Experiential
Learning
New Age Pedagogy To Teaching
PRESENTED BY
ANKUR VOHRA, O.P. JINDAL GLOBAL UNIVERSITY
PROF. SEAN P. BALA, O.P. JINDAL GLOBAL UNIVERSITY
22nd April | 2:15 – 3:00 PM | Dubai

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• My Typical Lecture Class used to look like this!
When I was in College!

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• Mostly boring with few rare days of excitement
If you were to taken an ECG of my lecture class

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And, that was before this!

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I love this one!

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• What is the method of teaching in your University? Is it only
lecture learning?
• What is the real life exposure/ experiential learning of your
course work?
• Who will teach me? His academic and teaching credentials?
• Why should I study a particular subject in a particular way and
not the other way around!
Questions student & parents ask me during
application process

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Thank fully I had Rock Star Professors
to talk of!
• Faculty who were making learning
fun and employing innovative
methods to teach
• Universities such as Ashoka,
Jindal, Shiv Nadar and many others
who have given importance to not
only what is taught but also how it is
taught
• Image used is of Prof. Jonathan Gil
Harris from Ashoka who made
learning Shakespeare fun and lively
not boring

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• And, I have one for you today to
share his tricks of the trade!

Experiential
Learning – New
Age PedagogiesPROFESSOR SEAN P. BALA
ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, JINDAL SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS AND
HUMANITIES
DIRECTOR – ADMISSIONS AND OUTREACH, O.P. JINDAL GLOBAL
UNIVERSITY

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Limitations for Implementing
New Pedagogies
1) “What are you
going to do with
that?”, or Education
as Credentialing
3) Gotta Have
the Bells and
Whistles, or Tech
Solutionism
2) “You Can Do
Anything, as long as
its Engineering…” -
One-Size-Fits-All-
Careers
5) “I Know
Everything, You Know
Nothing,” or Ignoring
the Voice of the
Student
4) “The Only Thing
Constant Is Change,” or
the Need for Continual
Development for
Teachers and
Counsellors

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Where to begin?
Breaking Bad Habits
and Assumptions–
Students, Teachers,
and Parents
Accepting that
Students can ask good
questions and making
deep insights about
the world.
Ask students what they
want to study and
learn and base on their
actual experiences
Moving from the
“Banking Method of
Education” to the
“Problem Posing
Method” of Teaching
Practicing
Experiential and
Service-Based
Learning
Flattening the
Hierarchy Between
Teacher and Student

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Interdisciplinary
Seminars
JINDAL SCHOOL OF LIBERAL ARTS AND
HUMANITIES (JSLH)

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Interdisciplinary
Seminars
The “Interdisciplinary Seminars” are the backbone of the curriculum of the Jindal
School of Liberal Arts and Humanities (JSLH). These three courses take ideas
and themes the range across disciplines and put them together in order to explore
methods and ideas.
These courses are small (20-30 students each) and are always co-taught by two
faculty with often contrasting disciplinary foundations. The projects and
assignments are unique and challenging and gives students insights not only in
their academics but also into themselves.
One of the secondary goals of these courses in helping students gain confidence
in their own voices and their ability to do research and answer questions.

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Intersciplinary Seminar 1:
Me, Myself and Them
(Semester 1)
This course focuses on the theme of how we learn and how we make meaning
through our observations and experiences. The course introduces concepts like rites
of passage, alternative pedagogies, the multiplicity of truth, and how observations
and experiences become translated into analysis.
The course work centers around original field research projects (written, oral, and
visual) that students present based on their own research in a neighborhood in
Delhi.
Past locations include
- Nizamuddin East (near the Dargah of Nizamuddin Aulya);
- Chandni Chowk / Shajahanabad (Old Delhi)
- Majnuka Tila (Tibetan Refugee Colony)

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Interdisciplinary Seminar 2:
The Idea of Ideas (Semester
2)
In the second seminar, we focus on the idea of how we ask
question through an in-depth exploration of interlocking ideas.
Last year’s theme was “The Ties that Break and the Ties that Bind”
with five themes:
a. The Idea of Human Rights
b. The Idea of Money
c. The Idea of Religion
d. The Idea of Nation
e. The Idea of Violence
This year’s theme is “The Hidden World” with four themes:
a. The Idea of Money
b. The Idea of Big Data
c. The Idea of Nation
d. The Idea of the Anthropocene
The central assignment for the course are a series of capstone debates at the end of
each unit so students apply the abstract ideas discussed in the unit to real-world
scenarios.
Past Debate Topics Include
- Classroom 4 believes that the centrality of the Internet and Technology in our lives is
becoming a new religion
- Classroom 4 feels that we should prioritize economic growth over tacking income
inequality
- Classroom 4 believes that the idea of India cannot be encapsulated by the word
“Nation”
- Classroom 4 believes it is time for JGU to join Extinction Rebellion

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Interdisciplinary Seminar 3:
Participatory Action,
Community-Based Research
The third Interdisciplinary Seminar brings students into the field to
work in local communities centered around the local anganwadis
(community health clinic and day care centers).
The focus of this course is on participatory action research and
service based learning – how do actually listen, learn with, and work
with living communities.

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Central to the conception and execution of the Interdisciplinary Seminars is the
movement through the three steps of Rites of Passage first conceived by Van
Gennep (1909):
SEPARATION
LIMINIALITY
REAGGREGATION
As conceived by Victor Turner, we are constantly going through various rites of
passage (some major but often minor) that help shape us and our worldviews.
Additional, the central conceit of the Intersciplinary Seminars (and with the JSLH
Pedagogy generally is –
STUDENTS ARE CAPABLE OF ASKING GREAT QUESTIONS AND DOING
INSIGHTFUL RESEARCH.