Mrs. Deepa Mishra is the Head of the Science Department at D.D. College. She holds a Ph.D. in Botany degree from Kumaun University, Nepal. She has 17 years of experience in the teaching field including ten years of research experience. She has published 14 papers in national and international journals. She has written four books titled Documentation of Fungi of Karnataka” Publisher: Karnataka Biodiversity Board, Documentation of Indian Fungi Publisher: Botanical Survey of India, Indian Hymenochaetaceae Publisher: Botanical Survey of India, and Indian Stereaceae Publisher: Botanical Survey of India. She has received the best paper award in Phytotaxonomy. She has attended seven workshops, conferences, and FDPs.

D.D College

What is the latest program you offer in your institute/ department that will help students outperform and stand apart from the crowd?

We get the students to enroll in the credit-based NPTEL (National Programme on Technical Enhanced Learning) program. Under this, they can learn not only the theory but also acquire the necessary practical application-based skills. So, as soon as students complete the credits, they are awarded the Bachelor's and Master's Degrees.

What factors make this program the best for the students to opt for?

We follow a blended learning model where the students can be well-groomed with the theoretical knowledge, and understanding of the concepts, and interact with teachers and faculty. Also, we have a unique campus where we have access to digital learning and students can access classes within one hour of being delivered.

What will you say are the “best practices” in the course you’re offering?

We ensure that the students get hands-on training experience and not only chalk and talk. To solve their doubts, if any, students are taken to the laboratories for a practical explanation. These practices ensure that students understand the taught concepts well enough to apply them.

What are some valuable insights from the program that you’re offering?

Reaching Students presents the best thinking to date on teaching and learning undergraduate Agro-science and engineering. Focusing on Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Geosciences, and Physics, this book is an introduction to strategies to try in your classroom or institution. Concrete examples and case studies illustrate how experienced instructors and leaders have applied evidence-based approaches to address the student’s needs, encouraged effective techniques within a department or an institution, and addressed the challenges that arose along the way. The research-based strategies in Reaching Students can be adopted or adapted by the instructors and leaders in all public or private higher education institutions.

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How does the program ensure that students are prepared for the future?

We plan in the sense that as soon as the students complete their education in four years, they should be employable and ready to pursue higher studies. We start the soft as well as hard skills training like presentations, group discussions, etc for the students from the second semester itself so that the students are well prepared by the time of placements.

How did you train yourself/faculty to deliver this program to the students?

We have three methods to deliver the program based on the interest of the students. First is the lecture method, the second is the interaction method with presentation and the last is sharing videos with students. Even experiments are available live so that students can clear their doubts simultaneously and are available in the form of recording.

What were the challenges that you faced while inculcating this program into your curriculum?

There has been a great challenge we faced with curriculum and instruction. Still, issues including demographic changes, emerging technologies, and concerns remain challenging for program settings and teacher educators. Little discussion is present in the literature about the challenges and problems that educators encounter during the implementation process and how these challenges and problems are overcome. This study highlights the challenges to curriculum and instruction in this program and analyses both these challenges and the opportunities that exist for teachers, teacher educators, policymakers, and other practitioners as they work to overcome these challenges. In this context, the challenges that exist for curriculum and instruction have the potential to result in significant benefits for a new generation of students in a rapidly changing world.

What are the types of projects that the students are working on through this program?

The goal of information-data organizing projects is for teachers to have students collect, sort, and summarize information and data around a topic, question, theme, or unit from multiple sources, such as textbooks, fiction, and non-fiction texts. Students might synthesize articles and other readings around a topic of interest, analyze surveys and interviews designed to explore key questions or find ways to put information into a variety of formats, including graphs and charts. Sometimes information is represented in other formats, such as through artwork, crafts, and music. Information-data-organizing project approaches are useful when studying a particular topic or question since this type of project helps students learn how to use multiple resources instead of solely using a textbook. 

What are the benefits and career options after pursuing this course?

We start guiding the students from day one regarding their areas of interest. We have an entrepreneurship and training cell for students who are interested in pursuing entrepreneurship. We also guide them on higher education options. For the coming session, we are planning to train the students on all the competitive exams and Research areas.