Prof. Prachi Joshi has been working as an Assistant Professor of Computer Science and Engineering Department at Deogiri Institute of Engineering and Management Studies, Aurangabad, Maharashtra. She has a wonderful 19 years of experience in the education sector and she is an honest and open person who tries to be fair in everything that she does. She has done ME (CSE) in 2010 and is currently pursuing PhD in Computer Science & Engineering as part of her academics. She is an RHCSA certified from Red Hat where she has gained deep knowledge about enterprise administration skills, shell scripting and Linux deployments. She has worked as a Google Cloud Facilitator for her institute in 2021 where she learned how to build, deploy, and scale applications on Google Cloud Platform (GCP). Apart from all this, she has been coordinating Google Cloud Readiness Program at her institute for the last 2.5 years to help students’ to prepare for cloud careers through industry-recognized training, skill badges and certifications.

Deogiri Institute of Engineering and Management Studies

What keeps you connected with the Education Sector and how has your experience been so far with the institute?

"My passion for teaching students is the biggest factor behind my association with the education sector"

Teaching has always been my passion, as it reveals my inner desire to help others, to impart my knowledge to them, and to sail in other people's minds. In addition to this, being in the education sector, I need to continuously upgrade my skills and work on innovative ideas and this keeps me moving ahead, adds value to education I offer to students and inculcates the best skills in them. And I believe all these factors together have helped me to stay connected with the education sector for almost the past 20 years. And if I talk about my professional journey, it has been amazing till date as I joined the Deogiri Institute of Engineering & Management Studies in 2010 and since then I have observed DIEMS as a platform for providing academic excellence to the students with the help of innovative teaching learning strategies.

Being the Assistant Professor of CSE Department at DIEMS, what are your responsibilities towards the students?

"I am responsible for educating students and guiding them for their career and life decisions"

As an Assistant Professor, my prime responsibility is to plan, prepare and deliver lectures, create lesson plans, handouts and study material as required and keep myself updated abreast of current trends and developments of the IT sector. And I personally believe that a Teacher should be more of a Mentor and Friend for students so that they can achieve success in both personal and professional life by fixing their issues with the support and guidance of their teachers. Therefore we at DIEMS provide mentorship to young minds on an individual basis under our Mentor-Mentee scheme where they can frequently interact with their Mentor for their skills development, personality enhancement and doubt clearance. 

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Which extracurricular activities are organized by your college to enhance the skills of students?

"Photography events, coding competitions and Trekking like events are organized by us from time to time"

As in today's unpredictable and dynamic industrial world, Employers are looking for graduates having a wide range of technical and social skills so that they can be more productive at the workplace. Therefore we have established several important initiatives and platforms for students like Red Hat Academy, AWS Academy, Google Cloud Ready Engineer Program and HackerEarth Platform to guide and expose students to real world challenges. And if I talk about the co-curricular activities, we regularly organize coding events, nature related photography events, cycling sessions and Trekking etc. with the support of our Coding Club, Cycling Club, Nature Club, Photography Club and Trekking Club to provide a stage to students to showcase their skills and unique talents.

How does the curriculum of your institution ensure the future preparedness of students?

"It is designed by experts of University to which we are affiliated to, hence ensure best practices"

As we are affiliated to Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Technological University, hence we follow the curriculum designed and updated by them. And since we have limited scope to do modifications in the curriculum, therefore to supplement student's knowledge, various value based courses are offered by us in the discipline of Artificial Intelligence, Data Science, Blockchain, Cloud Computing, Game Design and Information Security etc. to offers more autonomy to students over curriculum and provides them opportunity to customize it to reflect their passions and interests. 

How do you bring in a practical and industry oriented approach towards subjects?

"By regularly conducting experiments and practical learning sessions and assigning projects to students"

For the purpose of ensuring a practical and industry oriented approach towards subjects, whenever I teach any subject or topic to students I try my best to explore all innovative ideas and case studies I can use during lectures to make them understand the topics in a better way. And since I follow the practice of learning by doing, I regularly encourage my students to make mini and major projects on topics I explain to them during classes. Because I believe then only they will be able to dig down the practical applications of those subjects. In addition to this, as during interviews, industry professionals often ask students about their academic projects that they have completed in their Engineering years enlarging job prospects.

What approaches do you bring in apart from curriculum to teach the students?

"Professional visits and guest lectures are conducted regularly to educate students beyond books"

We use few simple yet effective approaches like flipped classrooms and project based learning to educate students beyond hard-coded curriculum and books. Apart from this, subject wise expert talks, industrial visits and orientation sessions for first year engineering students etc. are organized by us to bridge the gaps between our curriculum, student’s skills and industrial requirements. 

What would you like people to know about your institute that makes it different from others?

"Our college offer finest quality education and industrial exposure to students through corporate connect sessions"

We offer best quality and employment oriented education to students and personal counseling to address their academic and non-academic issues and queries through the Mentor-Mentee program. In addition to this, we stay connected with our students and outside world through social media platforms like LinkedIn, and Hackathons like events are conducted by us on a regular basis to sharpen student’s skills. Lastly, since we totally understand the importance of education for ambitious youths of our society, hence financial assistance is provided by us to needy students so that they can continue their studies without any hurdles. 

What do you see as your college's greatest strengths?

"Our industrial tie-ups, faculty members, students, and events we organize and placement training we offer to students makes us strong"

I firmly believe that the main pillars of our college's greatest strengths are our industry integrated curriculum, corporate collaborations, young, enthusiastic, highly qualified and experienced faculty members, students and their support for us. In addition to this, guest lectures and inspire series we regularly organize for students for their interaction with social and industrial leaders, our technical initiatives, placement support and assistance along with scholarships and financial aids we provide to students and value added courses also makes us strong, resilient and different from others.

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What are some of the biggest challenges you see for higher education in general and DIEMS specifically?

"Shifting students focus towards their studies and from online to offline mode of learning is a real challenge for us"

During Covid-19 pandemic, conducting classes in college was out of the question and we just like every other institution had to deliver lectures virtually using various modes, so this sudden shift made students habitual of reading and learning things online which drastically reduced their focus and engagement towards their studies. And if I talk about the present situation, things have improved to a great extent as offline classes have been started again, but students' focus is still diverted towards the online learning environment, so for us bringing back their focus and changing their mindset is a real struggle which we need to address on an earliest basis. 

Any suggestions which you would like to give to the current youth and aspiring students?

"Work on real time projects and keep upgrading your technical skills"

I would like to advise my dear students and ambitious Engineering youths to work on real time projects in college and develop a strong portfolio of skills which are in high demand in today's dynamic industrial world. Also find a mentor who can suggest the best for your well-being and try to maintain a balance between your personal and professional life. Last but not the least, develop a strong professional and technical presence on social media platforms and connect with people who can help you grow.