Dr. R. Sesha Iyer, Faculty at SPJIMR Mumbai, was recently voted by the students of SPJIMR Mumbai as the InsideIIM Professor of The Year! He was kind enough to answer a set of questions we posed to him around his experiences as a Professor at one of India’s top B-schools, teaching some of the brightest minds in the country. Here is what Dr. Iyer has to say – What is the best part about teaching these future leaders in your classroom?The current generation of students are generally inquisitive, good at digital devices - Mobile, Net, PC - well informed, emotionally matured, pleasant & energetic and it is a great experience to take classes for such students. I always consider myself lucky and privileged to get opportunity to interact with them. Your students have praised you for the interesting ways in which you teach your classes to make studies interesting. How important do you think this approach is for the students to cope with the real world out there?Students are motivated to attend and participate in the class because of the following factors:-
They can apply what they learn. Relevance and application orientation is important.
Interesting, i.e., it should be a joy to attend the class.
Making apparently complex things simple.
Cases, real-life examples, academic models/theories, projects with peers – Which method, according to you, is most effective in teaching your subject to students?There is no single method which will suit all courses and all category of students. Videos & case studies may be more useful in courses like Strategy or behavioural science. Experiential Learning like field work may work well in social sensitivity. Application Exercises and Excel Models can be effectively used in courses like Management Accounting and Decision Science A combination will also work in certain cases.How has the use of technology transformed the modern MBA classroom?Technology is of a good facilitator. Online courses, Internet access to information, access to books, YouTube videos on any topic, all these are changing the way students learn and the faculty has to take advantage of these resources to ensure value addition in his class.How do you feel when you see people whom you have taught become successful in their lives and conquer the professional world out there?Since faculty like me got an opportunity to take classes in a reputed institute like SPJIMR, all the students will be well placed and grow professionally very fast. We will not be able to judge what is the role or impact of our teaching here. But many of those in companies confirm that what we have taught in the class has been very useful not only in getting placement but also for their subsequent professional growth. It is a matter of great satisfaction to know that I am able to contribute to the betterment of others.Give us one student’s story that you have closely followed or tell us about that one student who had amazing growth during their MBA and surprised you.Many of students participate in internal national business competitions at the global level and coming out as winners, making us proud, is great. I have seen good number of our Alumni having impressive growth to positions of higher responsibilities.What are the kind of changes/developments that you see in the B-school curriculum in the years to come?B-School Curriculum will have more content related to Ethics/ sustainability Analytics and the teaching method will have increasing experiential learning.What, according to you, are some of the qualities that an aspiring B-school student must possess?Inquisitiveness & Enthusiasm to learn, courage & heart, attitude of service.What are your thoughts about InsideIIM’s Professor of the Year initiative?For a teacher, acceptance by the student community, and perception of the student about the faculty contribution is definitely significant and this InsideIIM Professor is a good initiative.Read more such interviews with Professors here.