professor Harish PM, dean, campus development at IIT-GN, said, "The idea was to make engineering more exciting and engaging. If we give students a problem or a project to work on without giving them any knowledge about the same and then once they have attempted, we impart the theoretical aspect, it brings curiosity in them(sic)."

"We did a pilot project with 40 students of nearby government primary school where they were made to observe a JCB that they see on road and then asked them to work on a hydraulic robotic arm. Such a hands-on exposure not only nurtured the creativity of the young minds, but also drove learn-by-doing philosophy that the mechanical engineering discipline has adopted as part of their own curriculum," he said.

"There are total 40 hours of lectures per semester. With the changed philosophy, some maybe converted into practicals. It is a slow process as we need to develop this pedagogy in all our courses. Interestingly, in our next phase of campus development, we are integrating the same in form of infrastructure."

He further added, "At the moment, there is one whole building that houses classrooms, where as other building for laboratories. To make this pedagogical approach more convenient, we are also going to bring labs and classrooms next to each other so that it becomes easy for students for follow our changed approach."

To overcome the dearth of good PhD scholars, IIT-GN took a leap of faith in becoming the first such institute in the country to offer a PhD to a BTech graduate. Dr Sudhir Jain, director, IIT-GN said, "We were not get good PhD students as after BTech, most would either get lured into joining big corporates and the rest would join MTech. Of those who join MTech, the ratio of them opting for further studies becomes minimal due to various reasons. This was the main reason we thought to tap good BTech students for our PhD programme before they sit for an interview and give them option to explore the world of PhD with us."

B.Tech students from NITs and other select colleges, and those among the top five rank holders in the department at the end of their third year, will be able to apply for the PhD at IIT-GN.