Advantages Of Experiential Learning

What Is Experiential Learning?

Experiential learning, simply explained, is a process of learning through first-hand experience. It is a method of acquiring expertise and skill through practical application of concepts, theories and problem solving techniques instead of just reading or hearing about them.

Why Experiential Learning?

The purpose of experiential learning is to have you world-ready by the time you complete the education program. For professionals who are already working, experiential learning will help them in enhancing skills and managing their roles effectively.  It makes use of tools like internships, service-training, field work and practical activities to impart learning. Its approach is more about what you need to know and less about what can be taught.

Advantages of Experiential Learning

Experiential learning encourages application of knowledge and concepts to real- world situations with learning support from the trainer. Some key advantages of this method of learning are:

1. Accelerates Learning

‘Learning by doing’ is far more effective and long lasting than theoretical learning. Further, experiential learning also promotes development of multiple skills such as critical thinking, problem solving and effective decision-making at the same time.

2. A Learning Environment With A Safety Net

Since experiential learning involves working on real-world situation simulations, it offers the students freedom to think and operate differently without crushing their confidence if anything goes wrong.

3. Merging Of Theory And Practice

What has been learnt from books can now be applied in field to understand its effect and behaviour. It also helps in remembering concepts and ideas.

4. Increases Team Work

experiential learning engages participants in various team-based activities thus training them on team building and leadership. This benefits the participants because they learn from each other and also because they will have to work in a team in a professional environment.

5. Assessing Learning Is Easier and Accurate

Simulation of a real-world situation with optimal outcomes, shows whether participants are able to understand the concepts as expected or not.

6. Motivation to Learn and Impactful Activities

These are the indirect yet important advantages of experiential learning. The method encourages active participation and kindles a desire to learn.

Watch this video of a workshop on Experiential Learning by Welingkar’s Hybrid PGDM program, and learn about how participants get involved in interactive learning.

You can fast track your learning process and experience the multiple benefits of experiential learning through interactive workshops.

Explore more such workshops by Welingkar’s. Visit here.

 

4 keys to Effective Crisis Management

“The secret of crisis management is not good vs. bad, it’s preventing bad from getting worse.”

A crisis can occur anytime. There are no tools to completely safeguard an institution or a business from a crisis. However, one can develop effective crisis management practices to bring situations under control at workplace before they become catastrophic.

Check out these 4 key ways to manage crisis effectively and restore balance at workplace:

1) Timeliness

“It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.”

The first step to crisis management is having a crisis management plan ready beforehand for exigencies. You won’t have the time to formulate one when trouble starts.

Do not delay responding to the crisis. Don’t assume it will blow over because it won’t.  Respond quickly and factually.

2) Handling Information

“In absence of information, we jump to the worst conclusion.”

Information is the key to managing any situation. Without ample information, the team involved will be handicapped or worse, misguided, when it comes to doing damage control. Hence, pass all necessary information about the situation and its background to core team promptly and properly.

At the same time, snub out any inaccurate information that might be circulating, by responding to it.

All stakeholders, media, and public should receive information on a regular basis too. Keep it simple with no room for speculation.

3) Communication

“Problems can be solved just by communicating.”

Assign a spokesperson representing the organization till things settle down, All communication beyond your core team should go through this single channel.

Don’t be afraid to communicate empathy and concern towards those adversely affected by the crisis.

Don’t dodge questions, if you don’t have an appropriate response or information, say that you will get back on that.  Avoid the ‘no comment’ approach – it’s murky.

It is better to reveal the bad news yourself, instead of trying to hide it and letting an external source discover it.

4) Ownership

“Keep calm and take Ownership.”

Probably the best thing you can do to salvage a situation and your reputation, is taking ownership. If you have made mistakes be courageous to acknowledge it than evade the same.

The dynamics involved in effective crisis management can be learnt from experiences and also management training that uses interactive workshops. Adopt such innovative learning methods and excel in your crisis management skills.

Rise of E-commerce

E-commerce has grown over the years and made some ground-breaking progress in the world of business. It has brought about a remarkable transformation in the way Indians shopped and traded. Not just that, it has taken over the imagination of emerging entrepreneurs who are shaping the future of business. Technological advancements and easy access to the internet has given it a boost. It has exploded further in the last couple of years and the entire segment has turned into a million dollar sector and this is just the beginning! There is speculation that e-commerce will grow will reach a value of around USD $ 30 billion by 2016.

Every small or big business has established themselves in the e-commerce space. This has liberated consumers from the limitations of time and place. Now, you can buy anything, anytime from anywhere with just a couple of clicks. There are ups and downs while establishing yourself on e-commerce, but it is a real achievement when you manage to survive the harsh and the competitive environment of the e-commerce scenario.

E-commerce is a tough playground for businesses and like every other field, believes in the notion of survival of the strongest. The smartest ones have survived and build their brands on the e-commerce platform, but with a strong educational background there is a good chance to not only survive, but lead a successful venture. Therefore, here are some handy pointers that will help you build your e-business.

Optimization of SEO

In the virtual world, visibility plays a humongous role in achieving success and here is where SEO steps in. Search Engine Optimization, if used strategically, can contribute to overall success. After all, SEO gives you a platform to make yourself visible on the internet world. Here, your attention should be on adding value to the content you are putting out. Quality content will give the users a positive experience. One of the best ways to provide content is through a blog. You can put forth a blog that is rich in content and helps you fulfill the purpose of SEO effectively.

Smartphones can be smarter

The mobile revolution has opened the doors of opportunities that can prove beneficial for an e-commerce business. We are almost never without our smartphones. In fact, we depend on this little device for our social, professional and entertainment needs. We chat, shop, and browse the internet through our smartphones.  This gives the e-commerce sector more space to expand so do take advantage of this. Create apps through which you can be easily accessible to the consumers.

Data is your friend

Using data smartly for an e-commerce venture is very critical. Are you taking full advantage of the possibilities that your data has to offer? The ability to collect more data and, more importantly, data of greater relevance is an ever going challenge. In that case, hire someone who has the expertise in handling data and mining it for insights. With time, you will be able to watch your e-commerce venture soaring.

Other things that you can work on are to offer your consumer transparency and security along with better services. E-commerce has reached heights and keeps expanding with each passing day and these are just the early days. Therefore, grab your chance be a part of this ever-growing space today!

Learning in Virtual Classrooms

The virtual classroom is just what it sounds like. You “enter” the classroom using your computer and a headset equipped with a microphone. Since the class takes place in real time, the instructor and all the students attend classes at a set time and date. Students can raise their virtual hand to ask questions and interact with fellow students. The instructor can show videos, break students into small groups for exercises and conduct facilitated discussions…. Just about anything you can do in a traditional classroom you can do in a virtual one!

Traditional education is slowly being replaced by a wide range of technology-enabled learning modalities, from podcasts and webinars to formal, one-on-one coaching and a range of e-learning platforms via virtual classrooms.

The virtual classroom environment is flexible and convenient in its approach and encourages freedom of expression enabling students to communicate and express opinions openly in these environs.

Online courses support critical thinking skills, leadership, communication, problem solving and ethics. Often students’ prefer the delivery mode and work at their own pace and take the time to analyze and synthesize the learning materials.

Research has shown that students take online classes because they are able to get the course schedule they want to fulfill their degree requirements. Moreover, multimedia use has made virtual learning more interesting and lively, thus paving the way for fulfilling the emerging needs of higher education in 21st century India.

The Future

The advances that have been made in the quality and sophistication of the virtual classroom learning platform ensure that it is no longer a technological promise, it is a mainstream reality.

Click here to know more about the Hybrid Distance Learning Program offered by Welingkar’s Distance Learning Division.

Factors that Motivate Distance Education

Whether you are an educator, parent or student; understanding what motivates distance education learners is significant. Motivated students are more likely to take up tasks that enable higher academic achievements and learning.

The primary factors which contribute to the motivation of a student are:x

1. Feeling Empowered – Giving students the opportunity to make independent decisions about topics for their Distance education projects is a great way to give academic control to distance learners.

2. How useful is the Course – It is important that students perceive the course to be useful for their academic/professional cause and the correlation between the course structure and skill acquisition.

3. Making Success Possible – It is also important that students are made to feel that they have an opportunity to succeed in the course, if a reasonable effort is made. Giving students access to relevant academic resources can be extremely motivating.

4. Maintaining Interest Levels – sharing additional resources and putting existing technological and academic resources to good use is a great morale booster.

5. Caring is an extremely important motivator for distance learners. If the immediate circle of a distance learner values and respects the course, it isn’t very difficult for the student to enhance his learning skills.

Click here to pursue a course in Distance Learning, also sign up for the various workshops conducted by Welingkar’s Distance learning division

The Basics of DPSA Profiling

Psychometric assessment or DPSA profiling assesses the knowledge, aptitude, talent and abilities of a potential hire. This field also involves creation of questions and psychological tests to measure the personality of an individual.

This type of profiling is widely used in Multinational banks and other private sector behemoths. This is considered to be a highly scientific tool and the people administering these tests normally hold a special qualification in psychometrics. Many work as clinical psychologists while still others are employed as Human Resources and Learning and Development professionals.

Psychometrics is also used in the educational field and it measures abilities such as reading, writing and math. Psychometric testing hinges on a whole range of theoretical approaches for measuring innate personality traits of an individual. Some of the better known instruments include the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, the five factor model in addition to tools such as the Myers and Briggs Type Indicator among others. Psychometric approaches are extensively used to study attitudes of a candidate. One of the common methods in the measurement of attitudes is the Likert Scale.

Click here to know more about the Hybrid Distance Learning Program offered by Welingkar’s Distance Learning Division.

How to Succeed in Distance Learning

Although Distance Learning programs give you the flexibility to learn at your own pace, it’s often difficult to succeed in such programmes especially if you don’t approach it with the right mindset. However, students often find Distance Learning Programs to be a tall hurdle to overcome as they are too bogged down with their work and official commitments.

So, here are a few pointers that you can keep in mind so that you can come up trumps in a Distance Learning Program:

• Ensure that you maintain discipline, determination and time management to stay abreast of lessons and assignments. Always maintain a focus on your studies and take the online classes and webinars with the much-needed seriousness.
• Ensure that you make full use of the facilities provided by your institution such as an online library and video lectures among others.
• Many overseas distance learning programs allow you to transfer credit from other courses in colleges. If permitted, make full use of this facility. This way you ensure that you don’t repeat what you have learnt. Make full use of the conveniences that technology has to offer.
• But importantly show the enthusiasm, passion and the zeal for your academics and success will be yours.

Click here to know more about the Hybrid Distance Learning Program offered by Welingkar’s Distance Learning Division.

Presentation Skills for Entrepreneurs

Are you one of those new-age entrepreneurs waiting to get funded by an angel investor? Do you feel that you need some skills to get a foot on the door of that elusive Venture Capitalist? Then it’s time that you honed your presentation skills. A new study published online in ‘Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice’ attributes the importance of presentation skills to the success of entrepreneurs seeking funding from potential investors.

The results of the study revealed that entrepreneurs who showed clear signs of preparedness and a strong handle on their material won the minds of the funding organizations irrespective of the business model that the entrepreneur had. As finance is the lifeblood of any organization, entrepreneurs need to acquire capital to kick start their ventures. And strong presentation skills enable in mopping up the growth capital.

So what are the elements of a good presentation skill? According to the study the elements include skilled storytelling, thorough command over the details, believability, authenticity and strong preparedness. So if you want to succeed as an entrepreneur then sharpen your presentation skills. One way of doing it is to enroll for an Online MBA or Distance Learning Program 

Click here for more such innovative content on Management Studies.

By Tarun Narayan

Stress management through Spirituality

The term “stress” is nothing new to modern life. Estimates suggest that one in every three individual today is a victim of stress, depression and various kinds of phobia. Stress impacts an individual at various level. Stress hampers an individual’s ability to perform well at the workplace. It breeds a sense of fear, anxiety and helplessness. It also inhibits an individual’s ability to socialize and form new friendship chains.

Spirituality is nothing but looking inwards and invoking the divine energy that’s residing in the deeper confines of your sub-conscious self. The reason why spirituality helps in keeping stress under check is that it helps person realize the true purpose of life, and one`s relationship with the concept of God.

To those who are down with personal uncertainties and miseries, spirituality gives them a confidence that they need not wallow in stress because there is a supreme power which will alleviate their sufferings thereby making them tranquil and simultaneously boosting their self-confidence. Leading Institutes teaching management courses in regular and Distance learning stream, Conduct Spiritual visit Workshops and classes to help their students overcome stress

Click here to experience more such innovative management concepts offered by WeSchool.

Register for Free online Webinar on “Stress Management” offered by Welingkar’s Distance Learning Program

The Importance of Industrial Visits

Industry visits sensitize students to the practical challenges that organizations face in the business world. Industrial visits also give greater clarity about various management concepts for students as they can practically see how these concepts are put into action.

Visits to manufacturing firms are useful for students. to understand the nuances and realities of the shopfloor, which in itself is a rare exposure. By visiting the shop floor they get to understand the risky conditions in which workers work, the people management challenges involved in managing workers  apart from getting hands-on technical knowledge.

To avail this valuable learning that students can be exposed to from industrial visits, Click here to join the PGDM – DLP course, offered by Welingkar’s DLP