Cut to the Chase with Divya Gururaj, Global Account Director for Coca-Cola at MediaCom

In our weekly interview series with professionals at the peak of their game, Cut to the Chase, this week we chat with Divya Gururaj, Global Account Director for Coca-Cola at MediaCom, Singapore - http://bit.ly/divyagururaj

Cut to the Chase with Tarun Tahiliani, Fashion Designer

In our Cut to the Chase weekly interview series with professionals in different fields, this week we chat with famous Indian fashion designer, Tarun Tahiliani – http://bit.ly/tahiliani

We hope our interviews with professionals at the peak of their game are an inspiration to the community of youth we wish to reach out to. Feel free to share.

Cut to the Chase with Vandita Pant, Business Treasurer, RBS

We are starting a new initiative at Timeless Lifeskills – Cut to the Chase – weekly interviews with professionals in different fields, who are an inspiration to the community of youth we wish to reach out to.

We want to give our young audience a sense of what a typical and a not-so-typical day feels like in that profession, how can a young person prepare for entering that profession, what formal and non-formal education they should pursue, what kind of personal traits matter most, pitfalls of that profession… stuff that will help youngsters get a real sense of ‘future self-concept’ in a particular field or profession and help them make wise choices.

We kick-off with our first interview with Vandita Pant, Business Treasurer, RBS Bank, United Kingdom. Read it here – http://bit.ly/vanditapant

Feel free to share.

Role Playing to become Aware Citizens of a Democracy

A student giving his campaign speech

Last December Atul was back at Jeevanshala school in village Maram in the Himalayas. Earlier, in July '14, Atul had introduced project-based learning and grade 4 and 5 students had visited a local ‘naula’ (traditional water source) and created a newspaper based on their findings (see our earlier FB posts). Atul was pleasantly surprised that the students had since created half-a-dozen newspapers on different topics.

This time the focus was on encouraging the students to become aware citizens of a democracy and get them to think more about their school and education – how it is different, what is the purpose, what and how they learn…

Their teacher Sandeep explained to the students how a village Panchayat works. How the villagers vote for their village representatives or panch, how these members then elect their leader or Sarpanch, how a village meeting or Gram Sabha is called where anyone living in the village can participate and raise any issue they are concerned about. How these issues are then deliberated, voted upon and communicated to the Block Development Office (BDO), who is the local representative of the State government. Children learnt all this through role-play!

Grade 4 and 5 students together became village Jeevanshala and some of them decided to stand for elections to represent their village. They prepared their speeches and campaigned about what they would do for their village (i.e. their school) if they got elected. Students made ballot papers with all the names of candidates and lined up to vote. They had a pen mark put on their index finger once they had voted to simulate the real experience of voting in India. The votes were then counted with each ballot paper shown to the losing candidates. Results were declared and Jeevanshala gram panchayat was constituted. This was followed by election of the Sarpanch.

A Gram Sabha (general meeting of all the villagers/students) was called where students voiced issues of concern – leaking water pipe in their school water tank, need for more school stationery, more books, sports equipment etc. These issues were put to vote and the Sarpanch then presented the most important issues to the BDO, which was played by Sandeep!

An interesting aside of the Gram Sabha was a big discussion on the Ration Cards that are issued by Government of India based on who is above and below the poverty line and what category is eligible for what benefits. There is the APL or Above the Poverty Line card, BPL or Below the Poverty Line card and Antodaya or extreme poverty level card. By the end of the discussion the students probably knew more about eligibility and benefits of each card than most villagers! Atul learnt that village Maram is a 'nirmal gaon’ because every house in the village has a toilet (no open defecation)!

To explain the nuances of their school the students, along with Sandeep, composed a school song. You can view this song and other videos on Jeevanshala YouTube channel http://bit.ly/jeevanshala (thank you Manan for creating this channel).

A student casting his vote

Sandeep putting a pen mark on the right index finger of the student who cast his vote, to simulate voting in India

This new year… may you learn and flourish!

A hearty welcome to our new readers on Facebook – thank you for joining in! And to all our readers, best wishes for a great year ahead – may you learn and flourish!

We urge you all to consider making a new year resolution – to learn something new, something different, or something in–depth. According to Benjamin Franklin, "An investment in knowledge always pays the best interest." How true!

Learning is indeed same as making an investment. On one end of the spectrum is 'learning for exams' (or learning known–knowns, that too by rote) which is 'low risk – low return' investment. Learning for exams and doing well in them might get you your first job but it is unlikely to make you shine in the longer run. In the middle of the spectrum is ‘knowledge acquisition’ – when you go beyond learning just for exams and aim at deep understanding of a discipline (or learning known–unknowns). Exploring topics in–depth, beyond the requirement of the curriculum may seem more time consuming hence risky but it will lead to higher returns later in life. The ‘high risk – high return’ investment in learning is venturing into learning cutting–edge developments in a domain (or learning unknown–unknowns), that too on your own!

To flourish in the 21st century you need a balanced learning portfolio. Invest time in learning for exams; but make sure you also invest in deeper learning; most of all ensure that you allocate some time in learning new things. Four questions you should ponder upon this new year are:

- What do you consider worth learning?
- How will you learn it?
- How will you know you have learnt it well?
- How will you become better at learning new things?

We will be discussing these questions and much more in our 6-weeks, free online course on self-directed learning skills that is starting on January 14th. For more information and to register visit: http://www.timelesslifeskills.co.uk/usasdl/ 

This Children's Day - Foster a Yearning for Learning

At Timeless Lifeskills, we're bringing in Children's Day this year with a bang of a book - the only way we know how! Celebrating the joy of learning for the sake of learning such that it helps you grow and flourish in the 21st century and beyond, Yearning for Learning: The Adventures of K is what you should be getting your intelligent yet distracted (read: wired) children. Plus, it's Pay What You Want! 

To download your copy go to https://gumroad.com/l/yearningforlearning > click ‘I want this’ button > to get it for free put the amount as £0 (the credit card fields will disappear) > type your email > click ‘Get’ to download.

Online Course on Self-directed Learning

With eminent Indian educationist Professor M.M. Pant we have launched a pilot online course on self-directed learning. Over the next six weeks we will be looking at various aspects of self-directed learning - why has it become imperative in the 21st century, what are the dispositions of an autonomous learner, how can these be imbibed, what leads to the a-ha moment, trends in online education like OERs and MOOCs and what should be the end-game of education.

We will be sending out three emails every week. For those who just want an overview of self-directed learning simply reading these emails will suffice; for those who want to dig a little deeper we will provide podcasts and links to other interesting learning resources; and for those who are keen to become über smart learners - we invite you to participate actively in the online discussions and debates that we will catalyse and moderate on the course website. You can register for the course here - http://www.timelesslifeskills.co.uk/usasdl/