This is Part 2 of a series. Read Part 1: “Transforming Management Education: Dr. Kumaran Rajaram’s Innovative Approach”.
In our previous post, we introduced Dr. Kumaran Rajaram’s reflective approach to teaching management principles, highlighting his use of constructivist learning methods enhanced by technology. Now, we delve deeper into the practical implementation of his student-centred learning strategies and how he continually refines them.
Dr. Rajaram’s approach goes beyond traditional knowledge transfer, embracing the core tenets of constructivism to develop critical thinking, leadership skills, and a lifelong learning mindset. His methods, including active learning strategies, peer review processes, and the intentional use of discomfort as a learning tool, reflect key aspects of experiential learning and transformative learning theories.
In this second part of our series, we’ll explore how Dr. Rajaram applies these learning paradigms to foster deep learning, and prepare students for the complexities of the business world.
Fostering Student-Centred Learning Through Active and Experiential Methods
Dr. Rajaram’s commitment to student-centred learning goes beyond technology integration. He employs a variety of active and experiential learning methods to engage students and make learning more relevant and impactful. Let’s hear from Dr. Rajaram about these approaches:
Dr. Rajaram employs case studies with a twist, incorporating interviews with real-life practitioners and using visualisations to enhance understanding. Role-playing is another key strategy, where students take on managerial roles and engage in negotiations, sometimes with industry partners serving as panellists. Technology-enhanced collaboration is facilitated through a custom-developed app for intra-group discussions and peer feedback. Service learning and community engagement are encouraged through field work reports and interviews with community members. Industry integration is achieved by bringing in partners for guest lectures and panel discussions, providing students with direct exposure to practitioner perspectives.
These methods collectively shift the focus from teacher-centric to student-centric learning, encouraging critical thinking and active engagement with the material. Dr. Rajaram emphasises that technology should complement, not overshadow, these pedagogical designs, creating a learning environment that develops practical skills and real-world understanding.
Spotlight on Role-Play: Bridging Academia and Industry
Role-play is a key component of Dr. Rajaram’s active learning toolkit. In this video, he addresses how educators, even those without extensive industry experience, can effectively implement role-play activities:
Dr. Rajaram emphasises that lack of industry experience is not a significant hindrance to creating effective role-play scenarios. The focus should be on developing core skills such as articulation, clarity, and negotiation in management communication. Educators can create fictitious yet realistic scenarios that align with learning outcomes and focus on the skills students need to develop. For added authenticity, consulting with industry professionals or conducting research on industry practices can help in crafting relevant scenarios. The primary goal is to provide students with opportunities to practise and apply communication skills in simulated real-world situations.
This method not only helps students develop practical skills but also bridges the gap between academic learning and real-world application, preparing them more effectively for their future careers in business and management.
The Multifaceted Role of the Modern Educator
Dr. Rajaram emphasises that in today’s dynamic educational landscape, educators must be versatile, adapting their roles to meet diverse student needs and learning situations. He elaborates on this concept in the following video:
Dr. Rajaram identifies four key roles that educators should be prepared to adopt: mentor, coach, facilitator, and role model. As a mentor, educators leverage deep subject expertise and provide guidance based on extensive experience. In the coaching role, they identify individual student strengths and weaknesses, providing targeted interventions and feedback. As facilitators, they shift power to students in the classroom, guiding discussions without dominating them. Finally, as role models, they demonstrate professional behaviour and attitudes, inspiring students through personal examples.
These roles are not mutually exclusive; effective educators should be able to shift between them as the situation demands. This flexibility allows teachers to adapt to different classroom dynamics, address diverse student needs, create a more holistic learning experience, and prepare students for real-world scenarios where adaptability is crucial.
Developing Effective Reflective Peer Review Processes
Dr. Rajaram emphasises the importance of a rigorous and well-structured peer review process in developing critical thinking and leadership skills. He shares his approach in the following video:
Dr. Rajaram’s peer review approach involves a rigorous process with structured activities, clear roles, and specific evaluation criteria. It encourages multi-perspective feedback, mimicking real-world scenarios where perspectives vary. The process develops skills in giving and receiving constructive criticism, with students reflecting on received feedback and having the opportunity to agree or disagree with peer assessments. Follow-up discussions in subsequent classes allow for reflection on planned improvements.
This approach prepares students for diverse opinions in professional settings, develops skills in addressing and reconciling different perspectives, and encourages professional disagreement. Dr. Rajaram emphasises that the closure phase, often overlooked in peer review processes, is crucial for effective learning and continuous improvement.
Embracing Discomfort and Ambiguity in Learning
Dr. Rajaram introduces a compelling concept in his book: the idea that true learning occurs when students experience discomfort or ambiguity while working towards resolving assigned tasks. He elaborates on this philosophy in the following video:
Dr. Rajaram argues that learning often requires pushing beyond comfort zones, and discomfort is a sign that students are engaging with challenging concepts. When faced with uncertainty, students must develop strategies to find answers, mirroring real-world scenarios where solutions aren’t readily available. This process encourages students to reach out to peers, mentors, or experts, fostering important soft skills like negotiation, persuasion, and networking.
Ambiguity prompts students to seek information from various sources, developing critical research and analytical skills. Overcoming these challenges leads to personal and professional growth, making students more resilient and adaptable. While advocating for discomfort, Dr. Rajaram emphasises the need for appropriate support, calibrating the level of ambiguity to students’ abilities and course objectives.
This approach ultimately prepares students for the uncertainties they’ll face in their careers, developing problem-solving skills applicable beyond the classroom. By embracing discomfort and ambiguity as tools for growth, educators can create more robust learning experiences that foster critical thinking, problem-solving, and adaptability skills essential for success in today’s rapidly changing professional landscape.
Impact on Student Learning
The impact of these progressive approaches has been significant, with students reporting increased engagement and feeling more involved in their learning. They appreciate the opportunity for more discussion time, allowing them to learn from one another’s perspectives. The tools encourage deeper analysis, with students noting how attentively listening to classmates’ contributions led them to carefully analyse their own thoughts.
The dKT tool has improved collaboration, with students enjoying the real-time, productive online interactions. K^mAlive has ensured fair assessment of participation, reducing selectivity and providing more objective evaluation. The digital tools have also promoted inclusive participation, giving students a platform to voice their views without speaking, benefiting those who might feel uncomfortable speaking up in class.
Overall, students have responded positively, describing the course as engaging and well-designed. They particularly value the balance between lecture content and interactive elements, as well as the real-world applications and opportunities to learn from peers.
Fostering a Mindset for Lifelong Learning
Dr. Rajaram emphasises that the skills and approaches he teaches are not just for the classroom, but are meant to instil a lifelong learning mindset. He elaborates on this concept in the following video:
For students, Dr. Rajaram stresses that education doesn’t end with graduation; every lesson is part of a continuous learning process. He encourages developing the ability to learn beyond the classroom. Educators, too, must embrace a growth mindset and agility, maintaining humility and openness to new ideas. They should continuously review and refine their teaching methods, learning from peers, conferences, and students.
Dr. Rajaram views this as a mutual learning process where both educators and students play crucial roles. A student-centric approach can transform teaching and learning, valuing the insights and perspectives of students. Practical application involves regularly reflecting on and applying feedback, staying updated with contemporary trends in education, and adapting beneficial elements to course design.
This lifelong learning mindset applies across all specialisations, encouraging interdisciplinary approaches and insights. Dr. Rajaram stresses that fostering this mindset creates a culture of continuous improvement and adaptability. By modelling this approach, educators can inspire their students to embrace learning as a lifelong journey, equipping them with the skills and attitudes necessary for success in their future careers and personal growth.
Agile Academia: Dr. Rajaram’s Roadmap for Future-Ready Education
Dr. Rajaram presents a conceptual framework for future learning in higher education that comprises three core thrusts: external environment, internal environment, and potential outcomes as deliverables. He re-iterates continual learning, where one has to have a growth mindset and the ability to unlearn and relearn continually. Next, he emphasises the need for a multidisciplinary curriculum to cross-fertilise students and enable them to acquire knowledge in subjects beyond their core specialisation—imperatively facilitating the process of intermingling with students of other specialisations, where learning becomes much richer through collective perspectives. Dr. Rajaram also advocates the compelling need to re-evaluating of skills and competencies to align to future work. He emphasised that relevant skills and competencies are required for the rapidly changing job roles where the appropriate learning design must be incorporated. Next, he reiterates the need for school leadership to be agile, embrace, and support digitalisation and technological disruptions to be aligned and keep pace with the rapidly evolving needs.
Dr Rajaram also suggests moving towards self-paced individualised and personalised learning: The pressing need to develop and facilitate more individualised, tailor-made learning becomes essential as the diversity of students increases. Next, he believes that work-study programme and professional internships allow students to go through a process that will enable high productivity where students could better appreciate the theoretical notions taught during in-class learning by having the essentials applied during their professional attachment job roles at the workplace. Dr. Rajaram proposes values-driven empowered education to customise and create a personalised multi-specialised pathway where he says, “Every institution needs to create their values that are to be advocated and highly emphasised to be ingrained during students’ stint in pursuit of their studies.” Finally, he also advocates collaboration and connections for value creation, emphasising the need to collaborate with industry leaders and alumni in partnership with academics to perform research and co-teaching.
Dr. Rajaram advocates that this transformation model for the future of learning in higher education serves as a guide to comprehending the intertwined elements that serve as a control mechanism that affects, shapes, and impacts the potential outcomes.
Conclusion
Dr. Kumaran Rajaram’s reflective approach to teaching management principles demonstrates the potential for transformation in business education. Through his ongoing experimentation with technology, active learning, and collaborative methods, he continually refines a learning environment aimed at preparing students for the complexities of the modern workplace.
As Dr. Rajaram puts it, “What are we doing this course for? We are training managers for the future, as leaders.” His adaptive methods seek to equip these future leaders with not just knowledge, but also the critical thinking, collaboration, and application skills they’ll need to succeed in an ever-changing business landscape.
This approach offers insights into creating more engaging, effective, and relevant learning experiences in higher education. It illustrates how thoughtful integration of technology and pedagogical theories can contribute to a dynamic learning environment that addresses the evolving needs of contemporary students and the demands of the 21st-century workplace. Demonstrating his commitment to sharing and furthering these educational practices, Dr. Rajaram has taken the initiative to create a website and author two books, “Evidence-Based Teaching for the 21st Century Classroom and Beyond” and “Learning Intelligence and Digital Transformative Learning Strategies – Cultural and Social Engineering Perspectives”, where he provides evidence-based insights, discussions and elaborates on his experiences and reflections in transforming management education. Educators are encouraged to explore these resources for a deeper dive into Dr. Rajaram’s evolving pedagogical approach.
