Joby Joseph

Assistant Professor, Department of Botany, MarThoma College, Tiruvalla, Kerala

When the time came for doing an Orientation program, I searched in the internet. I was searching for an ASC where god classes are going on.  When entered the website of ASC Nainital, I was quite impressed –not just because it was beautifully designed, but was quite updated also. Well, Nainital is a very famous tourist place and I was thinking of making use of weekends for some trekking and photography (I am font of both!). Immediately I applied for OP-17at ASC Nainital.  

When I reached there, I was directed to the dormitory. There were already some participants from different parts of the country. During the first few days we were quite formal to each other but soon realized that all are of similar wavelengths. Soon the atmosphere changed and evenings became much alive. We gathered at any room and engaged in cultural activities. Language, subjects and ethnicity was no longer a barrier and we all were back in our college student life!

The classes were quite informative and never been boredom. The administrators always paid attention to invite resource persons from different streams that are quite relevant to all teachers. There were a lot of group activities, group discussion and group projects also. This made a feeling that we all are family members. There was a microteaching sessions which helped us to analyze and improve our own weaknesses and strengths of teaching. There were some research project proposal making and PowerPoint presentation also which helped a lot those who are at the beginning of research career.  When the course finished we all were fully satisfied with the course experience. 

ASC Nainital is a very good place for doing Orientation Program in my experience. The classes are extremely good and cover various subject areas as well as pedagogy. There was always a thrust to improve research skill of participants. There were participants from all parts of India and were a lot of group activities which encouraged interactions among participants. The evenings were quite alive and there was no barrier of language, subject areas or ethnicity. We all were enjoying our old college student days again! Nainital is a very good tourist place also and we were able to make use of our weekends for trekking and site seeing. I am quite impressed by the OP-17. Thank you very much, ASC Nainital.