Tech-Talk @ Technovate 2017

Friday, 7th April, 2017 gave me the opportunity to bring into practice, what I love...., "Doing it differently". 


An invitation to deliver a Tech-talk at Technovate, an event hosted by one of the premier Technical Institutes in India, presented opportunity to initiate young minds, to my Game based approach premised on Experiential Learning. With activities ranging from technical quizzes and competitions to cultural activities, students had their minds buzzing. However, I imagine, least they expected, what awaited them in my session.

Application of a Game Based Approach,  prescribed in the book titled “IT Through Experiential Learning” for facilitating knowledge development and skill building, was explained as the core objective of  the session. 

Flow of Tech-talk was conceived, to blend; A gradual involvement of audience, from volunteers to each one in the audience, with, Initiating to the Game based approach, to experience its outcome. 

With a view to align content  to the event theme and audience, I requested students from Institute to partner planning and execution.  A group of enthusiastic students reciprocated by forming a cohesive team and helped me craft session content with variety and sequence, especially to keep audience engaged throughout. The session was aptly christened “Games-4-Brains” and engaged over a 100 participants for 2 hours. 

Audience was introduced to the approach through a game, that helps learn critical importance of communication and co-ordination, on the lines of an activity explained in chapter 8 of my book. 

As momentum of the session was gaining speed, students of the Institute staged a short skit and initiated concepts and application of Cloud Computing. The skit showcased a unique mode of facilitation to mass awareness, on technological concepts and its relevance. It was no longer about an erudite professor delivering a forceful lecture, but a collection of minds, interacting to capture every byte of knowledge in the environment.

Volunteers from audience were engaged to play a competition game. The game helped participants appreciate the impact of visualization, specifically on decision making. The competition game assisted participants,  consolidate, the relevance of emergent fields of "User experience design" and "Visual design" and also its association to Analytics and Decision Making.

In the the concluding part, an Acronym based quiz engaged, each individual in the audience, in a "group learning process" and raised their collective knowledge on the Digital Transformation Initiatives & Infrastructure in India, aside from awareness on technical concepts like ZigBee and RFID.

Positive feedback from a majority of the participants, endorsed success of the session.

in retrospect, I feel satisfied to have introduced young minds to a different paradigm of learning. Their feedback and comments, give me confidence that they now look at  the Game Based Approach and it's relevance to Higher Education in a fresh perspective.

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