strive@pune | Sep-Dec2020

The Monthly Newsletter exclusively Published for Pune Sep – Dec 2020 | Year 4 | Edition 8-30

Practicals

Webinars Cyber Security

Engineers Day Inside:

Cover trail Snehal Darwatkar

My Skill Story Ramesh Bhadwalkar

Blended Learning (2 Ajita Karve

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From the editor’s desk Hi! The BIG News is that we have launched the 'Cyber Security' Course at the Pune Center with 30 Engineering graduates on board learning the nuances of Cyber Security from the Subject Matter Experts from Tata Communications. The 1st Batch is always special and hence this Batch will have its own story to tell.

Engineers day is celebrated on the birth anniversary of the greatest Indian engineer and Bharat Ratna Sir Mokshagundam Visweshvaraya, as a tribute. There are around 6000+ Engineering colleges across India producing close to 1.5 Million Engineers every year and roughly a quarter of them get placed. What do the remaining Engineers do?

There is a need to tap the potential of these Engineers across domains and help them channelize their skills into start ups. There is a huge potential and requirement for indigenous products and services be it IT, Energy, Agriculture, Education & Training, Automobile among others and we must have Corporates & Funders come ahead and sponsor programs to develop small Entrepreneurs. This in one hand will promote MAKE IN INDIA and also generate Employability at the same time.

In this edition, read more about this from our Engineer & Facilitator Ramesh Bhadwalkar and Blended learning (Part 2) by Ajita Karve, Lead Design & Incubation. And do not miss to read the Cover trail by Snehal Darwatkar. You will get to know a lot more about what's new at the center in our next month's edition so keep watching this space!

Stay fit and stay safe!

Sameet Joshi Center Manager TSSDC Pune

Writer’s BLoCk मुश्किलें तो आती है श़्िन्दगी में िभी िभी, पर होगा फिर से िरतल उम्मीदोँ िा, आशाओं िा.. फिर हर तरि बस तेरी जीत िा गान होगा.. दनु नया दे खेगी तेरी िामयाबी िा मं़िर ओर सबिी ़िुबा पर बस तेरा ही नाम होगा... लड़ लड़ा लें संघर्ष से अभी तू..फिर तेरा ये सारा आयाम होगा..तेरी ही बस जीत होगी तेरी खशु शयों िा बस पैगाम होगा... ग्रहण लग जाता हैं समय आने पर िभी सूरज पर भी..पर फिर से सुबह आती है .. सूयष चमिता है .. श़्िन्दगी खखलखखलाती हैं..ऐसे ही छटें गे ये मुश्किलों िे बादल भी, तेरी आँगन से..फिर िामयाबी िी बाररश से हर चप्पा चप्पा खश ु हाल होगा| #StayMotivated

Anshul Tayal Facilitator: Cyber Security

This is how we do it!

Session: Safety By: Pritika Kapoor Attended By: BDE_0213 Date: 29th September 2020

Session: Parent Engagement By: Pooja Rathod Attended By: BDE_0213 Date: 07th September 2020

Session: Parent Engagement By: Apurva Fursule Attended By: BA_0024 Date: 20th October 2020

Session: Practical Session By: Apurva Fursule Attended By: BA_0024 Date: 9th Nov 2020

ON THE OTHER HAND Tata Communications always takes initiatives for various Volunteering activities at Tata STRIVE to help the beneficiaries. From the 21st September to 30th September Tata communications leadership team had arranged webinar series in which they covered various topics which were very helpful for learner's Career.

Three webinars were conducted each day which were attended by 118 learners and the topics were very relatable to their domain and helpfully to improve their skills.

All the speakers gave webinars in a very creative and simplest manner due to which it was easily understandable by learners. Learners as well as their facilitators were the part of this activity.

These webinars were conducted not only for TSSDC Pune but also for TSSDC Delhi and TSEC Chennai centre.

On 28th September there was another activity conducted that is one on one volunteering session.

Total 71 Tata communications employees volunteered themselves and had one on one conversations with Tata STRIVE learners. This conversations were done on different topics related to learner's career. Volunteer spoke to learners and gave them career guidance.

Feedback from learners for both the activities was positive they understood everything very well and gathered plenty of information for their better career. I thank Tata Communication for the initiative and expecting more such events in the future also.

Apurva Fursule Facilitator – Beauty Advisor TSSDC Pune

Cover trail Hello! Hope everyone is safe and healthy wherever they are. With this pandemic we all thought that we are stuck at one place and there’s no scope of growth at all. We were just finding out ways to reach out to as many learners as we can and ready them to be independent and have a sustainable livelihood even in this pandemic. Of course, it was difficult to suddenly change our way to deliver sessions from classroom sessions to blended online learning sessions. However, we got through with it and guess what? We even started a started a new course of Cyber security at Tata STRIVE and its first batch was initiated at TSSDC, Pune Centre. It was really a proud moment just to hear that we were beginning something new when everything seemed to fall apart. And the cherry on the cake was it was assigned to me as a Batch owner. (What!) Huge responsibility indeed. (Like Peter Parker said in Spiderman – “With great power, comes great responsibility.”)

Our mobilizer, Subodh Jadhav, took a lot of efforts to get interested candidates for this course and made sure that he filled the batch before 1st of December 2020 with 39 Learners.

We started the batch with an interaction with the SMEs from Tata communications, the project management team who takes care of back end processes of the courses in Tata STRIVE and the learners of Cyber security course. This interaction was insightful as everyone’s expectations were put forth and discussed upon and there was a clear understanding about what exactly was going to happen in this course and how. From next day onwards the SMEs started with their sessions and every one of them were expert in their knowledge and it helped the learners understand everything quickly. Nayan Mathur was our IT support and made sure to have smooth sessions without any technical error and was always available to help learners in case of any doubts or difficulty to access content on LX. We now have our new Cyber security trainer, Anshul Tayal, who supports in solving any domain related issues.

I would like to mention that the learners are very much cooperative and inquisitive to know more and more about the content that they are learning. Also, this being the first batch for me to be a Batch owner, I have learnt a lot many things and hats off to all the batch owners to juggle so many things at once. I am one of you all too now.  It was indeed very difficult at first to understand the process to make sure nothing is left out but Sameet Joshi (Centre managerTSSDC, Pune) made sure to have daily meetings & that really helped me to align my activities better.

We are in the last month of the batch to end and we are hoping for us to conduct many more batches of cyber security successfully.

Snehal Darwatkar YDM Facilitator TSSDC Pune

Kalam se Column Tak Blended Learning Part II Until recently most learning in our education system has been ‘teacher’ centric. However, with the tools and technology available today, and combined with the changing fabric of the ecosystem, it is imperative we train our youth in ways that their learning is not limited to planned events. It is the need of VUCA world that we exist in today that we develop youth as lifelong learners. This, so that they learn to adapt quickly to changing situations and can face any situation with grit and resilience.

Developing these values has always been at the forefront of Tata STRIVE’s vision for developing learning instances. And so, when we embarked upon or journey of creating Blended content one thought was foremost on our minds – developing the right learning habits in the learners. The Blended-learning-based approach combined three major sources of learning, namely face-to-face, offline and online, providing learners opportunities for self-study, reflection, collaboration and interaction with their facilitator/s.

This journey of Blended content design and development started with a series of defined milestones, 1. Selection of courses: Courses to first go under transformation and redesigned into the Blended method, were decided basis job role demand across the sector/s, regions, partner requirements, operational capacities, government regulations (in the current COVID 19 scenario) and multiple discussions and guidance from the Leadership team at large. A list of courses – the development of which would span across 5 phases was developed.

Unlike most projects, the key differentiator was the ‘dynamic’ nature of this list, which was validated at intervals to ensure that we were on top of the demand scenario and came up with offerings that would ensure sustainable livelihoods to our learners. The list was then translated into an Activity Plan with estimates for efforts and time required to complete the development.

2. Selection and Onboarding of Taskforce members: Next, of course, was the milliondollar question of finding resources which could contribute to this content development process.

Given the business realities, massive investments and funds to support development were a distant dream. And that’s when the ambitious plan of pooling in internal resources was created. Facilitators who were well entrenched into the ‘STRIVE’ way of facilitation and were experts in their domain were roped in, and a Taskforce was created. They were literally put on a mission – the energy, excitement and apprehensions were palpable. The onboarding process started with a slightly twisted ask!

These Taskforce members were first asked to ‘unlearn’ and free themselves of all their previous perceptions, comfortable way of doing things, and were pushed to see multiple possibilities and adopt a different perspective towards training in their own domain content.

3.Defining Pedagogy: Designing learning is both a science and an art. Science of instruction, coupled with the imagination of an artist, can work wonders! This is exactly what went into designing the ‘instructional’ approach for the Blended courses. Plans were developed – and destroyed- only to come up something better – more feasible – more engaging…and just more!.Care was taken to ensure that ‘form followed function’. Learning defined the use of technology – and not the other way around. This was especially important to ensure that the method for a learning event was decide basis what suited the type of content the best – and just for the sake of variety or using media.

Courses were sculpted under the watchful eyes of Instructional designers from the D&I team.

Concepts, facts, processes and so many different facets of the content were redefined into ‘events’ – ranging from asynchronous reading material, videos, quizzes – to supporting the learners with real-time synchronous sessions by the facilitator – all was mapped.

4.

Scaffolding: Comprehensive guidelines, checklists, and other literature to support the development of the course was done. The scaffolding comprised of documentation and activities like daily reviews, quality checks, just in time troubleshooting and planned internal deliveries, to name a few. The entire Taskforce worked like well-oiled machinery complementing, supplementing, correcting and most importantly supporting each member.

5. Asset Development: Once the blueprints were defined, the Taskforce members got into a ‘production’ mode creating assets for the learning events. Available material was scrutinized, reproduced, modified into assets befitting the requirement of the learning design. Some Taskforce members picked up new skills on the way – video editing, scriptwriting, recording voiceovers, creating graphic layouts and more – and most importantly, the nuances of designing instruction.

6. LMS Management: Talking of new skills working with the LMS was again one of the ‘first’ for the entire Taskforce. Firmly supported by the Technology and Innovation team, assets were uploaded into the LMS, templates were designed, bugs were discovered, and remediation's were done at lightning speed.

7. Closure of Development Phase: A saga of continuous testing, quality checks, iterations in the assets, peer reviews, sign-offs – and finally, the courses were ready to be deployed for the Pilots!

8. Walkthrough sessions for Stakeholders: As they say the proof of the pudding lies in eating it. The success of the Blended content depended heavily on the finesse and conviction with which it would be deployed. And to this effect, no stone was left unturned. What followed was walkthrough sessions with multiple stakeholders! (facilitators, centre managers, assessment & certification team members, partnership teams and more), creation of FAQs, SOP for deployment, rubrics for evaluating effectiveness, feedback forms… all at a dizzying pace.

While the content was being readied for deployment, in a parallel world, the facilitators were getting inducted to the nuances of delivering learning through the digital space. It was a tight rope walk where the ‘distance’ in distant learning was bridged through multiple engagement strategies. This was to ensure that the constraints of not being ‘present’ in the same physical space could overcome by the ‘presence’ of the facilitator.

The virtual corridors at STRIVE – the google meeting rooms- are still abuzz with myriad questions. How do I make my learners comfortable, how do I keep them engaged, motivated and on course, how do I ensure that the learners invest the required time in self-study – how do I give feedback remotely – which is both personal and effective. How can I tag attendance, what happens if a learner lags behind? Is it possible to ensure ‘mastery’ for a learner – which is the cornerstone of Blended learning concept?

These and many more questions are still a reality, while solutions for many of these have been built into the design strategies and guidelines created, the foolproof answers to these will require collective intelligence, pooling of experiences and observations and more importantly diligently performing our roles – be it that of facilitation, technical support, instructional support or guiding and monitoring in the days to come.

The ‘Blended learning’ journey, in the end, has been an attempt to put the learners in control of their learning space and pace. To move the accountability of learning to them, to instill in them the passion for learning, not limiting the experience to an event but rather making them lifelong learners!

Ajita Karve Lead- Design And Incubation

My Story Trupti is from Pune and lives in a family of four members. Her father is a private company employee while her mother is a Homemaker. She used to travel about 5 KMs to the centre. She is in Third year of her graduation. She learnt about various courses offered at Tata STRIVE and Trupti took immediate interest in Front Office Assistant course.

Name: Trupti Ovhal

Age : 20 years Tata STRIVE Course: Front Office Assistant Batch Name: Front Office Assistant_0005 Location/Centre: Pune Employer Name: OYO Hotels Designation: Receptionist

Trupti was attending college along with training at Tata STRIVE. Her overall attendance was ninety percent. She was an active learner who never said no to any tasks and tried to give her best at that. She also liked to take initiatives. Initially she had adjustment issues with fellow learners and used to get in small tiffs in class. However, she soon realised importance of teamwork and figured out ways to resolve conflict. She was not selective on job opportunities and had more focus on learning opportunities than salary and brand. She joined Oyo Hotels.

Soon she learned all the tricks and trade of the business. Her client not only gave good feedback for her treatments but also for her best behaviour.

She says, she learnt about, relationship management, conflict management and communication skills along with all the trades related to Front Office at Tata STRIVE, which are very useful and gives her an edge over other associates. She is extremely happy that she had joined a job where she learns about different ways to communicate, she has a direction to her life and career and has opportunities for growth at her workplace. She misses her facilitators, friends and classroom at Tata STRIVE a lot especially the lunch time where lunch boxes were shared and the small gossip times.

In her words, I was a short tempered girl who would not shy away from fights to prove her point but while training at Tata STRIVE she learnt about patience and respecting others opinions and made changes in her behaviour. This helped her make friends easily and received good feedback from clients due to this behavioural change.

Think about it

"Success is walking from failure to failure with no loss of enthusiasm.”

-Winston Churchill

My Skill Story Engineer always remains an Engineer by heart!

Inspired by the quote 'Success Ke Peeche Mat Bhaago, Excellence Ka Peecha Karo.

Ramesh Bhadwalkar, Tata STRIVE, Master Trainer, ASDC

Excellence came from expertise and expertise came from experience. I fell in love with the machines around me and started enjoying the bumpy road ride of technical education till working in the Industry. On occasion of Engineers Day, I revisit the journey of nostalgic memories on this path. I didn’t sleep without a toy car near my pillow in childhood days, those engineering college days, Projects, Internship, 1st Job, Challenges, Hard work, Dedication, Achievements, but one thing common behind all the aspect is “Passion”.

Till date I repair my bike & home appliances on my own, kyu ki wo andar ka engineer jaag jaata hai…. Sometimes it makes but sometimes it breaks….

Now it’s time to move on, gear up to be more adaptive, techno-savvy, being agile according to current industry trends of Mechatronic, Electric vehicle world.

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.”- Steve Jobs.

I take this opportunity to thank Tata STRIVE. I am now venturing onto a new journey as a Center manager for YES-Tata STRIVE, Pune Centre.

Always striving to excel in all that comes my way.

WELCOME ABOARD Welcome on board Name: Anshul Tayal Domain: Cyber Security Education: Master of Technology (Cyber Forensics) Total Experience: 5 Years What I like to do other than work: Poetry Writing

Our Knowledge Partners

Tata Strive Skill Development Center Chandrakant Chambers, Opp.Madhuban Restaurant, Dhole Patil Road, Pune | Contact: 02066869100 Content: TSSDC Pune Team | Design: Anish Varghese | Editor: Sameet Joshi For any feedback or suggestions write to sameet.joshi@tatasustainability.com