Dr. Sarla Sharma is the Head of the Physics Department at Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya. She completed her B.Sc. in Science (PCM) stream, M.Sc. in Physics, B.Ed., M. Phil in Physics, and Ph.D. in Physics. She worked on the project based on “Development of Polymer membrane filters & effect of different SHI irradiation on filters.” She has also attended various Faculty Development Programs and MOOCs courses. She has more than 8 years of experience in the field of education. She has published her papers in various national and international journals. 

Kanoria PG Mahila Mahavidyalaya Jaipur

What are your roles and responsibilities?

“Providing students with the best academic environment to enhance their communication”

HOD is the face of the department and is quite similar to the head of the family. Besides the organizational responsibility for setting up academic calendars, timetables, and monitoring activities to ensure academic discipline in the department, several other tasks are required to be done during a semester. The first task is to inculcate meaningful activities and learning opportunities during the short span of the semester in between examinations so that students always feel motivated and work with a specific aim. These activities are crafted with meticulous planning. Most of these activities are coordinated by students which play a crucial role in developing quality such as effective communication, project planning, and teamwork.

Another aspect of the responsibility of the head is to steer a feedback collection mechanism to address the grievance of students to provide a congenial environment for conducive teaching-learning activities.

How do you tend to establish healthy relations with the students and fellow faculty?

“Enhance team-work culture among the students”

Working in a group where everyone is working toward the same goal is easy. This also creates a competitive climate, which encourages everyone to perform at their best. I am fortunate enough to have a fellow faculty member of a similar mindset. All of us work in coherence to establish good communication channels between staff members and students. I believe that communication is a key element for emotional wellness and constructive relationships. The importance of positive student connections cannot be overstated. Students who feel supported are more likely to participate in learning and get better academic results. At our Department, we talk to students, let them speak, and give them problems to provide solutions. In this way, students get regular encouragement and this forms a basis of a conducive relationship.

How do you try to make subjects industry-oriented?

“Encouraging students for attending Industrial meets and practical training”

The practical approach of teaching encourages greater interaction between the teacher and the students, as well as among the students themselves. I try to create an environment in the class, allowing a more natural flow of communication. It is a well-known fact that Physics is best taught through experiments, and I use the same in my pedagogy. It becomes lucid to understand the complex phenomenon with the help of a practical example. In addition to this, I augment my teaching with virtual laboratory experiments where students would not require any instrumentation and learn the concepts quickly. 

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How do you strategize the curriculum to make it befitting for the students?

“Focus on regular updation of the course curriculum”

For the syllabus part, being an affiliated college, we rely on the affiliating university. Although, the existing syllabus can provide a quality congregation of contents we try to supplement the learning beyond the syllabus with invited lectures, workshops, conferences, etc. In this way, we can provide the student better learning out of the same syllabus being taught at other colleges.

What are your views on the placements and higher education of the students from your department?

“Students are free for making their career choices with the help of counseling sessions”

Most of the UG students undertaking pass courses, physics is one of a subject with two other. It provides them an essential skill set to an extent but they need to undergo a PG degree to hone their skill for a prospecting career in physics. However, most of the students prepare for examinations to fetch them decent employment. The students of PG, however, have many opportunities, as far as a career in Physics is concerned. We also extend help them by career counseling sessions and provide them with necessary information about prospective career choices. 

How do you help your student to cope up with the competition?

“Career-oriented Expert presentations, Webinars, and Workshops would help the students”

We hold numerous career-related expert presentations, webinars, and workshops on a variety of topics. This introduces students to the career options and the required skill set for each of them. In this, they become more aware in terms of what they need out of a given program. Our teaching pedagogy imbibes questions from several competitive examinations. With this, the student does not require any specific coaching for attaining their goals. 

In addition to this, projects, laboratory presentations, and seminars also prepare them to work under pressure for a task in a limited period.

Do you have any extracurricular programs to enhance the skills of the students?

“Our extracurricular programs expose students to real-world challenges”

Extracurricular activities foster teamwork, communication, relationships, and a sense of belonging, all of which aid students' social development and academic performance. Keeping this in mind we organize a variety of extracurricular and co-curricular events for the students' overall growth, such as quizzes, brainstorming competitions, guest lectures, extension lectures, seminars, and other activities linked to the subject and other practical issues. I also encourage them to take part in other competitions and events so that they may assess their potential in the world and improve their abilities to attain their objectives. 

What are the challenges you faced to uplift the quality of education of your department?

“Arrangement of Funds for the laboratory establishment was the major challenge faced by me”

There are many challenges in the path of quality upliftment. The major part where we need to work out is getting funds to establish research laboratories with research equipment. This is an urgent requirement to start the Ph.D. program at the Department. With the initiation of the Ph.D. program and the establishment of the laboratory, the students will be provided sufficient opportunities to undertake research projects even during their graduation. This would surely propel their interest to choose physics as a career option. Further, we wish to collaborate with laboratories of national repute and industries so that we may be able to provide job opportunities to our students.

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What are the approaches you bring in apart from curriculum to teaching the students? 

“Provide students with various project demonstrations, quizzes, seminars, and workshops”

We supplement the learning provided by the syllabus with other activities. We organize several invited lectures on topics related to their career and on advanced topics beyond the syllabus. We organize students’ visits to laboratories and industries. To provide them a box full of opportunities to discuss with eminent researchers, we organize conferences and webinars. In addition to this, seminars, project demonstrations, and quizzes are a necessary part of their curriculum for better learning.

Any valuable advice would you like to the students for them to have a prosperous career ahead?

“Students should expand their knowledge and learn multiple skills”

I would advise the student to expand knowledge and learn multiple skills. Do not rely completely on the syllabus provided, subscribe to the MOOCs platform, and learn things that would provide you a competitive edge over students pursuing the same program. Keep your eyes open for opportunities and stay focused till you wait for them.