ANALYTICAL STUDY OF ‘RESEARCH’ USED AS AN EXPERIMENTAL TOOL FOR EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Abstract

The formal education system provides a fixed boundary of subjects but what if the learner wants to go beyond the same? Can educators guide and mentor such learners?  Can an opportunity be given wherein learners could diagnose their own needs, own objectives and learning resources, use their own strategies for better learning? Answers to these questions can be found if the teaching and learning methodology undergoes significant transformations and many new things are adapted as per the present scenario. Education in the 21st century is more dynamic and challenging as compared to the earlier centuries. Albert Einstein’s quote, “Education is not learning of facts but training of mind to think” becomes even more relevant in the changing environment. Hence, it becomes imperative for the educator or facilitator as well, to go beyond the boundaries of the formal education and learning methods and create the urge of learning in the students. If education institutes, educators and facilitators move towards a more student-centric system, collaborative learning, creativity, and communication will become important outcomes of the process. Educators need to be constantly experimenting with new pedagogies as per the needs of their students and their subjects. This research paper is an outcome of an experiment where ‘research’ has been used as a teaching-learning methodology. The data collected through focus group interviews of the ‘research’ activity participants, upon analyzing statistically using Friedman’s Q test, showed that the ranks of various parameters on which the participants were observed were statistically significant at 5% level of significance. The observed parameters have given a new dimension to the personality of the learners by acquiring the value education in the process. The outcome paved the way for peer motivation, mentor motivation, learning by choice and learning for life emphasizing the fact that choice-based learning is the key to gain knowledge that sustains. Value education is the indirect outcome of this experiment that otherwise would not have found a place in the business school curriculum.