DISCOVER INDIA: An Immersive Experience for Undergraduate Students
Poonam Gandhi, FLAME University
In higher education the need for engaging outside the classroom in an immersive experience cannot be emphasized enough for students to understand and wet their feet in the realities of the world. In the contemporary world of today, students have to be quick learners, absorbing and processing the changes of the ever-evolving work and life environment. Experiential learning can help bridge the gap between theoretical understanding that occurs in the classroom and learning the practicalities of life. Immersion at the grassroots and in the world outside the four walls of the university brings in newer perspectives and lenses to view the world.
This article delineates the contours of experiential learning at FLAME university – the Discover India Program. This program is a mandatory four credits co-curricular program which engages students outside the university by providing them an immersive experience in exploring the real India. We have 170 plus research projects undertaken by students over the past decade. Undergraduate students actively engage in researching any aspect of Indian society and culture by designing research, conducting on-field data collection and analyzing the data for a constructive report on the chosen topic. Their field immersion is supervised and guided by a faculty mentor and the faculty mentors help the students navigate the research as well as the field experience.
This article will also highlight the changes which had to be made to the Discover India Program during the COVID-19 pandemic and will examine the ways in which students had to make do with the restricted learning without the actual on field experience.
KEY WORDS: Experiential Learning, Educational Travel, Field Immersion, Student Research