Baptist College Kohima conducts faculty development programme

DIMAPUR — A one-day faculty development programme (FDP) on effective teaching strategies was organised at Baptist College Kohima on Saturday by the internal quality assurance cell (IQAC) of the college in collaboration with the State Council of Educational Research and Training (SCERT).

According to a press release, the programme comprised two sessions with Daniel Thong Seb, senior lecturer and head of ICT and Inclusive Education at SCERT, and Aylwin Semp, lecturer at the District Institute of Education Training, Wokha, as the resource persons.

In the first session, Thong discussed inclusive teaching practices, emphasising the importance of mainstreaming children with intellectual disabilities, inclusive and exclusive practice, inclusive education strategies, and the role of teachers.

He cited examples of inclusion and stated that segregation and integration are not inclusive and do little for disabled students in mainstream education. When discussing inclusive practice, Thong emphasised that education is truly inclusive only when it benefits all learners.

He stated that inclusiveness also entails accommodating regular children, special children, and economically challenged students. Speaking of barriers to inclusive education, Thong said that policies that do not promote inclusivity should be eliminated. He noted that teachers ought to teach in a way that the student understands and not as the teacher understands.

On integrating technology in the classroom, Semp emphasised the importance of using technology in classroom teaching-learning experiences. He shared three tips to help integrate technology in the classrooms, including gamifying learning experiences, facilitating interactive lectures, and creating an online classroom.

A practical demonstration of how to use various online tools, platforms, and applications such as Quizizz, Google Slides, Google Docs, Google Sheets, WhatsApp, Facebook, and GoogleMeet, which can be useful teaching tools, was given.

Also mentioning the rising cases of cyberattacks and breaches of security, Semp noted the three most common types of cyberattacks: malware attacks, phishing attacks, and man-in-the-middle attacks. He also provided some suggestions on how to enhance security against cyber attacks, such as by enabling the built-in firewall system, installing antivirus software, creating unique and difficult passwords, and avoiding opening emails from unknown sources.