Where Teachers Learn

Abstract

Rajesh Misra and Supriya Singh (“Continuum of Ignorance in Indian Universities,” EPW, 28 November 2015) rightly highlight a number of deficiencies in Indian universities. But they have focused only on a possible framework of solutions for degeneration of the quality of faculty members interpreted by this author as degeneration of teaching quality; anomalies in teaching methodologies; and obsessive orientation towards exams.

The possible framework of solutions is threefold: by incorporating learning outcomes while planning for courses, by working out graduate student attributes for degree programmes, and the institutionalisation of teaching–learning centres (TLCs). This note is thus divided into three parts: first, the “what and why” of learning outcomes; second, the relationship between learning outcomes and graduate student attributes; and third, the rationale and role of TLCs.