Faculty Development Programme by Wadhwani Foundation

On June 6 and 7, 2024, Loreto College, Kolkata, hosted a Faculty Development Programme organised by Wadhwani Foundation. The programme aimed to equip the faculty members of Loreto College with advanced e-content and tools that would enable them to train students for the evolving job market. The sessions were conducted by resource persons Ms. Shipra Thappa and Mr. Prosenjit Banerjee, with Ms. Thappa leading the discussions as the master trainer.

Ms. Thappa emphasised the importance of soft skills in today’s professional landscape and highlighted the specifics of the Learning Management System developed by Wadhwani Foundation to promote the employability skills of students, with special attention to non-cognitive skills and higher-order thinking skills. She elaborated on how the various courses available on the platform use engaging videos and interactive real-world workplace scenarios as forms of experiential learning to enable students to apply theoretical knowledge to practical situations. She also noted that the courses are designed to foster employability, retention, and progression, which are the key factors determining career growth.

One of the significant topics covered was the flipped classroom model adopted by Wadhwani Foundation as a training methodology. The model deploys a five-part lesson structure—Watch, Think, Collaborate, Do, and Explore—to encourage students to engage with study material at home and utilise class time for interactive, hands-on learning. This approach, combined with micro-learning strategies, was shown to be successful in developing essential competencies such as effective communication, interpersonal skills, problem solving, professionalism, and entrepreneurial mindset. The use of AI-powered chatbots for self-learning and practice was also demonstrated. The event ended with the certification of the attending faculty members as Trainers who would collaborate with Wadhwani Foundation to promote 21st-century employability skills among the students of Loreto College.