Last year, the entire education system was forced to take measures that are both effective and implementable. The MBA ecosystem wasn’t any different. Right after the nationwide lockdown and the extended scare of the pandemic during the year, B-schools rose up to the challenge and delivered. We spoke to the students of one such B-school, IMI Kolkata, to understand how the virtual learning environment panned out for them, what are the new learnings they acquired, and how did IMI Kolkata manage to make sure that the students don’t have to suffer due to the unprecedented times. Now, when the entire nation is once again reeling from the pandemic and rising cases every day, B-schools are forced to go back to the online mode of teaching. And institutes like IMI Kolkata and others can be an effective model for students and institutions to follow in the time to come.
Akansha Khaitan (PGDM 2020-22)
The Covid-19 Pandemic has drastically altered the education system. In such a tumultuous moment, colleges must ensure that classes are held without interruption for the benefit of their students and adapt to the virtual learning mode.
International Management Institute, Kolkata is one of the B-schools which has successfully managed to conduct online classes and impart the required education that an MBA student requires. The OLT Platform provided by the institute aids in the smooth functioning of the academic process. It helps students track their marks, grades, attendance and also provides necessary feedback. The college also provides remote VPN access to all of its students, allowing them to access reading materials, academic papers, magazines, case studies, and statistical data and access them remotely with ease. The lack of physical presence did not hamper the learning for us.
IMI Kolkata makes it a point to constantly engage its students through case study discussions, role plays, webinars, live projects, events, and competitions. These give the students much-needed exposure while still ensuring holistic learning. In order to ensure the safety of all its stakeholders, IMI Kolkata follows the concept of Bio- Bubble. The campus is periodically sanitized as well. Once the hostels are reopened, the institute would continue with "Blended Learning" in which residential students would be availing classroom facilities after due observation of quarantine period, in rotating batches, while day scholars can continue learning from their homes in an Online mode, all while being able to interact with the faculty and other students
Shouvik Dutta (PGDM 2020-2022)
The pandemic forced various institutions to suddenly modify their workflow strategies and adopt new technologies. In most cases, these institutions did not get enough time to reflect upon how the new strategies and the associated technologies should be introduced and integrated into their existing setup.
IMI Kolkata is a top Business school in India offering programs in Management. IMI-K quickly strategized its teaching‐learning process during the pandemic and modifications were made to incorporate great online infrastructure and technology to provide the best learning experience to the students. Technologies like OLT, IMI-K’s intranet, and library resources best served the students in the pandemic for their fruitful learning.
The professors typically use presentation programs like PowerPoint and note‐taking programs like Google Classroom to disseminate information. Students can efficiently interact with the professors.
The advances adopted by IMI-K during the pandemic in online educational technology allow it to deliver the best learning experience and education to its students.
Prantik Majumdar (PGDM 2020-22)
A year has gone by since I started my PGDM journey at IMI Kolkata, a year full of despair for many around the world and in our country.
At IMI Kolkata, students were never deprived of any opportunity to learn and grow. Ranging from blended classrooms to the ability to access the entire library resources at the touch of a button, learning was prioritized unabashedly. The teachers, all highly qualified and have a stellar track record of research and journal publications, were adept at handling online classes over Zoom platform, and utilizing a plethora of add-on tools like virtual whiteboards, sticky notes and breakout rooms to conduct lessons and even group activities. To aid continuous learning, library books were physically delivered to students. Students were also able to track their academic progress through a dashboard, OLT.
All in all, IMI Kolkata has ensured that students do not miss out on academic progress, which is undoubtedly a sign of an institute genuinely concerned about the holistic development of students. And to that end, I can vouch for the fact that I have been able to learn a lot during this time, putting to rest the doubts in my mind about whether I would be able to make constructive progress in academics during a worldwide pandemic
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