How a Business School disseminated Knowledge to the Society & Students during Lockdown 2020.

There are persons or events that define a decade, or a century, or a millennium, or sometimes an epoch. Political struggles and wars like the two world wars have often brought about phenomenal changes and made man redefine and reconstruct life. But in the history of civilization one doesn’t recall any event as global and far-reaching as to impact each and every human being on this planet.

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The world has witnessed epidemics many times but in the past, these calamities remained confined to specific areas, climes or countries. In the case of the present pandemic, every individual is affected by it in numerous adverse ways. The effect is spread over to all the fields of human endeavor viz. social, political, cultural, occupational, educational, environmental, economic and even existential.

Norms of human activity are being reset, objectives are being redefined, priorities are being readjusted and new world order is emerging. Change is inevitable, we know, and it comes gradually but in the present situation change is thrust upon humanity and it has come as a sudden shock.

COVID 19 pandemic is the worst kind of an outbreak of a disease (after the Spanish Flu of 1918, H1N1 Influenza) and it has not spared anybody thereby putting the shutters down on almost every activity globally. With mandatory “Social Distancing” and restrictive “Stay-Home” orders, academics was no exception at a time when the courses needed to be completed with strict timelines and the examination process was almost knocking at the door.

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The B-Schools all over, badly hit by this sudden outbreak, were made to think of alternate solutions like distance learning, online classes, webinars etc. through the virtual meeting platforms like Zoom, Google meet, Bigmarker, Skype, WhatsApp etc.

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Despite there being a huge difference between classroom teaching and online teaching in real terms, and despite the institutions not being very conversant with the concept of online teaching, the business schools scrambled for this alternate mode of teaching and took quick steps to initiate the practice of virtual classroom teaching.

Taxila Business School, RANKED 10TH FOR PGDM/MBA in India, duly equipped with the digitally trained Faculty as well as the students and with the support of in-house technical professionals lost no time in converting this challenge into an opportunity and adopted the aggressive strategy to immediately move on to the digital mode of online teaching practice as effectively as it was doing by way of offline classroom teaching and completed the remaining courses for the trimester of the current academic session. Not only were the courses completed on time but it was also able to successfully conduct the examinations as per schedule using the online mode.

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In fact, in Rajasthan lockdown was declared on 22nd March 2020 and Taxila Business School moved to the online mode of teaching by 24th March 2020, just in one day. The advantage with the college was of its previous experience of taking online classes for almost the last two years.

The required pedagogical changes were immediately put in place to adapt to this paradigm shift from offline to online not only for the remaining curriculum but also in the methods of teaching for the upcoming sessions in the future after the Lockdown period. Besides Taxila’s own curriculum, Coursera’s courses were introduced and made mandatory for all students. Group discussions, paper presentations, case study analysis and all other regular activities covered in the curriculum were undertaken online. Online tasks assigned to the groups related to group activities on various topics, including leadership were a big hit.

With a view to not only benefitting its own students but also the entire lot across the globe and with a view to developing an understanding of the various concepts in general management and to cope up with the current pressure of the pandemic, a series of webinars have been conducted right from the onset of lockdown which was presented by its own Faculty professors as well as by invitation extended to eminent scholars and experts in different fields.

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Close to 14000 students registered for Taxila Business School’s live talks and sessions across India in the last one month.

These live talks received an overwhelming response from the student fraternity and entrepreneurs benefitting thereby the entire community across the globe. Many more webinars are in the pipeline and at least one webinar a day is lined up on topics relevant to management and learning to keep pace with the fast-changing environment in our day-to-day life. Some of the aspects that have been covered so far include personality development, communication skills, public speaking, career development and placements, stress management, business and entrepreneurship, marketing management etc.

The speakers’ list included eminent personalities like Mr. Shiv Khera, the No. 1 motivator in the country and the author of “YOU CAN WIN”, a book with the famous age-old saying ‘Winners don’t do different things; they do things differently’ as its tag line. Mr. Shiv Khera addressed the audience on the topic “Turn Setbacks into Comebacks”. He delved upon the idea of how to convert threats into opportunities, supporting his views with live examples.

Prof. Kamal Kishore Sharma, visiting faculty at Taxila, a versatile former bureaucrat and noted academician- Keynote & motivational speaker on Start-ups Ecosystem, deliberated in great details upon entrepreneurship in the “Mini MBA” webinar which generated maximum participation not only from the aspiring students but also from the existing entrepreneurs who were immensely benefited from his vast exposure. He discussed at length the nuances of business in the context of a volatile business environment with specific reference to challenges faced by the entrepreneurs; be it a start-up or a corporate house in the wake of ongoing pandemic globally.

Mr. Pavan Choudary, rated amongst the greatest contemporary thinkers, made an impressive presentation on “how to adapt to your business, to your priorities and to your community/ nation” in situations like the one the whole planet is facing today.

Another noted speaker was Ms. Aarohi Pandit, the 1st woman pilot who captained the solo flight across the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean against all odds. She shared her experiences and talked about one’s ability to make decisions under adverse situations arising out of challenges in career and one’s life.

Webinars conducted by Taxila’s own Faculty professors were greatly appreciated. Professor Lavina Khilnani’s webinars included “What we teach at TAXILA” and the “Mini MBAs” on various aspects of Marketing Management, Business Strategies etc. contextualizing them with the current scenario of COVID 19. Prof. Nishant Baraya’s webinar was on “Master the art of Public Speaking”, Prof. Akhilesh Chandra’s on “Funding and Placement of your PGDM Course” and Prof. Jitender Nigam’s on “Communicate to Hypnotize”.

Federation of World Academics (FWA) and Taxila Business School jointly organized a Session for Online Guidance by eminent panelists on the topic “Corona has killed so much, Don’t let it kill your career.” The webinars attracted a good audience and the feedback was very encouraging. The attendees were issued certificates.

Keeping in view the consequences of the current situation, TAXILA is fully geared up to incorporate the lessons learned from the pandemic such as Risk and Crisis Management, Decision making in an uncertain business environment and other relevant topics in the academic curriculum so as to create leaders for better management for the larger good of the society and in the public interest.

“The old order changeth, yielding place to new ”—Alfred Tennyson.

The old teaching-learning system appears to have changed for good. Teaching is all set to acquire transparency, accessibility, affordability, flexibility and a global character. Only the best and the fittest would survive and thrive. Inquisitiveness and self-learning will be the motto for a student to be successful. The sooner we accept the new reality, the better it is. COVID 19 has marked the end of an era and we are at the cusp of a new age which is shaping and forming itself.

Sudhir Gullaiya