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| Do not become an academician because of the money you are going to earn, or the respect you may receive, or to enjoy an easy and cozy working atmosphere, or to busk in the glory of feeling superior and more intellectual than others. |
1. Tell us about your background and journey and your experience as an educator.
I am currently working as an assistant professor at Adamas University, Kolkata.
I started my journey as an educator in 2016 at Amity University, Kolkata, with no plan to join academics; however, the opportunity suddenly presented itself without me applying for the position. I was in the industry, working under the Information Technology division, managing both technical and non-technical areas of content management along with my team.
I still remember the question from the HR manager from Amity when I expressed my doubt about whether I would be able to manage students. He simply told me that if I can manage to train my juniors in industry, I will surely be able to train students. That was the beginning of my academic career. I have always had an inclination towards research and Ph.D., but it is this profession that made me fall in love with research and also gave me the passion to share whatever little I know with my students.
Over the years, I have learned the merits and demerits of being an academician and also the ways of research. I have learned the ways to reach out to the students and understand their needs. Another important lesson that my journey as an academician taught me is to maintain the balance between the job of a teacher and a researcher, as these two are ultimately interlinked.
If you do not indulge in research, then the learning stops, and once the learning stops, the delivery in the classroom becomes outdated and boring. That is the reason I always push my students to both hone their skills to become potent professionals and also to inculcate the habit of doing research, even for minor projects, which will surely improve the quality of their outcomes.
2. You have certifications in "Enhancing Your Productivity." Can you talk about specific strategies or tools you find most effective in boosting productivity in both professional and personal domains?
Productivity has many dimensions, and it differs from person to person. A person can do a lot of work and manage a lot of areas but still be labeled as unproductive, whereas another one can be far more productive by doing a lot less work in the right direction. For me, the most essential tool is time management and allocation of specific tasks based on their importance in accordance with the time. Thanks to my dear colleagues and their collaborative efforts, I can balance my duties and time for the students while managing my research and publication works.
Another area I would like to include is the usage of technology, artificial intelligence, and software for managing work, which is very crucial for an academic to sustain in this competitive field. I have no shame in admitting that I do use ChatGPT for my work, which reduces the search time; however, I do not entirely copy the content; instead, I take the idea and often redraft it for clerical work. Mind it, do not use such tools as a shortcut for academic writing.
I also made adjustments to my personal life as my friends have now stopped asking me for meetups and calling me “too busy,” which I gladly accept and apologize for; however, I have been doing it to stabilize my career and will keep on doing it for a while. Ultimately, it is important to identify, understand, and prioritize your goals (personal or professional) and number them according to their importance. You cannot simply have everything at the same time.
3. During your time as an Assistant Professor at NSHM Knowledge Campus, what were some key topics or projects you covered in your courses, and how did you make the learning experience impactful for your students?
I worked at the NSHM Knowledge Campus for the years 2018-19, and I must appreciate that their working environment was as liberal as it could be. This was the time I cracked the UGC NET examination and was also seriously preparing to register for the Ph.D. program. Most of my classes were with the post-graduation batches and their specialization.
My dual master's degree in the allied field actually helped me to take on the subjects not only in the media and communication domain but also in the areas of management. I used to take classes on Advertising Management, Consumer Behaviour and Brand Management, Basic Media Software, Publication of newspapers, Applications of Information Technology to Media, etc.
Media has never been an entire theory or practical-based subject; instead, it is a rightful mixture of theory and practicals blended together to form a collaborative learning exposure. The delivery of the course content was similar to any other good media school, and I followed the same regime; however, I did something extra, which I called experience learning in the classroom. I started this experiment from NSHM, and with every batch, I kept on improvising the methods while adding up the outcome of my learning.
This is nothing new, but what was new was the ways of application that differed from batch to batch and across the students. I simply gave them the case studies and asked them to solve them while I helped them find out the solution at the beginning, but with time, I let them on their own to solve them. This would help them learn to deal with real-life problems and struggles.
4. You've worked as an Assistant Professor at various institutions. How do you adapt your teaching style to different environments, and what principles do you follow to ensure effective communication with students?
I must admit that the students in different universities are different, similar to the learning environments at different institutions. This is probably because the target demography of each institution is unique and different from each other. The kind of students I received in Amity Kolkata were different from the Symbiosis Bengaluru, Ramoji Universe Hyderabad, NSHM Kolkata, and Adamas University, Kolkata. The difference also comes with each passing year as the perception and learning technique changes every year. I have come across a set of extremely focused students, while some are very casual, but each one of them is unique and talented in their own way.
All we need to do is to find out that subsided talent seeded inside them and nurture them to create a fascinating specimen. Sometimes, they are very open about their choices and talents, but I found many of them are too shy to come up with their ideas and have often been neglected by their mentors. Honestly, I would not blame the academicians entirely, as in the private organizational set-up, it is extremely difficult to take special care of the individual students after managing all the extra work that is often non-academic in nature.
5.You have a blog titled "Marvelous Multitasker." How do you manage your time effectively to handle both academic responsibilities and your blog?
I do not run any blog with that name. I received one award with the title: “Marvelous Multitasker” for my achievement of being able to handle multiple tasks efficiently and simultaneously.
As I mentioned, I had to make adjustments in my personal life to accommodate the work (research) that I love to do beyond my responsibilities as an assistant professor for my university.
6. Do you think teaching as a profession is viewed at par with corporate jobs?
Teaching is less paid (in certain cases) in terms of monetary and other benefits compared to corporate jobs. Still, you have to have the passion to take this profession beyond the monetary benefits. However, there are a number of universities that are offering excellent compensation to deserving academicians.
We need to understand one thing very clearly: academics and research are intertwined with the industry as we create the resources (both in terms of students turned into professionals and research and innovation) for the industry, and the industry helps us in sustenance by employing the resources, keeping the demand of the trainers (academicians and researchers) in place.
7. Can you share a challenging situation you faced either in your teaching role and how you addressed it? What did you learn from that experience?
I faced it massively at the beginning of my academic career when I took time to understand the psychology of the student and ended up applying the wrong tactics to solve the issues. However, over time, I started thinking from their altitude (as a student, but not as a teacher), which made the work easier, and I still get calls from my former students asking for my opinions and suggestions. I believe that understanding student’s psychology is the key. If you can think like them (for certain moments, especially during their struggle), you can adjust your level of instruction accordingly.
8. Looking ahead, what are your professional or personal aspirations and goals in this industry, and how do you plan to achieve them?
I always had a vision of not doing the research for the sake of it or the requirement of academic advancement, but instead, to focus and develop in those areas that require development. I often get disappointed that I do not get to do that for some reason. Still, I haven’t let that aim of mine get washed away, as I am trying to reach a condition where I can actually invest more time in productive and implementable research.
On the other side, I wish to continue my experiment on ‘experience learning in the classroom’ to reduce spoon-feeding the students and turn that into a self-learning experience where learning, retention, and reproduction are highly commendable.
9.What advice would you give to students aspiring to pursue a career in this industry or academia, based on your own experiences and journey?
There is only one fundamental piece of advice for students who wish to become an academician. Do not become an academician because of the money you are going to earn, or the respect you may receive, or to enjoy an easy and cozy working atmosphere, or to busk in the glory of feeling superior and more intellectual than others. Become an academician if you have an innate love for gathering and sharing knowledge without feeling mighty about it .
Bio-
Assistant Professor, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, School of Media and Communication, Adamas University, Kolkata.
A management postgraduate from the Institute of Engineering and Management in Kolkata also holds a postgraduate degree in Mass Communication and Journalism. He works as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, School of Media and Communication at Adamas University in Kolkata. Earlier, he was associated with the NSHM Knowledge Campus in Kolkata, Ramoji Krian Universe in Hyderabad, Symbiosis School of Media & Communication in Bengaluru, and Amity University in Kolkata. He has had a brief industry stint spanning roughly four years.
He is UGC-NET qualified and is pursuing his Ph.D. under the Faculty of Media & Communication at Symbiosis International (Deemed University) in Pune. He is a research enthusiast and has published his research in SCOPUS-indexed and UGC care-listed journals, along with book chapters with international publishers (Routledge, Taylor & Francis) and several peer-reviewed journals. His area of interest in research, development, and study lies in Advertising, Sustainable communication, Consumer psychology, and Media economics.
Interviewed and Edited by - Arunangshu Chatterjee
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