Celebrating Two Decades as a Teacher-Trainer
The Joys of Teaching: 2002- 2022
Pic- Collage of various training-speaking assignments
The blog shares the highlights of my journey in teaching & the experiences and learning during the two decades (2002-2022)
The Journey Begins
My career transition from corporate world to teaching began in 2002. I got my first teaching assignment as Visiting Professor at School of Management, Pondicherry University. My journey began with teaching Tourism Services Marketing to MBA (Tourism Management) students (known as Masters in Tourism Administration in those days).
I was just 28 years old & teaching post graduate students was challenging in the sense that the age gap between me and students was hardly 6–7 years. I taught at the SOM for 2 years and used experiential learning tools wherever possible. I was always more of a skills trainer than a teacher and that resulted in a strong connect with students & excellent student feedback. I was running a small business along with part time teaching.
Educational Leadership
Good feedback resulted in more Visiting Faculty assignments flowing in. The first one was at ICFAI distance education. Soon I got my first full time teaching job at ICFAI, Pondicherry. I also got the additional responsibility of education administration (or Academic Coordinator).
I am not sure whether I got jobs at ‘Great Places to Work’, but I was definitely fortunate to get jobs at ‘Great Places to Learn’ and great colleagues to work with. Whether it was the facilitation & experiential learning models at ICFAI or process oriented teaching at Wigan & Leigh, they shaped my teaching style permanently. As an MBA student also, I learnt as much from Economic Times & Business Today, as I did from the management classics by Kotler & Luthans
Pic- With team & students of PGDM BIMTECH
Experiential Learning Pedagogy
From debates to extempores, from quizzes to mock boardrooms, from ‘Think on Your Feet’ to blind tests, from role plays to management games, my classes were always packed with experiential learning exercises (A presentation on the same was featured by Slideshare on its home page)
As senior faculty members (at ICFAI) we were frequently sent to Hyderabad and Coimbatore to attend Faculty Development Workshops, and we were expected to train fellow faculty members afterwards. MIS & reporting systems were excellent at ICFAI and academic coordination was also a great learning experience.
My next assignment was at Sri Aurobindo Institute of Mass Communication, New Delhi (now renamed as SACAC) as Program Coordinator- Advertising & PR. While the institute was actively using social media marketing even in those days, I heard of terms like social media optimization for the first time. The faculty team consisted of ‘Who is Who’ of media & communication, from Raghu Rai to Sulina Menon, from Ramesh Menon to Rahul Dev.
In 2009, I joined WLC College as HOD- Management & had to look after both UG and PG programs (known as Bachelors/Masters in Business Economics). We launched a specialization in digital marketing in 2011 & it was an honour to be a part of the curriculum development team.
Foreseeing the Future
My PhD (2005–10) in media marketing had already exposed me to social media & I could foresee that Digital was the future. Life was kind of handholding me into the world of digital media and marketing. I launched my blog in 2010 and named it “The Joys of Teaching and Co-Learning”.
In 2011, I ventured into personal branding coaching and continued to teach part time.
Digital Disruption Begins
During my stint at NDIM, (2016–2021), we organised Blogging and New Media Summit, Digital Transformation Summit and loads of workshops on blogging & content development. My stint at NDIM also exposed me to organising mega events (1–2 days) though I had organised International Peace Day Rally & Campus Festival (half day events) at WLC also. Using checklists to manage smooth flow of events was a good lesson.
Digital marketing was taught as a skill based course & 75 % of the classes were in workshop mode. I taught personal branding, social media marketing, content marketing & blogging and Online Reputation Management. Digital disruption had started becoming conspicuous by now.
In 2019, I started teaching Personal Branding & Networking Skills (part of Experiential Learning module) at BIMTECH as Visiting Professor. Based on our learning, we have been updating the curriculum every year.
Pic- Panel Discussion, Digital Transformation Summit, NDIM
Swimming on the Digital High Tide
Here are some of the ways I am learning to swim in the digital high tide:-
a) Peer to peer learning (P2P) is the new norm
I need to become even more of a facilitator as I facilitate P2P or student to student learning, as one student has mastered YouTube, while another has mastered Instagram for example.
b) From joys of teaching to joys of learning
The digital world is so dynamic that I have to constantly learn new features & tools to stay updated.
c) From teaching to training
Digital is about teaching skills (not theory) and I can’t effectively teach a skill unless I keep honing it by practising it with clients.
d) Holding to your core
As my coach Jennifer Sertl says, “Hold on to your core in the disruptive times”, I need to focus on my core viz. digital branding & storytelling. I need to continue practicing storytelling in varied digital formats be it email marketing or on mobile or website and learn how digital tools like SEO can make digital storytelling more effective. After all, “Your Story is Your Brand”.
While swimming in the digital high tide is exciting like “the new relationships”, holding to the core is comforting like “the old friends”.
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Brief Profile
Dr Amit Nagpal is a Personal Branding & Storytelling Coach and Co-Founder of Bloggers Alliance, an association of bloggers & content creators. He is also a Visiting Professor and believes, “Teaching is Meditation, Storytelling is Nirvana”.
