Abstract:
The present job scenario demands aspiring professionals to be highly
focused and targeted in the area of their work, expecting them to be
proficient in their one-to-one dealings with their peers, superiors and
subordinates. It requires them to be highly skilled in this technology-driven
world, demanding them to be proficient in life skills such as interpersonal,
leadership, time management, negotiation, critical thinking and problem
solving, which would enable them to deliver the best in their personal
and professional life. One of the effective methodologies to develop life
skills among the college students is through storytelling. Cinema has
proven to be a successful medium to develop and sustain life skills among
university students. As said by Syed Sultan Ahmed who uses cinema to
teach life skills to students, “A lot of knowledge in the past was acquired
from books. But today, we live in a world where a lot of content is relayed
by the audio-visual media. It is the only medium that children can relate
to and are naturally drawn to them”.1 The paper attempts to explore the
concept of life skills as understood and experienced by university students
as part of their course structure. It deals with the concept of inculcating
life skills among university students with a special emphasis on the case
study of students at BITS, Pilani through certain specific course modules.
This paper specifically focuses on the observations of the course Short
Film and Video Production, and the findings show a substantial difference
in their understanding and practical implication through the course
modules selected as a part of course assignments.