Think Tank
The Staff-Student Study
Circle
Session summary
[09/07/2025]
Report by Ms. Lekhaa M.S
Topic: Reimagining Part IV for Skill Enhancement
The session began with a brief introduction of the topic by Ms. Lekhaa.
Dr. Sudarvizhi listed the part IV programs in each year; GC for first years, ID and PD for second years, and GE for third year UG students.
Dr. Joshua Jayaseelan stepped forward to say that the self-financed stream’s departments offer many skill based courses, naming certain courses offered in his department.
Ms. Lekhaa suggested that there should be a short description of each part IV course offered, when students are asked to select them, since many students do not select courses outside their discipline as they don’t know what the course expects of them.
Dr. R Padmamala posed a question to the students asking why students change their part IV course after one or two classes. To this, a student replied that arts students are only allowed to choose arts courses and the same with science, which forced them to choose something that they are not interested in. Students are also forced to learn Tamil for two semesters.
The staff quickly replied stating that learning Tamil is a prerequisite from the government and can not be changed.
Mr. Iniyan proceeded to give a talk on experimental learning, differentiating it from other types of learning.
Following which Ms. Afreen talked about service learning programs and their types.
The conversation then moved on to whether or not Environmental Studies could have a syllabus tailored to each department. Further, the group discussed how EVS can be improved, including suggestions like taking EVS out of the classroom and into the environment.
Next, the group discussed developing AI skills.
Dr. Nirmal started by saying he used AI to help in setting question papers, as a smart assistant.
Professor Arun Kumar reminded the group that AI, while it is smart and useful, has been known to give misleading information at times. He advised the group to take care while using AI.
Dr. Jannet asked students what kind of training they would want for AI skill development. She received answers like they want to learn domain-specific AI tools. Here, a very hands-on workshop for each department was suggested.
Dr. Nirmal vetoed the idea stating that it would be impractical to conduct individual workshops for each department. He proposed a faculty workshop, where staff would be taught about the domain-specific AI tools, which they would pass on to their students.
Ms. Safa took over to speak about her famed podcast and her journey as a podcaster. She spoke about how podcasts came to be popular and the topics she discusses on her channel.
Ms. Lekhaa re-invisioned an idea for community outreach at Chitlappakam Lake, as previously mentioned in another edition of Think Tank, mentioning the impact it would have on the community and the students involved.
When asked again about what they expected from their Part IV courses, students mentioned that they wanted a course on resume building or about LinkedIn.
Further, that mental health should be an important part of Personality Development and that communication skills should be developed.
Finally, the session concluded with a vote of thanks by Ms. Lekhaa.
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