Beginning To Apply Iucee Effective Teaching Strategies In India: An Experience In A Master Of Computer Applications Program

The Indo-US Collaboration for Engineering Education (IUCEE) initiative is focused on preparing the next generation of engineering faculty in India and the United States, and dramatically increasing the number of collaborations in research and teaching to better prepare engineers for the global economy. After two years of planning in India and the US involving almost 200 academic and business leaders from both countries, and raising close to US$1M, the first Faculty Leadership Institute was offered on the Infosys Technologies’ Global Education Center in Mysore, India for a six week period during the summer of 2008. Almost 585 Indian faculty members participated in 23 week-long Train-the-Trainer workshops led by 27 US faculty members and corporate representatives that covered general effective teaching techniques as well as best practices teaching within engineering disciplines. This paper describes a first experience by one of the Indian participants applying strategies taught at the IUCEE Faculty Leadership Institute to a course in a Master of Computer Applications program in India, and the students’ reactions. The course was part of a two course sequence, the faculty member taught the first course before the Institute experience and the second after the Institute. The students assessed the difference in his teaching skills and the impact of using the new techniques in the second course.