Teaching Communication Skills Through Active Learning Needed

Online, March 15, 2011 (Newswire.com) - A three-day "Train the Trainer" workshop on Life & Communication Skills was organized by Department of Computer Science, Punjabi University, Patiala in collaboration with Education and Research department, Infosys Techologies. Mr. Sumesh and Mr. Manas Tayagi from Education and Research department, Infosys Technologies, Bhubneswar and Chandigarh DC respectively facilitated this workshop.

The workshop aimed at providing important insights into key aspects of soft-skills to the teachers working in the university and different colleges. The major topics taken up for discussion during the workshop included skills related to assertiveness, articulation, team building, art of communication, behavioral patterns and interview preparation. 35 participants covering 15 colleges affiliated to university participated in this workshop. The participants were given various activities to perform in order to gain a practical and concrete understanding of the concepts and principles of communication.

Mr. Sumesh informed the participants that they will keep this group alive along with them and carry on making efforts for inculcating better communication skills among students.

Mr. Manas Tayagi concluded the workshop with the remarks that teaching communication skills must be taught through case studies and practical activities to make it effective. They stressed that there is an urgent need for teachers to understand that the medium of facilitation must be in English only through active learning techniques. Teachers were trained on how to pass on this information to their students.

Dr. Vishal Goyal, Assistant Professor , Department of Computer Science, Punjabi University Patiala has been announced to be the Single Point of Contact (SPoC) for managing the Life and Communication Skills course run by the colleges affiliated to this university.